HRC PUBLISHES 114TH CONGRESS ANTI-GAY 'FACES OF INEQUALITY'

The Human Rights Campaign has published a listing of six of the 114th Congress’s most ardently anti-LGBT members. The six Republicans featured in the “Faces of Inequality” hail from a wide range of different professional backgrounds, but their track records regarding gay marriage, ENDA, and anti-bullying legislation are all exactly what you would expect:

• Jody Hice (R-GA): compared marriage equality to bestiality and incest, and said “The concept of ‘love’ is not the issue when it comes to marriage!”
  
• Glenn Grothman (R-WI): promised to be “an outspoken” opponent of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) because it gives “preferences” to LGBT employees.
  
• Tom Emmer (R-MN): said he would not sign anti-bullying legislation to promote safe schools because “I don’t want the government doing that for us.”
  
• Cresent Hardy (R-NV): was one of only 13 lawmakers who voted against Nevada’s bill banning housing and job discrimination against transgender people.
  
• Mike Bost (R-IL): opposed any form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, saying, “I didn’t vote for civil unions and I won’t be voting for gay marriages.”
  
• Thom Tillis (R-NC): has continued his fight against marriage equality in North Carolina, hiring a rabidly anti-LGBT activist attorney from the fanatical anti-equality National Organization for Marriage.

Check out the full list here.

The First Order Of Business For Congressional Republicans? A National Abortion Ban

For years, Republicans complained and said if only they had a majority in the Senate, they’d be able to pass bills to help veterans and create jobs.

Ever since George W. Bush left the Oval Office in January 2009, Republicans have blamed President Obama for the economy and claimed that they had a plan to put America back to work which would have us all finally swimming in that warm sea of trickle-down economics.

So today, now that Republicans finally control both houses of Congress (thanks a lot apathetic voters), we’re finally going to see Republicans unveil all of that legislation that’s going to help create jobs? Right? Right? Right…

Oh here it is now, two congressional Republicans brought back some legislation that was thwarted by Senate Democrats who held a majority last session. Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced a bill designed to help veterans, end our dependence on foreign oil and put millions of under-employed Americans back into full-time positions that were lost during the Great Recession. Wow! On the very first day back, what’s that bill’s name? It’s known as “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” and…oh wait, what’s this? It’s not a jobs bill?

On Tuesday, the very first day of the 114th Congress, two lawmakers introduced a measure to ban abortions after 20 weeks, in direct violation of the protections afforded under Roe v. Wade. Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) reintroduced the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the same legislation that successfully passed the House last year. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — who introduced a companion 20-week abortion ban in the Senate last year that was stalled by Democratic leadership — has already indicated that he plans to re-introduce his own measure in the next few weeks, too. Now that the Senate is GOP-controlled, Republicans are anticipating that they’ll have enough support to pass the ban in both chambers this year, helping the anti-choice community gain momentum for this particular tactic to limit reproductive rights. 

“In a Republican Senate, under my leadership, we would have the kind of real debate on the issues that the American people want,” Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the audience at the National Right to Life Conference in the fall. “For six years, the president has been isolated from this growing movement. He will be forced to listen to the cause that’s brought us all here this morning.” (Source)

Now if any of you reading this actually thought that Republicans were going to do something worthwhile once they regained control of the Senate, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you. I’d also like you to help me claim that $15 million fortune a Nigerian diplomat keeps telling me will be all mine, just as soon as I send him a copy of my ID and $5,000 via Western Union.

So welcome to the next two years of Washington politics, which will most likely consist of more gridlock and another government shutdown or two. I predict we’ll see at least one attempt a month to repeal Obamacare, sandwiched between constantly blaming Obama for anything and everything, and more Benghazi investigations. I also predict three attempts to mandate forced ultrasounds before an abortion, two bills to repeal marriage equality rulings, and at least one gigantic hissy fit when Michelle Obama suggests doing anything healthy. Finally just for lagniappe, Republicans in Congress will try to impeach President Obama at least twice and Sen. John McCain will also try to start a war with three new countries, just in case he got tired of Iran and Russia.

Don’t worry, Republicans haven’t learned their lesson about how a government is supposed to function yet, because America obviously hasn’t either.

