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Sequester Madness: Obama Admin. Reportedly Spending Millions to Set Up Labor Unions in Foreign Countries

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Photo Credit: Reuters Senate Republicans say the Labor Department appears to be spending millions in taxpayer dollars to establish labor unions and promote collective bargaining in foreign countries and are asking top Obama administration officials for a full audit.

The request was sent by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the leading Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“At a time when our federal budget is deteriorating rapidly … it is troubling to us that the department appears to be spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds to establish labor unions and promote collective bargaining in foreign countries,” they said in a letter to acting Labor Secretary Seth Harris.

The purported activities were conducted by the agency’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

The bureau for the past several years has purportedly made numerous awards — worth millions of dollars — to the United Nations, the Solidarity Center and other similar groups, “whose stated objective is to help establish labor unions in foreign countries,” the senators said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cantor Pushing Obamacare Bill, but not to Repeal it as Promised

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Photo Credit: John ShinkleRepublican-backed legislation meant to alter a piece of Obamacare has picked up some unlikely opponents: conservatives.

The Club for Growth, ForAmerica and the Heritage Foundation have come out against the bill, which the House is expected to take up later this week.

The critics argue that the bill would prop up a program that should be killed. The measure would move $4 billion from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which was created under the health care law, to the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program, which ran out of money earlier this year.

For America President Brent Bozell said that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who supports the bill and pushing it behind the scenes although he is not listed as a sponsor or a cosponsor, is to blame.

“Rather than sticking to his promise to repeal the massive government takeover of healthcare that is Obamacare, which led to Republicans taking the House majority in 2010, [Cantor] is actually advocating shoring up a portion of the law that does nothing to use free market-based reforms to cut healthcare costs,” Bozell said.

Read more from this story HERE.

When will Republicans Understand Free Market Healthcare?

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Photo Credit: WND

Healthcare is one of the most complex policy issues. The lack of free market healthcare, engendered by endless government interventions (and secondary interventions to fix the original interventions), has made policy solutions even more cumbersome. But the overarching principle of any reform must begin with the understanding that federal intervention in the healthcare industry has inexorably driven up the cost of healthcare and health insurance. As such, no healthcare policy panacea can begin with growing government and further distorting the already grossly-altered healthcare market.

Instead of proposing more free market solutions, Republicans are offering pale-pastel versions of Democrat government intervention as solutions. Here are two examples.

Last week, Congressman Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced the Orwellian-named “Truth in Healthcare Marketing Act of 2013” (HR 1427) – a bill that forces optometrists to disclose all their licensing and qualifications in all advertising. It grants wide latitude to the Federal Trade Commission to regulate and penalize offenders. The bill is heavily backed by special interest hustlers like the AMA and American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). The ophthalmologist lobby doesn’t want competition from cheaper healthcare providers (optometrists), and they want to use the boot of the federal government to ensnare them in red tape.

It is this sort of anti-free market special interest legislating that has crowded out choice and competition from the marketplace. The reality is that there are already strict laws in most states to punish those optometrists who step outside of their scope of service beyond their qualifications. There is no reason, beyond special interest politicking, for the federal government to get involved. The bill was introduced on April 9, a day before the AAOs national meetings in DC commenced.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican Money Backs Immigration Push

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Photo Credit: AP

As Congress readies for a drawn-out immigration debate, an expanding network of Republican fundraisers is pressing for a path to legal status for millions of immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Business leaders and donors who raised tens of millions in the last election are meeting with top GOP fundraisers and Republican lawmakers who may be reluctant to support what critics call “amnesty” for immigrants who broke the law.

At the same time, a coalition of fundraisers who support overhauling immigration is funneling donations to a new crop of outside groups designed to protect like-minded congressional Republicans who fear a backlash by GOP’s core supporters.

In most cases, the donors have ties to Wall Street and businesses that want more high- and low-skilled immigrants in the nation’s legal labor pool. Backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, these business-minded Republican fundraisers say they’re getting a relatively receptive audience in the face of an undeniable new political reality. Record Hispanic turnout helped President Barack Obama defeat Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney last fall. And projected population growth ensures that immigrants’ political clout will grow stronger.

The network of Republican donors is at odds with many on the GOP’s right flank — tea party activists among them — who argue for increased border security first and foremost. That was largely the position of Romney, who encouraged immigrants without legal status to “self-deport.”

Read more from this story HERE.

NY Times Columnist Kristof Slams ‘Senate Republicans’ after Boston Explosions

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof responded to the explosions that blasted the Boston Marathon on Monday with an eyebrow-raising comment about Republicans on Capitol Hill.

In a tweet during the aftermath of the apparent attacks, Kristof wrote, “Explosion is a reminder that ATF needs a director. Shame on Senate Republicans for blocking apptment.”

The columnist linked to a Feb. 1 article in the Washington Post about Republicans not supporting President Obama’s nominee to lead the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives bureau.

