Congress Archives - Page 10 of 11 - Tennessee Star

Ilhan Omar Lands $250K Book Deal Amid Outcry Over Past Comments

January 28, 2019January 27, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) has landed her first major book deal with Dey Street Books and will receive an initial commission of up to $250,000. The deal was announced on Publishers Marketplace and is said to chronicle Omar’s “journey fleeing war in Somalia as a little girl, becoming a refugee in her early teens, and making her way against unspeakable odds to become the congresswoman-elect from Minnesota as a collection of remarkable firsts.” The book will be titled This Is What America Looks Like, and Omar will work with a collaborator on its production, according to Forbes. Day Street Books Executive Editor Alessandra Bastagli told Forbes that Omar submitted a book proposal last year. “I’ve been following Rep. Omar’s career since 2016 and was thrilled to receive her excellent book proposal on submission last year,” Bastagli said. “Her voice on the page is very much as it is in real life—fresh and positive even when she is tackling serious issues, with real empathy and deep knowledge.” Both Bastagli and Omar’s literary agent Steve Ross hinted that her memoir will touch on the Trump administration and its policies. “Her story counters everything we keep hearing from the current administration and the…

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Rep. Mark Green Questions Democrats’ Trustworthiness Over Government Shutdown, Border Wall Fight

January 26, 2019January 25, 2019 Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) questions Democrats’ trustworthiness in a new op-ed. The op-ed ran on Fox News’ website Friday. It is available here. Green writes: Top Democrats are using this line as their new drumbeat, “Open the government and then we will secure the border.” But how can we trust them to keep their word? Here are four instances in the past 12 months where President Trump and Republicans have reached across the aisle looking for a deal. At every opportunity, Democrats have refused to work with Republicans to secure our border or fix our broken immigration system. Green goes on to list the examples, including a fight last year over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on the brink of a potential government shutdown. He also makes reference to this shutdown’s damage to the economy and making the country look weak, and asks if Democrats are afraid Trump will win in 2020 over the border wall. Trump on Friday laid out a plan to end the government shutdown, Breitbart reported: Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continued — with no apparent wall funding concessions from Democrats. The president warned that if Congress could not successfully…

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North Carolina Congressman George Holding Proposes Term Limits Amendment

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019 A.P. Dillon

Republican Congressman George Holding (NC-02) has proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will create term limits for members of Congress. Holding’s proposed amendment would limit members of the U.S. House of Representatives to six two-year terms or 12 years. U.S. Senators would be limited to two six-year terms or 12 years. Today, I introduced a Constitutional amendment imposing #termlimits on Congress. Term limits will end politics-as-usual in Washington & help fix D.C.'s broken culture. It’s time for elected officials to start making a difference, not a career. >>https://t.co/QdHJ9s07kj pic.twitter.com/s0UWyupIz2 — Former Rep. George Holding (@RepHolding) January 15, 2019 “Since the government shutdown began, we’ve seen plenty of posturing and finger-pointing – but not much common-sense. Sadly, this is the new normal in American politics,” said Congressman Holding in a press release. “Term limits will put an end to politics-as-usual in Washington, help restore a citizen legislature, and encourage elected officials to do what’s best for their constituents, instead of special interests.” Representative Holding’s statement pointed to a recent survey which found that 82% of voters support a Constitutional amendment for congressional term limits like the one he has proposed. “It’s time for elected officials to start making a…

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U.S. Rep. Mark Green Calls for Border Security in Speech on House Floor, Chastises Democrats for Partisanship

January 16, 2019January 15, 2019 Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Monday delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor calling for border security and chastising the Democrats for partisanship. The C-SPAN video clip is available here. “We could spend our time debating what a physical barrier should consist of, but let’s make one thing clear, whether it’s in the form of a wall or a fence or some barrier, combined with 21st century surveillance technology and increased border security agents, a barrier is an effective defense against entry by criminals, gang members, drug smugglers, and yes, even terrorists,” Green said. He chastised Democrats for saying physical barriers are ineffective and “immoral.” “Now this is not the position they held in the recent past,” he said, and added Democrats were willing to spend $40 billion under President Barack Obama but not $5.7 billion under President Donald Trump. “What’s changed?” He pointed out that ISIS is encouraging followers to cross over the United States’ “porous” border. “That leads me to direct some questions to my colleagues and friends across the aisle,” Green said. “Is it worth the risk?” “I’d pay 5.7 billion to stop the next 9-11.” In 2017, an estimated 72,000 Americans died of…

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Commentary: Trump Is Right, Congress Needs to Do Its Job

January 14, 2019January 13, 2019 Admin

by Rachel Bovard As the partial government shutdown enters its third week with little hope of an end in sight, President Trump continues to demand funding for a southern border wall. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) flat out refuses to pass any funding at all. In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has washed his hands of the matter, telling Trump to work it out with Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) while he moves the Senate onto other topics. Predictably, both chambers clocked out for the weekend on Thursday afternoon. When senators and House members make the rounds on the upcoming Sunday shows wringing their hands about the shutdown, somebody might ask why they only worked less than three days this week. Apparently, the crisis at the border, and the resulting government shutdown, are an emergency to everyone except the people responsible for addressing it. In the face of congressional intransigence, President Trump has toyed with the idea of declaring a national emergency. On Friday, the president said that option was currently off the table, and with good reason. Although funding the wall through an emergency declaration is likely legal, it would create more problems for the president than it solves, both politically and practically.…

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Commentary: Dump The National Emergencies Act

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019 Admin

by Julie Kelly One of the more revelatory aspects of the Trump era is how the national media, after taking an extended nap between 2009 and 2017, now are very worried about constitutional overreach by the executive branch. Presidential power-grabs – which were super cool just five years ago when Barack Obama threatened to use “a pen and a phone” to work around a Republican-controlled legislative branch – suddenly went out of style in January 2017. Obama needed to take unilateral action as a last resort, the media argued, because of those big, bad Republicans. “Blocked for most of his presidency by Congress, Obama has sought to act however he could,” lamented the New York Times in August 2016. “In the process he created the kind of government neither he nor the Republicans wanted – one that depended on bureaucratic bulldozing rather than legislative transparency.” But it was for our own good, insisted the Times. “An army of lawyers working under Obama’s authority has sought to restructure the nation’s health care and financial industries, limit pollution, bolster workplace protections and extend equal rights to minorities. Under Obama, the government has literally placed a higher value on human life.” Thanks, Obama! The former president often defended himself…