House Votes To Sell Apache Land To Foreign Corporation, The Tribe Is Furious

For over 5 years, a measure to cede 2,400 acres sacred to the Apache tribe for use in copper mining has been pushed in Congress. Backed by various well-paid corporatist congress members such as Senator John McCain, this measure inevitably dies from the outrage of the native tribes who care for this land. So, this year the members backed by legalized bribes by foreign corporations have attached the measure to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act in a lame duck session of congress.

The land in question is part of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. The areas which would be destroyed by the mining operation include Devil’s Canyon, a popular hiking trail, and Apache’s Leap where 75 Apache men, women and children were massacred by US troops in 1871. The loss of either would be a cultural loss not only for the Apache nation, but for all of us.

The attempt to hide this brazen attempt to sell off cultural heritage for mere coin tells us how these congress members feel about their duty to protect this nation. One must wonder how much of the estimated $61 billion in revenue is to be lining these congress members pockets if the bill passes intact. After all, members of congress regularly reap huge profits from bills they introduce.

What has the tribe most upset is that the measure first requires a review of the deal, then orders that the deal go through anyways. The review is to be effectively ignored. San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler, has put out the call to stop the deal, putting apetition at Whitehouse.gov as well as lobbying congress directly to stop the measure once it hits the Senate.

Despite changes to require consultation with affected tribes and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance, the provision still mandates the transfer of tribal sacred areas into the private ownership of Resolution Copper regardless of the results of the consultation or information and recommendations resulting from the NEPA process. A mandatory conveyance defeats the purpose of tribal consultations and the NEPA process that are designed to help provide information before decisions are made. In [the land swap bill] the outcome is pre-determined, rendering tribal views and public comments meaningless. Further, [it] would not require Resolution Copper to mitigate impacts on tribal sacred areas after conveyance and contains no repercussions/penalties on Resolution Copper for harm/destruction to tribal sacred areas.

The blatant greed being presented by these members of congress is astounding. The company has spent a fortune buying candidates for office in the same way one would collect baseball cards. And now for their thousands per candidate, they expect to destroy the cultural heritage of a native tribe for billions. How much is our collective cultural heritage worth? To these candidates, not much at all it seems. Legalized bribery has made them no longer stewards of our nation, but instead greedy puppets of corporate masters, willing to dance on their string for the crumbs tossed to them. Disgraceful.

Dozens of Staffers Just Walked Out of Congress. This Powerful Picture Shows Why.

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of congressional staffers walked out in protest of the recent grand jury decisions failing to indict the two officers who killed Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The result was an incredible display of solidarity, with staffers raising their hands in the air to invoke Brown's "hands up, don't shoot" image.

GOP MULLS TELLING PRESIDENT OBAMA TO STFU AND SEND HIS STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS IN WRITING

Republicans may be hatching the latest plan in their continuing effort to demean and undermine President Obama. Steve Benen, writing at MSNBC, says that there is a move afoot to block the president from delivering the annual State of the Union address to congress.

An editorial by Republican operative Gary Hoitsma, in the Washington Times, quoted by Benen, says,

Here is a modest proposal: The Speaker of the House should declare a state of Constitutional emergency in which the President’s specific unlawful actions … have cumulatively provoked the legislative branch into a bold but measured legislative response. That response will be to cancel – for 2015 – the traditional end-of-January joint session of Congress to which the President is normally invited to deliver his annual State of the Union Address.

That seems to indicate that the notion of disinviting the president to the traditional joint session of congress is about more than just a protest over his immigration actions, at least in the minds of some conservatives.

[Note: As of this writing, that editorial was curiously unavailable at the Washington Times. Their headline link sends the reader back to the opinion home page.]

The New York Times reports that conservative writer Rich Lowry, who is currently the editor of the National Review, said,

If I were John Boehner, I’d say to the president: ‘Send us your State of the Union in writing. You’re not welcome in our chamber.’

Bristol Palin To Congress: Impeach President Obama Because My Mommy Said So

In another scribble on Patheos, Bristol Palin bragged about impeachment talk supposedly being mainstream because right-wing site Breitbart said so. She also said that President Obama should be impeached because her quitter mom said so.

The poster child for why abstinence-only education doesn’t work added her own voice to the small number of conservatives who are calling for the impeachment of President Obama. Of course, the little Palin couldn’t resist reminding everyone who began the crazy screeching of impeachment.

“So many people are saying Obama should be impeached that Breitbart says impeachment has gone mainstream,” Bristol Palin wrote. “Can I just say, Mom was saying this months ago!”

