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it's not what they say, it's what they do that tells you who they are...


Republican Party to vote for repeal of U.S. anti-tax dodging law


Reuters


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican Party is expected to approve a resolution this week, calling for repeal of an Obama administration law that is designed to crack down on offshore tax dodging.

In what would be the party's first appeal to scrap the law -

the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) - a panel was slated to vote at the Republican National Committee's (RNC) winter meetings in Washington, likely approving the resolution on Friday, according to party members driving the repeal effort.

If adopted, the anti-FATCA resolution would reflect the party's political priorities for the time being but would not change its presidential campaign platform, according to the RNC.

Approved in 2010 after a tax-avoidance scandal involving a Swiss bank, FATCA requires most foreign banks and investment funds to report to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service information about U.S. customers' accounts worth $50,000 or more.

Criticized by banks, libertarians and some Americans living abroad as a costly and unneeded government overreach, FATCA is on the books, but its effective date has been delayed repeatedly, with enforcement now set to start on July 1.

Repeal seems unlikely, but more political heat from Republicans could further complicate and delay implementation, said financial industry lobbyists.

Moreover, Republicans are eager to use FATCA as a campaign and fundraising issue against Democrats ahead of the congressional mid-term elections in November, RNC members said.

"I see FATCA just like Obamacare," said Solomon Yue, an RNC official from Oregon who is leading the party's FATCA repeal effort. "It will attract American overseas donors."

Defending the law, Treasury Department spokeswoman Erin Donar said in a statement: "FATCA continues to gain momentum and international support as we work with partners around the world to fight offshore tax evasion."

Republican Senator Rand Paul last year introduced legislation to repeal parts of FATCA, citing privacy concerns.

Daniel Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said: "It's hard to imagine an issue this obscure playing a visible role in elections ... It is making overseas Americans far more sympathetic to (Republicans) and could have an impact on fundraising."

(Reporting by Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Ken Wills)

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Republicans struggle in Georgia's Senate primary

Associated Press

WATKINSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Seeking promotion to the U.S. Senate, Republican Rep. Jack Kingston avoids an explicit yes-or-no answer when asked by a voter if he considers himself a tea party candidate.

Instead, the 11-term congressman offers the lunch crowd at a northeast Georgia community center a careful plea for a unified party that can sell limited-government arguments to a wider audience. Kingston doesn't mention any of his seven primary opponents. But the subtext is obvious in a field that includes Kingston's House colleagues Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey.

Broun, a physician, has called evolutionary theory "lies from the pit of Hell," and he's sponsoring a drawing to give one of his supporters a free AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Gingrey, an obstetrician, once defended failed 2012 Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's controversial comments about "legitimate rape" and abortion.

It's a free-for-all that highlights the GOP's internal struggle between archconservatives and the business establishment. Some Republicans worry that Democrats could score an upset victory in Georgia's Senate race in November, as they did in a handful of recent Senate and governor's races, if moderate voters find the Republican nominee too extreme.

"It's a microcosm of what we're fighting over nationally," said Kirk Shook, GOP chairman in Oglethorpe County, about 80 miles east of Atlanta. "It's a huge concern for people I talk to around the state, that Georgia could become another Missouri or Indiana. ... I don't want to call any names, but we all know who I'm talking about."

Also in the fray: David Perdue, a businessman and cousin of a former Georgia governor, and former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel. She narrowly missed out on the governor's office in 2010 before she commanded a national following as a Susan G. Komen Foundation executive during the organization's effort to break with abortion-provider Planned Parenthood.

http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-struggle-georgia-39-senate-primar...

just maybe things are turning....the moderates might be stirring...

AP NewsBreak: Ex-GOP Sen. John Warner endorses Dem

Associated Press

FILE - In this Wednesday Jan. 18, 2012 file photo, former US Senator John Warner speaks on the floor …

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former Republican Sen. John W. Warner on Monday endorsed his Democratic successor over a past national GOP chairman in the race for the U.S. Senate seat he held for 30 years.

Warner told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he is supporting Sen. Mark Warner, who is being challenged by Ed Gillespie in November's election. The Warners are not related.

John Warner, a moderate, earned a reputation as a party maverick by bucking the conservatives who gradually won control of the GOP during his decades in office. He refused to endorse GOP home-schooling advocate Mike Farris for lieutenant governor and backed an independent candidate over Iran-Contra figure Oliver North in the 1994 race against Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb. But this is the first time he has endorsed a Democrat outright.

"There are times you must, I think, recognize that certain individuals are superior in their talents and in what they have done and can potentially do for your state," John Warner said.

He praised his successor, also a centrist, for seeking bipartisan solutions.

"Mark Warner, if I may say with a sense of humility, like John Warner crosses the aisle and makes things work," he said. "We come from the old school. The Senate works best when there's collaborative effort between the two parties."

John Warner also said it's important to keep the incumbent because he's had six years to learn how the Senate works and start to build seniority.

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