czar

11 Stories

GOP Pushes to Outlaw Presidential 'Czars'

Republicans have slammed paid advisers' role in Washington

(Newser) - House Republicans hope a new bill will drive out President Obama’s “czars,” the 39 paid advisers he’s hired throughout his term. The GOP has pushed similar bills in the past, but with Republican control of the House, this one stands a better chance of advancing, the...

Nothing Wrong With Czars, Experts Testify

But GOP's Collins vows to keep the 'issue' alive with more hearings

(Newser) - The anti-czar crusade hit quite the speed bump yesterday, when five constitutional scholars testified in a Senate hearing that it was indeed perfectly legal for the president to have policy advisers. They said the principle dated back to FDR and that, assuming the czars didn’t have any actual legal...

Democrats Mock Beck's Czar Hunt
Democrats
Mock Beck's
Czar Hunt

Democrats Mock Beck's Czar Hunt

Bogus name tars legit jobs, they say, but even some Dems aren't sure

(Newser) - Democrats are fighting back against the anti-czar fervor that has taken hold of the Republican party. Many of the so-called czars these officials insist must be confirmed by the Senate actually already have been, writes Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post. Others occupy positions they themselves voted to create, and...

Obama Skirts Accountability With Policy Czars: Hutchison

Rules are being bent to expand executive power, senator writes

(Newser) - The Obama administration is using its many policy “czars” to skirt the accountability and transparency established by the founding fathers, writes Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Washington Post. The administration has an “unprecedented” 32 czar positions, and “unfortunately,” the senator from Texas writes, “virtually no...

Thank Beck, Internet for Van Jones Uproar

Strategy deflected attention from Jones' Beck boycott

(Newser) - The mainstream media entirely ignored the controversy over now-former Obama adviser Van Jones, who was slyly forced out by Glenn Beck and his online fans, Politico reports. Beck whipped up a fury over Jones—who once signed a 9/11 conspiracy petition—without mentioning that the green jobs czar was also...

Obama Adviser Van Jones Resigns Amid Controversy

(Newser) - Obama environmental adviser Van Jones is resigning amid controversy over past inflammatory statements. The so-called green jobs czar got into hot water this week when two things surfaced: He called Republicans "assholes" in a video made before he joined the administration, and he signed a petition supporting the "...

GOP Uses Van Jones to Rebel Against Czars

Republicans say czars are an end-run around congressional vetting

(Newser) - Republicans have groused for months that Barack Obama has too many “czars,” high-ranking, specialized advisers that, they complain, skirt congressional approval. Now they have a poster boy for their objections, Politico reports: Van Jones. This week an old lecture video surfaced in which he called Republicans “assholes,...

Obama Has Too Many Czars, Critics Complain

Sen. Byrd says Obama's 'super aide' craze is a power grab

(Newser) - Barack Obama loves czars. He’s got an energy czar, an urban affairs czar, an economic czar, and, most recently, a health reform czar, making him the most czar-happy president ever, scholars say. But lawmakers worry they’re losing ground in the "super aide" craze, the LA Times reports....

Obama Fills West Wing With Powerful Czars
Obama Fills West Wing With Powerful Czars
analysis

Obama Fills West Wing With Powerful Czars

Critics warn of collision between Cabinet, top advisers in key jobs

(Newser) - Stories of agencies working on the same projects and not bothering to coordinate dog every presidential administration, but Barack Obama has an ambitious plan to avoid all that: He’s concentrating power over domestic issues in the hands of White House advisers. “It really is a way of him...

Germans Find Hidden Nazi Gold
Germans Find Hidden Nazi Gold

Germans Find Hidden Nazi Gold

Gold pinpointed in cavern, stolen chamber of the czars could be nearby

(Newser) - Treasure hunters in Germany have announced they've found a secret stash of Nazi gold in an underground cavern and they believe it could be from the looted Amber Room of the Russian czars, Der Speigel reports. Instruments have detected what could be 2 tons of gold in the cavern near...

Remains of Russian Royals Found
Remains of Russian Royals Found

Remains of Russian Royals Found

Archaeologists to assist in probe of royal family's deaths

(Newser) - Russian archaeologists say they’ve unearthed remains belonging to two children of Nicholas II, the Russian czar executed along with the rest of his family almost 90 years ago. The discovery of Alexei and Maria Romanov may help prove the authenticity of remains found in 1991 that are believed to...

11 Stories
Most Read on Newser