Chuck Grassley

Help 'Muffin Man' Chuck Grassley Save Taxpayers Some Cash

Ryan J. Reilly | September 27, 2011, 12:25PM

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was very, very upset -- and even called for someone to lose their job -- when he learned last week that the Justice Department was accused of paying $16 per muffin at a 2009 legal conference in D.C. (though that number is disputed).

Grassley continued pressing the issue on Monday, writing a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew asking for more information on his review of conference expenditures.

Regardless of whether DOJ really paid $16 for a muffin -- and it seems almost certain they didn't -- what's nice about federal agencies is that they've got inspector generals to try to keep their actions and their spending in line.

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Topics: Budget Cutting, Chuck Grassley, Justice Department, Lavish Spending

U.S. Marshals Service

Why The Spike In Shootings Of U.S. Marshals?

Ryan J. Reilly | March 9, 2011, 11:35AM

The death of Deputy U.S. Marshal John Perry in St. Louis yesterday marked the second death of an officer with the nation's oldest federal law enforcement agency in the line of duty this year. The incidents are shining a light on the expanding role of federal law enforcement in apprehending state and local felons and raising questions about the impact of proposed budget cuts on the safety of federal law enforcement officers.

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) hadn't had an officer die in the line of duty from gunfire since the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992 until the death of 24-year-old Deputy U.S. Marshal Derek Hotsinpiller last month. Tuesday's incident also marked at least the fourth violent confrontation the U.S. Marshals have been involved with since the beginning of the year.

There's no one answer for why the U.S. Marshals have found themselves increasingly in the line of fire. But all four incidents this year -- the deaths of the two U.S. Marshals and the deaths of two task force officers working with the USMS as well as the deaths of two additional Florida police officers in January -- came when the agency was pairing with local law enforcement to apprehend non-federal fugitives.

The USMS has seven Fugitive Apprehension Task Forces around the country and another 75 Violent Offender Task Forces run by various regional USMS offices. And the volume of state and local fugitives apprehended or cleared by the Marshals Service through a decade-old initiative has surged from just 15,412 in 2004 to 34,015 in 2007 and 73,915 in 2008. The number peaked at 101,910 in 2009 (likely due to apprehension and Fugitive Safe Surrender programs funded by stimulus funds) then dropped in 2010, when the agency captured or cleared 52,519 violent state and local felony fugitives. The USMS is planning to apprehend or clear 52,000 state and local felony fugitives in 2012.

So for one, the USMS is simply involved in more incidents. Part of that is due to state law enforcement budget cuts, which have made local law enforcement more reliant on the Marshals for help in apprehending dangerous criminals.

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Topics: Budget Cutting, Department of Justice, Derek Hotsinpiller, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, U.S. Marshals Service

Government shutdown

House Dems, GOP Trade Jabs Over Shutdown

Susan Crabtree | February 18, 2011, 3:41PM

House Democratic and Republican leaders traded jabs over the possibility of a government shutdown Friday -- as the two sides remained deeply divided on how far to go in slashing government programs.

The House continued slogging through dozens of amendments to a bill that would cut federal spending by $61 billion over the next six months, and it's unlikely they'll be able to come to an agreement with Senate Democrats on the numbers before their deadline of March 4.

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Topics: Budget Cutting, Government shutdown, Jack Lew , John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Office of Management and Budget

Steve Womack

Republican's Spending Cut Idea: Take Away Obama's Teleprompter!

Ryan J. Reilly | February 16, 2011, 3:15PM

Members of Congress are coming up with all sorts of ideas to cut the budget -- some of them which would have an actual impact on cutting spending. And then there are others that seem more about grabbing headlines. Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) -- who proposed an amendment to eliminate funding for President Barack Obama's teleprompter -- falls into the latter category.

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Topics: Arkansas, Barack Obama, Budget Cutting, National Debt, Steve Womack