At a recent House Rules committee hearing, one of my colleagues from New York declared that the potholes in her district are so bad, “you can lose your car in them.” Kentuckians and Americans from all over the country agree. It is long past time that something was done to address the deplorable state of the highways and infrastructure in this country.
That is why I recently introduced the “Developing Roadway Infrastructure for a Vibrant Economy Act.” The DRIVE Act (H.R. 1461) would ensure that money in the Highway Trust Fund is actually spent on highways. Common sense would lead most people to believe that the gas tax revenue that funds the Highway Trust Fund should be spent specifically on highways, roads and bridges. However, when it comes to the operations of Congress and the federal government, common sense is uncommon.
Many Americans are unaware that gas tax revenue is regularly diverted from the federal Highway Trust Fund for such things as bike paths, sidewalks, mass transit and other purely local projects. This must end. Inflation and vehicle fuel efficiency have drained the fund so that it no longer generates enough revenue to pay for all the improvements necessary to ensure that our highways and bridges are safe and adequately maintained.
Each year, approximately $9 billion in the Highway Trust Fund goes to the Mass Transit Account, which funds local public transportation projects, including subways, light rail, buses and streetcars. Current federal law also allows the money in this trust fund to go toward sidewalks and bike paths. While I recognize the value of sidewalks and buses, taxing gasoline and routing that money through Washington is not the way to fund these inherently local projects.
Congress continually attempts to solve the problem with temporary “patches.” For example, in July 2014, Congress transferred $10 billion in tax revenue from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund to keep it solvent. Just last month, we again voted to temporarily patch the Trust Fund. This “patch” only lasts 60 days, though, ensuring that in two months, Congress will again be forced to deal with a manufactured emergency. As with most of these so-called emergencies that we regularly face in Congress, this one could be avoided if members would get their priorities straight and realize the urgency of a long-term solution for our deteriorating roads and bridges. (Read more from “Rep. Massie’s Novel, Common Sense Bill: Use all the Billions the Feds Collect For Roads and Highways … On Roads and Highways” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-18 03:59:022016-04-11 10:59:53Rep. Massie’s Novel, Common Sense Bill: Use all the Billions the Feds Collect For Roads and Highways … On Roads and Highways [+video]
A few congressmen are fighting to block the planned importation of thousands of Syrian refugees into American cities and towns, arguing that they present a grave security risk because many Syrians have ties to the Sunni rebel groups ISIS and al-Nusra Front.
But the fact is, as President Obama ignores the concerns of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and others on the House Homeland Security Committee, the Syrians have already started to arrive stateside.
Since January, more than 70 U.S. cities have been on the receiving end of a Syrian visitation.
WND has compiled a complete list of cities (see chart below) that received Syrian refugees since Jan. 1. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has as many as 11,000 Syrians in a pipeline waiting for admission into the U.S., which is responsible for screening them for criminal and terrorist activity . . .
McCaul has tried to block the arrival of the Syrians based on testimony from FBI counter-terrorism experts. As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, he held a hearing on the national security risks of the Syrian refugee program in February and has scheduled a second hearing for June 24. He’s also sent two letters to Obama, urging him not to let the U.N. refugee program become a “jihadist pipeline” into the United States. (Read more from “Imported Muslims Are Now Arriving in These US Cities” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-18 03:58:342016-04-11 10:59:54Imported Muslims Are Now Arriving in These US Cities
Republican leaders will try to resurrect the trade deal Democrats sank less than a week ago, planning a revote today and insisting they will corral enough votes to approve fast-track negotiating powers that President Obama needs to complete a legacy-building Pacific Rim agreement.
Mr. Obama met Wednesday afternoon with Democratic lawmakers who support free trade to make sure they will vote for the plan, and House Republican leaders began the process of forcing a revote on powers known as Trade Promotion Authority, which is favored in their party, and Trade Adjustment Assistance, which is generally a Democratic priority.