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Minnesota Democrat Says Most People Calling His Office Support ‘The Wall’

January 14, 2019January 13, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-07) told Fox News that the overwhelming majority of calls his office is receiving are from constituents who support President Donald Trump’s border wall. “From what I can tell, they’re still hanging with the president. Today, we got 67 calls for building the wall and five against. So, sounds to me like he’s still pretty popular,” Peterson said in an interview last week. This week, @collinpeterson admitted that both President @realDonaldTrump and the wall are popular in Minnesota. #BuildTheWall #mn07 pic.twitter.com/6xS9M7NKKr — Republican Party of Minnesota (@mngop) January 11, 2019 In another interview with Bloomberg, Peterson revealed that he’s not actually opposed to Trump’s wall, and said he believes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “should negotiate.” During Trump’s Tuesday night Oval Office address, he urged every American citizen to “call Congress and tell them to finally, after all of these decades, secure our border.” “This is a choice between right and wrong. Justice and injustice. This is about whether we fulfill our sacred duty to the American citizens we serve,” Trump said. Vice President Mike Pence echoed those sentiments in an interview on The Rush Limbaugh Show, where he too pleaded…

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Daines Introduces Bill Withholding Pay from Congressmen During Government Shutdowns, Others Join

January 13, 2019January 12, 2019 Admin

by Henry Rodgers Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced a bill on the Senate floor Thursday that would withhold the pay of members of Congress during future government shutdowns. Daines’s introduction of the bill, sponsored by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, comes hours after Daines announced he sent a letter requesting the secretary of the U.S. Senate withhold his pay during the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government. “Members of Congress are sent to Washington, D.C., to represent the great people of their state and keep the federal government open, working and funded. So it’s simple. If they can’t do that, they shouldn’t get paid. No work, no pay,” Daines told The Daily Caller News Foundation after the bill was introduced. The “No Work, No Pay Act,” introduced by Daines, would make it so members of Congress would not be paid if they cannot keep the government funded. His move to not accept pay was followed by many of his colleagues, such as Cornyn, who said he was excited to join Daines in co-sponsoring the bill. He echoed Daines’s message that members of Congress should not be paid while government agencies are shut down. Pleased to join my…

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Ilhan Omar Pictured With Anti-Semitic, Sharia Law Apologist Who Partied With Muslim Brotherhood

January 7, 2019January 7, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was pictured with anti-Semite and alleged Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer Linda Sarsour on Thursday, Omar’s first official day in Congress. “These past two years have been difficult. So much heartache, exhaustion, pain, losses, drama, bad policy after bad policy yet today was all worth it. Today was joy. Today was pride. Today was full of laughter and tears,” Sarsour wrote on Facebook with a picture of her standing next to a smiling Omar. Sarsour’s history of anti-Semitism is well-documented, so much so that her fellow organizers of the Women’s March are trying to give her the boot. In a 2011 tweet, she applauded the Muslim Brotherhood for throwing a great party, calling them the “coolest.” The Saudi media claimed in December that Sarsour has “roots in the Muslim Brotherhood,” The Jewish News Syndicate reported. The Daily Wire’s Harry Khachatrian pointed out Saturday that Sarsour once claimed that the vagina of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a victim of female genital mutilation, should “be taken away.” In numerous tweets, Sarsour has attempted to normalize Sharia law, touting the fact that women get “10 weeks of paid maternity leave in Saudi Arabia.” “And [you’re] worrying about women driving. Puts us…

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Fox News Power Player of the Week Rep. Mark Green on Trump and Border Wall: ‘I’m Supporting Him in This’

January 7, 2019January 6, 2019 Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) appeared on “Fox News Sunday” as one of two “Power Players of the Week.” Fox News’ Chris Wallace hosted Green and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08), both freshmen. The discussion ranged from bipartisanship to military service to border security. (Slotkin served with the CIA in Iraq, and Green was on the special operations team that captured Saddam Hussein.) A summary of the interview follows. The full video is available here. On compromise and gridlock, Slotkin mentioned the shutdown and said, “Start having a real negotiation about border security, border forces, more technology at the border, fencing if we need it in some areas – it doesn’t just have to be a wall.” Wallace pressed for commentary on the attitude in Washington, to which Green replied, “She’s prior military and I’m prior military and we want solutions. And we’re sick and tired of it not happening.” Slotkin said that military and CIA experience helps one focus on mission, which is missing in Congress. “People have treated it as if they don’t have a mission, that they’re for themselves, they’re show horses, whatever,” Slotkin said. Green said that with the wall, both sides of the aisle…

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U.S. Rep. Mark Green Refuses Salary During Partial Government Shutdown

January 5, 2019January 5, 2019 Jason M. Reynolds

Freshman U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) has asked that he not be paid during the partial federal government shutdown. Green sent a letter Friday to the U.S. House of Representative’s Chief Administrative Officer, Philip Kiko, requesting his salary be suspended until a deal is reached and the partial government shutdown ends: Dear Mr. Kiko, I am writing today to ask you to withhold my salary as long as the government is partially shut down. I do not believe it is appropriate for Members of Congress to be paid during a lapse in appropriations while hardworking border security agents and other civil servants are furloughed. Please accept this letter as notice that I will refuse any salary until the government is funded. In November, Green was unanimously elected president of the Republican Freshman Class by 33 members-elect of the 116th Congress, The Tennessee Star reported at the time. Before he won the House seat in November, Green served as Tennessee state senator for the 22nd District for Stewart/Houston/Montgomery counties. Green’s thinking is in line with that of former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Haley, also a former governor of South Carolina, tweeted Thursday, “Today the new Congress takes office. No member should get paid while the…

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New Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips Goes Back on Campaign Promise and Votes for Pelosi As Speaker

