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Michael McAuliff
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Michael McAuliff was a Washington correspondent for the New York Daily News, where he covered Sen. Hillary Clinton, the 2008 presidential campaign, and the fight over the 9/11 health and compensation law. Before coming to the paper in 2003 as a national and metro desk editor, he was the national editor of ABCNews.com. He was also the national editor of the groundbreaking crime-news site APB News.com. He went to Brooklyn College, and got his start covering news in New York City.

Entries by Michael McAuliff

Guantanamo Bay: Obama Prescription Is At Odds With Top Military Advisers

(1605) Comments | Posted May 24, 2013 | 4:54 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's suggestion Thursday that "history will cast a harsh judgment" if the nation fails to deal with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 10 to 20 years might come as a harsh surprise to some of his top military and civilian defense advisers.

That's...

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Senate Republicans Oppose Budget Blockade By Tea Party In Growing GOP Feud

(2536) Comments | Posted May 23, 2013 | 5:49 PM

WASHINGTON -- A tea party rebellion by several U.S. senators blocking progress on the federal budget may be working for them, but not for their fellow Republican lawmakers -- even ones who mostly agree with them.

Tension has occasionally been evident in the simmering, behind-the-scenes struggle between the Senate's tea...

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Scott DesJarlais Fined $500 For Affairs With Patients

(304) Comments | Posted May 23, 2013 | 1:52 PM

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) was fined $500 Thursday by Tennessee medical authorities for carrying on sexual affairs with his patients.

DesJarlais' infidelities were first reported by The Huffington Post last year, based on records from his 2001 divorce.

The pro-life, family-values congressman -- a doctor who once urged...

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GMO Labeling Bill Voted Down In Senate

(1815) Comments | Posted May 23, 2013 | 11:31 AM

WASHINGTON -- The United States Senate decided again Thursday that it simply does not want to let states tell people whether or not they are eating genetically modified food.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly -- 71 to 27 -- against an amendment to the sweeping farm bill, squashing a...

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Oklahoma Disaster Aid: Tom Coburn, James Inhofe Spared Tough Votes By Bills They Opposed

(877) Comments | Posted May 22, 2013 | 7:16 PM

WASHINGTON -- Oklahoma's senators can thank sequestration, and perhaps more importantly, funding for Superstorm Sandy cleanup that they opposed, for sparing them from a difficult vote on disaster aid for tornado-ravaged Oklahomans.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) argued that an aid bill for the Sooner State would be

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Ted Cruz: 'I Don't Trust The Republicans' (VIDEO)

(5420) Comments | Posted May 22, 2013 | 1:03 PM

WASHINGTON -- Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz made a remarkable admission on the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday, admitting in a dispute with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that not only does he not trust Democrats, he doesn't trust Republicans, either.

McCain had challenged Cruz, as well as fellow tea...

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John McCain, Susan Collins Oppose 'Bizarre' Rand Paul, Ted Cruz Demand

(2483) Comments | Posted May 21, 2013 | 7:20 PM

WASHINGTON -- Two prominent old-line Senate Republicans threw down the gauntlet to their more conversative colleagues on Tuesday, challenging them to stop obstructing the passage of a budget.

Led by tea party Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), Republicans have been preventing the Senate from...

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Food Stamp Cuts Feared By Veterans

(416) Comments | Posted May 21, 2013 | 1:12 PM

WASHINGTON -- Veterans have a reminder for the Senate as it takes up plans to cut food stamps by $4.1 billion this week: The aid has been -- and still is -- vital to people who served their country.

For Iraq veteran Don Martinez, 33, food stamps kept his children...

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IRS Scandal Sparks Questions From Senators: Did The White House Know?

(103) Comments | Posted May 20, 2013 | 1:16 PM

WASHINGTON -- The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Finance Committee on Monday fired off a lengthy letter demanding answers to 41 separate questions about Internal Revenue Service officials' role in targeting tea party groups.

Among them were questions about whether anyone in the White House, including President Barack...

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IRS Scandal: Steven Miller Apologizes For 'Mistakes' To Congress After His Dismissal

(11200) Comments | Posted May 17, 2013 | 8:49 AM

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service took a bipartisan drubbing Friday morning over its targeting of conservative political groups, even as its acting director apologized and denied the activity was partisan.

