Tag: Congress

Key Hunter Biden Associate Cooperating with Congress, Opening Crucial Window into Joe Biden Dealings

Just the News

Congressional investigators have scored a major breakthrough by securing cooperation from Eric Schwerin, a close business associate of Hunter Biden who also had dealings with Joe Biden’s business and tax affairs.

“He is cooperating with us,” House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) revealed Thursday evening on the “Just the News, No Noise” television show. “His attorneys and my counsel are communicating on a regular basis. Now, I feel confident that he’s going to work with us, and provide us with the information that we have requested.”

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FBI Whistleblower Resigns from Bureau, Warns Congress About Dangers of Case ‘Quota System’

Just the News

An FBI whistleblower has divulged to Congress that the bureau has created a case quota system that can incentivize agents to pursue frivolous cases or delay action on real crimes to attain statistical goals.

Steve Friend, a special agent and former SWAT team member who blew the whistle on alleged civil liberties violations in the Jan. 6 investigation, told Just the News on Thursday that he resigned from the bureau this week and gave the House Judiciary Committee an extensive interview detailing his concerns about the politicization of criminal cases and the growing manipulation of investigations to attain statistical and budget goals.

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Ohio Senate Bill Allows Drivers with Marijuana in Their System to Prove They’re Not Impaired

Hannah Poling

A bill filed by Republicans in the state Senate would allow Ohioans stopped by law enforcement for driving with marijuana in their system to attempt to demonstrate that marijuana usage did not impair their driving.

Senate Bill (SB) 26 sponsored by state Senator Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) would allow people the possibility to avoid an OVI even if they tested positive for marijuana by claiming they were sober. Manning told The Star that the legislation looks to address the challenging science of marijuana use and how long it lingers in the body after any benefits have worn off.

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Former Congressman Renacci Launches PAC to Fight ‘Woke’ Ohio School Boards

Hannah Poling

Jim Renacci, a former Ohio Republican congressman, on Thursday unveiled a new political action committee in an effort to elect conservative candidates to Ohio’s school boards.

The new Save Our Schools (SOS) Ohio PAC, according to a news release from Renacci, would aid candidates in raising funds and targeting voters to win these important seats and use data capturing and analysis on all races to identify crucial races to flip control of local school boards.

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GOP Sen. Cotton Vows to Stall Nominations Until Congress Gets Biden, Trump Classified Docs

Just the News

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton vowed that lawmakers would stall Biden government nominations until it handed over the materials the FBI recovered from both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

“Until the administration stops stonewalling Congress, there will be pain as a consequence for them,” Cotton said, according to The Hill. “Whether it’s blocking nominees or withholding budgetary funds, Congress will impose pain on the administration until they provide these documents.”  

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Poll Finds Majority of Voters Want Congress to Investigate Fauci

M.D. Kittle

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s questionable work leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic and his equally questionable actions in managing the pandemic have raised a lot of eyebrows. 

Now, a majority of voters believe congress should investigate the former longtime medical adviser to the White House and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to a new poll by Convention of States Action.

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Commentary: Congress Should Investigate ‘Gain-of-Function’ Research

Admin

I fear that the investigations Republicans have promised in the House next year will be little more than another round of toxic partisan gamesmanship. But there is one investigation Congress should undertake, and that is into so-called “gain-of-function” research.

Before the pandemic, I suspect that most of you, like me, had never heard of gain-of-function research. What we learned during the pandemic is that scientists around the world routinely tinker with the genome of viruses to see how the induced changes will affect replication of the virus (contagiousness) and the effects it has on its host (lethality). Such research has apparently been going on for decades and is routinely funded by governments, including ours.

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Congress’ Massive Spending Bill Sets Aside Another $45 Billion for Ukraine

Admin

Congress appropriated an additional $45 billion in emergency assistance to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion in its yearly spending bill released early Tuesday.

The bill is Congress’ largest assistance package for Ukraine to date, following a $40 billion package signed into law in May, a $12 billion supplement in September and $800 million authorized in Congress’ defense spending budget, bringing the total anticipated support for Ukraine in 2022 to nearly $100 billion. It exceeds President Joe Biden’s $37 billion request for military, economic and humanitarian support for Ukraine despite some Republican opposition to offering a “blank check” to Ukraine.