As proof, she included a quote from her mother Sarah:

“If that’s not impeachable, nothing is. And if he’s not impeachable, no one is…. We had a revolution back in 1776 because we don’t do kings!”

Of course, President Obama is not a king. Never was and never will be. He was legally elected by the American people twice by large margins and is constitutionally bound to leave office after his second term ends in January 2017 when a new president is inaugurated.

Despite the fact that Obama only has two years left in the White House, Bristol and her mom are both calling for Congress to impeach him. Why does Bristol think impeachment is necessary?

What America Needs to Tell Obama

Will the GOP scrap Obama’s State of the Union address?

In early 1999, the political environment in Washington, D.C., bordered on surreal. President Clinton had just been impeached. House Speaker Newt Gingrich had just been ousted from his leadership post, forced out by his own members. Gingrich’s apparent successor, Louisiana’s Bob Livingston, was soon after forced to resign in the wake of a sex scandal.

And at the same time, the U.S. Senate was weighing the charges against Clinton, hearing arguments as to whether or not to remove the sitting president from office.

It was against this backdrop that the White House announced in mid-January that it was time for the annual State of the Union address. TV preacher Pat Robertson, an influential figure in Republican politics at the time, gave his GOP allies some stern advice: don’t let Clinton speak. To give the president an august national platform, Robertson said, would allow Clinton to solidify his support and end the impeachment crusade. Congress isn’t required to host the speech, so there was nothing stopping Republicans from denying Clinton’s request.

GOP leaders on Capitol Hill weren’t prepared to go nearly that far. So, Clinton spoke, he pretended like impeachment hadn’t just happened, and Gallup showed the president’s approval rating reaching 69% soon after.

Nearly 16 years later, another Democratic president, also hated by his Republican attackers, is poised to deliver his penultimate State of the Union address. And like Pat Robertson, the idea of denying the president a SOTU invitation is once again on the right’s mind.

“Yes, there’s a risk to overreacting, but there’s a risk to underreacting as well,” said Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review. “And I fear that’s the way the congressional leadership is leaning.” 

Mr. Lowry suggested one way Congress could react. “If I were John Boehner,” he said, referring to the House speaker, “I’d say to the president: ‘Send us your State of the Union in writing. You’re not welcome in our chamber.’”

Lowry may not dictate GOP decision making the way Limbaugh and Fox News do, but it’s important to note that he isn’t the only one publicly pushing the idea.

Politico reported yesterday that congressional Republicans are weighing a variety of tactics to “address” their disgust over Obama’s immigration policy, and “GOP aides and lawmakers” are considering the idea of “refusing to invite the president to give his State of the Union address.”

Late last week, Breitbart News also ran a piece of its own on the subject: “Congress should indicate to President Obama that his presence is not welcome on Capitol Hill as long as his ‘executive amnesty’ remains in place. The gesture would, no doubt, be perceived as rude, but it is appropriate.”

For the record, I rather doubt Republican leaders will go this far. Indeed, if they seriously pursued the idea, GOP officials would risk a backlash that would help, not hurt, the White House.

That said, don’t be too surprised if this talk grows louder between now and the big speech.

RE-ELECTED: All LGBT House Members

The 2014 midterms were not a total disaster, at least for the six openly LGBT members of the US House. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CO), Rep. Jared Polis* (D-CO), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep David Cicilline (D-RI), and Rep. Kysten Sinema (D-AZ) all retained their seats. 

Openly gay US House candidates who lost their bids today include Oklahoma state Sen. Al McCaffrey, Texas military veteran Louie Minor, North Carolina American Idol finalist Clay Aiken, former Massachusetts GOP legislator Richard Tisei, and New York investment banker Sean Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

The House bid of scandal-plagued homocon Carl DeMaio is too close to call at this writing.

*Not pictured.

Five Antigay Nightmares That Will Happen Now That Republicans Control Congress

Midterm elections are rarely favorable to the President’s party and, true to history, the Democrats took a beating on Election Day. Republicans picked up enough seats to gain control of the Senate, which means that come next year, Congress could be entirely in the control of Republicans. That makes President Obama the sole firewall against a conservative onslaught.

