U.S. Contractor Awarded More Than $1 Billion Is Suspended Over 'Serious Misconduct' 
WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it had suspended International Relief and Development, a non-profit aid contractor which won major U.S. contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, after finding "serious misconduct" involving funding. 

 

 

"The agency's review revealed serious misconduct in IRD's performance, management, internal controls and present responsibility," the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States' premier aid agency, said in a statement.  

 

Koch-Backed Network Aims To Spend Nearly $1 Billion On 2016 Elections WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Conservative political advocacy groups supported by the billionaire Koch brothers plan to spend $889 million in the 2016 U.S. elections, more than double what they raised in 2012, the Washington Post reported on Monday. 

 

 

The newspaper said the goal was announced to donors at a weekend meeting in Rancho Mirage, California, hosted by Freedom Partners, a business lobby at the center of the Koch brothers' political operation. The Post cited a person who attended the gathering.  

 

 

Senate Democrats Join GOP Attack On Financial and Environmental Regulation WASHINGTON -- Four Senate Democrats are working with Republicans to help the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other GOP-affiliated lobbying groups undermine financial and environmental regulations. A new bill would significantly change the way government agencies write rules, weighing regulators down with new costs and opening the door to a swarm of legal challenges from corporate interests. Although the legislation would apply to all independent federal regulatory agencies, bank watchdogs have found it particularly alarming in light of Wall Street's ongoing success in overruling new financial standards in court. 
"This would create dozens of new requirements that are nearly impossible to carry out," said Marcus Stanley, policy director at Americans for Financial Reform, an advocacy organization