Government Executive - Authors - Alexandra Jaffe

Democratic senator: Deal with the fiscal cliff after the election

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:38:00 -0400

“The president accepts responsibility [for the ailing economy], but he also believes that we are on the right track," he said on CNN’s State of the Union. "Returning to the economic policies of the Bush administration, which Romney endorses, would plunge us back again into a recession situation.”

With his comments, Durbin attempted to counter the Republican line that Obama has failed to take responsibility for the economy and instead blames others, like George W. Bush. Yet he also said it was absolutely the responsibility of Congress to deal with the budget cuts and expiring tax cuts looming at the end of the year that many economists say will result in the U.S. economy falling off a “fiscal cliff.”

Durbin said that he was optimistic that the president and Congress could come together to create a solution, though probably not before the election.

“With the president's leadership, we can come together. There is a bipartisan answer here that will reduce the deficit and still create an environment for economic growth,” he said, though he didn’t offer specifics.

Durbin said that action before the election was unlikely because, “in the next 100 days before the election, the political environment is not one for compromise and negotiation.” He said that instead of trying to move legislation before Election Day, Congress should prepare to pass a plan immediately afterward.

“If we're prepared, the day after the election, to move forward with a plan that restores confidence in the economy and the ability of Congress to react to it, it's gonna be a positive thing for us. I think we can do it,” he said.]]>

Cheney offers views on veep search

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:47:20 -0400

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday offered his views on what's most important when it comes to a vice presidential search, queuing on some of the missteps that have been made in the past.

Cheney highlighted Sen. John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin in the 2008 race as a mistake. "That one I don’t think was well handled," he said in an interview with ABC's Jon Karl that will air on Monday.

Cheney said that any presidential nominee should consider the ability of a potential running mate to handle the office of the presidency, as well as the running mate's attractiveness to voters. Palin was widely considered a brilliant choice initially, as she provided a much-needed shot of enthusiasm into the Republican base, but later became a liability when she revealed her lack of knowledge on a range of foreign and domestic policies and issues.

Cheney said "one of the problems that McCain had" was just that: Palin served him well on the campaign trail, but wasn't ready for the presidency.

“I like Gov. Palin. I met her. I know her. She is an attractive candidate, but based on her background – she had only been governor for about two years – I don’t think she passed that test of being ready to take over," he said.

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Gun-control debate returns -- quietly

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:37:32 -0400

In the wake of the Colorado massacre that left 12 dead and 58 more injured, lawmakers sounded off on gun control, but little consensus was met and most seemed to feel that no concrete action would be taken despite the recent tragedy.

Even as emerging details indicate the gunman implicated in the tragedy had legally purchased at least six firearms, including a semiautomatic weapon, gun control remains a divisive issue in the U.S. The lawmaker who represents the district in which the massacre took place, Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, admitted that the conversation about gun control “really isn’t taking place” in Colorado, and said Congress should take up the problem.

“I think this is really a congressional issue that has to be dealt with. Should we reinstate the assault weapons ban? I think we should, and that’s where it starts,” he said on CBS' Face the Nation, referring to the 10-year assault weapons ban that was passed in 1994 but has since expired with little outcry.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein agreed on Fox News Sunday, saying that “weapons of war don’t belong on the streets.” But she admitted that now, in the middle of an election year and fights over looming tax increases and budget cuts, might not be the best time for such a debate.

“I think this is a bad time to brace a new subject, but there has been no action. There has been no action because there has been no outrage out there,” she said.

Feinstein added that part of the reason lawmakers were unwilling to take up the issue is because of reelection concerns: “The gun organizations go out to defeat people in states where they can,” she said. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., expressed the same sentiment on NBC’s Meet the Press, saying that while she’s not personally concerned about the National Rifle Association coming after her, other politicians lack “spine.”

“The thing of it is, as a politician, a lot of politicians know it's the right thing to try to fight for something to save lives. They don't have the spine anymore. They pander to who's giving them money,” she said.

However, the chorus of Democratic voices in favor of gun-control laws on Sunday didn’t overcome statements from various Republicans over the past few days in support of Second Amendment rights, a cry that was taken up again on Sunday by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. He insisted that the massacre had less to do with failed gun-control laws and more to do, simply, with the deranged act of a lone individual.

“This isn’t an issue about guns. This is just really an issue about sick, demented individuals,” he said on Fox News Sunday, adding that “it is a tragedy, and I don’t think there’s a solution here in Washington.”

Kelsey Snell contributed to this article.

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Video: Obama admits he failed to see job goes beyond policy

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:54:13 -0400

President Obama indicated he realizes he needs to do a bit more legwork when it comes to offering a vision for the future of America in an interview, admitting his main mistake in his first term was failing to inspire the public.

"The mistake of my first term – couple of years – was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times," he said, according to a transcript of an interview with CBS's Charlie Rose taped on Thursday to air on Sunday.

