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Change We Can Believe In: Trump’s Executive Orders for American Sovereignty Are Game-Changers

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It’s Christmas come early for conservatives. Actually, for all Americans who care about homeland security.

Today represents a turning point in which President Donald Trump has used Obama’s pen and phone for the first game-changing series of executive actions.

The core job of the federal government is not to get involved in health insurance or “stimulate” the economy. The most important job is to protect our national sovereignty and the security of all the states. That begins with border security and crafting an immigration policy that puts American interests first. While some of our statutes need updating, many of the existing immigration laws are actually written properly, albeit have been ignored by Obama and past presidents. This is where Trump’s executive actions come into place.

The immigration laws were written as such that they gave the president broad latitude to clamp down on immigration and ratchet up enforcement, but not to loosen immigration and open up the borders. And rightfully so. A nation must retain the ability to shut down immigration swiftly in order to protect American sovereignty and security. On the other hand, any expansion must be done judiciously with the full input of the American people as reflected through a robust debate in Congress. Some liberal critics might suggest that conservatives are being hypocritical by promoting robust executive action from Trump after criticizing Obama’s use of his executive pen for years. The difference is that Trump is actually following the statutes passed by Congress while Obama violated the letter and spirit of the laws.

Suspending refugee program and cutting off visas from dangerous countries

The insane nightmare of importing the entire Middle East is long over. At least for now.

Here are the details from a preliminary draft:

Trump plans to shut off the issuance of all new immigrant and non-immigrant visas for 30 days from the following six volatile countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. After 30 days, the secretary of state and secretary of homeland security must submit a report to completely revamp the vetting process going forward.

Countries will have to submit within 60 days any information that the administration determines necessary, pursuant to the findings of this report, in order to adjudicate a visa application and ensure they are properly vetted. Any country that fails to submit this information will not be able to send foreign nationals to our country. All the while, the ban can be extended and expanded at any time.

In addition, the entire refugee resettlement program is suspended for four months pending a complete investigation of the program and a plan to restructure it and prioritize those who are truly in danger because of religious persecution. After 120 days, the program may resume but only for those countries from which Secretaries Kelly and Tillerson determine do not pose a threat. The program from Syria is completely suspended until the president personally gives the green light.

Furthermore, the order suspends the Visa Waiver Interview Program, and therefore requires that anyone wishing to renew their non-immigrant visa first undergo an in-person interview with U.S. officials in the consulate of their home country.

This common sense order can’t come at a better time. Obama has brought in 46,500 refugees, not including other visa categories, from these six countries just since the beginning of 2016. Obama’s bureaucrats are still running the State Department (and unless Tillerson is pressured to clean them out, they will continue to do so), and have brought in almost 1,000 refugees since Inauguration Day alone!

While liberals will cry foul about taking such action from the White House, we must remind them that the Immigration and Nationality Act (§ 212(f)) gives the president plenary power to “by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants.” This power is universal, enforceable at the will of the president, and applies any time for any circumstance.

Border fence

Trump also announced that he is directing DHS to begin the process of constructing the border fence, a signature promise of his campaign. Although this endeavor will eventually need more appropriations, which will likely be forthcoming in April, Trump absolutely has the statutory authority to begin construction. Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 — as amended by the REAL ID Act of 2005, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 — requires DHS to construct “not less than 700 miles” of fencing along the border. The locations, nature of the fence, time-frame, and any length beyond 700 miles are left up to the discretion of the president. In addition, the DHS secretary may waive all legal requirements that impede any construction.

As CRS observes:

Indeed, nothing in current statute would appear to bar DHS from potentially installing hundreds of miles of additional fencing or other barriers along the border, at least so long as the action was determined appropriate to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry.

[You can read more here for why a border fence is a force multiplier that will actually stop 95% of border crossings and is amazingly cost effective.]

Restoring interior enforcement

As part of today’s executive orders, Trump announced that they would cut off law enforcement grants to sanctuary cities. As I’ve noted before, this is one of the few areas where states have no right to push back and cutting off funding is part of existing law.

Perhaps the most underappreciated aspect of the orders was the restoration of the Secure Communities Program. Obama unilaterally abolished it as part of the DAPA amnesty and the elimination of this program is responsible for the surge in criminal aliens. Secure Communities was one of the most effective law enforcement programs in the field. It facilitated coordination between local law enforcement to share information through the universal fingerprint database on illegal aliens held in their prisons.

