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Several House Republicans are demanding Speaker Nancy Pelosi answer questions about her actions and what she knew before the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She's not answering. Instead her office issued a statement accusing the Republicans of trying to "deflect" responsibility for the violence away from President Trump, who was acquitted last week on a charge that he incited an insurrection. House Administration Committee Ranking Member Rodney Davis, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes sent a letter to Pelosi asking why a request...

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley (in tan jacket) leads a protest earlier this month. About 250 Federal workers massed in Federal Plaza in Manhattan May 7 to protest the sequester cuts. (The Chief) This explains things… President Obama met with anti-Tea Party IRS union chief Colleen Kelly in the White House the day before the agency targeted Tea Party. The Spectator reported: “For me, it’s about collaboration.” — National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley on the relationship between the anti-Tea Party IRS union and the Obama White House Is President Obama directly implicated in the IRS scandal?...

In an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, the incoming House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) teamed up with Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, to write that the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases "represents an unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs -- unless Congress steps in." Upton and Phillips complain that EPA -- despite the regulatory power given to it in 2007 under a Supreme Court interpretation of the Clean Air Act -- should await the outcome of further litigation about the...

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a timetable on Thursday for issuing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries, signaling a resolve to press ahead on such regulation even as it faces stiffening opposition in Congress. The agency said it would propose performance standards for new and refurbished power plants next July, with final rules to be issued in May 2012. Proposed emissions standards for new oil refineries will be published next December, it said, with the final rules due in November 2012; rules for existing plants would come later. But the E.P.A. was vague on how...

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will seize authority from Texas to regulate major emitters of greenhouse gases because Gov. Rick Perry and state regulators refused to implement the rules. The move caps a long dispute between Texas and the EPA, which have clashed over the Obama administration's push to regulate industrial sources of carbon dioxide emissions. State officials complain the rules will unfairly punish Texas and its energy-hungry industries when they take effect Jan. 2. While the EPA makes the rules, states implement most of the requirements of the Clean Air Act. The most likely practical effect...

GREEN MAKE BELIEVE: Van Jones Admits Left is “PRETENDING” Need for Regulations And Cap & Trade in Green Movement http://www.theblaze.com/stories/green-make-believe-van-jones-admits-left-is-pretending-need-for-regulations-and-cap-trade-in-green-movement/

Environmental groups and industry seem headed for another battle over regulation of greenhouse gases, as President Barack Obama said he will look for ways to control global warming pollution other than Congress placing a ceiling on it. "Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way," Obama said at a news conference Wednesday, a day after Democrats lost control of the House. "I'm going to be looking for other means to address this problem." Legislation putting a limit on heat-trapping greenhouse gases and then allowing companies to buy and sell pollution permits under that...

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department said Tuesday it was awarding $575 million for carbon capture research-and-development projects in 15 states. The experimental technique involves storing carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants and other sources underground, in an attempt to reduce pollution blamed for contributing to global warming. "This is a major step forward in the fight to reduce carbon emissions from industrial plants," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "These new technologies will not only help fight climate change, they will create jobs now and help position the United States to lead the world in clean coal technologies, which will only...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) conceded her primary race Tuesday night. And despite the crowing from the enviro left and the climate-skeptic right, this is bad news. Covering energy issues, I've often disagreed with Murkowski and her staff, particularly on whether the Environmental Protection Agency should have the authority to regulate carbon emissions. But she is one of the last few Republicans in Congress who favors addressing climate change robustly. She has even -- in her tortured, elected-from-a-deep-red-state way -- favored putting a price on carbon emissions, a rational policy that the rest of her party has demagogued to death with...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration called for "fundamental change" at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but a long, politically explosive debate lies ahead on the future of the bailed-out mortgage finance giants and U.S. housing policy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday raised basic questions with housing industry leaders about the U.S. government's long-standing role in subsidizing and supporting the $10.7 trillion housing market. "It is not tenable to leave in place the system we have today," Geithner said at a conference hosted by the Treasury Department almost two years after the government seized Fannie Mae and Freddie...

