Thursday, December 15, 2016

IRS Cartoons





‘Luxury’ living: Senate report finds IRS workers racked up huge travel tab


EXCLUSIVE: The IRS spent more than $1.4 million on long-term travel for just 27 employees in fiscal 2015, including on high-end car services and luxury apartment and hotel stays, a Senate report has found -- with one lawmaker blasting “woefully insufficient efforts” to reduce expenses at the agency.
The Senate Finance Committee report, obtained by FoxNews.com, found that while federal guidelines say employees must exercise the same care in incurring expenses as a “prudent person” traveling on personal business, IRS employees who traveled 125 business days or more racked up an average cost of over $52,000 a year.
The committee found more than half of the long-term travel time was spent in the Washington D.C., area. It found cases of five employees living in hotels, primarily in the capital, for months at a time without looking for lower-cost housing or having their per diem rates reduced as outlined in federal guidelines.
Further, the committee found “the IRS does not routinely or actively seek to reduce per diem rates for employees on long-term travel.”
The generous per diem rate allows employees traveling to Washington to spend up to $7,099 a month on lodging alone, despite the committee seeing “virtually no circumstance” in which an employee would need to spend that much on a month-to-month basis.
And yet some employees pushed the limits on the taxpayers' dime.
The report cites the case of one employee spending more than five months at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, racking up a $38,799 tab, while another stayed in a number of Washington hotels including the Ritz Carlton – Pentagon City in Northern Virginia to the tune of $72,544 for the fiscal year.
One employee rented a $1.07 million, four-bedroom townhouse in Arlington, Va., for a year, costing taxpayers $4,950 a month, while another stayed in a luxury apartment building in downtown Chicago overlooking the Chicago River at a price of $4,605 a month.
Also, despite the IRS’ own guidance to the contrary, the committee found evidence that some IRS executives are not geographically located where their primary job duties are, adding to the travel expenses.
“The number of employees who travel more than half of the year and the cost at which they do so is simply unacceptable,” the report said.
The report noted that such long-term travel led to other expenses also deemed excessive, including an employee charging $100 for black car service from Manhattan to LaGuardia Airport, and another employee charging the IRS for cab rides to dinner and the grocery store.
Committee Chair Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, called the results of the report “frustrating,” noting what he called the “lack of effort” by employees to be prudent, which he said could be a direct violation of federal travel regulations.
“And yet, Committee staff saw example after example of routine Amtrak Acela trips, black car service, and luxury apartment rentals when reviewing IRS employee travel vouchers,” Hatch said. “Furthermore, the IRS made woefully insufficient efforts to reduce expenses in ways that would still allow employees to travel comfortably.”
The committee recommended the IRS significantly reduce per diem rates for long-term travel, as outlined by federal guidelines, and noted that the agency could see “significant cost savings among all employees who travel for significant amounts of time during the year” if it followed its own guidelines.
The IRS did not immediately return a request for comment from FoxNews.com.

Iran sanctions renewal becomes law even without Obama signature


In an unexpected reversal, President Barack Obama declined to sign a renewal of sanctions against Iran but let it become law anyway, in an apparent bid to alleviate Tehran's concerns that the U.S. is backsliding on the nuclear deal.
Although the White House had said that Obama was expected to sign the 10-year-renewal, the midnight deadline came and went Thursday with no approval from the president. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama had decided to let it become law without his signature.
"The administration has, and continues to use, all of the necessary authorities to waive the relevant sanctions" lifted as part of the nuclear deal, Earnest said in a statement.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
Under the Constitution, the president has 10 days after Congress passes a bill to sign it, veto it or let it become law with no signature if Congress is still in session. Although lawmakers have returned home for the holidays, Congress technically has not adjourned and is holding "pro-forma" sessions this week.
Though Obama's move doesn't prevent the sanctions renewal from entering force, it marked a symbolic attempt by the president to demonstrate disapproval for lawmakers' actions. The White House has argued that the renewal is unnecessary because the administration retains other authorities to punish Iran, if necessary, and has expressed concern that the renewal may undermine the nuclear deal.

More on this...

