Live from Washington, D.C. on Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed weekly guest One America News Network’s Neil McCabe to the show to give an update on the never-ending “impeachment zombie apocalypse.”
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The Ninth-Circuit Court of Appeals, which has routinely blocked Trump administration rule changes, gave the administration a win when it lifted two injunctions blocking implementation of the administration’s changes to the public charge rule.
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Live from music row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy was joined in studio by all-star panelist Dr. Carol Swain to discuss the speculation that she may run for Congress in the district of Mayor John Cooper’s brother, Jim Cooper.
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Much has been written about the so-called Resistance of disgruntled Clinton, Obama, and progressive activists who have pledged to stop Donald Trump’s agenda. The choice of the noun “Resistance,” of course, conjures up not mere “opposition,” but is meant to evoke the French “resistance” of World War II – in the melodramatic sense of current loyal progressive patriots doing their best to thwart by almost any means necessary the Nazi-like Trump.
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Under the original Constitution, and even with its subsequent amendments, power was supposed to be distributed between the federal and state and local governments, with the idea that the national government would have the fewest powers to affect local administration except in certain areas.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was one of three U.S. representatives to vote “present” on a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide and the only member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation to not support the bill. The bill passed Tuesday in a non-binding vote of 405-11 and affirms that it is “the policy of the United States to commemorate the Armenian Genocide through official recognition and remembrance.” Those who supported the bill agreed to “reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with denial of the Armenian Genocide or any other genocide.” The resolution calls for “education and public understanding of the facts of the Armenian Genocide, including the United States’ role in the humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Armenian Genocide to modern-day crimes against humanity.” Omar was joined by Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30) in voting “present” on the resolution. “I believe accountability for human rights violations—especially ethnic cleansing and genocide—is paramount. But accountability and recognition of genocide should not be used as a cudgel in a political fight. It should be done based on academic consensus outside the push and pull of geopolitics,” Omar said in statement released Tuesday…
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Democratic California Rep. Katie Hill’s 2020 opponent is calling for the congresswoman’s resignation over allegations that she had extramarital affairs with both a male congressional staffer and a female campaign staffer.
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A new report claims that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) has been living “on and off” with married aide Tim Mynett, but the first-term congresswoman continues to deny the existence of their relationship.
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U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) led a debate on the House floor Wednesday night against sanctuary cities, introducing a motion to ensure that the stories of victims and their families are told.
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From day one of his Administration, President Trump has been working to deliver on his campaign promises. Because the hostile, liberal media does such a lousy job of informing voters of Trump’s accomplishments, a quick rundown of some of the promises he has kept is in order. As promised, Trump has rolled back numerous regulations, signed tax cuts into law, appointed conservative Supreme Court justices, approved the Dakota Access Pipeline, ended Obama’s “Clean Power Plan,” withdrew the country from the Paris Climate Agreement, negotiated the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), withdrew the country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, labelled China a currency manipulator, withdrew the United States from the Iran “deal,” defeated ISIS, moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, has forgone his presidential salary, and has helped bring back hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Furthermore, as with his promises of rebuilding the military and achieving energy independence, Trump is making considerable progress on building the wall.
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With less than two weeks remaining before the start of fiscal 2020 on Oct. 1, Congress has yet to pass a single appropriations bill.
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Although adopted by Tennessee state lawmakers on April 9, 2014, it was not until September 10, 2019 — just this past week — that House Joint Resolution No. 548 by State Representative Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro) was formally received by the United States Senate in Washington, D.C.
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Pro-life U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI-07), an ally of President Donald Trump, will resign from Congress in his fifth term for family reasons.
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Jim Renacci, a former congressman from Ohio and chairman of Ohio’s Future Foundation, was a guest of Stuart Varney’s on Fox Business Thursday where the two discussed the ongoing “dysfunction” in Washington.