January 4, 2019January 3, 2019 Anthony Gockowski

Both Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) and Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) voted for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) as the next speaker of the house Thursday in one of their first official acts as members of Congress. Craig and Phillips both indicated on the campaign trail that they would like to see new leadership in the Democratic Party, but started to show signs of supporting Pelosi shortly after their respective election wins. Phillips was much more vocal on the issue, and in one interview stated “no” in response to questions from KSTP’s Tom Hauser on whether or not he would back Pelosi. He, like many freshmen members of Congress, said he would like to see “a new generation of leadership,” while Craig said she’d like for more members from the Midwest to move into leadership roles. But both of them skipped out on opportunities to oppose Pelosi, and Craig even spoke in favor of electing Pelosi during a November Democratic Caucus vote. After that vote, Phillips declined to answer questions from reporters on where he stood, as The Minnesota Sun reported. Both of them also neglected to sign their names to a letter issued by 16 Democrats in November calling for “new…

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President Trump’s Executive Order Freezing Federal Pay Saves Taxpayers from Double-Digit Pay Increases

January 1, 2019December 31, 2018 Admin

US Capitol

by Rachel Greszler President Donald Trump issued an executive order effectively freezing federal pay for 2019 at current 2018 levels. Had the president not issued this executive order (and lacking congressional action on federal pay), federal workers would have received a 2.1 percent across-the-board pay increase, as well as a 25 percent increase in locality-based pay. A 2.1 percent across-the-board increase would have cost roughly $5 billion in 2019 while the locality-based increase would have cost a reported $26 billion. That exceptional pay spike would have kicked in had the president not acted and had the default changes specified in the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act kicked in instead. That act provides for annual federal pay increases based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Cost Index, which tracks civilian employment costs. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Despite the specified formulaic federal pay increases, federal pay has more recently been set by presidents through their authority to propose an alternative pay schedule. As has become the norm in recent decades, presidents typically set their own pay proposal by Aug. 31 and barring alternative congressional action…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Congress’s Role in Creating America’s Healthcare Crisis

December 29, 2018December 29, 2018 Admin

by Dr. Carol M. Swain In 2017, President-elect Donald Trump sent pharmaceutical stocks into a nosedive by speaking an important truth. Drug companies, he said, are “getting away with murder” with their pricing of lifesaving drugs. True to his word, the president, since his election, has pushed for needed reforms aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs. On this matter, the president and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agree: Americans are paying too much for drugs, medical supplies, and equipment. The president and Sanders would like to see U.S. prices aligned with other nations’ lower prices. I recently attended a meeting in Washington of health care professionals, where the attendees were mostly physicians and other citizens, including pastors and health care workers, concerned about the high cost of drugs and the effect that drug shortages have on their patients and congregants. The meeting was racially and politically diverse. Of great concern was the life-threatening situations people are placed in when making decisions about whether to purchase their medicine or pay the rent or house note. As informed as I am on many issues, this was an area of ignorance for me. I had never heard of legalized drug kickbacks and relationships between hospitals, facilities,…

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Dr. Carol M. Swan Commentary: Congress’s Role in Creating America’s Healthcare Crisis

December 29, 2018 Admin

by Dr. Carol M. Swain In 2017, President-elect Donald Trump sent pharmaceutical stocks into a nosedive by speaking an important truth. Drug companies, he said, are “getting away with murder” with their pricing of lifesaving drugs. True to his word, the president, since his election, has pushed for needed reforms aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs. On this matter, the president and socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) agree: Americans are paying too much for drugs, medical supplies, and equipment. The president and Sanders would like to see U.S. prices aligned with other nations’ lower prices. I recently attended a meeting in Washington of health care professionals, where the attendees were mostly physicians and other citizens, including pastors and health care workers, concerned about the high cost of drugs and the effect that drug shortages have on their patients and congregants. The meeting was racially and politically diverse. Of great concern was the life-threatening situations people are placed in when making decisions about whether to purchase their medicine or pay the rent or house note. As informed as I am on many issues, this was an area of ignorance for me. I had never heard of legalized drug kickbacks and relationships between hospitals, facilities,…

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The 2018 Partial Government Shutdown, Detailed

December 28, 2018December 27, 2018 Admin

by Joe Carter On Friday the federal government entered a partial shutdown after the Senate failed to pass a spending bill that includes border wall funding. President Trump refuses to sign any additional funding that does not include $5.1 billion in additional money to pay for an extension of the border wall, allowing him to fulfill his primary campaign promise. What is a partial government shutdown? A government shutdown occurs either when Congress fails to pass funding bills or when the president refuses to sign a funding bill before the current appropriations expire. A partial government shutdown occurs when many or most government agencies have already been funded by other legislation but there remains some areas that still need funding. What parts of the federal government are affected by the shutdown? Several government agencies were already funded for fiscal year 2019. But another funding bill was needed to cover several agencies for about seven weeks. Nine out of 15 federal departments, dozens of agencies, and several programs will be closed or reduce operations: – Department of Commerce – Department of Homeland Security – Department of Housing and Urban Development – Department of Interior – Department of Justice – Department…

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Rep. Mark Meadows Says Trump Will Not Budge on Requested Amount for Wall Funding

December 28, 2018December 27, 2018 Admin

by Henry Rodgers Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said President Donald Trump will not budge on the $5 billion requested for a border wall Wednesday, as the government enters its sixth day of a partial shutdown. Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said he does not believe Trump will agree to the Democrats’ counteroffer of $1.3 billion that could be used for the border wall, saying he does not think the amount is “reasonable.” The government will remain shut down until a compromise can be worked out among the two parties. “I can tell you, if they believe this President is going to yield on this particular issue, they’re misreading him, misreading the American people,” Meadows told CNN on “Inside Politics.” “I see no evidence that would suggest he would come even close to 1.3” billion dollars in border wall funding. This comes as Meadows pushed strongly against a short-term funding bill that would have funded the government until Feb. 8, saying the wall is necessary and that “the time to act is now.” “The time to stand up for the American people and fight for wall funding is now. If the president vetoes a [continuing resolution (CR)] without wall funding,…

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Commentary: Congress’ Dated Energy Regulations Have Outlived Their Purpose

