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	<title>SwamplandCategory: Domestic Policy &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<description>Political insight from the Beltway and beyond</description>
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		<title>SwamplandCategory: Domestic Policy &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>IRS Draws New Criticism Over $70M Employee Bonuses</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/irs-draws-new-criticism-over-70m-employee-bonuses/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/irs-draws-new-criticism-over-70m-employee-bonuses/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:04:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Stephen Ohlemacher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jobs]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — Already reeling from a pair of scandals, the Internal Revenue Service is drawing new criticism over plans to hand out millions of dollars in employee bonuses. The Obama administration has ordered agencies to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts, but the IRS says it&#8217;s merely following legal obligations under a union contract. The agency is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses, said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS. Grassley says his office has learned that the IRS was to execute an agreement with the employees&#8217; union Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should be canceled under an April directive from the White House budget office. The directive was written by Danny Werfel, a former budget official who has since been appointed acting IRS commissioner. &#8220;The IRS always claims to be short on resources,&#8221; Grassley said. &#8220;But it appears to have $70 million for union bonuses. And it appears to be making an extra effort to give the bonuses despite opportunities to renegotiate with the union and federal instruction to cease discretionary bonuses during sequestration.&#8221; The IRS said it is negotiating with the union over the matter but did not dispute Grassley&#8217;s claim that the bonuses are imminent. Under the union contract, employees can get individual performance bonuses of up to $3,500 a year. Office of Management and Budget &#8220;guidance directs that agencies should not pay discretionary monetary awards at this time, unless legally required,&#8221; IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said in a statement. &#8220;IRS is under a legal obligation to comply with its collective bargaining agreement, which specifies the terms by which awards are paid to bargaining-unit employees.&#8221; Eldridge, however, would not say whether the IRS believes it is contractually obligated to pay the bonuses. &#8220;In accordance with OMB guidance, the IRS is actively engaged with NTEU on these matters in recognition of our current budgetary constraints,&#8221; Eldridge said. The National Treasury Employees Union did not respond to requests<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98246&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Jobs</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/jobs-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/irs-bonuses_grod.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">IRS Bonuses</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Fed Says It Will Continue $85B in Bond Purchases</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/fed-says-it-will-continue-85b-in-bond-purchases/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/fed-says-it-will-continue-85b-in-bond-purchases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:29:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Martin Crutsinger</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Federal Reserve]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98242</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will maintain the pace of its bond-buying program to keep long-term interest rates at record lows. But it offered a more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy and job market. The brighter view of the economy could be a hint that the Fed is moving closer to reducing its bond purchases. But the statement issued after its two-day policy meeting gave no indication of when that might happen. Investors reacted initially by selling both stocks and bonds. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 70 points shortly after the statement came out; minutes earlier, it had been down just 16. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note shot up to 2.27 percent from 2.21 percent just before the statement came out. In the statement, the Fed says the economy is growing moderately. And for the first time it said the &#8220;downside risks to the outlook&#8221; had diminished since fall. Timothy Duy, a University of Oregon economist who tracks the Fed, calls the statement &#8220;an open door for scaling back asset purchases as early as September.&#8221; The fact that the Fed foresees less downside risk to the job market &#8220;gives them a reason to pull back&#8221; on its bond purchases, Duy says. The Fed says it will keep buying $85 billion a month in bonds until the outlook for the job market improves substantially. The goal is to lower long-term interest rates to encourage borrowing, spending and investing. It hasn&#8217;t defined substantially. The central bank also said that it would maintain its plan to keep short-term rates at record lows at least until unemployment reaches 6.5 percent. The Fed also said that inflation was running below its 2 percent long-run objective, but noted that temporary factors were partly the reason. The Fed also released its latest economic projections on Wednesday, which predicted that unemployment will fall a little faster this year, to 7.2 percent or 7.3 percent at the end of 2013 from 7.6 percent now. It thinks the rate will be<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98242&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Federal Reserve</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/federal-reserve-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Boehner in a Bind on Immigration</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/boehner-in-a-bind-on-immigration/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/boehner-in-a-bind-on-immigration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:03:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Altman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98227</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s a cliche to say that John Boehner has the toughest job in Washington, but like many cliches, it has a kernel of truth. Consigned to running a caucus that has little interest in governing (and even less in being governed), Boehner&#8217;s House has lurched from one crisis to the next. The immigration bill expected to reach House desks next month may be Boehner&#8217;s trickiest challenge yet. Boehner&#8217;s bind is this: passing immigration reform could bolster his party&#8217;s dismal relationship with Hispanics. Yet much of his caucus appears bent on killing the bill, then proudly flashing the murder weapon. And the Speaker, never much in command of his own troops, finds his own job &#8212; and the fortunes of his party &#8212; hanging in the balance. &#8220;The fate of the Republican Party,&#8221; says Frank Sharry, executive director of America&#8217;s Voice, &#8220;may rest in Boehner&#8217;s hands.