Democrats last week voted against Trade Adjustment Assistance as a way of poisoning the package, so Republican leaders have decided to split the bill and pass Trade Promotion Authority first, then leave it to Mr. Obama to rally enough Democrats to pass Trade Adjustment Assistance.
“We are committed to ensuring both TPA and TAA get votes in the House and Senate and are sent to the president for signature,” said a joint statement by House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, rejecting claims that the issue was dead.
The plan came together quickly Wednesday. It offers Mr. Obama a chance to recover from the embarrassing defeat Friday when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, led the opposition to Trade Adjustment Assistance, sinking the deal just hours after the president made a trip to the Capitol to plead personally for support. (Read more from “GOP Leaders Vow to Resurrect Obama Trade Deal” HERE)
Billionaire real estate magnate and celebrity Donald Trump has toyed with the idea of running for president since 2000, but this time he’s really taking the plunge. Sporting his famous comb-over, Trump announced he was joining the crowded GOP field this week from one of his skyscrapers, the 68-story Trump Tower in Manhattan. With a theme of “Make America Great Again,” his speech was, by turns, Reaganesque and full of Trump’s typical over-the-top statements. He declared if elected president, “I would build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”
He said he would immediately repeal Obama’s executive orders on immigration and Obamacare. He emphasized job creation, and said no one would be tougher than him on ISIS: “Nobody will be pushing us around.” He said the current GOP field is made up of “clowns,” and that Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have made “**sses of themselves.”
Trump, age 69, becomes the 12th Republican candidate in the race. He was born in New York to wealthy parents and graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics. He worked for his father’s real estate development firm, eventually replacing his father at the helm. He expanded the business and took on larger building projects, buying dilapidated structures and turning them around.
His best known buildings are his Trump towers, which are located around the country in several cities. He hasn’t always been successful; four of his over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City have declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He has said about the bankruptcies, “It’s not personal. It’s just business.” His net worth in recent years has been estimated from $2.9 billion to $7 billion.
Trump hasn’t always been a Republican, and is still a bit of an odd fit due to his outlandish statements. In 1999, he left the GOP and joined New York’s Independence Party, the state’s version of the Reform Party. He explained, “I really believe the Republicans are just too crazy right.” In 2001, he registered as a Democrat for awhile. He contributes to the political campaigns of both Democrats and Republicans. He has explained his shifting back and forth, “I’m very much independent in that way. I go for the person, not necessarily the party. I mean, I vote for Republicans and I vote for Democrats.”
In recent years, Trump has warmed up to the Tea Party. He has populist views on immigration and bringing American jobs home. He has become pro-life and supports the Second Amendment. He says he still believes marriage is between a man and a woman, and has been strongly supportive of Israel. More than once Trump has called for Obama to resign, and even suggested impeaching him. In 2012, he gained notoriety for challenging Obama’s citizenship, and is partially credited with getting Obama to release a copy of his birth certificate.
Trump became an entertainment celebrity over the past decade as the producer and star of NBC’s reality shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, where he fires contestants who don’t make the cut. He will likely have to walk away from this while running for president. He owns the Miss USA pageant and its parent organization, Miss Universe. He owns several golf courses around the world. Trump is a Presbyterian, but admits he doesn’t make it to church regularly.
There is a perception that he is pompous and arrogant, known for statements like, “The beauty of me is that I’m very rich.” He has made plenty of outrageous statements over the years, sometimes directed at conservatives. He’s gotten into numerous highly publicized scrapes with other celebrities. The Washington Post says he “tweets like a 12 year old.”
After conservative author Charles Krauthammer said Trump deserves voters rating him the least-liked candidate in the race, Trump responded by calling Krauthammer a “dummy,” an “overrated clown,” and “one of the worst and most boring political pundits on television.” Trump said about Pat Buchanan on Meet the Press, “He’s a Hitler lover, I guess he’s an anti-Semite. He doesn’t like the blacks, he doesn’t like the gays.”
