Obama-Style Lawlessness: House Leadership A-OK With Illegals in Military

/0 Comments/in , /by

We should count our blessings when dealing with this Republican-controlled Congress. At least they did what some of us called on them to do and stripped out the provision from the NDAA (H.R. 4909) including women in mandatory registration for Selective Service. Unfortunately, they have, once again, failed to utilize the “must-pass” defense authorization bill as a vehicle to fight the broader social engineering and transformation of our military. It appears that this much-vaunted promise of an open amendment process only applies to banal “in the weeds” issues, not to some of the fundamental issues affecting the morale, security, and mission of the military.

One policy Obama has been using to promote his social transformation is opening up the military to illegal aliens he unilaterally amnestied through his DACA program. In September 2014, the Department of Defense announced a new policy allowing military recruiters to enlist illegal immigrants under the auspices of the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest, or MAVNI. This was a pilot program created in 2008 designed to recruit foreign nationals with special language skills, but the program was only opened to legal immigrants. These foreign nationals are then given citizenship in return for their service and are able to bypass the 10-year green card process. After just a few months, 43 illegals immigrants were accepted into the MAVNI program. Undoubtedly, more have enlisted over the past year.

The acceptance of DACA recipients into MAVNI was part of a broader push from the administration and allies in Congress to open up all military service to illegal immigrants at a time when soldiers are being let go in large numbers as a result of Obama’s drastic cuts to the military.

The NDAA was a perfect opportunity to explicitly block Obama’s DoD directive to open military positions to DACA recipients. Yet, rather than go on offense, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, at the behest of Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), inserted a provision into the bill (Section 597) expressing the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense has the discretion to authorize the enlistment of illegal aliens when it is “vital to the national interest.” This provision passed in committee by voice vote and Rep. Gallego declared it a “victory for Dreamers.” The pride of the nation, which protects our sovereignty and constitutional republic — was allowed to be used as a conduit to repudiate our rule of law.

In comes Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) last night to the House Rules Committee hearing where members teed up over 100 amendments to the NDAA. Gosar introduced an amendment to strike section 597 of the NDAA and affirm existing law explicitly barring illegal aliens from joining the military. Among all the small-ball amendments made in order last night, Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) did not approve the Gosar amendment.

It’s a shame that Thornberry and Sessions were not willing to stand up for the military and stop Obama from using it as a visa mill for lawlessness. Moreover, the presence of illegal aliens in the military represents a huge security risk. The Obama administration has approved almost every DACA application, and as Judicial Watch discovered in 2014, DHS ostensibly gutted all background checks for DACA applicants, including the requirement of a government issued photo ID. As of a year ago, 282 DACA recipients lost their status after being approved due to their affiliation with gangs.

Moreover, as Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), a co-sponsor of the Gosar amendment, observed, why would there be a need for illegal immigrants in the military when Obama is dramatically downsizing it? “At a time when we are drawing down our military forces, and unable to retain and promote the men and women who have so bravely served our country, it is irrational, demeaning and absurd to ask that we prioritize the DREAMers over our own service members,” said the Virginia congressman.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) likes to brag about his open amendment process, but that process is only truly open to either insignificant issues or bills that will never become law. As I noted during last year’s NDAA vote, Republicans have failed to use the defense bill to stop any area of social engineering, including the unilateral lifting of the ban on transgender individuals in the military, placing women into direct ground combat against the wishes of Marine commanders, and stifling religious freedom in the service. This has taken a toll on morale in the military. In addition to dealing with all the spending and procurement issues, Republicans should be using the NDAA to reverse the terrible polices Obama’s Pentagon has unilaterally foisted upon our military.

Conservatives should pick up the motto of the Army: “This We’ll Defend” and should defend the institution against lawlessness and demand that this amnesty provision be stripped from the defense bill before it receives a final vote on the floor.

