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The Tap: Thursday, April 21, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #13 of The Tap, which was published on April 23, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • The RNC’s Standing Committee on Rules rejected a proposal to recommend a controversial change to the rules that will govern the Republican National Convention in July. Solomon Yue, a Standing Committee member from Oregon, proposed using Robert’s Rules to govern all the convention’s proceedings, a change that Yue stated would provide more transparency and give more control to the delegates. Some observers suggested that this change could make it difficult to nominate outside candidates (beyond candidates like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich) in the case of an open convention. The rules of the House of Representatives have traditionally governed convention proceedings, which give significant control over the convention floor to the convention chairman—a position usually held by the speaker of the House. Had the Standing Committee approved the change, it would only have been a recommendation. For it to be implemented, the convention’s Rules Committee would first have to approve it, and then a majority of the delegates attending the convention would have to sign off.
  • The family of CIA contractor Glen Doherty, who was killed in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, will receive $400,000 because the CIA expanded its survivor benefits policy. Under the 1941 Defense Base Act, overseas employees and contractors are required to have life and disability insurance, but the old CIA policy only paid spouses and dependents of an individual killed in the line of duty. The new policy will pay family members if the contractor is single, as Doherty was. According to Fox News, “The CIA policy change is retroactive to April 18, 1983, the date a suicide attacker crashed a truck into the front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans, some of whom were CIA officers.”
  • The House passed the following bills aimed at regulating the Internal Revenue Service's hiring practices and banning bonuses until a comprehensive customer service strategy is implemented.
    • HR 3724 - the Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act of 2016 “amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from rehiring any individual who was previously employed by the IRS but was removed for misconduct or whose employment was terminated for cause.” It passed by a vote of 345-78.
    • HR 4890 “prohibits the Department of the Treasury from paying a bonus, award, or similar cash payment to any Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee until Treasury develops and submits to Congress a comprehensive customer service strategy that has been reviewed and approved by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.” It passed by a vote of 260-158.
  • Rep. Gwen Graham (D) announced that she would not be seeking re-election to Florida’s 2nd Congressional District in 2016. Graham is the 40th U.S. House incumbent to announce that she is not seeking re-election. Florida’s 2nd Congressional District race is expected to flip to Republican control in 2016 due to redistricting. In 2014, 41 House incumbents did not seek re-election. The incumbent retirement rate over the past four election cycles is 8.8 percent.
  • Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler (R) sent Governor Robert Bentley (R) an Order to Appear notice demanding that the governor testify under oath before Ziegler and produce documents related to allegations that Bentley misused state funds in order to conduct an illicit affair. The requested documents include flight logs, expenditure reports, and phone records. Ziegler cited section 36-16-2 of the Alabama Code, which empowers the auditor to "require information on oath" from anyone who uses "touches" accounts that are under the auditor's purview. Bentley responded that he does not intend to comply with the order, stating that Ziegler already pursued the "appropriate legal process" when he filed a complaint against Bentley through the Alabama Ethics Commission. Click here to read more about the allegations against Governor Bentley

State

  • The Mississippi State Legislature adjourned its regular session. Since the state held a gubernatorial election in 2015, the regular session was extended to 125 calendar days. In a normal year, the legislature is limited to 90 days. Mississippi is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. Republicans control the governor’s office, the House by 27 seats with one vacancy, and the Senate by 12 seats.


Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #12 of The Tap, which was published on April 18, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.





The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
March: 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
April: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
May: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
June: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
July: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
August: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
September: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
October: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7• 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
November: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
December: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 31
January: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
February: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17
v • e
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