Conservative Blogger
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Republicans introduce legislation opposing Iran deal, teeing up White House showdown
House Republicans on Tuesday introduced legislation opposing the recently struck Iranian nuclear deal, launching a battle with the White House that could end in a veto showdown this fall.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., unveiled the legislation, saying the deal "gives up too much, too fast, to a terrorist state -- making the world less safe, less secure, and less stable."
A day earlier, House Republicans said they had the 218 GOP votes lined up for a so-called resolution of disapproval.
President Obama, meanwhile, is working to secure the backing of Democrats in both chambers. He won key endorsements on Tuesday, with Sen. Time Kaine, D-Va., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., coming out in favor.
If both the House and Senate vote against the deal, Obama is certain to veto -- but foes would need to muster a two-thirds majority in Congress to override.
Though the United Nations is moving forward on many aspects of the nuclear agreement regardless, Congress would have leverage over U.S. sanctions, which Royce called "the most powerful economic sanctions in the world."
"The agreement gives Iran permanent sanctions relief, but in exchange only temporarily restrains Iran's nuclear program," he said in a statement. "If this agreement goes through, Iran gets a cash bonanza, a boost to its international standing, and a lighted path toward nuclear weapons."
But Kaine, in announcing his support, said it is a "dramatic improvement over the status quo in improving global security. The agreement takes a nuclear weapons program that was on the verge of success and disables it for many years through peaceful diplomatic means with sufficient tools for the international community to verify whether Iran is meeting its commitments."
On the sidelines, the lobbying grew in intensity on Tuesday, as Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made dueling appeals to the American Jewish community.
Netanyahu made his case in a live webcast with more than 10,000 participants, according to the U.S. Jewish groups that organized the event. The prime minister railed against the agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, calling it a "bad deal" that leaves Tehran on the brink of a bomb.
"The nuclear deal with Iran doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb," he said. "It actually paves Iran's path to the bomb."
Netanyahu, one of the fiercest critics of the nuclear accord, also disputed Obama's assertion that opponents of the diplomatic deal favor war. He called that assertion "utterly false," saying Israel wants peace, not war.
Obama was to hold a private meeting at the White House later Tuesday with Jewish leaders -- some who support the deal, some who oppose it, and others whose organizations are undecided.
The White House is preparing for the likelihood that lawmakers will vote against the deal and is focusing its lobbying efforts on getting enough Democrats to sustain a veto.
Only one chamber of Congress is needed to sustain a veto.
Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the White House is confident it can sustain a veto "at least in the House."
Planned Parenthood official: Abortion procedures, prices altered to meet demand
In the nearly 16-minute, edited video, the fifth released by Center for Medical Progress, a woman identified as Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, discusses pricing for specimens -- ranging from intact fetuses to tissue and organs -- for outside tissue procurement companies.
“Yeah, and so if we alter our process, and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget, that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this,” Farrell said. “I mean it’s all just a matter of line items.”
"If we alter our process, and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, then we can make it part of the budget"Altering abortion procedures to procure fetal tissue, delivering intact fetuses and selling fetal tissue for profit are all against federal law.
- Melissa Farrell, Planned Parenthood official
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Click to see latest undercover Planned Parenthood video
However, Farrell tells undercover investigators from the center multiple times that abortion doctors can change a procedure in order to procure intact specimens.
“And you know, when it matters, you know in the cases of when it’s mattered, you know, physicians also need an intact specimen, they can make it happen,” said Farrell, noting that some of the clinic’s doctors have research projects of their own for which they’re collecting specimens.
“So they do it in a way that they get the best specimens,” Farrell said. “So I know it can happen.”
The video’s revelations stand in stark contrast to public statements made recently by top officials of the Planned Parenthood regional affiliate.
The head of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast denied the organization sold or donated fetal tissue in a July 24 letter to Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is also running for the Republican presidential nomination, directed the DHH to investigate Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which was seeking to open a New Orleans facility.
In her letter to Kliebert, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, Melaney A. Linton, specifically addressed the fetal tissue issue.
“Do any Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast facilities, or any affiliates, subsidiaries or associates thereof, sell or donate any unborn baby organs or body parts? Answer: No.” Linton wrote.
