IRS delayed action on progressive groups, too

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Leaders of progressive groups say they, too, faced long delays in getting the Internal Revenue Service to approve their applications for tax-exempt status but were not subjected to the same level of scrutiny that tea party groups complained about.

Several progressive groups said it took more than a year for the IRS to approve their status while others are still waiting as IRS agents press for details about their activities. The delays have made it difficult for the groups to raise money ? just as it has for tea party groups that were singled out for extra scrutiny.

But even with the delays, leaders of some progressive groups said they didn't feel like they were being targeted.

"This is kind of what you expect. You expect it to take a year or more to get your status because that's just what the IRS goes through to do it," said Maryann Martindale, executive director of Alliance for a Better Utah, a small non-profit that advocates for progressive causes. "So I don't know that we feel particularly targeted."

The IRS has been under siege since the agency revealed last month that agents had improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups for additional, often burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections.

This week, the IRS released documents showing that progressive and liberal groups may have been singled out as well.

On Wednesday, Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, issued a report saying the IRS long has resisted efforts by her office to help groups seeking tax-exempt status, creating a culture that enabled agents to improperly target such organizations. The IRS responded by promising to work more closely with Olson's office.

J. Russell George, the agency's inspector general, released a widely-read report on the targeting of conservative groups last month. A day later President Barack Obama forced acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller to resign.

George is now coming under fire from congressional Democrats because his report made no mention of progressive groups being targeted.

"There is increasing evidence that the May 14, 2013, audit was fundamentally flawed and that your handling of it has failed to meet the necessary test of objectivity and forthrightness," Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote in a letter to George on Wednesday.

Karen Kraushaar, a spokeswoman for the inspector general, defended the audit.

The inspector general "was asked to look at the treatment of organizations known to be affiliated with the tea party in its review, and was asked to audit the way those organizations were being treated when they applied for tax-exempt status," Kraushaar said.

George's audit was requested by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, and Rep Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a senior member of the committee.

The IRS was screening the groups' applications because agents were trying to determine their level of political activity. IRS regulations say tax-exempt social welfare organizations may engage in some political activity but the activity may not be their primary mission.

To help flag groups for additional scrutiny, agents in a Cincinnati office developed lists of terms to look for in applications. These "be on the look-out" lists were commonly called BOLOs.

George's audit discovered a list from August 2010 that included the terms "Tea Party," ''Patriots" and "9/12 Project." The report said these conservative groups were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, their political affiliations and their positions on political issues, resulting in delays averaging nearing two years for applications to be processed.

On Monday, Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee released 15 BOLO lists, which changed over time and were dated between August 2010 and April 2013. The lists included the terms "Progressive," ''Medical Marijuana," ''Occupied Territory Advocacy," ''Healthcare legislation," ''Newspaper Entities" and "Paying National Debt."

The revelation that such a wide array of groups may have received extra scrutiny is threatening to undercut the narrative of some Republican lawmakers that the IRS targeted enemies of the president during last year's presidential election.

Kraushaar, however, noted that the term "tea party" included instructions to forward such cases to other agents for additional review. There were no such instructions accompanying the term "Progressive," she said.

"So what if anything was done with this progressive BOLO. I don't know. We don't know that," Kraushaar said.

The new acting commissioner of the IRS, Danny Werfel, said he has ordered agents to stop using all BOLO lists.

James Salt, executive director of the liberal group, Catholics United, said it took a total of seven years for his group to get tax-exempt status under section 501 (c) (3) of the tax code. The designation is more valuable than the one for social welfare groups because donations to these groups are tax-deductible. However, there are greater restrictions on political activity.

Salt said Catholics United first applied in 2005 but eventually withdrew its application after an extensive back-and-forth with the IRS. The group applied again in April 2010 and was approved in July 2011, he said.

Salt said the most onerous question from the IRS was for copies of all information the group planned to disseminate to the public.

"It's almost impossible to know what we will do," Salt said. "It didn't make any sense. How can we answer that?"

One IRS agent also asked some "weird" questions, he said.

"The nature of her questions were, questioning why Catholics would care about immigration and why Catholics would care about supporting the rights of immigrants," Salt said. "It almost seemed like there was suspicion that promoting Catholic social teaching as it relates to immigration reform was somehow suspect."

Sean Soendker Nicholson, executive director of Progress Missouri, said it took about 14 months for the IRS to approve his group's tax-exempt status, in December 2012. He said the IRS asked a lot of questions about the group's activities.

"It took a long time. We didn't think much of it," Nicholson said. "What I thought at the time was, there's a lot of new groups that have popped up in the election cycle and it's a good thing the IRS is scrutinizing these applications."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-delayed-action-progressive-groups-too-202722649.html

Kyle Long UFC 159 aaron rodgers Lane Johnson Barkevious Mingo nfl draft 2013 NFL draft

What's in Obama's plan to combat global warming

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's wide-ranging plan to combat global warming would for the first time put limits on carbon pollution from new and existing power plants.

