“Government” on The Daily Caller

Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, upped the ante in case of a possible government shutdown Thursday by introducing a bill to ensure members of Congress and the president do not receive paychecks during a shutdown. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Thursday gave itself three more months to consider changing provisions of anti-terrorism law that have been valuable in tracking security threats but have drawn fire from defenders of privacy rights. (more)

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan protesters seeking to oust longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi defied a crackdown and took to the streets in five cities Thursday on what activists have dubbed a “day of rage,” amid reports at least 20 demonstrators have been killed in clashes with pro-government groups. (more)

Less than a week after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s communication team singled out and excoriated a Republican for saying that a government shutdown was “a possibility,” the Nevada senator said the exact same thing. (more)

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, said Wednesday that if the parties cannot find a compromise on how to fund the government by the March 4 deadline that a government shutdown would be “possible.” (more)

Congressional staffers are bracing themselves for a marathon workweek, as the House debates a plan to fund the government through the next fiscal year. Republican leadership is using an “open rule” process that allows any of the 433 House members to submit, within certain boundaries, as many amendments as they want. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday slammed Iran for its harsh treatment of anti-government protesters and called on governments throughout the Middle East to avoid crackdowns on pro-democracy supporters. (more)

President Obama projects that the gross federal debt will top $15 trillion this year, officially equalling the size of the entire U.S. economy, and will jump to nearly $21 trillion in five years’ time. (more)

In his 2012 budget proposal, published Monday morning, President Obama takes a solid stance on Social Security — one likely to disappoint congressional Republicans. Instead of taking a hard line on reforming the entitlement program, the administration proposes “strengthening” it to meet growing demand. (more)

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has invited members of the House and Senate leadership to visit the U.S.-Mexico border and see the White House’s latest efforts to curtail drug and weapon smuggling and illegal immigration. (more)

The morning after the House failed to extend key provisions of the Patriot Act when more than two dozen Republicans defected, the blame game was in full swing. (more)

More than four years after leaving office, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is arguing the war in Iraq was worthwhile, and says he’s not sorry sorry about the decisions he made there and in Afghanistan, reports ABC News. (more)

Over the last thirty years, most legislative and executive branch efforts at regulatory reform have focused on analyzing and improving new regulations, and agencies seldom look back to evaluate whether existing regulations are having their intended effects. Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act provides for periodic review of regulations for their impact on small businesses, but researchers have found that most agencies “comply with the letter of the law for only a small percentage of their rules, and they rarely take action beyond publishing a brief notice in the Federal Register.” (more)

The devastating tragedy that occurred in Tucson, Arizona earlier this month left many concerned about their safety at Congressional events. While I have continued to meet with my constituents and feel safe in our dealings, I have heard from some Tennesseans who they are concerned about their own security at official events. In fact, a recent poll commissioned by The Hill showed 91% of voters believe it is important to have security at these events. No one should be afraid to exercise his or her First Amendment rights, particularly members of the public. (more)

WASHINGTON — When he releases his new budget in two weeks, President Obama will propose doing away with roughly $4 billion a year in subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies, in his third effort to eliminate federal support for an industry that remains hugely profitable. (more)

Activist group Judicial Watch is appealing a decision by the Air Force to withhold documents related to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of military airplanes. (more)

I watched what I thought was the State of the Union for 15 minutes on Tuesday before I figured out that it was The Biggest Loser. (more)

1.) Joe Biden refuses to criticize totalitarian Egyptian president, admits liking The Onion — Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak has not truly “won” an election in the 30 years that he has been president of Egypt. Instead, he’s used secret police and state-controlled media to intimidate and incarcerate his critics and political opponents, including the runner-up in the first presidential election where someone other than Mubarak was allowed on the ballot. On January 25, Egyptians rose up against Mubarak, and the Egyptian president responded by shutting down the country’s Internet and sending armed thugs into the streets to do violence against his own people. By definition, Mubarak is a dictator. Unless, of course, your dictionary was penned by Vice Pres. Joe Biden, in which case geopolitical interests supersede honesty and/or human rights. “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things,” Biden told PBS’ Jim Lehrer last night. “I would not refer to him as a dictator.” In other Biden news, the vice president likes the Onion’s made-up coverage of him. “I think it’s hilarious, the stuff they do on me,” Biden told Yahoo! News Thursday. “I saw the one of me washing a Trans-Am automobile in the driveway shirtless with tattoos all over myself and out there,” he added. “By the way, I have a Corvette– a ’67 Corvette– not a Trans-Am.” (more)

A few moments ago, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell took to the floor of the Senate to announce a five-point agreement on rules reform. But the five-points weren’t, well, the point. The real agreement was on the process by which rules can be reformed. (more)

I came to Washington to cut spending, shut down the federal “red tape” factory, and help small businesses get back to creating new jobs. However thousands of new complicated, costly regulations covering every sector of the American economy are written every year by bureaucrats in more than 60 federal agencies. This rulemaking process adds billions of dollars to the real price tag of legislation, leading to higher costs for businesses and consumers, weakened American competitiveness and jobs being sent abroad. (more)