&#8221; If Boehner calculates, as many savvy Republicans have, that passing immigration is in the GOP&#8216;s interest, he could thread legislation through with mostly Democratic support, plus a rump faction of Republicans. (He has done this on other occasions, including the fiscal cliff deal on New Year&#8217;s Day and a Hurricane Sandy relief measure, to the chagrin of some colleagues.) But immigration is a charged issue, and Boehner could face an insurrection on his right if he brings a bill to the floor without support from a majority of Republicans, which would violate the so-called Hastert Rule. One House Republican warned the move could cost Boehner his speakership. Asked about the threat Tuesday, Boehner acknowledged it might. So far the Speaker has been coy about his intentions. On Tuesday he seemed to assure his colleagues that he would not pass a bill without them, but left himself plenty of outs. &#8220;Any immigration reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties’ support,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And so I don’t see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn’t have a majority support of Republicans.&#8221; Ought to; not will. And<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98227&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Immigration</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/immigration/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/170038507.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/170038507.jpg?w=200" />
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			<media:title type="html">House Speaker Boehner Holds Weekly Briefing</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/41a5f1af68b9fd647df540c67f1a464a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Alex Altman</media:title>
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		<title>Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski Endorses Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/republican-senator-lisa-murkowski-endorses-gay-marriage/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/republican-senator-lisa-murkowski-endorses-gay-marriage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:13:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gay Marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed gay marriage Wednesday, becoming the third GOP senator to do so after Ohio&#8217;s Rob Portman and Illinois&#8217; Mark Kirk. Murkowski referenced President Reagan in her letter to Alaskans explaining her decision. &#8220;Like Reagan, Alaskans believe that government works best when it gets out of the way&#8230;I support marriage equality and support the government getting out of the way to let that happen.&#8221; Murkowski had stated earlier this year that she was &#8220;evolving&#8221; on the issue. In 1996 the Alaska legislature became the first state to pass a law specifically banning same-sex marriages, and in 1998 about 68% of the public voted for a referendum upholding that law. Alaska determined that state and local benefits must also apply to same sex partners in 2005. According to Public Policy Polling, 67% of Alaskans support some form of legal recognition, but 51% do not endorse same-sex marriage. After Murkowski&#8217;s announcement, Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry, said, &#8220;With a solid majority of the American public supporting same-sex couples&#8217; right to marry, along with a majority of Republican voters under 50, we&#8217;ll see more and more leaders like Senator Murkowski &#8212; from all parties and all states across the nation &#8212; moving to be in line with the electorate and on the right side of history.&#8221; Alaska&#8217;s other Senator, Democrat Mark Begich, endorsed gay marriage last year.  <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98215&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Gay Marriage</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/gay-marriage-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/ap235749347036.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Lisa Murkowski</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Obama: &#8216;Lives Have Been Saved&#8217; by NSA Programs</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/obama-lives-have-been-saved-by-nsa-programs/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/obama-lives-have-been-saved-by-nsa-programs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:55:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Associated Press</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Domestic Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(BERLIN) — Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have saved lives and thwarted at least 50 terror threats. &#8220;This is not a situation in which we are rifling through ordinary emails&#8221; of huge numbers of citizens in the United States or elsewhere, the president declared during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He called it as a &#8220;circumscribed, narrow&#8221; surveillance program. &#8220;Lives have been saved,&#8221; Obama said, adding that the program has been closely supervised by the courts to ensure that any encroachment of privacy is strictly limited. Merkel, for her part, said it was important to continue debate about how to strike &#8220;an equitable balance&#8221; between providing security and protecting personal freedoms. &#8220;There has to be proportionality,&#8221; she said. She added that their discussion on the matter Wednesday was &#8220;an important first step&#8221; over striking a balance. (MORE:   In China, Surveillance Outrage Falls Flat) The two leaders spoke to the media after meeting privately on a range of issues confronting U.S. and European leaders, including the fragile effort to bring peace in Afghanistan, where peace talks with the Taliban are in the offing to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war. Earlier Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of the initial peace negotiations with the Taliban. Obama said the U.S. had anticipated &#8220;there were going to be some areas of friction, to put it mildly, in getting this thing off the ground. That&#8217;s not surprising. They&#8217;ve been fighting there for a long time&#8221; and mistrust is rampant. But he said it was important to pursue a parallel track toward reconciliation even as the fighting continues, and it would up to the Afghan people whether that effort ultimately bears fruit.