Washington Notebook

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., wants hearings by the Senate Appropriations Committee to on reports that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting conservative groups for review of tax documents.

Johanns is the top Republican on the committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, which oversees IRS spending.

Johanns wrote to Appropriations Chairman Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., on Monday asking for the hearings. He noted that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller gave no indication this news was about to break when they appeared before the subcommittee recently to testify on the administration’s budget requests.

“Every Member of Congress, regardless of party, owes it to the American people to demand answers about this disturbing practice – including who knew about it and when, who authorized it, and why it was allowed to continue in secrecy for so long. The first step in getting those answers is calling a hearing, which is what I’m doing today,” Johanns said.

Did Rep. Steve King pass up a bid for the U.S. Senate because he was too damaged by last year’s campaign?

That’s apparently what U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack thinks.

The former Iowa governor spoke with the World-Herald this week about his ideas for the farm bill’s conservation title – story here.

But we also asked the former Iowa governor what he made of the hesitation by several top Republicans to run for his home state’s open Senate seat.

Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, already is raising money and campaigning to replace Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is not seeking re-election.

But across the aisle, many top contenders have taken a pass on the race.

The latest to say he’s not running is Rep. Steve King, the outspoken conservative Republican from northwest Iowa.

“I know why Congressman King didn’t run,” Vilsack told the World-Herald. “Because I think he was defined in the last congressional race and I think that made it very difficult for him to be a strong statewide candidate.”

King’s Democratic challenger in last year’s election was the secretary’s wife, Christie Vilsack.

It was one of the more expensive house races in the country, with millions pouring in from outside groups.

Still, King won re-election by defeating the state’s former first lady by 8 percentage points.

Vilsack said that even with King and other potential Republican candidates opting out of a bid, he has no doubt Braley will have to work hard to win the seat.

“I’m sure that someone will come to the fore and there will be a strong candidate and, as Iowa always is, it’ll be a very competitive race,” Vilsack said.

Bob Kerrey will be casting his vote for fellow Democrat Jim Suttle in the Omaha mayor’s race – by absentee ballot.

Kerrey said he’s been splitting his time between New York and Omaha since his unsuccessful bid last fall to represent Nebraska – a campaign that was dogged by talk about his time away from the state.

He told the World-Herald that he had been planning to cast his mayoral vote in person on May 14, but now expects he will require an absentee ballot.

The former governor and two-term senator from Nebraska moved to New York to run the New School in early 2001. He registered to vote again in Nebraska last year, just before the filing deadline for the Senate race.

Throughout last year’s campaign Kerrey rejected the carpetbagger label, citing his deep ties to the state that include the businesses he still owns and taxes he still pays there.

Kerrey and his family bought a house in Omaha last summer and started renovations on it. Within days of losing the Senate election, Kerrey said that his wife and son were moving back to New York and that they would split time between the two cities.

He said his wife wanted to be close to her sister, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Kerrey said this week that they still have the house in Omaha and it’s still under construction. He had planned to be in Omaha for the mayoral primary last month but had to leave unexpectedly and did not get the chance to vote.

In a fundraising e-mail that went out to Suttle supporters this week, Kerrey touted the incumbent mayor’s leadership during the Missouri River flood and his management of city finances. Kerrey urged supporters to donate $5 or more to Suttle’s campaign.

“I support Mayor Jim Suttle’s re-election, because he’s gotten the job done,” Kerrey wrote in the e-mail.

Rep. Steve King said this week that he is inching closer to a decision on a Senate bid, but he’s still not there.

“I sure don’t like being on the bubble here, but that’s how it is,” King told the World-Herald. “It’s a big decision. There are a couple of components that aren’t where they need to be.”

If he makes a run, the outspoken conservative Republican from northwest Iowa would be an instant frontrunner for the nomination.

The seat will be open as Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election.

While potential Republican contenders try to decide, Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, didn’t waste any time. He’s been aggressively raising money for a Senate bid.