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Congress Won’t Reinstate Troops Discharged for Violating the COVID Vaccine Mandate

Admin

Thousands of troops already discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine won’t return to service after Congress’ last-minute defense bill sought to overturn the Pentagon’s mandate.

The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have separated at least 8,400 active duty and reserve troops for spurning the Department of Defense’s (DOD) August 2021 requirement that all servicemembers receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to information the DOD provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. While the compromise legislation released late Tuesday directs the Pentagon to rescind the mandate, it stops short of requiring the military to restore discharged troops to their prior positions or provide reparations.

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Commentary: Biden Burns Taxpayer Dollars While American Wages Continue to Plummet

Admin

Today’s jobs report shows that Americans’ real wages declined for the 20th consecutive month, and labor force participation fell for the third straight month. The numbers indicate Americans continue to suffer from falling living standards under the Biden administration.

Boosting real wages and restoring the labor force is the job of the new Congress. Unfortunately, the old Congress wants to make this task as hard as possible by doing damage on its way out.

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Commentary: Congress Needs to Investigate Whitmer Kidnapping Hoax

Admin

A federal judge next month is scheduled to sentence two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lakeside cottage in the fall of 2020. Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. face years in prison.

During the first trial in April, Fox and Croft received a hung jury while two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges based on extensive evidence of FBI entrapment. A jury found Fox and Croft guilty after a second trial in August thanks to the same judge putting his thumb—body?—on the scale in favor of the government.

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Ohio Supreme Court Dismisses Case on Governor DeWine’s Halt to Additional COVID Unemployment Benefits

Hannah Poling

The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a case on if Governor Mike DeWine had the authority to cut off an extra $300 per week in federal unemployment benefits.

Justices dismissed the case as “moot.” Without a court order requiring the federal government to keep these additional unemployment benefits, it was unclear if the money still existed.

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Pelosi Says Attack on Husband Affects Decision on Whether to Retire from Congress

Just the News

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the recent attack on her husband will affect her decision on whether to retire from Congress if Democrats lose control of the chamber as a result of the midterm elections. 

“I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened the last week or two,” said Pelosi during a CNN interview that aired Monday.

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Poll Finds Inflation and Abortion Among the Top Issues for Ohioans

Hannah Poling

According to a Marist Ohio Poll conducted October 17 through October 20, 46 percent of Ohio adults say inflation is the issue that is top of mind this election season. Following that concern is preserving democracy at 20 percent, abortion at 18 percent, health care at 6 percent, crime at 4 percent, and immigration at 4 percent.

The poll found that inflation is the key voting issue for Republicans at 62 percent and independents at 53 percent. Among Democrats, abortion at 34 percent is at the top of the list with only 22 percent of Democrats most concerned about inflation.

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Poll: Republicans Retain Massive Lead on Midterm Ballots

Admin

Republicans are keeping a firm grip on their attempt to retake control of Congress, showing a massive lead over Democrats just three weeks away from the midterm elections, according to a new Rasmussen poll.

Forty-eight percent of likely U.S. voters reported that they would vote Republican if the election was held today, compared to 41% who said they would vote Democratic, according to the poll. The poll shows a continuously climbing lead for Republicans compared to last week when Republicans were at 47% and Democrats were at 43%.

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Commentary: Six Important Issues at Stake in Appropriations Bills

Admin

The government’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1, but as per usual, Congress has failed to complete the annual appropriations process to provide spending authority for federal agencies.

Congress will enact a continuing resolution to maintain current spending and policy, and to prevent a partial government shutdown of nonessential programs, but Americans concerned about inflation should hope that resolution extends into the new year and the new Congress.

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Commentary: Former Feds Give Justice Department a Bad Name

Admin

Andrew Weissmann is one weird dude, to say the least.