Obama on Tuesday announced plans to reduce domestic carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent between 2005 and 2020 and "put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution."

Other aspects of the plan would boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures. The 12 hottest years on record all have occurred in the past 15 years.

Obama's plan would be put in place through executive order, bypassing Congress, which has stalemated over climate legislation in recent years.

Some questions and answers about the climate plan:

Q: What is Obama proposing?

A: The linchpin of his plan is a timetable to limit carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Obama administration already has proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed.

Under Obama's plan, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a new proposal by late September to regulate greenhouse gases from new power plants. By next June, EPA will propose guidance for states to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. Greenhouse gases are blamed for global warming.

Both proposals are expected to be made final in 2015, with states required to submit plans to regulate greenhouse gases from existing power plants no later than June 2016.

Q: What else does he want?

A: Obama's plan also would expand development of renewable energy such as wind and solar power on public lands. The president hopes to generate enough electricity from renewable energy projects to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the electric capacity federal lands now produce. He also set a goal to install 100 megawatts of energy-producing capacity at federal housing projects by the end of the decade.

Obama also announced $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in technologies such as carbon "capture" systems that can keep carbon dioxide produced by power plants from being released into the atmosphere.

Q: What legal authority does Obama have to restrict greenhouse gas emissions by power plants?

A: A 2007 Supreme Court ruling declared that under the Clean Air Act the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as air pollutants. After the Bush administration resisted such steps, the EPA in 2009 under Obama concluded that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, triggering controls on automobiles and other large sources.

Until this year, the Obama administration always has said it preferred to address global warming through legislation rather than executive action. However, in his State of the Union address in February, Obama declared that if Congress would not act on global warming, he would.

Q: What is the states' role?

A: Ultimately it is up to states to develop standards for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, but they do so under federal guidelines established under the Clean Air Act.

Q: Is legal action likely?

A: Yes, legal challenges are a near certainty. Some legal experts question whether the Clean Air Act allows the EPA to limit carbon pollution from existing plants before finalizing rules for future plants.

Roger Martella, an EPA general counsel under President George W. Bush, said Obama's proposals are "very much in uncharted legal waters. This is not a settled area of law."

Even if courts uphold the EPA's right to act, further legal challenges are likely. Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a coalition of utilities and energy companies, said previous EPA regulations have had technical and methodological errors that had to be fixed, often under court order.

Q: What is the political reaction to the president's plan?

A: Obama cited global warming as top priority in his first presidential campaign and he suffered a major defeat in the Senate when a climate bill was withdrawn without a vote. The president largely ignored the issue during his campaign for re-election in 2012, but mentioned it on election night and recommitted to fight climate change at the start of his second term. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.

Republicans quickly dismissed the plan announced Tuesday as a "war on coal" and jobs. "It's tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today's economy," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a major coal-producing state.

Environmental groups offered a mix of praise and wariness that Obama would follow through on his ambitious goals. "People are happy that the president is finally staking out ownership of this important issue. That enhances the idea that something will get done," said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch.

Bill Snape of the Center for Biological Diversity said Obama's proposal "isn't big enough, doesn't move fast enough to match the terrifying magnitude of the climate crisis."

Q: What's the industry's reaction?

A. Nick Akins, CEO of Ohio-based American Electric Power, one of the nation's largest utilities, said in an interview Tuesday that as long as utilities like his are given enough time to transition to a cleaner fleet of power plants, Obama's plan can be carried out "without a major impact to customers or the economy."

Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents electric power companies, said officials look forward to working with the administration as it develops the plan, along with members of Congress and the states, "which will play a critical role."

Q: What about the Keystone XL Pipeline?

A: In a surprise move, Obama offered a rare insight into his deliberations on Keystone XL, a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries that has sparked an intense fight between environmental activists and energy producers. The White House has insisted that the State Department is making the decision independently, but Obama said Tuesday he's instructing the department to approve it only if the project won't increase overall net emissions of greenhouse gases. "Our national interest would be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution," Obama said.

Obama's remarks appeared designed to reassure environmentalists, but they also could indicate an easing of the way for the pipeline, if the carbon standard is met, as pipeline supporters argue.

"The almost five-year review of the project has already repeatedly found that these criteria are satisfied," said Russ Girling, president and CEO of TransCanada, the Calgary-based company that has proposed the pipeline.

But Daniel J. Weiss, a senior fellow at the liberal leaning Center for American Progress, said that "for the first time, the president has set a do-no-climate harm standard before he approves the Keystone XL pipeline. That will be difficult standard to meet."

___

Associated Press writer Jonathan Fahey in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/whats-obamas-plan-combat-global-warming-072527178.html

4th of July Andy Griffith joe johnson scientology Wimbledon 2012 TV Schedule fourth of july IFE