News Stories

In a bid to secure a much-needed bipartisan victory, the Obama administration is trying to secure passage of protections for government whistleblowers. But some advocacy groups are complaining that the legislation does not go far enough to protect government employees in the national security field and, in fact, would roll back protections that FBI whistleblowers now have.

Dozens of former federal officials are playing leading roles in helping carmakers handle federal investigations of auto defects, including those for Toyota's runaway-acceleration problems.

A Washington Post analysis shows that as many as 33 former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration employees and Transportation Department appointees left those jobs in recent years and now work for automakers as lawyers, consultants and lobbyists and in other jobs that deal with government safety probes, recalls and regulations.

Financial services lobbyists are upping the pressure on Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), a key Republican on the panel, to limit the scope of a proposed consumer protection agency.

While several provisions of a sweeping financial services reform bill still remain in flux, banks and big-business groups are putting their focus on the consumer-protection details.

President Obama has the chance during his first term to appoint leaders for each of the federal agencies that oversee banks, an important opportunity to reshape the government's approach to regulation even as the White House struggles to push structural reforms through the Senate.

In his first such decision, Obama chose to keep Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, in part because administration officials concluded that Bernanke had demonstrated a commitment to increasing the Fed's focus on regulation and consumer protection.

By March 24, the private security corporation formerly known as Blackwater — last seen in Afghanistan shooting civilians and stealing weapons intended for the Afghan police — may win a new Defense Department contract to train the Afghan police. And nearly no one in the government wants to own up to how it could happen.

The Senate Finance Committee has opened an investigation into patient deaths and allegations of substandard treatment at long-term care hospitals, small specialty medical centers that treat chronically ill patients.

The investigation focuses on the Select Medical Corporation, a for-profit corporation that runs 89 long-term care hospitals, more than any other company. In a letter sent on Monday to Select’s chief executive, Robert Ortenzio, the committee’s top two senators demanded that Select provide records about staffing levels and quality at its hospitals.

For more on the systemic failures in contracting that contribute to firms like Blackwater getting more and more security contracts after, like, killing civilians and stealing guns, check out Scott Amey’s recent testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Reporting from Washington - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.

The chamber has signed up some 6 million individuals who are not chamber members and has begun asking them to help with lobbying and, soon, with get-out-the-vote efforts in upcoming congressional campaigns.

Separate House committees are demanding more information from Toyota and government regulators after executives from the embattled Japanese automaker appear to have given conflicting answers about the causes of runaway vehicle acceleration plaguing the company.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Toyota's U.S. sales head, Jim Lentz on Friday asking for deep and complete documentation showing why Toyota is confident that the runaway acceleration is caused by mechanical problems, not electronic ones, as the company has maintained.

The largest voting-machine company in the country bought its biggest competitor six months ago without advance notice and little fanfare. Now the Justice Department is investigating whether to unwind the merger that put a privately held Nebraska company in control of the voting machines in nearly 70 percent of the nation's precincts.