The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary demanded on Tuesday to know why a “total breakdown in cooperation between local and federal law enforcement” occurred, and authorities let violent illegal alien Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez roam the streets of a sanctuary city instead of deporting him. Read More
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is seeking details on the immigration and criminal background of an alleged murderer and why he was never deported following prior arrests or convictions. Just five days after being released from custody following a firearm-related conviction, Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez allegedly raped, tortured and murdered Marilyn Pharis in Santa Maria, Calif. Media Reports indicate that Martinez is in the country illegally and was able to avoid deportation, despite numerous prior violent criminal activities and encounters with law enforcement dating back to 2009, because of a combination of breakdowns at the local, state and federal levels. Read More
As pressure builds on Hillary Clinton to explain her official use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, she faced new complications Tuesday. It was disclosed her top aides are being drawn into a burgeoning federal inquiry and that two emails on her private account have been classified as “Top Secret.” The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications - more sensitive than previously known. Read More
A quirk in the law means the IRS will never be able to recoup nearly $350 million in overpayments on Obamacare tax credits last year, and one top senator says he is worried that fraudsters will exploit the loophole to wring more cash out of the government. Most customers in the health care law’s insurance exchanges get taxpayer-funded subsidies to help cover their premiums, and the amount is based on their expected earnings. At the end of the year, they are supposed to square their anticipated earnings with what they actually made. Because most exchange members received higher incomes — through promotions or better jobs — they have to repay the IRS. The Affordable Care Act sets a cap on the top repayment amount, so consumers don’t get sticker shock at tax time. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who has emerged as a key watchdog on Obamacare, said some exchange customers could intentionally misestimate their earnings, breach the cap and then avoid having to pay it all back. Read More
WASHINGTON—Less than six months ago, Sen. Chuck Grassley put down a marker for his colleagues: He vowed not to let judges go easy on traffickers of heroin, meth and LSD by handing down lenient penalties for crimes that he said imperil national security and public safety. The promise carried weight. As head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Iowa Republican is the gatekeeper of all things crime and punishment, with the power to block changes to federal sentencing guidelines. Read More
(Washington, DC) Since media reports of videos describing in detail Planned Parenthood’s role in the harvesting of fetal tissue, Senator Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has opened an inquiry into the organization’s facilitation of activities described in the videos. Grassley previously made an inquiry to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and more recently has requested information from each of the Planned Parenthood affiliates regarding each affiliate’s fetal tissue policies as well as copies of documents such as policies, presentations, guidance, and communications related to its facilitation of the procurement and distribution of fetal tissue. Read More
A close aide of Hillary Clinton is disputing she was overpaid almost $10,000 when she left the State Department and is asking its inspector general to reassess its findings, her lawyers told CNN. Huma Abedin, who served for four years as deputy chief of staff for the State Department and is now a top official of her presidential campaign, was wrongly paid $9.857.73 for unused leave time, according to an audit of the inspector general. Abedin's lawyers were informed of the findings in May, but the controversy only became public on Friday after the Senate Judiciary chairman, Sen. Charles Grassley, referenced the pay dispute in letters to several officials. Read More
Three senators have sent a letter to the Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the failed state-based exchanges (SBE) under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Charles Grassley (R-IA), and John Barrasso (R-WY) are seeking information on CMS regarding more than $1 billion in federal funds spent on the state health care exchanges set up under Obamacare. Read More
By New York Times – August 1, 2015 WASHINGTON — The State Department… Read More
State Department investigators concluded this year that Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s closest aides, was overpaid by nearly $10,000 because of violations of rules governing vacation and sick leave during her tenure as an official in the department. The finding — which Abedin has formally contested — emerged publicly Friday after Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and others seeking more information about an investigation into possible “criminal” conduct by Abedin concerning her pay. Read More