There is no reason anyone here illegally in the first place should remain in the country if they are in prison for any reason. Overall, ICE detainers declined 73% from the peak in March 2011 before the first round of Obama amnesties was fully implemented. Restoring Secure Communities will go a long way in getting rid over well over a million criminal aliens, a goal that any intellectually honest liberal should share.

Work to be done: End Obama’s illegal DACA amnesty

Obviously, there is a limit to what a president can do in one day. Certainly the list of accomplishments from today are enough to register as a great start. However, there is one action Trump must take immediately: the repeal of Obama’s DACA amnesty.

As we noted earlier this week, the Trump administration is giving indications that they don’t plan to rescind DACA. The prevailing talking point is that they want to focus on criminal aliens and dangerous refugees. And to their credit, they have certainly gone a long way towards addressing those issues today. However, the issue with Obama’s amnesty is that 1) it’s patently unconstitutional and 2) it’s not merely an issue of deportation but one of providing illegal aliens with Social Security cards and refundable tax credits. Trump’s own DHS is now issuing hundreds of unconstitutional DACA papers every day. That can and must end now simply by shutting off the spigot. We don’t have to deal with the deportation issue now. And while we’re at it, let’s stop calling them “Dreamers” and focus on American Dreamers, to paraphrase Trump.

Overall, Trump has gone a long way in embarking on some of the most important immigration changes in decades, and has fulfilled many of the homeland security ideas on our checklist, something that should have happened after 9/11.

Today is a blueprint for how to move forward. We need to continue focusing on the issues that matter, always remaining relentlessly on offense promoting our affirmative ideas on multiple fronts to overwhelm the other side rather than reacting to the latest nonsense in the media. Conservatives should be proud that the pressure and culture of accountability they built throughout this election bore fruit in such spectacular fashion.

As for Trump, if he sticks to policy, eases off on Twitter, and picks up his pen, he will go a long way to truly making America great again. (For more from the author of “Change We Can Believe In: Trump’s Executive Orders for American Sovereignty Are Game-Changers” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Scientists, Women, the Press Think Trump Is Coming for Them

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A week or so before the election, there was a rumor bumping around the Internet which said Trump, if he were to become President, would immediately begin rounding up LGBT folk and placing them into camps. I replied to one of these exceptionally nervous people on Twitter, “It won’t be so bad. I hear Thursdays will be lasagna nights.” That earned me a blocking. (I have since deleted my account so that I don’t cause any more hurt feelings.)

Over this past weekend, a mob of angry females tromped through the streets of Washington DC. Boy, were they upset. Fuming. Nary a happy face. Trouble was, no one was able to discover why these citizens were displeased. Perhaps the nation is suffering a critical shortage of blue hair dye? Can somebody look that up?

One woman not reduced to incoherent ravings about her cat (that’s what I thought I heard), said Donald Trump was going to come after women and break them up like “puzzle pieces.” Jack the Ripper, look out! It’s Donald Trump, puzzle breaker.

The eminent New York Times writer Ross Douthat isn’t shivering over internment camps or feminist puzzle breaking, but he did wring his hands over the possibility that Donald Trump “will escalate from tweets to Erdoganian crackdowns, that truly independent journalism will be marginalized while the White House breeds a lap dog press.”

It doesn’t do to criticize Times writers, of course, but is it even theoretically possible for the press to more resemble a fluffy white pampered poodle, blind with devotion, madly licking its master, and barring its wee yellow teeth and yipping at intruders than it did during Mr Obama’s tenure?

Fear of an all-powerful Trumpenführer has not been confined to dyspeptics, dye-jobs, and diarists. The officially brightest among us — scientists themselves! — have convinced themselves Trump is going to confiscate their data. Headline at Forbes: “Fearing White House Purge Of Climate Science, Scientists Frantically Copying Data.” The author, James Conca, said:

It’s not like the new administration is going to start burning books or flushing files down the toilet, but website access will disappear, reports will be put in deep storage, and datasets will become more difficult to access, or will degrade in quality, as funding is cut from the agencies maintaining them.

Conca says this data is needed because the United States has been under attack from the Polar Vortex, a beast which he intimates was caused by global warming (which he mistakenly refer to as “climate change”).