Related Image
Melissa
Farrell, the Director of Research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, is
featured in the latest release by an anti-abortion group. (Center for Medical Progress)
“The latest video showing Planned Parenthood’s treatment of unborn children in a Houston clinic is repulsive and unconscionable," Abbott said in a statement. "Selling baby body parts is the furthest thing imaginable from providing women’s healthcare, and this organization’s repeated and systematic disrespect for human life is appalling. The State of Texas is aggressively investigating this matter and must use all available legal remedies to address this depraved conduct.”
CMP has been the target of two restraining orders by federal judges banning them from releasing some of their recordings. The orders, however, have so far been limited to videos made at meetings of the National Abortion Federation and those dealing with a tissue procurement company, StemExpress.
Tuesday’s release, purely reliant on video taken inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, would not seem to violate either order.
At the end of the video, CMP investigators film a segment in what they say is the abortion clinic’s pathological laboratory. Farrell and two unidentified Planned Parenthood workers demonstrate the “quality” of fetal body parts, including intact arms, legs, lungs, intestines and eyeballs.
The CMP investigators ask to see any intact specimens, but one of the unidentified female workers begins laughing.
“We had a really long day and they’re all mixed up together in a bag,” she says.
The “Just a Matter of Line Items” video is the fifth release from CMP. Like the first four, it contains undercover video of Planned Parenthood officials and associates.
CMP has yet to release the full footage of its latest video. But a preliminary link for "full footage" exists on its website, and the organization has in the past typically released unedited video several hours after the edited video has been released
The videos have brought investigations of Planned Parenthood's policies on aborted fetuses by three Republican-led congressional committees and three states.
The Senate failed Monday evening to advance a Republican-led measure to halt federal aid to Planned Parenthood. The vote to bring debate on the bill was 53-46, shy of the 60 votes needed to move on.
Fox News announces candidate line-up for prime-time debate
Real estate magnate Donald Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
The roster of 10 candidates was determined based on an average of the five most recent national polls. Trump as expected made the cut, securing the top slot. Right behind him were Bush and Walker, who each have posted strong numbers in recent surveys.
The drama, rather, was at the edge of the top 10. Christie and Kasich, who were hovering by that edge in recent polling, were able to qualify.
Kasich, who leads the state where the debate is being held, said in a statement, "As governor, I am glad to welcome my fellow debate participants to our great state and I look forward to discussing the issues facing our country with them on Thursday."
But former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and several others will not be on the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET stage. The seven who did not make the top 10 will be invited to a separate 5 p.m. ET debate. Aside from Perry and Santorum, this includes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; former HP head Carly Fiorina; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; former New York Gov. George Pataki; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
The five polls included in the average that determined the line-up were conducted by Bloomberg, CBS News, Fox News, Monmouth University and Quinnipiac University.
The debates, hosted by Fox News and Facebook in conjunction with the Ohio Republican Party, will be held at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
With the primary campaign lately being rocked by Trump's rise in the polls above the jam-packed field, the big question is how the other nine candidates will hold their own on the prime-time stage -- and whether Trump will remain the front-runner after his debate debut.
For political outsiders like Trump and Carson, Democratic strategist Doug Schoen said, "The question is are they ready, literally and metaphorically, for prime-time?"
The debate will test whether they can articulate a "cogent narrative of what they'll do to promote and provoke change in our country," Schoen said.
Analysts have warned that Trump, whose bomb-throwing persona has seemingly fueled his climb, stands to lose traction if he can't command the stage.
Steve Deace, who hosts a conservative radio talk show in Iowa, said: "His entire campaign is based on him being a blunt instrument" and if he holds back, "that would be the death knell for him."
Plenty of candidates are eager to seize the spotlight from him. Ahead of the debates, Bush on Monday outlined his plan for improving border security and immigration enforcement.
Tough-talking Gov. Christie last week vowed to enforce marijuana laws if elected president, and tangled over the weekend with the teachers unions after saying on CNN they deserve a "punch in the face."
Paul on Tuesday introduced an amendment to crack down on "sanctuary cities" by requiring local officials to notify the feds about the arrest of an illegal immigrant.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to climb in the polls despite attracting the ire of fellow Republicans for recently questioning Sen. John McCain's war record.
