July 8th, 2010, Washington, DC–From ALG News’ Capitol Hill Correspondent Derek Baker: 
In the Senate, a number of GOP senators have publicly criticized the Obama Administration’s decision to file suit against Arizona over its new immigration law. Since Attorney General Eric Holder filed suit this week to block the new Arizona law from taking effect on July 29th, both Sen. Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn have sided with the state of Arizona. Sen. Cornyn stated “I am disappointed the administration has made suing Arizona its priority. The White House must focus on getting the federal government to do its job, which means securing the border and proposing specific reforms to our broken immigration system.” Sen. Graham was even more pointed in his criticism of the suit, stating “I believe the DOJ lawsuit will be counter-productive when it comes to finding a solution to our immigration problems. It is clear the people of Arizona believe the federal government has let them down when it comes to securing the border.” Graham’s comments are even more notable considering he was one of the only GOP senators actively working with the Democrat caucus to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Sen. Jon Kyl simply stated Obama’s purpose for the lawsuit is “obviously political.”
Fallout continues over Obama’s decision to recess appoint Dr. Berwick to head CMS. Gail Wilensky, former CMS administrator under President George H.W. Bush stated, “There is just nothing good about having it happen this way. His tenure will be more complicated and acrimonious.”
Bottom Line: While Obama’s federal suit against the Arizona immigration law faces an uncertain future in the courts, the law enjoys broad support across America and overwhelming support in Arizona. This has all the makings of a disaster waiting to happen for Obama, and let’s not forget how it imperils several House Democrats running in Arizona. Yes, the move to file suit is political, but it’s also poorly calculated and just plain dumb.
In the House, long-time Washington Post writer and reporter David Broder is highly critical of House Democrats in his op-ed today for their failure to produce a federal budget this year. Broder stated, “For all the publicity that goes to earmarks and other spending gimmicks, this was a far worse dereliction of duty. And the cynicism of the maneuver just made it worse…House Speaker Nancy Pelosi brazenly hailed the one-year substitute as ‘another key step… in restoring fiscal responsibility’… of all the times for Congress to abandon its responsibility for long-term fiscal planning, this is the worst.”
Bottom Line: David Broder isn’t exactly known for his conservative credentials, so this is a stinging and telling rebuke for Democrats in the House. Unlike Pelosi and Hoyer, Broder was unwilling to ignore the obvious facts… that at no time since the current budget process was implemented in 1973 has the House ever failed to pass a budget.
At the other end of the Avenue, an IRS report released this week suggests the federal tax agency may be ill equipped to administer the substantial provisions within ObamaCare and other social programs passed by the Obama Administration. The report specifically stated that “the trend toward requiring the IRS to administer social benefits in addition to its core tax administration duties increasingly diverts current IRS resources and diminishes taxpayer service.” The report, which is produced by the National Taxpayer Advocate division of the IRS twice a year, further stated “…the IRS is itself greatly taxed by the additional role it is increasingly playing in delivering social benefits and programs to the American people. In the last several years, the IRS has been tasked with administering billions of dollars to millions of taxpayers in Economic Stimulus Payments, Making Work Pay credits…First-Time Homebuyer Credit payments, and Hybrid Car credit payments, to name just a few.”
In addition, the IRS report estimated that approximately 40 million American small businesses will be subject to the new 1099 reporting requirements contained in ObamaCare (p. 21). The report stated “the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…added a new information reporting requirement that may present significant administrative challenges to taxpayers and the IRS. The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate is concerned that the new reporting burden, particularly as it falls on small businesses, may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance.
Bottom Line: The Obama Administration, rather than take the obvious clue from the IRS itself to lay off on the social engineering through the tax code, will more likely just increase the appropriations to the IRS and mandate the hiring of thousands of additional IRS agents and staff. Perhaps worse, Obama may just chose to ignore the report. The IRS will still be responsible for administrating all of the social give-away programs, and honest, law-abiding, tax-paying Americans will just suffer the consequences in the form a myriad of federal regulations and even poorer quality service from the tax man.
Regarding the significant burden ObamaCare is placing on virtually every individual and business in America, this should come as no surprise to anyone. This is precisely what Republican lawmakers predicted, and most Americans feared. Now even the IRS agrees.
Inadequate Spending?
The more government grows, the more the economy suffocates.
Video: Ronald Reagan Being Ronald Reagan
Nothing beats the original.
$40,000 isn’t enough for Scott Nicholson
Hard work pays off, even in jobs that are not considered to be “dream jobs”.
The Stealth Bank Tax
Is Scott Brown paying attention?
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Claribel Touchette
on Sep 13th, 2011
@ 3:30 am:
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