Conca is calling these deletions, which have not happened, a “purging of science” which will result in the nation “sliding further into the abyss where truth and lies have equal weight and science is just another ideology to ignore when it’s inconvenient.”

Engadget asks whether the data panic is “irrational.” “Possibly”, they admit, but then they claim the new administration “has been picking climate change deniers for positions in relevant agencies, and has threatened to stop ‘politicized science.’” (Incidentally, no Trump hire has ever denied the climate has changed.)

How Trump will reach into the computers of all those scientists and vacuum up their precious bits hasn’t been specified. Maybe he will hire the Russians who hacked and stole the election from its rightful winner to do the job? Scientists will come in to their offices after a weekend to discover their hard drives have been purged of the proof the sky will soon fall and replaced with JPEGs of Rosie O’Donnell laughing.

Scary stuff! No wonder Harvard is sponsoring an “Archive-a-thon” to begin the backups before Trump comes after them. The announcement doesn’t say, but it’s a good guess the Archive-a-thon will take place in a Safe Space complete with puppies and coloring books to calm the nerves of these great brains. Don’t scoff. It’s got to the point where there is serious talk of scientists having a march on Washington.

Since there is so much angst out there, it is well to review its cause. Progressives assured us, in turn, that Ronald Reagan was Hitler, that George Bush père et fils were Hitler, that Barack Obama opponents John McCain and Mitt Romney were each Hitler, really that every Republican since Goldwater was Hitler, and so none of us would have been surprised to learn that Donald Trump was Hitler, too.

But it was worse! The Left insisted Trump was literally Hitler. Which brings to mind Mr Trump’s inauguration speech in which he spoke of “an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge” — including, as we have just seen, knowledge of the word literally.

After decades of creating and telling themselves horror stories, it was inevitable that the Left would begin believing them. It is thus not surprising that Trump’s election resulted in a full-blown moral panic. We’re in for four (or eight?) years of having everything that goes wrong blamed on Donald Trump. Might as well enjoy it. (For more from the author of “Scientists, Women, the Press Think Trump Is Coming for Them” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

How President Trump Could Make the IRS Great Again

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The president, Congress, and the American taxpayer are none of them fans of the Internal Revenue Service. Voters were justifiably angered by well-publicized mismanagement in recent years on the part of high-ranking IRS executives, many of whom are gone but are probably collecting sizeable government pensions. These missteps included:

Lois Lerner’s stone walling of Tea Party groups;

IRS employees subsequently pleading the 5th before Congress;

an extravagant Disneyland training conference;

a multi-million-dollar technology contract awarded to a military school drop out with a fictitious injury who is now doing hard time for killing his wife;

and IRS executives goofing off during the workday to practice line dancing (at least it wasn’t disco dancing) and making skits parodying Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island.

Despite all this, the IRS is not an agency out of control. The IRS answers to an alphabet soup of other government agencies which monitor its operations, such as the Government Accountability Office, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, and the IRS Oversight Board. The current IRS commissioner has clamped down on abuses and in many ways the pendulum has swung the other way. Now rank and file employees (the people who didn’t create the problems but have to clean up the mess) must complete a form and get high level approval to attend a free training conference across the street from their offices. Bathroom passes are probably next.

The bad news is that the IRS is now being starved of resources which it needs to keep the government running — the government which you the voters just elected and inaugurated. On Monday, President Trump signed an Executive Order freezing all federal hiring not directly related to the military, public safety, and public health. President Trump should have also exempted the IRS. Here’s why:

Why IRS Needs Funds Restored

The Federal Government’s fiscal condition is dire. The national debt hovers around $20 trillion ($20,000,000,000,000), with almost $9 trillion added during the Obama Administration. In 2016, the federal government ran about $1 trillion in the red. The voluntary compliance rate hovers only around 81%, and the Gross Tax Gap, the estimated amount of taxes that should be collected before enforcement efforts but is not, stands at $468 billion. This figure does not include the unpaid taxes from illegal activities such as pimping and drug dealing.

Despite the ballooning national debt and massive annual budget deficits, Congress has slashed the IRS budget 19% in constant dollars since 2010. This has resulted in the IRS hemorrhaging employees, from 95,000 in 2010 to 80,000 in 2015. This decline in personnel has resulted in fewer auditors, investigators, tax collectors, and people answering the phone. There are fewer people working at the IRS now than when Ronald Reagan took office.