In the latest Fox News poll, Trump got the support of 26 percent of primary voters -- the highest level of support for any candidate so far and up from 18 percent in mid-July.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, after the debate line-up was announced, touted the breadth of the 17-candidate primary field.
"Our field is the biggest and most diverse of any party in history and I am glad to see that every one of those extremely qualified candidates will have the opportunity to participate on Thursday evening," he said. "Republicans across the country will be able to choose which candidate has earned their support after hearing them talk through the issues."
FBI investigating security of Hillary Clinton's private email server
The probe, which was first reported by The Washington Post, comes days after watchdogs from the State Department and the intelligence community asked the Justice Department to explore whether classified material was improperly shared or stored on the former secretary of state's private e-mail account.
The Post reports that the FBI has contacted Kendall about the security of a thumb drive he possesses that contain copies of work emails sent by Clinton during her time as America's top diplomat. The paper also reported that the FBI had contacted a Denver-based technology firm that help manage the server.
"Quite predictably, after the [intelligence community's inspector general] made a referral to ensure that materials remain properly stored, the government is seeking assurance about the storage of those materials," Kendall told Fox News. "We are actively cooperating."
Clinton has not been formally accused of any wrongdoing. Andrea Williams, a spokeswoman for the intelligence community inspector general's office, told Fox News last month that the office had requested a "counterintelligence referral" from the Justice Department, not a criminal referral.
Clinton has repeatedly denied sending or receiving any classified information on her personal account. Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill repeated that denial to Fox News late Tuesday, saying "She did not send nor receive any emails that were marked classified at the time. We want to ensure that appropriate procedures are followed as these emails are reviewed while not unduly delaying the release of her emails. We want that to happen as quickly and as transparently as possible."
Merrill's denial that Clinton sent emails "marked classified at the time" contradicts her claim to reporters in March that no classified material, retroactive or otherwise, had ever passed through the private account.
"I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified material," Clinton said at the time. "I'm certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material."
The Post also reported that the server installed in Clinton's New York home just prior to her becoming secretary of state was originally used by her 2008 presidential campaign, and replaced a server that former president Bill Clinton had been using. According to the paper, the server originally used by Bill Clinton was deemed to be too small to accommodate the correspondence of a sitting Cabinet official.
Responsibility for the first server was held by a longtime Bill Clinton aide with no security clearance and no expertise at safeguarding computers. Bryan Pagliano, a former IT director for Clinton's 2008 campaign, was brought into oversee the second server. He was paid by a political action committee tied to Clinton through April 2009, when he was hired by the State Department as an IT specialist.
The Post report, citing people briefed on the server setup, described it as occasionally unreliable, going down for days after Superstorm Sandy struck the New York area in October 2012.
The existence of the e-mail server has raised repeated questions about Clinton's adherence to federal open records laws and whether she used the account to shield herself from information requests by journalists and government transparency groups.
Clinton has also maintained that she turned over all relevant federal records before deleting her emails off her sever. Amid heavy public criticism, she later asked the State Department to release 55,000 pages of emails she had turned over to them.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Pennsylvania rep indicted on racketeering charges vows re-election bid
The 11-term Democrat said Monday he is "innocent of any and all of these allegations," telling reporters he hasn't been involved in the misappropriation of funds as an elected official.
Fattah, 58, was indicted last week, accused of engaging in bribery, fraud, money laundering and other crimes involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Two of the four schemes alleged by prosecutors involve efforts to erase debts from Fattah's failed 2007 mayoral bid. Despite that, he said he had "no regrets" about the mayoral run.
Fattah referred to other members of Congress accused of wrongdoing who were later exonerated and criticized prosecutors for what he called "efforts to attack" his family. Fattah's wife, TV news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah, hasn't been charged but was accused by prosecutors of involvement in a sham transaction involving a Porsche that she maintains was "a legitimate sale."
He also took issue with the accusation that a higher-education conference for which a former staff member obtained $50,000 in federal grants never took place.
"There was a conference. ... It took place. It's on video," he said.
Fattah has stepped down from his leadership post on the House Appropriations Committee but emphasized that he remains on the panel with seniority that will allow him to make a "tremendous impact" on the process.