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U.S Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had surgery over the weekend to repair his lung that was damaged in a 2017 attack by his neighbor and will spend the rest of August recovering.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he’s willing to contribute to travel expenses for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) to visit Somalia so she would “appreciate America more.” “I’m in a town where we have a lot of people who are refugees. Some come from Somalia, some from Bosnia. I’ve never heard one of them say that America is a terrible place or be unappreciative of our country. Most of them are thankful,” Paul told Breitbart News this week. Paul joined President Donald Trump earlier this month in criticizing Omar for her “bitterness and anger toward the country.” “I think she does deserve a rebuke over trying to say we have a rotten country,” Paul said of Trump’s comments, according to the Washington Examiner. “I’m sort of dumbfounded how unappreciative she is of our country.” The Kentucky senator elaborated on those comments when speaking with reporters from Breitbart News this week. “She came here and we fed her, we clothed her. She got welfare. She got school. She got healthcare. And then, lo and behold, she has the honor of actually winning a seat in Congress and she says we’re a terrible country. I think that’s about as ungrateful as you…
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by Rachael Bovard The woke social media over the Fourth of July was something to behold. On America’s birthday, posts were full Trump-baby angst, references to illegal militias, treasonous criminality, and concentration camps, and carefully styled photos of summer desserts that spelled out “close the camps” on top of seasonal fruit. Because you know what you do if you think child migrants are actually being tortured by your government and dying in concentration camps? You channel all your first-world, virtue signaling rage into the creation of artsy and seasonally appropriate desserts that are just perfect for that People photoshoot. But the misplaced rage was not limited to social media. In the annals of Wokes versus People Living in Reality, this week was one for the books. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the avatar of lefty rage-emotes everywhere, visited the border and had a complete meltdown. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters she “was not safe from the officers,” and that migrants were forced to drink out of toilets while being subject to “psychological warfare.” “This has been horrifying so far,” she tweeted. “It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.” If what she’s saying is true – members of Congress…
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by Anna Mathews On June 26, 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) beat Joseph Crowley for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 14th congressional district. Though only 28 and with little political experience, she went on to win the general election in November, and has been making waves ever since. Here are seven highlights from her campaign and time in Congress over the past year. 1. Ran a Grassroots Campaign On her campaign website, Ocasio-Cortez emphasized that she ran a successful campaign without taking PAC money. One hundred percent of her donations came from individuals, and she managed to raise over $2 million. Additionally, she noted that her campaign video was self-produced. 2. Was Awarded Four Pinocchios by The Washington Post In December, Ocasio-Cortez was awarded four Pinocchios by The Washington Post for her “$21 trillion mistake” on Twitter. She claimed: “$21 TRILLION of Pentagon financial transactions ‘could not be traced, documented, or explained.’ $21T in Pentagon accounting errors. Medicare for All costs ~$32T. That means 66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.” The WaPo wrote that her tweet was “badly flawed,” as the $21 trillion number represents “the sum of all transactions – both…
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by Evie Fordham Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s immigration plan announced Tuesday would sidestep Congress and drastically change U.S. immigration policy through executive orders. “But we can’t wait for Congress to act, which is why, as president, Cory will start on Day One to end the abuses of the Trump Administration and use his executive authority to reform our immigration system,” a statement on Booker’s presidential campaign website reads. NEW: I’m introducing a plan to fix our broken immigration system—without Congress. https://t.co/PFCuvn4yOg pic.twitter.com/d8hyHlZjYG — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 2, 2019 Booker’s plan isn’t wildly different from those of other 2020 candidates, but it is one of the most detailed, according to The Associated Press. Tenets of Booker’s plan include steps to: “Virtually eliminate our nation’s reliance on immigration incarceration, including ending the use of for-profit detention facilities.” “Stop treating immigrants as criminals [because] criminal prosecution of improper entry has been used by the Trump Administration as a basis for the separation of thousands of families.” End the Trump administration’s travel ban of several Muslim-majority countries. Booker’s plan would also squash a Trump administration proposal to make it easier to deport immigrants who are deemed “public charges” because they…
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by Rachel Bovard People often question whether it’s still true that one man can make a difference in the modern Congress. This week, Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) proved that it is. Fed up with the House passing legislation on autopilot (that is, passing amendments and bills “unanimously” without recorded votes and no one in the chamber) and outraged that House Democrats have been blocking the Trump Administration’s request for border funding, Roy used the power he has as a member of Congress to force his will on the body: he objected. Roy objected to unanimously passing amendments, to unanimously agreeing to procedural motions, and even to continuing House business altogether. He objected more than 100 times, forcing the House to take recorded votes on amendments as it processed spending bills that totaled well over $1 trillion. Roy and his colleagues lined up on the House floor demanding that these spending bills include money to address both the security and humanitarian elements of the ongoing crisis at the border. Predictably, they suffered the slings and arrows of their colleagues, many of whom had never taken this many roll call votes in a row. “Wow, who is this a—hole making me stay…