He added that during his second term he plans to spend "more time with the American people, listening to them and also then being in a conversation with them about where do we go together as a country."

Mitt Romney slammed Obama for his assertion that he needs to inspire Americans with a compelling story in a statement released on Thursday accusing Obama of failing to lead.

“President Obama believes that millions of Americans have lost their homes, their jobs and their livelihood because he failed to tell a good story. Being president is not about telling stories. Being president is about leading, and President Obama has failed to lead. No wonder Americans are losing faith in his presidency," he said.

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'We're not fishing,' Issa says of leak investigation

Coral Davenport and Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:00:46 -0400

Just days before the House is slated to vote on whether to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the Republican congressman leading the investigation against Holder defended his pursuit of further information and slammed President Obama for invoking executive privilege to withhold documents.

Last week, the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., held a vote finding Holder in contempt, and Issa said on Fox News Sunday that he expects a vote in the full House this week to yield the same result. If so, it would be the first time in history that either chamber has voted to hold a U.S. Attorney General in contempt.

Issa has led the months-long investigation into the gun-running operation known as fast and Furious, in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms funneled guns into Mexico in an attempt to track them to drug cartels. Many of the guns ended up being used in violent crimes, however, and at least one U.S. border patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed by a gun from the program.

Democrats have criticized Issa for his investigation, calling it a “fishing expedition” because it has yet to turn up evidence of a government cover up. But on Sunday, Issa defended the committee's work.

“No, we're not fishing, but you get testimony or whistle blowers and you ask for documents. You read the documents. Sometimes that leads you to more,” he said on ABC’s This Week.

Issa acknowledged that the program originally began under President George H.W. Bush, but he also noted that it had ended and was re-opened by the Obama administration.

“It started under Bush, was closed up under Bush, reopened under President Obama, and, in fact, got to be on steroids,” he said.

Last week, President Obama asserted executive privilege over a number of documents requested by Issa, to prevent him from receiving them, leading critics to wonder whether the move was intended to cover up vital information. However, the White House has said that the move was a matter of “principle” to uphold the separation of powers between Congress and the Executive branch.

Issa said that Obama was wrong to assert executive privilege, and he’ll be sending a letter to Obama this week “that breaks down the points of why the president's executive privilege claim is either overbroad or simply wrong.”

“Even the president -- and certainly all the agencies -- cannot hold back information related to covering up criminal activities or talking about them," he said on ABC. "That's what we're looking for here.”

However Issa conceded on Fox News Sunday that there is no evidence to date that the White House is involved in a cover-up.

Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said he hopes this week’s vote can be averted if House Speaker John Boehner sits down with Holder in the coming days. “I’m calling on speaker Boehner to come forth and show strong leadership and sit down with the attorney general,” Cummings said on Fox News Sunday.

That may be the outcome preferred by some moderate Republicans, who face attacks that the Holder flare-up is a political distraction from the issues most voters care about: jobs and the economy.

“It’s not a fight we want, we want to be on jobs,” Issa conceded on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We have those issues we’re working on. Some fights you pick, some come to you. In this case you’ll have some Republicans saying this is not a fight we want to do but we’re going to do it.”

Some Democrats also contend that the pressure on Holder comes because he has challenged Republican-backed state laws, including the controversial Arizona immigration law.

“This is why Republicans don't like Eric Holder, because he has challenged voter I.D. laws under the civil rights statutes as voter suppression rules that they are, because he has challenged the Arizona, you know, discriminatory immigration law, because he has refused to implement the discriminatory anti-marriage law,” said Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, speaking on ABC’s This Week.

The Supreme Court is expected to release a decision this week on whether or not to uphold Arizona’s tough immigration law.

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Rick Perry calls Obama's use of executive privilege 'Nixonian'

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 08:52:35 -0400

Texas Governor and former GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry accused President Obama of engaging in a “Nixonian” cover-up in connection with the botched gun sting operation known as Fast and Furious.

The operation has been the focus of a Republican-led investigation, which escalated this week when the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents. On Sunday, Perry drew a comparison between President Richard Nixon’s cover-up during the Watergate scandal and Obama’s use of executive privilege last week to protect the requested documents.

During the Fast and Furious operation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms funneled guns into Mexico in an attempt to track them to drug cartels. Many of the guns ended up being used in violent crimes, however, and at least one U.S. border patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed by a gun from the program.

“We've had over 300 Mexican nationals killed directly attributable to this Fast and Furious operation where they brought those guns into Mexico, and a former marine and a border patrol agent by the name of Brian Terry lost his life," Perry said on CBS’ Face the Nation. "I mean, with Watergate, you had a second-rate burglary. And now you have a president who is using his executive privilege to keep that information from Congress. If that's not Nixonian, then I don't know what it is."