"I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the...

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Obama War Powers Under 2001 Law 'Astoundingly Disturbing,' Senators Say

(11000) Comments | Posted May 16, 2013 | 7:04 PM

WASHINGTON -- The war authorization that Congress passed after 9/11 will be needed for at least 10 to 20 more years, and can be used to put the United States military on the ground anywhere, from Syria to the Congo to Boston, military officials argued Thursday.

The revelations came during...

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Marco Rubio Slams Secret AP Subpoenas From Obama's DOJ

(21) Comments | Posted May 15, 2013 | 3:29 PM

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivered a blistering denunciation of President Barack Obama's Justice Department Wednesday, slamming investigators for secretly issuing subpoenas against the Associated Press.

Democrats have condemned the AP probe, but Rubio's GOP colleagues have, by and large, shied away from criticizing the...

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IRS Scandal: John Boehner, Mitch McConnell Suggest Tea Party Targeting Was Criminal

(10796) Comments | Posted May 15, 2013 | 9:54 AM

WASHINGTON -- The nation's top two Republican leaders suggested Wednesday that criminal acts were likely committed by the Internal Revenue Service in its apparent targeting of tea party groups that were seeking tax-exempt status from the agency.

Their comments come after the release of an inspector general report that found...

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Senate Republicans Not Outraged Over DOJ Raid On AP Records

(577) Comments | Posted May 14, 2013 | 10:38 PM

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans have been outraged for months over the Obama administration's response to the Benghazi consulate attack. They're outraged this week about the Internal Revenue Service singling out tea party groups for extra scrutiny. But their response to the Justice Department secretly obtaining phone records of 20 Associated...

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Eric Holder's Justice Department Hammered By Democrats Over AP Subpoenas

(2115) Comments | Posted May 14, 2013 | 5:37 PM

WASHINGTON -- Members of President Barack Obama's own party slammed his Justice Department's secret gathering of reporters' phone records as inexcusable and sickening on Tuesday, suggesting that Congress may have to act to protect the freedom of the press.

The Associated Press on Monday revealed that in April and May...

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Mitch McConnell Used To Be Suspicious Of 501(c)(4) Groups Targeted By IRS (UPDATE)

(117) Comments | Posted May 14, 2013 | 1:59 PM

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) -- and just about every other politician on Capitol Hill -- slammed the Internal Revenue Service this week for targeting tea party groups applying for tax-exempt status.

But what McConnell left out was that he used to be deeply suspicious of groups...

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Democrats Target Georgia In 2014 Bid To Keep Senate Control

(2487) Comments | Posted May 11, 2013 | 9:22 AM

WASHINGTON -- Democrats may not be running with one of their top choices in Georgia's U.S. Senate contest, but they still think they have a formula to win there, as well as in Kentucky and seven other states where they face tough Senate contests in 2014.

Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.)...

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John Boehner Embraces Obama's Talking Point In Debt Debate

(280) Comments | Posted May 9, 2013 | 3:09 PM

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been increasingly adopting one of President Barack Obama's key economic talking points on austerity, and he did it again Thursday -- much to the joy of Democrats who fear the GOP is pushing Congress to legislate the country into another economic showdown.

...
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Debt Limit Bill Passes House, Ordering Obama To Pay Only Some U.S. Creditors On Time

(5608) Comments | Posted May 9, 2013 | 11:42 AM

WASHINGTON -- The House passed a measure Thursday that would amount to the rough equivalent of declaring bankruptcy for the United States, directing the government to meet only certain obligations if Congress failed to raise the country's borrowing limit.

Republicans characterized the measure as a responsible step to mitigate the...

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Sheldon Whitehouse: God Won't Save Us From Climate Catastrophe

(1498) Comments | Posted May 8, 2013 | 8:51 PM

WASHINGTON -- God will not save us, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) declared in a Senate floor speech on climate change Wednesday that sounded more like a sermon than a political appeal.

Whitehouse has made it his personal mission for more than a year to highlight the catastrophic consequences of climate...

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