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) recently defended fellow freshman Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), who’s facing ongoing criticism for calling immigrant detention centers “concentration camps.” Ocasio-Cortez made the comment during a Tuesday night live stream on Instagram, and has continued to stand by her remarks. “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying,” she wrote on Twitter. “This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.” This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis ⬇️https://t.co/2dWHxb7UuL — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019 She later accused the GOP of supporting the building of “mass concentration camps on the southern border.” “Kids and families are dying. Now they want money for more—with zero negotiation on how money is spent,” she added. The GOP has supported building mass concentration camps on the southern border. Kids & families are dying. Now they want money for more – w/ ZERO negotiation on how $ is spent.…
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President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege over documents that were subpoenaed by Congress related to the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The claim comes as the House Oversight Committee considers whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to turn over the subpoenaed documents. A contempt vote by the committee would be an escalation of Democratic efforts to use their House majority to aggressively investigate the inner workings of the Trump administration. In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the Justice Department asserted that the administration has “engaged in good-faith efforts” to satisfy the committee’s oversight needs and said the planned contempt vote was premature. Democrats fear the question will reduce census participation in immigrant-heavy communities. They say they want specific documents to determine why Ross added the citizenship question to the 2020 census and contend the Trump administration has declined to provide them despite repeated requests. The administration has turned over more than 17,000 of pages of documents and Ross testified for nearly seven hours. The Justice Department has said two senior…
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by Bethany Blankey A coalition of groups and organizations representing millions of Americans is urging Congress to oppose the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) that’s slated to expire on Sept. 30. During the past three years, the bank has lacked a president and a board quorum and has been unable to issue taxpayer-funded export loans and credit guarantees to corporations in excess of $10 million. President Donald Trump supports filling the board and returning the bank to full operation. Critics say if reconstituted, it would return the bank to the days of using taxpayer money to fund its largest beneficiaries: multinational billion dollar corporations and foreign governments. The coalition calling on Congress to end the Ex-Im Bank includes Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Taxpayers Union, Heritage Action for America, Club for Growth, Freedom Works, and others. The bank is a conduit for corporate welfare in the billions of dollars at taxpayers’ expense, they argue. In their letter to Congress, they write that the Ex-Im Bank “grants unfair advantages to a few domestic companies at the expense of many others, all the while putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk and fostering a danger…
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On the House floor Tuesday morning, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH-11) shared a letter she received from a constituent that calls for the impeachment of President Donald Trump and describes his supporters as “racist” and “just plain dumb.” According to Fudge, the letter was written by Dr. Ronald S. Williams, who serves as the senior pastor of Mount Zion Fellowship in Highland Hills, Ohio. “A mobster, a conman, gangster in the White House? I think so,” the letter begins, asking why the U.S. Congress hasn’t “started a formal impeachment investigation.” “Nancy Pelosi is a woman who I respect, however, I do believe her hesitancy to impeach this president is her opinion based upon polls and her belief that it would further polarize the country. However, the country is already divided and polarized,” it continues. The letter, written by a Christian pastor, goes on to belittle Trump supporters for having views that are “steeped in religious beliefs.” “It is glaringly apparent that many who support the present administration are either racist, steeped in religious beliefs, ignorant or, as my mother used to say, just plain dumb,” the letter states. “They have chosen to support a president who has a proven record…
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by Molly Prince Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib revealed on Tuesday that she gave every freshman member of Congress a book on impeaching President Donald Trump when she arrived in Washington, D.C., for orientation week in November. “It was such a great gift,” Tlaib told interviewer John Nichols on The Nation’s “Next Left” podcast. The episode was titled “There’s a Real Human Impact of Doing Nothing.” “It was orientation week and all of a sudden I was getting [gifts],” she explained. “I think Speaker [of the House Nancy] Pelosi sent chocolates and every person that was in some sort of [inaudible] role was sending stuff to our hotel so we would come in and there was stuff right already in our hotel room.” The Michigan congresswoman explained that after her chief of staff confirmed that she could give presents to her fellow freshman lawmakers she sent them each a copy of “The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump” by Ron Fein, John Bonifaz and Ben Clements. Nichols, who also wrote the introduction to the book, noted that he was “amused” by the gift. Only hours after Tlaib was sworn into Congress in January, she…
