“Congress” on The Daily Caller

In August 2011 the ACLU issued public records requests to over 380 state and local law enforcement agencies and found that virtually all of the departments that responded tracked cellphones, most without warrants. (more)

During the 2000 election, “Saturday Night Live” had a field day with Al Gore’s suggestion that Social Security and Medicare be put into an “ironclad lockbox.” Congress would not be able to use the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds “as a piggy bank for other programs.” Gore’s idea never got traction. Instead, Congress borrowed against these “trust funds” and wrote itself $4.7 trillion in IOUs. That could happen only because such federal trust funds are a fiction, since the Treasury Department keeps nothing in reserve — paying bills as they come due with funds raised through taxing and borrowing. (more)

Marc Bell, a Boca Raton investor and CEO of FriendFinder Networks, Inc. — the company that owns Penthouse magazine — said he would consider running for Congress, a Palm Beach Post blog reported Thursday. (more)

Last week the Senate passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, legislation aimed at curbing concerns, first explored by “60 Minutes,” that lawmakers were using their privileged positions to enrich themselves with inside information about public companies. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pointing to a rebound in manufacturing, President Barack Obama in Wednesday is visiting a plant that has brought back jobs to the United States. But he shares the day’s spotlight with the visiting vice president of China, which has seen many more jobs migrate from the U.S. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some members of Congress want to include executive branch employees in a bill that would ban lawmakers from using nonpublic information to made stock trades. The bill also would require public reporting of new securities transactions within 30 days, all part of an effort by Congress to boost its dismal approval ratings that are now in the teens. (more)

A recent Washington Times story carried this headline: “Congress logs most futile legislative year on record.” The subhead forecast “scant accomplishment for ’12 session.” (more)

A number of Hollywood actors, directors, producers and musicians are throwing their support against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). (more)

Opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act, the bill that threatens to block large swathes of foreign websites for alleged copyright infringement, have complained that Congress has yet to hear their voice. (more)

The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions and taking stock, and for members of Congress a lot of resolutions and stock-taking may be in order. (more)

The firm GoDaddy, a major registrar of website names, faces a likely wave of customer defections Thursday, and it’s all about the politics of that freewheeling information conduit known as the Internet. (more)

These days, big-spenders in Washington, D.C. rarely catch a break from fiscal conservatives, and Christmas is no exception. (more)