December 27, 2018December 26, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano At the height of 1970s inflation and in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, Congress passed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978. The legislation requires electric utilities to purchase energy from small renewable generators. It has also outlived its usefulness. Since that time, wind, solar and other renewables, excluding hydroelectric, have grown to almost 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation according to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Back in 1978, it was 0.14 percent. Obviously, a lot can change in 40 years. Fortunately, in 2005, Congress amended PURPA in order to take stock of rapid changes in the utility marketplace. In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced it was considering changes and reforms to the program, including which entities ought to be excluded from PURPA’s mandatory purchase of renewable energy requirement. One argument is that the renewable generators have a large enough market footprint to compete on their own without compelling utilities to use the renewable energy. Each local market is different, whereas in some areas, the additional generation can offset potential brownouts and might be desirable, in other areas with more abundant supplies, it’s simply a…

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Commentary: Our Globalist Congress Cares More About Securing Syria Than Securing Our Own Southern Border

December 26, 2018December 25, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano Congress apparently cares more about securing Syria than securing the U.S. southern border by building the wall. That’s about all that can be taken away from some of the Congressional outcry against President Donald Trump who has announced the U.S. will be withdrawing troops from Syria — something Congress never authorized in the first place. Trump in a tweet stated that U.S. objectives in Syria have been met: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” In another tweet, Trump warned that if Islamic State returned, they’ll get hit: “I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!” We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018 ….Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us. I am building by far the most powerful military in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)…

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ACLU Defends Chelsea Manning But Silent About FBI Raid Against Reported Clinton Whistleblower

December 25, 2018December 24, 2018 Admin

by Richard Pollock The American Civil Liberties Union and other left-wing civil liberties groups defend Chelsea Manning and other whistleblowers, but have remained silent about an FBI raid on a reportedly protected whistleblower. The Daily Caller News Foundation sought comment from a variety of organizations and advocates that defend whistleblowers following the raid. While conservatives and moderates responded, most of the liberal groups, including the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, did not. Sixteen FBI agents raided Cain’s home for six hours on Nov. 19, despite that Cain, a former employee of an FBI contractor, was a protected whistleblower under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, according to his attorney, Michael Socarras. Cain possessed documents that showed federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Uranium One, according to Socarras. The three liberal organizations have voiced support for whistleblowers, including Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst who was convicted by court martial under the Espionage Act in 2013 after giving 750,000 classified and unclassified government documents to WikiLeaks. Conversely, Cain provided his documents to the Justice Department Inspector General, and they have not…

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Congress Considered to Have Lowest Ethics of All Professions

December 23, 2018December 22, 2018 Admin

by Evie Fordham Members of Congress are considered the least honest and ethical of professions including telemarketers and car salespeople, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday. Fifty-eight percent of people said they had low or very low faith in the honesty and ethics of members of Congress, according to the survey. Only 44 percent of people surveyed said the same about car salespeople, and 56 percent said the same about telemarketers. Nurses came out on top of the survey, with 84 percent of people saying they would rate the honesty and ethical standards of nurses as high or very high. Nurses’ high ratings were followed by physicians, pharmacists and high school teachers. Members’ of Congress poor honesty and ethics ratings have hovered around 60 percent disapproval since 2016. But that’s better than in 2013, when 66 percent of respondents gave them poor ratings. Only 8 percent of people said they would rate members of Congress as having high or very high honesty and ethical standards in 2018. Thirty-three percent of respondents ranked members of Congress as having “average” honesty and ethical standards. Several scandals may have contributed to the poor reputation of members of Congress in 2018. They…

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Trump Admin Works Around Congress to Raise Work Requirements on Food Stamps

December 23, 2018December 22, 2018 Admin

Tennessee Star

by Tim Pearce The Trump administration is proposing to limit states’ ability to exempt welfare recipients of abiding by the work requirements in the U.S. food stamp program, the Department of Agriculture announced Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is pushing the reform to cut down on abuse within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). With the U.S. unemployment rate at a near five-decade low, some exemptions and waivers are not longer needed. “Long-term reliance on government assistance has never been part of the American dream,” Perdue said in a statement. “As we make benefits available to those who truly need them, we must also encourage participants to take proactive steps toward self-sufficiency. Moving people to work is common-sense policy, particularly at a time when the unemployment rate is at a generational low.” SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are an entitlement distributed by the Department of Agriculture. The program provides financial aid to low- and no-income Americans who meet income, work and other requirements. Perdue’s proposed change would limit states from waiving off some of the entitlement’s requirements for people living in areas of high unemployment, defined as either over 10 percent unemployment or the where there are…

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Outgoing MN Rep. Jason Lewis’ Juvenile Justice Reform Bill Signed Into Law

December 22, 2018December 22, 2018 Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Jason Lewis’ (R-MN-02) Juvenile Justice Reform Act (JJRA) was signed into law Friday by President Donald Trump as part of Congress’ sweeping criminal justice reform measures. According to Lewis, the JJRA hadn’t been “reauthorized or modernized since 2002.” Lewis’ reforms respond to the need for alternatives to detaining juveniles for “so-called ‘status crimes’ like skipping school.” The bill, H.R. 6964, offers a “plan to provide alternatives to detention for status offenders, survivors of commercial sexual exploitation, and others.” The bill also seeks to “reduce the number of children housed in secure detention and corrections facilities who are awaiting placement in residential treatment programs.” His bill will also modernize the juvenile-justice system by promoting “evidence-based and trauma-informed programs and practices,” and emphasizing “community-based services to respond to the needs of at-risk youth.” The bill further eliminates the use of restraints on juveniles who are known to be pregnant, and prohibits detaining juveniles who are awaiting trial with adult inmates. “Some of the most rewarding experiences I had in Congress were working with colleagues from all over the country and from varying political backgrounds on criminal justice reform,” Lewis said in a press release. “Today, my Juvenile Justice Reform Act was…

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Commentary: The Art of the Veto and How Trump Can Force a Vote on the Wall

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano There won’t be any vote on wall funding this year or any year at the rate we’re going — because nobody in Congressional leadership is apparently willing to stick it in a bill and simply vote on it. Even to defeat it. Until the end of the year, Republicans are in complete control of the House of Representatives. Under the leadership of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), however, the only vote on any wall funding that occurred did not happen until the March 2018 omnibus spending bill. And then, it was just the measly $1.6 billion supplement that President Donald Trump had requested — in Feb. 2017 — that was intended to be attached to the FY 2017 spending bill that was still being resolved in the early days of the Trump administration. Instead, it took more than a year to get done. Even now, to date, House Republicans have not even had a show-vote on a messaging bill that McCarthy promised to fully fund the wall — even though such a vote would be practically meaningless. The House has not even sent a spending bill with the wall…

