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‘I Cling To My Bible, Guns,’ Says Black Female Senate Hopeful

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Photo Credit: Human Events

Tennesee’s outspoken African American female Senate candidate in 2014 spoke to Guns & Patriots about gun rights, racism, and the Bill of Rights. “Gun control historically begins with blacks who were forbidden from owning guns,” said Brenda S. Lenard, a 2013 political science PhD candidate from the University of Tennessee and a resident of Kingston.

“It was very easy for slave owners to keep and control blacks with gun control,” she said. The same thing is happening today, she said. “It is a slow process of gun confiscation.”

It starts with certain groups of people, or certain types of rifles, and turns into an outright ban of firearms, said the two-year NRA member. Lenard said the term racism is over-used. “I think that diminishes real issues of racism.”

“The government should not infringe on anyone’s rights,” she said. Although blacks were one of the first groups to be targeted, today’s gun grab is not just about race, but about fundamentally altering civil rights for all Americans, she said.

The Bill of Rights does not matter anymore, she said. “This is about power and control.”

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Senate Refuses to Ban Former Illegal Aliens from Healthcare Benefits

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

The Senate rejected an amendment to the budget that would have banned illegal immigrants from qualifying for “ObamaCare” and Medicaid during the period of legal status.

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Session (R-Ala.) introduced the amendment, which failed on a 43-56 vote. His amendment would have prohibited illegal immigrants, who later gain citizenship, from getting healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act or through Medicaid.

“My amendment would simply say if you are here illegally and then get lawful status, you do not qualify for ObamaCare and Medicaid,” Sessions said ahead of the vote early Saturday morning.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) offered a counter amendment that restated current law, which says undocumented people cannot receive federal benefits. His amendment passed by voice vote.

“Current law already explicitly excludes undocumented people from receiving benefits,” Menendez said. “This is not a great way to do your outreach to the Hispanic and immigrant community.”

Read more from this story HERE.

News Editor’s Note: Both of Alaska’s Senators, RINO Lisa Murkowski and liberal Democrat Mark Begich voted to allow former illegal aliens medical benefits.

Senate Votes To Keep White House Closed, Slaughterhouses Open

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Photo Credit: Damian Dovarganes

Senators voted Wednesday to make the first significant changes to the budget sequesters, shifting money to keep slaughterhouse inspectors on the job full time but refusing to rearrange money to reopen the White House for public tours.

The votes came as the Senate debated and passed a bill to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year — sending it back to the House for final expected approval later this week and averting a government shutdown.

“This is indeed a very important moment,” said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat and chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee who shepherded the bill through the floor. “We didn’t want brinkmanship, we didn’t want ultimatum politics.”

The 73-26 vote also signals a growing sense in Congress that the shutdown showdowns of the past two years didn’t help either party. The bill funds basic operations through Sept. 30. It does not undo the level of sequester cuts, but it did begin to rewrite a few priorities, including restoring the military’s tuition assistance programs and restoring the money for food inspections.

Without that addition money, federal inspectors were going to have to be furloughed, and meat-packing plants can’t operate without inspectors on site. That would have made a serious dent in U.S. meat production.

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Parks and Recreation, Obama Style

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Photo Credit: APSen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Thursday asking the administration to terminate its “Connecting Your Community” campaign in which federal officials meet with leaders in 100 cities across the country to discuss ways the federal government can better assist local governments. The campaign began last week.

“Much is being made about the possible impact of sequestration on government programs for the poor and middle class, food safety, and the defense of our nation,” Coburn wrote in the letter.

“It is somewhat surprising, therefore, for the White House to be headlining a 100 city government spending tour, transporting representatives from multiple departments and various agencies around the country to promote federal largesse,” he continued.

Mandatory, across the board spending cuts totaling more than $1 trillion will occur on March 1 unless Congress and the president act to prevent the so-called “sequestration.”

Coburn is the ranking member on the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The letter is addressed to Jeffrey Zients, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. Coburn asks in the letter that the White House “cancel the 100 city government spending tour” even though it is “well intentioned.” He also requests spending and personnel information for the tour.

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John Cornyn Draws Primary Challenger

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerTexas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-highest Republican member of the Senate, has drawn a 2014 primary challenger.

Erick Wyatt of Rockport, Texas filed papers this week with the Federal Election Commission to run for Senate against Cornyn, the Senate Minority Whip, who is up for re-election in 2014.

Cornyn is seen as vulnerable to a challenge from the right, and has said he’s been expecting and preparing for a primary battle. He was one of just three senators who voted against John Kerry’s confirmation as Secretary of State. He cast the vote with Texas’ junior senator, tea party favorite Ted Cruz, leading the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to accuse him of being in “Cruz control” in an attempt to gird himself against a primary.

Wyatt describes himself as more conservative than Cornyn, and an “ally” of the tea party. But asked why he’s running, in a phone interview with The Daily Caller, Wyatt’s first answer is that “Not enough is being done for our veterans.” Wyatt served in the Army for 10 years and the Coast Guard for four years. He was injured in Iraq in 2007. In 2012, he received temporary disability retirement.

“I’m a very big constitutional conservative and believe we have our God given rights,” he said.

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New York Times Calls For Menendez To Relinquish Committee Chairmanship

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Photo Credit: Glyn Lowe PhotoworksThe New York Times editorial board called on Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) Saturday to step aside as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until questions about his relationship with a friend and donor under FBI investigation are resolved. The editorial is the latest blow in the broadening flap over Menendez’s relationship with Salmon Melgen, a Florida eye surgeon accused of overbilling the government millions for medical treatments.

