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Senate Invokes New Filibuster Restrictions to Confirm IRS Chief

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Senate voted Friday to confirm President Obama’s pick to head the beleaguered Internal Revenue Service, which has been under intense congressional scrutiny over its treatment of Tea Party groups seeking tax exempt status.

John Koskinen was confirmed in a 59-36 vote, below the 60-vote approval threshold that would have been required before Senate Democrats changed the chamber’s rules to prevent Republicans from continuing to block presidential nominees.

Obama immediately praised the confirmation, but Republicans mostly opposed it, in part because they are angry over the rules change and want a greater say in deciding who will next head the troubled tax agency.

In May, a Treasury Inspector General report found that the IRS had issued a “Be on the lookout” order for groups seeking tax exempt status with names that signaled a conservative bent, like “Tea Party” or “Patriot.”

Many of the Tea Party groups that applied for tax exempt status had their applications delayed ahead of the 2012 presidential election, prompting some to suspect the targeting was politically motivated.

Read more from this story HERE.

Veterans Take the Hit – Senate Votes for $6 Billion in Military Pension Cuts

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Photo Credit: JTF Guantanamo

Photo Credit: JTF Guantanamo

A final effort by Senate Republicans to halt cuts to pensions of military retirees failed late Tuesday, after Democrats blocked an amendment to the controversial budget bill.

The two-year budget agreement, which cleared a key test vote earlier in the day, was expected to get a final vote no later than Wednesday.

Ahead of the final vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., tried unsuccessfully to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the amendment, which he wrote to undo the cuts for military retirees.

A provision in the already House-passed bill would cut retirement benefits for military retirees by $6 billion over 10 years.

Sessions wanted to instead eliminate an estimated $4.2 billion in annual spending by reining in an IRS credit that illegal immigrants have claimed.

Read more from this story HERE.

Daily Caller: Why Joe Miller Thinks He Can Win the Race for Alaska’s Senate Seat in 2014

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Joe Miller spent Thursday on Capitol Hill trying to woo prominent national conservatives to his side as he prepares to launch a new campaign for the U.S. Senate in Alaska.

The Republican lawyer and tea party favorite made a pilgrimage to D.C. to meet with a number of top conservative legislators in the House and Senate about the Alaska contest, which is expected to be one of the hottest races in 2014.

“Obviously, we’re looking for their support in our race,” Miller said in a Thursday afternoon interview with The Daily Caller.

He declined to reveal publicly which Republicans he met with on Thursday, though allowed: “They’re all solid conservatives.”

The West Point and Yale Law School graduate pulled off an upset in the 2010 Republican primary, defeating incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But he ended up losing the general election to Murkowski, who mounted a write-in campaign after her surprising primary loss.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Approved Legislation Banning Workplace Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

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Photo Credit: AP/J. Scott ApplewhiteReflecting Americans’ increasing acceptance of gays, the Senate on Thursday approved legislation that would bar workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Gay rights advocates hailed the bipartisan, 64-32 vote as a historic step although it could prove short-lived. A foe of the bill, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has signaled that the Republican-led House is unlikely to even vote. Senate proponents were looking for a way around that obstacle.

Seventeen years after a similar anti-discrimination measure failed by one vote, 54 members of the Senate Democratic majority and 10 Republicans voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. It is the first major gay rights bill since Congress repealed the ban on gays serving openly in the military three years ago.

“All Americans deserve a fair opportunity to pursue the American dream,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a chief sponsor of the bill.

Proponents cast the effort as Congress following the lead of business and localities as some 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 22 states have outlawed employment discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

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Gay, Transgender Rights Bill Clears First Senate Hurdle

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Photo Credit: APBy Associated Press.

The Senate pushed a major anti-bias gay rights bill past a first, big hurdle Monday, a clear sign of Americans’ greater acceptance of homosexuality nearly two decades after the law prohibiting federal recognition of same-sex marriage.

The vote of 61-30 essentially ensured that the Senate has the votes to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Final passage, possibly by week’s end, would cap a 17-year quest to secure Senate support for a similar discrimination measure that failed by one vote in 1996, the same year Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act.

Reflecting the nation’s shifting views toward gay rights and the fast-changing political dynamic, seven Senate Republicans joined with 54 Democrats to vote to move ahead on the legislation.

“Rights are sometimes intangible but, boy if you’ve ever been discriminated against, seeking employment or seeking an advancement, it’s bitter,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the only openly gay member of the Senate, said after the vote. “And it’s been a long, long fight, but I think its day has come. And that’s just very exciting to witness.”

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Photo Credit: Weekly StandardENDA Would Grant Transgender Rights to Elementary School Teachers

By John McCormack.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s leading gay rights group, eighty-eight percent of Fortune 500 companies have formal employment policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. And it’s likely that almost all other businesses, like Senator Rick Santorum more than a decade ago, have a de facto policy prohibiting such discrimination. It’s hard to imagine that in the year 2013 that any business in the country could fire someone simply because he is gay without facing a major backlash and boycotts.

So does the country now need a new federal law prohibiting such discrimination by private businesses? When Democrats controlled congressional supermajorities from 2009 to 2011, neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid held a vote on Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). But the Senate is taking up the bill this week, and the vote is being framed in the New York Times as a “test” for Republicans to show that they are not “out of touch with much of the country on social issues.”

A vote for ENDA, however, is not without risk for its supporters. In addition to its gay rights provisions, ENDA creates transgender employment rights. Only 17 states passed laws like that. Furthermore, ENDA contains no exceptions for schools at any age level (though the law does contain a modest religious liberty provision).

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Nuclear Weapons Drawdown Likely Illegal

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Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey

President Barack Obama’s efforts to significantly curtail U.S. nuclear weapons without seeking the proper Senate approval are at best misguided and worst illegal, sources tell Newsmax.