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by William Haupt III “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” – Abraham Lincoln Administrative law is the procedure of creating laws by bureaucratic bodies in our municipal, state and federal governments. It is “mandated law,” made by appointed officials who have been given authority to make decisions for us without our consent. It is illegitimate law being forced upon us with no regard for constitutional protocol. This capricious practice dilutes the fundamental concept of U.S. republicanism. James Madison, a supporter of a powerful federal government, reminded us, “Federal power left unchecked would silently abridge our freedom more than violent usurpations.” Our Constitution clearly defines who is responsible for making laws. “All laws are to be written and passed by representatives approved by the people in federal and local government.” It is difficult to fathom Congress freely delegates powers to administrative agencies that grant them adroitness to rule our lives. How can our Constitution delegate us with an autocratic right, yet allow men we elect and agencies the government invents claim authority over us under the penalty of law? How…
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by Justin Bogie Two major issues that Congress will be forced to confront in the coming weeks and months are the debt limit and the future of the Budget Control Act discretionary spending caps. A report from The Hill indicates that negotiations are underway between Congress and the Trump administration to combine a two-year budget caps deal with an increase or suspension of the debt limit. Taxpayers have seen this failed approach before. For lawmakers, pairing an unpopular action, like raising the debt limit, with massive spending increases sweetens the deal. The total national debt is more than $22 trillion. An unpaid for budget deal could add at least another $2 trillion. Congress should debate the debt limit and new spending thoroughly and separately. Importantly, lawmakers must not make the fiscal situation any worse. As of May 17, the debt subject to the limit was $21.9 trillion and just $25 million short of eclipsing the limit. In total, the Treasury estimates that the national debt has increased by more half a billion dollars since Oct. 1. For the time being there is no immediate risk that the federal government will have to stop making payments or providing services. The…
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U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green, a freshman legislator, has introduced nine pieces of legislation so far in his tenure, Congressional records show. The nine pieces of legislation are more than any other Republican freshman member has sponsored, records show. The average amount introduced by freshmen members is 3.3. Here are the pieces of legislation Green has sponsored: H.R. 847 – Protecting Gold Star Spouses Act of 2019 H.R. 1563 – Chester County Reversionary Interest Release Act H.R. 1810 – Kids to College Act H.J.Res. 52 – Amendment to Limit SCOTUS Seats to 9 H.R. 2047 – Allied Burden Sharing Report Act of 2019 H.R. 2589 – Unifying DHS Intelligence Enterprise Act H.R. 2715 – Medicaid Improvement and State Flexibility Act H.R. 2716 – Protecting Gold Star Children Act of 2019 H.Res.304 – Raising a question of the privileges of the House Rep. Green also introduced one amendment that was considered on the House floor. H.Amdt. 77 was offered to alter H.R. 1. House Democrats voted down Green’s amendment to protect free speech in the resolution, which seeks to give the federal government control of elections, The Tennessee Star reported in March. Green is the president of the Republican freshman class.…
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by Molly Prince GOP Conference chair Liz Cheney had some strong words for Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar on Friday after the freshman congresswoman accused Cheney, without evidence, of lying. “Liz Cheney is accusing a committee investigating Russian election interference of…helping Vladimir Putin,” Omar tweeted. “This is an impressive lie even for the Cheney family.” Omar’s comments were in response to the Wyoming congresswoman’s assertion that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee were undermining American democracy and thereby helping Russian President Vladimir Putin. The decision by the Judiciary Committee to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress triggered Cheney’s remarks. “If you look at what we know and what we know from the Mueller report and other places, it’s absolutely clear the Russians have attempted. A number of them were indicted for attempting to influence, to undermine our democratic processes,” Cheney said during a press conference on Wednesday. “The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are doing exactly what Vladimir Putin would do if he could.” Cheney stood by her remarks and fired back at Omar. “No surprise [Omar], an anti-Semitic Socialist who slanders US troops and carries water for Hamas and Maduro, doesn’t recognize the truth when…
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) hosted her fourth town hall last week and received several questions from constituents on moving forward with impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump. Up until Tuesday’s town hall, Craig had taken a relatively moderate position on the issue of impeachment and believed it shouldn’t be discussed until Mueller completed his investigation. “I believe the next step is for the Congress to request the unredacted version of the report. I believe the next step is for the committee chairmen to call a number of folks forward to testify, to fill in the facts for the American people,” Craig told her constituents Tuesday. “I am very troubled by the number of the potential areas of obstruction of justice that are mentioned in the report.” Some took the comments to mean that Craig supports moving forward with the impeachment process, including the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Yesterday Craig laid out for her constituents how exactly Congress should waste more of Minnesotans’ taxpayer money on baseless impeachment claims,” NRCC spokeswoman Carly Atchison said. “It is bizarre that Angie Craig now decides to pursue baseless impeachment, but regardless, she should stop peddling conspiracy theories and focus on Minnesotans.” Former Congressman…
