Jack joined with 104 other House Republicans today in calling on President Obama to end his support for the so-called “Freedom of Choice” Act which would overturn hundreds of state laws nationwide protecting the sanctity of unborn human life. To read a copy of the letter, click here.
Jack, along with Congressmen Elton Gallegly, Ken Calvert, and Brian Bilbray sent a letter today to President Obama calling on him to immediately implement Executive Order 12989 which President Bush issued in June 2008. The order, which was set to take effect on January 15, would require all federal contractors to participate in E-Verify, a program that would allow them to easily ensure that all their employers are legal workers. The Department of Homeland Security, in the face of a lawsuit brought forth by five industry associations, has halted implementation.
As Congress debates a near-trillion dollar make-work “stimulus” package and millions of Americans are unemployed, we cannot allow the taxpayers to employ illegal workers. Companies that wish to do business with this government must abide by the regulations put forth by this government.
To read the full text of the letter, click here.
After a successful experiment last year, President Bush announced today that he would again open “Thanksgiving Express Lanes” and that the program would be expanded. From a White House fact sheet:
Today, President Bush visited the Department of Transportation (DOT) and discussed measures to improve air travel, both during the upcoming holiday season and in the future, and highlighted his Administration’s transportation safety record. Over the holidays, millions of Americans will take to the roads, railways, and skies to visit loved ones. For too many travelers, though, it means long delays, cancellations, and lost bags. Today the President announced new measures that bolster the Administration’s those problems.
- This year, the military is expanding “Thanksgiving Express Lanes” to areas of the Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast, including the skies over Phoenix and Los Angeles. As they did last Thanksgiving, the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense will make military airspace available for use by civilian airliners over the holiday season – but this year even more airspace will be open, and it will be available for a longer period of time.
- The Administration has also launched an unprecedented effort to reduce air congestion by boosting flight capacity at some of America’s busiest airports. DOT has completed 13 major airport improvement projects, including 11 new runways. This week, three more runways (for a total of 14 during this Administration) will open at Seattle-Tacoma, Washington-Dulles, and Chicago-O’Hare.
- The Administration is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration to make more staff available to speed up check-in and boarding and to help passengers affected by cancellations and delays.
- DOT has completed new regulations that provide increased protections for consumers. Recent actions include requiring airlines to provide greater compensation for lost bags and imposing tougher penalties when airlines fail to notify travelers of hidden fees. We expect these new rules to take effect in December, in time for Christmas and the New Year.
The Federal Reserve has announced it’s cutting the interest rate by .25% making it 2%.
The full release is available here.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is threatening to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tomorrow over the Iraq-Niger uranium reference in the 2003 State of the Union Address. Not only has the State Department been fully compliant in all requests for information from the committee but Secretary Rice specifically addressed the issue at length in her confirmation process.
The fact is, there’s nothing left to be said. Unfortunately, the intelligence was misinformed and came from forged documents but the Department has been fully compliant in acknowledging this and being forthcoming. The problem is that this just isn’t enough for Chairman Waxman - he’s not interesting in just investigating the issue, he wants pictures and a press release to boot.
Maybe this should come as no surprise given the proclivity of the current Democrat leadership to seek only political whip checks and press rather than passing real legislation (see: everything they’ve done on Iraq). This time, however, they are going too far.
As Secretary of State, Dr. Rice has a busy schedule of doing the people’s business ahead of her. The Secretary had planned on going to Norway to participate in a NATO foreign ministers meeting to solidify support among the alliance for our ongoing efforts in Afghanistan. Speaker Pelosi herself calls our efforts there the “real war on terror” (link).
In addition, Secretary Rice has two trips to the Middle East on her schedule. One to Egypt for the Iraq Neighbors Conference for the “regional diplomacy” the Iraq Study Group brought in vogue. Then another to for talks with Israel and Palestine (perhaps Mr. Waxman is trying to avoid having his California cohort Pelosi upstaged in her attempt to work on the issue).
Secretary Rice also plans on a trip to Russia to discuss Iran and other pressing issues, hosting the foreign minister of Australia which has proven to be one of our most steadfast supporters in the war on terror, and continued diplomacy on North Korea.
