In The News

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation wrote to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Wednesday, saying that their “deep” concerns about the fate of the Purple Line “have grown exponentially” since the consortium managing the project terminated its contract. In a letter to Hogan, the nine Democratic lawmakers urged the Maryland Department of Transportation to negotiate with the private consortium, Purple Line Transit Partners, over hundreds of millions in unpaid cost overruns. Meanwhile, they said, the state should simultaneously continue to make “the necessary arrangements to transition the project to MDOT if a settlement is not reached.” “It is imperative to find a path forward as these delays mean that Maryland residents are the ones that suffer,” the letter said.... The letter is signed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, and Reps. Steny H. Hoyer, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John P. Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, Jamie B. Raskin, Kweisi Mfume and David Trone.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Christopher Wray gave an unexpected press briefing on Wednesday—13 days out from the election—in which they said that Iran and Russia obtained voter registration information in attempts to meddle in U.S. elections. They said that voting remains secure, but House lawmakers renewed the call for the Senate to take up their “2019 For the People Act,” which the chamber passed in March 2019 and has specific provisions to beef up the Election Assistance Commission.... The bill “eliminates the existing funding cap, requires each state to comply with any EAC request for post-election survey results following any regularly scheduled general election for federal office beginning in November 2020, directs the [EAC] to assess the security, cybersecurity and effectiveness of the commission’s information technology systems and to review the effectiveness and efficiency of the state-based Help America Vote Act administrative complaint procedures,” according to a summary of the bill. It also, “establishes standards for election vendors based on cybersecurity and company ownership and expands the [EAC’s] ability to issue grants to harden our nation’s election infrastructure [and] directs the [EAC] to make available grants for states to replace voting machines that are not compliant [with] paper ballot voting systems and carry out voting system security improvements.” The legislation also addresses campaign finance transparency, voting rights, redistricting and government ethics. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., who introduced the bill in January 2019, told Government Executive on Thursday that the House also passed the "Securing America’s Federal Elections Act” and the "Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy Act” which would “further protect our elections and safeguard our democracy.” He said he is “deeply alarmed that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans continue to block these critical national security efforts and repeatedly fail to protect our country from foreign attacks.”

Ari Shapiro, Host: A teacher, a small-business owner and a retiree who complained they paid more in federal income taxes than President Trump are now gracing campaign billboards in swing states around the country. The ads follow reporting by The New York Times that Trump paid little or no federal income tax in most of the last 20 years. Trump has denied that report, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, the wealthy are getting less scrutiny from the tax collector with each passing year.... Horsley: The IRS is particularly aggressive about auditing people who claim the earned income tax credit. While that tax break for working families has been plagued by reporting problems, the IRS says it accounts for just 6% of all unpaid taxes. Nevertheless, people claiming the credit were more than 10 times as likely to be audited last year as multimillionaires. Over the last decade, the IRS enforcement budget has been cut by 25%. Democratic Congressman John Sarbanes says that's made it harder for the agency to keep tabs on wealthy people who try to avoid paying taxes. John Sarbanes: The rich get richer. High-end tax cheats get away with not paying their taxes. Meanwhile, those average Americans out there who play by the rules - they're the ones that are getting short shrift here. Horsley: University of Pennsylvania law professor Natasha Sarin says it's hard for ordinary wage-earners to cheat the government because their taxes are automatically deducted from their paychecks. Rich people, on the other hand, have more ways to hide their income and lowball their tax bill.

Attributing recent reductions in certain U.S. prescription drug prices to intense congressional scrutiny rather than a biopharma industry commitment to affordability, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) said Congress must put more guardrails in place and restructure how the industry does business. “I don’t trust the industry to do the right thing when we’re not looking at you with these Klieg lights,” he told executives from Amgen Inc., Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Novartis AG Oct. 1 during the second day of a House Oversight Committee hearing on drug prices. Whether a promise or a threat, Sarbanes comments align with analysts’ thoughts on what may lay ahead for drug prices after the November election. For instance, RBC Capital Markets LLC analyst Randall Stanicky said he expects more aggressive drug price reform, as well as corporate tax reform that would have broader market implications, if former Vice President Joe Biden is elected president and Democrats gain a strong majority in both the House and Senate.