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by Henry Rodgers President Donald Trump threatened Congress over impeachment Wednesday morning saying he would immediately head to the Supreme Court and alleging that the Democrats were the ones who committed crimes. Trump mentioned special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which found no collusion or obstruction by the president, saying the report was written by “Angry Democrats and Trump Haters” and that he “DID NOTHING WRONG,” in a pair of tweets Wednesday morning. The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019 Trump also mentioned there were no “High Crimes and Misdemeanors” and that all of the crimes that were committed were done by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and “Dirty Cops.” The president also said Republicans “won” after the Mueller report was released and that Democrats are looking at Congress “as last hope!” …..are there no “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” there are no Crimes by me at all.…
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was officially released to the public Thursday. Reactions from Minnesota’s congressional delegation were predictably divided. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said she was “deeply distributed” as she reviewed the report, claiming it has “proved Russian interference in the 2016 election.” “Second, there is ample evidence of attempts by the president to obstruct the investigation and the special counsel left it to Congress to decide whether that amounts to a crime. And the report demonstrates that the lies Trump associated told materially affected the course of the investigation,” Smith wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) agreed and pointed out that the report states that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election “in a sweeping and systematic fashion.” “So despite the endless doubts cast by the president, this happened. Case made for my bill for backup paper ballots and post-election audits,” Klobuchar wrote on Twitter. First Page of Mueller report says that Russian government interfered in 2016 presidential election “in sweeping and systematic fashion.” So despite the endless doubts cast by the President, this happened. Case made for my bill for backup…
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by Molly Prince Presidential hopeful and Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris is set to introduce legislation later in the week that would allow individuals who were brought into the country illegally as children the ability to work in the United States Congress. The proposal, co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, would amend the current law so that illegal immigrants who benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would be included as an eligible category for paid employment in Congress. “The giant sign outside my office says ‘DREAMers Welcome Here’ because we know and value the contributions that these young people have made to their communities,” Harris said in a statement. “But right now, those same young people are banned from giving back to their country by working for Congress. That has to change.” “Government works best when it reflects the people it represents,” the statement continued. “Our nation’s DREAMers are some of our best and brightest, and it’s time they had the opportunity to get a job or paid internship on Capitol Hill.” Under the current law, the majority of non-U.S. citizens, which includes Dreamers and DACA recipients,…
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by Luke Rosiak Members of Congress are old. Really old. The House Democrats’ top three leaders are all 78 or 79. Democrat John Dingell was re-elected to the House every two years from 1955 to 2014, even though he represented Detroit during the period in which the city sank from America’s crown jewel of manufacturing to a symbol of urban blight. In 2014 he was replaced — by his wife. Republican Strom Thurmond was a racial segregationist born in 1902 who served in the upper chamber from 1956 until 2003. The nation changed, but he remained in office. By the end, his aides were dragging him around and propping him up like a marionette. Who did this serve? Congressmen have used their power to design an institution whose first order of business is keeping current members as current members for as long as possible. Protecting Their Own Inside Congress, members have shaped the institution to protect incumbents through secrecy and even creating bureaucratic offices that break the House’s own rules in order to do so. Shielding themselves from facing consequences for malfeasance isn’t about Democrat versus Republican, it’s about insiders versus outsiders. After all, with fewer than 10 percent of congressional districts “toss-ups” according to RealClearPolitics,…
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by James Carafano Reports have surfaced, citing government officials, that border officials no longer will refer detained migrant families to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Instead, due to constrained resources, they will “begin releasing hundreds of families caught each day in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.” As a result, tens of thousands will join the ranks of millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. This practice contradicts the Trump administration’s promise to end “catch and release” and to detain illegal immigrants until they are deported. Technically this does not repudiate current policy, but it offers more proof that there is, in fact, a real crisis at the border. Detention before removal is by far the most effective means to ensure that illegal immigrants comply with lawful deportation. At present, the Immigration Reform Law Institute estimates there are about 1.7 million individuals in the U.S. who are unlawfully present and have been ordered to leave the country. Not surprisingly, none of them were in detention when they were ordered to leave. A common tactic to avoid deportation is just not showing up to deported. That problem is growing as migrants have adopted new tactics at the border to…