“While we are disappointed by the decision to not make the amendment in order, we are actively pursuing other avenues to achieve the same policy objective,” said Gosar in a statement to Conservative Review. “We are confident that this amendment will ultimately receive a vote on the House floor in the near future.” (For more from the author of “Obama-Style Lawlessness: House Leadership A-OK With Illegals in Military” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Iran Is Demanding Reparations From US for 63 Years of ‘Spiritual and Material Damage’

/0 Comments/in , /by

Iran is demanding the U.S. pay for 63 years of “spiritual and material damage.” The Iranian parliament cited examples of U.S. “hostile action” towards Tehran such as alleged U.S. support for a 1953 military coup in Iran.

This claim is delusional. Iran is one of the leading state sponsors of terrorism and has a long history of inciting violence in the Middle East.

For instance, it’s known that in 2004 Iran flooded Iraq with improvised explosive devices, which took the lives of 500 soldiers and Marines.

Jim Phillips, The Heritage Foundation’s senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs, notes that:

This [move] is part of the current regime’s efforts to blame all of Iran’s problems on the U.S., which they denounce as the “Great Satan.”

The U.S. has always been a convenient scapegoat for Iranian leadership.

Phillips also notes that:

Iran has long been in denial about the fact that the 1953 coup was carried out by Iranians. Although the CIA helped them get organized to overthrow Mossadegh, the coup plotters were motivated by their own deep opposition to Mossadegh’s disastrous leadership.

Blaming the U.S. is a strategic win-win for Iran.

Iran’s vice president for parliamentary affairs said Iranian courts have ruled the United States owes $50 billion for hostile actions. Obviously, this isn’t really about “spiritual damage” inflicted on Iran.

Iran’s claim is in direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month demanding Iran hand over nearly $2 billion in frozen assets to the survivors and relatives of those killed in attacks that Iran organized, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241.

Shortly after the court ruling, Iranian President Rouhani said Tehran was preparing international legal action to recover the nearly $2 billion in frozen assets.

“We will not allow the United States to swallow this money so easily” he told a crowd of thousands.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Iran knows it’s in the power seat in the relationship with the Obama administration. This is because the White House is desperate to claim the Iranian nuclear deal as a positive legacy.

It seems President Obama is willing to go so far as to blur truth in order to accomplish a legacy item—just ask Ben Rhodes.

In the end Iran’s actions are purely a retaliatory move designed to flex its muscles, provoke the U.S., and test its limits. What’s most troubling is that the Obama administration will likely look the other way and allow continued Iranian aggression. (For more from the author of “Iran Is Demanding Reparations From US for 63 Years of ‘Spiritual and Material Damage'” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

73 House Republicans Sign Letter Demanding Answers on Obama’s Bathroom Directive

/0 Comments/in , /by

The largest conservative congressional caucus is calling into question the legality of President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom directive for schools.

Chairman Bill Flores, R-Texas, is encouraging Republican Study Committee members to sign on to a letter, pushing the Departments of Education and Justice to detail how, and on what authority, they plan to enforce the new guidelines.

“Americans are incensed by President Obama’s blatant executive overreach,” Flores said, citing the IRS controversy, Obamacare, and the Iranian nuclear agreement. “Now they are threatening school funding over an issue that should rightfully be left to the states. Their actions are politically motivated and Congress has every responsibility to challenge them.”

The effort is led by Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., who authored the letter.

In the letter, which is addressed to Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Education Secretary John King, lawmakers ask them to “explain why schools must disregard the privacy, ‘discomfort,’ and emotional strain imposed on other students during use of bathroom, showering, and changing facilities and overnight accommodations as these schools comply with this guidance.”

By Wednesday night, the letter, which will be sent Thursday, had attracted 73 signatures from GOP lawmakers. To date, it represents the most significant development from a Republican Congress that’s been reluctant to challenge Obama on the issue.

In a sweeping proclamation last Friday, the Obama administration instructed local schools to extend Title IX protections, which prohibit sex-based discrimination, to transgender students.

Walker told The Daily Signal that the RSC inquiry is designed to begin returning discretion over the issue to the municipal and state level.

