Free Republic

Many Americans are noticing a fundamental disconnect in American life between the amount of resources consumed by government — including an $814 billion stimulus, a $3.5 trillion budget and a $13.5 trillion national debt — and the lack of results delivered to the taxpayers. Since the president took office, the economy has lost more than 2.5 million jobs and unemployment today stands at 9.6% and rising. Americans are demanding that policymakers identify those federal programs that are not working and stop wasting their money on them. But the spending addiction of politicians in both parties and the power of special...

House Republican lawmakers on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee anticipate a ramp-up of investigations next year on bailout measures, the economic stimulus and healthcare. “Given the accelerated pace of federal dollars going into the bureaucracy, the pace of oversight must also keep up with that,” Republican committee aide Kurt Bardella said. If the GOP wins control of the House this fall, Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) would be one of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill. Issa, the top Republican on the panel, would have subpoena power — something he doesn’t enjoy now. Issa has irritated House Democrats with...

If President Barack Obama needed any more incentive to go all out for Democrats this fall, here it is: Republicans are planning a wave of committee investigations targeting the White House and Democratic allies if they win back the majority. Everything from the microscopic – the New Black Panther party – to the massive –- think bailouts – is on the GOP to-do list, according to a half-dozen Republican aides interviewed by POLITICO. Republican staffers say there won’t be any self-destructive witch hunts – but they are clearly relishing the prospect of extracting information from an administration that touts transparency....

Ethics: A probe by Rep. Darrell Issa has now uncovered 173 sweetheart loans made by Countrywide Financial Corp. to 42 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. As is too often the case, it's a regulatory problem. Of the 173 loans, 150 were made to borrowers who identified themselves as employees of Fannie Mae. Loan recipients from the institution include Jamie Gorelick, a former vice chair of Fannie Mae; James Johnson, former chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae; Daniel Mudd, a former Fannie Mae president and CEO; and Franklin Raines, former Fannie Mae chairman and CEO. Issa, ranking member of the...

7-13-10: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) called in to San Diego's KUSI this morning to discuss his investigation into the tens of millions of "so-called stimulus" dollars the Obama Administration has wasted buying signs to get credit for spending...YOUR money!

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) submitted a formal referral for two top White House officials to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for allegedly having violated a law prohibiting federal officials from using official resources for political purposes. Issa, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, submitted a complaint to the OSC accusing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and his deputy, Jim Messina, of using official resources to help discourage two Democratic primary candidates from waging challenges to incumbents. The California Republican has led an effort to investigate the administration's role in discouraging Rep....

Leadership: The president says he went to the Gulf to find out whose derriere to kick. After he gets his foot out of his own mouth, perhaps he can talk to us about that Coast Guard memo. Scapegoating has become a hallmark of this administration. Certainly BP was responsible for the safe operation and maintenance of Deepwater Horizon. But after an accident in federal waters the federal government, which has a plan to save the entire planet from greenhouse gases, had no plan to save the Gulf from a single gushing well, with the possible exception of finger-pointing. In this...

CNN Dana Bash: I just talked to Issa..."He believes that a law has been violated, a law that prohibits people in government from offering to somebody for political reasons, something of value, he believes that there was at least a misdemeanor" (Video)

Rep. Joe Sestak's allegation that the White House offered him a job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary race against Arlen Specter is a crime that could lead to the impeachment of President Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa said. But the decision by the Pennsylvania congressman not to elaborate on a so-called deal also could become a political problem as Sestak tries for the U.S. Senate seat.

Darrel Issa on Sestak Scandal: "It's not for the White House to decide what's inappropriate, an allegation has been made... This is serious, this is an impeachable offense according to Dick Morris...It's about the coverup and right now there is a coverup going on at the White House 10 weeks after the allegations" (Video)

RealClearPolitics spoke to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, this morning. RCP asked him about the controversy surrounding Rep. Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania's Senate race. Sestak has said numerous times, most recently on "Meet the Press," that he was offered a job by the White House to drop out of the primary race against Specter. The White House has dodged questions about the matter until recently. Yesterday, Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod said "nothing inappropriate happened." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave the same response on Sunday's...