In 1998, the IRS had about 3,300 highly trained special agents combating tax fraud, money laundering, and related financial crimes (I was one of them). Today there are fewer than 2,300. The same trend exists for revenue agents (the people who conduct field audits) and revenue officers (they do the actual collections). At this rate, getting caught cheating on your taxes is going to be about as likely as Publishers Clearing House knocking on your door.

The money invested in the IRS produces astronomical returns. The IRS uses the $5 billion Congress gives it for enforcement and reduces the Gross Tax Gap by $62 billion, resulting in an estimated annual Net Tax Gap of $406 billion. In other words, for every dollar you give the IRS for enforcement it returns $12 to the Treasury. MIT-trained economist Dr. Jeff Dubin wrote in a 2007 article that a $353 million additional investment would result in $16.8 billion, between in additional dollars collected and greater voluntary compliance. No business owner would forgo the opportunity to earn that kind of return on investment.

To tackle America’s fiscal nightmare, President Trump should exempt the IRS from the hiring freeze and press Congress to appropriate the funds necessary to close the Tax Gap. Start with an extra $2 billion. That would bring the IRS budget back to 2010 budget levels. Then hold the IRS accountable for every dime. Tell it to start with cracking down on the pimps and the dope dealers who never did an honest day’s work (I have a few names they can start with). Then go after the fraudulent tax preparers who add fake dependents and abuse the ITIN system to bilk the Treasury out of tens of billions of dollars in bogus refunds. Stop chasing the little guy, like my friend who is a semi-retired septuagenarian who filed his corporate return late (he was in the hospital) and is fighting a $1,700 fine.

President Trump has big plans to Make American Great Again. To do that, he needs to make the IRS Great Again. To my friends at the IRS I say this: Sharpen your pencils and double knot your wingtips. It’s time to get to work! (For more from the author of “How President Trump Could Make the IRS Great Again” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Already Making Good on Campaign Promises, Says Newt Gingrich

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Less than a week into his presidency, Donald Trump has already acted on the promises he made to the American people, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.

Speaking Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation for the fifth of a six-part series on understanding Trump and Trumpism, Gingrich said the president, thus far, has shown a commitment to upholding the will of the people.

According to Gingrich, Trump’s early days in the White House are just a taste of the results we can expect to see in the next four years.

“This inaugural rose directly out of a two-year campaign and has now led into the first week of activism,” he said. “What’s he focusing on—job creation, immigration, shrinking government—all the things he campaigned on. Guess what that probably means—he’s probably going to continue to do just this.”

Trump’s commitment—which helped him beat 16 Republican candidates, the elite news media, and a billion-dollar Hillary Clinton campaign—has left his critics appalled.

“Of course, it shocks all the liberals because it turns out he may actually have meant what he campaigned on, which people voted for,” Gingrich said. “That puts him so outside liberalism and outside the traditional establishment that it’s unthinkable. Therefore, it can’t be true.”

Gingrich noted the latest incident to enrage the left: Trump’s plan to launch an investigation of mass voter fraud.

“The elite media doesn’t want to cope with it, but the fact is Donald J. Trump has been saying consistently as a candidate and as a president, we have a problem with voter fraud in America,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich argued that the Democratic Party would be in “real trouble” if only legal citizens were allowed to vote.

“They can’t win in an election that only involves people who are legal citizens of the United States and alive, which I think are two reasonable criteria for being allowed to vote,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich’s remarks focused largely on the themes of Trump’s inaugural address. Gingrich said Trump’s speech was about the people, which is something Americans can continue to expect from Trump.

“What is the Trumpian revolution about?” Gingrich questioned. “It’s about the citizens joined in a great national effort, rebuilding the country and restoring its promise for all of our citizens.”

While Trump’s message was “America first,” Gingrich said Trump will “put America first within a world system.”

“If he negotiates with Mexico and when he meets with the Mexican president later on, guess what he expects the Mexican president to do,” Gingrich said. “He expects him to represent Mexico. He’s just asking for the right to represent America.”

Trump’s “moral obligation” to both God and the American people will allow him to deliver on his promises, Gingrich suggested.

