NEWS:

• As questions grow about why the U.S. Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of phone records from AP journalists, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he was not the one to authorize the seizure. (The Hill)
• The SEC is considering whether publicly-traded corporations should have to disclose their political spending to shareholders. (The Hill)
• Senior executive, legislative, and judicial branch officials will have to fill out  personal finance reports by May 15. (Roll Call)
• Documents show it wasn’t just staff in the IRS Cincinnati office who knew conservative groups were targeted for scrutiny — details of the actions appear to have reached higher-ups in the agency by mid-2012. (Washington Post)
• The division of the IRS that processes applications for groups wanting to be social welfare organizations has lost staff members while the number of applications it receives has been rising. (Public Integrity)
• Lobbyists are wondering whether the attention on the IRS will prevent action on simplifying the U.S. tax codes.  (The Hill)
• The General Services Administration is using crowdsourcing and cloud-technologies as part of its efforts to save money and become more efficient. (GovExec)

BILLS:

• None.

TODAY:

• None.

TOMORROW:

• Government Contracting in an Era of Sequestration. National Press Club. 10 a.m. Bloomberg Room, 529 14th St, NW, Washington, DC, 20045.
• NEC/SGE w/Sarah Bloom Raskin, Federal Reserve Board of Governors. National Economists Club. 12 – 1:30 p.m. Chinatown Garden, 618 H St. NW, Washington, DC.
• Philanthropic Freedom: If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Improve It. Hudson Institute. 12 – 1:30 p.m. 1015 15th St NW, 6th Floor, Washington, DC, 20005.
• U.S. Government Funding for Media Assistance: Trends and Strategies. Center for International Media Assistance. 2 – 3:30 p.m. National Endowment for Democracy. 1025 F St. NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20004.

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