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National Senate Democrats released a report Monday showing that President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration could divert $112 million in funding away from military projects in Ohio. According to The Columbus Dispatch, the cuts could impact a $61 million plan for a new building for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Other cuts could include $8.8 million in funding just to relocate the main gate at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Projects like a $7.4 million machine gun range at Camp James A. Garfield, and a $15 million hangar at Toledo Express Airport were also on the list. Morgan Rako, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH-10), noted that the “list does not indicate which projects specifically will have delayed funding, if any.” She also pointed out that Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal actually includes $121 million in funding for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base intelligence center. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), however, claimed that Trump is “hurting military missions by taking money away from Ohio military installations to pay for his vanity project.” “President Trump claims he wants to help workers and support our military, yet his actions tell a different story,” Brown said in…
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by Jeff Webb Last week, 12 Republican senators – including Tennessee’s own Lamar Alexander – voted for a resolution to terminate President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the Southern border and his attempt to fund the construction of new sections of the wall. These senators based their votes on the grounds that it sets a potentially dangerous precedent for the president to act unilaterally in this way. I understand their arguments. After all, who wants to open the door for future President Liz Warren to declare a national emergency so she can unilaterally ban firearms or fossil fuels? They say that passing immigration reform ought to be done by Congress. On this, they’re 99 percent right – because it ought to have been done by Congress a long time ago. It would be easier to take these senators’ objections more seriously if they had done more than sit on their hands for the past several years. There is simply no denying that the situation on the border is untenable. The New York Times, hardly the biggest fans of the President’s agenda, reported that unauthorized migrants are entering the country at double the rate from just one year…
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by Julie Kelly Months before the midterm elections last fall, several self-described “conservatives” implored Americans to vote for Democrats. Still stung that Republicans ignored their advice to reject Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy and unmoved by Trump’s solid record of conservative accomplishments in office, these embittered outcasts claimed that a legislative branch controlled by Democrats would cauterize Trump’s alleged “authoritarian” tendencies. The most notable of these windmill tilters, attacking an authoritarian impulse that wasn’t there, was George Will. For decades, Will occupied a vaunted perch in the hierarchy of the conservative commentariat. He also was deemed acceptable by media outlets hostile to the Right including the Washington Post, where he now is a contributor. Disgusted at the Trumpification of the Grand Old Party in 2016, Will officially renounced his party affiliation just weeks before the Republican National Convention. Two years later, in a disorganized rant, Will instructed voters to oust Republicans from power. “In today’s GOP, which is the president’s plaything, he is the mainstream,” Will wrote in June 2018. “A Democratic-controlled Congress would be a basket of deplorables, but there would be enough Republicans to gum up the Senate’s machinery, keeping the institution as peripheral as it has been under their control and…
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Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) hosted a town hall Saturday in Minnesota where he joked about giving a guest a piece of “chocolate cake” in the “spirit of celebrating diversity.” The town hall was called to discuss HR 1, or the For the People Act, a radical election-reform package introduced by House Democrats and a key piece of legislation to Phillips’ campaign success. Phillips made campaign-finance reform the cornerstone of his 2018 campaign and relentlessly clamored against the influence of money in politics. One of his guests for his Saturday town hall was Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, who was celebrating her birthday. “In the spirit of celebrating diversity, there’s a piece of chocolate cake,” Phillips said before orchestrating a rendition of the happy-birthday song. The For the People Act passed the U.S. House Friday in a 234-193 vote. The bill, among other things, declares Election Day a federal holiday, mandates automatic voter registration, restores the right to vote for convicted felons, and requires nonprofit organizations to disclose donor names if they contribute $10,000 or more. “It’s a statement of principles. It’s a statement of values. In my estimation, it’s foundational,” Phillips said Saturday, saying the American people are…
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by Evie Fordham Five of the seven pharmaceutical companies who sent executives to testify on drug pricing before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday have the top-25 highest-paid pharma CEOs for companies in the S&P 500. CEOs from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi plus Johnson & Johnson’s executive vice president of pharmaceuticals, Jennifer Taubert, were grilled by Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley and other lawmakers at the hearing. Altogether, the top-25 CEOs whose companies were represented Tuesday received a combined $116,671,792 in compensation, including stock and stock options, in 2017, according to analysis by The Wall Street Journal. That number includes annual compensation for former Pfizer CEO Ian Read, who ceded the position to new CEO Albert Bourla in January. Bourla testified before the committee Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky rakes in the most out of the CEOs, with yearly compensation valued at $29,802,564, according to The WSJ. Taubert, who repped Johnson & Johnson and its pharmaceutical arm Janssen at Tuesday’s hearing, has no annual compensation data available according to Bloomberg. The runner-up is former Pfizer CEO Ian Read, who had yearly compensation of more than $27 million. He had agreed to delay implementing proposed…
