Iran sanctions renewal becomes law even without Obama signature

WASHINGTON –  In an unexpected reversal, President Barack Obama declined to sign a renewal of sanctions against Iran but let it become law anyway, in an apparent bid to alleviate Tehran's concerns that the U.S. is backsliding on the nuclear deal.
Although the White House had said that Obama was expected to sign the 10-year-renewal, the midnight deadline came and went Thursday with no approval from the president. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama had decided to let it become law without his signature.
"The administration has, and continues to use, all of the necessary authorities to waive the relevant sanctions" lifted as part of the nuclear deal, Earnest said in a statement.

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Under the Constitution, the president has 10 days after Congress passes a bill to sign it, veto it or let it become law with no signature if Congress is still in session. Although lawmakers have returned home for the holidays, Congress technically has not adjourned and is holding "pro-forma" sessions this week.
Though Obama's move doesn't prevent the sanctions renewal from entering force, it marked a symbolic attempt by the president to demonstrate disapproval for lawmakers' actions. The White House has argued that the renewal is unnecessary because the administration retains other authorities to punish Iran, if necessary, and has expressed concern that the renewal may undermine the nuclear deal.

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• Iran: US threatens nuclear deal, warns of 'strong reaction'

Iran's president had vowed to respond if the sanctions were renewed, arguing they violate the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which eased sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. On Tuesday, Iran's president ordered up plans to build nuclear-powered ships and to formally accuse the U.S. of violating the terms of the deal.
The Obama administration stressed that Iran would be unaffected by the renewal, as long as it continues honoring the nuclear deal. Secretary of State John Kerry said he'd told his Iranian counterpart that "to ensure maximum clarity," he'd issued new, redundant waivers exempting Iran from sanctions lifted under the deal.
"Extension of the Iran Sanctions Act does not affect in any way the scope of the sanctions relief Iran is receiving under the deal or the ability of companies to do business in Iran consistent with the JCPOA," Kerry said, using an acronym for the nuclear deal.
President-elect Donald Trump has been sharply critical of the nuclear deal and has threatened to try to renegotiate it, but has been vague about whether he'd pull the U.S. out of it.

Stein spent nearly $1 million of recount funds on consultants, staff, admin expenses

Green Party nominee Jill Stein spent nearly $1 million of the funds she raised for recount efforts in three battleground states on consultants, staff, and administrative costs.
Stein, who pushed for recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, raised $7.3 million for the efforts and said that “every dollar” went towards costs associated with the recount efforts. The group, which claimed costs associated with the recounts hit $7.4 million, upped their fundraising goal four times since first calling for recounts.
According to a breakdown of expenses contained on the fund’s website, Stein paid nearly $1 million on consultants and staff. The staff payroll tallied $212,500 while consultants pocketed $364,000. Administrative expenses, such as travel costs, ran $353,618. In all, $930,118 was used to pay consultants, staff, and administrative costs.
 Filing fees in the three states cost $4,488,939, the group says. Wisconsin filing fees totaled $3,499,689, Pennsylvania fees were $16,000, and Michigan filing fees ran the group $973,250. Legal expenses cost the group $1.6 million.

