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Just weeks after overwhelming votes in the House and Senate to protect tax payers by barring federal funding to ACORN, Democrats have found a way to throw a life-line to their de facto campaign organization. Democrats on the House Committee on Financial Services adopted an amendment by Maxine Waters that will allow ACORN and other activists groups to share a regulatory role over our financial institutions.

<p>The Congressional Budget Office numbers are in, and America's politicians and self-defined experts in the media will be either extolling its accuracies or deriding its fantasies, to validate their own positions on the Baucus health plan. But beyond the CBO numbers themselves, many of which the CBO admits are either impossible to predict or likely to be proven untrue, Americans need to look more closely at the plan itself. Despite the repeated refrain by President Obama that "no one will lose their current insurance" and that benefits will not be cut, the fact is that the Baucus plan does precisely that, and more.</p>

WASHINGTON - Nobody knew for sure what Senator Olympia J. Snowe would do yesterday when the Finance Committee gathered to vote on its health care bill - not even Snowe. Chairman Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, had been courting her vote for months, investing long hours in closed-door negotiations with her and the other members of the “Gang of Six.’’ In the late summer and early fall, President Obama spoke with her on the phone and invited her to the White House to address her concerns.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said Tuesday that she'd support a sweeping Senate Finance Committee bill overhauling the U.S. health-care industry, giving Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a sought-after Republican vote on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. In highly anticipated comments on the $829 billion, 10-year bill, Snowe said the bill wasn't all she wanted. "Far from it," she told fellow senators during what is likely to be the committee's last work session on Baucus's bill. "But when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress...

Yeah, it's a sure thing that the controlling Democrats will pass this phase of ObamaDON'Tcare, but we still have the protection of the First Amendment to discuss it, FOR NOW, right? Grab some popcorn and let's listen to the Democrats demean and revile those EVVVIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLL health insurance companies, who have just thrown a monkey wrench in the 'easy' passage of this big gubmint garbage! Will some of the Democrats actually vote according to their conscience (yeah, I know, oxymoron)?? Will the Republicans hold rank and vote no across the board in protest? Will Olympia, our favorite "moderate" Republican (bwahahahahahahaha!) team...

WASHINGTON -- Senate leaders on Thursday announced a climactic Finance Committee vote next week on health care legislation, even as Democrats and Republicans kept feuding over its cost and breadth of coverage. Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on a 10-year, $829-billion proposal that would expand coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans-while reducing the federal deficit. A positive cost report on the legislation Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office marked a turning point for its main author, Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont.

On September 16, 2009, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) offered some of the details of the healthcare reform proposal that will be presented for debate. The Senator's 223-page summary of the proposal, "America's Healthy Future Act," provided additional details for his committee members. During the press conference, Senator Baucus called the proposal "one of the largest pieces of social legislation since the Depression." He described the mandate that would be imposed on every American: buy health insurance or face an IRS-enforced penalty of up to $3,800 per family. Annual tax returns would be used to "ensure compliance" (Subtitle...

Yesterday morning, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up to Senator Max Baucus. And the private health insurance industry. And the corporate liberals in Congress. The eight activists demanded that single payer - everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital - be put on the table. And as a result they were arrested. And charged with a so-called "disruption of Congress." The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Democracy Now and National Public Radio all carried stories about the protest. C-Span carried it live. And it was widely disseminated on the Internet. Baucus crafted a hearing...

I'm really getting tired of saying this, but the situation surrounding Barack Obama's presidency would be funny, if it wasn't so sad. If you haven't heard the latest, supposed financial genius, Timothy Geithner, was confirmed by the Senate Finance Committee by a vote of 18 - 5 on Thursday morning. Geithner was nominated by Obama to be the new Secretary of the Treasury. This all sounds well and good so far, doesn't it? However, there is a little problem of Geithner being a tax scofflaw. Indeed, if it weren't for the fact Geithner was nominated by Obama for the Treasury...

In an interview with the Taylor Daily Press, State Sen. Steve Ogden revealed a possible new course for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Instead of building superhighways across the state, Ogden said, the state may opt to augment the Texas Trunk System, a web of rural highways that includes U.S. 79. The plan would expand those highways to four-lane divided highways, while expanding urban infrastructure with toll roads. “We need to limit that concept to existing highways,” Ogden said of the proposed network of superhighways and tiered rail systems. “I passed a bill last session that did that, but [Gov. Rick...

Chicago dog owners who tether their pets for hours on end without food or water would be reined in -- with a two-hour limit -- under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council's most powerful alderman. "If dogs are tethered in this way, it makes them more likely to bite humans and makes them mean," said Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). "It's a question of cruelty to the animals. It's a question of responsible care of animals. If people own pets, they ought to treat them responsibly." The Burke-championed ordinance introduced at Wednesday's City Council meeting would...

Senate Probing Muslim CharitiesBy Staff and Wire ReportsJan 14, 2004, 08:11 Email this article Printer friendly page A U.S. congressional panel is seeking tax and financial records of Muslim charities as part of an expanding probe into suspected ties between tax-exempt organizations and terrorist groups. The Senate Finance Committee has asked the Internal Revenue Service to turn over records, including donor lists, relating to Muslim charities and foundations. The request is a rare and unusually broad use of the committee's power to obtain private records held by the government. IRS officials say they expect to comply with the request because it falls within the...

Last Update: 23/12/2003 22:45Knesset panel to reduce cuts to culture, welfare budgets By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent The chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee Avraham Hirchson decided Tuesday, after meeting with officials from the treasury and the Labor Social Affairs Ministry to cancel the planned NIS 70 million cut to the 2003 welfare budget.The Finance Ministry will transfer NIS 35 million to the welfare budget, and the Ministry of Social Affairs will provide the rest of the money in order to prevent damage to weak sectors in the population. Treasury officials promised the Finance Committee on Tuesday to decrease the...

<p>Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley says it "might not be difficult" to get the Senate to approve a $450 billion tax cut but that it will be hard to get the full $550 billion tax cut President Bush is seeking.</p>