Waxman and Condi live this morning

CSPAN is providing us with Waxman’s oversight committee’s hearing this morning. Ms. Rice, our ..cough..illustrious SOS is the guest. You can listen via your computer here. CSPAN3 has the hearing on cable.

Mr. Waxman has graciously provided a live feed on the Committee website here.

Edit: I forgot..TPMmuckraker also provides us with wonderful recaps of the hearing as they are available AND on YouTube, here is the first of hopefully many this morning:

Crossposted at Bring it On!

Blackwater cheating on taxes now??

Per a CNN writeup and Henry Waxman..they surely are:

The latest allegations stem from a March letter from the Internal Revenue Service to Blackwater that Waxman’s committee obtained. The letter informs Blackwater that the IRS reviewed the case of a Blackwater worker in Afghanistan and determined that the individual should rightfully and legally be classed as an employee — not an independent contractor — for tax purposes. Such a finding would require the company to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes and unemployment insurance premiums for its employees. The letter finds the ruling “may be applicable to any other individuals engaged by the firm under similar circumstances.”

There are plenty of reasons for paying employees as independant contractors..one is that they aren’t really considered employees when listed as I.D.’s. That way, the company can avoid any nasty lawsuits over the actions of their employees..er..their contractors. Another is that the employees won’t be able to collect unemployment or disability if injured on the job.

By classifying workers in Iraq as “independent contractors” rather than employees, Blackwater appears to have engaged in an “illegal tax scheme” that avoided an estimated $31 million in employment-related taxes in the last year of its contract alone, said Rep. Henry Waxman on Monday. Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, also accused the North Carolina-based company of preventing a guard who discovered the practice “from contacting members of Congress or law enforcement officials.”

I hope they get screwed over this and everything else they have done. Fuck Erik Prince and his theocratic, bullshit-spewing ass. It makes NO sense that the government would allow one of the biggest contractors to list their employees in this manner. Prince says the government is ‘aware’ of how they list their workers.

Get him Henry..you go dude.

Tags: Independant Contractors, Blackwater,

Waxman sets up hearing to address a slew of subpoenas

From RollCall(subscription required) via TruthOut:

Waxman Sets Hearing to Consider Batch of Subpoenas
By Paul Singer
Roll Call

Friday 20 April 2007

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is ginning up the subpoena mill, scheduling a meeting next week to consider subpoenas in four different investigations of the Bush administration.

Waxman sent four letters today to Republican officials explaining that because the committee has not received sufficient cooperation in several ongoing investigations, the committee will meet April 25 to consider issuing subpoenas.

Ten days ago, Waxman’s office issued a statement to Roll Call noting the restraint with which his committee has wielded its subpoena power.

“The committee is conducting long overdue oversight that has already saved taxpayers millions,” Waxman said at the time. “It has exercised all its powers responsibly. In contrast to the model set by the Republicans during the Clinton administration, when subpoenas were a daily occurrence, the Committee has yet to issue a subpoena.”

That may change next week.

Unless Republicans offer their testimony voluntarily, Waxman’s committee will consider issuing subpoenas for:

• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for testimony about her role in President Bush’s now discredited claim that Iraq was seeking to obtain uranium from Niger;
• Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card for his testimony in regard to the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s name to the press;
• The Republican National Committee for documents related to RNC e-mail accounts used by White House officials, including Karl Rove;
• And the White House for documents related to a federal contract given to a company that has been implicated in a bribery case.

Go get em Henry..rip em a new one with my blessings dude.

Tags:

Politics, Waxman, Oversight Hearings, Subpoenas

Condi isn’t cooperating with Waxman’s Oversight Committee either.

It seems that Ms. Rice and her minions are playing hardball with Mr. Waxman and his Oversight committee. If you recall, Waxman requested Ms. Rice’s presence at the Oversight committee in a letter back on March 12th, for an April 18th hearing. Now, almost a month later, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs Jeffery Bergner finally got around to responding to the Waxman letter that also asked for more information about BushCo’s Niger yellowcake claim that he made in his 2003 SOTU speech and Condi’s involvement in that whole sordid affair. He also asked for information about PlameGate and the White House leak of her identity.

To make a long story short, the 17 page response by Jeffrey was severely lacking in substance. He had the nads to send Waxman copies of two letters that were readily available to Mr. Waxman, not to mention they were dated 2003. He also sent Waxman copies of transcripts from a previous hearing that Henry would also have access to. I think Henry is looking for newer information than that, don’t you? Also, the question of Condo’s appearance in front of the Oversight committee wasn’t even addressed.

Isn’t that odd?

Not really, the current administration is quite good at dragging its proverbial feet, in fact I would say they friggin lead the pack when it comes to dragging their feet. Mr. Waxman, not to be one that takes this crap now that he is the head honcho on Oversight..fired back with another letter. Mr. Waxman addresses again the appearance of Condo at the Oversight hearing thusly:

As I hope you can understand, because of the inadequacies of Mr. Bergner’s response, the Committee will not withdraw the invitation for you to testify on April 18,2007.

Hang in there Henry!!! Don’t let the bastards blow you off dude! God, I love this guy.

Tags: Politics, Congressional Oversight, Yellowcake, Bushit

Oversight committee requests deposition of Former White House Aide Susan Ralston

Today the Committee sent a formal request to former White House aide Susan Ralston to appear for a deposition on April 5th. The deposition is part of the Committee’s investigation, begun last spring, into lobbying contacts between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.

Cspan has become my favorite channel lately.

Tags: Politics, Waxman, Oversight, Abramoff, Susan Ralston