QUOTE OF THE DAY “Just because Lois Lerner is retiring from the IRS does not mean the investigation is over. Far from it.” Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah,
the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee Article, this page McConnell: Won’t block spending bill
WASHINGTON - In a break with Tea Party-aligned Senate conservatives, Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced Monday he will not vote to block legislation aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown, even though Democrats intend to rewrite it to restore funds needed to keep the nation’s 3-year-old health-care law in existence.
The Kentuckian’s announcement came shortly after Sen.
Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that anyone who votes to let the bill advance toward final passage will be choosing to allow the Democrats to restore the health-care money by majority vote, one they are widely expected to win.
Democrats control 54 Senate votes, meaning they need six crossover Republicans to assure the spending bill does not fall victim to a filibuster.
Cruz said last week he was prepared to filibuster any legislation that restores money for the health-care law, even if it meant a shutdown. However on Monday, he appeared to soften his tone.
“We should not have a government shutdown and we should never, ever, ever even discuss a default on the debt,” he said. The House is expected to approve legislation this week that permits the Treasury to borrow freely for a year - preventing a first-ever default - while delaying the healthcare law for a year.
Obama endorses de Blasio for NYC mayor
NEW YORK - President Barack Obama endorsed fellow Democrat Bill de Blasio on Monday in the race for New York City mayor.
Obama, in a statement, hailed de Blasio’s vision of “progressive change,” a campaign theme similar to the president’s when he was elected in 2008. In endorsing de Blasio, Obama called attention to areas of policy overlap, such as expanded pre-kindergarten, affordable housing and health care.
Obama is the latest national Democrat to endorse de Blasio after he became the party’s nominee. In the past week, the public advocate has been backed by former President Bill Clinton, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and both of New York’s senators.
De Blasio said the endorsement was “a tremendous honor.”Guantanamo prison calls strike negligible
WASHINGTON - The military on Monday effectively pronounced the end of a mass hunger strike among detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - a six-month protest that at one point swept through a majority of the inmate population, refocused global attention on the prison and pushed President Barack Obama’s administration to revive the stagnated effort to shutter it.
In a statement and an interview, prison spokesman Lt. Col.
Samuel House said Monday that the military would no longer issue daily updates on the number of inmates participating in the protest, eligible for force-feeding or hospitalized, as had been its practice in the past few months, because the participation has fallen away from its peak two months ago.
At its peak, 106 of the 166 prisoners at the time were listed as participants by the military’s official count. But since Sept.
11, just 19 of the 164 detainees now at the base have been participating, the military said.
Ex-FBI agent to admit Yemen-leak guilt
WASHINGTON - A former FBI explosives expert said Monday he will plead guilty to revealing secret information for an Associated Press story about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen last year. The story led to a leak investigation and the seizure of AP phone records in the government’s search for the information’s source.
Donald Sachtleben of Carmel, Ind., said in court papers that he provided details of the operation to a reporter. Four months ago, Sachtleben also acknowledged he distributed and possessed pornographic images of underage girls.
A plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis calls for 11 years and eight months in prison for both crimes.
A Justice Department court filing said that Sachtleben disclosed the secret information to the unnamed reporter - The Associated Press was not identified in the filing - on May 2, 2012. The news service broke the news that a plot had been foiled in Yemen on May 7.
A year later, it became known that the Justice Department had secretly subpoenaed phone companies for calling records for 20 phone lines of Associated Press offices and reporters.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/24/2013