“It is unclear whether the Senate Ethics Committee has initiated a formal inquiry into Mr. Menendez’s conduct, but a prompt and thorough review is surely called for,” the editorial read. “In the meantime, Mr. Menendez needs to relinquish his leadership role, at least temporarily.”

Menendez, who assumed the chairmanship after Secretary of State John Kerry was confirmed late last month, first came under fire over a pair of flights on Melgen’s private jet he accepted in 2010 for vacations to the Dominican Republic. The New Jersey senator sent Melgen a personal check for $58,500 in January, acknowledging he had not properly reported the flights as gifts.

Since then, reports have questioned Menendez’s efforts to help Melgen revive a port security contract for a firm that he partially owned and phone calls the senator placed to federal health officials over the accusations of overbilling Medicare.

Earlier this month, federal agents raided Melgen’s Florida home and office, although the government has not indicated the focus of their investigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rubio To Give Bilingual Response To Obama’s SOTU

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In an attempt to broaden the Republican Party’s appeal to minorities, particularly Hispanics, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday in both English and Spanish.

In announcing Rubio’s selection, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Rubio’s “family’s story is a testament to the promise and greatness of America,” and “he’ll deliver a GOP address that speaks from the heart to the hopes and dreams of the middle class; to our party’s commitment to life and liberty; and to the unlimited potential of America when government is limited and effective.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Rubio was a “natural choice.”

“Marco’s own experience as the child of immigrants has always informed his belief in limited government and free enterprise, which is why he has helped lead the fight against out-of-control spending and job-destroying tax hikes that continue to hold our economy back and stifle opportunity for millions,” McConnell said.

Rubio said he would discuss in his response how “limited government and free enterprise have helped make my family’s dreams come true in America” and lay out the “Republican case of how our ideas can help people close the gap between their dreams and the opportunities to realize them.”

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Senate Dem Ron Wyden Threatens John Brennan’s CIA Nomination Over White House Drone Policy (+video)

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Photo Credit: APAmid growing furor, among both Republicans and Democrats, over revelations about the Obama administration’s use of drones for targeted killings, a prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday made a thinly veiled threat to filibuster John Brennan’s CIA director nomination.

During a retreat for Senate Democrats in Annapolis, Md. Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, threatened to “pull out all the stops” in his effort to get access to the administration’s legal analysis for targeted killings of U.S. citizens suspected of being terrorists.

Speaking to reporters outside the retreat, Mr. Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, made several references to Mr. Brennan’s nomination and his central role in crafting the counterterrorism policy in the Obama White House, as well as his concern about the secrecy governing the administration’s drone policy.

“I want it understood that because this is such a central [issue], you have an individual with enormous influence who is really the architect of the counter terror policy in the Obama administration, that I am going to pull out all the stops to get the actual legal analysis because without it, in effect, the administration is practicing secret law,” he told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.

Mr. Wyden stopped short of saying he would filibuster the nomination, saying only he planned to bring it up during Mr. Brennan’s confirmation hearing Thursday before the Senate intelligence panel, the first round in what is expected to be an intense series of grillings by lawmakers.

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Senate Passes Bill to Suspend Debt Ceiling

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Photo Credit: cliff1066â„¢The Senate on Thursday approved legislation that prevents the U.S. from hitting its debt limit until May 19, sending the legislation to President Obama.

In a 64-34 vote, the Senate gave its blessing to a House bill that suspends the debt ceiling until May 19, when the Treasury Department will need to use “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the nation’s bills.

Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Richard Shelby (Ala.), John Thune (S.D.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.) voted with the Democratic caucus to pass the legislation. Two Democrats — Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) — missed the vote.

The bill allows Treasury to borrow what ever sum is necessary to keep the U.S. from going over the debt ceiling until May 19. Unless Congress acts again, Treasury on that date will add what ever it has spent to the nation’s current $16.4 trillion ceiling.

Read more on this story HERE.

Pro-Abortion Obama Judge Pick Goodwin Liu Withdraws Nomination

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Following a Senate vote upholding the filibuster Republicans mounted against the nomination of pro-abortion activist Goodwin Liu for a federal appeals court position, Liu has submitted a letter to President Barack Obama withdrawing his nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Liu’s nomination for the federal appeals court in the western United States in April on a 10-8 party line vote. Last week, the Senate voted 52-43 against stopping the Republican filibuster with Republican senators Lindsay Graham, Dick Lugar, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins and Scott Brown all voting to stop the nomination from moving forward. Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska joined them while “pro-life Democrats” Bob Casey and Joe Manchin voted to allow the nomination of the abortion activist to move ahead.

Lisa Murkowski, a pro-abortion Republican, was the lone GOP vote for ending the filibuster.

“In light of last week’s unsuccessful cloture vote … I respectfully ask that you withdraw my nomination from further consideration by the United States Senate,” Liu wrote to Obama in his letter, according to Politico. “With no possibility of an up-or-down vote on the horizon, my family and I have decided that it is time for us to regain the ability to make plans for the future.”

“In addition, the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit has noted the ‘desperate need for judges’ to fill current vacancies, and it is now clear that continuing my nomination will not address that need any time soon,” he said.

Read More at Life News by Steven Ertelt, Life News