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House Republican proposes one-year solution to fiscal cliff

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:48:00 -0400

"What I think we will do is to pass a piece of legislation that will continue the current tax policy for at least a year and send that to the Senate," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., on C-SPAN's Newsmakers.

Congress has only a few more months to come up with a plan to prevent the expiration of a number of tax measures which, if they were allowed to end, could severely impact the health of the U.S. economy. Furtive bipartisan meetings to craft a solution are underway, but Price offered an alternate plan -- one that has a dubious likelihood of succeeding, as the Democrat-led Senate routinely refuses to take up measures passed by the Republican House. This fact did not seem lost on Price.

"Let the Senate act. If the Senate does not agree with that, that's fine. We would call on them to act and not just to put it in the bottom drawer," he said.

But for the conservative Georgia Republican, the gridlock in Congress is not entirely the fault of lawmakers. He flipped Obama's argument against a do-nothing Congress on its head, arguing that Obama is, in fact, pushing obstruction on Senate leadership to prevent Congress from acting.

"My sense is the president is not encouraging Senator [Majority Leader Harry] Reid to actually be productive. That they're just waiting until the election occurs" to get anything done, he said.

And in contrast to claims from Obama that the Republicans are the root cause of that gridlock and are trying to bar Obama's agenda from getting passed to hurt his reelection prospects, Price said that what might hurt Obama more is if Congress is able to move forward with legislation this fall.

"It's important to appreciate that the president has a narrative out there that congress cannot get anything done and that's why he needs to be reelected. So if you think about it, if Congress get something done --which requires the president to help -- then it harms his narrative," he said.

While Price suggested there was a plan in the works to prevent the fiscal cliff, he offered no clear pathway forward on health care reform, though he did say Republicans would like to see the entire thing repealed if the Supreme Court does not rule it unconstitutional this month.

"It's important for the American people to appreciate that we believe the whole thing ought to be repealed. We believe that there are wonderful solutions to fix the challenges that don't require putting Washington in charge," he said.

Some of those solutions include cracking down on frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits to bring the price of care down, but Price said Republicans would first have to look at what "disruptions" to coverage exist before they can suggest a concrete plan.

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Florida sues DHS in effort to purge voter rolls

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:00:00 -0400

The suit accuses DHS of failing to provide the state with access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program database to verify the citizenship of suspected illegal immigrants on Florida’s voter rolls. Florida has been working off of its Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department information over the past year to purge its voter rolls of suspected illegal immigrants, but the data can be out of date or incorrect.

“We can’t let the federal government delay our efforts to uphold the integrity of Florida elections any longer. We’ve filed a lawsuit to ensure the law is carried out and we are able to meet our obligation to keep the voter rolls accurate and current,” Detzner said in a statement.

Detzner indicated that access to the SAVE database would solve this documentation problem, but that DHS had failed to respond to a year of repeated requests for access, violating federal law. He cites a September 2011 briefing that states that the “[Illegal Immigration Reform and immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996] provides for customer agencies to use SAVE for any legal purpose, such as credentials, background investigations, and voter registration.” But a letter issued by U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez to Detzner on Monday points out that the SAVE database can only be used if Florida can provide unique identifiers, like alien registration numbers or certificate numbers found on immigration-related documents.

"But Florida has failed either to provide the necessary information to DHS, or to confirm that the necessary information would be available for verification purposes under the SAVE Program," Perez writes.

DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said his department does not comment on pending litigation.

Florida’s push to purge its voter rolls of undocumented voters has sparked fierce criticism from activists and the Obama administration, with the Justice Department issuing a letter to the Florida State Department on May 31 asserting the state’s practices are in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act and requesting they stop. Florida declined to comply with the request, and Perez in his Monday letter asked Florida to “please immediately cease this unlawful conduct.”

“As one would expect with a new program that has not previously been tested against real-world information, your program has critical imperfections, which lead to errors that harm and confuse eligible voters. Especially where the program is based on information collected sometimes years ago from driver’s license applications, the information is often going to be outdated, as a number of persons will subsequently have become citizens and lawfully registered to vote,” Perez wrote in the letter.

Perez added that, “because the State has indicated its unwillingness to comply with these requirements, I have authorized the initiation of an enforcement action against Florida in federal court.”

Upon Detzner’s announcement of the suit, a number of activist organizations, including left-leaning MoveOn and the Florida branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed outrage. Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, called the purge “a colossal nightmare” in a statement, and MoveOn issued a petition calling for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to stop the state's efforts.

Florida is likely to be one of a handful of states to decide the outcome of the November elections, and a Miami Herald report that Democrats, Hispanics, and independents are more likely to be targeted by the purge than whites and Republicans has caused some critics to accuse Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, of playing politics by attempting to dampen turnout among some of President Obama's core supporters.

But on Fox News on Monday, Scott stood by the effort, framing it as necessary to having "fair, honest elections" in Florida.

“I have a job to do to defend the right of legitimate voters,” he said.

