Poll: 23% of Americans View Boehner Favorably; 22% View McConnell Favorably

CNSNews.com) – A new Gallup poll on Congress and its leaders shows that only 23% of Americans view House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) favorably, and only 22% view his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) favorably.

Gallup further reports that Boehner’s ranking is similar to that of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in October 2010, when only 26% of Americans viewed her favorably. Also, for then-Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in October 2014, he was viewed favorably by only 21% of Americans.

When looking specifically at Republicans, Gallup found that only 37% had a favorable view of Boehner, and only 34% had a favorable view of McConnell.

Boehner has been the Speaker of the House of Representatives since January 2011. McConnell became the Senate Majority Leader in January of this year.

Via: CNS News

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Levin: Republican Leaders ‘Smother’ The ‘Few Voices Of Liberty’ In Congress

Talk show host and bestselling author Mark Levin believes the “ineffective” leadership of congressional Republicans is alienating conservatives and pushing some of them to embrace Donald Trump.

In the first installment of a three-part interview with The Daily Caller over his new book, “Plunder and Deceit,” Levin shared his views on the latest actions of the Republican-controlled Congress and how it’s affecting presidential politics.

In his opinion, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell knocking down Sen. Ted Cruz’s amendments to a highway bill — which included measures to defund Planned Parenthood and the Export-Import Bank — Sunday night was Washington at its worst. (RELATED: McConnell Angers Conservatives By Blocking Defunding Planned Parenthood, Kate’s Law)

“Those who are paying attention and are informed would be more repulsed by what McConnell, Lamar Alexander, Orin Hatch, John Cornyn et al. have done to the few voices of liberty in the Senate,” Levin told The Daily Caller. “They smother them and try to silence them and then go to liberal media outlets to trash them.”

“I think what McConell tried to do with the highway bill and the Export-Import Bank is quintessential Washington, which is to lie through your teeth,” the radio host added.

With these acts in mind, Levin believes it should be the task of conservatives like Cruz and Utah Senator Mike Lee to expose the Republican establishment’s supposed misdeeds.

“They’re called the establishment for a reason. They have established an ineffective and out of control government and they continue to feed it and to protect it,” the commentator told TheDC. “I really feel conservatives have an opportunity to expose this and to battle this and that we also need to make sure that our children and grandchildren — the next generation the generation after that — are protected from this.”

Considering, in Levin’s view, that this establishment is doing little to prevent the “coming catastrophe” of “out-of-control government,” it’s no surprise to the talk show host that many conservatives are flocking to the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Via: Daily Caller

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SENATE REPUBLICANS: ‘FUND WOMEN’S HEALTH, NOT PLANNED PARENTHOOD’

With their legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect those federal funds to women’s health care facilities that don’t provide abortions, Senate Republicans say they are sending the message that their proposal is not about politics, but about the “moral fabric” of the nation.

At a news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader 

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

52%

 said the videos of Planned Parenthood medical officials engaged in harvesting the body parts of aborted babies for sale “shock the conscience.”

Referring to the GOP bill as one that will “ensure taxpayer dollars that are supposed to be spent on women’s health are, in fact, spent on women’s health.” McConnell said taxpayer funding should not be subsidizing “some scandal-plagued organization.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)

60%

, who introduced the legislation, said, “The recent footage depicting Planned Parenthood’s role in the harvesting of organs—heart, liver, kidneys—of unborn babies is morally reprehensible and vile.”

“The American people—Republicans and Democrats alike—are horrified at the utter lack of compassion shown by Planned Parenthood for these women and their babies,” she continued. “In fact, now, Hillary Clinton is calling these Planned Parenthood images ‘disturbing,’ and I agree.”

Asserting that the videos hit at the “moral fabric of our society,” Ernst said the issue at hand is “human life.” She stressed the legislation proposed would defund Planned Parenthood but make that funding available to other women’s health care facilities—such as community health centers and hospitals—that do not provide abortions.

“I want to make clear that there will be no reduction in overall federal funding available to support women’s health,” Ernst said.

Adding that, while the images and conversations seen in the videos have caused Americans to be “horrified” and “appalled,” 

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE)

56%

 said what is particularly shocking is the “lack of compassion towards women and unborn children” on display by Planned Parenthood medical officials. Fischer echoed that the GOP legislation “targets funding for centers that truly prioritize and place that priority on women’s health.”

