darrell issa

• Opinion

The Russian plot thickens

The cloud of suspicion over Russian interference in the American presidential election has widened, with new demands from congressional Republicans as well as Democrats for a special counsel's investigation, akin to the Watergate inquiry that forced the 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon.

By Jules Witcover

Mar 6, 2017

• Politics

Congress begins to maneuver in preparation for President Trump

Democrats and Republicans in Maryland and across the country are beginning to adjust to an incoming president who ran on a promise to upend conventional politicking and reverse President Barack Obama's agenda. The campaign was the most polarizing in generations, and president-elect Donald Trump's rhetoric troubled lawmakers in both parties just as much as it fired up supporters hungry for change.

By John Fritze

Nov 19, 2016

• Opinion

Airport security disarray

Americans shouldn't have to put up with misery at airport security this summer — or the partisan gridlock that enables it.

• Politics

Conservative group to challenge Chris Van Hollen on campaign finance

A conservative legal group plans to file a Federal Election Commission complaint against Rep. Chris Van Hollen, alleging the Montgomery County Democrat failed to disclose in-kind legal assistance he received when he sued the government in 2011 in an effort to strengthen campaign finance regulations.

By John Fritze

Feb 16, 2016

• Opinion

Cummings to Ryan: Don't be Boehner

Rep. Paul Ryan should seize this opportunity as speaker to clean the slate by shutting down the wasteful Benghazi Committee, eliminating the indefensible Planned Parenthood panel and sending the ridiculous IRS impeachment resolution to the dustbin of history. These are all remnants of Speaker Boehner's legacy — not Speaker Ryan's.

• Crime

Touring rehab, Obama calls for 2nd chances after prison

President Barack Obama toured a drug rehab and met with former inmates Monday in the rough-and-tumble city of Newark, N.J., calling on the nation to ensure those regaining their freedom get a second chance instead of a return ticket to prison. Although his visit boosted his campaign for a criminal justice overhaul, it also pulled the president into a war of words with presidential candidate and GOP Gov. Chris Christie.

• Politics

Lawmakers seek to ban the box at federal government

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to prohibit federal agencies and contractors from requesting criminal background information from prospective employees at the early stages of a job interview.

By John Fritze

Sep 26, 2015

• Opinion

Giuliani sucker punches Obama on patriotism

Republicans who refused to disavow Rudy Guiliani's bizarre statement about Obama showed themselves nothing but haters,

• Opinion

Is the Secret Service just bored?

What can explain the recent lapses by Secret Service agents?

• Sports

Ravens' Chris Canty hopes that NFL implementing HGH testing will set a level playing field

Now that the NFL and the NFL Players Association have implemented human growth hormone testing as part of a revised performance-enhancing drug policy, Ravens veteran defensive end Chris Canty is hoping that ensures a level playing field.

• Sports

Rep. Elijah Cummings salutes NFLPA for voting to approve HGH testing, new drug policy

• Maryland

Strange, bizarre, but true

• Politics and Government

Questions raised about transparency on Social Security computer system

Two weeks after the Social Security Administration received a report criticizing management for a dysfunctional, $300 million computer system agency officials provided only a cursory summary of the findings at an official meeting of a committee overseeing the project, documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun show.

• Politics

Citing a 'new era,' Cummings hosts Chaffetz in Baltimore

• Opinion

Beating the dead horse called Benghazi [Commentary]

After endlessly trying to repeal and replace "Obamacare," the GOP has come up empty-handed. The health-care law appears to be gaining more public acceptance. So congressional Republicans are doing what they can to revive another old hobby horse — Benghazi.

• Opinion

The latest Benghazi attack [Editorial]

House Republicans plot yet another investigation related to Benghazi attack and its aftermath in strictly partisan effort to please political base

• Politics

Benghazi probe puts Cummings back in spotlight

A push by congressional Republicans Friday to increase pressure on the Obama White House over the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi has put Baltimore Rep. Elijah E. Cummings back on the job as one of the administration's leading defenders.

• Politics

Benghazi probe puts Cummings back in spotlight

• Opinion

'Fox & Friends' mistreats Elijah Cummings on IRS emails story

As I watched Tuesday while the anchors on 'Fox & Friends' leveled unsubstantiated charges against Rep. Elijah Cummings as if they were facts, I couldn't help thinking how much more dangerous Sen. Joe McCarthy might have been in the 1950s if there had been a show like this to amplify his reckless allegations.

• Opinion

Elijah Cummings under increasing fire from conservative media on IRS role

Fox News has a new punching bag this week: Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings.