“If we do what we promised to do, if we do what Trump promised in his inaugural, we would be in a fight consistently from now till either we win or they win,” he said. “That’s why this is so important.”

Gingrich will wrap up his six-part series on Trumpism at Heritage on Monday, Jan. 30. The speech will take place at 11 a.m. EST. (For more from the author of “Trump Already Making Good on Campaign Promises, Says Newt Gingrich” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump DOJ Likely to Find Many Offenses in Voter Fraud Probe, Experts Say

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President Donald Trump’s Justice Department will likely find numerous offenses to warrant launching a broad investigation into voter fraud, legal experts and watchdog groups say.

Trump has said that more than 3 million to 5 million illegal votes were cast during the 2016 election, causing him to receive a lower popular vote total than his vanquished opponent, Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the Electoral College.

On Wednesday, Trump said:

One legal organization took action on preventing voter fraud this week. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a voter integrity group, reached a consent decree with Noxubee County, Mississippi, which has had voter registration that exceeds the number of county residents since 2011, according to the group. A consent decree is a legal agreement between two parties without an acknowledgment of guilt.

The decree includes requiring the county to identify dead voters on the rolls, clear voter rolls of former county residents, and mail all registered voters who have been inactive since January 2011.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation this week is also seeking to pry the release of information about noncitizens registered to vote in Manassas, Virginia.

Logan Churchwell, spokesman for the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said it is good that the Justice Department won’t just leave it to the nonprofit groups to weed out fraud.

“We need to know how many noncitizens are voting and know the unknowns,” Churchwell told The Daily Signal. “Trump could just enforce the law. The giant research project he tweeted about, or had a series of tweets about, is worthwhile and only something the federal government could do.”

It’s likely that 800,000 noncitizens illegally voted in the last presidential election, according to Jesse Richman, an associate professor of political science at Old Dominion University, who extrapolated on a 2014 study that examined illegal voting in the 2008 and 2010 elections.

Before the 2016 election, there were several documented cases of voter fraud. These included an FBI probe that found 19 dead people were registered to vote in Harrisonburg, Virginia; a woman arrested in Des Moines, Iowa, for voting twice for Trump; and a CBS News investigation that found multiple cases of dead voters and double voting in Colorado.

8 Instances of Voter Fraud in 2016, and It’s Not Even Election Day Yet

Churchwell asserted Trump’s 3 million or more projection couldn’t be proven or disproven, but regardless of whether this is an overstatement, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department ignored Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act, better known as the “motor voter” law. This provision requires local governments to maintain and keep voter rolls current.

The Obama administration has not enforced this provision of the motor voter law, and in Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio, even took action to prevent maintaining the voter registration rolls.

Still others, such as Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal legal group at the New York University School of Law, insisted voter fraud is a myth and opposed an investigation.

“An expensive investigation of imaginary voter fraud is not needed. It could easily devolve into a witch hunt,” Waldman said in a public statement. “Worse, it could be used to justify sweeping voting restrictions. There is no need for another investigation that is not independent, rigorous, and fact-based.”

Waldman continued:

There is a great deal of evidence that our voting system locks out far too many eligible citizens from voting. The voter registration system needs an upgrade, and that is something that should unite all Americans. Errors on the voter rolls are emphatically not signs of fraud—they are signs that we need to improve the system.

An investigation into voter fraud would not be complicated, said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group.

“You can see the numbers we are talking about by looking at public voter registration lists and cross-checking that against a list of noncitizens,” Fitton told The Daily Signal. “The federal government could coordinate with state and local governments and determine who registered to vote illegally. It’s a simple process. That’s why the left is so upset. They know the jig is up.”

Enforcing the law is long overdue, said Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Election Law Reform Initiative at The Heritage Foundation.

“We don’t need [to create] a commission. The Justice Department can enforce the law and work with the Department of Homeland Security, and its records for citizenship and change of status to get an idea of who is illegally registered to vote,” von Spakovsky told The Daily Signal.

Regardless of the investigation’s outcome, von Spakovsky expects critics will dismiss anything that falls short of Trump’s 3 to 5 million illegal voter estimate.