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House Freedom Caucus Opposes Short-Term Spending Bill Over Border Wall

December 21, 2018December 20, 2018 Admin

by Henry Rodgers North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows and House Freedom Caucus members will vote “no” on a short-term funding bill that would fund the government until Feb. 8, as funding is set to expire Friday, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. “The time to stand up for the American people and fight for wall funding is now. If the president vetoes a [continuing resolution (CR)] without wall funding, the American people and his allies in Congress will back him up. We’ll support him. The time to act is now. That’s why we were elected and it’s time we follow through,” Meadows, chairman of the congressional caucus, told the TheDCNF Thursday. Meadows called out House Speaker Paul Ryan on the House floor Wednesday and said he would not be giving up on the border wall or the American people. “The president many months ago said he wouldn’t sign another funding bill unless we gave him wall funding. So what did this House do? It passed a bill to fund the Department of Defense and passed a short-term CR and said, ‘You know what? We’re going to have that fight, but we’re going to have that fight after the…

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The House of Representatives Approves $5.7 Billion in Spending for ‘The Wall’

December 21, 2018December 21, 2018 Admin

Late Thursday following weeks of political invective and shutdown threats, the House of Representatives passed – by a final vote of 217-185 – a measure that will fund the government through February 8 that included an allocation of over five billion dollars for the construction of a physical barrier along the United States’ southern border. Commonly referred to as “The Wall,” the massive construction project is a key campaign promise President Trump is one step closer in fulfilling. In remarks Thursday afternoon during the signing ceremony for the Farm Bill (the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018), President Trump reiterated his demand to Congress: At this moment, there is a debate over funding border security and the wall, also called — so that I give them a little bit of an out — “steel slats.” We don’t use the word “wall” necessarily, but it has to be something special to do the job — steel slats. I’ve made my position very clear: Any measure that funds the government must include border security. It has to. Not for political purposes but for our country, for the safety of our community. Breitbart News reported: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) cheered the bill’s…

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James Comey ‘Thinks the Rules Don’t Apply to Him’, says Jim Jordan

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Admin

by Nick Givas GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said former FBI Director James Comey “thinks the rules don’t apply to him,” on “Fox & Friends” Monday. Comey will reappear before Congress Monday to face questions about his handling of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and his involvement in the Russia investigation. “We hope he actually answers some questions today. Last time, 245 times he said he didn’t know, couldn’t remember. So we hope he answers more questions,” Jordan said. “I think I’m going to ask him about the Comey memos,” he added. “He did seven different memos back when he was meeting with the president, meeting with the chief of staff. So I’m going to ask him about questions about those things he wrote in there. I think this is important to understand. For him it’s all about Jim Comey. And he thinks the rules don’t apply to him.” Jordan said he believes Comey botched both investigations into President Donald Trump and Clinton and claimed the former FBI director only cares about himself. “We’re more focused on the Russia investigation. You have to look at the contrast, how he handled one versus the other,” he…

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Indiana AG Says Obamacare Ruling Gives Congress Another Shot at Fixing Healthcare

December 18, 2018December 18, 2018 Admin

by Nick Givas Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said Friday’s Obamacare ruling from a federal judge in Texas gives Congress another shot at fixing America’s healthcare system. “The Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause — meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional,” District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote in his decision. “Obamacare was predicated on the ability to tax — Congress’ authority to tax. And that’s what the Supreme Court decided in 2012,” Hill said on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “This is an opportunity for Congress to act. This — our decision — the attorney generals in the state and the United States made a decision based on the law and the constitutionality of this process. Now Congress has to go to work and make sure that we do find ways to constitutionally provide healthcare for all-American citizens,” he continued. Hill said there is no longer a constitutional justification for Obamacare after the tax elements were removed and therefore the law should be struck down. “It’s really a matter of Congress’ authority to tax and once the tax was removed, there’s no longer…

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Commentary: James (Comey) and the Giant Impeachment

December 15, 2018December 14, 2018 Admin

by Julie Kelly For those concerned that former FBI Director James Comey is suffering from early dementia, have no fear: His memory returned with a vengeance during a Sunday night interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. On Friday, under questioning by House Judiciary Committee members, Comey answered, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall,” or “I don’t remember” nearly 250 times during a six-hour closed-door hearing. His memory lapse included critical details like how the infamous Steele dossier reached his agency; who at the FBI drafted the initiation document to investigate the Trump campaign; who at the FBI had authority to open a counterintelligence probe into a presidential campaign; and his own comments about the tarmac meeting between his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former president Bill Clinton. He said he didn’t know what the word “insidious” meant and couldn’t explain the difference between collusion and conspiracy. But perhaps Comey loaded up on ginseng over the weekend because his vague and convenient memory miraculously returned when he was questioned by a fawning Wallace at a 92nd Street Y event just two days later. Tiny details about dates, locations, meeting participants and a funny moment during a briefing with President…

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Michael Cohen Sentenced to Three Years in Federal Prison

December 13, 2018December 12, 2018 Admin

by Chuck Ross Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison by a judge in New York on Wednesday. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley, is lower than prosecutors’ recommendation that the longtime Trump fixer receive slightly less than between 51 and 63 months in prison. Pauley cited a “smorgasbord” of Cohen crimes before announcing the jail term. Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty on Aug. 21 to tax evasion, bank fraud and making illegal campaign contributions over his payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000, he claims at the direction and in coordination with Trump. Legal analysts have debated for days whether Trump is in legal jeopardy, with some observers saying that he could be impeached or even indicted after leaving office. Cohen created shell companies both to avoid paying taxes on his taxi business as well as to make the payment to Daniels. Trump defended the payment on Tuesday, telling Reuters that he did not view it as a campaign contribution. “Michael Cohen is a lawyer. I assume he would know what he’s doing,” he said…

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Chuck Schumer Demands Climate Concessions From Trump on Infrastructure Spending

