ACN Investigates: House Speaker John Boehner Claims Demcorats Have No Plan To Replace The Sequester

With no last-minute deal to avoid sequestration, the sweeping federal spending cuts have begun to take effect, and politicians have taken to the airwaves to explain where they stand.

House Speaker John Boehner appeared on Meet the Press on March 3, 2013, and told host David Gregory he and his fellow Republicans have done all they can to break the stalemate over deficit reduction. It’s now up to President Barack Obama and the Democrats, Boehner said.

"We've known about this for 16 months. And yet even today, there's no plan from Senate Democrats or the White House to replace the sequester," he said. "And over the last 10 months, House Republicans have acted twice to replace the sequester."

No plan? That didn’t sound quite right.

THE WHITE HOUSE PLAN

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/sequester/the-presidents-plan

SENATE DEMOCRATS' PLAN

From PolitiFact:

On Feb. 26, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski introduced the American Family Economic Protection Act of 2013, which would cancel the $85.3 billion sequester and replace it over several years with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

The bill proposes to cut $27.5 billion from the defense budget and another $27.5 billion from agriculture funding. It would raise $55 billion in new revenue by implementing the "Buffett Rule" (which sets a minimum 30 percent tax rate on income above $1 million) and ending tax deductions for oil companies.

On Feb. 28, the Senate voted on a motion to cut off debate, which would have brought the bill up for a full vote, but the motion failed 51-49 on a largely partisan vote (60 votes were needed to end debate).

The Morning Report -- Tuesday March 5, 2013

Vote Counting Begins In Kenya -- Queen Elizabeth Leaves Hospital -- Cardinals Meet Today, Conclave Due -- U.S. Cardinals Express Concerns -- Venezuela's Chavez Health Worsens -- CA GOP Looks To Rebuild -- House Republicans Propose Shutdown Fix -- Vegas Strip Shooting Fights Extradition -- Menendez Accuser Backs Off Claims -- US Ambassador Asks UN Colleagues To Remain Sober - White House Favors Unlocking Cellphones - Comet Aims For Mars

KENYA ELECTION: VOTE COUNTING BEGINS IN CRUCIAL ELECTION 

Polls were due to close at 17:00 (14:00 GMT) but officials said those in queues at that time would be allowed to vote.

Earlier attacks by machete-wielding gangs around the port city of Mombasa killed at least 15 people.

With more than 10% of votes counted, the two presidential front-runners were well ahead of the other candidates.

The partial preliminary results, from areas where polling ended on time, gave Uhuru Kenyatta a lead over Prime Minister Raila Odinga, although analysts cautioned that these results came from Kenyatta strongholds.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II LEAVES HOSPITAL AFTER STOMACH FLU

Queen Elizabeth II left the London hospital where she'd been treated for the symptoms of a stomach infection Monday, following a brief and rare hospitalization for the 86-year-old head of state.

A smiling Elizabeth walked unassisted out of King Edward VII Hospital Monday afternoon before saying goodbye to staff. She was then driven away in a motorcade.

CARDINALS MEET TODAY, COULD SET CONCLAVE DATE

Cardinals will meet again in secret today at the Vatican, where they may target a date for the formal conclave to select a new pope and hash out the agenda they’d like to see the next pontiff address, including the clergy sex scandals and Vatican management that continue to dominate pre-conclave headlines.

The process is playing out behind closed doors and under an oath of secrecy, though some of the princes of the Church are still making themselves available to the media hordes on hand.

US CARDINALS SEEK ANSWERS ON ABUSE, CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS BEFORE CONCLAVE

VATICAN CITY — Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times.

The Vatican said 107 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the first day of pre-conclave meetings, at which cardinals organize the election, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another before voting.

CHAVEZ'S BREATHING PROBLEMS WORSEN, HAS SEVERE NEW INFECTION

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's breathing problems have worsened and he is suffering from a "severe" new respiratory infection as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery, the government said in a somber medical update on Monday.

The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since undergoing the operation in Cuba. It was his fourth surgery since the disease was detected in mid-2011.

CALIFORNIA GOP TO REBUILD STEP-BY-STEP

Borrowing a theme from Democrat Jerry Brown's first term as governor, California Republicans are embracing a "small is beautiful" philosophy as they seek to rebuild their party from its nadir.