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Report: Four Secret Service agents contesting dismissals

Alexandra Jaffe — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:08:00 -0400

Four Secret Service agents implicated in the agency's scandal in Colombia last month and subsequently dismissed from their positions are now fighting their dismissals, insisting they broke no rules, The Washington Post reports.

Twelve agents were implicated in reports of misconduct during their advance work for President Obama's visit to Cartagena with women who were confirmed, in some cases, as prostitutes. Three of those agents have since been cleared of serious charges, and four are now fighting their dismissals, according to the Post.

Citing three officials briefed on the investigation into the agents' misconduct, the paper reports that one of the agents, a 29-year-old single man who worked in the Washington field office, said during a polygraph exam that he did not know he had taken prostitutes back to his room and asked the two women to leave when they asked to be paid. He resigned under pressure from the agency, but has since withdrawn his resignation. Another two unnamed agents are challenging their dismissals, as well as a fourth, agency supervisor Greg Stokes.

The Post report is likely to come up during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday, at which Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan will testify on "restoring trust and confidence" in the agency.

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Obama awards Medal of Honor posthumously

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:00:00 -0400

More than 40 years after U.S. Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo Jr. was first recommended for the nation’s highest military honor, President Obama awarded him the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House on Wednesday.

Sabo, then 22 years old, lost his life during a Vietnam War ambush in 1970 in Se San, Cambodia, during which he saved a fellow soldier’s life by shielding him with his body, continued fighting despite injuries and “saved the lives of many of his platoon members” that day, according to the White House. The paperwork for his honor had been lost for decades until, in 1999, another veteran and fellow fighter in the 101st Airborne Division found the paperwork while researching an article at the National Archives. He recruited Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., to finally get Sabo officially recognized.

Both of Sabo's parents have passed away, but his widow and brother were at the White House to receive the medal.

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Congressional homeland security leaders pessimistic on Afghanistan

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:38:00 -0400

In the wake of news that an Afghan peacemaker was killed in Kabul on Sunday, top lawmakers on Congressional homeland security panels struck a pessimistic tone about the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, warning that the Taliban is clearly not interested in negotiation.

“They're not interested in genuine peace talks,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, on CNN’s State of the Union. “I mean, we have been reintegrating lower-level Taliban who have come back over to the side of the Afghan national security forces over the last couple of years, but the people at the top of the Taliban, in my opinion, are not interested in reconciliation.”

Lieberman said that this and other incidents have made it “obvious they don’t want peace right now,” but insisted the only way to get the Taliban to honestly engage in peace talks is to “continue to put pressure” on the organization.

Lieberman’s counterpart in the House, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., struck the same pessimistic tone and worried that the set date for withdrawal from Afghanistan was hurting the U.S. effort.

“Quite frankly, I think we should not be giving these target dates for getting out, but apparently that is set now,” he said. “It just shows again how tough Afghanistan is, that we shouldn't be leaving prematurely, and there's a lot of work on the ground that has to be done, and it's a very dangerous place in the world.”

Both lawmakers are in opposition to public opinion, with Americans widely dissatisfied with the war in Afghanistan and the latest poll showing a majority do not support the war. Incidents like Sunday’s killing of a peacemaker, however, underscore the danger inherent in leaving the country before Afghans are ready to take over their own security.

The lawmakers did, however, have positive words for the U.S. intelligence and homeland security efforts. Speaking of foiled bomb plot involving a U.S. airliner last week, King said that the effort marked an “almost unparalleled penetration of the enemy.”

Lieberman said that, now that U.S. officials have been able to examine the bomb, they’ll be adjusting security accordingly, but that the Transportation Security Administration would likely have caught it anyway.

“The odds are pretty good that our systems, multi-layered as they are, would have detected this device before the individual carrying it could have gotten on a plane,” he said.

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CIA reportedly foils al Qaeda underwear bomb plot

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:57:59 -0400

The CIA foiled an al Qaeda-backed bomb plot out of Yemen, the Associated Press reported on Monday, that aimed to take down an airplane headed for the U.S.

The attack was planned around last week's anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, and the suicide bomber planned to use an upgraded version of the underwear bomb that failed during an attempted attack on Christmas in 2009. The FBI is currently investigating the bomb to better understand whether airport security measures would have caught it before it could reach a plane. Though the bomb contains no metal, meaning it would make it through a metal detector, it's unclear whether the controversial full-body scanners would reveal it.

The Associated Press said the bomb is suspected to have been made by Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, one of al Qaeda's top bomb makers who also constructed the first underwear bomb.

Though the AP learned about the incident last week, the organization agreed not to publish the information due to security concerns. However, they published on Monday in spite of requests from the White House to hold off until the official announcement, to take place on Tuesday.

At the White House, Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said President Obama was informed about the plot in April by his counterterror adviser John Brennan and received regular updates.

