After a spate of public outrage over the practice of arresting drivers with expired license plates, the D.C. Council acted Tuesday to keep those people out of jail cells. It adopted emergency legislation that would repeal criminal penalties for driving with an expired tag, instituting fines instead. “Today, we have an opportunity to fix a problem in our law, one that has caused many people to scratch their heads in amazement,” said Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D), who introduced the legislation on behalf of Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D). Read full article > >

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No more jail time for expired license plates, D.C. Council says

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) figures the nation could raise a little cash by licensing Internet gambling. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) wants to save money on prison beds by letting convicts out early if they learn to read. And House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) joined forces with Democrats on his panel to tell congressional budget-cutters where they should NOT look for savings: The Pentagon, which is already struggling to respond to two previous rounds of cuts. Read full article > >

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Advice from lawmakers pours in to ‘supercommittee’

Senators with oversight of the federal workforce said Friday that Congress should freeze the pay of federal employees for a third year and retool calculations of federal retirement benefits in order to cut the federal deficit. Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee , also said no workers in any of the three branches of the federal government should be spared from cuts under consideration by the supercommittee on deficit reduction. Read full article > >

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Key senators back extending federal pay freeze

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, will resign from his leadership post in January. The Tennessee Republican, who has served as Republican Conference Chairman for nearly four years, announced his plans in a letter to colleagues Tuesday morning. He noted that he plans to run for re-election in 2014. Read full article > >

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Lamar Alexander to resign from Senate leadership in January

The SEC has conceded defeat in the legal battle over one of its most far-reaching steps in years , a plan to make it easier for shareholders to toss out corporate directors. SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro said late Tuesday that the agency will not appeal a recent court decision invalidating the initiative . The result is a major victory for corporate groups such as the Business Roundtable, which represents chief executives of big corporations, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They sued to block the so-called “proxy access” rule. Read full article > >

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SEC won’t appeal decision on shareholders

A year after an internal whistleblower accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of improperly destroying records of dropped enforcement inquiries, the agency is still destroying records illegally, a lawyer for the whistleblower said in a letter Tuesday. The whistleblower, SEC staff member Darcy Flynn, is under “standing orders to direct the destruction of records” that federal law requires the SEC to preserve, attorney Gary J. Aguirre wrote. Aguirre made the allegation in a letter to SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro and SEC Inspector General H. David Kotz and addressed copies to members of Congress. Read full article > >

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SEC still destroying records illegally, whistleblower’s lawyer says

Back in April, I wrote a column entitled ” What Bernanke should’ve said .” It was an effort to imagine the Chairman of Federal Reserve’s first news conference, if that news conference happened after a couple glasses of scotch and in a moment of unusual personal empowerment. The difference between then and now is that unemployment has risen from 8.8 percent to 9.1 percent, Rick Perry has threatened mob violence and we’ve moved more firmly towards austerity. That is to say, this is what Bernanke should say, now more than ever, and what he’s unlikely to say, now more than ever. So in anticipation of the central banker’s big speech today — and scroll down in Wonkbook for more on that — here are excerpts from that column: Read full article > >

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Wonkbook: What Bernanke should say today

The Republican professional political class stayed (largely) silent in the wake of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’ s suggestion that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke might be acting in a “treasonous” manner . But, one prominent Republican didn’t seem to get the memo. Read full article > >

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Does Rick Perry have a Karl Rove problem?

District campaign finance authorities announced Friday that they have filed a complaint against the 2008 reelection campaign of D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D). The Office of Campaign Finance said in a news release that the 2008 Committee to Re-Elect Kwame R. Brown “is charged among other things, with failure to report 210 contributions totaling $102,763.00, failure to report 53 expenditures totaling $169,431.49 . . . and failure to substantiate $174,785.57 in expenditures.” Brown’s attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., declined to comment Friday. Read full article > >

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D.C. campaign officials file complaint on Kwame Brown’s 2008 reelection bid

The White House announced Monday that Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee will be leaving to return to teaching economics at the University of Chicago. Goolsbee, one of President Obama’s longest-serving advisers, has been on leave for…

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Obama Economic Chief Austan Goolsbee to Resign

Seeking to add police officers, preserve shelters for homeless families and maintain low-cost bus service, the D.C. Council this week has started making tweaks to Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s $10.8 billion spending plan . Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown (D) said Tuesday that his “number one objective” is to keep shelters open for homeless families and victims of domestic violence. Advocates testified Monday that Gray’s budget cuts threaten to shutter the only city-managed shelter serving families, except during cold weather, when the District is legally required to offer beds. Read full article > >

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D.C. Council tweaks Gray’s budget plan

The vindication of Tony Kushner? Benno C. Schmidt, the chairman of the board of the City University of New York has called an executive committee session to reconsider giving the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (Angels in America) an honorary degree,…

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CUNY Backtracks on Kushner Snub

Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave his first news conference. This isn’t what he said. But it’s what he should’ve said:

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What Bernanke should have said

D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown’s 2008 reelection campaign failed to account for more than a quarter-million dollars in donations and expenses, and used a now-defunct political consulting firm to pass $239,000 to a firm operated by his brother, according to an audit released Tuesday by the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance.

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D.C. audit slams Kwame Brown for campaign finance irregularities

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine confirmed speculation on Tuesday by officially announcing a run for Virginia’s Senate seat. Kaine is hoping to succeed Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, who is retiring after one term. In an online video, the former governor of Virginia…

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Kaine Launches Senate Campaign