The California GOP has entered an era of diminished expectations.

As the emaciated party wrapped up its three-day statewide convention Sunday, there is little buzz about a 2014 challenge to unseat Brown. There's little hope of picking up more than a seat or two in the Legislature. There's no rush behind a ballot measure.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROPOSE MEASURE TO AVERT SHUTDOWN

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would avoid a government shutdown at the end of March, but that also could mitigate some of the most striking effects of the across-the-board federal spending cuts enacted last week.

Although the proposed shifts would make the sequester slightly less indiscriminate -- particularly for the military -- the measure would leave in place the $85 billion spending reduction, locking in the cuts through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

SUSPECT IN VEGAS STRIP SHOOTING FIGHTS EXTRADITION FROM CALIFORNIA

(Reuters) - A man accused of fatally shooting an aspiring rapper as he drove a Maserati along the Las Vegas Strip, touching off a fiery car crash that killed two other people, challenged his extradition back to Nevada from California on Monday.

The man insisted through his defense lawyer that police or other authorities from Nevada be summoned to Los Angeles to identify him in court as the fugitive they seek in the February 21 shooting, 26-year-old Ammar Harris.

ESCORT SAYS MENENDEZ PROSTITUTION CLAIMS WERE MADE UP

A woman who said on tape that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex is now backing off those claims, telling police in the Dominican Republican that she was paid to make them, according to documents and two people familiar with the case.

The woman, one of two women who claimed Menendez hired them as prostitutes, now says she has never met the senator.

US AMBASSADOR POLITELY ASKS UN COLLEAGUES TO STOP SHOWING UP DRUNK TO MEETINGS

The United Nations is a pretty fun place. The headquarters hosts all kinds of cultural events. Everyone's open-minded about the dress code. Delegates can even show up hammered to budget negotiations. Or at least they used to be able to.

At a General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, the United States ambassador for management and reform at the UN stood up to scold his colleagues for always showing up drunk to negotiations. "There has always been a good and responsible tradition of a bit of alcohol improving a negotiation, but we're not talking about a delegate having a nip at the bar," said Joseph "The Fun Police" Torsella. "We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone."

WHITE HOUSE: IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE CELL PHONE UNLOCKING 

The White House on Monday came out in support of the rights of consumers to unlock their cellphones once they have fulfilled the terms of the contract.

Responding to a petition on WhiteHouse.gov, the executive branch stated, “The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties.”

They went further, saying that the same right should also extend to other mobile devices, namely tablets.

COMET SETS AIM FOR MARS

A PAIR of middle-aged tourists (see previous post) are not the only thing headed for Mars. Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is also on its way. Discovered on January 3rd, some calculations of its orbit, according to Phil Plait, the rather good “Bad Astronomer”, have it passing 37,000km above the surface of the planet in October 2014—roughly the height at which communication satellites orbit Earth, and a remarkably close shave by cosmic standards. An official NASA website puts the most likely “close-approach” distance between the comet and Mars at something more like 100,000km.

But the minimum close-approach distance is zero. Comets do not move smoothly on their tracks like ball bearings or planets. The gases that blow off their surfaces as the sun warms them up push them hither and yon, changing their trajectories. So, though the odds are strongly against it (how strongly no one can yet say) the comet has a real if small chance of actually hitting the planet.

White House To Give Lawmakers Classified Drone Info

House and Senate intelligence committees will get classified information from the Justice Department that the White House feels will show the rationale for drone strikes against American citizens, according to a senior White House official.

Several lawmakers have pressed the White House for more information on how decisions are made to target U.S. citizens abroad follow the release this week of an unclassified "white paper" that the Justice Department sent key lawmakers last year. The unclassified memo says it is legal for the government to kill U.S. citizens abroad if it believes they are senior al-Qaida leaders continually engaged in operations aimed at killing Americans.

The official said Obama made the decision to send lawmakers the classified rationale on Wednesday as part of his "commitment to consult with Congress on national security matters." Obama directed the Justice Department provide the Senate and House intelligence committees access to classified advice from its Office of Legal Counsel that the white paper is based on, the official said.