• Opinion

Issa deserves censure for his treatment of Cummings [Letter]

House Oversight Committee chair's behavior toward Cummings is nothing short of an outrage

• Politics

Cummings cut off at IRS hearing

A House of Representatives hearing into the scandal surrounding the Internal Revenue Service devolved into a bizarre bit of political theater on Wednesday when the committee's Republican chairman closed down the proceeding before the ranking Democrat, Baltimore Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, was given an opportunity to speak.

• Politics

Cummings cut off at IRS hearing

• Politics

Lawmakers take another look at military retiree cut

Facing a backlash from veterans, lawmakers in both parties — including several in Maryland — are reconsidering a cut to military retiree pensions that they approved last month as part of a rare bipartisan budget agreement.

• Maryland

Albert Hunt: Historic dysfunction of Congress

• Health

Obama, some Marylanders grapple with dropped insurance plans

As Obama continues his campaign to win over Americans skeptical of the Affordable Care Act, the ranks of critics are growing, swollen by people who are losing their existing health insurance because it does not comply with the law

• Opinion

Rep. Cummings: Obama's defender in chief

Baltimore's Elijah Cummings is the voice of reason on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the chief restraint on chairman Darrell Issa

• Opinion

Rep. Cummings: Obama's defender in chief

• Opinion

Opening Md. government

A new group's efforts to make state and local government more interactive and transparent are badly needed in Maryland.

• Opinion

Opening Md. government

• Politics

Darrell Issa 'little boy' comment leads to moment of peace with Elijah Cummings

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Baltimore lawmaker and top-ranking Democrat on the often contentious committee have never enjoyed a particularly strong relationship.

• Opinion

The real scandal is the GOP's lack of solutions to the nation's problems

The real scandal is the GOP's lack of solutions to the nation's problems

• Opinion

The real scandal is the GOP's lack of solutions to the nation's problems

• Politics

Cummings calls for end to IRS probe

Arguing that the congressional investigation into the IRS should be concluded, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said Sunday that closed-door interviews with the agency's staff show neither the White House nor officials in Washington had a hand in targeting conservative groups for added scrutiny.

• Politics

Cummings calls for end to IRS probe

• Politics

Anti-gay-marriage group says it was targeted by IRS

A leading opponent of the effort to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland used a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday to allege that the IRS leaked a list of its donors to an adversarial group just as it was mounting a campaign to put gay marriage on the ballot.

• Opinion

Boxing Obama in

Jules Witcover writes that even if the president survive the current inquiries, his legislative agenda might not.

• Maryland

Melinda Henneberger: 'Going Bulworth' would be a nice change

• Opinion

Taxing the tea party

Internal Revenue Service workers had no business giving extra scrutiny to applications for non-profit status by tea party groups

• Middle East

Benghazi deserves real review

• Politics and Government

Average federal salary up, despite pay freeze

The "average" federal employee salary stands at nearly $78,500, an amount that has risen by about $1,800 in the past two years despite a general freeze on salary rates, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

• Fires

Federal firefighters push for shift-swap flexibility

When city or county firefighters have a family obligation pop up on a workday, their solution is familiar to most shift workers: They find a colleague willing to trade hours. But for the roughly 10,000 firefighters employed by the federal government, the ability to swap shifts is limited.

• Baltimore County

Dundalk residents react to Postal Service's decision to stop Saturday delivery

At the Dundalk Post Office on Dundalk Avenue this week, news that the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service would stop delivering mail on Saturdays beginning in August was greeted with a mix of apathy and understanding.

• Government Postal Delivery

Reactions mixed to Postal Service's decision to stop Saturday delivery

Word that the cash-strapped Postal Service would stop delivering letters on Saturdays hit Lakesha Johnson hard.

• Job Layoffs

Reactions mixed to Postal Service's decision to stop Saturday delivery

• Opinion

Benghazi attack: Time for an honest accounting

Despite election-year politics, the Obama administration needs to acknowledge mistakes at the U.S. consulate in Libya and learn from them

• U.S. Department of State

Benghazi attack: Time for an honest accounting

• Politics

Cummings launches probe on voter registration challenges

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings is requesting that a group whose affiliates have challenged the legitimately of thousands of voter registrations, including some in Maryland, turn over documents to demonstrate how it determines which registrations to target.

• Patents

What would a "digital Citizens' Bill of Rights" look like for Internet users?

Digital Citizen Bill of Rights

• Tax Credits

Talk of D.C. commuter tax finds opposition in Maryland

Talk in Congress of letting the District of Columbia tax commuters is getting a cool reception in Maryland.