Senate passes bill to keep post offices open
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Updated 6:30 p.m. ET
(CBS News) The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday afternoon that would preserve post office services now set to be slashed due to the agency's financial problems.
The measure, which passed 62-37, eases the Postal Service's money woes by reimbursing the agency to the tune of $11 billion for overpaying into federal workers' retirement fund.
The Senate bill would slow or prevent the closing of many low-revenue post office locations that have been slated to close. It also prohibits the elimination of Saturday delivery for at least two years to allow cost-cutting measures to go into effect. In addition, the measure authorizes the Postal Service to offer buyouts and early retirement incentives to its employees.
Without legislative action before May 15, the Postal Service would be forced to close post offices and mail processing centers, cut Saturday delivery and possibly lay off workers to address more than $8 billion worth of losses.
Continue »GOP unveils competing bill to protect women
WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
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VAWA was signed into law in 1994 in an effort to curb acts of stalking, rape and domestic violence against women. The law also ensured law enforcement personnel and treatment centers had resources to help victims.
Senate Democrats are considering a bill that would expand protections to Native Americans, gays, lesbians and undocumented immigrants as well.
House Republican women held a news conference today on Capitol Hill to show that Republicans have their own plan for extending the law.
The GOP bill would increase penalties for stalkers who target minors and the elderly by adding five years to a perpetrator's prison sentence. It would also provide funding to clear the backlog of untested rape kits that lawmakers say is as high as 400,000.
Continue »Court review of Arizona law leaves Romney in a bind
A women holds a sign that reads 'Unity & Justice for All' during a protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, on April 25, 2012 in Washington, DC. The high court will hear arguments on Arizona v. United States and will be tasked with deciding the conflicting roles of national and state governments in controlling the lives of noncitizens living illegally in the U.S.
(Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)(CBS News) The Supreme Court isn't making life any easier for Mitt Romney.
Today, the court hears arguments over the constitutionality of Arizona's controversial immigration law, known as S.B. 1070. Passed in 2010, the law makes it a crime to be in the state as an undocumented immigrant and compels local law officials to enforce the law. Because of the pending suits against the law, some of its central provisions haven't gone into effect.
The law inspired conservatives across the country to adopt more aggressive measures against undocumented immigrants. At the same time, it spurred huge rallies across the country in 2010, with its opponents charging the measure smacks of racism and is a disgrace to Arizona.
While the measure is unlikely to ignite the fierce debate it did in 2010, the Supreme Court case will once again put the spotlight on the Arizona law. The court will hand down its ruling on the law -- as well as its ruling on President Obama's health care overhaul -- sometime in June, right in the middle of the presidential campaign.
Continue »Obama pushes for lower student loan rates
Updated 9:15 a.m. ET
(CBS News) The president kicks off his next policy battle - student loans - by dedicating his weekly address to the issue.
"In America, higher education cannot be a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford," the president said.
The president is set to visit universities in North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa next week, as well as appear on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," to put pressure on Congress to extend a lower student loan interest rate before the rates are set to increase from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1.
"Nearly seven and half million students will end up owing more on their loan payments. That would be a tremendous blow. And it's completely preventable," the president said.
Mr. Obama argued that the cost of higher education keeps people from attending, and he said interest rates on student loans add to the deterrent.
Continue »GOP's Blunt: Dems focus on "the wrong things"
Updated 9:40 a.m. ET
(CBS News) Freshman Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Senate's vote on the Buffett Rule is a symptom of misplaced priorities.
Blunt called the Buffett Rule "a gimmick that would do nothing to jump-start jobs or lower fuel prices for average Americans." The Buffett Rule, which failed to clear a Senate vote earlier this week, would impose at least a 30-percent tax rate on those making more than $1 million per year.
"Unfortunately, instead of working together to pass bipartisan solutions that would relieve pain at the pump and pressure on jobs, this administration is focused on the wrong things," Blunt said in the Republican weekly address.
Continue »Bachmann says Obama is "waving a tar baby"
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(CBS News) Rep. Michele Bachmann charged the president with caring only about his re-election. She also called him "irresponsible" and "infantile" for failing to address the economy and energy prices.
"This is just about waving a tar baby in the air," Bachmann told a conservative Florida website The Shark Tank in a video interview. "The president is a complete and utter fraud and a hypocrite on this issue, with all due respect," she said, referring to the president's energy policy.
Bachmann has come under fire for using the term "tar baby," which is a phrase that denotes a sticky situation and refers to a children's story, the Brer Rabbit. However, the term is also considered derogatory toward African Americans.
Bachmann's spokesperson Becky Rogness says in a Thursday email that Bachmann made a point about Obama's understanding of oil prices that has "nothing to do with race." Instead, Rogness says Obama "has gotten himself into a sticky situation."
Continue »Ex-GSA chief sorry for "extravagant" conference
Former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson takes her seat on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 16, 2012, to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on wasteful spending and excesses by GSA during a 2010 Las Vegas conference.
(Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)"I personally apologize to the American people," Johnson said in her opening remarks at a House Oversight Committee hearing addressing GSA's alleged "culture of wasteful spending."
"As the head of the agency I am responsible. I deeply regret this. I will mourn for the rest of my life the loss of my appointment," she added.
GSA Inspector General Brian Miller said he's also conducting other investigations surrounding the GSA, including "all sorts of improprieties, including bribes, including possible kickbacks."
Continue »GOP: It's a "mirage" to think Arizona is in play
Thousands of protesters rally at the Arizona Capitol on Sunday, April, 25, 2010.
(Credit: AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)The Republican National Committee is taking significant steps to expand its Hispanic voter outreach in a handful of key states -- but Arizona isn't one of them, in spite of the Obama campaign's intentions to turn the traditionally "red state" into a "blue state" this year.
"My view is the Obama team is setting up a mirage that somehow Arizona is going to be in play or a battleground," RNC chairman Reince Priebus told reporters Monday. "It's a Republican state, it's a red state -- obviously, it's not going to be ignored, but to put it in the category of a battleground state is a mindset we're not adhering to right now."
Priebus announced today that by the end of April, the RNC will have Hispanic State Directors in six of battleground states: Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia.
Continue »Gay rights activists decry Obama inaction
(CBS News) Gay rights activists say they feel betrayed by President Obama's decision not to sign an executive order banning workplace discrimination of gay, lesbian and transgender federal contractors.
"I believe this is a political calculation," said Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, who learned about the decision during a meeting with White House officials, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Wednesday. "It's not about the substance."
White House spokesperson Jay Carney said Thursday the decision was "absolutely not" steeped in election-year politics.
"We're deeply committed to working hand-in-hand with partners in the LGBT community on a number of fronts to build the case for employment non-discrimination policies," Carney said.
However, a prominent gay-rights proponent involved in pressing the White House to move forward with an Executive Order said he thinks the president is "risk adverse" as the general election nears.
Obama: "JOBS Act" is a "game-changer"
"New businesses account for almost every new job created in America," the president said during a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday. "That's why I pushed for this bill."
The "JOBS Act" (Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act) removes restrictions for small business and startups to receive broader access to capital and investors.
It's "for business owners who want to take their company to the next level," Mr. Obama said, adding that it's "a potential game-changer" for startups.
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