Trump has called both George W. Bush and Obama the worst presidents in history. In response to media criticism, he reportedly said, “You know, it really doesn’t matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a**.”
Realistic chance or fantasy?
Trump has name recognition and money unmatched by any of the other candidates. He once accurately joked that his Gucci store in Manhattan is worth more than Mitt Romney’s net worth. He has built a political organization competitive with many of the other candidates, and is the only Republican candidate with campaign chairs in every county in New Hampshire. He skipped much of the primary activity in Iowa, since those caucuses generally end up going for more conservative candidates.
He appeals to many Americans because he’s such a non-politician. His background is business and entertainment; he has zero experience in public policy. He would bring enormous business success to running government. On the other hand, his lack of experience running government will be also viewed by some as a negative.
In 2011, a USA Today/Gallup poll listed Trump as among the ten most admired living men and women. Yet he also has very high unfavorability ratings, 71% according to a poll last month.
At the moment Trump is polling well enough to make it into the top tier debates. His presence may push candidates like Rick Perry and Carly Fiorina into the second tier, making them ineligible for the first major candidate forums being put on by Fox News and CNN.
If he makes it through the primary, he is too much of a wildcard to predict how he might match up against Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. He has deep pockets and high name recognition, but it is hard to take him seriously when he says outlandish things so regularly. The presidential debates are cruel to candidates who make serious gaffes, as Rick Perry learned the hard way in 2012. That Trump may make his gaffes with a no-apologies, no-holds-barred verve may not matter to enough voters. Will Republican voters tell him, “You’re fired!” We’ll see. (“The Donald Swaggers Into the Presidential Race”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-18 03:58:072016-04-11 10:59:54The Donald Swaggers Into the Presidential Race [+video]
Americans have less confidence in organized religion today than ever measured before — a sign that the church could be “losing its footing as a pillar of moral leadership in the nation’s culture,” a new Gallup survey finds.
“In the ’80s the church and organized religion were the No. 1″ in Gallup’s annual look at confidence in institutions, said Lydia Saad, author of the report released Wednesday.
Confidence, she said, “is a value judgment on how the institution is perceived, a mark of the amount of respect it is due.” A slight upsurge for Catholic confidence, for example, parallels the 2013 election and immense popularity of Pope Francis.
Overall, church and organized religion is now ranked in fourth place in the Gallup survey — behind the military, small business and the police — while still ahead of the medical system, Congress and the media, among 15 institutions measured . . .
In the mid-’70s, nearly 7 in 10 Americans said they had “a great deal or quite a lot” of confidence in the church or organized religion. That has bobbled downward decade by decade to a new low of just 42%, according to the report. (Read more from “Americans’ Confidence in Religion Hits a New Low” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-18 03:57:592016-04-11 10:59:54Americans’ Confidence in Religion Hits a New Low
By Kasia Klimasinska. US government debt held by the public is expected to rise to 107 percent of the economy in 2040 from 74 percent this year, the Congressional Budget Office said, citing an aging population and rising health-care costs.
With debt “already unusually high” relative to gross domestic product, “further sustained increases could be especially harmful to economic growth,” the CBO said in a long-term fiscal report released Tuesday in Washington. “To put the federal budget on a sustainable path for the long term, lawmakers would have to make major changes to tax policies, spending policies, or both.” (Read more from “Government Debt to Reach 107% of US Economy in 2040” HERE)
90 Days: Treasury Says Debt Has Been Frozen at $18,112,975,000,000
By Terence P. Jeffrey. The portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress closed Thursday, June 11, at $18,112,975,000,000, according to the latest Daily Treasury Statement, which was published at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
That, according to the Treasury’s statements, makes 90 straight days the debt subject to the limit has been frozen at $18,112,975,000,000.
$18,112,975,000,000 is about $25 million below the current legal debt limit of $18,113,000,080,959.35.
The Daily Treasury Statement for March 13 was the first to show the federal debt subject to the limit closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000. Every Daily Treasury Statement since then has reported the same thing: the debt closing the day at $18,112,975,000,000.