Here are five antigay issues that are bound to arise now that the GOP has full rein of Congress…

1. Endless attacks on marriage equality

At this point, there’s not a lot that Congress can realistically do about marriage equality. The Supreme Court has pretty much spoken, and states are falling in line. But the same could have been said about Obamacare, and that didn’t stop Republicans from shutting down the government for 17 days last year in the vain quest to kill the law. Realism is not the GOP’s strong suit these days,especially in the Ted Cruz wing of the party.

What will happen is a lot of symbolic gesturing that will still be damaging to the LGBT community. There will be bills to resuscitate DOMA and resolutions trumpeting support for traditional marriage. None of these will have any practical effect, but they will have a psychologically one, by de-legitimizing same-sex marriages and empowering opponents of marriage equality. To some extent, we will still have to play defense, particularly since the Supreme Court has chosen not to issue the final word yet.

2. Open war over Supreme Court nominees

And because the Supreme Court ducked the issue this year, any vacancy on the Supreme Court will immediately become an all-out war over marriage equality. Marriage equality will be as much a litmus test as reproductive rights. Republicans controlling the Senate will never allow an openly pro-marriage nominee to be seated on the bench. (Given their embrace of obstructionism to date, they may never allow an Obama nominee on the bench at all.)

The fight will be especially fierce if one of the departing justice is one of the five that struck down DOMA. That means a single vote in the opposite direction could halt the progress of marriage equality. This will become a do-or-die battle for the right, and Republicans getting ready to go into the 2016 presidential campaign will be in no position to stake out a middle-of-the-road position. The right wing has signaled it’s ready for a party civil war on this issue, and the Supreme Court nominee will be a call to arms.

3. Enshrining religious liberty in legislation

Looking to shore up the party base in advance of the presidential election, Congressional Republicans will likely turn to the refuge of the homophobic: religious liberty. In order to make the world safe for anti-marriage bakers, the GOP will look to create a right-wing version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that will specifically exempt individuals from following laws that they object to on religious grounds. That would mean not just marriage equality laws, but even nondiscrimination laws.

The Supreme Court gave Congress the green light to pursue this carve-out for homophobes in its Hobby Lobby ruling. Such a law might eventually fail a constitutional challenge, but then again, maybe not. In the meantime, the damage it would cause would be incalculable.

4. Kiss ENDA goodbye

ENDA has about as much chance of passage in a Republican-controlled Congress as Mitch McConnell has of winning RuPaul’s Drag Race. Two more years of delay doesn’t mean much to a bill that’s been kicking around for nearly two decades, but at some point the stench of failure becomes impossible to remove and the bill becomes a zombie–dead but not buried. It also means that nondiscrimination protections in the workplace will still be hit-or-miss, leaving many states where you can both get married and get fired.

5. Creating a forum for nutburgers

The loony right will always be with us, but now they will have a loudspeaker in Congress. We will be subjected to all kinds of ‘expert’ testimony from antigay activitists. It’s already happening in the House, where the head of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty recently testified before a subcommittee about the “apparent hostility” the Obama administration was showing to evangelicals in the military. Appearing before a Senate committee is great not just for legitimacy but also for fundraising, and the antigay right will clamor for every opportunity to talk about the gay threat.

Now President Obama can stop a number of these problems. He can veto bad legislation, and Republicans won’t have enough votes to override his veto. But he can’t stop the efforts to erode, derail or otherwise delay the gains we’ve made. He won’t be able to make things happen that might help us.

The problem could be short-lived. The 2016 Senate map favors the Democrats, so Republicans may hold onto the Senate for just two years. (It will be a while before they lose control of the House because Republican-controlled states have redrawn districts to ensure the maximum number of GOP seats.) In the meantime, though, the damage will have been done.

The only upside: voters won’t take kindly to restarting the culture wars. In the end, the party may end up doing as much damage to itself as it does to us. But after this election’s results, that’s pretty cold comfort.

Robert Reich explains what would happen to the U.S. under a Republican Senate

The answer is in the video above. As Reich explains:

• Unemployment benefits will not be extended to the long-term unemployed
• No minimum wages—no living wages for that matter
• Continuing education cuts
• Continuing decay of our country's infrastructure

Harry Reid Stands With Bernie Sanders Against Cuts To The US Postal Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has joined with Sen. Bernie Sanders to speak out against proposed cuts to the US Postal Service.

According to a statement from Sen. Sanders,

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has added his crucial backing to calls for a one-year moratorium on U.S. Postal Service plans to close up to 82 mail processing plants, slow down mail delivery and eliminate up to 15,000 jobs.