Under the current guidelines, Walker described a situation where individual students, not parents and teachers, dictate rules “from one week to the next.”

“If a 17 year-old young man wants to go shower with the girls on the soccer team,” Walker said then under the new guidelines, “he’s allowed to do that because of his will or his gender fluidity for the week [he] can tell the teacher ‘this [is] what I’m feeling, this is where I’m at’ and she has no recourse to step in.”

How Will the Guidelines Be Enforced?

The Obama directive has been widely interpreted as suggesting schools must comply with the bathroom proposal or potentially lose federal funding.

The letter asks the administration to detail what actions the departments would take against “a teacher, school administrator, educator, school contractor, or person volunteering at a school who does not comply with this guidance.”

What Legal Authority Does the Administration Have to Change Rules?

While the bathroom directive caught Republicans off guard, The New York Times reports that the Obama administration had been working on the new guidelines for months.

Walker argues that any change to Title IX requires an act of Congress. “The whole starting place, the foundation of this [letter],” he told The Daily Signal, “is basically to remind [the Obama administration] that they don’t have the jurisdiction to begin this in the first place.”

The letter orders the departments to “delineate the statutory authority under which the ED and DOJ issued this guidance,” and to confirm whether or not they consider the directive as legally binding.

Will Conscience Rights Be Recognized and Accommodated?

The letter pushes the Obama administration to detail whether or not exceptions to the new rules will be afforded to individuals and school administrations.

“Detail whether the ED and DOJ will recognize or accommodate rights of conscience and privacy in an individual’s or institution’s non-compliance with this guidance,” the letter states.

The lawmakers asked the Education and Justice Departments to respond by May 23. (For more from the author of “73 House Republicans Sign Letter Demanding Answers on Obama’s Bathroom Directive” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Classified Details of Iran’s Treatment of U.S. Sailors Will Shock Nation

/0 Comments/in , /by

The classified details behind Iran’s treatment of several U.S. sailors who were captured by the Islamic Republic during a tense standoff earlier this year are likely to shock the nation, according to one member of the House Armed Services Committee, who disclosed to the Washington Free Beacon that these details are currently being withheld by the Obama administration.

Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.) told the Free Beacon in an interview that the Obama administration is still keeping details of the maritime incident under wraps. It could be a year or longer before the American public receives a full accounting of the incident, in which several U.S. sailors were abducted at gunpoint by the Iranian military.

“I’ve had a full classified briefing” from military officials, Forbes told the Free Beacon. “It could be as long as a year before we actually get that released.”

Details of the abduction are likely to start an uproar in the nation and call into question the Obama administration’s handling of the incident, which many experts say violated international and maritime law.

“I think that when the details actually come out, most Americans are going to be kind of taken aback by the entire incident, both how Iran handled it and how we handled it,” Forbes disclosed. “I think that’s going to be huge cause for concern for most Americans. That’s why I’ve encouraged members of Congress to get that briefing so they do know exactly what did take place.” (Read more from “Classified Details of Iran’s Treatment of U.S. Sailors Will Shock Nation” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

GENTLEMEN, START YOUR SHREDDERS! Schedule of Depositions Revealed in Clinton Email Scandal

/0 Comments/in , /by

Judicial Watch announced today that it has scheduled the depositions of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, as well as top State Department official Patrick Kennedy, and former State IT employee Bryan Pagliano regarding the creation and operation of Clinton’s non-government email system. The first witness, Lewis A. Lukens, will be deposed on Wednesday, May 18.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted “discovery” to Judicial Watch into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email system. The court noted that “based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary.” The discovery arises in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Clinton. The lawsuit, which seeks records regarding the authorization for Abedin to engage in outside employment while employed by the Department of State, was reopened because of revelations about the clintonemail.com system (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)).