Dems scramble to prevent their own from defecting to Trump

Senate Democrats have been scrambling to prevent two of their members from taking a post in the Trump administration, trying to prevent any defection that could bolster Republicans’ control of the chamber.
They recently launched a “full court press” to retain Sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, and Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota, after each met with Republican President-elect Donald Trump, one senior Senate Democrat told Fox News.
Manchin now appears less likely to bolt -- after saying he wants to remain in the Senate and being passed over for Energy secretary -- which puts the focus squarely on Heitkamp.
The first-term lawmaker, who faces reelection in 2018 in a conservative state, still appears in the running for the Agriculture secretary post.
A Trump transition team source told Fox News the president-elect “really wants her” for the job.
Either departure would poses short- and long-term challenges for Senate Democrats.
If Heitkamp left, her seat could remain empty for months, meaning Democrats would have one less vote to stop any of Trump’s first-100-day initiatives, which could including getting a Supreme Court nominee confirmed in the Senate or passing a tax overhaul.
The North Dakota legislature last year changed its laws so that a Senate seat remains vacant, without a place-holder senator, until it is filled in a special-election vote held within 95 days of a resignation.
In the longer-term, Senate Republicans would have a solid chance of winning Heitkamp’s seat in a special election and adding to their 52-48 member majority.
In West Virginia, the governor would under the law appoint a temporary replacement and hold a special election within 48 to 120 days to fill the seat for the remainder of the term which ends in 2017.
West Virginia’s Democratic governor likely would appoint a Democrat to fill the seat in the interim.
As a Democrat in an increasingly conservative state, Manchin initially had appeared at risk of leaving.
And his words and actions in recent weeks -- criticizing Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and risking a government shutdown over coal miner benefits -- suggested a willingness to depart the Senate, or at least prepare for a tough reelection fight in 2018 in a state that went for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton 68-26 percent.
Manchin last month chastised Reid for calling Trump after his White House win a “sexual predator,” saying Reid’s remarks were an “absolute embarrassment” and “needlessly … tearing this country apart.”
Reid recently told CNN that Manchin’s comments were “his way to get out the door.”
Democrats, in an apparent effort to solidify their caucus, recently made Manchin part of their leadership team. And Trump’s official decision Wednesday to pick former Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry for Energy secretary, for which Machin was being considered, settled the speculation for now.
“I was humbled to be considered for the Secretary of Energy position,” Manchin said in a statement. “I have dedicated my life in public service to doing what is best for the people of West Virginia. Right now, I believe that I can best serve my state of West Virginia in the United States Senate.”
Heitkamp and Manchin are among 10 Democrats in the chamber seeking reelection in 2018.
Trump has only three remaining Cabinet posts to fill -- Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs.

Iran Cartoons

GOP reps vow to fight Boeing-Iran deal, as air giant makes Trump-friendly pitch

Congressional Republicans are vowing to fight a $16.6 billion deal between Boeing and Iran after the air giant announced Sunday it had agreed to sell 80 aircraft to Iran Air -- and cast the deal in Trumpian terms as good for American jobs.
GOP lawmakers had criticized the Chicago-based company when the deal was still being worked out in June. Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, fired off a letter to Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg at the time warning the deal could weaponize the regime.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) systematically uses commercial aircraft to transport troops, weapons, military-related parts, rockets and missiles to hostile actors around the world,” they wrote. “... These terrorist groups and rogue regimes have American blood on their hands. Your potential customers do as well.”
In the wake of Sunday’s announcement, the lawmakers showed no sign of budging, with a senior aide to Roskam telling FoxNews.com he intends to “aggressively fight” the deal in the next Congress, and expressing hope that the political winds would shift in their favor once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“The incoming appointees at Treasury and State will no longer report to a White House willing to bend over backward and ignore national security concerns to keep Iran from walking away from the nuclear deal,” the aide said.
Hensarling, meanwhile, called the deal “disappointing to say the least” and placed blame at the feet of President Obama.
“The President (Obama) wants us to sell planes not just to this dangerous regime, but to an airline that his own Treasury Department sanctioned in 2011. President Obama even wants U.S. banks to draw on American citizens' deposits to finance Iran, a regime that Treasury calls ‘a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern,'” Hensarling said.
“If a U.S. financial institution attempts to bankroll Iran in the waning days of the Obama administration, it will have to answer to Congress,” he warned.
Hensarling is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Roskam leads the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight.
The House already has passed measures opposing the sale, including a bill in November prohibiting the Treasury Department from financing aircraft sales to Iran. That bill has not yet gone to the Senate for consideration, and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Obama if it passed.
However, it is not clear what President-elect Trump would do with such legislation, and he has not yet commented on the Iran Air deal. While Trump has been a critic of the Iran nuclear agreement, he also has been an advocate for American manufacturing jobs, reaching out to both Ford and Carrier among other companies in an effort to keep jobs in the country.
In its announcement, Boeing framed the deal as one that would support American jobs, possibly as a way to sway the president-elect on the issue and stave off congressional dissent.
“Today's agreement will support tens of thousands of U.S. jobs directly associated with production and delivery of the 777-300ERs and nearly 100,000 U.S. jobs in the U.S. aerospace value stream for the full course of deliveries,” the company said, before noting it currently supports more than 1.5 million American jobs.
Other lawmakers backed the deal on the basis it would create jobs for American workers.
“This deal is good news for Washington state and will help support the thousands of good-paying jobs in my district that rely on trade and Boeing’s ability to compete in the global marketplace.” Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said in a statement.
Trump put Boeing on its toes earlier this month when he tweeted that he wants to cancel an order with the company for a new Air Force One, saying the costs are “out of control.”
The latest Boeing deal was made possible after trade sanctions on Iran were removed in January as part of the nuclear accord. The first planes are set to be delivered to Iran in 2018.

