President Obama finally got a Republican-controlled Congress to fund his domestic budget. All it took was Donald Trump in the White House to get it done. In the $1.3 trillion spending bill that President Trump reluctantly signed on Friday, lawmakers did more than reject the steep cuts in dollars and programs that Trump proposed for domestic agencies a year ago. Across much of the government, Republican leaders agreed to spending levels that matched or even exceeded what Obama asked Congress to a...
GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE
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An IRS program using private debt collectors to handle delinquent tax bills is improperly demanding payment from hurricane victims and squeezing some of the poorest Americans all the while turning a profit far below industry standards. Since April 2017, four debt collection companies have been assigned half a million delinquent taxpayers to contact. So far, they’ve brought in less than 1% of what Congress hopes the program will ultimately generate. Meanwhile, tax experts and the IRS’...
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The White House said Tuesday the Obama administration has no plans to lift a restriction on gay men donating blood, a policy that has angered gays in the wake of the terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
“We’re going to rely on scientific advice,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “It’s going to be rooted in the advice we’re getting from the scientists at the FDA.”...
WASHINGTON TIMES
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The UK is set to inject up to £30 million into prosperity and security projects across Africa as it steps up its investment in the continent, Minister of State for Africa Harriett Baldwin has announced on Thursday, February 21. The funding boost comes as Britain signs a new strategic partnership with the African Union, strengthening the engagement between the continent and the UK Government....
PMLDAILY
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Sticks and stones aside, it turns out words really can hurt: President Trump’s protectionist rhetoric over the past year may be leading to lower tax revenue for border states. The findings, laid out this week by Fitch Ratings, suggest that the president’s foreign policy agenda is cutting cross-border travel. Trump in January pulled the U.S. out of the fledgling Trans-Pacific Partnership. He has also said he wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)....
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What happens to the Defense Department when the federal government shuts down? I can shed some light on this; in October 2013, I was a DoD civilian charged with helping to ensure an orderly shutdown for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. On Dec. 22, the current continuing resolution will expire. If lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement on an appropriations bill, or pass a third CR for fiscal 2018, appropriations will lapse. By this time, Defense Department planners ...
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