On July 29, EPA denied 10 petitions challenging its 2009 determination that climate change is real, is occurring due to emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities, and threatens human health and the environment. The petitions to reconsider EPA’s Endangerment Finding claim that climate science cannot be trusted, and assert a conspiracy that invalidates the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. After months of serious consideration of the petitions and of the state of climate change science, EPA finds no evidence to support these...

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) suggested a novel use Saturday for a 100-square-mile ice sheet that has broken off Greenland. “An iceberg four times the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland, creating plenty of room for global warming deniers to start their own country," Markey said in a statement. “So far, 2010 has been the hottest year on record, and scientists agree arctic ice is a canary in a coal mine that provides clear warnings on climate." Some scientists have attributed the breaking off of the ice sheet to abnormally warm temperatures this year. Markey, who chairs the Select Committee...

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said yesterday he has “no regrets” about his role in helping a troubled Boston bank qualify for a $12 million federal bailout now at the center of ethics charges against California Rep. Maxine Waters. In fact, Frank - chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee - says he never helped OneUnited at the behest of Waters, whose husband had served on the bank’s board. Instead, the Bay State congressman said he worked to promote the bailout at the request of scandal-plagued then-state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson. “I was already working on behalf of OneUnited, I was...

Last week we learned the Senate would not proceed with comprehensive climate and energy legislation to solve the climate crisis before the August recess. As I said in my statement, “The need to solve the climate crisis and transition to clean energy has never been more clear. The oil is still washing up on the shores of the Gulf Coast and we’ve just experienced the hottest six months on record. Our troops are fighting and dying in the Middle East and our economy is still struggling to produce jobs. I continue to urge the President to provide leadership on this...

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank caused a scene when he demanded a $1 senior discount on his ferry fare to Fire Island's popular gay haunt, The Pines, last Friday. Frank was turned down by ticket clerks at the dock in Sayville because he didn't have the required Suffolk County Senior Citizens ID.

Kerry irritated by yacht questions By: Andy Barr July 27, 2010 01:02 PM EDT Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) seemed to grow frustrated on Monday by ongoing questions of whether he paid the proper taxes on his $7 million yacht. “There is nothing more to say about it,” Kerry curtly told a gaggle of Massachusetts reporters as he tried to get into a car on Monday. A video of the interaction was posted online by Boston-area WBZ-TV. The yacht became a local issue over the weekend after the Boston Herald reported on Friday that Kerry was docking his new family boat...

The Washington Post Sunday edition had the headline, “Battle Looms on Tax Breaks: Bush-Era Cuts for Rich at Issue.” There is definitely a fight brewing on Capitol Hill as the Bush Tax Cuts near an end and the Obama administration is looking at sticking it to the rich with tax hikes. You would think that the Bush Tax cuts were only for the rich as you listen to the debate. What I propose is that the rich and powerful actually pay their taxes and stop using loopholes, shelters, and deceit. Senator John Kerry is docking his built in New Zealand...

The controversy came up following a report that Kerry moored the multi-million dollar yacht in Rhode Island , rather than the Bay State to save on sales tax. Today from Fox 24 Boston: Reporter: "Senator, you gonna pay those taxes back?" Former VP candidate Kerry (who served in Vietnam): "We've always payed our taxes, we said we'd pay our taxes...it's not an issue, period."...

Energy Policy: Senate Democrats have shelved job-killing cap-and-trade legislation, at least for now. Neither the political nor the Earth's climate suggests it's a good time to try to fool Mother Nature or the American people. After a Thursday meeting with Senate Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has apparently dropped plans to pursue cap-and-trade before the August recess. He doesn't have the votes to overcome a GOP filibuster, and saving the earth from a phantom threat stands way below jobs on Americans' wish list. But watch out after November. "What he suggested is that we move forward on several bills...