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98198&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Domestic Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/sl_obama_merkel_061913.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Image: Barack Obama, Angela Merkel</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/cbef58d71daefb9ddab6c6b20018290c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Gov&#8217;t Report: Smooth Launch Unsure for Health Law</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/govt-report-smooth-launch-unsure-for-health-law/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/govt-report-smooth-launch-unsure-for-health-law/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:48:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98190</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — There&#8217;s no guarantee that President Barack Obama&#8216;s health care law will launch smoothly and on time, congressional investigators say in the first in-depth independent look at its progress. But in a report to be released Wednesday, the congressional Government Accountability Office also sees positive signs as the Oct. 1 deadline approaches for new health insurance markets called exchanges to open in each state — in many cases over the objections of Republican governors. Additionally, the report discloses that the administration had spent nearly $400 million as of March to set up the infrastructure of a sprawling system involving major federal agencies, every state, hundreds of insurance companies, and millions of citizens, among them many individuals seeking coverage for the first time. &#8220;Whether (the administration&#8217;s) contingency planning will assure the timely and smooth implementation of the exchanges by Oct. 2013 cannot yet be determined,&#8221; the report concluded. A copy was provided to The Associated Press. The administration is taking the lead in setting up the markets in 34 states, the report said — a heavy lift unforeseen when the law was passed. The computerized clearinghouse for the entire system — a federal &#8220;data hub&#8221; designed to deliver real-time eligibility rulings — has only undergone initial testing. And states have yet to complete many of their assignments. &#8220;Much progress has been made in establishing the regulatory framework and guidance required for this undertaking, and (the administration) is currently taking steps to implement key activities of the (exchanges),&#8221; the report said. &#8220;Nevertheless, much remains to be accomplished within a relatively short period of time.&#8221; Translation: most of the specs have been written, but the all wiring hasn&#8217;t been laid, and what will happen when they flip the switch nobody really knows. And remember, Oct. 1 is less than four months away. (Cover Story: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us) GAO also issued a similar assessment for small-business health insurance markets scheduled to open concurrently. The study shows &#8220;this law isn&#8217;t ready for prime time, and come October millions of Americans and<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98190&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Health Care</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/health-care/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Border Security: Will it Block a Final Deal on Immigration?</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/border-security-will-it-block-a-final-deal-on-immigration/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/border-security-will-it-block-a-final-deal-on-immigration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:45:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alex Altman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98118</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the bill to rewrite U.S. immigration laws edges closer to a vote in the Senate, its architects are wrestling with a familiar dilemma: how far should they go to mollify critics and attract new supporters, without wrecking the bipartisan compromise that took months to forge? In the days since the landmark legislation made its way to the Senate floor, border security has emerged as a flashpoint. GOP Senator Marco Rubio, one of eight negotiators to craft the legislation and its chief envoy to conservatives, says the bill can&#8217;t pass without tougher border security. While Democrats aren&#8217;t happy about Rubio&#8217;s pronouncement, they&#8217;re willing to make concessions to lure teetering members and win a striking bipartisan majority that could pave the way for passage in the Republican-controlled House. But despite ongoing discussions, the two sides have yet to find a sweet spot between Republicans&#8217; desire for tougher security standards and negotiators&#8217; insistence on preserving the core of the bill. (PHOTOS: Fatal Frontier, The Perils of Crossing the Rio Grande) Last week much of the GOP rallied around an amendment filed by John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, which would block undocumented immigrants from applying for green cards until government agencies certify that the border is secure. Cornyn&#8217;s amendment has stringent standards for measuring a secure border, including a 90% apprehension rate for illegal crossings, an operational biometric ID system and the capability to fully monitor the 1,900-mile Southern border. Supporters balked, arguing the plan would jeopardize the path to citizenship, an essential component of the bill. Both Democrats and Republicans called the proposal a &#8220;poison pill.&#8221; Cornyn tells TIME he hopes his amendment will receive a vote on Wednesday, though he acknowledged it didn&#8217;t have the votes to pass yet. &#8220;One non-negotiable item,&#8221; he says, is tying the legalization process to tougher border enforcement, &#8220;which guarantees that everybody is highly incentivized to get the border security piece done. Absent that, I think it’s just another hollow promise.&#8221; Since this is a common refrain on the GOP side, negotiators have<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98118&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/19/border-security-will-it-block-a-final-deal-on-immigration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Immigration</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/immigration/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/rtxznhx.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A U.S. Border Patrol agent looks out at the desert near Falfurrias, Texas, on March 29, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Alex Altman</media:title>
