Jim DeMint

DeMint Attempts To Kill Economic Development Program He Once Supported

Brian Beutler | June 8, 2011, 3:30PM

Jim DeMint

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is fighting Democratic efforts to direct more federal money to local development projects by pushing to eliminate a jobs program that he's praised and benefited from in the past.

Created under the Johnson administration, the Economic Development Administration, an agency in the Commerce Department, uses its small budget to help fund local initiatives around the country. Democrats to increase its operating budget to $500 million a year.

That's driven DeMint to the warpath. On Wednesday, he called EDA a "wasteful stimulus slush fund that must end," and yesterday introduced separate legislation that would eliminate it altogether. But his antipathy to the program is relatively newfound.

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Senate Armed Services Committee

Counterfeit Electronic Parts Ending Up In DoD Weapons Systems

Susan Crabtree | March 9, 2011, 5:59PM

Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ)

Faulty counterfeit electronic parts are ending up in the Defense Department's weapons systems, and the problem poses a critical risk to national security, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the panel, and John McCain (R-AZ), its ranking member, on Wednesday called the presence of counterfeit electronic parts in the DoD supply chain a "growing problem" and announced an investigation into just how they are ending up there.

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