"While the president was assured that the device did not pose a threat to the public, he directed the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement and intelligence agencies to take whatever steps necessary to guard against this type of attack," Hayden said. "The disruptions of this IED plot underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad."

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Congressional intelligence leaders say Taliban is stronger

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:23:00 -0400

Despite a years-long war and concerted efforts to bring down the Taliban, congressional intelligence leaders agree that the organization is stronger now.

“President Karzai believes that the Taliban will not come back. I am not so sure,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on CNN’s State of the Union.

Feinstein’s words come in stark contrast to those of President Obama last week. Speaking from Kabul, Afghanistan, the president lauded U.S. accomplishments in Afghanistan and said that “we broke the Taliban’s momentum.” Feinstein said she and her counterpart in the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chair of the House Intelligence Committee, felt differently.

“I think we'd both say that what we've found is the Taliban is stronger,” she said.

Feinstein and Rogers recently returned from a trip to Afghanistan, where they met with senior military officials and Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss the U.S. mission there in the face of increasing incidents of misconduct by U.S. troops and backlash by Afghanis. Feinstein said that recent incidents – including, most recently, the killing of a NATO soldier by a man in an Afghan uniform – had hurt the U.S. mission.

“I think there is damage, there’s no question about that. There's damage to our integrity, there's damage to the military, and there's damage to our mission,” she said.

She also said, however, that the Afghan leadership made it clear that they want continued U.S. involvement.

Rogers, however, said that while U.S. policies in the past may have hurt the effort there, he saw no option other than defeating the Taliban, adding that perhaps the U.S. should work more closely with Pakistan to root out safe havens for terrorist groups in that state.

“Maybe the policies or the announced date of withdrawal, the negotiations with the Taliban, have worked against what our end game is here,” he said. “If we don’t get to that calculation, for a strategic defeat of the Taliban, you're not going to get to the place where you can rest assured you can come home and a safe haven does not reestablish itself.”

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Senator wants 'open and transparent' White House review of Colombia incident

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:05:04 -0400

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is satisfied with the Secret Service response to his inquiries about alleged misconduct of Secret Service agents in Colombia, but wants a better response from the White House.

In an April 20 letter to Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and Inspector General Charles Edwards, Grassley asked about additional details concerning overnight visitors and the involvement of White House communications and advance staff. Grassley has been one of the most outspoken lawmakers on the issue, which implicated 12 Secret Service members and 12 military service members in alleged misconduct during their stay in advance of President Obama's visit to Cartagena, Colombia last month. Just last week, Grassley said on CBS's This Morning he expects officials to be held accountable, and called for an independent investigation into the proceedings.

"You know nothing's changed in Washington if heads don't roll," he said.

Sullivan's May 1 answer to Grassley's letter said that, as far as the agency was aware, the agents involved had not leaked sensitive information. Grassley released a redacted version of Sullivan's response today.

"The Secret Service has no information to suggest that sensitive information was compromised during the Colombia trip," it says, but cautions that "we would defer to the Department of
Defense and the White House on matters related to their respective personnel."

The letter also reveals that the investigation, still under way, found that only one of the officers had an overnight guest -- a significant detail, as Grassley and other lawmakers have raised the possibility of overnight guests potentially drawing sensitive information out of agents and compromising the president's security.

Sullivan has briefed lawmakers on the ongoing investigation over the past few weeks, and Grassley said in a statement that he "appreciate[s] the Secret Service's transparency in response to Congress." But as Sullivan was unable to answer most of his questions surrounding White House personnel, Grassley said he was still hoping for more information from the White House.

"Since the Secret Service did not request the records of the White House personnel, an open and transparent response from the President's Counsel is even more imperative," he said. "Unfortunately, more than a week after my inquiry, I've yet to hear from anybody at the White House."

An internal investigation at the White House revealed, according to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, "no indication of any inappropriate behavior or misconduct" by White House staff.

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Postmaster general says Congress must act

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:52:32 -0400

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned on Sunday that Postal Service finances are so dire that Congress should act in the next few weeks.

“We would love to be in a situation where we had meaningful legislation by the end of May,” he said on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers. "I know that is a big ask."

The issue remains mired in Congressional conflict. Though the Senate passed a Postal Service reform bill on Wednesday with a 62-37 vote, the legislation has drawn fire from House Republicans and Postal Service advocates alike.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., called the bill “wholly unacceptable,” according to CNN Money, and has offered his own bill, which is starkly different from the Senate version. If the House passes his bill – and its prospects are still unclear – lawmakers would have to reconcile the two.

Meanwhile, Congress does have a deadline for action: May 15. That’s the day a moratorium on Post Office closures will expire, at which point the Postal Service could begin to shutter some of its smaller offices and reduce its service, which could ultimately result in layoffs and potential service disruptions. But Donahoe sought to alleviate worries that such an outcome would be immediate.