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		<title>House Passes 20-Week Abortion Ban</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/house-passes-20-week-abortion-ban/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/house-passes-20-week-abortion-ban/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:46:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate Pickert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Abortion]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98105</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In what some conservatives are calling the most important abortion measure to be considered by Congress since 2003’s partial birth abortion ban, the House today passed a bill that would make it illegal to terminate pregnancies after 20 weeks. The bill, which passed 228-196, is not expected to have an impact on federal abortion law. The Senate is unlikely to take up the bill and the White House has already threatened to veto such legislation if it ever lands on President Obama’s desk. Championed by Arizona Rep. Trent Franks, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is symbolic. Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country have passed similar legislation, which has been sometimes struck down by the courts or tangled in ongoing litigation. The House effort is meant to add federal firepower to the slow and steady quest to challenge and eventually overturn the 40-year-old Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, which held that abortion should be legal until a fetus is viable, generally understood to be around 24 weeks. Roe opponents say their momentum is building, especially on the heels of the high-profile murder trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who performed illegal and sometimes gruesome late-term abortions and was recently sentenced to life in prison. Not all Republicans endorsed the idea of bringing the 20-week abortion ban to a floor vote. Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times that doing so was a “stupid idea” that risks alienating voters with more moderate views on abortion at a time of economic uncertainty. The measure attracted six Democratic votes; six Republicans voted against the bill.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98105&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Abortion</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/abortion-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/ap13061802310.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Trent Franks</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d40234a6843419b1a17b2c08b6848561?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">katepickert</media:title>
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		<title>Report Says Immigration Bill Cuts Deficit</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/report-says-immigration-bill-cuts-deficit/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/report-says-immigration-bill-cuts-deficit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:54:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / David Espo and Erica Werner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The Congressional Budget Office says a sweeping immigration bill before the Senate would cut deficits by $197 billion over 10 years. The bill would add $262 billion in new spending and tax credits over 10 years, a sum more than covered by $459 billion in increased revenues, according to the report Tuesday by Congress&#8217; nonpartisan scorekeepers. The bill would cut deficits by an additional $700 billion in the second 10 years after taking effect, the CBO says. Some 8 million people in the U.S. illegally would initially gain legal status under the legislation, according to the CBO analysis. That&#8217;s compared with a population of about 11 million immigrants now in the country illegally.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98157&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Immigration</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/immigration/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/immigration_grod1.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/immigration_grod1.jpg?w=200" />
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			<media:title type="html">Immigration</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/cbef58d71daefb9ddab6c6b20018290c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>CBO: Senate Immigration Plan Reduces Deficit, Would Put 8 Million On Path To Legal Status</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/cbo-senate-immigration-plan-reduces-deficit-would-put-8-million-on-path-to-legal-status/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/cbo-senate-immigration-plan-reduces-deficit-would-put-8-million-on-path-to-legal-status/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:23:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke Miller and Alex Rogers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate immigration reform bill released Tuesday found major savings to the federal budget and positive economic effects if the bill is enacted, providing a major boost to supporters of the &#8220;Gang of Eight&#8221; bill. The CBO found that that changes in direct spending and revenues under the legislation would decrease federal budget deficits by $197 billion over the 2014–2023 period and by an estimated $700 billion over the 2024–2033 period. CBO also found that the bill would increase the size of the labor force, increase average wages after 2025 (but decrease them before), raise unemployment through 2020, boost capital investment, and raise productivity and capital. The bill would increase inflation-adjusted GDP relative by 3.3 percent in 2023 and by 5.4 percent in 2033. It also shows that average wages for the entire labor force would be 0.1 percent lower in 2023 and 0.5 percent higher in 2033, as the amount of capital available to workers would not increase as rapidly as the number of workers and because the new workers would be less skilled and have lower wages, on average, than the labor force under current law. Supporters of reform have long argued for the economic benefits of fixing the nation&#8217;s immigration system, and the CBO report adds additional credence to those claims. According to the budget office, much of the additional federal revenues would come from new immigrants admitted to the country under a reformed highly skilled immigrant program and other provisions. Additionally, the change in status for current working illegal immigrants, as well as fines and application costs on the path to citizenship are expected to bring in significant revenues. (MORE: Border Security Stands as Main Roadblock in Immigration Deal) CBO estimates that the bill would result in a 10.4 million increase in the U.S. population by 2023, with roughly eight million illegal immigrants gaining temporary or permanent status. The budget office estimates that border security efforts authorized by the bill would cost the federal government $5 billion, with an additional $1.5 billion for fencing along the southern U.S. border, and $750 million to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98135&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Immigration</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/immigration/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cbo_0522.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Congressional Budget Office</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b456c5209a547a000e0b869f3333aa77?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