Via: Breitbart

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[VIDEO] McConnell Pledges to Hold Vote Next Week on Ending Taxpayer Funding of Planned Parenthood

In light of a trio of undercover videos recently released depicting Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting of fetal body parts, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would fast-track a bill that would strip the organization of its federal funding, promising to hold a vote “next week.”

“This legislation would ensure taxpayer dollars for women’s health are actually spent on women’s health—not a scandal-plagued political lobbying giant,” McConnell said.

“The horrendous videos of senior executives from Planned Parenthood discussing in callous tones and shocking detail their role in a national scandal requires a congressional response.”

McConnell, along with eight of his Republican colleagues, gathered on Capitol Hill today to promote the legislation, which was introduced on Tuesday by Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; James Lankford, R-Okla.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky.

The group of GOP senators said they have the support of the conference and stressed that they are calling not simply to defund Planned Parenthood, but also to redirect its funding to other women’s health care providers.

“What we would like to see is those dollars directed to hospitals, community health centers,” Ernst said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he has “every confidence” those institutions will be able to absorb an influx of patients with the help of increased funding.

Lankford, a co-sponsor of the bill, said it is “incredibly important” that Congress continue to provide funding for women’s health, “but we don’t continue to provide funding for an organization that makes part of their money off the death of that child, and then part of the money off the sale of the parts of that child to different research facilities.”

When asked if it is premature to defund the organization before completing investigations, Lankford said “no.”

“This is not a prejudgment,” he said. “This is a statement by Congress that this is what we choose to do.”

According to its 2013-2014 annual report, Planned Parenthood received more than $500 million in government funding last year.

Via: Daily Signal

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FreedomWorks Thanks Sen. Mike Lee for Championing ObamaCare Repeal

Following news that Senators Mitch McConnell and Mike Lee released a joint statement in support of using budget reconciliation to repeal ObamaCare, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:

"Thank you Senator Mike Lee for standing up to Senate leadership and forcing a vote on repealing ObamaCare through budget reconciliation, so it would only need a simple majority vote. Activists across the country worked to elect leaders who would fight for them. Today we can join them in thanking Mike Lee for getting leadership to commit to a repeal vote that can actually reach the president's desk."

"ObamaCare is destroying our health care system, driving up costs, and decreasing the quality of care. It's about time the Senate acted on their promises and used every tool available to repeal this disastrous law."

"This will force the president to defend his signature law that is dismantling America's health care system. Even though he will likely veto the bill, it sets up health care as a major campaign issue in 2016. This is the dry run we need to demonstrate how to actually repeal ObamaCare, and we need all the presidential candidates to commit to full repeal."

FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit www.FreedomWorks.org or contact Iris Somberg atisomberg@freedomworks.org.

Via: Freedom works

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Mitch McConnell says he will wipe out Obamacare with simple 51-vote majority

In the waning days of President Barack Obama's presidency, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is vowing to overthrow his signature legislation. Health care reform, better known as "Obamacare" has been a cause of disagreement with conservatives and the U.S. taxpayer alike. McConnell says he will toss out Obamacare with a budget resolution that could be passed in the Senate with a simple majority vote of 51 to 49.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Earlier this year, Senate Republicans passed a balanced budget, and with it the necessary procedural tools - via the budget reconciliation process - to bring an end to the nightmare of Obamacare," McConnell said in the joint statement with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

"Americans have faced skyrocketing health care costs, rampant fraud and more government between them and their doctors. And Republicans are united in working to repeal the broken promises of Obamacare and allow our country to start over fresh with real health reform that Americans deserve," he added.

"We will continue our effort to use reconciliation - as the budget makes clear - to fulfill the promise we made to our constituents," McConnell pledged.

Lee, along with some other conservative senators, promised to withdraw his own amendment to the upcoming must-pass highway-funding bill that would have repealed Obamacare.

Lee's move resulted in pushback from Democrats and some Republicans. Some suggested that adding the Obamacare repeal amendment could endanger the passing of the highway-funding bill.

Lee, in exchange for withdrawing the amendment,  insisted on McConnell's support for a future budget reconciliation measure that would defund Obamacare. 

