Free Republic

Emergency powers for president dropped from cybersecurity billBy Gautham Nagesh - 02/14/12 01:55 PM ET A comprehensive cybersecurity bill introduced Tuesday abandons proposals that would give the president emergency powers over the nation's networks. “The nation responded after 9/11 to improve its security. Now we must respond to this challenge so that a cyber 9/11 attack on America never happens,” said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Public apprehension about the possibility of handing the White House a "kill switch" for the Internet has dogged the cybersecurity debate, fueled by a proposal that would have codified emergency powers...

House panel approves Keystone pipeline billBy Ben Geman - 02/07/12 04:27 PM ET The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would reverse President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. The bill is the latest GOP-led effort to advance the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline. Republicans are also trying to punish Obama politically ahead of the 2012 election for failing to greenlight the project that GOP lawmakers call a way to create jobs and boost energy security. Rep. Lee Terry’s (R-Neb.) bill — which passed the powerful committee in a 33-20 vote — is likely heading for...

House insider trading bill takes dig at PelosiBy David Lawder | Reuters – 1 hr 17 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives will take an election-year dig at top Democrat Nancy Pelosi in changes added to a fast-moving ethics bill, adding new curbs to prevent government officials from gaining special access to initial public stock offerings. A senior House Republican aide said on Tuesday the so-called "Pelosi Provision" would strengthen the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act passed by the Senate last week. **SNIP** The provision, one of a number of changes drafted by...

The draft version of the comprehensive cybersecurity bill could give the Homeland Security Department the ability to take "any lawful action" against contractors if their systems are under attack. Bob Dix, a former staff director for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and now vice president government affairs and critical infrastructure protection for Juniper Networks, said that could mean taking over a vendor's system that contains federal data. "There's some concern about what would be the criteria about that and how it would be the government has the ability under a provision of lawful action to take over a...

On the heels of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), otherwise known as the "Indefinite Detention Act," comes another draconian bill designed to give the federal government the power to turn American citizens into enemies of the state for virtually any reason it deems necessary. Stephen D. Foster, Jr. has the story. "Congress is considering HR 3166 and S. 1698 also known as the Enemy Expatriation Act, sponsored by Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Charles Dent (R-PA). This bill would give the US government the power to strip Americans of their citizenship without being convicted of being 'hostile' against the United...

Indiana House Dems end chamber boycott, GOP plans initial vote on divisive labor billBy Associated Press, Published: January 9 INDIANAPOLIS — A divisive labor bill is back in Republican hands after Indiana House Democrats on Monday ended a three-day boycott of the chamber to stall the measure. Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said the right-to-work bill will get a committee vote Tuesday morning and could make it out of his chamber by the end of the week if Democrats continue to attend House sessions. **SNIP** Republicans want to make Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact...

Reports of the death of Minister of Welfare and Social Services Zevulun Orlev's bill to normalize communities in Judea and Samaria may have been exaggerated. Betzalel Smotrich of the ‘Regavim’ movement told Arutz Sheva, "On the contrary, the bill is gaining momentum. We have a majority of ministers and MKs who support Orlev's bill to normalize the outposts." "We are convinced that, in a week and half, we will prevail in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and move to legislative proceedings in the plenum," he added. Orlev's bill would forbid eviction and demolition orders for Jewish communities in Judea and...

Senate plans swift action on long-delayed transportation billBy Alexander Bolton - 12/29/11 02:14 PM ET Senate Democrats expect to pass a long-delayed surface transportation bill soon after they return to Washington next month. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said her colleagues have identified a list of offsets that could be used cover the final $12 billion of the bill’s cost. Shortly before Congress left town for the holidays, Boxer told The Hill that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) had put together a variety of proposals to push the legislation over the...

Sen. Boxer: GOP bill will kill 8,100 AmericansBy C.J. Ciaramella | The Daily Caller – 17 hrs ago **SNIP** “They have attached a poison pill — literally, colleagues — because it will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution,” Boxer said. “They attach that to the payroll tax cut. So have that for a Christmas gift.” “We have asked for a lot from Santa in our day but we have never asked for lead, arsenic and mercury,” Boxer concluded.