The Clinton email witnesses are scheduled to be deposed by Judicial Watch attorneys for as long as seven hours:

May 18 – Lewis A. Lukens, deputy assistant secretary of state and executive director of the State Department’s Executive Secretariat from 2008 to 2011, who emailed with Patrick Kennedy and Cheryl Mills about setting up a computer for Clinton to check her clintonemail.com email account.

May 27 – Cheryl D. Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff throughout her four years as secretary of state.

June 3 – Stephen D. Mull, executive secretary of the State Department from June 2009 to October 2012, who suggested that Clinton be issued a State Department BlackBerry, which would protect her identity and would also be subject to FOIA requests.

June 6 – Bryan Pagliano, State Department Schedule C employee who has been reported to have serviced and maintained the server that hosted the “clintonemail.com” system during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

June 8 – 30(b)(6) deposition(s) of the State Department regarding the processing of FOIA requests, including Judicial Watch’s FOIA request, for emails of Clinton and Abedin both during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state and after.

June 28 – Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and a senior advisor to Clinton throughout her four years as secretary of state and also had an email account on clintonemail.com.

June 29 – Patrick F. Kennedy, undersecretary for management since 2007 and the secretary of state’s principal advisor on management issues, including technology and information services.

In a separate FOIA lawsuit concerning Hillary Clinton and the Benghazi terrorist attack, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled Judicial Watch can conduct discovery into the email practices of Clinton and her top aides. Judge Lamberth ordered Judicial Watch to follow up with his court once Judge Sullivan issued his discovery order:

When Judge Sullivan issues a discovery order, the plaintiff shall — within ten days thereafter–file its specific proposed order detailing what additional proposed discovery, tailored to this case, it seeks to have this Court order. Defendant shall respond ten days after plaintiff’s submission.

Judicial Watch filed its discovery plan yesterday with Judge Lamberth.

“This court-order testimony could finally reveal new truths about how Hillary Clinton and the Obama State Department subverted the Freedom of the Information Act,” stated Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. (For more from the author of “GENTLEMEN, START YOUR SHREDDERS! Schedule of Depositions Revealed in Clinton Email Scandal” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Senate Approves First Openly Gay Army Secretary

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Senate approved Eric Fanning to lead the Army on Tuesday, giving the military branch its first openly gay secretary.

The Senate confirmed Fanning by unanimous consent after his nomination had been held in limbo for months because of a fight over the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) said Tuesday that he had dropped his hold on Fanning’s nomination because the “clock has run out” for the president to move Guantánamo Bay detainees into the United States . . .

Fanning was previously the acting secretary and undersecretary of the Air Force. The Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), approved Fanning’s nomination in March, and Roberts blocked McCain from bringing up Fanning’s nomination last month.

McCain thanked Roberts for lifting his hold and praised his work on the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act, which largely holds the line on current Guantanamo Bay restrictions. (Read more from “Senate Approves First Openly Gay Army Secretary” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

U.S. Judge Strikes Down D.C. Concealed-Carry Gun Law as Probably Unconstitutional

/0 Comments/in , /by

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a key provision of the District’s new gun law is probably unconstitutional, ordering D.C. police to stop requiring individuals to show “good reason” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm on the streets of the nation’s capital.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon found that the law violates the “core right of self-defense” granted in the Second Amendment, setting aside arguments from District officials that the regulation is needed to prevent crime and protect the public.

“The enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table,” Leon wrote in a 46-page opinion, quoting a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in 2008 in another District case that established a constitutional right to keep firearms inside one’s home . . .

Leon’s opinion reignited a running debate over the Second Amendment in the District and its courts; three different judges have come to different conclusions about the law, and gun rights advocates have made the city a main front in battles over gun-control measures. (Read more from “U.S. Judge Strikes Down D.C. Concealed-Carry Gun Law as Probably Unconstitutional” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

NY Giants’ Rashad Jennings: ‘The Moral Landscape of This World Is Quickly Declining’ [+video]

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Melanie Hunter. In a commencement speech at Liberty University, a private Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings said Saturday that the “moral landscape of this world is quickly declining” and graduates will be “tested to have patience with Christ-like tolerance.”