Reid added his signature to those of 50 other senators who signed a letter calling for a ban on Postal Service cuts as part of must-pass legislation to keep the government running into the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) organized the effort to block the cuts proposed by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

“This one-year moratorium will give Congress the time it needs to enact the comprehensive postal reforms that are necessary for the Postal Service to function effectively into the future,” the senators wrote in the letter to Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Richard Shelby (R-La.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “At a time when our middle class is disappearing, the loss of 15,000 good-paying Postal Service jobs will harm our local communities and economies,” the senators added.

The proposed cuts are all part of a scheme to drive the Postal Service into privatization. Republicans imposed a mandate on the Postal Service that required them to fund 75 years worth of future retirees health care benefits over a ten-year period. Even though revenues are outpacing expenses, the Postal Service is losing money on paper because of the funding mandate.

In real world terms, the loss of 15,000 jobs and slower mail service would have a devastating impact on several local economies. One of the biggest Republican lies is that the Postal Service is losing money. The USPS would be profitable if Republicans would not have forced it into deficit.

Privatization would mean more expensive, but less frequent mail delivery. The profit motive would direct private postal carriers to provide the best services to the biggest customers. Rural areas would likely be cut out of the postal delivery system, and postal workers would see lower wages.

Killing the Postal Service is an ideological Republican dream that Harry Reid, fifty Democrat senators, and Independent Bernie Sanders are standing together to stop.

McConnell Explains How He'd Force A Shutdown War With Obama

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) explained his plan to use a government shutdown as a bargaining chip against President Barack Obama to a room full of wealthy conservatives two months ago, according to audio obtained by The Nation magazine.

"So in the House and Senate, we own the budget. So what does that mean? That means that we can pass the spending bill. And I assure you that in the spending bill, we will be pushing back against this bureaucracy by doing what's called placing riders in the bill. No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We're going to go after them on health care, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board. ... All across the federal government, we're going to go after it," McConnell said at a private summit hosted by the Koch Brothers.

The strategy mirrors what House Republicans did last year: they passed on a "rider" to defund Obamacare in a must-pass spending bill, and it led to the 16-day partial shutdown. But the bill died in the Democratic-led Senate, and Republicans eventually reopened the government and funded Obamacare.

McConnell is suggesting that if Republicans control the Senate, they'll have a stronger negotiating hand to force Obama to swallow some concessions.

The Kentucky Republican stood by his comments on Wednesday.

"In contrast to Alison Lundergan Grimes' failure to defend Kentucky coal from the EPA behind closed doors with Obama donors, Senator McConnell fights for Kentucky wherever he goes. Earlier this summer Grimes failed to utter a word of support after promising Kentuckians she would defend Kentucky coal at a Harry Reid fundraiser and lord knows what she said to Tom Steyer and anti-coal billionaires when she attended their conference in Chicago," said Allison Moore, a spokeswoman for McConnell's reelection campaign.

John Boehner Publishes Video Telling The Truth About His Job Performance

Anyone who knows me, or who has read my articles to date, probably already knows my opinion of John Boehner. If you don’t, it’s pretty easy to infer. But what the heck, I’ll just state it plainly: John Boehner is one of the most useless Speakers of the House we’ve ever had.

Beyond the partisan chicanery; beyond the practice of passing out bribe checks on the floor of the House right before a vote on the related bill; beyond the lies about how many jobs bills his Republican-strangled House of Representatives has pushed through; beyond the refusal to listen to the public on background checks, he’s a completely ineffective leader. Even on bills he knows have to go through, and have to go through in a form that can pass the Senate, he regularly is unable to control his so-called caucus enough to have them pass it. Since Boehner’s speakership began, the House has had a serious issue just executing basic run-of-the-mill governing stuff, including bills getting pulled at the last minute and not making sure they had enough in-party votes before opening legislation to a House vote.

Whether or not you like what Nancy Pelosi stands for, as a Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was good at her job. John Boehner is not good at his job.

Well, Mr. Boehner seems to know this deep down. He recently posted to his YouTube channel a video about the wind-up cymbal-crashing monkey that he was given by his staff a while back. In the video, he can be heard to say, “That’s what I do all day!”

Refreshing honesty there, John. And yes, it is a PERFECT representation of you at your job.