Pelosi: GOP tax bill ‘doesn't have a shot’By Mike Lillis - 12/09/11 01:01 PM ET Republican "extremism" is the only thing stopping Congress from finalizing an extension of the payroll tax cut and getting out of town for the holidays, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi charged Friday. The California Democrat hammered the tax package from House Republicans, warning that the addition of "poison pill" riders — particularly language expediting approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline — means the bill is dead on arrival. "Their proposal doesn't have a shot," Pelosi said during a brief press event in the...

Repeal of sodomy, bestiality ban sparks fight on Defense billBy Jeremy Herb - 12/09/11 01:53 PM ET As the final Defense authorization bill gets hammered out in conference committee, one surprising issue is riling both social conservatives and animal rights activists: the repeal of a ban on sodomy and bestiality. The Senate bill, which was passed last week, removed an article from the Uniform Code of Military Justice stating “unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy.” But the article is still included in the House bill, and...

New probe into another failed 2008 presidential bid -- of New Mexico governor BILL RICHARDSON has a decidedly JOHN EDWARDS flavor du jour. He allegedly ponied up campaign funds to silence a woman’s affair claims.

Irony Alert: The House is holding hearings on sweeping Internet censorship legislation this week -- and it's censoring the opposition! The bill is backed by Hollywood, Big Pharma, and the Chamber of Commerce, and all of them are going to get to testify at the hearing. But the bill's opponents -- tech companies, free speech and human rights activists, and hundreds of thousands of Internet users -- won't have a voice. As if you need a reminder: This is the most offensive Internet legislation we've seen in years. It will give the government and corporations new powers to block Americans'...

Closer to the actual event Bill Clinton blames the Democrats for blocking Republican efforts in reigning in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae problems. Recently Barney Frank tries to blame Republicans wholly for the mess. h/t to 116falconer: http://youtu.be/ti-1XaapR0s

DPD asks for extra $200,000 to help cover Occupy Denver costsAnalyzing the protests' overall cost is, well, complicated Eli Stokols - Political Reporter 8:30 p.m. MST, November 16, 2011 DENVER -- The Department of Safety Wednesday told the city council the Police Department needs an extra $6 million to cover things it failed to budget for, including the Occupy Denver protests that have been going on for two months. But of DPD's total $6 million supplemental budget request, only $200,000 of the $1.8 million needed for additional officer overtime is a result of overtime incurred at -- or expected to...

The House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday that would make a permit to carry a concealed firearm from one state valid in any state that allows citizens to carry concealed weapons. The vote was 272 to 154. The National Rifle Association-backed measure had the backing of the vast majority of Republicans along with a coalition of pro-gun rights Democrats. A matching bill has not been brought forward in the Democrat-led Senate. But gun rights advocates have previously nearly-successfully attempted to attach a similar measure to unrelated legislation.

The Bill: S. 1769, Rebuild America Jobs Act Annualized Cost: $8.1 billion ($40.7 billion over five years) Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sponsored the Rebuild America Jobs Act to rebuild and improve the nation’s infrastructure. The bill establishes short- and long-term national development priorities through new construction programs.

WLS-am "The Roe Conn Show" Bill Kurtis- "I'm looking at Sharon Bialek and she speaks well, she's attractive, she has the lock of blond hair sweeping down over one of her eyes and I said "Herman's done. Herman's dead. It's over." And she has details and, of course, it's just up to the edge..." "And I ride in the elevator at work and I hear very quickly a different kind of story." "Let's put Herman and Sharon in the car at the same time and, the roles may even have been reversed given the track record here."

Forrester Research last week recommended corporate IT departments let workers use Macs on their networks because these employees are more likely to be power users, the ones working longer hours, being more productive and making more money. The folks at Forrester Research    reversed themselves last week with the recommendation that corporate IT departments need to make it easier for workers to use Mac computers and devices. The tech research firm had long told the same IT departments not to bother accommodating devices from Apple Inc.    Why the change of mind? Forrester says it is because the most productive...

For decades, parents have worried about dangerous substances being put into what their children receive while Trick or Treating. On Friday evening, HBO's Bill Maher actually called for people to "put drugs in the Halloween candy"

Vice President Joe Biden Rallies for Jobs Bill on Capitol HillOct 19, 2011 6:15pm Vice President Joe Biden and a group of Senate Democrats rallied on Capitol Hill today with firefighters, teachers, nurses and police officers for passage of the $35 billion piece of the jobs bill that is on the Senate floor this week. “This is an emergency,” Biden told the crowd. “I say to the American people: Watch your senator. Watch him or her choose. Are you going to put 400,000 school teachers back in classrooms? Are you going to put 18,000 cops back in the street and...