"Our date of the 15th is not a date that we're gonna make all kinds of changes. It's never been inteded to be a shutdown date for anything. The idea of the network changes is this: we will go very slow and methodically,” he said. The restructuring might happen over the next few months, he said, but would be paused to accommodate the high mail volume during holidays.

Donahoe said, however, that a solution must be found soon. The Postal Service, he said, is losing $25 million a day.

“We do not have years," he said. "You can see we're losing three and four, five billion dollars a year."

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'We're on the path to al Qaeda's destruction,' terrorism adviser says

Fawn Johnson and Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:47:35 -0400

President Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, took to the airwaves on Sunday to ensure the American people that they are safe from terrorist attacks.

“We’re on the path to al Qaeda’s destruction,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union. “It’s a murderous organization that has killed many. …We are determined to make sure that organization is destroyed.”

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the United States’ assassination of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, which was ordered by Obama.

Already, questions have surfaced as to whether Obama is playing politics with the issue, after his campaign aired an ad suggesting that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney might not have made the same decision. Brennan wouldn't go there.

“I don’t do politics. I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. What I know is that President Obama made the decision that in fact brought bin Laden to justice,” he said. It was a bold decision because much of the evidence about bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan was circumstantial, he added. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, he called it “a gutsy call.”

Brennan acknowledged on CNN that “we still have work to do” on the counter-terrorism front. He said the U.S. government is working closely with the Pakistan government to ferret out terrorist cells there, and also has a strong presence in Yemen.

“We have reduced significantly their ability to carry out attacks over the homeland,” Brennan said of al Qaeda. “We have taken apart their infrastructure.”

Brennan also wouldn’t be pinned down on when Guantanamo Bay might be closed, as Obama had promised at the beginning of his administration. “We've had some dealings with Congress, and Congress has not made this easy,” he said “I’m hoping one day the people in Guantanamo will no longer be there.”

CNN host Candy Crowley waited until the end of the interview to ask about the Secret Service and whether the recent scandal signals to terrorists that they have a new way to get to the president.

Brennan said the White House took speedy action to address the incident, in which several Secret Service officers allegedly solicited the company of ladies for pay. (Obama joked at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday that he had to get the Secret Service home for their new curfew.)

“I think it’s demonstration to the world that we’re going to take the corrective actions,” Brennan said. “There are not going to be ways to penetrate that security that surrounds the president.”

Brennan said of Fox that though his team has received “no credible reporting” that there’s a retaliatory plot in the works surrounding the anniversary of bin Laden’s death, they’ll be on high alert.

“We are not going to let down our guard and we are going to stay extra vigilant, in fact, during this period of time,” he said.

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Clinton, Obama discuss bin Laden killing

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:39:59 -0400

Is Hillary Clinton watching the killing of Osama bin Laden or a Hollywood blockbuster? Just looking at her face, you might not know.

"That's the way I usually look when my husband drags me to an action movie," she said during an interview with NBC's Brian Williams to be aired on Wednesday. Clinton was referring to a now-famous photo depicting Obama and his advisers in the White House Situation Room, watching the raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan that resulted in his death, which took place a year ago this week.

"It was just an extraordinary experience and a great privilege to be part of," Clinton said.

Obama recalled that the photo was taken at a harrowing part of the mission, when the helicopter transporting the Navy SEALs to bin Laden's compound was having problems.

"There's silence, at this point, inside the room," he said.

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Public opinion of federal government at 15-year low

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:35:27 -0400

Public opinion of the federal government is at a 15-year low, with only a third of Americans viewing it favorably, according to a new Pew survey. Sixty-two percent view it unfavorably.

Of possible concern for President Obama is a 9-percentage-point drop in the public's opinion of the federal government since he took office. Three years ago, 61 percent of Democrats viewed the federal government favorably, and that number has dropped to 51 percent today, perhaps reflecting dissatisfaction with Obama's failure to deliver on a number of campaign promises.

But not all government is bad government in the public's view. The survey shows that a majority of Americans view their state and local governments positively. Fifty-two percent of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of their state government, and an even higher percentage, 61 percent, view their local governments favorably.

But state governments are not considered wise stewards of public money and are seen as too partisan, the poll found. Fifty-six percent said their state government isn't careful with people's money, and 53 percent said it is too divided along party lines. But while state governments aren't considered corrupt by a majority of respondents, 54 percent of respondents said the federal government is mostly corrupt.

Pew surveyed 1,514 adults nationwide between April 4-15; the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percent.

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Lawmakers weigh in on GSA, Secret Service scandals

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:27:00 -0400

The Secret Service and General Services Administration scandals are two very disparate situations -- one revolves around sex, the other around lavish spending. But it’s no coincidence that both took center stage on Sunday's political talk shows, as both indicate a government lacking oversight, characterized by a culture of autonomy run amok.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., was an outspoken critic of both organizations. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, he’ll have a large say in deciding what role Congress will have in addressing the issues. He characterized both the Secret Service scandal, which has implicated 12 agents in misconduct with prostitutes while preparing for Obama’s recent visit to Colombia, and the GSA's excessive spending as problems with the ethic of the organizations.

