Pelosi urges DOJ probe into group targeting Planned Parenthood

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday joined calls for a federal investigation into the California-based anti-abortion group that sparked the Planned Parenthood hidden camera controversy.

“Let’s have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare Planned Parenthood in a controversy that doesn’t exist,” Pelosi said Thursday in her first public remarks about Planned Parenthood since the first undercover video surfaced last week.

A long-time abortion rights champion, Pelosi dismissed accusations that Planned Parenthood has raked in profits from its fetal tissue donation program.  

“Planned Parenthood has said that they have done nothing illegal,” she said. “They do not ever charge, which would be illegal, for fetal tissue. They have only defrayed the cost of mailing that to someone, which is not breaking the law.”

She also criticized the selectively edited videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, pointing to the “disparities" between actual film and edited versions.

Her remarks come one day after White House press secretary Josh Earnest also defended the women’s health provider.

Planned Parenthood, which receives several hundred million dollars in federal funding, is now facing new attacks from Republicans, who say they have more momentum than ever to defund the group.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has also ordered congressional investigations into Planned Parenthood’s practices, as well as a half-dozen governors.

Pelosi dismissed the GOP’s attacks against Planned Parenthood, which she said “has been going on for a long time.”

She said government investigators should, instead, focus on the legality of the Center for Medical Progress’s political activity, backing an effort by several House Democrats who have called for a Department of Justice probe.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that she would review “all information” available before deciding to launch a full investigation.

Via: The Hill

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US FLAGS at State Capitols and US Capitol at Half-Mast But White House Still at Full Mast

Several state capitols are flying the US flag at half-mast today in honor of the four Marines and sailor who were shot dead last week by a Muslim in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Five servicemen were killed in the Chattanooga attacks last week.

Flags to fly at half mast to honor Chattanooga victims

WBIR Staff, WBIR1:34 p.m. EDT July 20, 2015

(Photo: TN.gov)

 58CONNECT 7TWEETLINKEDIN 2COMMENTEMAILMORE

(WBIR – NASHVILLE) Flags over the State Capitol and all state office buildings will fly at half-staff in honor of those who were lost in last week's fatal shootings in Chattanooga.

Flags should remain at half-staff until sunset on Friday.

This will include five consecutive business days to honor the life of each serviceman lost.

Speaker John Boehner

Verified account

‏@SpeakerBoehner

The flags @USCapitol stand at half-staff today in honor of the brave service members we lost in #Chattanooga.

Via: Gateway Pundit

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House Rebels Warn of Blowback for Boehner

The House Freedom Caucus has a secret it wants to share with Democrats.

“If the Democrats were to file a motion to vacate the chair and were to vote for that motion unanimously, there probably are 218 votes for it to succeed,” one member of the House Freedom Caucus told CQ Roll Call Tuesday night, as he exited an meeting in the basement of Tortilla Coast.

If that’s true, Democrats could certainly use a vote to remove Speaker John A. Boehner as leverage in any number of upcoming battles: the Export-Import Bank, a highway bill, all sorts of spending measures. But absent any real talk from Democrats, the official response from Boehner’s communications director, Kevin Smith, was simply to dismiss CQ Roll Call’s reporter.

“Matt Fuller is a prop for Freedom Caucus propaganda,” Smith wrote via email.

While the HFC member in question wouldn’t say whether a vote to take Boehner’s gavel was part of the discussion Tuesday — and other members said it was not — it’s clear the decision to strip North Carolina Republican Mark Meadows of his subcommittee chairmanship has stirred the already excitable Freedom Caucus into a new frenzy.

The HFC looks ready for war, as does GOP leadership and more moderate Republicans who are sick and tired of conservatives voting against the team — and that could signal more retaliation to come from both sides.

Rep. Jim Jordan, the HFC chairman, and Raúl R. Labrador, one of the founding members of the secretive conservative group, had plenty to say to CQ Roll Call Wednesday about leadership’s recent moves against members who voted against the rule for Trade Promotion Authority.

“The reason this is happening is pretty clear,” Labrador said of Meadows’ demotion and the dismissal of other HFC members from the whip team. “The leadership is afraid.”

Labrador said GOP leaders sense their influence slipping, as 34 Republicans defied Boehner and others on the TPA rule. “And they know that that 34 is really not 34,” Labrador said. “They know that that number is really much larger.”

That may be true, with HFC membership now up to around 40 — according to Jordan’s best estimate, because he said he didn’t have the classified roster in front of him.

There’s been some discrepancy in reports on the size of the caucus — The Daily Caller put its total at 70. The Hill says it’s between 50 and 60 — but that’s due in part to group’s own obsessive secrecy about its rules and membership. And, for the record, it takes a four-fifths majority to reach an official position, according to members.