Senate Democrats will hold vote Friday on $35 billion jobs billBy Alexander Bolton - 10/19/11 03:07 PM ET Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he will schedule a vote to proceed to a $35 billion jobs bill on Friday. "We're going to make sure there's a vote on our bill this week," Reid said. The $35 billion measure would direct federal funds to states to prevent layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters. Democrats estimate the legislation will save or create 400,000 jobs. Most of the funding, $30 billion, would go to teachers. First responders would get $5 billion....

SNL must be kicking themselves for not coming up with this first. Lady Gaga (channeling Marilyn Monroe's famous showstopper for President JFK) performed this weekend at the Hollywood Bowl as part of a concert celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Clinton Foundation as well as a delayed celebration of Bill Clinton's 65th birthday. Gaga serenaded Bill and Hillary with her own version of "Bad Romance" switching in "Bill Romance" for some of the lyrics. It's uncomfortable to watch Hillary laugh along.

Obama Threatens to Veto Bill For No Abortion $ in Obamacare Washington, DC -- The Obama administration released a Statement of Administration Policy today threatening to veto a bill the House plans to vote on tomorrow that ensures no federal taxpayer funding for abortions under Obamacare. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/12/obama-threatens-to-veto-bill-for-no-abortion-in-obamacare/

Obama Threatens to Veto Bill For No Abortion $ in Obamacare Washington, DC -- The Obama administration released a Statement of Administration Policy today threatening to veto a bill the House plans to vote on tomorrow that ensures no federal taxpayer funding for abortions under Obamacare. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/12/obama-threatens-to-veto-bill-for-no-abortion-in-obamacare/

Obama campaign memo warns Congress on jobs bill votesBy Sam Youngman - 10/11/11 12:01 AM ET President Obama's top campaign adviser said in a memo Monday -- the eve of the Senate vote on Obama's jobs bill -- that Congress will continue to suffer politically if the bill is defeated. David Axelrod said in a campaign memo that a majority of Americans believe another recession is coming or already here, and voters will punish Congress for failing to stop it. "So as members of Congress take up the American Jobs Act this week they need to understand that their failure...

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats proposed a 5% surtax on people earning more than $1 million a year to pay for the $447 billion cost of President Barack Obama's job-creation bill, in a move designed to shore up their party's support for the measure. The proposal would replace the range of tax deductions for wealthy people, oil companies and other businesses that the president had proposed to end to offset the cost of the job-creation initiatives in his plan. WSJ Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray and Evan Newmark discuss the politics of the proposed 5% surtax on millionaires put forth by Senate democrats....

House passes bill forcing analysis, delay of pending EPA rulesBy Ben Geman and Pete Kasperowicz - 09/23/11 01:38 PM ET The House on Friday approved legislation that would set up an interagency committee charged with assessing the impact of Environmental Protection Agency rules on U.S. economic competitiveness, and also delay two EPA rules until several years that analysis is complete. Democrats railed against the bill throughout debate on Thursday and Friday, saying it represents the latest attempt by Republicans to advance an anti-environment agenda. But Republicans said the bill would not block any rule indefinitely, and that some economic assessment...

Who's to blame for the continued failure of the Middle East peace process? Former President Bill Clinton said today that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose government moved the goalposts upon taking power, and whose rise represents a key reason there has been no Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Clinton, in a roundtable with bloggers today on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, gave an extensive recounting of the deterioration in the Middle East peace process since he pressed both parties to agree to a final settlement at Camp David in 2000.

In his umpteenth pivot towards jobs, President Barack Obama spoke out on Sept. 8, forcefully telling Congress they should "pass this bill," referring to the American Jobs Act. Little did the president know that the "American Jobs Act" would soon be a Republican bill filed by Texas Congressman and Aggie, Louie Gohmert. This move was the political equivalent of Ashton Kutcher frolicking up to the president to say, "You've just been punk'd. Americans first heard of the president's new jobs plan shortly before his vacation in Martha's Vineyard. The president urged Congress 17 times to "pass this bill" in one...

