Free Republic

Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine gave the FBI his approval to investigate Catholic parishes in his own state on Monday. When asked by a local ABC affiliate about the FBI’s Richmond division infiltrating Catholic communities to spy on the church for alleged extremism, Kaine called the revelations a misunderstanding. “I think the key is communication,” Kaine told ABC13. “If the FBI has a concern like that, then go to the church leaders and say, ‘Hey look, we have a concern and we don’t want your members to get unwittingly caught up in something.'”Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin blew the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is preparing to sign an executive order cracking down on labor violations by companies that contract with the federal government, the White House said Wednesday. Obama's order will require companies seeking federal contracts valued at more than $500,000 to make public any labor law violations in the last three years, a step the Obama administration hopes will incentivize companies to resolve labor disputes such as back wage claims.

President Barack Obama will sign an executive order setting the minimum wage for workers under new federal contracts at $10.10 an hour, the White House said Tuesday. The president will announce the increase during his State of the Union address. The increase from a national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour will not affect existing federal contracts, only new ones. Moreover, contract renewals will not be affected unless other terms of the agreement change. The order would be one of the biggest examples in the State of the Union of Obama’s vow to use presidential authority to push for policies...

Millions of dollars worth of federal contracts transformed Anita Talwar from a government accounting clerk into a wealthy woman — one who can afford a $2.8 million home in the Washington suburbs with its own elevator, wine cellar and Swarovski crystal chandeliers. Talwar, a 59-year-old immigrant from India, had no idea that she and her husband would amass a small fortune when she launched a company providing tech support to the federal government in 1987. But she shrewdly took advantage of programs for minority-owned small businesses and rode a boom in federal contracting. Talwar’s success — and that of hundreds...

President Obama said Monday that federal agencies will cut roughly $19 billion from government contracts this fiscal year, putting them on track to meet his goal of trimming $40 billion in fiscal 2011. "Business as usual in Washington just wont do," he said during a White House press conference in which he also recognized a federal employee for her winning cost-cutting idea. "After years of irresponsibility, we are once again taking responsibility for every dollar we spend, the same way families do." The administration wants to reach its $40 billion goal by improving the management and oversight of contracts and...

Mandated by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA), which was co-sponsored by Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., USASpending.gov is a searchable, Googlelike database that puts most federal spending within a few mouse clicks for every American.... Today is a milestone because, as President Bush noted when he signed FFATA into law Sept. 26:... “… Taxpayers have a right to know where [their] money is going, and you have a right to know whether or not you’re getting value for your money.” ...USASpending.gov brings federal spending into the Internet age. It’s the place to go, for...