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The Weekend Word: Revelations

Today’s Times

  • The dispute over the White House’s account of the September assault on an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, flared up on Friday, with a disclosure of e-mails showing the White House was more deeply involved in revising talking points about the attack than officials previously acknowledged, Mark Landler reports. Disclosure of the e-mails had the White House scrambling to provide an explanation and insisting that the talking points were not modified for political reasons.
  • President Obama came out swinging in defense of his health care plan on Friday, saying he was committed to delivering its benefits on schedule, Robert Pear and Peter Baker report. The president made a moral case for universal health insurance coverage. “The United States of America does not sentence its people to suffering just because they don’t make enough to buy insurance on the private market, just because their work doesn’t provide health insurance, just because they fall sick or suffer an accident,” he said.
  • A federal judge gave an unusually harsh critique of the Obama administration this week, saying that its efforts to block easier distribution of the morning-after emergency contraceptive pill was driven by raw politics - not scientific evidence, Michael D. Shear reports.
  • The Internal Revenue Service apologized to Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations on Friday for overzealous audits of their applications for tax-exempt status, Jonathan Weisman reports. The agency admitted to singling out nonprofit applicants with the terms “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their titles.
  • A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives has been meeting on and off for four years to create an immigration bill, but with comprehensive legislation already being debated by the Senate, the House group is quickly losing its chance to shape the outcome, Ashley Parker writes.

Weekly Addresses

  • President Obama called homeownership a cornerstone of the American Dream in this week’s address, promoting his housing plan that “has already helped more than two million people refinance their mortgages.” He also reflected on last week’s nomination of Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, saying that Mr. Watt’s experience in protecting consumers from dishonest mortgage lenders should make Congress confirm him right away. “And they shouldn’t stop there,” he said. “Our economy and our housing market are poised for progress - but we could do so much more if we worked together.”
  • Representative Martha Roby of Alabama delivered this week’s Republican address after her Working Families Flexibility Act passed in the House. The bill, she said, “will remove an outdated and unnecessary restriction on private sector employees accruing comp time, or paid time off, in exchange for overtime.” It is aimed at providing working parents with more “options” to take care of family responsibilities without changing the 40-hour workweek or how overtime pay is calculated. Ms. Roby said that “the fact that we can’t solve the big, overarching problems overnight shouldn’t stop us from doing what we can right now to help make life a little easier for working moms and dads.”

 Happenings in Washington