"I believe by the end of the year we'll get some more clarity on this and I'll be able to resume my leadership position again," he said.
He is scheduled for an initial court appearance on Aug. 18, defense lawyer Luther Weaver III said Monday.
Also Monday, the House Ethics Committee announced that it voted unanimously last week to investigate the matter. House rules generally require the ethics panel to launch an official investigation when a lawmaker is indicted, and the bipartisan panel assigned several lawmakers to a special subcommittee. The committee, however, traditionally steers clear of actively pursuing cases while criminal probes are ongoing.
The Ethics Committee has the power to recommend Fattah be expelled, but it would take a vote of the full House to do so.
Senate fails to advance Planned Parenthood defund effort
The vote to bring debate on the bill was 53 against to 46 in favor.
The measure had not been expected to get the 60 votes needed to move it toward a final vote because Republicans needed several “yeas” from Democrats, who largely support Planned Parenthood.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin was among the Democrats who voted to defund the group. Manchin, whose state has increasingly become more Republican leaning, was undecided until a few hours before the vote.
“I am very troubled by the callous behavior of Planned Parenthood staff in (the) recently released videos, which casually discuss the sale, possibly for profit, of fetal tissue after an abortion,” he said before voting. “Until these allegations have been answered and resolved, I do not believe that taxpayer money should be used to fund this organization.”
Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly was the only other Democrat to vote yes. The only Republicans to vote no were Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He voted no so he could again bring up the measure.
On the GOP side, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said, "The American taxpayer should not be asked to fund an organization like Planned Parenthood that has shown a sheer disdain for human dignity and complete disregard for women and their babies."
The first of the videos were released late last month and show group officials negotiating the price of aborted fetal tissue for research.
Federal law prohibits the sale of fetal tissue for profit. And whether the officials were indeed negotiating a for-profit price, as critics charge, may never be settled.
Planned Parenthood says it only recovers costs of the procedures and gives the tissue to researchers only with a mother's advance consent.
However, the videos have sparked renewed efforts by pro-life organizations and others to restrict abortions and undermine Planned Parenthood.
The group provides abortions and such health and family-planning services as contraception and sexual-disease treatment to roughly 2.7 million people annually, mostly women.
By law, federal funds are already barred from being used for abortions except for cases of incest, rape or when a woman's life is in danger.
The White House says it would block legislation to defund the group.
Still, Republicans could try to gain leverage for the defund effort when Congress returns from August recess by threating to vote against spending bills to keep the government running after Sept. 30 if they include Planned Parenthood funds.
GOP leaders are reluctant to force a shutdown fight that could haunt them in the 2016 elections.
In 2013, firebrand Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, now a 2016 presidential candidate, led a showdown against Washington Democrats over funding for ObamaCare that resulted in a partial government shutdown that voters largely blamed on Republicans.
Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards told Fox News on Monday that a shutdown effort would be “politically unpopular” but that her group would be prepared for such a fight.
The furtively recorded videos released in July -- with close-ups of aborted fetal organs and Planned Parenthood officials describing how "I'm not going to crush that part" -- have forced the group and its Democratic champions into a defensive crouch.
Democrats are sounding a theme they have employed in recent elections, characterizing the GOP drive as an assault on health care for women.
"It's our obligation to protect our wives, our sisters, our daughters, our granddaughters" from the GOP's "absurd policies," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, said before the vote. "The Republican Party has lost its moral compass."
The videos were made by anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, which has so far released four videos in which people posing as representatives of a company that purchases fetal tissue converse with Planned Parenthood officials.
In the longer term, GOP leaders are hoping that three congressional committees' investigations, plus probes in several states and the expected release of additional videos, will produce evidence of PlannedParenthood wrongdoing and make it harder for Democrats to defend the organization.
Their measure calls for funneling Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars to other providers of health care to women, including hospitals, state and local agencies and federally financed community health centers.
Republicans say that transfer would enable women to continue receiving the health care they need because PlannedParenthood's nearly 700 clinics are far outnumbered by other providers.
PlannedParenthood and Democrats contest that. They say many of the organization's centers are in areas with few alternatives for reproductive health care or for other services for the low-income women who comprise a majority of its clients.
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