Every Daily Treasury Statement since Monday, March 16, has reported the debt beginning and ending each day at $18,112,975,000,000. (Read more from “90 Days: Treasury Says Debt Has Been Frozen at $18,112,975,000,000” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-17 03:59:592016-04-11 10:59:55Government Debt to Reach 107% of US Economy in 2040 but Current Number has Remained Mysteriously Frozen for 90-Days
News reports today reveal that Sidney Blumenthal, Hillary Clinton’s crony barred from the State Department but worming his way into State via more than two dozen memos, has turned over previously undiscovered emails. As the New York Times notes, this raises “new questions about whether the State Department and Mrs. Clinton have complied with a series of requests from the [Benghazi panel].” Perhaps she put them in the “personal” category before destroying them and wiping her server.
Reacting angrily, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a written statement said, “New revelations that the Obama State Department or former Secretary Hillary Clinton withheld emails related to Benghazi and Libya from the Select Committee are outrageous.” He continued, “First she set up a private server to avoid transparency and records law, then she wiped it clean while its contents were under subpoena – and apparently failed to ensure congressional investigators were provided with everything they are entitled to. What in the world is she trying to hide?”
What is not clear is whether she knowingly withheld the documents or whether she was, let’s say, generous in her categorization of some emails as “personal,” and thereby destroyed information that had been requested. Politico notes that she may have been too cute by half:
[A] congressional source did not know whether Clinton had turned over all the new emails to State and State did not provide them, or whether Clinton failed to hand over the correspondence. . . .At the crux of the back-and-forth is whether the committee specifically asked State for all Clinton’s Libya emails or only Benghazi-related correspondence. State says the panel initially asked for Benghazi-only material and only recently expanded that request to include all correspondence on the Middle Eastern nation. The congressional source argued that the initial request for information from Clinton was aimed at all Libya correspondence — and that State was being evasive.
(Read more from “More Clinton Deceit Comes to Light” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-17 03:59:522016-04-11 10:59:55More Clinton Deceit Comes to Light
The federal government cannot verify nearly $3 billion in subsidies distributed through Obamacare, putting significant taxpayer funding “at risk,” according to a new audit report.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an audit Tuesday finding that the agency did not have an internal system to ensure that subsidies went to the right enrollees, or in the correct amounts.
“[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] CMS’s internal controls did not effectively ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in aggregate financial assistance payments made to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act during the first four months that these payments were made,” the OIG said . . .
The OIG reviewed subsidies paid to insurance companies between January and April 2014. The audit found that CMS did not have a process to “prevent or detect any possible substantial errors” in subsidy payments . . .
According to the OIG, the government still does not have a complete system for approving subsidies distributed though Obamacare. CMS used an “interim process” to distribute subsidies for 2014, and is planning a “permanent process” to be finished by late 2015. The final system is supposed to approve enrollment and payment data “on an enrollee-by-enrollee basis.” (Read more from “Feds Can’t Verify $2.8 Billion in Obamacare Subsidies” HERE)
After suffering a defeat last week when Democrats voted down the trade subsidy component of the trade bill (TAA), Obama and Boehner realized they lacked the votes to pass TPA at this juncture. So, Plan B ensued. Just how far is Boehner willing to go to pass Obamatrade? Boehner had the House Rules Committee draft a resolution enabling leadership to bring up TPA at a moment’s notice on any day through July 31. Today, the House passed the rule 236-189.
Only six conservatives voted against this rule today. Aside from the complications of it being conflated with the intelligence bill, they were sternly warned not to vote against the rule. Last week, 34 Republicans voted against the rule to debate the TPA in the first place and almost defeated the bill – before Pelosi delivered eight Democrats to Boehner’s column and saved the process. Today we learned that three Republicans – Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Steve Pearce (R-NM) were tossed off the whip team for voting down the rule.