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by Rachael Bovard A bipartisan howling is coming from Congress about President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall. And while hypocrisy in Washington is always in the water, on the question of immigration, there is enough of it to make your hair curl. Both Republicans and Democrats alike have rushed to condemn Trump for taking unilateral action. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) called Trump’s actions an “abuse of his constitutional oath and an affront to the separation of powers.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it “a gross abuse of the power of the presidency.” Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he did not “believe declaring a national emergency is the right approach.” Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called the move “unnecessary and unwise.” Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said the declaration was “not the preferred way to go.” It’s natural for the legislature to raise its hackles when the president subsumes some of its authority for himself. But what all of these statements fail to acknowledge is that the president is invoking authority that Congress slowly has been shirking and giving to the executive for years. Although they…
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by Tim Pearce A lengthy public lands package sitting in Congress adds hundreds of thousands of acres of federally protected wilderness without securing funding to manage it. The House is preparing to vote on a bipartisan land package next week that is roughly 660 pages and composed of 118 different bills. The Senate version passed its version, the most comprehensive land package in a decade, on Feb. 12 in a 92 to 8 vote. “It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development and conservation,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, according to The Washington Post. The Senate package designates 1.3 million acres in California, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah as wilderness, the strictest form of federal protection that bans development of almost any kind as well as roads and most forms of motorized travel. It prohibits mineral development on 370,000 acres of land near two national parks in Montana and Washington state. The lands package designates three new national monuments – two in Kentucky and one in Mississippi – to be managed by the…
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) hosted her second town hall Saturday in Red Wing, Minnesota, where she was asked about a number of issues, including universal health care and abortion. “The other thing that I wanted to ask you about is we’ve seen states recently that passed laws that legalized abortions up to and including the time of birth. And whether that’s right or wrong or moral or immoral—that’s not the question I have. But do you feel that’s something that should be paid for as a part of health care?” one constituent asked Craig towards the end of the event. But Craig’s response was: “What I want to tell you is that I appreciate the values that your comment is coming from. I don’t believe it is any politician’s role to get in the middle of a discussion of reproductive rights between a woman and her physician. I don’t believe there is a role for the federal government with respect to that question. Craig then proceeded to close out the event and thank her supporters for attending. Earlier in the town hall, the Minnesota congresswoman was asked about universal health, which she said she “absolutely” supports, but clarified that she…
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by Curtis Ellis July 1967. The Summer of Love. The Doors and Jefferson Airplane topped the charts. Young people flocked to San Francisco to turn on, tune in, and drop out. “All across the nation, there’s a whole generation with a new explanation,” the pop balladeer told us. Indeed, wild utopian ideas were not confined to San Francisco. In Washington D.C. on July 20, 1967, the Joint Economic Committee of Congress held a hearing on the future of U.S. foreign trade Policy. The hearing is memorialized in the Congressional Record and it is there we find a plan for reorganizing society as radical as any inspired by lysergic acid diethylamide in a Haight-Ashbury commune. For it is there, in those drab pages, that we find a concise and coherent explication of the ideology of globalism. Think of it as the day Congress turned on to globalism. (Credit to Matt Stoller for originally exhuming this Rosetta Stone of globalism.) We see that so-called “free-trade agreements” were never really about trade between nations. We see that the goal of U.S. “trade” policy was the erosion of independent nation-states and the vesting of power in supranational authorities. We see a distinct lack…
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In a specific discussion on Wednesday morning’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Steve Gill talked in depth with in-studio guest Congressman John Rose about his impression of how Washington works as a new freshman member of Congress. The men went on to further discuss the implications of rural versus urban needs and expectations and how that creates an involuntary divide of interests. Gill: As a new Congressman, what’s been your biggest impression of what you thought it would be like versus what it’s actually like? Rose: Well it’s a good question and it’s one I get often. There is a dysfunction in Washington. There’s no doubt about it. And I think the degree to which that’s true is a little bit eye opening for me. So that’s probably been the biggest impression that I’ve seen. Its just the dysfunctionality of the way Congress operates. Gill: Well as a business guy it’s clearly not run like a business. You have to constantly be scratching your head going, “And we’re doing this, why?” Rose agreed with Gill’s statement…