"From what we know of what was happening in Cartagena, they were not acting like Secret Service agents, they were acting like a bunch of college students away on spring weekend," he said on Fox News Sunday.

And he wondered if the GSA was similarly flouting regulations.

“They have had a tradition of having each of their regions have a lot of autonomy. That autonomy was clearly abused in Region Nine. I want to make sure it's not happening in other regions, and never happens again in region nine,” Lieberman said.

Though former Secret Service Director Ralph Basham said that the Secret Service misconduct was an "aberration," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, gave voice to widespread murmurs that the events in Cartagena, Colombia, were indicative of a wider problem in the culture of the agency.

"Obviously, nobody believes that something with 11 or 12 people involved couldn't have happened before," Issa said on NBC’s Meet the Press. "The real point is will we have confidence that it will never happen again, particularly for nationals having access to our men and women in the Secret Service."

Regardless of whether the incident was one of many, lawmakers said one such event is enough to hurt the agency’s reputation to a dangerous degree.

"It's not only important that you be excellent, but we also don't want people to even imagine that they can pierce the shield of the Secret Service," said Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., on CNN's State of the Union.

Lawmakers did seem to find a contrast between the GSA scandal and the Secret Service scandal in terms of accountability. Most absolved the Obama administration of responsibility for the Secret Service misconduct, with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., saying he’s “not critical of what the administration has done” to address the issue and multiple lawmakers commending Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan for his handling of the situation.

But numerous lawmakers said the responsibility for GSA overspending does fall on Obama’s shoulders.

“In the case of GSA, the administration clearly bears responsibility, because the head of that agency received an alert from the inspector general way last year that there were problems, and took no action,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' ranking Republican, said on ABC’s This Week. “The president is responsible in that case.”

Lieberman, however, made a distinction between the president being held responsible for the events and being held accountable. He said that while the incidents weren’t Obama’s fault, it’s up to Obama to deal with them properly.

“The buck stops at the president's desk. He's the leader of our government. He now has to be acting with a kind of relentless determination to find out exactly what happened, and to make sure that people who work for him at the Secret Service and GSA and everywhere else in the government don't let anything like this happen again,” he said.

Lieberman didn't say how Obama should do that, although he did say that a suggestion by his colleague Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that the White House launch an internal investigation, was a good one.

Missing from the conversation was a definite path forward. Lawmakers called for further investigations into both scandals, with Lieberman saying the GSA Inspector General should look at all ten GSA regions, not just the one in which the overspending occurred. But with those investigations still underway, the outcome is unclear.

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Gingrich Secret Service detail still costing taxpayers

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:26:29 -0400

Though Newt Gingrich has admitted that Mitt Romney is the likely Republican nominee, the former House speaker is still costing taxpayers thousands for his Secret Security detail, which his campaign will not give up, the Daily Caller reports.

In 2008, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testified at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that protection for Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton cost around $38,000 each at the time. Gingrich has at least three, but sometimes many more, agents protecting him on the trail, the Daily Caller reported.

But Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said the campaign has "no plans to change our relationship with the Secret Service," and that Gingrich should be allowed protection because he qualified for it in March.

“It’s not a waste of money,” Hammond said. “Going out and protecting candidates and making sure they can pursue their candidacy in an election without harm -- that’s exactly what we want to go on in this country.”

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Three Secret Service agents leave amid scandal

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:02:00 -0400

Three Secret Service agents are leaving the agency amid the scandal that unfolded in Colombia over the weekend, news media reported on Wednesday.

One agent was allowed to retire, one was "removed for cause," and the other resigned, CBS News reported. The other eight agents remain on administrative leave.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, a woman who says she engaged with the Secret Service agents accused of misconduct in Colombia said the agents were "very discreet" and didn't tell her why they were there, The New York Times reported.

In an interview with The Times, the woman, who said she quarreled with a Secret Service agent who refused to pay her, revealed that she had not known he worked with President Obama. She said she had asked him for $800 for her services, but by the next morning, the agent shirked on the deal, offering her instead the equivalent of about $30.

After a brief dispute during which the man called her an expletive, she left, running into a police offer on her way out. The woman -- whose account, The Times said, could not be independently verified -- was escorted back to the room, where a conflict escalated until agents gave her about $225 in U.S. and Colombian currency, and she left.

The woman's account adds a new level of detail to the expanding scandal surrounding 11 Secret Service agents and 10 U.S. military members who were accused of misconduct with as many as 21 women in Cartagena, Colombia, while preparing for Obama's recent visit there. The agents allegedly involved were immediately sent home and had their security clearances revoked, and the Secret Service and U.S. military are conducting investigations.