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		<title>House Committee Takes Up Tough Immigration Bill</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/house-committee-takes-up-tough-immigration-bill/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/house-committee-takes-up-tough-immigration-bill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:24:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Erica Werner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98113</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — A key committee in the Republican-led House moved Tuesday toward approving a tough enforcement-focused immigration bill, over objections from Democrats and disruptions from protesters shouting &#8220;Shame, shame, shame!&#8221; Meanwhile in the Senate, a Republican lawmaker floated a compromise border security proposal he hopes can win over support for sweeping immigration legislation under consideration there that opens the door to citizenship for 11 million immigrants now here illegally. And on a day of fast-paced developments on an issue that is a top priority for President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, moved to quiet speculation that he might bring the Senate immigration legislation up for a vote despite opposition from many conservatives in his chamber. &#8220;Any immigration reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties&#8217; support if we&#8217;re really serious about making that happen. And so I don&#8217;t see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn&#8217;t have a majority support of Republicans,&#8221; Boehner said. He added that border enforcement would be key for any immigration bill, &#8220;And I frankly think the Senate bill is weak on border security.&#8221; As Boehner addressed reporters, the House Judiciary Committee was meeting to consider a bill, called the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act, by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. It would empower state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws, make passport and visa fraud into aggravated felonies subject to deportation, funnel money into building more detention centers, and crack down on immigrants suspected of posing dangers. As soon as Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., gaveled the proceedings open, more than a dozen protesters who had been seated in the hearing room stood up and began clapping and chanting, &#8220;Shame, shame, shame! More of the same!&#8221; They were ushered out but their cries could still be heard in the hallway and Goodlatte stopped the proceedings until the protesters had been dispersed. Goodlatte said that the bill under consideration — the first immigration bill to come to a vote<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98113&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Immigration</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/immigration/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/immigration_grod.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Trey Gowdy, Luis Gutierrez</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>NSA Director Says Plot Against Wall Street Foiled</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/nsa-director-says-plot-against-wall-street-foiled/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/nsa-director-says-plot-against-wall-street-foiled/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:31:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Kimberly Dozier</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98106</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The director of the National Security Agency said Tuesday the government&#8217;s sweeping surveillance programs have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, including one directed at the New York Stock Exchange, in a forceful defense of spy operations that was echoed by the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee. Army Gen. Keith Alexander said the two recently disclosed programs — one that gathers U.S. phone records and another that is designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — are critical in the terrorism fight. Intelligence officials have disclosed some details on two thwarted attacks, and Alexander offered some information on other attempts. (MORE: PRISM by the Numbers: A Guide to the Government’s Secret Data Mining Program) He said the NSA was monitoring a known extremist in Yemen who was in contact with an individual in the United States. Identifying that person and other individuals, Alexander said, officials &#8220;were able to detect a nascent plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. &#8230; The FBI disrupted and arrested these individuals.&#8221; The programs &#8220;assist the intelligence community to connect the dots,&#8221; Alexander told the committee in a rare, open Capitol Hill hearing. Alexander got no disagreement from the leaders of the panel, who have been outspoken in backing the programs since Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, disclosed information to The Washington Post and the Guardian newspapers. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the committee, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the panel&#8217;s top Democrat, said the programs were vital to the intelligence community and assailed Snowden&#8217;s actions as criminal. &#8220;It is at times like these where our enemies within become almost as damaging as our enemies on the outside,&#8221; Rogers said. Ruppersberger said the &#8220;brazen disclosures&#8221; put the United States and its allies at risk. The general counsel for the intelligence community said the NSA cannot target phone conversations between callers inside the U.S. — even if one of those callers was someone they were targeted for<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98106&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>National Security</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/national-security/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/cbef58d71daefb9ddab6c6b20018290c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>U.S. and Taliban to Start Talks in Qatar Office</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/u-s-to-begin-meetings-with-taliban/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/18/u-s-to-begin-meetings-with-taliban/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:33:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Patrick Quinn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98098</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(KABUL, Afghanistan) — In a major breakthrough, the Taliban and the U.S. announced Tuesday that they will hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan as the Islamic militant movement opened an office in Qatar. American officials with the Obama administration said the office in the Qatari capital of Doha was the first step toward the ultimate U.S.