During this process, Congress can make changes to an existing law through a set of budget instructions for specific government programs. By law, budget reconciliation cannot be filibustered, and only needs a simple majority to pass.

Lee's budget reconciliation measure is not written as of yet.

Lee released a statement ahead of the deal with McConnell. He explained that he would go back to his original plan of using a budget resolution to repeal Obama's health care law. This would allow the highway bill to pass unencumbered, with the provision that the Republican leadership pledged to support the budget resolution.

Via: Catholic OnLine

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Three for the Money: Carly, Walker, and Cruz

This week, three of the Republican candidates showed their mettle and had very good weeks. Majority leader Mitch McConnell and both the Democrat’s “inevitable” Hillary Clinton and the president’s standings sagged.

Carly Fiorina

Carly’s ability to handle the press and make a name for herself without a large staff or campaign chest continues. This week, she capitalized on videos showing Planned Parenthood to be involved in a distasteful racket, negotiating for the best price for aborted fetal tissue. 

Mainstream news outlets pretty much ignored the story, as Michael Barone noted:

The 2012 Obama campaign appealed to single women by suggesting that without Obamacare’s contraception mandate, contraceptives would somehow be unavailable -- a favorable way to frame the abortion issue. But the Planned Parenthood videos are, in the words of Democratic columnist Kirsten Powers, “stomach-turning stuff.” 

Most mainstream media outlets are carefully avoiding the subject, as the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway points out. The New York Times and Washington Post ran 773 stories on the Confederate flag over the last month but only 31 on the Planned Parenthood video. Heavily pro-choice newsrooms have no appetite to discredit the nation’s leading abortion provider, but may be forced to as members of Congress hold hearings and propose legislation

Carly Fiorina, however, with her penchant for the main shot, did not ignore the issue. In interviews with CNN’s Jack Tapper and Fox and Friends, she refused to bite the usual media bait and instead turned tables on the interviewers, reminding viewers that it is the leading Democrat’s positions which are extreme and out of the mainstream.

“Let’s also talk about Hillary Clinton’s position,” Fiorina said. “Let’s talk about what ‘extreme’ is. It’s not a life until it leaves the hospital? That’s Hillary Clinton’s position. It’s Hillary Clinton’s position that a 13-year-old girl needs her mother’s permission to go to a tanning salon or get a tattoo, but not to get an abortion. It’s Hillary Clinton’s position that women should not be permitted to look at an ultrasound before an abortion, and yet people who are trying to harvest its body parts can use an ultrasound to make sure that those body parts are preserved, so they can be sold. That, Jake, is extreme.”

She was as deft in refusing to attack Scott Walker, in expressing concern about domestic security, and in agreeing with Trump and public sentiment on immigration policy.

Via: American Thinker

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‘Flat-out lie’: Cruz calls McConnell a liar on Senate floor

An extraordinary scene unfolded on the Senate floor Friday as Republican Sen. Ted Cruz bluntly accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of lying and said he's running the Senate like his Democratic predecessor. 

The charges from the Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate were a rare departure from the Senate's usual staid decorum, even for a politician famous for his fiery speeches. 

At issue were assurances Cruz claimed McConnell, R-Ky., had given that there was no deal to allow a vote to renew the federal Export-Import Bank -- a little-known federal agency that has become a rallying cry for conservatives. Cruz rose to deliver his remarks moments after McConnell had lined up a vote on the bank. 

"It saddens me to say this. I sat in my office, I told my staff the majority leader looked me in the eye and looked 54 Republicans in the eye. I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie, and I voted based on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us," Cruz said. 

"What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie." 

Reports had emerged earlier this year that McConnell privately pledged a vote on the Ex-Im Bank, in exchange for winning support on President Obama's trade agenda. Cruz says he was assured at the time there was no deal. 

Via: Fox News

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House, Senate heading for showdown on highway funding

Senate and House Republicans are heading to a showdown over transportation spending.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wants to pass a six-year highway deal before Thursday to give the House time to take it up before the August recess, according to a Senate GOP leadership source.

But opposition to the Senate bill is growing on the other side of the Capitol.