Watch video of the explosions here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Growth-Busting Budget: Republicans Must Not Get Suckered

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By Larry Kudlow. No matter how you slice the Obama budget pie, the inescapable fact is that the president wants to get rid of the roughly $1 trillion budget-cutting sequester and substitute in a $1 trillion-plus tax hike. In other words, more spending, more taxing. Growth-busting. The GOP should just say no.

And let me provide some counsel to my Republican friends in Washington, in particular in the House. Balanced budgets don’t create growth. This mantra is wrong. It’s growth that creates balanced budgets.

Cut spending? That’s a pro-growth measure. Lower tax rates? Another pro-growth measure. The combination of limited government and true tax reform will balance the budget soon enough, with government coming in at a smaller share of gross domestic product while sufficient investment and work incentives get growth moving toward the 4 or 5 percent range.

That kind of growth would make up for the lost ground of the past 15 years. And if you add in deregulation and a sound King Dollar, you’d have a growth budget that would propel America back into prosperity.

Indeed, with some tweaking of eligibility requirements, a true economic-growth budget would lower food stamp enrollment, unemployment compensation, disability benefits and other forms of welfare-dependency spending that plague the country. Medicare is a more complex issue, but Social Security would be solved by a long-run growth spurt. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama budget ‘compromise?’ No way, says the GOP

By Brad Knickerbocker. The budget President Obama delivered to Congress this week was presented as a compromise package, a path to some sort of “grand bargain” involving taxes and spending.

“I don’t believe that all these ideas are optimal,” the president acknowledged. “But I’m willing to accept them as part of a compromise if and only if they contain protections for the most vulnerable Americans.”

Indeed, his budget did draw immediate sniping from Obama’s liberal base as well as from Republican lawmakers. A particular affront to the left is the tweaking envisioned for Medicare, revealed Friday in congressional testimony by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The Obama budget also would change the way inflation is figured for Social Security recipients, and it raises taxes on higher-income households. But “compromise?” No way, the GOP charged in its Saturday radio/Internet address.

Speaking on behalf of her party, freshman Rep. Jackie Walorski (R) of Indiana called it “a blank check for more spending and more debt.” “Even when the president’s budget offers signs of common ground – like modest entitlement reforms – he says he won’t follow through unless he can impose more tax increases,” Rep. Walorski said. “Worst of all, the White House says the president’s budget never balances – ever, failing to meet the most basic principle of budgeting for every family and small business.” Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Professor Calls Republicans Stupid, Racists and More

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Photo Credit: YouTube

For two years the University of Southern California student had listened to the classroom ranting of liberal professors. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Darry Sragow, his political science professor, launched into an anti-Republican tirade on the first day of class.

“I knew that this was going to be a professor that was very left-wing, very biased,” Talgo told Fox News. “I knew this would be one of those classes where the professor would be biased all the time.”

So Talgo decided to fight back. “As soon as I got back to my dorm, I decided to video his lectures,” he said. “I got inspired.”

The 20-year-old political science major bought a hidden camera disguised as a shirt button. And that’s how he was able to secretly videotape every single lecture delivered by Professor Sragow.

“It’s one thing to say this happened,” Talgo said. “It’s another thing to show that it happened.” Talgo culled 15-minutes worth of Republican, Tea Party and conservative ranting from Sragow’s lectures and shared them with Campus Reform reporters Oliver Darcy and Josiah Ryan.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Gun Control and Immigration Deals in the Works: Is the GOP Selling Us Out Again?

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

For the first time in a while, members of the two parties — at least some of them — appear to be talking about getting things done, even without the deadline of a manufactured crisis looming.

With Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) reaching a deal to expand background checks on firearms purchases, the way appears to have been cleared for the Senate to start debate on gun-control legislation. Although their provision is not as far-reaching as what President Obama proposed after the Newtown massacre in December, he praised it as “common sense.”

Another bipartisan deal also is in the offing, as a group of eight senators nears final agreement on a plan that would give illegal immigrants a path to legal status and, potentially, citizenship.

And Wednesday night, Obama continued his outreach to Senate Republicans, dining with a dozen of them to discuss the nation’s fiscal future and the budget he put forward earlier in the day. It was the second such dinner in a matter of weeks.

“What we did, we did right,” said Manchin in an interview Wednesday, referring to his background-check deal. “And you have to look at that in the toxic atmosphere that we’re in, that I’ve experienced for 2 1 / 2 years. Oh Lordy, if we’re able to get this, I think, good piece of legislation through, it’ll be a major accomplishment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Leaders Dismiss Obama’s Budget Plan

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Photo Credit: AP

By Neil Munro. Republican budget leaders dismissed President Barack Obama’s 2014 budget plan as mess of fiscal gimmicks, shirked duties, accounting flim-flam and escalating debt.

