Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac CEOs Grilled Over Questionable Spending

By Lisa Kellman

The heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac testified before a frustrated House panel Thursday.

Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Charles Haldeman, the CEO of Freddie Mac, and Michael Williams, the CEO of Fannie Mae were asked by the House Financial Services Committee to justify some of their spending decisions, including spending around $74,000 for dinners during a conference.

Chairman Randy Neugebaur (R-T.X.) voiced his concern with many of the spending decisions made by the CEOs and forced Williams to admit his company had no written spending plan.

“We do believe we are being good stewards with money” defended Williams in response.

Executive pay also came into question. Halderman and Williams justified paying their second highest paid employees between $2.8 and $3.5 million, saying that top professionals in their line of work must be payed that kind of money to make the necessary risky decisions.

“Do you understand the outrage the American people feel…It’s impossible to understand why an individual, working for an industry such as yours, has to make that kind of money, remarked ranking member Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.).

Senate Panel Votes To Expand U.S. Marshals Aid In Sex Offender Investigations

By Adrianna McGinley

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved two bills Thursday expanding U.S. Marshals Service authority to investigate cases concerning sex offenders and missing children.

The “Strengthening Investigations of Sex Offenders and Missing Children Act of 2011” introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) gives U.S. Marshals immediate authority to aid local law enforcement with such investigations.

“When a child is abducted and later killed, three out of four times it’s in the first three hours,” Whitehouse said. “Time is of the essence when there is a child abduction…this bill would simply clarify that the U.S. Marshals has the capability … to cooperate with local law enforcement and to help in those investigations.”

Whitehouse said the U.S. Marshals’ access to national resources will add invaluable information to these cases.

The “Finding Fugitive Sex Offenders Act of 2011” introduced by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) would allow U.S Marshals to issue subpoenas to obtain third party records that would help track unregistered sex offenders and missing children.

“Marshals need to respond rapidly to child abduction type cases,” Sessions said. “This would allow the Marshal Service to have that simple administrative subpoena power that other agencies have for this horrendous type crime.”

Occupy DC Plans To Crash Dem Party

Occupy DC is planning to crash a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising reception Thursday evening.

“This elitist event is indicative of how the Democrats represent a major part of our government’s failure to represent 99% of its citizenry,” a statement from the movement reads. “The party is part and parcel of a government in which about half of Congressional members and most major presidential candidates are 1%ers — a government of the 1%, by the 1% and for the 1%.”

The statement notes that the reception is charging $5,000-$75,000 per plate.

The direct action comes as Occupy DC enters its second month.

White House Applauds Turkey For Syrian Sanctions

The White House applauded Turkey Wednesday for their decision to apply sanctions against the Assad regime in Syria.

“The leadership shown by Turkey in response to the brutality and violation of the fundamental rights of the Syrian people will isolate the Assad regime and send a strong message to Assad and his circle that their actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Tommy Vietor, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement.

House Passes Bill Lifting Per-Country Visa Quotas

By Andrea Salazar

By a 389-15 vote, the House passed legislation Tuesday night removing per-country quotas on employment-based visas for high-skilled immigrants.

As it stands now, any given foreign nation has access to no more than 7 percent of the visas the United States issues. Supporters say this bill would help manufacturers by removing that cap and making visas available to high-skilled immigrants around the world.

The bill now goes to the Senate where Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chairs an immigration subcommittee within the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised the passage of the bill as “a harbinger for progress on other immigration issues.”

“This will remove outdated constraints that prevent us from attracting the kind of innovators who can create job growth in America,” Schumer said. “We will move the bill as quickly as possible in the Senate, where we expect it to find overwhelming support.”