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Paul Ryan Has Been Working Behind the Scenes on Bipartisan Amnesty Deal Since Last Year

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Photo Credit: GARY CAMERONTwo weeks after the end of his failed vice-presidential bid, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was already thinking ahead to another big fight: immigration reform. And he was thinking about it in a bipartisan way.

Ryan ran into his old friend, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), and urged him to restart his effort to get a comprehensive immigration package through Congress. Ryan’s arguments stemmed from a religious and economic foundation, not from the huge political liability the issue had become for the Republican Party during the 2012 presidential campaign.

“You’re a Catholic; I’m a Catholic; we cannot have a permanent underclass of Americans exploited in America,” Ryan told Gutierrez, according to the Democrat’s recollection of the November discussion.

Given those sentiments, and the drubbing the GOP ticket took among Latino voters, supporters of an immigration overhaul expected Ryan to emerge as the House’s most prominent public voice on the issue.

Instead, as the issue has grown more contentious with the recent passage of a sprawling 1,200-page Senate bill, Ryan has worked quietly behind the scenes, declining to become the public face of the issue and leaving the effort without any prominent sponsors among the House GOP leadership.

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Congress Seeks to Regulate Drone Use, Looks for Bipartisan Ground

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Photo Credit: Ted PoeStates already have begun to tackle the sticky issue of drones and their effect on personal privacy.

Eventually, courts will step in and have their say on the matter, determining how the unmanned aircraft fit into existing expectation of privacy standards and limits on government surveillance.

But members of Congress from both parties believe it’s important, perhaps vital, for federal lawmakers to also get ahead of the issue before drones become commonplace in American skies.

“Congress, in the area of drones, needs to set the standards rather than let the courts, down the road, set the standards,” said Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican and author of one of several pieces of drone privacy legislation, none of which have been passed. He made the comments at a Friday morning House Judiciary subcommittee crime, terrorism, homeland security investigations hearing on the subject.

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Gang of Eight Loopholes Put Many Illegal Immigrants on Fast Track to Citizenship

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Members of the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Eight have stressed that under their new immigration plan, currently illegal immigrants will have to wait more than a decade before achieving citizenship. Newly-legalized immigrants will be given a provisional status and “will have to stay in that status until at least ten years elapse and [border security] triggers are met,” Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News on April 14. “Then the only thing they get is a chance to apply for a green card via the legal immigration system.” The green card process would take additional years, meaning the road to full citizenship could take as long as 15, or even 18, years.

Unless it doesn’t. A little-noticed exception in the Gang of Eight bill provides a fast track for many — possibly very many — currently illegal immigrants. Under a special provision for immigrants who have labored at least part-time in agriculture, that fast track could mean permanent residency in the U.S., and then citizenship, in half the time Rubio said. And not just for the immigrants themselves — their spouses and children, too.

A second provision in the legislation creates another fast track for illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 — the so-called Dreamers. The concept suggests youth, but the bill has no age limit for such immigrants — or their spouses and children — and despite claims that they must go to college or serve in the military to be eligible, there is an exception to that requirement as well.

First the agricultural workers. The Gang of Eight bill creates something called a blue card, which would be granted to illegal immigrant farm workers who come forward and pass the various background checks the bill requires for all illegal immigrants. Instead of the 10-year wait Rubio described in media appearances, blue card holders could receive permanent legal status in just five years.

How does an illegal immigrant qualify for a blue card? If, after passing the background checks, he can prove that he has worked in agriculture for at least 575 hours — about 72 eight-hour days — sometime in the two years ending December 31, 2012, he can be granted a blue card. His spouse and children can be granted blue cards, too — it can all be done with one application.

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Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Protect Pot Smokers from the Feds (+funny video)

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Photo Credit: AP

A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the federal government to butt out of states’ decisions to legalize and regulate marijuana, whether it’s for medical or recreational purposes.

