Representative Mel Watt (D-NC) is out to protect the independence of the Fed from the risk of an intrusive audit from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The risk comes in the form of a bill initiated by Ron Paul and Alan Grayson that calls for an audit of the Fed. The bill, which now has more than 300 co-sponsors, would allow Congress to find out who the Fed lent more than $2 trillion to through its special lending facilities, and under what terms. Congress would also be able to find out which countries were allowed to take advantage of dollar swaps at the peak of the financial crisis last fall.

The CBO has scored the Senate’s merged bill as costing $849 billion dollars over 10 years. The bill would reduce the deficit by $127 billion by 2019 because of the revenue-raisers. There is absolutely no reason to listen to any Republican talking about the “strain on the deficit.” The House and Senate bills would reduce it.

Considering the role of the HHS Secretary in setting which procedures will be covered under the minimum benefits package, and possibly what will be exempt from cost sharing, it’s notable that she is distancing herself so swiftly from the recommendations.

Ben Nelson is unlikely to block allowing debate to proceed on health care reform. His justification is that he fears what kind of bill would result if he did vote no.

It was inevitable that the news of the US Preventive Services Task Force changing their guidelines on mammography would cause a political uproar. In a year where Congress is not trying to do comprehensive health care reform, the findings would be controversial. In this year, especially because of the role of the USPSTF in at least the House health care bill, it’s even more so.

This is the first day of Firedoglake’s new blog about work, jobs, unions, and the politics involved. In the midst of a floundering economy, it’s the issues that face people who work for a living that deserve the most attention. We’ll look at the goings-on of unions, labor legislation, and organizing drives, and discuss their impact on working people.

This might be the stupidest thing Sarah Palin has ever said. And yes, that’s saying something.

I guess you were the only one who didn’t know:

[M]any in the abortion rights community — which has been divided by tactical disagreements over the years — also recognize they were outmaneuvered by adversaries who understood the basic anti-abortion arithmetic of abortion votes in the House.

“I think Pelosi, NARAL and Planned Parenthood knew the reality — but a lot of other people had unrealistic expectations with Nancy Pelosi running the House and Barack Obama in the White House,” says a longtime abortion rights lobbyist.

After the meltdown, what next? We continue our discussion by featuring David Harvey and Alexander Cockburn on reinventing the neoliberal social order. At CUNY not long ago, these two independent thinkers sat down with Laura to discuss possibilities for real, radical change, and we have a special look at that for you.

EXCLUSIVE: Emptywheel interviews Lt. Col. David Frakt, the attorney who represented teenage Gitmo detainee Mohammed Jawad. She asks how a trial in in federal court in NYC may impact charges of material support for terrorism.