December 9, 2018December 8, 2018 Admin

by Michael Bastach Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told President Donald Trump that Democrats won’t cut a deal with him on infrastructure spending unless it includes a slew of policies aimed at fighting global warming. Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called for, among other things, making green energy and electric vehicle tax credits permanent, more research funding into green technology and funding to harden infrastructure against extreme weather. “The impacts will continue to worsen if we do not take decisive and immediate action to transition to a 100-percent clean energy economy,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Trump sent Thursday. Both Trump and Democrats proposed $1 trillion infrastructure packages, but Democrats also want to make an infrastructure build-up about fighting global warming. “A single infrastructure bill will not solve our climate problem in its entirety, but it is an important first step,” Schumer wrote to Trump, also giving a list of demands for any infrastructure plan. Schumer’s letter, and accompanying Washington Post op-ed, come as Democrats push for global warming to become a central focus of 2019. A small, but growing, cadre of Democrats led by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York want “Green New Deal” legislation to rapidly force the U.S. to use…

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Commentary: A Work Requirement for Food Stamps Isn’t Too Much to Ask

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano The conference committee for H.R. 2, the farm bill, has stripped out its additional work requirements as a condition for collecting food stamps from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The provision would have required able-bodied adults to work a minimum of 20 hours a week starting in 2021 and 25 hours starting in 2026 in order to be eligible for the program, with certain exceptions. For example, if the Secretary of Agriculture determined that the local area unemployment rate was in excess of 10 percent, the work requirements could be waived for that applicant, which would capture communities hit by adverse economic conditions. Other exceptions are already in current law. For example, a stay-at-home mother is already exempt from existing work requirements. Under current law, able-bodied adults not excepted have to seek employment in order to qualify for the food stamps. The reform would have required that they find work. Ironically, 26.3 percent of nondisabled adults in single-person households aged 18-49 in SNAP already work, and 45.6 percent of multi-person households of the same category had an individual who worked in that household, according to data compiled by the Department of Agriculture for FY 2016.…

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Idea of Building Dorms for Members of Congress Returns

November 25, 2018November 24, 2018 Admin

by Evie Fordham The difficulties some members of Congress have affording housing are again front and center because of Nov. 8 comments from Democratic New York Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about making rent. Her comments about “squirreling away” money until she starts receiving her congressional salary of $174,000 in January re-ignited debate on the issue that has included proposals to allocate living expenses for members of Congress or even build a dormitory for them. “I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress, so how do I get an apartment?” Ocasio-Cortez said to The New York Times earlier in November. “Those little things are very real. … I’ve really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me to January.” Ocasio-Cortez’s comments received mixed reactions amid reports that she had more in savings than her average fellow millennial, reported MarketWatch. But the young incoming congresswoman brought up the quandaries that members of Congress, especially those who have families to support, can find themselves in. A Tuesday Politico Magazine column titled “Want to drain the swamp? Build Congress a dorm” argued that when politicians must find ways to afford housing in Washington, D.C., and their home district, it…

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State Sen. Mark Green Announces Jan. 3 Resignation Date to Assume Congressional Seat

November 21, 2018November 20, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

State Sen. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-22) announced his resignation as Senator effective Jan. 3, 2019 to assume the U.S. Seventh Congressional District seat he won in the Nov. 6 election. That seat was previously held by Marsha Blackburn, who won the U.S. Senate race. Once Green resigns his State Senate seat, the Montgomery County Commission will appoint a senator to serve until a special election is held. First elected to the State Senate in 2012, Green’s service has been marked by his leadership on behalf of all Tennesseans, the West Point graduate said in a press release. Green has passed numerous pro-veteran and pro-business bills. His leadership led to the passage of landmark legislation like the Hall Income Tax Repeal and the Teachers Bill of Rights. Green recently announced his appointment of Stephen Siao as his chief of staff in the U.S. House of Representatives. Siao will lead the transition over the next two months and lead the congressional office starting in January. In his resignation letter to Gov. Bill Haslam, Green wrote, “Serving the people of this district for the last six years has been a privilege and an honor, and I am proud to have worked on their…

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Commentary: The Art of the Veto

November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano By last count, Republicans lost at least 32 seats in the House in the midterm elections, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is once again poised to be elected House Speaker. This means all legislation will now have to be worked out between a Democratic House and a Republican Senate led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). To navigate these new waters in 2019, President Donald Trump has signaled a willingness to negotiate but he must remember that his greatest leverage could come in the House minority if he wishes to plot a more conservative path. Certainly there will be last-minute attempts in the lame duck session to get things done with Republican majorities, which may or may not work. Time is not a luxury. Democrats will believe they can get a better deal in January and will block legislation in the Senate. It’s up to Trump to convince them otherwise. Looking forward, then, with at least 199 members in the House, Trump and the GOP should have enough votes to sustain any presidential vetoes if they play their cards right. All Trump needs are 145 members who are willing to stand with the President.…

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Calls Congress the Culprit in Polarizing Judicial Confirmation Process

October 28, 2018October 28, 2018 Admin

by Tristan Justice Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg points the finger at an increasingly partisan Congress for polarizing the judicial confirmation process. Speaking at the federal courthouse in Washington on Wednesday, Ginsburg said a lack of collegiality and bipartisanship among lawmakers was to blame for polarizing the confirmation process for federal judges, The Washington Post reported. Ginsburg alluded to the heated confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, without mentioning the high court’s newest justice by name. She reflected on past Supreme Court confirmation processes and pointed to Justice Antonin Scalia’s unanimous confirmation vote in the Senate, as well as the 96-3 vote for her, the Post reported.”What a difference in time that was from what we are witnessing today,” Ginsburg said in an apparent reference to the bitter confirmation battle over Kavanaugh and the resulting 50-48 vote to confirm him. Only one Democrat voted for Kavanaugh.”To me, the obvious culprit is Congress,” Ginsburg said. Ginsburg praised Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who retired in 2005, as a model of someone who put “country above party and self-interest” and who “worked collaboratively to solve problems,” the Post reported. Ginsburg’s comments came a day after O’Connor, the first female…

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Commentary: Dems’ Beautiful Blue Wave More Like Stagnant Algae-Filled Millpond

