Politics

Political Takeaways: Headaches For The White House

Mara Liasson — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:41:00 +0000

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. President Obama will give a speech this week outlining his plans to make his counterterrorism policies more transparent. The address comes after a week that the Obama White House spent on the defensive trying to contain political fallout from multiple controversies. The IRS has been targeting conservative and Tea Party groups that applied for tax-exempt status, and the Associated Press revealed that the Justice Department had secretly obtained the phone records of its journalists.

Nonconservative Groups Say IRS Scrutinized Them, Too

Brian Naylor — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:41:00 +0000

The IRS was in the hot seat Friday, with its outgoing acting commissioner testifying before a House committee. A Senate panel is scheduled for Tuesday. Congress is prodding to find out why the agency singled out conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Attention has focused on the IRS' flagging of these groups starting in 2010.

Tesla Rides High, But Faces Formidable Foe: Car Dealers

Liz Halloran — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:51:00 +0000

Tesla Motors, the American maker of luxury electric cars, has been riding a wave of good publicity.

Its Model S sedan (base priced at $62,400, after federal tax credits) was just named Motor Trend Car of the Year.

Highly Charged IRS Case Pulls In Political Agendas

Peter Overby — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:23:00 +0000

NPR's Peter Overby reports on the Congressional testimony of IRS officials in response to the scandal over special scrutiny of tea party groups. Underneath all the politics, there's a policy question that hasn't been addressed.

What A Week: White House Rattled By Controversy

Ari Shapiro — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:13:00 +0000

NPR's Ari Shapiro joins host Scott Simon to talk about the Obama administration's week. The president was buffeted by revelations that the IRS had targeted Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status and that the Justice Department had subpoenaed reporter phone records. On top of that, Republicans continue to allege that the White House engaged in a cover-up of talking points about the attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Immigration Bill Chugs Along, But Some See Deal-Breakers

David Welna — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:13:00 +0000

It's been a long slog already for the bipartisan immigration overhaul proposed by the Senate's Gang of Eight.

The legislation has been the target of more than 300 amendments during days of debate and votes by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But while the bill has largely held its own so far, its prospects for getting through Congress remain uncertain.

In Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's view, the immigration overhaul is "moving very well."

"It's moving a lot faster than people said it would," says Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.

Sen.

Obama U: What Graduation Speeches Say About The President

Ari Shapiro — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:56:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzC135ql_wA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPHJnHXEDq8

Outgoing Acting IRS Director Grilled By House Lawmakers

editor — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:20:00 +0000

The House Ways and Means Committee became the first oversight panel in Congress to weigh in on the IRS tax-exempt group controversy on Friday morning.

A Field Guide To Democratic Responses To Scandals

Alan Greenblatt — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:09:00 +0000

President Obama's first term was free from the kind of scandal that consumes every ounce of political oxygen in Washington. Now, in light of a trio of controversies, his supporters find themselves in the uncomfortable and unaccustomed position of having to defend some hard-to-defend events.

Democrats have offered up a range of responses.

After Deadly Chemical Plant Disasters, There's Little Action

Daniel Zwerdling — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:11:00 +0000

You might think that everything would have changed for the chemicals industry on April 16, 1947. That was the day of the Texas City Disaster, the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. A ship loaded with ammonium nitrate — the same chemical that appears to have caused the disaster last month in West, Texas — exploded. The ship sparked a chain reaction of blasts at chemical facilities onshore, creating what a newsreel at the time called "a holocaust that baffles description."

Or you might think everything would have changed on Dec. 3, 1984.