Free Republic

In a State of American Business address, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue said Thursday that the Obama administration is on a "regulatory tear" that will continue until President Barack Obama leaves the White House. [...] ... "How do we know? They've been telling us every day since the first of the year. It has unleashed a runaway EPA that has been stretching the law, and in some cases, breaking it in order to consume control over the local economic development across America," he said. ...

When House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy headlined a fundraiser in early June the room was packed with defense industry lobbyists, but reps from one megacontractor were missing — Boeing. Not only was Boeing absent at that fundraiser, the contractor has cut off all political contributions to the No. 2 House Republican over his support for killing the Export-Import Bank, which facilitates billions of dollars in low-interest loans to U.S. exporters like Boeing. General Electric, also a major supporter of renewing Ex-Im and a benefactor of the agency, has followed suit and has not contributed to the California Republican this year....

The recent cyber theft of millions of personnel records from the federal government was sophisticated and potentially crippling, but hackers with just rudimentary skills could easily do even more damage by targeting voting machines, according to security experts. In many cases, even the electronic ballots could be manipulated remotely, according to a new report. The report found that the AVS WINVote machines Virginia has used since 2002 have such flimsy security that an amateur hacker could change votes from outside a polling location. “This means anyone could have broken into the machines from the parking lot,” said Cris Thomas, a...

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —The predictions were dire.</p> <p>Under Affordable Care Act rules that kicked in this year, large employers have to offer health benefits to workers who put in 30 or more hours a week or face penalties. Some fretted that the new rules would cost employers a bundle or prompt them to cut workers' hours to get under the cap.</p>