Via: Roll Call

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Breitbart Exclusive — Mark Levin: Boehner’s Retaliation Against Conservatives Means Open Warfare, Time To Take Him Down

by MATTHEW BOYLE20 Jun 2015Washington, DC2411

It’s time for conservatives to take out House Speaker 

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)

35%

 and all of his comrades in primaries, nationally syndicated radio host, New York Times bestselling author, and conservative movement thought leader Mark Levin argues in an exclusive comment to Breitbart News.

Levin’s comments come after Boehner’s retaliation against conservatives hit a new low this weekend, with a report from Politico about how House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chairman 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)

80%

—playing along with Boehner’s scheme to attack Republicans for voting their conscience—removed 

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)

96%

 as the chairman of a subcommittee on his full committee. Levin even compared Boehner to 20th century Communist Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and how he cleansed his government of all dissent.

“Speaker Boehner’s and Congressman Chaffetz’s removal of Meadows is the latest in a series of ideologically-driven attacks on conservatives. Boehner seems to think he’s Stalin cleaning out all opposition in the Kremlin,” Levin said. “No Republican Speaker in recent times has behaved with less integrity in his wielding of power.”

Levin said that Boehner, House Majority Leader 

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)

45%

, and Majority Whip 

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)

74%

—and more—each need to be removed by Republicans across the country in primaries in 2016. He says this is because the leadership has failed to learn the proper lessons from the astronomical defeat of now former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014 in a primary against now Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), the first time in U.S. history a sitting House Majority Leader was defeated in a primary. The position of majority leader was created in the late 1800s, so that means this never happened for more than a century—and Levin is calling out GOP leadership for failing to learn from the unprecedented event.

“Obviously, the lessons of Eric Cantor’s humiliating loss have not resonated with Boehner, McCarthy, and Scalise,” Levin said. “The only solution is for Conservatives to husband their resources and target these three in the coming Republican primaries. Conservatives need to find serious candidates and raise funds nationwide to defeat them. Let them fight for their political careers as our response to their disgusting and pathetic behavior.”

For primaries, Boehner already has an opponent declared—J.D. Winteregg. Winteregg ran against Boehner last cycle and didn’t win, but he is getting even more aggressive this time around.

Via: Breitbart

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Why Jan Brewer Vetoed Arizona's 'Anti-Gay' Bill

Just like the Democrats in 1984, today's Republicans are shifting power toward party leaders and away from grassroots activists. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. 

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s veto Wednesday night of a law allowing businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians reveals something important about the divide inside today’s GOP. It’s not only ideological; it’s also vertical.

Brewer faced pressure to sign the bill from below: from the local legislators and activists who passed it. But she ultimately succumbed to pressure from above: from national Republican leaders and their corporate allies, who fear looking complicit with homophobia at a time when homophobia is rapidly becoming a political and economic loser.

Relat

There’s been a lot of this kind of vertical wrangling in recent months. In Congress, House Majority Leader John Boehner has tried to push rank-and-file Republican members of congress to unconditionally raise the debt ceiling and support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants. Republican bigwigs have tried to prevent local Tea Partiers from mounting primary challenges that undermine the GOP’s chances of taking the senate. The Republican National Committee has published an “autopsy” of the 2012 presidential race that proposes giving the national party more control of the 2016 primary calendar and debate schedule so as to avoid another lengthy, nasty nomination fight that leaves the eventual nominee drained of cash and far out on an ideological limb.

Via: The Atlantic

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Amnesty: The Next GOP Leadership Betrayal

House Republican leadership is preparing to betray the base. Again. To illustrate the magnitude of the sellout I was going to use a hypothetical analogy with Democrats and their base. Initially I was going to posit that Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Secular) had changed his mind about abortion.

House Republican leadership is preparing to betray the base. Again. To illustrate the magnitude of the sellout I was going to use a hypothetical analogy with Democrats and their base. Initially I was going to posit that Sen. Tim Kaine (D–Secular) had changed his mind about abortion.

For years Kaine has said that although he’s personally opposed to abortion, he is not willing to impose his beliefs on a ‘woman’s right to choose.’ Essentially confessing that his Catholic faith is not strong enough to get in the way of his political ambitions. (In his last campaign he became even more weaselly, saying he didn’t want to stand in the way of a woman exercising her “constitutional choices,” unless the choice involved a handgun.)

In my hypothetical Kaine would announce he had decided that what the Catholic Church teaches and the Bible says is the truth and he will no longer support any abortion unless it is to save the life of the mother. Kaine would also declare that he will no longer vote for any taxpayer dollars to be given to Planned Parenthood since both his beliefs and opinion polls show Americans don’t think tax money should pay for or help support abortion facilities.

It’s a great analogy but it has one problem: No one, but no one would believe it. The Democrat base worships at the altar of abortion. The analogy is too fantastic for even temporary suspension of disbelief. Brent Bozell, chairman of ForAmerica, put it nicely this week: “So what’s the difference between Boehner and Pelosi and McConnell and Reid? Answer: The Democratic leadership honors its promises. Republican leaders have abandoned theirs.”