This week, the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Kim Reynolds, announced she would take a pass, and it’s not clear who else would step up.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, was seen as a top contender but quickly took himself out of the conversation.

Latham said this week that some Iowans have been encouraging him to take another look at the race, but he insists he’s still not interested.

King said it’s important for him to make a decision soon, but he wouldn’t specify his timeline. And even if he decides against running, he said his party will find someone.

“I’m pretty sure there will be at least one Republican that will be interested in this job.”

The Sunlight Foundation has posted a database of donors to President Barack Obama’s second Inaugural.

Contributions totalled $43 million, with the top donor AT&T chipping in $4.6 million in equipment and services.

Nebraskans gave about $13,000 and Iowans $10,000. You can look at all of the names at the link.

A few you might recognize: Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, who contributed $300 and Nebraska state Sens. Heath Mello and Jeremy Nordquist. Mello gave $318 and Nordquist $330.

Abbie Gabel is Nebraska’s 2013 Cherry Blossom Princess, the Nebraska Society announced Monday.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs April 7 through April 13 in Washington. The Cherry Blossom Princess Education and Cultural Exchange Program dates back to 1948.

Gabel will meet with lawmakers, representatives from the Japanese Embassy and princesses from other states.

Gabel is a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she is majoring in Elementary Education and HRTM – Event Planning.

She has held offices in ASUN Student Government, and is a member of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., is taking issue with the Environmental Protection Agency’s disclosure of information about concentrated animal feeding operations.

Fischer joined several of her GOP colleagues on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in writing a letter Thursday to Bob Perciasepe, the acting administrator of the EPA, about the agency’s decision to provide specific information about individual feeding operations to environmental groups who requested it through the Freedom of Information Act.

“This action demonstrates a troubling disregard for the interests of both private citizens and competitive businesses,” the senators wrote. “We understand that you are currently investigating the propriety of the FOIA releases and whether the releases contain sensitive information not already publicly available. EPA claims that the recipients of the information have agreed not to disseminate the data EPA provided to them. Since the information has already been released, EPA’s assertion that the groups will not distribute the information is hardly reassuring. As such, the lack of appropriate safeguards within EPA’s FOIA office requires your immediate attention.”

The senators requested additional information about the disclosures and a briefing of committee staff by April 18.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued a statement Friday to commemorate Vietnam Veterans Day.

The former GOP senator from Nebraska noted it was 40 years ago that the last U.S. combat forces left Vietnam.

“When Vietnam veterans reached their hometowns, many were not greeted with the appreciation and respect they very much deserved,” Hagel said in the statement. “In our time we must take every opportunity to thank all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.”

He pointed out that more than 1,600 service members remain unaccounted for from Vietnam.

“Their families still seek answers,” he said. “Today, the Department of Defense reaffirms its commitment to take all steps to account for our missing personnel and bring closure to their families. And we salute and thank our Vietnam veterans and their families.”

In the statement, Hagel did not mention his own service in Vietnam as an army infantry sergeant.

Hagel volunteered to go to Vietnam, where he served alongside his brother and was wounded twice.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., is asking Nebraskans to let her know what specific federal regulations should be axed.

Fischer posted a video online focused on how regulations can hurt economic development and asked her constituents to let her know which ones are hurting their farms and businesses.

“As a United States Senator for Nebraska, what I often hear from my constituents across the state is that we have to get to work cutting all the red tape coming out of Washington,” Fischer says in the video.

The video and the submissions page can be found here.

The World-Herald Washington Bureau travelled up to New York this week to cover the announcement that Creighton University is joining the new Big East.

Now back on the hill, where the Senate is about to kick off its so-called budget “vote-a-rama.”

The usual restrictions on amendments are eased for the budget resolution, which is supposed to be an annual exercise but hasn’t happened in several years.

Senators have filed hundreds and hundreds of amendments but not all of them will receive a vote. One amendment in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline is expected to get a vote.

Although the measures are generally non-binding, this is an opportunity to get senators on record on a particular issue and could foreshadow areas Congress will act upon in the future.