The House on Wednesday passed the "No Budget, No Pay Act," a Republican bill that would effectively defuse the debt ceiling threat for several months.

The bill would let the Treasury Department borrow new money until mid-May. In exchange, the legislation would require lawmakers in both chambers of Congress to pass a budget resolution or have their pay withheld until they do.

The vote was 285 to 144. The bill passed largely on the back of GOP support -- 199 Republicans voted for it. But Democrats were needed, and 86 backed the measure.

Most House Democrats, however, voted against the bill. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the salary provision a "joke" and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer called the bill a "political gimmick" that perpetuates uncertainty.

For more visit: http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/23/news/economy/debt-ceiling-house-republicans/index.html

UPDATED: Secretary Clinton Testifies on Benghazi Incident

On September 11, 2012 a group of armed Libyans stormed the United States Embassy.  Their violent attacks resulted in four deaths and the start of a huge investigation by Washington republicans into why there was not adequate security at the embassy. From here the narrative of the story becomes largely partisan. The right wing of the country claims that the Obama administration, in a stunning display of incompetence, knew and did not act as the events were unfolding. The left of the country would have you believe the Obama administration did everything they could and that the reason security was not as tight as it perhaps should have been is funding from Washington. The truth will probably lie somewhere in between. Today however Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified on what she knew about the Benghazi attack in Libya. The exchange between herself and Republicans started off nice enough but soon escalated to a heated exchange.

Here is the beginning of the hearings that displays a part  at the end where Clinton "goes off" on Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

After the hearings Senator Johnson suggested that Clinton's angry outburst was just a dodge. Johnson said 

"I'm not sure she had rehearsed for that type of questioning." 

 "I think she just decided before she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the heroes, and use that as her trump card to get out of the questions. It was a good way of getting out of really having to respond to me." 

Johnson went on to criticize Clinton for having taken "full responsibility" for the attacks in Libya but then having dodged the question using "theatrics."

"She allowed politics to trump getting to the facts." Johnson said. 

Later on Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) mentioned the fact that as of today nobody but the filmmaker of the controversial anti-Islam film that was initially blamed for the outbreak had been arreseted. The filmmaker was arrested in California for allegedly violating his parole.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Towards the end of her testimony Secretary Clinton warned that there was a growing threat from Al Qaeda and its affiliates in North Africa. 

“The fact is they’re terrorists, they’re extremists, they have designs on overthrowing existing governments, even these new Islamist governments.”

Below are some further images of Secretary Clinton during her testimony.

Clinton's toughest critic, Senator John McCain, levied a harsh line of attack on Clinton demanding answers for the attacks and stating that "The people deserve to know."

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) bluntly told Secretary Clinton that he would have fired her over the events in Libya and how she handled them.

In a lengthy attack on the potential 2016 presidential foe Paul repeatedly hammered Clinton and the Obama administration.

"One of the things that disappointed me most about the original 9/11 was that no one was fired," Paul said, calling the 2012 attack the worst act of terrorism since 2001.

Later on in the questioning Paul aluded to the popular conservative conspiracy theory that the late ambassador to Libya was inolved in a CIA effort to ship guns to Turkey.

View the video here: http://on.aol.com/video/rand-paul-to-hillary-clinton--i-would-have-fired-you-517651092

Clinton did acknowledge that she ultimately takes repsonsibility for the attacks in Libya.



Amid the questioning Clinton teared up, an example of the type of "theatrics" Sen. Johnson referenced earlier.

Later on after the hearings in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Rand Paul noted that Clinton had a "valid point" on Benghazi. 

Post hearing Fox News' "The Five" mocked Secretary Clinton for her answers.

Earlier in the hearing Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) accused Secretary Clinton "You let the consulate become a death trap." 

THIS STORY IS ONGOING

The Morning Report -- Wednesday January 23, 2013

House Defuses Debt -- Clinton Faces Congress -- Israeli Election Deadlock -- Gay Activists & Obama -- NRA Back On Offense -- North Korea To Up Nukes -- The Middle Class Hurt Most -- Shooting In Texas -- Beyonce Buzz

HOUSE GOP SEEKS TO DEFUSE DEBT CRISIS

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans are moving to try to defuse a potential debt crisis with legislation to prevent an economy-rattling fiscal crisis for at least three months. The GOP legislation marks a tactical retreat by House GOP leaders, eager to avoid a potential first-ever default on U.S. payment and debt obligations as they wrestle with President Barack Obama over taxes, spending and the deficit. 