Washington — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refused to answer pointed questions from Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., about allegations the Obama Administration offered U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., a high-ranking position in return for dropping out of the primary election against incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter. Mr. Issa wants the Justice Department to investigate the allegations which, if confirmed, could amount to three felony offenses for bribery and corruption.  On Thursday, with Mr. Holder testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Issa asked why a special prosecutor has not been assigned to investigate the case. “The appointment of a special prosecutor...

Washington, DC—Today, Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT), along with Rep. Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to David Kappos, the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as Michael Williams, President and CEO of Fannie Mae, seeking information concerning a patent issued to Fannie Mae regarding a residential Cap and Trade system. On June 7, 2005, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued Patent No. 6,904,336 for a “System and Method for Residential Emissions Trading.” The patent was assigned to the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and CO2e.com, LLC of New York. The patent lists former Fannie Mae...

Specter Opens Door on White House Felonies By Jeffrey Lord on 3.16.10 @ 6:09AM "There's a crime called misprision of a felony. Misprision of a felony is when you don't report a crime. So you're getting into pretty deep areas here in these considerations." -- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter on March 12, 2010 "Right now, they're doing the 'I won't confirm or deny,' and for us, it leaves two possibilities. One is the promise of transparency in this administration is just shot. The second one is even worse, which is either Sestak is lying or the administration has done something...

Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, have issued a scalding report on ACORN and the SEIU. The main thesis — that ACORN and SEIU are, operationally, in effect the same organization, an organization that illegally channels restricted money into political activity — is argued persuasively. The odds are vanishingly small that Eric Holder’s Justice Department, which could not be bothered to prosecute armed New Black Panther–party thugs brandishing weapons to scare off would-be voters, is going to do much about an organization at the heart of its boss’s political coalition and...

A GOP counter-delegation is forming to undermine the Obama administration's work on an international climate change agreement in Copenhagen, warning that the president is poised to make commitments he can't keep and drawing heightened attention to controversial leaked e-mails. A GOP counter-delegation is forming to undermine the Obama administration's work on an international climate change agreement in Copenhagen, warning that the president is poised to make commitments he can't keep and drawing heightened attention to controversial leaked e-mails. At least a half-dozen Republican senators and representatives are planning to head to Denmark next week, as part of the overall U.S....

Darrell Issa calls Climategate a convenient lie, faked science and compares it to Woodward and Bernstein's Deep Throat, he makes a good point...(Video)

Congressional Republicans have started investigating climate scientists whose hacked emails suggest they tried to squelch dissenting views about global warming. An aide to Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said investigators are studying the documents, which unknown hackers stole last week from the computer of a prominent British climate-research center. Investigators are focusing on the correspondence of White House Science Adviser John Holdren, he said. Dr. Holdren, a point man for the Obama administration on climate change, sent one of the hacked emails. In the 2003 email, Dr. Holdren,...

Oversight: After an unjust firing and campaign of character assassination, the former AmeriCorps inspector general has been cleared of acting improperly. Now where does he go to get his job and reputation back? On June 10, Gerald Walpin was fired with one hour's notice as the watchdog of AmeriCorps in violation of a federal law requiring Congress to be given a heads-up 30 days in advance. He then fell victim to a campaign of character assassination. When pressed for a reason for the sudden and improper dismissal of a federal watchdog, the White House responded with a letter to Sens....

One Republican's political action committee on Sunday suggested Democrats enticed former Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava with "favors" in return for her endorsement of the race's remaining Democratic challenger. In a fundraising pitch to supporters this afternoon, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) through IssaPAC railed on Scozzafava for choosing to support Bill Owens over Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate who effectively forced her out of the race on Saturday. Issa also called on Republicans to donate promptly to Hoffman's war chest so that the party writ large could "send a message to Barack Obama that he can't buy this election." "Just...