The Respect State Marijuana Laws Act, introduced in Congress by a consortium of congresspeople led by Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, would immunize pot smokers, growers and sellers in permissive states from federal prosecution.

Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., have some form of medical marijuana laws and two — Colorado and Washington — recently passed laws legalizing pot for recreational use.

The bill is co-sponsored by Republicans Don Young and Justin Amash and Democrats Jared Polis, Earl Blumenauer and Steve Cohen.

“This bipartisan bill represents a common-sense approach that establishes federal government respect for all states’ marijuana laws,” Rohrabacher said in a statement. ”It does so by keeping the federal government out of the business of criminalizing marijuana activities in states that don’t want it to be criminal.”

Watch video here:

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Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Caucus Battles Skeptics In Push To Protect United States

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Photo Credit: AP

A small but growing cadre of House members is set to relaunch efforts to protect the nation against what they say is a very real threat: the unleashing of an electromagnetic pulse either by a solar storm or a nuclear-armed foe that could cripple much of the nation’s electrical infrastructure.

“I realize there is skepticism, and I understand it’s easy to dismiss this as something coming from people who might go around wearing tinfoil hats,” said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., one of the leaders of the little-known bipartisan congressional Electromagnetic Pulse Caucus.

But Franks said that he and other members of the caucus—which has seen its roster grow to at least 18 members from 11 last session—will keep pressing “in a low-key way so as not to try to scare people” to show that the dangers are legitimate. Now is the time to take steps to protect the nation’s electric grid, said Franks, a House Armed Services Committee member who is also cochairman of the 39-member Missile Defense Caucus.

At the top of this effort is the belief that every facet of routine life could be at risk for a short or even long period of time with the disabling of key parts of the nation’s infrastructure. Computers and circuits of homes, hospitals, supermarkets, water-treatment facilities, and banks would be fried; telecommunications and transportation systems would grind to a halt; and public safety and even national security could be compromised.

Some of those concerned envision scenarios in which terrorists or some hostile or rogue state, such as Iran or North Korea, might someday build or acquire and then launch and detonate a nuclear warhead above the United States with the intent of triggering such a devastating electromagnetic pulse.

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Don’t Be Fooled By ‘Bipartisan’ Approach To Amnesty

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Photo Credit: M. RyderMore than a few Republicans in the United States Senate seem to have contracted a severe case of what Harry Truman called “Potomac Fever” (wanting to go along to get along in Washington). Apparently still trembling from the recent election debacle, they have cobbled together a deceptive and destructive “bipartisan” compromise on illegal alien amnesty.

Now, of course, the Senate Republicans aren’t calling their legislative legerdemain “instant legalization” as conservative journalist Charles Krauthammer properly characterized it. They know (as Judicial Watch demonstrated in its Election Day poll) that most Americans, including a good number of Hispanics, want the immigration laws enforced. So instead, in typical politispeak, you’ll hear senators use words like “pathway to citizenship” and “doing it for the children.”

Unfortunately, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, clearly casting an eye to the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, has bought into the amnesty lie and is being used by the left to provide cover for their open borders proposal. As the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported:

“Rubio’s mission is to reassure tea party conservatives that these proposals don’t amount to a blanket ‘amnesty,’ while rallying reluctant Republicans and helping their party gain the trust of Hispanic voters. In a sense, the rising Republican star is working in tandem with President Barack Obama, who flies to Las Vegas today to pitch similar changes in immigration law.”

Therein lays a large part of the problem: As Mr. Rubio should know, if you’re on the same page with Mr. Obama on so-called immigration reform, you’re on the wrong page. Still, instead of persuading the president to change his ways, Mr. Rubio is now on a “charm offensive” to sell a bill of goods to conservatives, from Mark Levin to Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity, with varying degrees of success.

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Legislation Repealing ObamaCare Tax Paid By Small Business Reintroduced

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller A bipartisan coalition of congressmen introduced legislation Friday calling for the repeal of the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) on fully-insured premium markets imposed by ObamaCare.htm” rel=”tag” target=”_blank”>Obamacare.