“They may try to dismiss this, but the American people don’t believe what the media say about voter fraud not being real,” von Spakovsky said. “Polling solidifies that.” (For more from the author of “Trump DOJ Likely to Find Many Offenses in Voter Fraud Probe, Experts Say” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Says He Will ‘Send in the Feds’ If Chicago Doesn’t Reduce Homicides

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President Trump tweeted Tuesday night that if Chicago is unable to reduce its homicide figures, he will send in “the Feds” to help reduce the city’s murder rate.

“If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible `carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” Trump posted.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson responded late Tuesday, saying: “The Chicago Police Department is more than willing to work with the federal government to build on our partnerships with DOJ, FBI, DEA and ATF and boost federal prosecution rates for gun crimes in Chicago.”

Trump did not offer specifics about how the federal government could help.

The White House website says, “Our country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement and more effective policing.” (Read more from “Trump Says He Will ‘Send in the Feds’ If Chicago Doesn’t Reduce Homicides” HERE)

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My Message and Prayer for the President

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Early Inaugural morning, I was privileged to take part in a private church service with the incoming President and Vice-President and their families. Donald Trump had personally and graciously asked me to pray over him. It was not only my honor as a citizen, but is fully in keeping with Scripture’s command to pray and intercede “for kings and all who are in high positions.” (1 Timothy 2:1-3 NRSV)

I want to share with you the words God placed on our hearts to impart on our new leader.

Our Introduction

What a beautiful sight! (To President Trump) Do you mind standing?

What a beautiful family! … I honestly believe, I remember Eric saying to me the first time we met, “He’s a great father.” (To Eric) You said, “We’re going to win this thing!” Eric, you talked about winning it for us, for America, for the sake of freedom. Galatians 5:1 says, “It’s for freedom Christ set us free.” That freedom, true freedom, was purchased at a great price. It’s been protected at a great price. And it will continue to be with great leadership.

(To Donald Trump) The first time you and I talked, I shared with you something I thought was very helpful — and knowing you and watching you, sometimes you would wonder if there is any way possible. I said, “Let me talk with you about humility and meekness, with the emphasis on meekness. It’s not weakness.” I said, “It’s taking great power and submitting it with the kind of biblical direction that enables it to fulfill what its strength enables it to do.” I used two examples of meekness: Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan. I said, “These two men have submitted as deeply as any people I’ve had the opportunity to observe up close to the wisdom that enabled them to do great things that benefited all the people and extended the right for freedom.”

I said, “It’s like taking the power of a thoroughbred like Secretariat and yielding it to the wisdom and guidance of a 100-pound jockey.” I said, “Sir, the meekness that God has given you is as great as any I have ever witnessed — and ability to move and motivate people that is nothing short of a divine, supernatural enabling.” I said, “Sir, if you yield the gifts of God and the strength that He put in you, not for your purposes but for His kingdom purpose, you’ll win a triple crown. You’ll win an election and you’ll save the day, even the future of freedom, and restore the foundation and the walls essential to protect it.”

I have had the joy — and I want to thank you for this joy. I’ve never been treated in 55 years of public ministry with greater honor, respect, sincere appreciation and gratitude, and joining me seeking God in prayer. Sir, you have been amazing to be with. To God be the glory! It is an answer to a lot of the prayers of the people here and around the world. You are in fact an answer to prayer. Seventy-three years I’ve been in this life, and the greatest Cabinet I’ve ever seen is seated right here. I think you have been designed and gifted by God for this moment. If you, too, together will submit to the wisdom God freely offers, it is going to be an amazing journey. I compliment your family. I want to say this to you, the family: Will all of you join me praying from now on that we will someday hear it said in the church, the family of God, what a beautiful family, what an awesome family!

Our Prayer

Father, I pray for President-elect Donald Trump.

Thank you for his beautiful family, for a beautiful First Lady. Thank you for the wisdom that was manifested when he began with the choice of Gov. Mike Pence, now our Vice President-elect, and his wife and family, and this Cabinet is amazing.

Father, I ask you to pour out your wisdom. Let it flow like a river, and let everyone around him receive that wisdom and encourage him. We stand against the forces of distraction, dissension and division that would in any way keep people from hearing the transforming truth of your Word. God, we’re asking you to pour out Your love, Your compassion, and give us Your courage, Your boldness, that we may fulfill Your will on this earth.