Jennings said graduates are entering a different world than he did when he received his degree at Liberty.

“The moral landscape of this world is quickly declining. Throughout life, you will be tested to hold your biblical truth. You will be tested to have patience with Christ-like tolerance, and you will be tested to hold your spiritual fortitude and your convictions by the remembrance that it is by and for a Holy God that you stand or fall, and he can make you stand,” Jennings said.

The best is yet to come for Liberty graduates, but to experience the best days, “you must realize and remind yourself of the vital importance of walking by faith, for if you try to navigate this life by mere human sight, you will miss out on the many ways that God is seeking to lavish grace upon you,”

“Yet keep in mind that faith does not come without cost. In fact, the first three letters of the word faith are the exact same first three letters of another word that you will not be able to avoid. That word is failure,” Jennings said. (Read more from “NY Giants’ Rashad Jennings: ‘The Moral Landscape of This World Is Quickly Declining'” HERE)

_____________________________________

Vatican Cardinal Rebukes ‘Demonic’ Attacks on Family at Washington Breakfast

By Claire Chretien. Cardinal Robert Sarah slammed gender ideology, same-sex “marriage,” and transgender bathroom policies at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, describing them all as demonic attacks on humanity.

Sarah, the prefect for the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Sacraments, was the keynote speaker at the annual prayer breakfast, where he joined Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Sister Constance Veit, the director of communications for the Little Sisters of the Poor. Numerous Catholic bishops and members of Congress, including Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, were in attendance.

“The battle to preserve the roots of mankind is perhaps the greatest challenge our world has faced since its origins,” Sarah told the crowd of nearly a thousand people. Catholics should follow the “courageous” example of St. John the Baptist, a martyr for the sanctity of marriage, Sarah said.

“Do not be afraid to proclaim the truth with love, especially about marriage according to God’s plans,” said Sarah. “In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, ‘proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.’”

Sarah blasted gender ideology as “ideological colonization” and lamented the “insidious” dismantling of religious freedom in the United States. (Read more from “Vatican Cardinal Rebukes ‘Demonic’ Attacks on Family at Washington Breakfast” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

6 Facts Highlight Why We Need to Rebuild Our Military

/0 Comments/in , /by

The U.S. military seems to be breaking. Senior military leaders have made dire statements before Congress, and story after story is revealing the potentially deadly challenges facing our men and women in uniform.

As Congress considers the annual defense authorization bill, here are six clear, real-world examples of why Congress needs to use the defense bill to start rebuilding the U.S. military.

1. The Marine Corps is pulling parts off of museum planes to keep their F-18s flying. Even with that drastic action, only about 30 percent of their F-18s are ready to fly. Not only that, but instead of getting 25 or 30 hours a month in the cockpit, Marine Corps pilots are getting as little as four hours per month of flying time.

2. Only one-third of Army brigades are ready for combat. The Army has now fallen to the smallest level since before World War II, while the top Army general says that the Army would face “high military risk” if it were to fight a serious war.

3. The Air Force is cannibalizing parts from some F-16’s to keep other F-16’s flying and is pulling parts off museum planes to keep their B-1 bombers flying. And half of Air Force squadrons are not prepared for serious combat.

4. The Navy keeps extending deployments of its ships, but still doesn’t have enough to meet demand. While the Navy needs about 350 ships, today it only has 273.

5. Serious crashes of Marine Corps planes and helicopters are nearly double the 10-year average.

6. The Air Force’s B-52 bombers are an average of 53 years old. Most Americans would not want to drive across the country in a 53-year-old car, let alone go to combat in a 53-year-old airplane.

These six facts show the consequences of cutting the national defense budget by 25 percent over the last five years.

At the same time, threats are growing. Russia has invaded Ukraine and threatens more. China is building illegal islands. Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon and North Korea already has one. And we also face the real threat of terrorism and the growing threat of cyberattacks.