Typically, rules for debate on a specific bill expire after a few days or a week and cannot be brought to the floor without crafting a new rule. Boehner took the unprecedented step of granting Obamatrade this privileged floor status for a full six weeks so that GOP Leadership and Obama can engage in horse-trading in an attempt to secure the necessary votes for passage.
Instead of awarding this status to something that actually addresses a current crisis, like say, an Iran sanctions bill, GOP leadership has proven the only fight they’re willing to engage in is passing Obama’s trade promotion at all costs.
What’s worse is that this rule to grant the trade bill such privileged status was not a standalone resolution. It was attached to a completely unrelated resolution governing the rule for the upcoming bill to reauthorize our intelligence programs. Hence, Boehner engaged in cowardice and deceit by forcing members to support this chicanery or be viewed as blowing up an intelligence authorization bill.
Ironically, the privileged status is not even for the underlying TPA, which already passed both houses of Congress. It is for the liberal Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Leadership needs that program to pass and get enmeshed into the underlying bill so that the final bill will contain the same language as the Senate legislation, thereby paving the road to the president’s desk.
Leadership pursued this strategy for two reasons. First, it gives them six weeks to bribe, threaten, cajole, and horse-trade in order to buy off enough votes to pass the final TPA. And once again, they are not negotiating with conservatives by promising them a strong push on important priorities, such as immigration, Iran, Obamacare, or protecting religious liberty. They are fully negotiating with the Democrats and will promise them almost anything in order to consummate their support for their own leader’s trade deal.
And secondly, passage of this duplicitous rule enables leadership to potentially slam the bill on the floor at any moment between now and the August recess. They have the ability to find a vulnerable time for members and pass the trade assistance (and thereby finalize the broader trade package) with a simple voice vote. Leadership has already employed this tactic before. Conservatives have stood guard on the floor to watch for any attempt to voice vote the TAA into law. Now they will have to post sentries on the floor for six more weeks.
Consequently, an entire group of conservatives will have to divert their time away from critical issues in order to guard against treachery from their own party.
What is GOP leadership doing to address the most pressing issues of our time?
Are they pulling out all the stops to prevent Obama from releasing six Al Qaeda terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, including three former bodyguards of Osama bin Laden? Are they using every must-pass bill to address the emergency created by Obama releasing tens of thousands of criminal aliens from prison, including murders and rapists? Are they planning a full-scale assault against Obama’s appeasement of Iran come June 30?
Not a chance. None of these issues are even on their radar.
Even those conservatives who support the underlying trade agreement must realize that the price of the process and politics being employed by leadership to pass this bill has become too steep. It’s time for all conservatives to unite and shut this down and force leadership to focus on some of the critical national security, economic, and social problems that plague this country.
Or put another way, it’s time for them to actually become the party they campaigned as during the November elections. (“Boehner Uses Every Game in the Book to Keep Obamatrade Alive”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-17 03:59:292016-04-11 10:59:56RINO Boehner Uses Every Game in the Book to Keep Obamatrade Alive [+video]
Authorities said Tuesday that a Phoenix man who helped orchestrate a shootout at last month’s “Draw Muhammad” event in Texas also had aspirations to join ISIS and attack the Super Bowl.
Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges related to the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas that led to the deaths of two roommates from Phoenix. An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix says Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used when they attacked security guards outside the event.
At Tuesday’s hearing, FBI special agent Dina McCarthy described how a witness and a confidential informant learned about Kareem’s intentions to join ISIS, including watching the group’s propaganda videos with the Texas shooters Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi.
McCarthy said a 2012 investigation into Kareem determined he had a terrorism training document on his computer. She alleged he wanted to attack the Super Bowl when it was in Arizona this year, but didn’t provide the specifics about how serious he was.
The magistrate denied bail for Kareem, who is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony. (Read more from “Dangerous Game?: Feds Say Terror Suspect Eyed Attack on Super Bowl” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-06-17 03:59:142016-04-11 10:59:56Dangerous Game?: Feds Say Terror Suspect Eyed Attack on Super Bowl