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 Admin

by Jeffrey A. Rendall It’s always curious when political pundits and media figures use terms like “waves” to describe forthcoming or just concluded elections results. According to the dictionary, a “wave” (used as a noun) is, “a long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore, or, a gesture or signal made by moving one’s hand to and fro.” As we move ever closer to election day 2018 it’s become clear American voters already dismissed the possibility of the first type of Democrat “wave” to leave room for a “gesture” or “signal” to the minority party (we’ll leave it to your imagination as to which “gesture” is most appropriate). If anything, the ocean-type “wave” the pundits love droning on about is now headed back out to sea, never to reach the sandy shores of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. By all appearances the same phenomenon that produced the election surprise of the millennium (to some folks at least) in 2016 is sweeping over the entire country again this year. Once confident Democrats are now pulling back their grandiose predictions that Republicans will be brutally kicked out of the Speaker’s and Majority Leader’s offices in…

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Pelosi Outlines Agenda if Democrats Retake House

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 Admin

Projecting confidence about her party’s chances, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi outlined five of the top 10 agenda items Democrats will pursue if they retake the House in next month’s election. Lowering health care costs, rebuilding infrastructure, and running the House chamber with more transparency and openness are near the top of the Democratic agenda, Pelosi said during a talk Tuesday at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. Democrats would also prioritize giving legal status to young immigrants, known informally as Dreamers, and strengthening background checks on gun purchases, she said. Democrats need to gain 23 seats to take control of the House from Republicans, something surveys suggest is within reach. “If the election were today, we would win the majority,” Pelosi said. The California Democrat said she couldn’t predict whether the election would be a “wave” or “tsunami” for her party, but said she expected it to triumph, putting her in line to regain the speaker’s gavel. “I’ve never seen anything like the mobilization that is out there, the grass roots,” she said. One item not on Pelosi’s top 10 list: impeaching President Donald Trump. “I think impeachment, to use that word, is very divisive,” she said. Instead, she said House committees…

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Cyber Infrastructure Gets a Boost by Congress

October 10, 2018October 8, 2018 Admin

by Natalia Castro In the last year, both chambers of Congress have been working hard to improve our nation’s cyber security and cyber infrastructure. Last week, the Senate passed landmark legislation that will modernize U.S. cyber technology to combat growing threats around the world. On Oct. 4, 2018, the Senate passed the Cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 which passed the House in December 2017 when it was introduced by Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul. In the Senate it passed by unanimous consent and in the House by voice vote due to its widespread support. The Act reorganizes the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) main cyber security unit, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, to the Cyber security and Infrastructure Protection Agency. Under the law, this group will now function more like FEMA or the Secret Service instead of a small internal DHS office. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen noted in an interview with the Washington Post, “We are responsible for federal efforts when it comes to both protecting critical infrastructure, working with the owner-operators in private sector, and protecting all those civilian dot govs. To do that, we have to have both a name that indicates…

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Congress Can Slash the Cost of Health Care Premiums by as Much as a Third

October 4, 2018October 3, 2018 Admin

by Doug Badger A proposal to repeal Obamacare entitlements and replace them with grants to states would reduce premiums for individual coverage by as much as 32 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Health and Economy. The Health Care Choices Proposal also would modestly reduce the deficit, increase the number of people with private health insurance, and cut Medicaid spending, according to Center for Health and Economy. The proposal, the product of national and state think tanks, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community, embarks on a new path to empower consumers and return authority to the states to provide people with better and more affordable health coverage options. The Center for Health and Economy developed the study, at the commissioning of The Heritage Foundation, by applying its independent model to the published Health Care Choices Proposal. Unlike previous Obamacare replacement proposals, which the Congressional Budget Office forecasts would increase the number of uninsured by 20 million or more, coverage would dip by less than 1 million under the proposal in 2028, and enrollment would hold steady earlier. The proposal’s consumer-centered policies also would induce changes in consumer behavior that would reduce health care consumption and lead to greater medical productivity,…

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Tennessee State Lawmakers Gave Up a Section of the State Constitution When They Quickly Ratified The U.S. Constitution’s 26th Amendment

September 25, 2018September 24, 2018 Gregory Watson

Back in 1971, the Tennessee General Assembly quickly ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which lowered the voting age in all elections–federal, state and local– to 18 in every state. By doing so, they voluntarily give up a section of the Tennessee State Constitution. Here’s that story: During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Vietnam War — with which the United States was heavily involved — continued to rage overseas. With so many American soldiers — several of them younger than 20 years of age — dying on the battlefields of a foreign land in this War, public opinion within the United States began to shift in terms of by what age a person should become eligible to vote. At the time, an individual had to be at least 21 years of age in order to register to vote. But with the evolution in social sentiment occasioned at least in part by the Vietnam War, Congress began to take steps to lower that age from 21 down to 18. A popular slogan of the day was “if you are old enough to fight for your country, then you are old enough to cast a…

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Deceptive Tricks Congress Uses to Drive Spending Higher

September 24, 2018September 23, 2018 Admin

US Capitol

by Justin Bogie Congress is up to its old tricks again, trying to pass another massive spending bill that uses gimmicks and tricks to push deficit spending even higher. And it thinks it can hoodwink President Donald Trump into signing it. Next week, the House is expected to vote on a combined fiscal year 2018 continuing resolution and a fiscal year 2019 spending bill for the departments of Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services. The “cromnibus” bill would provide over $855 billion in funding for 2019, making up two-thirds of the total discretionary budget. The Senate passed the measure on Tuesday. If the House passes the Senate version and the president signs it into law, the government will stay open past Sept. 30. But at what cost? Earlier this year, Congress busted the budget and with a whopping spending deal that ran up nearly $300 billion in new debt. This bill would continue those spending levels. Take the so-called savings from changes in mandatory programs. The bill claims nearly $8 billion in savings from such changes. This is the most commonly used gimmick to increase discretionary spending. These “savings” are included in appropriations bills as a rescission of funds, meaning that unspent money…

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Organization Seeks to Help Middle Americans At Risk of Losing Their Pensions