Weissmann, an author, law professor, and MSNBC legal analyst, is a prolific user of social media—but rather than post a head shot on his Twitter bio page, Weissmann has a photo of a dog staring down a doll resembling Donald Trump lying face-up on the floor. It’s unclear if the dog is supposed to represent Weissmann, described as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “pit bull” during the Russia election collusion investigation, or it’s just another indication of Weissmann’s insatiable obsession with the 45th president of the United States.

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Navy SEALs Fighting COVID Vax Mandate Get Boost from Congress, States, Delta Force Legend

Admin

More than two dozen members of Congress and nearly half the states are supporting Navy SEALs in their legal efforts to secure religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, rejecting the Biden administration’s invocation of judicial deference to military decisions.

They filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week, arguing the “near-total denial rate” for religious requests and preference for nonreligious requests violates the Free Exercise Clause, the “overwhelmingly bipartisan” Religious Freedom Restoration Act and state RFRAs.

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Congress Classifies UFOs as Not Man-Made

Admin

Congress claims that not all unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are man-made in a new budget for U.S. clandestine services.

In an addendum report to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, Congress noted, “Temporary nonattributed objects, or those that are positively identified as man-made after analysis, will be passed to appropriate offices and should not be considered under the definition as unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena.”

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Commentary: Congress Can Save the Press from Big Tech’s Iron Grip

Admin
US Capitol Infrastructure

Big Tech controls more and more of the news and information we read. Although Big Tech platforms employ few, if any, journalists, most Americans read news on large tech platforms, such as Facebook News and Google News. Profits and ideology motivate Big Tech managers more than promoting a free press, so Big Tech often fails to fairly compensate the small and local news outlets whose stories appear on their platforms.

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Commentary: The Foreign-Donor Loophole

RealClearWire

With so much recent finger-pointing in Washington over foreign influence in U.S. elections, it seems as if lawmakers would be doing everything they could to try to close loopholes that allow illegal political donations from China, Russia, and other overseas interests into U.S. campaigns without detection.

A group of GOP House members introduced legislation to do just that as far back as 2015. Their bill attracted significant bipartisan support, but stalled amid partisan sniping over Democrats’ pursuit of the now-discredited Trump-Russia collusion allegations.

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TN-01 Rep. Harshbarger Comments on Speaker Pelosi’s Absence and Holding Biden and Mayorkas Accountable as Southern Border Invasion Continues

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01) to the newsmaker line to talk about Speaker Pelosi’s lack of communication with Republicans in Congress and her actions to hold President Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas responsible for the invasion at the southern border. 

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Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder and CEO Jenny Beth Martin on SCOTUS EPA Ruling, Tea Party Tenets, Importance of a Strong Attorney General

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed to the newsmaker line Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots and columnist for The Washington Times, to the newsmaker line to discuss the recent EPA ruling, principles of the Tea Party movement, and the importance of a strong state attorney general.

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Green Activists Are Using Business, Bypassing Congress to End Fossil Fuels

Admin

Without sufficient support in Congress and state legislatures to pass sweeping green energy measures, environmentalists are now targeting the oil and gas industry through a financial movement that pressures companies to support liberal policies, according to critics.

“ESG promotes and implements policies through private businesses that could be adopted through a legislative process,” said Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks. “The Green New Deal didn’t make it through Congress, so its proponents shifted the battlefield to the capital markets.”

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Newtown-Based Firearms Trade Association Spends More Lobbying Congress than NRA

The Center Square

One Connecticut-based firearms industry trade group has spent more on lobbying than the National Rifle Association.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade association based in Newtown, has spent 40% more than the NRA lobbying Congress since 2019. For 2021 alone, OpenSecrets – a nonpartisan nonprofit tracking money into politics – reports an estimated $5 million spent by NSSF on lobbying; the NRA spent $4.92 million.

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Congress Addresses Private Equity, Corporations’ ‘Predatory Purchasing’ of Homes as Americans Struggle with Rising Prices

The Center Square

Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase an affordable home as large investors increase their market share. The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing Tuesday to address private equity ownership of single-family rentals and the impact it’s having on average Americans. 

“Today’s hearing will examine troubling issues regarding the mass predatory purchasing of single-family homes by private equity firms,” said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas.

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