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Outrage: Congressional Leaders Engaged in Secret Discussions to Exempt Them, Aides, from Obamacare

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Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said.

The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides. Discussions have stretched out for months, sources said.

A source close to the talks says: “Everyone has to hold hands on this and jump, or nothing is going to get done.”

Yet if Capitol Hill leaders move forward with the plan, they risk being dubbed hypocrites by their political rivals and the American public. By removing themselves from a key Obamacare component, lawmakers and aides would be held to a different standard than the people who put them in office.

Democrats, in particular, would take a public hammering as the traditional boosters of Obamacare. Republicans would undoubtedly attempt to shred them over any attempt to escape coverage by it, unless Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) give Democrats cover by backing it.

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Hill’s Newest Earmarks: Sequester Exemptions

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Photo Credit: AP

Sequestration exemptions are shaping up to be Washington’s newest version of earmarks.

Agencies, companies and other groups are on the hunt for Capitol Hill allies with the juice to save their pet issues from the full force of the across-the-board cuts. Some have already been successful.

The campaigns are just one example of Washington slipping back into business-as-usual, where powerful players are open to satisfying special interests, even on sequester — which wasn’t supposed to play favorites.

“This parochial interest nature of Congress is re-emerging in, I think, an unseemly way,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“We’re moving into some dangerous territory if we just allow every member to pick areas that they think ought to be changed,” added Sen. Jeff Flake, the Arizona Republican who made a name for himself in the House by ridiculing earmarks in appropriations bills.

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Congress 'Astonished' by Military Smear of Christians

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Photo Credit: WND

Members of Congress have expressed astonishment that the U.S. Army Reserve would use a training brief that slams Catholics, evangelical Christians and others and are demanding the practice come to a halt – now.

“Our nation needs to have an honest conversation about religious extremism and what we can do to avoid religious violence. However, labeling these major world religions as extremists is wrong and hurtful,” said a letter by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., that was signed by dozens of other members.

It was addressed to Army Secretary John. M . McHugh at the Pentagon.

“We call on you to rescind this briefing and set the record straight on the Army’s view on these faith groups by providing a balanced briefing on religious extremism,” the letter said.

The letter was prompted by reports that soldiers were taught that evangelical Christians are an extremist threat to America along with groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of Islam, al-Qaida and Hamas.

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Secret House Intelligence Meetings: Internet Freedom Under Attack Again?

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Photo Credit: nist6ss

Members of the media and the public will not be able to watch the House Intelligence Committee’s markup next week of a controversial cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

Lawmakers will be allowed to discuss what happened in the meeting afterward, and the committee plans to release information about what amendments were offered and how lawmakers voted. But the public will not be allowed in the room, and the meeting will not be streamed online.

Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman for the committee, explained that the Intelligence Committee often restricts access to hearings and that it is possible that lawmakers will need to discuss classified information.

“Sometimes they’ll need to bounce into classified information and go closed for a period of time to talk,” she said. “In order to keep the flow of the mark-up continuing forward, you can’t stop in the middle of an open hearing, move everyone to another location for a portion of it, and then move back.”

She noted that the committee used the same procedure when it marked up CISPA last year. The committee has yet to formally schedule the markup, but it is expected to happen next Wednesday.

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To Hell with the Sequester: Obama Designates Five New National Monuments

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Photo Credit: Linda Davidson

President Obama defied congressional opposition and designated five new national monuments Monday, using his executive authority to put historic sites and wild landscapes in a half-dozen states off limits to development..

The designations affect three areas managed by the National Park Service, including one honoring abolitionist Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in Maryland and a collection of sites commemorating Delaware as the nation’s first state. Obama also used his power under the 1906 Antiquities Act to protect two swaths of land under the Bureau of Land Management’s control: Washington’s San Juan Islands and New Mexico’s Rio Grande del Norte.

“These sites honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country,” the president said. “By designating these national monuments today, we will ensure they will continue to inspire and be enjoyed by generations of Americans to come.”

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), who has opposed the creation of new wilderness areas and national parks, questioned why the president would extend public lands protection at a time when the federal budget is under pressure.

“The Obama Administration not only sees the sequester as an opportunity to make automatic spending reductions as painful as possible on the American people,” Hastings said in a statement, “it’s also a good time for the President to dictate under a century-old law that the government spend money it doesn’t have on property it doesn’t even own.”

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GOP Lawmaker Proposes that Congress “Telecommute” to Reduce DC’s Control and Bring Local Accountability

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Photo Credit: Steve Snodgrass

Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) wants to create a “virtual Congress,” where lawmakers would leverage videoconferencing and other remote work technology to conduct their daily duties in Washington from their home districts.

Under a resolution Pearce introduced on Thursday, lawmakers would be able to hold hearings, debate and vote on legislation virtually from their district offices.

While Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer may have recently nixed the Web company’s work-from-home policy to boost its performance, Pearce believes a remote work arrangement may benefit Congress and make lawmakers more accountable to folks in their home districts.

Pearce says the resolution would eradicate the need for members to jet back and forth from their districts to Washington each weekend. This would allow lawmakers to spend more time with their constituents rather than the armies of lobbyists from K St., he argues.

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Experts To Congress: US Law Should Be Changed to Require Permanent Storage of Billions Of Private Text Messages, Emails

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text messages

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee Tuesday, a panel of technology law experts called on Congress to pass legislation mandating the long-term retention of every American’s text messages and emails in case of a future criminal investigation.

“Billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity,” said Richard Littlehale of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and a member of the panel in his written statement. “Text messaging often plays a big role in investigations related to domestic violence, stalking, menacing, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking.”

The hearing was held to discuss potential new provisions of the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. The panel’s suggestions included longer retention times of interpersonal electronic messages as well as the creation of and expedited federal access to these databases. Not everyone was pleased with the panel’s recommendations.

“From a consumer privacy perspective, from a network security perspective, let alone the cost perspective of storing the tens of billions of messages that are sent around the various networks … it’s really an unwieldy and unworkable idea,” said a telecommunication executive, providing background information on the proposal.

The executive cited recent worldwide hackings as an example of potential risk to public safety and security when it comes to maintaining such a database.

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Assault Weapons Ban Clears First Senate Hurdle, But Its Future Faces Tough Odds

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Photo Credit: CBS

A bill banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips has cleared the first hurdle toward congressional passage, gaining approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee even while its broader future is unclear.

The bill, a key component of the Obama administration’s comprehensive legislative and executive package aimed at reducing gun violence in America, passed through the committee despite a heated exchange between Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. It now heads to the full Senate for debate and, potentially, a vote. If successful there, the legislation will make its way to the House of Representatives.

It’s unlikely Democrats will be able to secure a vote in the Senate, however, given the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent a filibuster. The assault weapons ban is controversial even among some Democrats, and no Senate Republicans have expressed any intent to support it.

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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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Report: FBI Benghazi Survivor Interviews Delivered To Senate Intel Committee

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Photo Credit: APA source told CBS News that FBI transcripts of interviews with Benghazi survivors were turned over to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Along with the transcripts, were other documents relating to the deadly September 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi. Members of the committee have not examined the material yet.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R – S.C.) initially called for the FBI transcripts of Benghazi survivors back in December. Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R – UT) told Breitbart News that the State Department was not allowing members of Congress to see those who survived the attack.

The documents that came from the White House is the second set to be sent to Congress. The initial set of documents related to the attack were considered “insufficient” due to massive redactions:

“It was so redacted that there was no information whatsoever,” said the source, who spoke to Fox on the condition they not be identified. “There were some documents that were 100 pages with every word on the page redacted. They were worthless.”

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