-Afghan goal of a full Taliban renouncement of links with al-Qaeda. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said U.S. representatives will begin formal meetings with the Taliban at the office in a few days. The decision was a reversal of months of failed efforts to start peace talks while Taliban militants intensified a campaign targeting urban centers and government installations. In Doha, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naim said the group opposes the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries and supports the negotiating process, two key demands of both the U.S. and Afghan governments before talks could begin. He made the statement shortly after the deputy foreign minister of Qatar said the Emir of the gulf state had given the go ahead for the office to open. Naim said the Taliban are willing to use all legal means to end what they called the occupation of Afghanistan. He thanked the leader of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani for allowing them to open the office. The Obama administration officials say the U.S. and Taliban representatives will hold bilateral meetings, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai&#8217;s High Peace Council is expected to follow up with its own talks a few days later. (MORE: Unease in Afghanistan as Foreign Troops WIthdraw and Aid Shrinks) The administration officials acknowledged the process will be &#8220;complex, long and messy&#8221; because of the ongoing level of distrust between the parties. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, vowed to continue to push the Taliban further and said that ultimately the Taliban must also break ties with al Qaida, end violence and accept Afghanistan&#8217;s constitution — including protections for<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98098&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>National Security</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/national-security/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/afghanistan_yang.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/afghanistan_yang.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/afghanistan_yang.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Hamid Karzai, Fogh Rasmussen</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/cbef58d71daefb9ddab6c6b20018290c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Supreme Court to Hear N.J. Housing Discrimination Case</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/supreme-court-to-hear-n-j-housing-discrimination-case/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/supreme-court-to-hear-n-j-housing-discrimination-case/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:40:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Mark Sherman</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98045</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take another dispute involving race, deciding whether people must prove they were victims of intentional housing discrimination to win lawsuits under federal law. With highly anticipated decisions on affirmative action and voting rights imminent, the justices added a case to their calendar for the fall that involves the Fair Housing Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, among other categories, in residential property sales and rentals. The issue in the case is whether it is enough to show that a practice has a disproportionate effect on a group or whether there must be proof of intent to discriminate. The outcome also could affect other laws, including one that prohibits discrimination in lending and is enforced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (MORE:  Opinion: Affirmative Action Helps White Women Most) African-American and Hispanic residents of a neighborhood pegged for demolition and redevelopment in Mount Holly, N.J., sued to block the project, saying it targeted a predominantly minority area. Unlike other anti-discrimination laws, the housing act does not explicitly cover disparate impact claims. The housing law prohibits discrimination in all sorts of transactions involving real estate and applies to banks and mortgage companies as well as governments, like the one involved in this case. The Obama administration tried to ward off high court review by telling the justices that the Housing and Urban Development Department has recently adopted a new regulation to deal with the sorts of claims at issue in the case and that no federal appeals court has yet addressed the new rule. The administration also said that 11 federal appeals courts have held that the law does allow for claims based on the results of a project or practice, not just intentional discrimination. The court originally agreed to take up the issue in 2011 in a case from St. Paul, Minn., questioning whether the city&#8217;s enforcement of its housing code in low-cost rentals disproportionately occupied by African-Americans violated the fair housing law. But Justice Department lawyer Thomas Perez, now nominated<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98045&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Supreme Court</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/supreme-court/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Arizona Law Requiring Proof of Citizenship for Voters Struck Down</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/arizona-law-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-for-voters-struck-down/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/arizona-law-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-for-voters-struck-down/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:51:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Jesse J. Holland</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98041</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states cannot on their own require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier. The justices voted 7-2 to throw out Arizona&#8217;s voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal &#8220;Motor Voter&#8221; voter registration law. Federal law &#8220;precludes Arizona from requiring a federal form applicant to submit information beyond that required by the form itself,&#8221; Justice Antonia Scalia wrote for the court&#8217;s majority. (MORE: Arizona County Lists Wrong Election Date on Spanish-Language Voter Documents) The court was considering the legality of Arizona&#8217;s requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal &#8220;motor voter&#8221; registration law. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which doesn&#8217;t require such documentation, trumps Arizona&#8217;s Proposition 200 passed in 2004. Arizona appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. &#8220;Today&#8217;s decision sends a strong message that states cannot block their citizens from registering to vote by superimposing burdensome paperwork requirements on top of federal law,&#8221; said Nina Perales, vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and lead counsel for the voters who challenged Proposition 200. &#8220;The Supreme Court has affirmed that all U.S. citizens have the right to register to vote using the national postcard, regardless of the state in which they live.&#8221; The case focuses on Arizona, which has tangled frequently with the federal government over immigration issues involving the Mexican border. But it has broader implications because four other states — Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee — have similar requirements, and 12 other states are contemplating such legislation. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the court&#8217;s ruling. The Constitution &#8220;authorizes states to determine the qualifications of voters in federal elections, which necessarily includes the related power to determine whether those qualifications are satisfied,&#8221; Thomas said in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98041&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Supreme Court</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/supreme-court/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr2d9tl.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">People hold hands and pray as they protest against Senate Bill 1070 outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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		<title>Organizing For Action Releases Obamacare Ad</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/organizing-for-action-releases-obamacare-ad/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/organizing-for-action-releases-obamacare-ad/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke J Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98027</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The former Obama campaign is putting up big bucks to defend the Affordable Care Act this summer, months before President Barack Obama&#8217;s signature health care law fully kicks in—and more than three years after it was signed into law. Known by both supporters and detractors as &#8220;Obamacare,&#8221; the law remains controversial and unpopular, with Republicans pledging to repeal it in full and Democrats fretting about hiccups—or worse—impacting their electoral chances next year as the law&#8217;s health care exchanges begin operations. The ad highlights the ways the Affordable Care Act is already helping some Americans as part of a &#8220;major education campaign&#8221; by the issue advocacy group Organizing for Action, founded out of Obama&#8217;s 2012 campaign. The group is spending seven-figures on a series of ads, which complement White House and administration efforts to build support for the law.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98027&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Health Care</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/health-care/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/screen-shot-2013-06-17-at-9-45-13-am.png?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">obamacare</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
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		<title>Revenge or Revival, Perry Raids Blue State Jobs With New Vigor</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/06/17/revenge-or-revival-perry-raids-blue-state-jobs-with-new-vigor/#ixzz2WTONt8DS</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/06/17/revenge-or-revival-perry-raids-blue-state-jobs-with-new-vigor/#ixzz2WTONt8DS#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:14:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hilary Hylton/ Austin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[State Governments]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98021</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98021&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>State Governments</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/state-governments/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rick-perry.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Republican Presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry sits down for lunch at The Drive-In Restaurant in Florence, South Carolina</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
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		<title>Still More Noise Than Signal, As U.S. Spies Promise More Transparency</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/still-more-noise-than-signal-as-u-s-spies-promise-more-transparency/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/still-more-noise-than-signal-as-u-s-spies-promise-more-transparency/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Scherer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=97987</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Transparency is the new hot thing in American spycraft, say U.S. spies. “We are trying to be transparent,” promises Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA). “The American people deserve to understand what we are doing,” announced an unsigned white paper released by the Director of National Intelligence over the weekend. Yet as we approach the second week mark since documents leaked by Edward Snowden’s first made it into the mainstream press, it remains difficult to separate the signal from the noise. The testimonies of public officials remain opaque and at times contradictory. The reporting on the story is still not definitive. And new revelations raise more questions than they answer. This weekend saw three large information dumps on the scope and specifics of the U.S. signals intelligence apparatus—one from the Associated Press, one from the Washington Post, and one from the intelligence community itself, which is still struggling to regain credibility for its previous public statements that appear to contradict the Snowden disclosures. The flood of information was further added to by a distracting online controversy about the alleged—and since denied—contents of a classified briefing to lawmakers last week. The intelligence community dump is the simplest to digest, though the story it tells is almost certainly incomplete.  