For Mr. Waxman, his spot in the limelight is more important than Dr. Rice being permitted to do her job.
The Veep dropped by Fort Stewart today where he addressed about 10k troops from the Army’s 3rd ID and the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Combat Team. And, as expected, he was greeted by no less than six spirited “hooah’s” from the troops during his remarks. Jack was honored to welcome the Vice President back to Georgia’s First Congressional District.
And we’d like to point out to the folks responsible for transcripts in the White House that they may want to edit those “Whooa’s” to “Hooah’s.” However, we knew what they meant!
You can see more pictures from the event courtesy of The White House.
Everyone in the House is waiting to hear that the President has used his first veto on H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, a bill which passed the House in May 2005 and passed the Senate last night.
Congressman Kingston weighed in on why he does not support using federal funds to destroy human embryos last night. Here’s what Jack thinks of the expected veto from the President:
From today’s Washington Times:
Still, some Republicans saw an upside to the confrontation.
By actually using his veto, Mr. Bush is making sure he remains relevant in the legislative process, actually making it easier to veto bills in the future, said Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, who supports Mr. Bush’s position.
“If he doesn’t veto this, he’ll never be able to veto anything, and he’ll lose all of his bargaining chips and firepower at the bargaining table,” said Mr. Kingston said.
UPDATE (2:25 PM): The President has just announced his veto. The ball is in the House’s court. Any Member of the House can now motion to take up the veto, at which point we expect one hour of debate distributed between the majority and the minority. Then the House will vote. A “Yes” vote would be to overturn the President’s veto. FYI - the veto is expected to be sustained in the House and may not get the 2/3 vote necessary to overturn the veto.
UPDATE (2:30 PM): You can watch the President’s speech announcing the veto here.
UPDATE (2:40 PM): The House just received a “Message from the President of the United States in writing.” This debate should start soon. And here it is.
UPDATE (4:06 PM): The White House just sent around this talking points document.
UPDATE (4:16 PM): Just received this note from the Whip’s Office:
Following these votes, we expect to receive a veto message from the President and shortly thereafter begin up to one hour of debate on the question of Overriding the Veto on H.R. 810 - Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005.
UPDATE (5:02 PM): The Clerk just read the President’s veto. Majority Leader Boehner will control the debate. He has yielded the Democrats 30 minutes. Here we go…
UPDATE (5:09 PM): A big hat-tip to a certain Congressional staffer to pointing us to Tony Snow’s press briefing earlier today where he discusses the President’s reason for vetoing this legislation.
UPDATE (5:12 PM): Democrat Rep. Dianna DeGette of Colorado just said that she thinks that the President is confused about his role as President. Anyone agree with that?
UPDATE (6:34 PM): The House is now voting on the Veto Override of H.R. 810. The vote to Override the President’s Veto failed 235-193.
David Winston, a Republican pollster, has a great column running in today’s Roll Call (subscription needed) regarding America’s boiling economy.
Few presidents have had to face the kind of challenges — economic and otherwise — that have characterized the Bush presidency. Yet last week he could boast 18 consecutive quarters of economic growth with a 5.6 percent rate for the first quarter of this year. Those numbers translated last year into a 14.5 percent increase in tax revenues, to the tune of $274 billion, the largest revenue increase in 24 years. The administration expects an 11 percent increase this year.
Add to that the creation of more than 5.4 million new jobs in the past three years and a 4.6 percent unemployment rate, and Bush and Congressional Republicans have a good economic record to run on in November, one rooted in a lower tax philosophy. Clearly, Congressional Democrats, who have cried crocodile tears for months over the size of the deficit, have been itching for a fight over whether to make the president’s earlier tax cuts permanent.
And he concludes:
The economic numbers now are on Bush’s side. His economic policies are increasing tax revenues, bringing the deficit down and creating millions of jobs.
Through the leadership of Tony Snow, the President has launched a regional media strategy to help move his message beyond the Beltway Group Thinkers and in to the heartland.
Chicago was chosen because it is a regional hub, which the administration thought would be a good place to launch the on-the-road news conferences around the country, according to one political source close to the White House.