Pointless repetitive actions, such as the fifty-four attempts to repeal Obamacare entirely or cripple it in some fashion? Check. Chattering and jabbering that could be construed as speech, but ultimately has no relation to facts-based reality? Big check. Movement that makes it seem like it’s doing something, going somewhere, accomplishing something, but really just staying stuck in one place? Mega check. Activated by the behest of outside forces, and not the interests of those he represents? Extra-large check with a side of fries and a shake. One could even make comparisons between the artificial pelt of the toy monkey and the spray-tan orange decorating the epidermis of Mr. Boehner.

As amusing as this apt comparison may be, this is also a problem. Being the Speaker of the House is a constitutionally important position. As speaker, the occupier of that position is third in line to the presidency, and additionally has constitutional responsibility to conduct the business of the House. A lot of very sober responsibilities depend on the person sitting in that seat and wielding that power. The cymbal-crashing monkey occupying that seat at the moment is not equal to the task. Mr. Boehner has proven it in failed vote after failed vote, in the refusal to even bring bills his caucus doesn’t like into consideration, in the government shutdown that gained him nothing, in the budgets he has let get through that he knows will not pass and serve to only underline his party’s contempt for regular Americans. He has failed to lead, and has the gall to sue the president when he steps in and picks up the slack. We need a functional leader in the speaker’s seat, not an ineffectual whiner whose only goal seems to be to whine about how the president doesn’t listen to Congress and to dodge the issue when the ball comes back into his court.

The toy is cute, in a way, and its antics are very entertaining to the small children in the video. The Speaker’s antics, on the other hand, entertain very few people, and his failures have wide-reaching consequences for our nation as a whole. The only way we will be rid of this chattering, cymbal-crashing obstruction is if we get out, vote in November, and push him and his party out of power in the House.

Yet another setback for Benghazi conspiracy theorists

The House Intelligence Committee is among the many congressional panels to investigate the deadly attack on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi in 2012, and its findings are reportedly complete. The committee’s report is not yet available, but Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) talked to the San Francisco Chronicle about the results of the inquiry.

The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has concluded that there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, said Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena, the second-ranking Democrat on the committee. […] 

Thompson said the report “confirms that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order (to U.S. forces) was given.”

The committee agreed Thursday to declassify its report, nearly two years in the making, and the findings will reportedly be available to the public once it’s cleared by intelligence agencies.

Just so we’re clear, this is a Republican-led committee, with GOP members outnumbering Democrats, 12 to 9.

After immigration bill’s demise, GOPers dine…at a Mexican restaurant

The dramatic scene at the Capitol on Thursday night, wherein House Republican leaders pulled their own immigration bill in the face of a conservative revolt, apparently worked up not just tempers, but appetites, too.

Although their party wants to shore up security on the Mexican border, some House Republicans seem perfectly okay with culinary imports, at least: Just hours after word went out that the bill had been yanked from the floor, a group of House Republicans were spotted dining at a Pacifico Cantina, a popular Mexican restaurant along Barracks Row on Capitol Hill.

The party, which included Reps. Renee Ellmers (N.C.), John Runyan (N.J), and Jaimie Herrera Buetler (Wash.), seemed in good spirits, a fellow diner said. Tortilla chips and beer were spotted headed in the direction of their table.

Sandy Rios Wants To Impeach Obama For Something That Bush Did

Sandy Rios of the American Family Association spent today criticizing the Obama administration for pushing the narrative that House Republicans may try to impeach President Obama, while at the same time insisting that Republicans should seriously consider impeaching the president.

Upset that Fox News host Andrea Tantaros came out against impeachment, Rios cited the release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abu Sufian bin Qumu, who was later implicated in the 2012 Benghazi attack, as proof that Obama is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Qumu, however was released in 2007, two years before Obama took office.

Bush released over 500 Guantanamo Bay detainees, with a thirty percent recidivism rate.

Rios lashed out at Republicans who want to dismiss the impeachment question, comparing it to the birther issue and arguing that they are treating impeachment advocates like they have cooties: “The so-called mainstream Republicans are bending over backwards to vilify conservatives, it’s almost like the birther incident, it’s like people who are now discussing impeachment and whether the president has committed those crimes, now they are going to have cooties, we will have to think of a word for people who say that, ‘impeachables,’ I’m not sure what you call people like me who actually think it should be seriously discussed.”

Rep. Jared Polis Preparing Discharge Petition For ENDA?