House Republican leaders want the Senate to instead pass a five-month highway patch and won’t say whether they would give the Senate transportation bill a vote in their chamber.

McConnell is betting that House GOP leaders will relent once they have the bill in their laps, with the Highway Trust Fund due to expire on Aug. 1.

The House adjourns for the August recess at the end of next week.

“The House will have to make a decision. The temporary bill is just another patch,” said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (Texas).

McConnell tried a similar gambit in May when he attempted to jam the House with a clean extension of the National Security Agency’s surveillance authority. It blew up when he failed to muster the 60 votes needed to pass it out of the Senate.

The Senate leader was still mulling his legislative options on Thursday, but senators and aides said the most likely scenario is that he will offer the six-year highway bill as a substitute amendment on the floor Friday to get the ball rolling and then fill the amendment tree to limit the debate.

Senators and aides then expect McConnell to file cloture on an amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, setting up a vote on Sunday or Monday on the controversial agency. 

A Senate aide said McConnell could file cloture — the motion to end debate and proceed to a vote — on the highway bill and the underlying legislative vehicle on the same day he does so for the Ex-Im Bank amendment. That maneuver would allow the Senate to wrap up work on the highway measure and get it to the House by Wednesday.

Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman, said Thursday afternoon that no decisions had been made on how to proceed and cautioned there are a variety of paths under consideration.

But other Senate aides said other routes require unanimous consent, an unlikely proposition given strong conservative opposition to the Ex-Im Bank.

Lawmakers and aides said a vote on the bank may be postponed until Monday, but that could push a final vote on the highway package until Thursday unless all 100 senators agree to yield back procedural time.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he would wait to see what legislation McConnell can push through the upper chamber.

Via: The Hill

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Mitch McConnell Outsourcing Everything, Including His Job

No, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) didn’t officially resign from the Senate.  He will still engage in all legislative activities that advance Obama’s agenda, such as Obamatrade, the highway trust fund bailout, Export-Import Bank, and reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.  But he did publicly outsource the last vestige of constitutional checks on the two unelected branches of government.  So what is the purpose of serving in the legislative branch of government other than to enrich your friends with pay-for-play favors? 

We already know that McConnell doesn’t believe in the congressional power of the purse under any circumstance – no matter how unlawful and harmful this Administration grows in its final two years.  Now he is surrendering every remaining legislative check on the Judiciary as well, and worse, he is openly welcoming the extremists in the Judicial Branch to serve as judge, jury, and executioner over religious liberty.  

McConnell builds up the straw-man option of a constitutional amendment only to knock it down by observing that it will never pass.

McConnell is one of those GOP leaders who would successfully secure the support of credulous and ineffective social conservatives groups for years by saying he was for traditional values.  Yet over the past decade he has remained stone silent in the face of the most unconstitutional assaults on natural law and religious liberty, including the assault on federalism, when his own hand-picked judge illegally tossed out his state’s marriage law. A law, which passed with the support of 75% of the people.  Now he is emphatically saying that the lawless Supreme Court decision, which is precluded by the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and precedent from several recent court cases, is the “law of the land.” He told Politico that they are out of legislative options and that it’s time to move on, presumably, to more important things…like reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.   

McConnell builds up the straw-man option of a constitutional amendment only to knock it down by observing that it will never pass.  But he refuses to even recognize the Article III powers that Congress has to strip the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over these issues and to completely regulate and remake the lower courts.  These are initiatives that can pass with a GOP president the same way he plans to pass his K Street agenda.

But it gets worse.

While offering a parsimonious recognition of the need to protect religious liberty, McConnell outsources our most inherent founding rights to…you guessed it…the very same courts that don’t believe in them and are even ripping replicas of the Ten Commandments from state capitals as we speak.

“There’s the possibility of legislation, but I think most of this is going to be in the courts.” With these words, McConnell has just granted the courts the authority to regulate the very foundational inherent rights we celebrate this year in marking the 239^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

Sadly, this is nothing new.  McConnell refused to nullify the D.C. anti-religious liberty laws, which he could have done with a simple-majority vote.  Yet, he says his hands are tied in responding to last week’s bloodless revolution.