And of course, we are still hoping that this President will be the first President to reach out to the blogosphere by hosting a meeting or conference call with conservative bloggers. After all, the President would not only send a clear signal to conservatives that blogs are important, but he would get loads of MSM for doing so. Win-win?
After all, who out there thinks that Larry King Live is a more-friendly forum than an interview with Glenn or Hugh? And I know quite a few more people who will listen and respect Glenn and Hugh. It’s worth thinking about.
The new White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow, is taking media bias head on. Check out this article.
White House sources said Snow, who started on the job Monday and has yet to give his first public press briefing, is determined to aggressively counter what the administration considers unfair assertions in both news and editorials about Bush. At the same time, he is eager to make the notoriously secretive administration more accessible to the press.
WELCOME news!!
You may have recently read news reports that the U.S. Border Patrol has been tipping off the Mexican government about the whereabouts of the Minuteman patrol units.
When I heard this report - I was floored - would the United States Border Patrol actually work against their own mission to help control the borders?
To help get to the bottom of that issue, a few of my colleagues and I will send a letter to the top brass at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Here’s the text of the letter:
May 11, 2006
Ms. Deborah J. Spero, Acting Commissioner
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Department of Homeland Security
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20229
Dear Ms. Spero,
According to recent reports, the United States Border Patrol has provided the Mexican government with surveillance information about the location of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. If true, these allegations are troubling as its only result could be to aid illegal immigration and put at risk law-abiding American citizens.
The Minuteman Project has peacefully contributed to the mutual goal of controlling our borders to prevent illegal immigration and criminal activity.
What troubles us is that the Mexican government itself has very strict laws against illegal immigration. In fact, Article 16 of the Mexican Constitution gives Mexican citizens the right to make citizen’s arrests stating, In cases of flagrante delicto, any person may arrest the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities. In other words, Mexico grants its citizens the right to arrest illegal aliens and hand them over to police for prosecution.
We are familiar with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s statement (05/09/2006) responding to this allegation. However, it is our opinion that this press release falls short of clarifying this situation fully which could put American lives at risk.
In order to better understand the U.S. Border Patrol’s role in this issue, we respectfully ask that your agency fully investigate the allegation and report your findings back to us.
Thank you for your immediate consideration to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Jack Kingston
John Doolittle
Marsha Blackburn
Ric Keller
UPDATE (3:17 PM): This rumor has been proven false. We’ll keep plugging.
Folks - we’re hearing whispers that a senior Administration official may announce a temporary suspension of the 54-cents-a-gallon ethanol import tariff as soon as this afternoon.
Congressman Kingston was one of the first to recommend (HR4409, Section 303) that we need to permanently drop ALL import tariff’s on fuel to help America realize its fuel independence. (BTW - HR4409 now has 72 cosponsors!)
He would strongly urge the Administration to move forward on this action item which would immediately help lower gas prices Americans are paying at the pump by allowing cheaper ethanol to flow in to the United States.
After all, if we don’t tax oil coming in from the Middle East, why are we taxing ethanol from Brazil?
Tonight, Congressman Kingston and about a dozen of his colleagues will send a letter to the President of the United States urging him to convene an emergency meeting with America’s oil companies to figure out how they can help lower gas prices at the pump.
Before it goes out to any other media outlets, we wanted to give our readers a sneak preview (after the jump).
As reported in today’s Washington Times:
Iran’s president said yesterday that his country “has joined the club of nuclear countries” by successfully enriching uranium for the first time — a key process in what Iran maintains is a peaceful energy program.
The announcement from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was certain to heighten international tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran stop all enrichment by April 28 because of suspicions the program is designed to make nuclear weapons.* * * * *
Uranium enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear energy reactor — which Iran says it seeks — or the material needed for an atomic warhead.
The official line out of the Administration:
The White House, which is pressing for U.N. sanctions against Iran, said the enrichment claims “show that Iran is moving in the wrong direction.”
“Defiant statements and actions only further isolate the regime from the rest of the world,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
UPDATE: Ace of Spades HQ weighs in.