Under the bill’s authority, states are not immune from federal prosecution if they “violate” the act. In the event this bill passes, it will override a state’s sovereign authority as defined and protected under the 11th amendment.... Any state that receives Federal assistance under the direction of bill automatically forfeits its sovereign immunity....

The Charleston Daily Mail reported last week that the state of West Virginia stands to receive more than a half billion in federal dollars as part of President Obama's new stimulus package [i.e. Job creation bill]. $162 million is earmaked for teachers, police officers and firefighters. However, the Daily Mail noted the following: Some of the money that is supposed to go to teachers is meant to prevent layoffs. But West Virginia doesn't have any plans to lay off teachers. "I'm not sure; would they just send us the money instead?" said state budget director Mike McKown. Likewise, the West...

Madison - The top four spenders on lobbying the Legislature during the first half of 2011 were labor unions fighting against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to curb collective bargaining, a report released Thursday showed. The four unions spent $6.3 million in the first six months of the year, the Government Accountability Board reported. Walker introduced his plan in February and the Republican-controlled Legislature passed it in March. The unions helped organize rallies at the Capitol in protest over the bill that grew as large as 100,000 people. The debate, which captured the nation's attention, also spurred Democratic senators to leave...

President Obama anticipated Republican resistance to his jobs program, but he is now meeting increasing pushback from his own party. Many Congressional Democrats, smarting from the fallout over the 2009 stimulus bill, say there is little chance they will be able to support the bill as a single entity, citing an array of elements they cannot abide. “I think the American people are very skeptical of big pieces of legislation,” Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said in an interview Wednesday, joining a growing chorus of Democrats who prefer an à la carte version of the bill despite White...

President Barack Obama asked lawmakers to “pass this bill” — or made some variation of the phrase — 17 times in his jobs speech before a joint session of Congress on Thursday night. Obama unveiled his $447 billion jobs package, the American Jobs Act, during the speech.

RUSH: Rita in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, welcome to the EIB Network. Great to have you here. Hello. CALLER: "Hi, Rush. It's an honor and a privilege to speak with you. I have been a longtime listener, and I'm really disturbed by this whole administration. My question to you today is, referring back to the health care bill: On pages 58 and 59 of the health care bill it specifically states that the government will have access to our monies -- and that includes, I do believe, our IRA accounts, our 401(k)s, our savings, our checkings. This is in the health...

Let me restate that: There is no confidence in American leadership on the economy. Here are some of the reasons: Last December, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform issued its report calling for deep spending cuts and entitlement reform. President Obama thanked the commission, headed by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, and then ignored most of their recommendations. A few months later, Mr. Obama proposed his budget for 2012. It was defeated in the Senate 97 to nothing. So let's review. The president sets up a financial commission and then ignores it. The president puts forth his budget...

A proposed law designed to fight child pornography has rankled privacy advocates because it would require Internet service providers to keep 12-month logs of customers' names, credit card information, and other identifying information that are tied to temporarily assigned network addresses. Opponents say the law wouldn't markedly help lock up child pornographers and pedophiles, but rather would treat all Americans as criminals so that if law enforcement feels it has a need to find out who visited a website or posted a particular bit of content online, it can. The Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that the same data could become...

Speaker John Boehner pushed his debt-ceiling bill through the House Friday night with the support of 218 Republicans. Here are the 22 no votes: Justin Amash (Mich.) Michele Bachmann (Minn.) Chip Cravaack (Minn.) Jason Chaffetz (Utah) Scott Desjarlais (Tenn.) Tom Graves (Ga.) Tim Huelskamp (Kans.) Steve King (Iowa) Tim Johnson (Ill.) Tom McClintock (Calif.) Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) Ron Paul (Texas) Connie Mack (Fla.) Jim Jordan (Ohio) Tim Scott (S.C.) Paul Broun (Ga.) Tom Latham (Iowa) Jeff Duncan (S.C.) Trey Gowdy (S.C.) Steve Southerland (Fla.) Joe Walsh (Ill.) Joe Wilson (S.C.) CORRECTED: Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) voted YES on the Boehner...

