Republicans call for probe to protect Koch Industries. Democrats seek probe to protect homeowners

[ProSense]

Grassley calls for investigation to protect Koch Industries

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The review, focusing on whether any Obama administration official improperly accessed and disclosed private tax information, was started at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and six other Republican senators.

The statements under question were made back in August, when a senior administration official talked about Koch Industries on a briefing with reporters. "In this country we have partnerships, we have S corps, we have LLCs, we have a series of entities that do not pay corporate income tax," said the senior administration official. "Some of which are really giant firms, you know Koch Industries is a multibillion dollar businesses."

A White House official said the statements came from information in publicly available sources -- including the Koch Industries website and testimony before the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. But Koch Industries thinks the statements were improper, and claimed to have identified that White House official as Austan Goolsbee.

"As the Inspector General charged with ensuring, among other things, the fair implementation of our Nation's system of tax administration, pursuant to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration practice, I have ordered the commencement of a review into the matters alleged," J. Russell George wrote in a letter to Grassley.

George's investigation appears to only focus on whether administration employees improperly accessed and disclosed confidential taxpayer information, which would have been a violation of section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. But the senators wrote in their letter that making the statements even based on publicly available information might not be proper.

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Weekly Standard peddles yet another bogus scandal?


Pelosi calls for investigation to protect homeowners

The Justice Department will look into the foreclosure practices of financial institutions for possible violations.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the probe at a Wednesday press conference. The announcement follows a letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and 30 California House Democrats calling for an investigation.

"We are aware of the charges that have surfaced in the newspapers in the last couple of days and we're looking at them," Holder told reporters Wednesday.

Pelosi and the other lawmakers have charged that homeowners have been unable to obtain help such as loan modifications because banks never responded, lost paperwork and didn't provide straightforward information on what they needed to do to avoid foreclosure.

"It appears that banks have repeatedly misled and obstructed homeowners from receiving the help Congress and the administration have sought to provide," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Justice Department, Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The lawmakers also noted reports about questionable foreclosures. Several financial institutions have halted foreclosure proceedings over concerns about incomplete or inaccurate paperwork, including Ally Financial Inc., formerly known as GMAC, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

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[Bitwit1234]

1. I guess those republicans took a saying from Bush

we want to protect our a** and make sure we still get Koch money. I mean after all we don't try to protect the American people we only try to protect poor picked on billion airs. boo hoo.

[ProSense]

3. Anyone looking for a stark difference between the parties, there it is. n/t

[Kdillard]

2. Shameless but not surprised.