Ohio governor OKs 20-week abortion ban, nixes heartbeat bill

COLUMBUS, Ohio –  Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Tuesday imposing a 20-week abortion ban while vetoing stricter provisions in a separate measure that would have barred the procedure at the first detectable fetal heartbeat.
Kasich acted on both proposals the same day they landed on his desk.
The so-called heartbeat bill would have prohibited most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy — or before many women know they are pregnant. Its provisions cleared the Republican-led Legislature during a lame-duck flurry last week after being tucked into separate legislation.
Similar measures elsewhere have faced legal challenges, and detractors in Ohio feared such legislation would lead to a costly fight in the courts. Opponents predicted it would be found unconstitutional, a concern Kasich shared.

More on this...

• Kasich under pressure from both sides as major abortion bills hit desk

• Ohio House committee approves bill banning abortion after 20-weeks

• Ohio fetal heartbeat abortion bill heads to governor's desk

Kasich said the heartbeat provision would have been struck down based on federal court rulings on similar measures elsewhere. Enacting the law would also invite challenges to current Ohio abortion prohibitions and would mean costly litigation.
"The State of Ohio will be the losing party in that lawsuit and, as the losing party, the State of Ohio will be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to cover the legal fees for the pro-choice activists' lawyers," Kasich said.
"Therefore, this veto is in the public interest," the governor said.
Kasich, an abortion-rights opponent, chose instead to sign off on a 20-week ban similar to those now in effect in 15 states and blocked from enforcement in two others. The measures are based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain then. Opponents have challenged the "pain-capable" characterization as scientifically unsound. Ohio lawmakers rejected a Democratic amendment that would have added exceptions for rape and incest.
Ohio lawmakers still have the option to override his veto. Doing so would require a three-fifths majority of each chamber.
The developments in Ohio are a prelude to a broad offensive to be launched in January by abortion-rights opponents emboldened by the election success of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
GOP lawmakers in numerous states — including Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky — plan to push for new anti-abortion legislation. Their efforts are being supported by a national anti-abortion group, Americans United for Life, which released a report Tuesday contending that many abortion clinics are in violation of state health and safety standards.
In Congress, Republicans are expected to advance legislation banning most abortions after 20 weeks and halting federal funding for Planned Parenthood as long as it performs abortions. The president-elect has pledged to support both measures
The Republican-controlled Ohio Senate acted with initial caution on the divisive heartbeat bill before passing it suddenly last week.
Abortion-rights groups oppose it and Ohio Right to Life, the state's oldest anti-abortion group, has remained neutral because of constitutional questions.

The idea of its backers was to spark a challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until viability, usually at 22 to 24 weeks, that would ultimately outlaw abortion nationwide.
Also on Tuesday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a law requiring abortion clinics to have doctors who have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of their facility.
The court ruled that measure, which requires doctors with admitting privileges to be present for abortions, violates both the U.S. and Oklahoma constitutions. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed it into law in 2014, but courts had blocked it from going into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year struck down a similar provision in Texas.

