Grapevine: Federal workers owe $3.3 billion in unpaid taxes
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Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Coming Up Short
Federal workers are paid by you-- the taxpayers -- but they are $3.3 billion short on paying -- their own taxes.
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The IRS says -- delinquent employees include 714 Capitol Hill workers-- and 36 in the White House.
Nearly 3.5 percent of federal workers and retirees owe back taxes -- which is a lower percentage than the public at large.
The civilian agency with the most unpaid taxes?
The much maligned Department of Veterans Affairs -- where 15,000 employees owe almost $150 million.
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The VA's health care and administrative woes are all over the news -- but their fiscal decisions have earned plenty of criticism as well.
The Washington Free Beacon reports -- the Department has spent almost $500 million on furniture -- conference rooms -- and draperies over the last 4-and-a-half years.
Spending that Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn calls -- just one of many misplaced priorities.
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Pay to Potty
A Washington state third grade teacher is in hot water -- for allegedly making students to pay to go to the restroom.
Local reports say -- the teacher gives out fake money to students for good behavior and performance -- which can be spent on toys, treats, and trips to the restroom.
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Two parents complained after their children had accidents in school.
The school district says pay to potty is not district policy.
The teacher is suspended pending an investigation.
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Hot Numbers
Finally -- Secretary of State John Kerry should have checked his facts --when citing dangers of climate change -- by using supposedly-record temperatures across the world.
Quote-- "34 degrees centigrade in Vietnam today -- in May. 29, 30, 32, 33 in places all around Europe. Unprecedented. Breaks every record that's ever been seen."
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Not quite. 34 degrees centigrade -- or Celsius-- is about 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
That is well below the May record high of 108 in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi -- according to its embassy.
All of the temperatures Kerry listed for Europe -- are well-below the record high in Spain of 122 degrees-- or 50 centigrade -- set in 1881.