We believe, dear God, that the stage is set for the next great spiritual awakening, and I believe with all my heart it is absolutely essential. I want to thank you from the depth of my heart for giving us a leader who is fearless, who is tireless, who is committed and who has so obviously, by his very manner and the way he treats people and expresses appreciation for them, and the way he has forgiven those who have been unkind, and even given them an opportunity to serve.

God, I want to thank you that we have seen the transformation of his own heart and mind in his actions. I pray, dear God, that those actions would continue to always speak louder than words.

God, pour out your love on our nation and pour out your love through our nation. We not only want you to bless America, but God, we want America to bless You by blessing the people around the world that You love so deeply.

Thank you for this moment.

I ask you to build a hedge of protection around the President and Vice President, their families, the Cabinet, our national leadership. And God, would you heal the division in our Congress, and Lord, would you heal the division that has been in Your church too long? And let us see this miracle awakening. And we will give you the glory, praise and thanksgiving, forever and ever.

Our Prayers Continue

Prayers for President Trump cannot end with his Inauguration. With celebrities publicly dreaming of “blowing up the White House,” former Clinton spokesmen quoting the assassin John Wilkes Booth’s “sic semper tyrannis,” and so much anger in the streets, prayers of protection for the President, his family and our nation must continue without ceasing.

On a more hopeful note, we must also continue to pray that those in the White House will listen to our Heavenly Father as they go about their daily business on our behalf.

As I told President Trump, Vice-President Pence and their cabinet Friday morning, “If you together will submit to the wisdom God freely offers, it is going to be an amazing journey.” (For more from the author of “My Message and Prayer for the President” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

US Energy Takes a Major Step Forward

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For years, the Obama administration used its executive authority to obstruct two crucial energy infrastructure projects: the Dakota Access pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline.

Today, the obstruction finally came to an end when President Donald Trump signed two executive orders. This action affirms our new president’s respect for the rule of law and his support for responsible infrastructure development, energy production, and job creation.

One of the executive orders directs all federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to expedite approval of the easement to complete construction of the Dakota Access pipeline project.

Another order invites the TransCanada Corp. to resubmit its application for the Keystone XL pipeline and directs the State Department to expedite its review.

Construction on the 1,172-mile Dakota Access pipeline was halted by the Obama Administration in September after its developers had met every legal requirement to complete the project.

Now more than 90 percent complete, the $3.7 billion private project will deliver as many as 570,000 barrels of oil a day from northwestern North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to connect to existing pipelines in Illinois.

President Barack Obama had stopped the approval of an easement to cross U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property across the Missouri River at Lake Oahe in Morton County.

The meddling by the Obama administration in trying to block this legally permitted project has encouraged civil disobedience, threatened the safety of local residents, and placed an onerous financial burden on local law enforcement—with no offer of federal reimbursement for these increasing costs.

Since last summer, protesters have illegally occupied federal land in Morton County near the pipeline construction site, damaging equipment, roads, bridges, livestock, and private property.

I have asked the Trump administration to pay for law enforcement costs near the protest site and provide federal police to protect construction workers. Legally permitted infrastructure projects must be allowed to proceed without threat of improper governmental interference.

This conflict deserves peaceful resolution, and I hope the extreme environmentalists leading the protest will not further endanger themselves, Morton County residents, construction workers, and law enforcement.

These pipelines hold the promise of new jobs and North American energy security. The Keystone XL pipeline also offers the opportunity to do business with Canada, our longtime ally and oldest trading partner.

With today’s action from the White House, U.S. energy has taken a great step forward. (For more from the author of “US Energy Takes a Major Step Forward” please click HERE)

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White House: Centrist GOP Senators’ Obamacare Plan at Odds with Trump’s Vision

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The White House seemed less than enthusiastic about one Senate Republican plan that would allow states to keep Obamacare, stressing President Donald Trump’s opposition to mandates that drive down competition.

On Monday, four Republican senators released the text of the Patient Freedom Act of 2017 to replace the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The bill calls for repealing the mandates but would allow states to choose to maintain the mandates, according to the bill’s summary.

The Daily Signal asked Tuesday if this legislation could fall short of Trump’s pledge during the campaign to repeal the law in its entirety.

“First and foremost, let’s get back to what his goal is: We are working with Congress, some of those conversations started last night, staff has been working on a plan to repeal and replace [Obamacare],” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told The Daily Signal during the press briefing. “His goal, first and foremost, is to make sure we give the American people a health care system that is affordable, more accessible, more doctors and more plans.”