What did Stein gain from recount flop?

Jill Stein's rowdy recount push ended with a whimper overnight, giving Donald Trump even more votes than he started with after final certification -- but it wasn't a total wash for the Green Party candidate, who brought in millions and put herself in a position to redistribute the leftover cash.
Stein raised about $7.3 million in three weeks to fund recount efforts, more than double what she raised for her failed presidential campaign.
The money poured in from 161,300 donors across the country. Another 10,000 volunteers signed up to help the drive. It’s unclear exactly how much remains -- millions went to recount costs and legal fees -- but she announced Tuesday she plans to donate leftover funds to election-reform and voting-rights groups.
“It was an amazing affirmation of the power of the American people to have a voice in their voting system and demand elections with integrity,” Stein said in a statement Tuesday.
On the surface, the recounts accomplished little. Her attempts to get fresh tallies in Michigan and Pennsylvania were blocked in court. Stein had suggested – without evidence – that voting machines in those states and Wisconsin could have been hacked in the November election.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schutte, a Republican, argued in the lawsuit that a hand recount would cost taxpayers around $2 million. Other esimates put it as high as $12 million.
Though unsuccessful in Michigan, Stein was able to request and pay for the Wisconsin recount which started on Dec. 1. But that effort resulted in Trump picking up 131 net votes, as his victory was certified in all three states.
Trump boasted on Twitter: “The final Wisconsin vote is in and guess what - we just picked up an additional 131 votes. The Dems and Green Party can now rest. Scam!”
On Tuesday at a stop on this "Thank You" Tour in West Allis, Wisconsin, Trump said the recount showed "how important every single vote in America is."
"All that money, all that time, all that effort, we got 131 votes more than we had before," he told supporters.
The fizzling finish came after Stein faced accusations of wasting time and draining grassroots resources.
Stein’s own running mate initially was against the recount, as was Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
But Stein insisted all along her goal wasn’t to overturn the results of the presidential election but instead to instill confidence in the election results and voting systems. At the least, the effort has allowed her to stay in the spotlight, and with her announcement Tuesday puts her in charge of distributing the leftover funds she raised. It also connected her with more donors.
Jordan Brueckner, a spokeswoman for Stein’s recount drive, told FoxNews.com that all 161,000-plus donors will have a say in where the extra money is donated – a task perhaps easier said than done.
The campaign has pledged to divvy up the funds to a set of non-partisan organizations.
“We don’t have a name for the organizations but we’ll give the donors an option [of where the money will go],” she said during a telephone interview.
The amount of cash given to the groups will be based on a ranked-choice vote which will be made public on Stein’s website in the coming weeks, Brueckner said.
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi told The Hill he thought recount efforts were a way for Stein “to stay relevant, raise some money and take the stink off of them.”
“Instead of everybody screaming, ‘You made Trump happen,’ she is counting the votes to change that whole narrative.’”

Trump to pick Rep. Zinke, ex-SEAL, as Interior secretary

President-elect Donald Trump intends to pick Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke as secretary of the Interior, multiple sources confirmed Tuesday evening to Fox News.
Zinke is a first-term House member and a former Navy SEAL commander.
Neither the Trump transition team nor Zinke has made a public statement. But Zinke reportedly has accepted the offer.
He was purportedly in the running with Washington Rep. Kathy McMorris Rogers, who met at least twice with Trump, a fellow Republican, in recent days.
McMorris Rogers has made no official statement either. But she posted a message late Tuesday on her Facebook page that suggested she will remain on Capitol Hill as part of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership team.
“It was an honor to be invited to spend time with the President-elect, and I’m energized more than ever to continue leading in Congress as we think big, reimagine this government, and put people back at the center of it,” McMorris Rogers wrote.
Zinke was an early Trump supporter and serves on the House’s Natural Resources Committee. He met Monday with Trump in New York.