The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“From the moment of arrest to the moment of death, the criminal justice system faces vexing challenges in carrying out the ultimate punishment.”

Mark White of the Constitution Project, a nonpartisan legal research organization that said in a report that substantial revisions to U.S. death-penalty protocols are needed

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EPA vows to settle internal-probe fray

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency assured Congress on Wednesday that it will resolve a dispute with its inspector general over allegations that an EPA office run by President Barack Obama’s top political staff interfered with independent investigations.

EPA’s deputy administrator, Bob Perciasepe, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he will instruct EPA’s little-known Office of Homeland Security to seek permission to share information with the inspector general’s office.

The announcement came during a congressional hearing after a top investigator with the inspector general testified that the office, run out of the EPA administrator’s office, had for years systematically refused to share information on external threats, computer security and employee misconduct, citing national security.

Ex-IRS official gets House contempt tag

WASHINGTON — House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold a former Internal Revenue Service official in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify at a pair of committee hearings about her role in the agency’s Tea Party controversy.

The House also passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS.

Lois Lerner directed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. A year ago, she disclosed that agents had improperly singled out Tea Party applications for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

An inspector general’s report blamed poor management but found no evidence of a political conspiracy.

The vote to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress was 231-187, with no Republicans voting against the step and a few Democrats voting for it. Republican Reps. Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin of Arkansas did not vote on the contempt resolution.

Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions at two hearings by the House Oversight Committee. House Republicans say she waived her constitutional right by making an opening statement in which she proclaimed her innocence.

Defense-outlay bill gets House scrutiny

WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee plunged into a marathon session Wednesday to craft a $601 billion defense bill that would authorize spending on planes, personnel, weapons and ships in the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

House Republicans are sparing Cold War-era aircraft, military bases and ships from Pentagon cuts.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., a former pilot and Tea Party favorite elected in 2012, won voice-vote approval for saving three of seven AWACS aircraft, the airborne warning and control system that is based at Tinker Air Force Base in his home state.

The full House is expected to consider the legislation the week of May 19.

A Section on 05/08/2014

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