Iran's president had vowed to respond if the sanctions were renewed, arguing they violate the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which eased sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. On Tuesday, Iran's president ordered up plans to build nuclear-powered ships and to formally accuse the U.S. of violating the terms of the deal.
The Obama administration stressed that Iran would be unaffected by the renewal, as long as it continues honoring the nuclear deal. Secretary of State John Kerry said he'd told his Iranian counterpart that "to ensure maximum clarity," he'd issued new, redundant waivers exempting Iran from sanctions lifted under the deal.
"Extension of the Iran Sanctions Act does not affect in any way the scope of the sanctions relief Iran is receiving under the deal or the ability of companies to do business in Iran consistent with the JCPOA," Kerry said, using an acronym for the nuclear deal.
President-elect Donald Trump has been sharply critical of the nuclear deal and has threatened to try to renegotiate it, but has been vague about whether he'd pull the U.S. out of it.

Stein spent nearly $1 million of recount funds on consultants, staff, admin expenses


Green Party nominee Jill Stein spent nearly $1 million of the funds she raised for recount efforts in three battleground states on consultants, staff, and administrative costs.
Stein, who pushed for recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, raised $7.3 million for the efforts and said that “every dollar” went towards costs associated with the recount efforts. The group, which claimed costs associated with the recounts hit $7.4 million, upped their fundraising goal four times since first calling for recounts.
According to a breakdown of expenses contained on the fund’s website, Stein paid nearly $1 million on consultants and staff. The staff payroll tallied $212,500 while consultants pocketed $364,000. Administrative expenses, such as travel costs, ran $353,618. In all, $930,118 was used to pay consultants, staff, and administrative costs.
 Filing fees in the three states cost $4,488,939, the group says. Wisconsin filing fees totaled $3,499,689, Pennsylvania fees were $16,000, and Michigan filing fees ran the group $973,250. Legal expenses cost the group $1.6 million.

Dems scramble to prevent their own from defecting to Trump


Senate Democrats have been scrambling to prevent two of their members from taking a post in the Trump administration, trying to prevent any defection that could bolster Republicans’ control of the chamber.
They recently launched a “full court press” to retain Sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota, after each met with Republican President-elect Donald Trump, one senior Senate Democrat told Fox News.
Manchin now appears less likely to bolt -- after saying he wants to remain in the Senate and being passed over for Energy secretary -- which puts the focus squarely on Heitkamp.
The first-term lawmaker, who faces reelection in 2018 in a conservative state, still appears in the running for the Agriculture secretary post.
A Trump transition team source told Fox News the president-elect “really wants her” for the job.
Either departure would poses short- and long-term challenges for Senate Democrats.
If Heitkamp left, her seat could remain empty for months, meaning Democrats would have one less vote to stop any of Trump’s first-100-day initiatives, which could including getting a Supreme Court nominee confirmed in the Senate or passing a tax overhaul.
The North Dakota legislature last year changed its laws so that a Senate seat remains vacant, without a place-holder senator, until it is filled in a special-election vote held within 95 days of a resignation.
In the longer-term, Senate Republicans would have a solid chance of winning Heitkamp’s seat in a special election and adding to their 52-48 member majority.
In West Virginia, the governor would under the law appoint a temporary replacement and hold a special election within 48 to 120 days to fill the seat for the remainder of the term which ends in 2017.
West Virginia’s Democratic governor likely would appoint a Democrat to fill the seat in the interim.
As a Democrat in an increasingly conservative state, Manchin initially had appeared at risk of leaving.
And his words and actions in recent weeks -- criticizing Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and risking a government shutdown over coal miner benefits -- suggested a willingness to depart the Senate, or at least prepare for a tough reelection fight in 2018 in a state that went for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton 68-26 percent.
Manchin last month chastised Reid for calling Trump after his White House win a “sexual predator,” saying Reid’s remarks were an “absolute embarrassment” and “needlessly … tearing this country apart.”
Reid recently told CNN that Manchin’s comments were “his way to get out the door.”
Democrats, in an apparent effort to solidify their caucus, recently made Manchin part of their leadership team. And Trump’s official decision Wednesday to pick former Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry for Energy secretary, for which Machin was being considered, settled the speculation for now.
“I was humbled to be considered for the Secretary of Energy position,” Manchin said in a statement. “I have dedicated my life in public service to doing what is best for the people of West Virginia. Right now, I believe that I can best serve my state of West Virginia in the United States Senate.”
Heitkamp and Manchin are among 10 Democrats in the chamber seeking reelection in 2018.
Trump has only three remaining Cabinet posts to fill -- Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs.

CartoonsTrashyDemsRinos