August 31, 2018December 3, 2018 Anthony Gockowski

POWER organization

Millions of Americans are at serious risk of losing their pensions during retirement, but few lawmakers or politicians are addressing the issue, expect for an organization known as Protect Our Workers’ Earned Retirement, called POWER for short. “It’s one of those things that’s a time bomb that’s ticking. At least in the United States, policy is driven by a problem that is a reality rather than a potentiality,” Bill Greener, who is helping promote the project, told The Ohio Star, explaining why the issue has gone largely unaddressed. According to a report conduct by Matrix Global Advisors CEO Alex Brill, and sponsored by POWER, an estimated six million retirees and four million workers in the United States rely on multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs), which are collectively-bargained plans maintained by more than one employer to limit risk. “Even after legislative fixes to improve plans’ financial status in 2006 and 2014, one-third of the 10 million participants are in plans that are headed toward either a funding deficiency or insolvency. More than 1 million people are in plans projected to be insolvent within 20 years,” Brill’s report elaborates, though the problem doesn’t stop there. Brill points out that the federal backstop for…

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McCain From the Grave: Trump Receives Media Criticism for Flag Flying Protocol and Building the Wall

August 28, 2018August 27, 2018 Julie Carr

On Monday’s Gill Report – broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill was dismayed by the media’s ability to say anything as a reason to criticize president Trump in the time of John McCain’s death. Apparently, following flag flying protocol just wasn’t enough. Gill went on to talk about Senator McCain’s passing and his true feelings he expressed during a 2010 campaign message where he was more than enthusiastic about “building the wall”. However, only when it served his re-election. Gill continued: John McCain’s passing has been met with a lot of disputes within the Republican party not the least at which has been a furor over the flag over the white house flying at half-mast for two days. Well lowering the flag for two days when a member of the Congress or top leader in government dies is the protocol set forth in the US code. You lower the flag for two days and then it goes back up to full staff. Which is exactly what the White House did. It wasn’t an attack on John McCain, it wasn’t a way to diminish his value they followed the rules, the protocol…

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Former Ohio State Wrestler Recants Claim That Jim Jordan Knew Of Sexual Abuse

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

Jim Jordan

by Chuck Ross A former Ohio State University wrestler is recanting his claims that Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan knew of sexual abuse allegations against a university physician when he coached wrestling at the school over 20 years ago. “At no time did I ever say or have any direct knowledge that Jim Jordan knew of Dr. Richard Strauss’s inappropriate behavior,” Mark Coleman, a former MMA fighter who wrestled at Ohio State when Jordan coached there, said in a statement. “I have nothing but respect for Jim Jordan as I have known him for more than 30 years and know him to be of impeccable character.” Coleman is the first former OSU wrestler to recant his claims that Jordan knew about sexual abuse at the hands of Dr. Richard Strauss, an OSU physician accused of molesting dozens of student-athletes. Jordan, who was an assistant coach at OSU from 1986 to 1994, was first linked to the allegations against Strauss in an NBC News article published July 3. A former wrestler named Mike DiSabato led the push to accuse Jordan of turning a blind eye to Strauss’s behavior. Jordan, who is mounting a bid for Speaker of the House, has vehemently denied…

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Three Budget ‘Reforms’ That Would Make Matters Worse, Not Better

August 8, 2018August 7, 2018 Admin

by Dody Eid and Romina Boccia A congressional select committee on reforming the budget process recently held another public hearing, supposedly with the ultimate aim of designing a more transparent, accountable, and responsible budgetary process. Any such changes should also re-establish and enhance Congress’ power of the purse. But if those are the goals of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, it is badly missing the mark by repeatedly discussing only three proposals. They are unlikely to be much of an improvement—and could make matters even worse, if that’s possible: biennial budgeting, earmarks, and moving from a fiscal year to a calendar year. Biennial budgeting: Among the proposals considered by the committee, one that is gaining traction is biennial budgeting. That would relieve Congress of the obligation to submit a budget resolution each year. Instead, it would only prepare a budget every two years. Proponents contend that such a change gives the legislative branch more time to dive deeper on the issues presented by the growing budgeting challenge, to provide more oversight of the executive, and to reduce budget dysfunction as fiscal year deadlines approach. At the July 12 hearing, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who served early in…

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Commentary: GOP Rule Number One: Never Take Agenda or Voting Tips from a Democrat

August 3, 2018August 2, 2018 Admin

President Trump w White House Press

by Jeffery Rendall Don’t you just love it when someone who has no expertise or authority into your (personal or professional) business gives you advice on how to conduct yourself and run your life? Such was the case when former New York Democrat congressman Steve Israel wrote about the gloomy prospects for the Republican Party last week. In a piece titled “Requiem for the Republican Party,” Israel grumbled at The Hill, “…Republican leaders rightly rebuked Trump’s kumbaya with the Kremlin. House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others expressed, in proper Washington parlance, their disagreements with the president’s moral equivocations. But it may be too late. They have planted the invasive seeds of demagoguery, and now they cannot prune them with a few soft ‘tsk-tsks.’ “I never agreed with the Grand Old Party on everything when I served as a member of Congress. But I found accord with it on promoting a Western democratic order in the world, maintaining a strong military to defend freedom, and opposing authoritarianism. I supported the global leadership of the Bush administration in combating AIDS. “I hope that party is not over and replaced by a frothing coalescence of our worst instincts. I…

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Corker Likens Trump Administration to ‘Banana Republic’ For Wanting to Yank Security Clearances of Misbehaving Ex-Officials

July 25, 2018July 25, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

Bob Corker

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker likened the Trump Administration to a “banana republic” for wanting to yank security clearances of ex-government hacks who are using their positions to attack the president. The administration’s proposal is “the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela,” Tennessee’s junior senator told MSNBC, as reported by Politico. “I can’t even believe that somebody at the White House thought up something like this. I mean, when you’re going to start taking retribution against people who are your political enemies in this manner, that’s the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela. “So you just don’t do that. I can’t believe they even allowed it to be aired, to be honest,” he said. “I mean, it’s a banana republic kind of thing.” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s administration is considered a dictatorship. Corker met with the dictator in May to secure the release of an American prisoner, surprising the Trump Administration and members of Congress. The meeting came one week after Maduro won re-election in a sham election. “Not all members of Congress welcomed Corker’s visit to the South American country, especially in the wake of a presidential race the United States, several Latin American countries and some European…

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