The 10-year budget claims to cut $1.8 trillion from future borrowing, but actually trims only $119 billion from the 10-year, $46.5 trillion spending plan, Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House’s budget committee, said April 10.

The removal of the budget tricks “knocks you down to $119 [billion] in actual deficit reduction,” he said. Promised spending reductions are also postponed way into the future, Ryan said. Obama’s budget writers “don’t even start deficit reduction until four years after he’s left office,” he said.

“We are not seeing responsible leadership,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, chairman of the Senate’s budget committee. The administration is “under the mis-impression that deficit don’t matter [and] that they can continue to borrow and spend.”

In his Rose Garden speech today, Obama touted his budget, saying “the numbers work. There’s not a lot of smoke and mirrors in here.” Read more from this story HERE.

President Obama’s budget includes $1 trillion tax hike and $744 billion deficit

By Brian Hughes. President Obama on Wednesday unveiled his $3.8 trillion budget proposal for 2014, calling for higher taxes in exchange for cost reductions in Social Security and Medicare, a proposal swiftly rejected both by his Republican rivals and Democratic allies.

The president’s budget — which would produce a $744 billion deficit next year — includes about $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, including nearly doubling the federal tax on cigarettes to $1.95 a pack, increasing the estate tax, and eliminating some tax deductions and loopholes for wealthier Americans.

The budget would raise the national minimum wage to $9 an hour and spend an additional $50 billion on public works projects that could generate jobs.

From the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, the president said he would support cuts to entitlement programs only if Congress approves his proposed tax increases.

“If anyone thinks I’ll finish the job of deficit reduction on the backs of middle-class families or through spending cuts alone that actually hurt our economy short-term, they should think again,” the president said. “When it comes to deficit reduction, I’ve already met Republicans more than half way.” Read more from this story HERE.

The Corrupt Bastards Club Strikes Again: Alaska Republican Party Chair Deposed

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In yet another strike by Alaska’s RINO Establishment against the grassroots, Chair Debbie Brown was removed by a sham proceeding last night. The “trial,” held at a time that Ms. Brown was out-of-town and unable to defend herself against trumped-up charges, resulted in her removal from ARP office. The individual purporting to be the new chair of the ARP, Peter Goldberg, was never elected by the party delegates but was apparently hand-selected by insiders for his current position.

This is the second time this year that a duly-elected ARP Chair has been removed through a kangaroo court-type proceeding orchestrated by long-time party bosses. Not surprisingly, activists are outraged.

Attorney Wayne Anthony Ross, former GOP National Committeeman and long time Alaska Republican Party officer, wrote a protest earlier stating:

In January 2013, in a blatant attempt to retain power, the old guard filed fraudulent complaints and utilized flawed process and procedure, including a so-called “hearing” on January 31, seeking ouster of Chairman-Elect Russ Millette and Vice-Chairman Debbie Brown before they could even assume the positions to which they were elected.

He continued,

Ms. Brown has had two more spurious complaints filed against her. The first complaint was filed 49 days after Ms. Brown became Chairman and the second complaint was filed 63 days after she became Chairman.The most recent complaint was filed only 3 days ago, on Friday, April 5 and submitted by previous Chairman Ruedrich.

Mr. Ross argued that the scheduled hearing did not comply with the Rule of Law:

The timing of this hearing, the manner in which the hearing [was] scheduled and the surrounding circumstances, all show a clear and callous disregard for the ARP rules, due process, the rule of law, and the will of the 2012 ARP State Convention delegates.

He also mentioned that the outcome of the hearing had been predetermined, as a threatening email from the new chair, Peter Goldberg, revealed:

In a threatening e-mail sent to Chairman Brown by you, Vice-Chairman Goldberg, you stated that members of the SEC have already decided on ousting [Debbie Brown], only 49 days after she became Chairman. Thus, without a hearing, the SEC [had] already decided the outcome.

Prior to tonight’s sham hearing, a number of current and former ARP district chairs, delegates and other officers, wrote an Open Letter to the ARP, describing the nature of the conflict:

the present conflict is between those who support the transfer of power to our newly elected officers, and those who oppose that transfer of power. In a grassroots organization such as ours, in which all power is vested in delegates in convention assembled, and those who hold power at all other times do so only in trust, the present conflict amounts to no more, nor less, than a power grab by individuals who failed in their efforts to win election at the 2012 Republican State Convention. That these individuals have attempted to use the state executive committee hearing process to make up for their failed election campaigns, or failure to run for office, is an assault not only on the nature and function of the state executive committee, but also on the power and authority of the state convention and even the election process itself.

The letter concludes:

Those who desire to change the fundamental structure of our party in this way will meet our firm and unwavering resistance to any effort to do so.

It’s anybody’s guess how this mess will ultimately resolve. But in the short term you can be assured of messy politics as hardcore activists remain committed to fighting the ruling class and restoring constitutional government.