For more visit the Associated Press. 

CLINTON TO FACE CONGRESS ON LIBYA ASSAULT

AP Photo/Win McNamee

AP Photo/Win McNamee

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton faces tough questions in her long-awaited congressional testimony concerning the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Clinton is the sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House foreign policy panels. They will cover the September raid, an independent panel's review that harshly criticized the State Department, and what the Obama administration is doing to beef up security at U.S. facilities worldwide.

For more visit the Associated Press.

ISRAELI ELECTION ENDS IN DRAMATIC DEADLOCK

AP Photo/Oded Balilty

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's parliamentary election ended Wednesday in a stunning deadlock between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line bloc and center-left rivals, forcing the badly weakened leader to scramble to cobble together a coalition of parties from both camps, despite dramatically different views on Mideast peacemaking and other polarizing issues. Israeli media said that with 99.8 percent of votes counted, each bloc had 60 of parliament's 120 seats. Commentators said Netanyahu, who called early elections three months ago expecting easy victory, would be tapped to form the next government because the rival camp drew 12 of its 60 seats from Arab parties who traditionally neither are asked nor seek to join governing coalitions.

For more visit the Associated Press.

GAY ACTIVISTS LAUD OBAMA SPEECH, NOW WANT ACTION

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

NEW YORK (AP) - President Barack Obama's emphatic gay-rights advocacy in his inaugural address thrilled many activists. Yet almost immediately came the questions and exhortations as to what steps should be taken next. "I was very moved," said Jon Davidson, legal director of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. "But there's a lot more to do in the four years to come. ... It's not like everything is fine."

For more visit the Associated Press.

AFTER UN ACTS NORTH KOREA VOWS TO BEEF UP NUKES

AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea swiftly lashed out against the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its December launch of a long-range rocket, saying Wednesday that it will strengthen its military defenses - including its nuclear weaponry - in response. The defiant statement from North Korea's Foreign Ministry was issued hours after the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning Pyongyang's Dec. 12 rocket launch as a violation of a ban against nuclear and missile activity. The resolution, which won approval from Pyongyang's ally and protector China after drawn-out discussions, also expanded sanctions against the North.

For more visit the Associated Press.

RECESSION, TECH KILL MIDDLE CLASS JOBS

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

NEW YORK (AP) - Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over. And the situation is even worse than it appears.

For more visit the Associated Press.

AUTHORITIES NEW MEXICO TEEN PLANNED MORE SHOOTINGS

AP Photo/Unknown

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The New Mexico teenager accused of gunning down five family members over the weekend ambushed his father as he returned home from an overnight shift at a rescue mission, then reloaded his rifles and planned to go to a Wal-Mart and randomly shoot people, authorities said Tuesday. Instead, 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, then spent much of Saturday with the girl and her family, authorities said. That evening, the teen went to the church where his father had been a pastor, and Griego eventually confessed to killing his parents and three younger siblings.

For more visit the Associated Press.

NRA SAYS OBAMA DOESN'T UNDERSTAND GUN OWNERS

Evan Vucci, AP

National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told gun owners Tuesday that President Obama "doesn't understand you'' and wants a national registry of firearms in order to tax or confiscate the weapons.

"He doesn't understand you. He doesn't agree with the freedoms all of you cherish,'' LaPierre said at an evening gathering of a hunting and conservation foundation supporters in Reno. His dinner speech was aired on the NRA's website and in part by MSNBC.

For more visit the Detroit Free Press.

BEYONCE LIP-SYNC'S NATIONAL ANTHEM?

(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)

Beyoncé has been widely praised for her beautiful rendition of the national anthem at Monday's presidential inauguration.

But even after seeing her triumphantly pull her earpiece out as she belted out the words, buzz is now bubbling up that the superstar wasn't singing it live.

For more visit USA Today.