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| Eric Holder |
Washington Post -The House of Representatives voted 255 to 67 Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, capping months of partisan bickering over an ongoing congressional investigation into Operation “Fast and Furious.”
More than 100 Democrats left the House floor before the vote, but 17 moderate Democrats stayed behind and joined with Republicans in voting for contempt, robbing the Obama administration and congressional Democrats of its main argument that the vote was a blatant partisan maneuver to discredit Holder and the White House in an election year.
All but one of the 17 Democrats has previously been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which said it would be tracking Thursday’s vote in determining future endorsements. In a letter to lawmakers last week, the NRA said, “It is no secret that the NRA does not admire Attorney General Holder.” But the gun rights group said it supported the contempt resolution because the Justice Department was obstructing a congressional investigation. Read full story here:
News New Mexico
Holder Held in Contempt by GOP and Democrats
Santa Fe New Mexican - The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal health care law Thursday came with another surprise tucked inside: States suddenly can decide whether or not to expand Medicaid, a government low-income health insurance program. Medicaid has a major footprint in New Mexico. It covers one in four New Mexicans to the tune of just under $1 billion in state dollars, or 16 percent of the state budget. The federal government picks up most of New Mexico’s Medicaid tab, which totals $3.8 billion. But here’s the rub. Before Thursday, the federal law contained a provision punishing states that didn’t expand Medicaid, beginning in 2014. States not expanding the program faced the potential of losing all Medicaid funding from Washington. Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling stripped that punitive measure from the law, suddenly releasing states from that huge financial threat. Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration on Thursday was still digesting Thursday’s ruling and couldn’t say what it would decide to push for — a full-scale expansion of Medicaid, as called for under the law, or something else. Read More News New Mexico
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