Political News
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- As the people of Moore, Okla., grapple to recover following the devastating tornado that hit its community earlier this week, the head of a major weather forecasting service told a congressional subcommittee Thursday that the technology doesn’t yet exist to provide warning times of an hour or more before a tornado strikes.
“We expect people to ride out the storms in their bath tubs. That’s not acceptable. The only reason that’s the case is that we cannot yet scientifically determine far enough in advance the strength, the exact path, the location of where a tornado is going to form and where it’s
...Read more
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Nearly six in 10 Americans back a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants, with narrow preference for prompt action on the issue. Partisan divisions are sharp, a factor likely to be reflected in the full Senate debate ahead.
Overall, 58 percent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll support providing a way for undocumented immigrants to remain in the country legally “if they pay a fine and meet other requirements,” vs. 38 percent opposed. That’s similar to a 62-34 percent split last month.
A bare majority, 51 percent, also says Congress should pass a legal status law now, either
...Read more
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(HARRISBURG, Penn.) -- Emily’s List is backing Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) in her bid for governor of Pennsylvania, making their first endorsement of the 2014 gubernatorial cycle.
The group, known for backing female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, is supporting Schwartz in her bid against Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
“Allyson Schwartz has an incredible track record of fighting for the women and families of Pennsylvania. Now it’s time for her to take that experience and dedication all the way to the governor’s mansion, where she will help get Pennsylvanians back to work, protect access to healthcare,
...Read more
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GettyImages(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama plans to address his counterterrorism policy and the controversial use of secret drones to target suspects in a speech scheduled at approximately 2 p.m. Thursday.
You can watch the president's speech below when it happens, courtesy of ABC News.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
...Read more
John Heller/WireImage(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will nominate former campaign official Katherine Archuleta as director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Thursday, according to a White House official.
Archuleta served as national political director for Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. She was the first Latina to serve in that role on a major presidential campaign, the White House said. Former OPM director John Berry's term expired last month.
Obama's appointment of Archuleta comes after the president faced pressure from Latino advocacy groups to appoint Hispanics to serve in his second-term cabinet. More than seven in 10 Latinos voted for Obama in last
...Read more
Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Facing angry lawmakers before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew promised that those involved in the Internal Revenue Service scandal will be held accountable once more facts are known.
“We are going to get to the bottom of it -- anyone who is accountable will be held accountable,” Lew told the House Committee Wednesday. “I have made clear that it is an extraordinarily high priority, my highest priority to restore confidence in the IRS.”
As Lew faced the committee, in another hearing room a few doors down, Lois Lerner, the IRS’
...Read more
Photos.com/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The current march on Washington won’t fill the National Mall, or see an influx of buses down Constitution Avenue. But what it will do is clog your inbox.
You can only see it on your computer, or mobile device, but it’s out there: a two-day virtual march on Washington with the goal of demanding immigration reform.
“We don’t see this as exclusive of a regular march,” Jeremy Robbins, director of the Partnership for a New American Economy, told ABC News. “It’s 2013 and the way we communicate is broader and different than it was a generation ago, and we want to be able to
...Read more
Peter Kramer/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Ashley Judd may not be running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, but another possible candidate is thinking about taking on Mitch McConnell, and she has some local star power of her own: former Miss America Heather French Henry.
French Henry, who was crowned Miss America in 2000 and is married to former Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, told ABC News she is being “urged by a number of individuals in political leadership to contemplate the possibility of running for Senate” as a Democrat.
“I feel I owe them the time and consideration to listen to their position,” Henry said in an e-mail. "Is there a political race in my future?
...Read more
Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images (WASHINGTON) -- After a key IRS official Wednesday invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself during congressional testimony, Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said he will review legal precedent in order to determine whether Lois Lerner, the director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS, could be held in contempt of Congress.
Although Lerner, who’s at the center of the controversy, refused to answer questions from members of the committee, she read a brief statement into the record declaring her innocence. Furthermore, at the request of Issa, Lerner authenticated a document containing
...Read more
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Bill Nye may be known as the Science Guy, but his Twitter feed reveals that he has another interest: politics.
On Tuesday Nye wondered what Oklahoma senator and well-known climate change denier Jim Inhofe thought about the tornado that devastated Moore, Okla.
Inhofe did not respond to the question on Twitter and was unavailable for comment when contacted by ABC News.
Nye tweeted, "Oklahoma City was hit hard again. Has anyone asked Oklahoma Senator Inhofe about the three large storms in the [past] 14 years?"
Although Nye and Inhofe have not directly exchanged words about the tornado devastation in Oklahoma
...Read more
Gary Gershoff/WireImage(WASHINGTON) -- The GOP's newest opposition-research group has found its first target: Terry McAuliffe.
America Rising PAC, a group devoted to researching Democratic candidates, will look to make its mark on the 2013 and 2014 election cycles, supplying the Republican Party's answer to the Democratic research-only super PAC, American Bridge. Former Mitt Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades is leading the effort.
McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who is running for governor in Virginia, is now getting the America Rising treatment.
The group on Wednesday posted online 688 pages of emails between
...Read more
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The New York City mayoral race got much more interesting Wednesday with Anthony Weiner’s entry, asking New Yorkers in a video to give him a second chance and saying that he’s “learned some tough lessons.” His wife, Huma Abedin, is standing next to him with her own pitch: “We love this city. And no one would work harder to make it better than Anthony.”
The video makes it clear that the famously press-shy Abedin -- a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and friend to the Clinton clan -- is on board despite her husband’s fall from grace in 2011 when
...Read more
Joshua LOTT/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama will travel to Oklahoma on Sunday to see firsthand the areas devastated by this week’s deadly tornadoes, the White House announced.
The president will meet with families affected by the devastation and thank first responders during his visit to the Oklahoma City area, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
Obama has directed his administration to provide all available resources to help in the recovery.
“As a nation, our full focus right now is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead,” Obama said
...Read more
Barbara Buono for NJ(NEW YORK) -- The woman challenging Chris Christie in his gubernatorial re-election bid in New Jersey, Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono, is out with her first television ad.
The ad begins running this week and is a more than $1 million buy, a Buono campaign aide said.
The ad’s goals are two-fold: hitting her opponent on the state of the economy and introducing herself to voters where she still has low name recognition.
Buono, 59, has had digital ads, including one released this week poking fun at the pronunciation of her last name, but this is the first one New Jersey residents will see in their pricey media markets
...Read more
Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service’s director of the Exempt Organizations who is at the center of the controversy after the agency targeted conservative organizations for gratuitous scrutiny, invoked her fifth amendment right against self incrimination Wednesday at a congressional hearing examining the brooding scandal.
Lerner quietly took her seat at the witness table, standing and raising her right hand as she swore to tell the truth alongside other senior IRS officials testifying at the hearing. When it became her turn to speak, Lerner read a brief statement into the record, declaring
...Read more
Advertisement