It discusses the two programs that Snowden revealed: a massive data collection program for phone record “metadata” in the United States, and a narrower program for collecting digital records from foreign targets through U.S. Internet companies. According to the spooks, both programs have been effective, disrupting “dozens of potential terrorist plots here in the homeland and in more than 20 countries around the world.” The 20 countries are not named, and the impact is specifically described for only one plot, the 2009 attempt by Najibullah Zazi to blow up New York subways. (The Associated Press, citing mostly public records, has argued separately that Zazi probably could have been caught without the classified programs.) The document also reveals that in 2012, less than 300 “unique identifiers” were searched in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=97987&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>National Security</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/national-security/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2013-06-12t210344z_1933500332_gm1e96d0.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">General Keith Alexander arrives at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">michaelscherer</media:title>
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		<title>Hospital Price Data—There&#8217;s an App for That</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/hospital-price-data-theres-an-app-for-that/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/hospital-price-data-theres-an-app-for-that/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kate Pickert</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=97979</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Imagine this: You get a hospital bill in the mail and, before paying it, you plug its contents into a smartphone app. Up pops information on whether the prices you’ve been charged are in line with national averages, along with recommendations about how to dispute the bill if you choose. Or take this scenario: Your doctor recommends you get knee surgery. You key in your zip code and the type of surgery you need and immediately access a list of nearby surgical facilities and information about quality and cost metrics for each. As a bonus, you also get information on your own doctor, including how much he earns in Medicare payments every year and his complication rate for the type of surgery you need. This future might be a long way off, but if a recent wave of public disclosures on hospital prices and quality information are any guide, it’s coming eventually. Hospitals are being pressured to make the prices they charge patients and insurance companies publicly available and quality measures for health care providers are being collected and analyzed by the federal government like never before. At the same time, developers in Silicon Valley and beyond are building new consumer applications to make this information easy to find. In an emergency, comparison shopping for health care may not be possible, but for common outpatient procedures and scheduled surgeries, the convergence of these trends has the potential to create more competition and more informed consumer choice—and ultimately, downward price pressure on health care services. (Cover Story: Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us) A new web site, OpsCost.com, recently took a giant spreadsheet of data on hospital inpatient procedures released by the federal government and made it searchable by region and procedure through a clean and easy-to-use interface. A user can enter his or her location and procedure and get a list of nearby hospitals with information on what the facilities billed Medicare and what Medicare ultimately paid. For someone with private insurance or Medicare, the information might provide<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=97979&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Health Care</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/health-care/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/360_cell_hospital_0905.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">cell phones in hospitals</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">katepickert</media:title>
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		<title>IRS Official Contradicts Claims About Reviews</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/irs-official-contradicts-claims-about-reviews/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/06/17/irs-official-contradicts-claims-about-reviews/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:36:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Stephen Ohlemacher</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Taxes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=98005</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(WASHINGTON) — An Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, including some requests that languished for more than a year without action. Holly Paz, who until recently was a top deputy in the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, told congressional investigators she reviewed 20 to 30 applications. Her assertion contradicts initial claims by the agency that a small group of agents working in an office in Cincinnati were solely responsible for mishandling the applications. Paz, however, provided no evidence that senior IRS officials ordered agents to target conservative groups or that anyone in the Obama administration outside the IRS was involved. Instead, Paz described an agency in which IRS supervisors in Washington worked closely with agents in the field but didn&#8217;t fully understand what those agents were doing. Paz said agents in Cincinnati openly talked about handling &#8220;tea party&#8221; cases, but she thought the term was merely shorthand for all applications from groups that were politically active — conservative and liberal. Paz said dozens of tea party applications sat untouched for more than a year while field agents waited for guidance from Washington on how to handle them. At the time, she said, Washington officials thought the agents in Cincinnati were processing the cases. (MORE: New IRS Scandal Echoes a Long History of Political Harassment) Paz was among the first IRS employees to be interviewed as part of a joint investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Congressional investigators have interviewed at least six IRS employees as part of their inquiry. The Associated Press has reviewed transcripts from three interviews — with Paz and with two agents, Gary Muthert and Elizabeth Hofacre, from the Cincinnati office. The IRS declined comment for this story. A yearlong audit by the agency&#8217;s inspector general found that IRS agents had improperly targeted conservative political groups for additional and sometimes onerous scrutiny when those groups applied<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=98005&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Taxes</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/taxes/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
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