Free Republic

House Republicans say they’re proud of their 2013 campaign to stymie President Obama’s regulatory agenda, even as Congress comes under fire for one of its least productive years. The bitterly divided Congress will pass fewer laws in 2013 than any year in modern history. As a result of the gridlock, President Obama has turned to his administration’s regulatory authority in pursuit of key policy goals, including efforts to tackle gun violence and climate change. While House Republicans have pinned the blame for Congress’ anemic legislative output on Senate Democrats, they make no bones about their efforts to blunt Obama’s rulemaking...

Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez and local political leaders have held a 24-hour fast to pray for immigration reform and to remember families who are separated from each other at Thanksgiving. “Today we are standing up for those who won't be sharing Thanksgiving dinner with their families and loved ones – those who are suffering because of our broken immigration system,” Archbishop Gomez said Nov. 25 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. He called for a “conversion of hearts” to fix U.S. immigration law. The archbishop was joined in the Nov. 25-26 fast by U.S. Rep....

The ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee downplayed the mounting concerns about the efficacy and integrity of the Healthcare.gov website because he was able to log on while fiddling around on his mobile device during today’s hearing. Contractors including CGI Federal appeared before the committee today to answer questions about the failure of the Obamacare exchange website, but no administration officials testified. “We are disappointed that the system is not in place and running the way we envisioned. But the contractors have given us assurances that they think everything will be every day better to the point...

You might have thought that the ultimate culpability for the current problems plaguing ObamaCare belong to the administration that sloppily designed, forcefully passed, and hastily implemented the gigantic redistribution project — but you would have been wrong. Ranking Democrat of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the one holding the health care hearing this Thursday, is here to tell you why: KIRSTEN WELKER: Based on what you know right now, was the president or Secretary Sebelius made aware of those problems before this system was launched?WAXMAN: I don’t have any information about that, but no one could have possibly known...

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) on Tuesday said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wouldn’t know bipartisanship “if it came up and slapped him.” “He wouldn’t know bipartisanship if it came up and slapped him and said we’re bipartisan because he has never participated in any kind of bicameral bipartisanship,” Gohmert said on Fox News. House Republican leaders offered a new debt-ceiling and budget deal Tuesday, despite a plan Senate leaders proposed Monday. The House plan goes further than the Senate’s to weaken the new healthcare law. It includes a delay in ObamaCare’s medical device tax and a mandate to remove...

When asked by CNSNews.com whether he had read all 10,535 pages of final Obamacare regulations that have so far been published in the Federal Register, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) asked in return whether it was “important” the he read them, dismissed the inquiry as a “propaganda question,” and ultimately did not answer. … Those regulations add up to 10,535 pages in the Federal Register. That is more than eight times as many pages as there are in the Gutenberg Bible, which has 642 two-sided leaves or 1,286 pages. …

A leading House Democrat questioned Friday whether the Justice Department (DOJ) has the evidence to mount a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of killing an unarmed black teenager in Florida. Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a television interview that "it seems unlikely" Attorney General Eric Holder would file discrimination charges against Zimmerman. The killing of Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman's subsequent acquittal have sparked demonstrations around the country. Protests were scheduled nationwide on Saturday as disappointed court-watchers urged DOJ to pursue charges against Zimmerman. Waxman's comments put...

For most of the first half of my life, I lived in or near Boston. Usually, I am proud of my hometown, its history, its universities and its spirit. After the Boston Marathon bombings, Beantown united under the phrase "Boston Strong." I left in 1985. When I go back, I see how much the city has changed. The Boston I left had a wrong side, too -- a culture that looked away when organized crime terrorized young and old. Boston Wrong has been on parade this month during the long-awaited trial of James "Whitey" Bulger, 83, on 32 federal counts...

Three leading House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats are calling for an oversight hearing on the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program, a phone subsidy for the poor that has been disparagingly referred to as the "Obama phone" program. The program, which began long before President Obama took office, has been notorious for waste and abuse. The FCC enacted reforms last year aimed at trimming billions of dollars from the program, but recent reports indicate that people who are ineligible for the program are still receiving subsidies. The program gained more attention last year when conservatives seized on a viral video...