The bottom line is that Congress needs to start rebuilding the U.S. military. We can’t let this go much further. (For more from the author of “6 Facts Highlight Why We Need to Rebuild Our Military” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

3 Ways Conservative Lawmakers Could Respond to Obama’s Bathroom Directive

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Obama administration’s bathroom directive, ordering local school districts to allow transgender students to use the restrooms of their choice, has caught congressional Republicans off guard.

The response has been a mix of pessimism, frustration, and a call for the states to defy the directive at the local level.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., ventured into the fray Tuesday with a strongly worded letter to Department of Education Secretary John King Jr. Lankford wrote that the department’s directive “conflates an individual’s gender identity with the widely accepted and longstanding understanding of sex without support in Title IX.”

The new guidelines, released Friday by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, instruct local schools to extend Title IX protections, which prohibit sex-based discrimination, to transgender students.

The Oklahoma senator slammed King for advancing “substantive and binding regulatory policies” that didn’t go through the regular rule-making process or through an act of Congress.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, decried the directive and told The Daily Signal that “Obama has again abused his executive authority to disrupt the lives of millions of Americans.”

The bathroom directive, Lee said, underscores the need for reforms that “would defang the Department of Education.” But an aide to the senator noted that there were “no immediate plans” to advance reform.

Republican leadership has not tangled with the administration over the issue directly. Instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has maintained that states, not the federal government, should take point in crafting policies that best address the issue at the local level.

A Ryan aide told The Daily Signal that the speaker “believes this is a state and local issue and the federal government should respect that.” When asked if Ryan planned to offer a rebuttal, the aide predicted the speaker would let any legislative fix work its way through the committee process.

Ryan’s counterpart in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has remained quiet on the issue and didn’t respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

1. Push States to Ignore Obama’s Directive

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., advised states and local school districts “to just disregard the president’s directive.”

“It’s not a rule,” the Freedom Caucus board member told The Daily Signal. The administration “hasn’t gone through the rule-making process because it’d have to come through our [congressional] oversight. You would actually have to change a rule for it to have the effect of law.”

Many conservatives in both the House and the Senate see the bathroom battle as a conflict best suited to the terrain at the state level. Asked what recourse public schools have now, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said he couldn’t “imagine what it is.”

“I would love to see some local school districts, mine included, just say ‘No, we’re not going to do it,’” Mulvaney, who is also a Freedom Caucus board member, said. “If that means having to figure out how to do without federal funds, then God bless them. You have to fight at some point and Congress is not showing the ability to fight back during this administration.”

While President Barack Obama’s directive does not carry the force of law, it’s been widely received as a veiled threat to local districts: comply or lose federal funds.

2. Clarify What Title IX Means

Heritage Foundation scholar Ryan Anderson explained that Congress could clarify federal law to stop what he considers “the Obama administration’s unlawful rewriting of Title IX.”

That would require the legislature, he said, to “reaffirm that ‘sex’ does not mean ‘gender-identity’ in statutes passed decades ago.”

3. A Voucher System

But there is some discussion in conservative circles about a potential fix—albeit a long-term one.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., imagines a voucher system specifically for families who have concerns with social issues.

“For any school that accepts federal funds, and the strings that come attached,” Lummis told The Daily Signal, “the families who send their children to those public schools should be able to receive a voucher to go to the school of their choice if any matter of social mores is inconsistent with their realm.”

The Wyoming lawmaker aims, she said, to introduce the plan as a standalone measure and gauge how much bipartisan support it attracts this year. As a standalone bill, that plan faces an uphill trek to passage in the current political climate.

What’s Next

Mulvaney interprets Republican leadership’s silence as a reluctance to challenge Obama on the issue through the legislative process. That would require tying a bill to a must-pass piece of legislation, Mulvaney said, and risking a government shutdown.

“We all know that there’s too many Republicans who just abhor the thought of any discussion of a shutdown during an election year,” he said, “so we won’t fight.” (For more from the author of “3 Ways Conservative Lawmakers Could Respond to Obama’s Bathroom Directive” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.