The Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources is currently holding a hearing into responses to the Gulf oil spill... View Article
Continue readingS1 Implementation in the Senate Finance Committee
Over the last few days, there's been a good deal of talk about the ethics requirements going into effect for Senate Committees. Later today, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to reconcile the rules of their committee with the requirements of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, often referred informally as "the ethics reform bill". (Sean Moulton of OMBWatch tipped us off to this fact first in this OHP Google Group Thread.) (more)
Senate Agrees to Amendment on Committee Transparency
Yesterday during the debate on the Senate ethics legislation Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Co.), along with cosponsor Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), introduced an amendment to require that each Senate committee and subcommittee post to their website “a video recording, audio recording, or transcript of any meeting not later than 14 business days after the meeting occurs.” Salazar’s amendment (SA 15), which modifies Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nevada) substitute amendment SA 3, was agreed to by a voice vote yesterday.
Continue readingSenators Call for Abramoff Special Prosecutor Over Island Security Report:
Two Senate Democrats, Jeff Bingaman (NM) and Ken Salazar (CO), wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to appoint a special prosecutor to “investigate lobbyist Jack Abramoff's activities in two Pacific island territories,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The Senator’s concern revolves around a Justice Department report that highlights security risks posed by immigration from the Northern Marianas Islands and Guam. Abramoff “bragged in a 2001 e-mail to his clients in Saipan that he would use his connections in the attorney general's office to block the anticipated report lest it fuel congressional efforts to place new immigration restrictions on the Northern Marianas.” The letter also asks for the special prosecutor to probe “Abramoff's role in the demotion of Frederick Black, the former acting U.S. attorney for the two Pacific island territories,” who was demoted in the midst of an investigation into Abramoff’s activity.
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