The tax is expected to primarily fall on small businesses and the self-employed, who are the main purchasers of fully-insured premiums. According to an earlier study, not repealing the tax could cost also cost between 125,000 and 249,000 jobs by 2021 and raise the cost of employer-sponsored insurance by 2-3 percent, a cumulative cost of nearly $5,000 per family.

“The [p]resident’s Health Care law is full of hidden tax increases. Beginning in 2014, millions of American small businesses will be subjected to a new health insurance tax (HIT) coming at a cost over $100 billion. This tax will close many small businesses and kill jobs once implemented,” Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles W. Boustany, a co-sponsor of the measure, said in a statement.

The bill, titled “The Jobs and Premium Protection Act,” is also sponsored by Democratic Utah Rep. Jim Matheson.

“We commend Representatives Boustany and Matheson for rising above the political gridlock and showing bipartisan support for small businesses and the Americans they employ,” said Jim Anderson, vice president of government affairs of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. “We look forward to working together with all members of Congress to ensure this important bipartisan legislation is passed.”

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House Oversight Panel Opens Bipartisan Probe On FOIA Compliance

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Photo Credit: APHouse Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and ranking minority member Elijah Cummings have opened what could be the most comprehensive congressional review in three decades of executive branch compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

Issa is a California Republican, Cummings a Maryland Democrat. Such joint legislative efforts are rare on Capitol Hill, thanks in part to the hyper-partisan atmosphere found in Congress these days.

In a six-page, single-spaced letter dispatched earlier this week, Issa and Cummings posed multiple questions to Melanie Ann Pustay, director of the Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy.

Pustay’s office is tasked with enforcing compliance among executive branch departments and agencies with the FOIA.

President Obama issued an FOIA memorandum on his first day in office in which he directed federal officials that the law “should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats control Alaska’s Senate even though the GOP has the majority

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A majority coalition known as the “Alaska Senate Bipartisan Working Group,” is the controlling power in the state senate. The group consists of ten Democrats and six Republican members. So, although the Alaska Senate is under the leadership of Republicans, the Democratic controlled caucus effectively rules the roost and decides what bills are allowed to come up for committee hearings and before the floor for a vote.

Democrats Hollis French — Senate Judiciary Chair — and Johnny Ellis — Chair of the Senate Rules Committee — are prominent members of this controversial alliance. They’ve stopped tax relief for oil companies wanting to develop oil resources, thereby grinding to a halt resource development and economic growth through jobs that would have been created as well low cost energy for Alaskans.

Another consequence of this band of liberal Democrats and the Republicans who have thrown their hat in with them, is that they have vociferously stifled and blocked virtually all pro-life legislation. Two examples, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (HB301) and Parental Consent Bill (HB364), were passed in the House but blocked from even getting a hearing by French.

The Democrat coalition comes into sharp focus when looking into the Senate Seat D race, encompassing District 7 & 8 of the Valley. Mike Dunleavy has pledged to not join the current “bi-partisan” Senate majority that is controlled by liberal Democrats. His opponent, incumbent Linda Menard, is a member of this liberal coalition that has turned our State Senate into a “graveyard” for almost all conservative legislation.

Mike has been endorsed by Alaska Right to Life PAC and Alaska Family Action Inc., Conservative Patriots Group and Alaska Outdoor Council.

Mike Dunleavy has a strong family background, extensive business and educational experience in our state and the Valley. Mike’s work history includes serving as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent; running the Mat-Su correspondence program; managing the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project; heading up the University of Alaska’s K-12 outreach program; and currently working as the President of the Mat-Su School Board.

Mike Dunleavy has earned respect and strong support because he has proven on a consistent basis that he not only “talks the talk” about conservative values and principle, but he “walks the walk.” Electing Dunleavy may very likely restore control of our state’s Senate to conservative hands.