Government Oversight

Nine House Democrats on Friday proposed a resolution saying it is the sense of Congress that the president, vice president and members of Congress should pay an effective federal tax rate that is not less than the rate paid by middle-class Americans.

The resolution, H.Con.Res. 103, seems to follow the logic of the Obama administration's proposed "Buffett Rule," which says that people earning more than $1 million a year should pay a minimum federal tax of 30 percent. But instead of focusing on wealthy members of the private sector, the proposal from Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) singles out top earners in the federal government, and says the federal tax they face should "not be less than the effective Federal tax rate paid by middle class Americans."

House Republicans say two Education Department regulations from 2010 intrude on state authority over education policy.

A bipartisan group of 41 senators on Monday called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to pass a long-term flood insurance bill either this month or as soon as possible when the Senate returns from next week's President's Day break.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) expires at the end of May this year, and since 2008, the program has been extended only for short periods of time. The senators wrote that the program expired four times in 2010, resulting in a lapse of coverage.

It's the latest GOP attempt to control federal spending; many House Dems are expected to oppose

Three House Republican freshmen on Monday proposed an amendment to the Constitution stipulating that members of the House would be elected every four years, and both congressmen and senators would be term-limited.

The proposed amendment, from Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), would prohibit the election of any person to the House more than three times, and limit senators to just two terms. In doing so, it would put a 12-year limit on both House and Senate terms.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said Friday that he believes his on-camera encounter with President Obama right after the State of the Union helped get the insider-trading bill through the Senate this week.

"If it wasn't miked up then people wouldn't have known about it," Brown said on WRKO's Tom and Todd Show Friday morning. "Then I felt they could have probably drawn it out a little bit more."

Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) and 19 other House Republicans introduced a "sense of the House" resolution Wednesday that calls on the Obama administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Justice Department's (DOJ) botched "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking operation.

Quayle said on the House floor Thursday morning that he hopes the Obama administration can agree to a special prosecutor, because the DOJ so far has been far from forthcoming.

"We know we won't get these answers from a proper internal investigation from the Justice Department. Far from the department investigating itself, it has covered up for itself," Quayle said.

Sen. Roger Wicker said he would boycott a hearing with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Tuesday asked Attorney General Eric Holder for all documents and other information related to the Obama administration's decision to make four recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess.

In his letter to Holder, Smith argued that the appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were "unprecedented," because the Senate was not in recess.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday told members to dress appropriately on the House floor.