Via: Conservative Review

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McConnell asks senators to cast pro-trade vote once more

Opponents meanwhile are mounting an equally emotional push to keep Obama from obtaining "fast track" authority to negotiate trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries and others.WASHINGTON (AP) — Backers of President Barack Obama's trade agenda are imploring key senators to stand by their previous votes when they revisit the issue in a showdown set for Tuesday.

At least 60 of the Senate's 100 members must back the measure for it to clear a procedural hurdle Tuesday and complete a near-miraculous resurrection of the White House priority. In a May 21 vote, 62 senators backed fast track, but they didn't expect it to return to their chamber.

The House revived the fast track legislation last week after Democrats initially derailed it in a complicated legislative package. Republican leaders — who support Obama on trade while most of his fellow Democrats oppose him — restructured the package and then passed the key elements, with only 28 House Democrats.

Obama's allies now are counting on the 14 Senate Democrats and 48 Republicans who supported fast track in May to do so again. Lawmakers generally dislike voting both yes and no on a contentious issue, figuring it's better to draw the enmity of only one side.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged senators to stick with their May positions.

"We shouldn't let this opportunity for a significant bipartisan achievement slip past us," McConnell said Monday. "If we simply vote the same way we just did a couple weeks ago, we won't."

Anti-free-trade groups are employing ads, phone banks and other tools to defeat Obama's trade agenda. An AFL-CIO ad warns that the legislation includes "no training for displaced workers" who lose their jobs to international trade.

Such aid, known as trade adjustment assistance, was linked to fast track in the original packaging. After House Democrats, at the AFL-CIO's urging, derailed the whole package by killing the training component, Obama's allies agreed to separate the two issues and try again.

The proponents on Tuesday can afford to lose only two or three senators from the May tally. A chief worry is that a few Democrats might switch from yes to no because they're frustrated that the Republican-led Congress hasn't cleared the way to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.

It's a priority, for instance, for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Her office said Monday she was keeping her options open on fast track.

"I know Maria is very upset, and I don't blame her," Sen. Bill Nelson, a pro-trade Florida Democrat, told reporters.

Previous presidents have enjoyed fast track authority, which lets them negotiate trade deals that Congress can ratify or reject, but not change. If Obama obtains the authority, he's expected to ask Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan, Mexico, Canada and several other countries.

Unions strongly oppose the deal, saying it will cost U.S. jobs.

Via: My Way News

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Obama May Face First Veto Override: Medical Device Tax

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

President Barack Obama has his work cut out for him if he’s going to avoid House Republicans nixing part of the Affordable Care Act with a veto override.

The 2.3 percent tax on medical devices enacted as part of that law passed Thursday in the House 280-140, giving Republicans hope they’ll have the votes for an override, which requires a two-thirds majority. That came with a dozen Republicans absent for the vote. Every Republican present and 46 Democrats voted to nuke the tax.

A nonbinding vote to repeal the medical device tax passed the Senate with a veto-proof majority backed by 34 members of the Democratic caucus as part of the 2013 budget resolution vote-a-rama in the Senate, but never got anywhere with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., putting the clamps down on the chamber.

But that vote was on a revenue-neutral proposal, while the House-passed bill would simply add about $24 billion to the debt over a decade.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has made repealing the medical device tax a part of his agenda, so some version seems likely t0 get to Obama’s desk whenever McConnell can find floor time to squeeze it in.

Via: Roll Call

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The GOP's Secret Plan To Fix Obamacare

Congressional Republican leaders say they have a fallback plan ready to go if the Supreme Court cripples a core component of Obamacare this month.

But the details of the plan are being kept secret.

"We'll have a plan that makes sense for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday in a radio interview with The Joe Elliott Show.
But what's in the plan?

"We'll let you know depending on the outcome of the decision," the Kentucky Republican said, referring to the case King v. Burwell, which is expected to be decided this month.

Bloomberg tried to get answers Tuesday from the senior Republicans who work on health policy. Their fallback plan might interest millions of Americans who stand to lose their insurance subsidies, as well as the insurance industry, which would likely lose many customers and be compelled raise premiums. Details to come, the planners say.

"Yeah, we are" ready to act, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in an interview. But what will the action be? "We'll let you know if we have to do it," he said.

Senate Republican Conference Chair John Thune of South Dakota said that if the Supreme Court "give[s] us seven months to fix this, we'd love the opportunity to try to come up with a better alternative."