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Woman involved in Secret Service misconduct interviewed

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:35:00 -0400

A woman engaged with the Secret Service agents accused of misconduct in Columbia said the agents were "very discreet" and didn't tell her why they were there, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

In an interview with The Times, the woman who quarreled with a Secret Service agent who refused to pay her revealed that she had not known he worked with President Obama. She said she had asked him for $800 for her services, but by the next morning, the agent shirked on the deal, offering her instead the equivalent of about $30.

After a brief dispute during which the man called her an expletive, she left, running into a police offer on her way out. The woman -- whose account, The Times said, could not be independently verified -- was escorted back to the room, where a conflict escalated until agents gave her about $225 in U.S. and Colombian currency, and she left.

The woman's account adds a new level of detail to the expanding scandal surrounding 11 Secret Service agents and 10 U.S. military members who were accused of misconduct with as many as 21 women in Cartagena, Colombia, while preparing for Obama's recent visit there. The agents allegedly involved were immediately sent home and had their security clearances revoked, and the Secret Service and U.S. military are conducting investigations.

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Obama 'has confidence' in Secret Service chief

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:05:00 -0400

President Obama remains confident in the director of the Secret Service, who is investigating the alleged misconduct of 11 Secret Service members and 10 U.S. military service members during their stay in Colombia, the White House said on Tuesday.

Speaking to a group of reporters, White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president is being continuously updated on the investigation into the misconduct, but that he trusts Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to carry out that work.

“The president has confidence in the director of the Secret Service. Director Sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident and is overseeing an investigation as we speak into the matter,” Carney said, according to a transcript released by the White House.

Carney could not give a timeline on the investigation, and he declined to comment on the potential repercussions for the Secret Service Agency until the investigation is complete. He did, however, say that the president would be “angry” if “it turns out that some of the reported allegations are true.”

“The president made clear in his public comments to those of you who were with us in Cartagena that he believes that all of us who travel abroad represent our country and the people of the United States, and that we need to behave with the utmost -- the highest levels of integrity and probity,” Carney said.

Eleven Secret Service agents were sent home from their preparation work for Obama’s visit to Cartagena due to allegations that they engaged with prostitutes. The Associated Press reports that at least 20 women could have been involved in the incident, although the men under investigation have differing explanations of what roles these women played. The Secret Service agents involved have since lost their security clearances and are currently on administrative leave.

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Dempsey: 'We let the boss down' in Colombia

Yochi J. Dreazen and Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:32:41 -0400

The nation's top military officer apologized on Monday for American troops' alleged role in a widening sex scandal in Colombia, acknowledging that the flap had "distracted" from President Obama's visit to the key Latin American ally.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the military was "embarrassed" that at least five troops may have joined Secret Service agents in hiring prostitutes there.

"We let the boss down," Dempsey said.

Dempsey's comments come as the number of service members implicated in the incident may rise, as Pentagon press secretary George Little said on Monday that while he didn't have an exact number, the original number may be too low. The U.S. Southern Command had previously said only five service members were under investigation.

"We believe that there may be more than five involved in this incident," Little said, according to the Associated Press.

Eleven Secret Service officers have been accused of hiring prostitutes at a hotel in Columbia, all of whom were sent home, and the military members under investigation were staying at the same hotel, the Associated Press reports.

However, the number of Secret Service officers under investigation may be as large as 20, NBC is reporting.

The incident has raised questions about the judgement of the agents charged with protecting Obama and it is being investigated by both the Secret Service and the military's Southern Command.

Dempsey said the troops would be punished if the probe concluded that they'd violated military rules.

"We'll hold those accountable if it turns out that they violated orders or policies," he said.

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Leaving Afghanistan early would 'set the stage for another 9/11,' ambassador says

Alexandra Jaffe, National Journal — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:44:58 -0400

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said that Sunday's attacks on Western embassies in Afghanistan are evidence that the U.S. should continue its mission there and not withdraw early, despite growing public aversion to the war.

"Attacks like this demonstrate why we need to be here," he said on CNN's State of the Union. "To get out before the Afghans have a full grip on security, which is a couple of years out, would be to invite the Taliban and Al Qaeda back in and set the stage for another 9/11 and that, I think, is an unacceptable risk."

The Taliban attacked seven different sites in Kabul on Sunday, including NATO bases, the parliament and western embassies, the Associated Press reports. Similar attacks occurred simultaneously in three other cities. The U.S. embassy is currently under lockdown, but Crocker said that the lockdown will soon be lifted because the Afghan security forces "pretty much have the situation under control now."

Crocker praised the Afghan security forces, saying they're making "progress."

"We've seen a very professional performance by Afghan security forces. They are able to deal with events like this on their own -- a clear sign of progress," he said.

Though the Taliban claims this is the beginning of a larger series of attacks, Crocker dismissed such a possibility, saying that the Taliban is likely not "good enough" to carry out a wider series of attacks.

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