Congress reaches transportation deal
WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- Congressional Republicans and Democrats said Wednesday they have reached a deal for a transportation spending bill for the first time in seven years.
The conference committee bill, hammered out ahead of a June 30 deadline, will keep spending at the current level of about $54 billion a year. A ratification vote is expected in both chambers this week.
The Washington Post reported the agreement was worked out after Republicans dropped their demands to add legislation allowing the Keystone oil pipeline and to weaken proposed restrictions on coal ash produced by power plants.
Democrats conceded $1.4 billion for conservation and agreed to allow states more freedom to spend money that had been specifically designated for landscaping, bike improvements and pedestrian walkways, the newspaper said.
"I am so glad that House Republicans met Democrats halfway, as Senate Republicans did months ago," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the bill's chief sponsor. "The bill is funded at current levels, and it will protect and create 3 million jobs."
House Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica, R-Fla., called it a jobs bill.
"This agreement will help strengthen our nation's construction industry and provide stability to highway, bridge and infrastructure projects across the country," Mica said.
Dozens of Dems may join GOP on contempt
WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- At least four Democrats in tough re-election fights said they will join Republicans in voting to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Reform and Government Oversight Committee, told Fox News Channel Wednesday he believes about 30 Democrats will break ranks, joining John Barrow of Georgia and Jim Matheson of Utah. Politico reported later in the day Nick Rahall of West Virginia and Collin Peterson of Minnesota would vote with Republicans Thursday, Politico said..
"Sadly, it seems that it will take holding the attorney general in contempt to communicate that evasiveness is unacceptable," Matheson said in a statement.
Barrow and Matheson are from conservative states, with Matheson the only Democrat in the Utah congressional delegation.
Democrats voting to hold the attorney general in contempt might be responding to pressure from the National Rifle Association, Politico said. The NRA announced it supports the contempt citation and will score members' votes -- an electoral challenge for Democrats who have in the past been endorsed by the NRA, Politico said.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told reporters on Capitol Hill "a couple dozen" Democrats could vote with Republicans under pressure from the NRA.
The NRA charges that Fast and Furious, a botched attempt to track guns suspected of being illegally purchased in the United States to buyers in Mexico, was a ploy to build support for new gun regulations.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the Obama administration has had "ample opportunity" to respond to requests for documents on the Fast and Furious "gun-walking" operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, CNN reported. He said the House will vote Thursday to hold Holder in contempt.
The White House says the withheld documents are "deliberative" and covered by executive privilege. Attempts to negotiate a settlement Tuesday were fruitless.
"This was a good faith effort to try to reach an accommodation while still protecting the institutional prerogatives of the executive branch, often championed by these same Republicans criticizing us right now," Eric Schultz, an administration spokesman, told CNN. "Unfortunately, Republicans have opted for political theater rather than conduct legitimate congressional oversight."
Issa testified Wednesday before the House Rules Committee, saying his committee no longer suspects Holder knew that guns "walked" during Fast and Furious, the liberal Talking Points Memo blog reported.
"During the inception and the participation through the death of [border agent] Brian Terry, we have no evidence nor do we currently have strong suspicion" that Holder knew of the tactics, Issa said.
"We have just the opposite, have a number of people, including [assistant U.S. Attorney General] Lanny Breuer, who should have known who's responsibility was to know, that as part of our ongoing responsibility to figure out who was responsible," he said.
Issa said there was no evidence the White House had knowledge of gunwalking tactics, prompting Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. -- ranking member of the Oversight Committee -- to interject, "We are now about to find in contempt the attorney general of the United States of America after you just heard that."
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus plan to leave the House floor during the vote, Politico reported, citing a letter being circulated among members of Congress.
"We adamantly oppose this partisan attack and refuse to participate in any vote that would tarnish the image of Congress or of an attorney general who has done nothing but work tirelessly to protect the rights of the American people," the letter said.
Post declines to retract Bain report
WASHINGTON, June 27 (UPI) -- The Washington Post will not retract its story on Bain Capital LLC's practice of outsourcing U.S. jobs, Politico reported Wednesday.
The Post reported June 21 that Bain -- the financial services, private equity and venture capital company co-founded by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- had invested in several firms that sent jobs overseas to countries where workers were paid lower wages than their U.S. counterparts.
Citing filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the newspaper said Bain owned companies that pioneered moving work to call centers and factories overseas during the time Romney actively participated in running the company.
During his campaign for president, Romney has criticized outsourcing of U.S. jobs, and the Romney campaign had asked the Post to retract its story, arguing that the newspaper misread SEC filings and that the story's conclusions are inaccurate or incomplete, Politico reported.
Post editors held an off-the-record meeting with representatives of the Romney campaign Wednesday, Politico said, at which the newspaper declined to retract its story.
"We are very confident in our reporting," Post spokeswoman Kris Coratti told Politico.
Romney campaign press secretary Andrea Saul had no comment on what she called "an off-the-record, private meeting."
'Stand-your-ground' killer gets 40 years
HOUSTON, June 27 (UPI) -- A Houston jury Wednesday sentenced Raul Rodriguez to 40 years in prison for murdering a neighbor in a so-called stand-your-ground shooting in 2010.
Rodriguez, 47, was spared a possible life sentence, the Los Angeles Times reported. Defense lawyers had asked for a five-year term, saying Rodriguez -- who was convicted this month -- thought he was legally entitled under Texas law to shoot Kelly Danaher, a 36-year-old elementary school teacher, in Huffman.
Rodriguez killed Danaher after having complained about the noise at a party at Danaher's house May 2, 2010.
During the trial, jurors watched a 22-minute video Rodriguez shot of himself going from his house to Danaher's, and demanding those at the party quiet down. In the last 7 minutes of the video, Rodriguez is heard telling the guests at Danaher's house he is afraid they will hurt him, the Houston Chronicle reported.
At one point, as several men from the party, including Danaher, are seen charging at Rodriguez, the shot goes to black and the audio portion contains a laugh and a gunshot before the camera seems to fall to the ground.
The defense argued Rodriguez shot Danaher in self-defense and had a split-second to decide whether to shoot.
Prosecutor Donna Logan said during the trial "self-defense was never meant to protect the one who started the fight" and Rodriguez was employing language he'd learned in a concealed handgun licensing class.
After the sentencing Thursday, Rodriguez's attorney, Neal Davis, told the Times the case is "only the beginning of the cases we're going to see" involving stand-your-ground laws.