With regards to states, Spicer focused on Trump’s opposition to mandates—which could still be in place under this particular GOP Senate proposal.

“How a state chooses to implement that — what I think right now is the idea that we’ve had these mandates requiring people to get things that has driven out competition and driven up costs, is not a health care system he is pleased with and wants to support the repeal of,” Spicer added.

Four senators who are considered centrist or liberal Republicans are the sponsors of the bill: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia.

The bill summary says: “Option 1 allows the State to reinstate Title I of the ACA [Affordable Care Act], including its mandates and other requirements.”

In a Senate floor speech, Collins suggested states would opt against it:

Option one would allow a state to choose to continue operating insurance markets pursuant to all the rules of the Affordable Care Act … More appealing to many states, however, would be what we call the ‘better choice’ option in the Patient Freedom Act that would allow a state to waive many of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act except for vital consumer protections and still receive federal funding to help its residents purchase affordable health insurance.

(For more from the author of “White House: Centrist GOP Senators’ Obamacare Plan at Odds with Trump’s Vision” please click HERE)

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Trump’s OMB Pick Shares Vision on Social Security, Regulation

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Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., appeared before the United States Senate Committee on the Budget Tuesday to share how he will reform entitlement programs and regulations, should he be confirmed by the Senate as the next director of the Office of Management and Budget.

In his opening statement, Mulvaney said that the Office of Management and Budget has likely been falling short on its duties to oversee entitlements and regulations.

“I think the law currently requires OMB to do a retrospective analysis of regulations, and it’s probably been falling short on that,” Mulvaney said.

During the hearing, Mulvaney stressed the importance of reforming entitlement programs in order to save them for future generations.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Mulvaney about his intentions to “save” the Social Security program.

“Would you agree with me that for younger workers, they may have to work longer when they enter the program to save the program?” Graham asked.

Mulvaney said that he has told his children to “prepare for exactly that.”

Graham also questioned Mulvaney about his vision for other entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Mulvaney said that failing to take action on these programs is not an option.

“If we do nothing, then by the time I retire, there will be an across-the-board 22 percent cut to Social Security benefits,” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney said that he would not be advocating cuts to Social Security benefits for the elderly.

“I don’t think that any proposal that … that I would take to the president, should I be confirmed, would suggest that we touch folks anywhere who are already—I’m not making my parents go back to work, they’re 74 years old,” Mulvaney said.

If the Social Security program is not reformed, Mulvaney said that individuals will not receive the full benefits of the program.

“Without changing the current Social Security program, a 40-year-old today will receive roughly 77 percent of what they have been promised for their adult life,” Mulvaney said.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., questioned Mulvaney about the future of Social Security and its implications on being available to young people.

“To continue to suggest that we do not have to do anything here is just being dishonest to the young people … Is that fair?” Toomey asked.

Mulvaney said that Toomey’s estimation was “correct” and stressed that in order to fix the program, people will have to work more hours in order to close the budget gap in Social Security.

“It would require, I think, one of the proposals would require a need to work an extra couple of months before I retire … ” Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney also stressed the importance of reforming government regulations.

He said that Trump is committed to significantly reign in regulatory programs.

“My very distinct impression, from working with the transition team, is that regulatory reform is going to be an absolute priority for this president,” Mulvaney said. “In fact, I think you saw him mention yesterday that he wants to cut 75 percent of the regulations. He is absolutely dead serious about this.”

Mulvaney expressed confidence in the dedication to reforming regulation, stating that he believes Trump to be “the first person to campaign for president on regulatory reform since Ronald Reagan.”

“I have some plans or ideas of how we could help to [reform regulation], but I absolutely believe that you will see this be a priority for President Trump,” Mulvaney said.

In mid-December, Trump, then-President-elect, announced Mulvaney as his choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Republican leaders have expressed confidence in Mulvaney to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said that Mulvaney would do a “great” job in the leadership role.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Budget, said in a statement released Tuesday that he is “pleased that President Trump has nominated a fiscal conservative for this key post” and expressed faith in Mulvaney’s ability to “reform the broken budget process.” (For more from the author of “Trump’s OMB Pick Shares Vision on Social Security, Regulation” please click HERE)

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