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) recently issued a joint letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in response to his department’s decision to allow a South Carolina foster-care agency to refuse housing children with same-sex couples. In January, Azar granted a waiver to Miracle Hill Ministries, a Christian agency that requires foster parents to be Christian and of the opposite sex. President Donald Trump said during last week’s National Prayer Breakfast that his administration would continue to provide agencies such as Miracle Hill Ministries with federal funding so that they can “help vulnerable children find their forever families while following their deeply held beliefs.” Craig and fellow LGBTQ colleague Rep. Sean Maloney (D-NY-18) sent a letter to Azar on February 13 to protest his decision. “We write to you to express strong opposition to a waiver you department granted to South Carolina from nondiscrimination requirements for its state-contracted child welfare agencies,” the letter begins. “This harmful decision allows federally-funded child welfare agencies in South Carolina to discriminate on the basis of religion—an egregious violation of the very principles our nation and our child welfare system were founded upon.” The letter was co-signed by 95 House members, and concludes by…
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On Sunday, February 10th, Congressman Walter B. Jones (Republican, NC-3) passed away. He leaves behind his wife, JoAnn, and his daughter Ashley. Jones was 76 years old. “Congressman Jones was a man of the people,” said the statement released by his office. With a kind heart and the courage of his convictions, he dedicated his life to serving his Savior and to standing up for Americans who needed a voice. https://t.co/JqP0wk3ECi — Rep. Walter Jones (@RepWalterJones) February 10, 2019 The statement continued: “He was a champion for our men and women in uniform and their families, always mindful of their service and sacrifice. “Congressman Jones will long be remembered for his honesty, faith and integrity. He was never afraid to take a principled stand. He was known for his independence, and widely admired across the political spectrum. Some may not have agreed with him, but all recognized that he did what he thought was right. He will be sorely missed.” On January 2nd, Jones had stated that he would not be running again in 2020 and later that month it was announced he had entered into Hospice care. Jones has apparently been battling with an undisclosed illness. Walter Jones attended…
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President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address Tuesday night in front of a bitterly divided Congress. His address touched on a number of sensitive issues, including the southern border wall, and the recent pro-abortion legislation passed in New York. He began, however, with a call for unity, urging Congress to “govern not as two parties, but as one nation.” “The agenda I’m laying out this evening is not a Republican agenda, or a Democrat agenda. It’s the agenda of the American people,” Trump said. “Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.” Trump called illegal immigration a “moral issue,” saying the “lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial well-being of all Americans.” “We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today who follow the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways,” Trump said. He went on to claim that the issue of illegal immigration “illustrates the divide between America’s working class…
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by Rachel Bovard After refusing for weeks to negotiate over border security “until the government is open,” the bluff has been called on congressional Democrats. Congress has until February 15 to craft a border security package ahead of what could be yet another partial government shutdown. Talks among the 17 lawmakers appointed to the committee assigned with drafting a proposal have begun, though details remain scarce. Top Democrat Representative Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) told reporters that “everything is on the table.” President Trump has said that the conference committee is wasting its time if it’s not considering a wall. For those claiming that the recent 35-day shutdown resulted in no substantive achievement, the conference committee may well represent the one opportunity for substantive immigration reform from this Congress—and perhaps for the next decade. It is critically important that Congress get it right. A border wall must be a critical component of the package—and for evidence of why it’s necessary, look no further than stunning videos taken by Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas). The freshman member of Congress visited just one unsecured sector of the border in McAllen, Texas, and watched as truckloads of migrants casually strolled into the United States. McAllen is in the Rio Grande Valley sector, approximately 100 miles of…
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Minnesota Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) recently introduced a bill that would expand the criminal definition of female genital mutilation (FGM), but zero Democratic House colleagues have signed on as co-sponsors. Under current Minnesota law, it is illegal for doctors to perform FGM, but there are no penalties in place for parents who subject their children to the gruesome procedure, a press release from Franson’s office explains. “The threat of female genital mutilation remains a very serious issue facing our state,” Franson said. “We need to send a clear message to parents that there are consequences for this practice. I will always stand up for the safety of little girls, and will keep working to put an end to this abusive practice and punish parents who subject their daughters to these often life-threatening horrors.” This is Franson’s second go at passing an FGM-related bill. During the 2017 session, her bill passed the House in a 124-4 vote, but never even received a hearing in the Senate, which Republicans have yet to explain. Franson’s new bill, House File (HF) 373, would expand the criminal definition of FGM in Minnesota to make any “parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible or charged with…
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