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) announced Sunday that she has spearheaded a bipartisan letter calling on the French government to cancel plans to release a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an American and an Israeli diplomat. The letter, which was sent to France’s Ambassador to the United States, urges French officials to stop the release of George Ibrahim Abdallah, the former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade who was convicted in 1987 of killing an Israeli diplomat and a U.S. military attaché. The U.S. State Department has also expressed its opposition...

House Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee raised concerns at a Tuesday hearing that White House staffers hold meetings at a nearby Caribou Coffee to avoid disclosure requirements. "White House staff apparently purposely schedule meetings at the Caribou Coffee around the corner from the White House so that those meetings won’t show up on the White House logs," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight subcommittee. Republicans portrayed the White House as failing to live up to campaign promises on transparency. Stearns pointed to President Obama, who as a candidate said healthcare negotiations would air on C-SPAN,...

First elected in 1974, Waxman has never had to so much as breathe hard to win elections to congress. But this time may be different as Politico explains: _______________________ But in an interview, Waxman said he would be directing nearly all his money toward his own reelection this time around. He said he's assembling a campaign team and will be ramping up his fundraising efforts in the weeks ahead. "Quite frankly, I haven't had to run a serious campaign in quite a long time, but now, I'm going to," Waxman told POLITICO. "I'm not going to take anything for granted."...

Eric Holder’s incompetent team of legal minds has botched things up again. Roger Clemens is in a fight for his life, and his enemies are fierce, partisan and patently unfair. His alleged crime—making false statements to Henry Waxman in a congressional hearing-- has cost the American taxpayer tens of millions of dollars, all because in 2008, during an election year, Henry Waxman needed a high profile hearing to showboat, to garner as much publicity as possible, to allow him to bang his gavel, to feel superior, to peacock around. Waxman could have decided to focus legitimate attention on the use...

Democrats in House of Reps. joined J Street in supporting Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions Seventy-four Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the dovish J Street organization in supporting the Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions to the Palestinian Authority. “In our view, support for a two-state resolution is inseparable from such support for Israel, its special relationship with the United States, and its very survival as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people,” the letter said. Seven Jewish members signed the letter, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John...

This happened yesterday and so far there’s no video: California Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the coauthor of the 2009 cap-and-trade climate change bill, decried efforts by the GOP to force the Obama administration into approving a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.“They want to use legislation as a way to act like terrorists. They hold things as hostage,” Waxman said. “We almost couldn’t fund the government because Republicans wanted to hold that idea hostage, we almost couldn’t pay our debts because the Republicans wanted to hold that legislation hostage to...

Well, not in so many words. But he might as well have, that's what he meant. Upset by the stunning loss of his Dem boy in NY-9 to Republican Bob Turner, here's what that sleazeball Waxman (D-Lala Land) had to say about his fellow Jews [h/t Red State]: There are Jews who are trending toward the Republican Party, some of it because of their misunderstanding of Obama’s policies in the Middle East, and some of it, quite frankly, for economic reasons. They feel they want to protect their wealth, which is why a lot of well-off voters vote for Republicans.” Get...

Barack Obama has your back...NOT! And that is why the DUmmies are now fearing that Barack Obama will sell them out to Republicans. This means in their minds budget cuts without massive increases in taxes. The FUnniest thing here is that their THREAD, included a sellout confrontation between Congressman "Nostrils" Waxman and Obama which is described in the title, "Waxman to Obama: if you're going to cave, tell us right now." So let us now watch the DUmmies fear an Obama sellout in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, noting that community organizers are not usually...

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...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

There have been some real characters elected to Congress over the years. Davy Crockett, for instance, served one term in the House of Representatives, then told his constituents to go to hell and headed for Texas where he died defending the Alamo and became an American icon. And who could ever forget those delightful violin concertos delivered so frequently by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia? Fortunately, the current Congress is not without its share of fascinating personalities. Take Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who must be moonlighting at the Comedy Club. Seems he had folks rolling in the...