(CNN) - Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who last week boycotted a committee vote on Gina McCarthy to be President Obama's administrator of the EPA, will attend another vote scheduled Thursday after getting assurances from the agency that it will answer several questions posed by Republicans, a GOP committee aide told CNN.
EPA "committed to make some effort to follow up on the EPW Republicans five transparency requests," said Luke Bolar, an aide to Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, the top Republican on the committee.
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(CNN) - Thomas Perez, President Barack Obama's nominee to be Labor Secretary, was approved by the Senate labor committee on a straight party line vote.
Perez has come under heavy fire from Republicans for his actions when he headed the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice earlier in the Obama administration. Last week, Republicans blocked the committee vote by invoking a rarely used procedural tactic, which angered Senate Democrats.
Now that he is voted out of committee, the full Senate must consider his nomination, which may be scheduled next week. A GOP filibuster – which would require 60 votes to break - appears likely.
(CNN) – Six months before Virginia voters choose a new governor, Democrat Terry McAuliffe has a slight advantage over his Republican rival Ken Cuccinelli, a poll released Thursday showed.
McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and major party fundraiser, had the support of 43% of registered voters in the Quinnipiac University survey, while Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli was at 38%. That margin was just inside the poll's sampling error.
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Washington (CNN) - The nation's top tax collector resigned Wednesday amid controversy over Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative groups that applied for federal tax-exempt status.
The official, acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, was aware employees were targeting conservative groups in May 2012, according to the agency.
(CNN) – In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa exclusively obtained by CNN, the co-chairmen behind an independent review of September's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, expressed irritation over the House Oversight Committee chairman's portrayal of their work and requested he call a public hearing at which they can testify.
"The public deserves to hear your questions and our answers," wrote former U.S. ambassador, Thomas Pickering and retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen. Both are co-chairmen of the Accountability Review Board that was convened to investigate the September 11 attack.
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BREAKING OVERNIGHT:
CNN: Suicide bomber hits coalition forces' convoy, killing 6 Afghans
A suicide car bomber targeted a convoy of coalition forces in the Afghanistan capital on Thursday morning, killing six civilians, the interior ministry said. The fatalities included two children and an additional 30 people wounded, said Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for the ministry. Maj. Bryan Woods, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the attack. He declined to release the number of casualties, saying he wanted more time. An investigation is under way, both by the coalition forces and the Afghan officials, Woods said. Insurgent group Hezbe Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the attack.
NATIONAL STORIES:
CNN: Possible tornadoes hit Texas; 6 dead, dozens injured
Possible tornadoes ripped through north Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 others, officials said. The fatalities occurred when the storm struck a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood in the Granbury area, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. There were about 120 homes in the neighborhood and most of them were destroyed. Fourteen people still missing and the death toll could rise, according to Deeds. About 100 people were injured, said Matt Zavadsky, a spokesman for MedStar Mobile Healthcare.
(CNN) – The White House released documents Wednesday that show President Barack Obama and the first family hold assets valued between nearly $1.9 million and nearly $6.9 million.
The disclosure forms, required by the Ethics in Government Act, reveal the president's largest asset is U.S. debt in the form of Treasury notes and bills. In total, the president has between $1.1 million and $5.25 million invested in Treasury debt.
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Washington (CNN) – Mark Sanford is a member of Congress, again.
The former Republican governor of South Carolina, whose political career was left for dead along the Appalachian Trail after an extramarital affair, was sworn in Wednesday to the House of Representatives.
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(CNN) – In a letter to Internal Revenue Service employees, acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller announced "with regret" that he'll be leaving the agency in early June.
"This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation's tax agency," said Miller, a 25-year IRS veteran. "I believe the Service will benefit from having a new acting commissioner in place during this challenging period."
Read the full letter below.
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(CNN) – Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested - and has accepted - the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in the wake of its handling of requests by conservative groups for tax-exempt status, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.
The "misconduct" detailed in a report about the IRS response to those requests is "inexcusable," he said.
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