Democratic House Representative Jared Polis is preparing to initiate a discharge petition for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, according to the Washington Blade. A discharge petition, in short, is a means of bringing a bill directly to the floor without consideration from committee or direct input from the House leadership. Considering Speaker John Boehner’s steadfast refusal to allow discussion of ENDA, a discharge petition could be one of the few remaining opportunities to introduce the legislation.

Polis, ENDA’s chief sponsor, has filed two new resolutions that would open ENDA up for House floor consideration. The second of Polis’s resolutions, H.Res.678, comes in light of widespread backlash from LGBT organizations as they dropped support for ENDA’s religious exemption clause.

H.Res.678 would bring a version of ENDA to the floor with an exemption clause modeled after that written into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Though Polis’s logic is political logic is sound, the process of actually enacting a discharge petition is fraught with logistical difficulties. From the Washington Blade:

To start a discharge petition on a bill, 30 legislative days must have passed since the legislation was referred to committee. In this case, the Senate-passed version of ENDA was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on January 8, 2014.

Additionally, seven legislative days must have passed since a resolution to consider the legislation was referred to the Rules Committee. As such, the process for collecting signatures a discharge petition on the Senate-passed could begin at any time in the House, but the same process for a discharge petition for a bill with an amended religious exemption couldn’t begin until July 31.

Polis’s plans directly mirror allusions made by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last fall after Boehner first blocked ENDA, which at the time was backed by almost 200 members of the House.

“I would think it would be ‘once burned, twice learned,’ and that they would, shall we say, save some time by taking it right to our committee and to the floor,” Pelosi lamented at the time. “Ending discrimination is what we are all about as Americans, and we should not have discrimination in the workplace because of gender identity.”

GOP House to no longer disclose lavish foreign trips paid by special interests

In a stunning reversal after three decades of public reporting, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives will no longer require members of Congress to disclose lavish foreign trips paid for by special interests.

For three decades, the House has publicly disclosed such travel. That rule has now changed under John Boehner, according to a report from National Journal.

This news comes as Congress reportedly took more free trips last year than it has since the Abramoff days, with 1,187 gift-trips at a cost of $6 million.

National Journal ads that while lobbyists have not been able to sponsor these trips since 2007, the groups who do sponsor them are “tied closely” to lobbyists.

Only the little people pay for their own
 foreign travel.

Perhaps it’s time someone asked Aaron Schock who’s footing the bill for his seemingly endless jaunts around the country and world. And in fact, I just downloaded the last reports, before they got banned byBoehner, and Aaron Schock got a trip to India paid for by special interests last year, and trips to Cuba and Turkey paid for in 2012, Spain in 2011, Ethiopia in 2010, and Israel in 2009.

And Schock is a relatively junior member. Imagine what the big boys and girls get.

If you have some time to kill, head over to the US House Web siteand check out who’s been getting free travel to where. When you look at the records, keep in mind that the first name is the person who traveled, and the second name is the office they’re with. So for members of Congress, you want both names to be their name.

Understandably, Melanie Sloan over at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) was less than thrilled:

“Removing the travel disclosure requirement from the annual disclosure form is a blatant attempt to avoid accountability. The only Americans who would possibly be in favor of this change are members of Congress. It seems some lawmakers are eager to enjoy privately funded lavish trips without facing pesky questions from watchdog groups and constituents. The idea that this is a change for efficiency’s sake is ludicrous.”

On Tuesday, the House Republican leadership formally announced it’s chosen Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to lead the latest in a series of Benghazi committee investigations. On Wednesday, Gowdy made a “telling slip.”

Asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough about the possibility that his panel’s work would continue into the 2016 election campaign, Gowdy replied that “if an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.”

 

A trial? And the Obama administration is the defense? So much for that “serious investigation” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised; his new chairman intends to play prosecutor, proving the administration’s guilt to the jury – in this case, the public.

It was no small admission. Publicly, GOP leaders insist their election-year charade is actually a credible search for the facts, wherever they may lead. They’re going into this process, not on a partisan witch hunt, but as responsible public officials. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) assured reporters this week that this is going to be “a serious investigation.”

 

Except Gowdy accidentally told the truth on national television – he’s already convinced, before the process even starts, that the White House is guilty of wrongdoing, and the far-right congressman believes it’s his job to prosecute administration officials.

 

In other words, Gowdy effectively admitted that everything his own party is saying about the select committee is wrong.