Via: Canada Free Press

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Small Business Latest to Bear Burden of Obamacare Failures

WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement in response to the Obama administration’s announcement that it will not launch an online health care exchange for small businesses, delaying the feature a full year. 

“The president bit off more than he can chew with this health care law, and small businesses are now forced to bear the consequences. Business owners across this country are already having health care plans for their employees canceled by this law, and now they’re told they won’t have access to the system the president promised them to find them different coverage. Instead, they’ll have to resort to a system you’d expect to see in the 1950s.  It’s another broken promise and more proof this administration’s assurances have no credibility. This law has been an absolute disaster, leaving us to ask ‘what’s next?’ If the president won’t repeal it, he should at least delay the entire law before it wreaks any more havoc on American families and small businesses, as well as our economy." -

Via: Speaker.gov

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Boehner tries signing up for health care...but can't BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

No surprise here....House Speaker John Boehner tried to access the Affordable Care Act web site and got nowhere.

"After putting in my personal information, I received an error message," he said after trying to access the Washington, D.C. exchange.

"I was able to work past that," Boehner added, "but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this 'internal server error' screen."

He couldn't get any further, and he's now got a call into the help desk.

"Guess I'll just have to keep trying," Boehner said.

Via: McClatchyDC

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/21/209338/boehner-tries-signing-up-for-health.html#storylink=cpy

Out of Control! Buying Time with Borrowed Money

WASHINGTON — Announcing the budget deal he reached with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he was thankful Republicans were at least able to keep in place the automatic spending cuts that went into effect across government agencies earlier this year.

 

“That’s been a top priority for me and my Republican colleagues throughout this debate,” the Senate Minority Leader said on the floor of the Senate, referencing what’s known as the sequester. “And it’s been worth the effort.”

But while the deal freezes in place current spending numbers, the budget deal actually blows through the sequester spending caps that were supposed to go into effect on Oct. 1 — by nearly $20 billion.

Via: Daily Caller

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House Set to Vote on Debt Deal, Boehner: 'Trying to Find a Way Forward'

House Republicans on Tuesday dropped two demands related to Obamacare from their proposal to end the government shutdown and raise the nation's borrowing authority, according to news reports.

Sources told CNN that the demands included a proposal to delay the 2.3 percent medical device tax and another to tighten income verification of those seeking subsidies to buy health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner says the House will vote Tuesday night on legislation that would reopen the government and avert a financial default.

Michael Steel says the bill would keep the government operating until Jan. 15 and let the Treasury borrow money until Feb. 7.

It also says members of Congress, the president, vice president and thousands of congressional aides would no longer be eligible for employer health care contributions from the government that employs them.

There was no immediate reaction from the White House or Democrats, who had objected to an earlier version of the House GOP bill.

The House developments came a day after Senate leaders expressed optimism for an imminent bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown, now in its 15th day.

Boehner said earlier Tuesday that GOP leaders were working on their own legislation, even as conservative lawmakers had threatened to reject any proposal unless it includes significant measures toward dismantling Obamacare

"Our members today are trying to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that will continue to provide fairness to the American people under Obamacare," Boehner said at a press conference Tuesday.
 
Via: Newsmax

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House Speaker John Boehner and his tea party friends shut down the U.S. government because of people like me. I am the mother of an insurance hog, someone who could have blown through his lifetime limit of health coverage by the time he was 14. My son has managed to survive despite seemingly insurmountable challenges, and he wears his preexisting condition like a Super Bowl ring.

Mason, now 16, was probably born with his brain tumor. We discovered it six years ago. Biopsies showed a slow-growing mass, which was the good news. The bad news was that the tumor could not be removed because it had grown around essential structures in his brain. Under the care of some of the country’s finest specialists, Mason had frequent scans. There was little we could do between tests but hope for the best. Like other children his age, Mason played basketball, argued with his siblings and avoided cleaning his bedroom. He managed to undergo chemotherapy for eight months without getting too sick. He insisted on finding ways to laugh, saying things like: “I have brain cancer. What’s your problem?” It was an uneasy peace — until the tumor ruptured in December 2010, three years after his initial diagnosis, and Mason suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

Mason spent most of eighth grade in the hospital. In the six months he was hospitalized, he spent 65 days in the pediatric intensive care unit. He underwent four brain surgeries. Halfway through his hospitalization, the Affordable Care Act was passed, alleviating lifetime limits on coverage and saving us from the financial abyss. Mason moved to a rehabilitation hospital where he was retaught the most basic skills — sitting up, eating and standing. We faithfully paid the premiums on the employer-sponsored plan through which our family is covered, along with the rest of our bills, thanking God and whoever else would listen for our good fortune to have coverage.

Via: Washington Post

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