Updated as amendment, must read both for complete bill: Original "Boehner Bill": Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute — Budget Control Act of 2011 (Acrobat PDF) Revised Amendment to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (Acrobat PDF) Source, House Committee on Rules, S. 627 Faster FOIA Act of 2011 (Budget Control Act of 2011)

By the mid-1960s, all hell had broken loose in the American education system, most obviously in the universities that were at the center of the Vietnam War protest movement, but more subtly in the public school system as well. And since the universities that were exploding with radical ideologies in the 1960s were also the furnace in which future educators were forged — there was an inevitable long-term effect on what teachers taught their students about American traditions, values and beliefs. The anti-American fervor on college campuses during the Vietnam era was the fuel that led teachers to give up...

A new house bill wants to allow the Department of Homeland Security to have jurisdiction over all federal lands on national seashores and coastal areas. HR Bill 1505, the “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act,” would force the Secretary of the Interior to cede authority of coastal public lands, as well as lands located along the borders of Canada and Mexico, to the Secretary of Homeland Security when the latter sees fit. It would give the Dept. of Homeland Security the ability to construct roads and fences, deploy patrol vehicles and set up “monitoring equipment” in the National Seashore...

AUSTIN — Two of Texas’ most powerful business leaders have mounted a late-hour push to derail an anti-illegal-immigration bill in the Legislature’s special session. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry (no relation) and HEB/Central Market grocery chieftain Charles Butt applied pressure Thursday to members of a House panel to block the “sanctuary cities” measure

A bill that seeks to ban “sanctuary cities” in Texas has been filed for the special session of the Legislature that began today. State Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, filed HB 9, a bill that would prohibit local entities from enacting policies that prohibits law enforcement from inquiring into the immigration status of a person lawfully detained or arrested. Gov. Rick Perry called a special session of the legislature immediately after learning Monday that the Texas Senate would not pass a bill essential to balancing the 2012-2013 budget. His original proclamation did not include sanctuary cities legislation, which he designated as...

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is using the weight of a Vatican report about the urgency of tackling global warming to urge Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans to hold another hearing on climate science. Waxman, the panel’s top Democrat, sent a letter Monday to the committee's GOP chairman asking for a hearing with authors of a Vatican report issued in May and a separate National Research Council (NRC) report from this month that also called for action to cut emissions. The letter could put committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in a politically sensitive spot if he does not agree that the...

AUSTIN — The ceremony was brief and drew few mourners, but the Trans Texas Corridor is finally dead. The Senate unanimously passed a bill that strikes from state law any language, reference and authority once connected to the massive highway envisioned to slice a swath through Texas. The same measure already has passed the House. There are some minor differences that still need to be reconciled, but the bill is expected to go to Gov. Rick Perry, who will have to decide whether to join in the final rites for his once-prized project. Legislators did keep a provision that was...

Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed into law a voter identification law yesterday that requires every voter to show a photo ID before being allowed to vote in elections. Liberals howled that the law would disproportionately impact minorities and implied the law itself was discriminatory and would disenfranchise minorities. Last night in South Carolina, after Haley had signed the bill into law, Herman Cain, who is expected to formally announce a run for the Presidency on Saturday in Atlanta, called out groups who were criticizing the photo ID bill by saying the law did not infringe upon civil rights....

Vt. governor to sign mercury lamp recycling billMay 19, 2011 MONTPELIER, Vt.—Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is going to signed a bill calling on manufacturers of light bulbs containing mercury to set up and pay for a recycling program for the bulbs. When Shumlin signs the bill Thursday, Vermont will become the third state in the country -- behind Maine and Washington -- to pass what's called a producer responsibility law for mercury-containing products. Lamps containing mercury, including compact fluorescent bulbs, are praised for saving energy. But mercury is a known nerve poison and is a cause of concern when released...

Bill Clinton doesn’t like all the misinformation and rumors floating on the Internet. And he thinks the United Nations or the U.S. government should create an agency to do something about it. “It would be a legitimate thing to do,” Clinton said in an interview airing Friday on CNBC. The agency, Clinton said, would “have to be totally transparent about where the money came from” and would have to be “independent” because “if it’s a government agency in a traditional sense, it would have no credibility whatever, particularly with a lot of the people who are most active on the...

Kansas OKs Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood Kansas lawmakers have put the finishing touches on a bill that would shift funding away from the Planned Parenthood abortion business and stops abortion funding in health insurance programs. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/13/kansas-oks-bill-de-funding-planned-parenthood-hits-abortion/