Government Oversight

A House proposal to regulate and tax Internet gambling would require online gambling establishments to withhold taxes from net online winnings, and provide detailed information about gamblers to the government in an attempt to help ensure the collection of these taxes. It would also impose a two percent federal tax on Internet gambling providers, and give states the option of taxing these companies at a rate of six percent.

The Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act, H.R. 2230, was introduced Thursday by Reps. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), John Campbell (R-Calif.), and House Financial Services Committee ranking member Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

"This censorship would make former Soviet censors blush," Rep. Gerry Connolly said about restrictions by the Franking Commission.

Members of the House this week are headed toward a dispute over whether to cut a pending catfish inspection program — one that will pit Southern members with catfish industries in their districts against members who want to gut the program to reduce government spending. Other members who favor increased catfish imports from Vietnam and other Asian producers are also expected to favor ending the program.

By Tuesday, the House is expected to take up H.R. 2112, the Agriculture appropriations bill for FY 2012. Among other things, that bill would strike language in the 2008 farm bill that requires the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to set up a catfish inspection program.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and two other House Republicans introduced legislation last week that would end the ability of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to sue states.

The bill is a reaction to the NLRB's decision to sue Arizona and South Dakota, both of which have passed laws requiring secret ballot unionization elections. The suit is designed to nullify those laws, which the NLRB says conflict with worker rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRB also threatened to sue Utah and South Carolina, but is hoping the action against two states would ultimately lead to the termination of the laws in Utah and South Carolina.

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) this week introduced legislation aimed at preventing non-U.S. citizens from claiming a refundable child tax credit that would require people to provide their Social Security number in order to claim the credit.

Johnson said current law allows a refundable tax credit, meaning that parents who owe nothing in taxes can receive money from the federal government by claiming the child tax credit. But he cited "rampant abuse and misapplication" of this tax credit in recent years, possibly through the actions of non-U.S. residents.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) on Monday night charged that today's Supreme Court decision calling for the release of thousands of prisoners in California will directly lead to rapes and assaults on California residents.

"You rarely say this, but I fear that there will be murders, there will rapes, there will be assaults, there will be unnamed and unnumbered crimes in my home state as a direct result of today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court," Lungren said on the House floor. "Since when did they take over all of the three branches of government, becoming the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch?"

Democratic Rep. Sandy Levin has criticized the bill as something that would "end the guarantee of federal unemployment insurance."

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Friday predicted that House Republican leaders would not allow a vote to be held on whether the U.S. military should be allowed to continue operations in Libya.

In an editorial in the The Detroit News, Amash noted that he has introduced a bill requiring the Obama administration to get congressional approval, but gave his bill little chance of passing.

"[I]t's unlikely that congressional leadership will permit a vote on it," he wrote. "The status quo provides cover for Congress, by allowing the people's representatives to complain about the president's actions without committing to a position for or against the war."

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on Thursday introduced new legislation aimed at freeing small companies from excessive federal regulation, a move many are likely to see as a response to growing pressure from the right on the centrist Republican as she approaches reelection in 2012.

Tea Party activists in Maine are looking to unseat Snowe, who remains popular across Maine but has had relatively high disapproval ratings among Republicans in recent polls. The name of Snowe's bill alone is likely to please more conservative Republicans: the Freedom from Restrictive Excessive Executive Demands and Onerous Mandates (Freedom) Act.

The senators said an assessment of that country's cooperation in the terror fight would be used to determine future assistance.

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