Obama is exploring opportunities to achieve the reductions in infrastructure and capability he seeks – including a drawdown to 1,000 weapons – without seeking the advice and consent of the Senate that international treaties require.

Efforts to push the boundaries of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia are ill-advised, sources say. A proposal that seeks to achieve nuclear arms reductions outside the framework of New START, however, would run afoul of the law.

“A presidential announcement that would try to do a nontreaty agreement would be prohibited by the code,” Baker Spring, a research fellow in national security policy at the Heritage Foundation, tells Newsmax.

The Senate has specifically spoken to the precise circumstances pertaining to any modification or reinterpretation of New START or a new agreement that would reduce the U.S. arsenal to levels below those included in New START.

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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.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iowa Radio Host Steve Deace Eyes Senate Run

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Photo Credit: APIowa radio host Steve Deace will look seriously at running for Senate if conservative Rep. Steve King passes.

The nationally-syndicated commentator, who fashions himself a “conservative blowtorch,” put Karl Rove and Republican Gov. Terry Branstad on notice Thursday that no establishment-favored candidate will skate to the nomination – a warning that heightens the possibility of a bloody primary in a state the GOP must win in any realistic scenario to take the Senate next year.

“I think that it’s Steve King time to take the next step,” Deace told POLITICO. “Him running is sort of necessary to show that Karl Rove cannot pick our candidate. If King decides not to run, then I think it’s very important that someone who actually shares the principles that have made King so popular with conservatives across Iowa runs for that seat.”

“That would not be anyone attached to Terry Branstad or Karl Rove,” he added. The comments are part of the continuing blowback directed at American Crossroads after the group’s president compared King to failed Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin a month ago.

“It’s far too early to comment on a field that doesn’t even exist yet,” said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio. After Rep. Tom Latham announced he would not run for the seat opened by Democratic incumbent Tom Harkin’s retirement, Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey told POLITICO Thursday that he, too, is considering a run.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Senate’s Shameful Behavior: Not One Word of Debate on Hagel’s Defense Nomination

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One reason the left is winning is that they fight to the mat for their principles (such that they are). So you have to give them a lot of credit – they have the passion and the willingness to fight to win. Republicans, on the other hand, continue to play footsies, contributing to the nation’s peril.

“The most deliberative body in the world” put up a charade for several weeks, with now nary a word of debate on the Senate floor. Don’t they even want the opportunity to grand-stand ? Apparently not.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), who served two terms from 1997 to 2009, has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense, the position which represents the primary purpose of our federal government – to protect and defend our nation (and hopefully our Constitution). One group who did support Hagel’s nomination (besides the Democrats) ? Iran. God help us.

Despite grave concerns by many Republican Senators (and by some actual conservatives), Hagel was approved for a final vote by a whopping vote of 71 – 27, without a single word of debate. His anti-Jewish sentiment is legendary, yet the political nation gives a collective shrug, since it’s only the Jews we’re talking about.

Yet key Senators indicated grave concerns that makes one wonder exactly what ARE the principles that guide their decisions ? “Compromise” can be a good thing in politics (and marriage), IF both sides participate, and they both have common goals.

John McCain (R-Arizona) said just this past Sunday that “Hagel was not qualified to be Defense Secretary”. Yet he voted to allow Hagel’s name to come for a vote.

Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) gives the apparent new standard on Defense Secretaries, “He’s as good as we are going to get.” So forget about the USA being the best, we now just take whoever shows up.

The most curious vote came from Rand Paul, who’s been unafraid to stand on principle. Yet he deferred to the President, who “gets to choose political appointees.” While I’m personally a big fan of Rand Paul, this leaves me scratching my head and will cause a significant wedge among his legions of supporters.

Can you imagine the Democrats deferring to a Republican President for someone who was manifestly unqualified for the Cabinet ? There’s no doubt they would throw a stink (under MSM cover), and hand the Republicans an embarrassing defeat. (Anyone remember one of the most qualified men to ever be nominated for the Supreme Court – Robert Bork ? His defeat ended the practice of being candid in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. )

Don’t forget the real vote was the cloture vote, where the Senate gave up the fight behind closed doors (71 – 27 in favor of allowing Hagel to come to a vote). The official tally though was a “respectable” (aka “CYA”) 58 – 41. Here’s the list of those who gave up the fight:

Alexander
Ayotte
Blunt
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Collins
Corker
Flake
Graham
Hatch
McCain
Murkowski
Sessions
Thune

Yet all of the above now hide behind a “No” vote on Hagel despite their vote to “move things along”, giving Obama another victory and discouraging scores of conservatives, grass-roots activists, and most importantly, those serving in the military. While we should all be passionate about national defense, I am especially attuned to this nomination since my son will be an Army officer come this May.

Texas ‘Cruz Missile’ — Senator Standing By His Principles, Ready To Take The Heat

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Photo Credit: APTexas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has earned a few nicknames in the brief seven weeks he’s been in Congress – including the unflattering “Senator No.” But nobody can say the freshman senator has broken his campaign promise to shake up Washington upon arrival.

The Tea Party-backed candidate has so far made good on vows to be combative and uncompromising in his adherence to conservative principles.

The 42-year-old Cruz has already voted against Senate rule changes to modestly curb filibusters, aid for Superstorm Sandy victims and the Violence Against Women Act.

He also was one of only three “no” votes against Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry’s nomination to be secretary of State. And he publicly skewered President Obama’s nominee for Defense secretary, former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel.

All of that has helped Cruz earn such nicknames as “Cruz Missile,” “Senator No” and even “The GOP’s Nasty Newcomer.” He also was featured in the past few weeks by Politico and The New York Times.

Read more from this story HERE.