Via: Newsmax

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McConnell: No more Obama judicial confirmations?

That’s not quite what Mitch McConnell proposes here in his interview last night with Hugh Hewitt, but functionally it will likely amount to the same thing. Hugh wants an end to judicial confirmations as a payback for Harry Reid’s “nuclear option” last session in removing filibusters from the process, and asks whether McConnell will follow through on it. McConnell tells Hugh that the Senate has only confirmed those judges Barack Obama has appointed that pass muster with the Republican caucus, and that’s how he sees the rest of the session going:

HH: And my last question goes to judicial nominations. I am one of those people who wouldn’t confirm another judge given the antics they pulled last year. But what is the situation vis-à-vis federal judicial nominations and the process in the Senate right now?

MM: Well, so far, the only judges we’ve confirmed have been federal district judges that have been signed off on by Republican Senators.

HH: And so you expect that that will continue to be the case for the balance of this session?

MM: I think that’s highly likely, yeah.

In other words, McConnell leaves the door open for Obama to nominate judges that the Republican majority find acceptable. It’s a formula that arguably enforces the “advice” part of “advice and consent” in the Constitution (Article II, Section 2), but with the operational wrinkle that flexes McConnell’s muscle. Normally, a President would have some leeway to gain majority approval from the Senate as a whole, but the attempt to derail minority input in the last session means McConnell wants to play hardball in this session, especially after Obama and Reid used it to pack the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

Via: Hot Air

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Senate Passes USA Freedom Act; No Amendments; On to Obama

The Senate voted 67-32 Tuesday afternoon to pass the House’s USA Freedom Act without any of the amendments offered by Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

The legislation will now go to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law Tuesday evening.

The USA Freedom Act that was previously passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would, in effect, stop the NSA’s bulk surveillance collection and reform the programs that lapsed when the Patriot Act expired at midnight Sunday, after GOP presidential candidate,Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), filibustered the spy program for 11 hours.

The first amendment that failed to pass was the McConnell-Burr amendment. According to the Guardian, this amendment would “Change the amicus on the Fisa court – the public-interests advocate who would argue, in part, about civil liberties concerns to the secret court that oversees many surveillance programs.”

McConnell and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)wanted an amendment to the USA Freedom Act that extends the time for the government to transfer custody of phone records to private telecom companies from six months to 12 months.

“McConnell has also filed amendments that would require the US intelligence chief to certify the implementation of the new phone-records regime, demand notification of changes made by telecom companies to the kinds of call records they generate and reduce transparency in the process by which the secret Fisa court reviews the government’s surveillance orders,” the Guardian reported.

However, the Guardian correctly predicted it was unlikely that McConnell’s amendments would pass, as they lacked support from both Republicans and Democrats.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) said prior to the final vote, “I think it should be passed as is if we want to get it back in operation, and I think it’s foremost that this be operable.” She suggested she might be open to amendments in the future. “We could amend it … but we need to get this done now.”

Via: Breitbart

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Rand Paul Will ‘Force The Expiration’ of the PATRIOT Act

Despite his not being included in a recent 2016 candidates poll on Fox & Friends, Rand Paul (R-KY) still has a strong following among Tea Party and Libertarian-leaning conservative voters. He’s even got a Super PAC pulling for him.

A lot of this has to do with Paul’s stance against the renewal of the PATRIOT Act and the approval of the USA Freedom Act, and he recently performed an unofficial filibuster against NSA surveillance.

In a statement to POLITICO, Paul lays out a simple plan for Sunday’s special session:

So tomorrow, I will force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program.

What special session, you ask? As POLITICO points out, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wants to facilitate a rather quick debate on the surveillance bill that’s got Paul and others so worked up.

Paul explains his stance further, saying:

I am ready and willing to start the debate on how we fight terrorism without giving up our liberty.

Sometimes when the problem is big enough, you just have to start over. The tax code and our regulatory burdens are two good examples.

Fighting against unconditional, illegal powers that take away our rights, taken by previous Congresses and administrations is just as important.

I do not do this to obstruct. I do it to build something better, more effective, more lasting, and more cognizant of who we are as Americans.

Via: Mediaite

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