Jack Kingston

More than two weeks after Republicans offered a resolution condeming MoveOn.org’s personal attack on General Petraeus, the House has finally decided to act.

Today, as part of a motion to recommit on the continuing resolution, the House “condemned in the strongest possible terms the personal attacks made by the advocacy group MoveOn.org impugning the integrity and professionalism of General David H. Petraeus.”

The ad ran on the same day that General Petraeus was scheduled to testify before Congress and MoveOn received a discounted rate from the New York Times. The paper later admitted that it made a mistake by giving the discount to the group.

Last night, Jack addressed the House during the debate on HR 976, the “Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007″.

In his remarks, Jack points out that Democrat leadership stifled the minority’s ability to offer an alternative plan.  In addition, the Democrat plan expands the program to cover adults and includes a massive tax increase that, in order to cover the increased cost of SCHIP, would require an additional 22 million smokers in the United States.

The bill passed but is expected to garner a veto from President Bush.

To view a clip of Jack’s remarks, click below:

Watch Video

Iranian President (and terrorist sponsor) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to visit Columbia University today for a question and answer session with teachers and students. Columbia President Lee Bollinger argues the event is part of the university’s tradition of serving as a “major forum for robust debate” and that Ahmadinejad has agreed to answer questions about the Holocaust and Israel. He has in the past called the Holocaust a myth as well as called for the destruction of Israel.

President Bollinger’s ‘forum’ will do only one thing: allow Ahmadinejad the opportunity to continue to spread his hate mongering. Does Columbia somehow think otherwise? It’s worth noting that on the same day Ahmadinejad is allowed a forum to speak freely, his government is moving to deny the Iranian people their own forum to express their views.

And as for Columbia’s whole “robust forum” argument; well, it would have more sincerity to it if this wasn’t the same university who denies ROTC a place on campus. So much for that tradition….

During my time as a Capitol Hill staffer, there is one thing I’ve noticed that Congress does best and that’s inflating problems in order to ‘fix them’ in a hurry with total disregard for reality. Case in point: H. R. 811, an election reform bill. It requires all states by November 2008 to have some type of paper trail on votes cast.

No one can deny that there have been close elections in the 21st Century. And no one will argue with the principle that every vote should be accounted for and accounted for correctly - it’s the cornerstone of our democratic society. But now Democrats - the party who “just can’t win” in Florida - are trying to make sweeping changes with absolute indifference to the opinions of those who actually run the elections. And they are doing this through H.R. 811, a bill which has the misnomer, ‘Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007′.

It has become standard in the 110th Congress for the federal government to believe they know best, but I happen to disagree. Just like education and spending, those on the ground working in the area are the experts. All politics, indeed is local.

Knowing and acknowledging this, Jack made the decision back in May to send letters to county election officials when this bill first started picking up steam. Just as in Washington, it’s a rare event when you can get the majority of a diverse body to agree with something. So when you do, it’s probably worth listening. And boy did we hear. None of the counties objected to the creation of paper receipts. They are all supportive of achieving full and complete voter confidence when individuals exercise their constitutional right to vote.

But the bottom line is that the requirements of this bill are both unworkable and unreasonable for Georgia. Among its many problems? It establishes a completely unworkable deadline, requiring implementation by the 2008 Presidential election. Additionally, it is an unfunded mandate. Finally, it sets impractical technical specifications that may even disallow the use of touch-screen voting machines already in use in Georgia. Oh, and what happened to states’ rights regarding elections?

True election reform comes from concerned citizens working to enact change on the state level. We should all be working with such citizens instead of opposing Washington’s usual sweeping one-size-fits-all mandates. Because after all, these citizens know best.

You can check out all the details HERE.

Today the Air Force celebrates their 60th anniversary and Jack entered his comments into the Congressional Record. Here are some excerpts:

Sixty years ago, President Harry Truman, through the National Security Act of 1947, created the United States Air Force. Creating a separate Air Force allowed our brave service men and women to fully concentrate on honing the skills and pushing the ever-expanding envelope of airpower.

In Georgia Today we have Air National Guard and/or Air Force Reserve units at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Robins Air Force Base, Savannah, Macon and Brunswick as well as active-dtuy units at Moody Air Force Base.

And whether it is C-130s from the 165th Airlift Wing or men and women from the 117th Air Control Squardron which just won the 2007 Outstanding Air Control Squadron award from the National Guard Association of the United States; each of Georgia’s units and the outstanding men and women who serve in them contribute around the world in the War on Terror.

They also provide a formidable force in the face of disaster here at home, as was evident in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when rescue helicopters from Moody teamed up with other Air Force rescue units to save more than 4,300 people from the disastrous and deadly storm.

Today we mark the Air Force’s 60th anniversary in order to reflect on its heroes of the past, and more importantly, to recognize the courage and sacrifice our Airmen and their families make each and every day for our freedom. Quite simply, I salute you.

The El Paso Times is reporting that 12 workers at Fort Bliss are being detained for being in the country illegally after military police and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents interviewed hundreds of workers at a housing construction site on the base. This is not the first time illegal aliens have been found working at a military base.

As you know, Jack has introduced amendments on several spending bills that would require any company wishing to do business with the federal government to participate in the Employment Eligibility Verfication system. This would allow companies to check if their employees are in the country illegally. And last month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a “no-match” regulation to help employers ensure that their workers are legal.

In case you missed it, MoveOn.org is running a full page ad in the New York Times referring to General Petraeus as “General Betray Us”. Just a reminder that this is decorated military commander who is on his fourth duty of Iraq and was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their latest numbers today which show that the unemployment rate remains at a very low 4.6 percent. The country has experienced 47 straight months of job growth and 8.2 million jobs have now been created since August 2003.

How you might ask? Cutting taxes and controlling spending. Now if only the Democrats could figure that out.

With the Dems already dissing the Petraeus Report before its even been given, why don’t we, oh I don’t know, actually listen to what the General actually has to say? You can read his assessment of the troop surge HERE.