Category: congress

The House must demand Barr testify about Stone intervention—and be prepared to force his compliance

Posted on by Hunter

This cannot go on. Three top prosecutors (which may turn into four) in the Roger Stone case have now withdrawn after Attorney General William Barr's Department of Justice ordered them to revise their guideline-based recommendations on Stone's sentencing. This happened the morning after Donald Trump tweeted that he "cannot allow" the prosecutors' recommended sentencing of Stone, an ally and key stonewaller in the Robert Mueller investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russian government hacking in the 2016 elections.

It is time to haul Barr to the House to explain himself. Immediately. If he refuses a subpoena, then inherent contempt must be used to force his compliance. The House has broad but almost-never-used powers to compel such testimony: This is precisely the dire occasion they were designed for.

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The resignation of three top names from Stone's case signals clearly that the federal prosecutors involved believe Barr has acted with corrupt intent in reaching down to order a reduced sentencing ask. They, too, should be subpoenaed immediately so that they may describe the situation that led to their self-removal. This is an extraordinary situation: Even if a teetering-toward-fascism Republican Party will not so much as pretend at "concern" for Trump and Barr's move, the House can expose it without their assistance.

It must be done. The Department of Justice has within the span of days been turned formally into a tool for "processing" allegations against Trump's political opponents and, now, overriding the sentencing of Trump's criminal allies. Barr will resist, but it must be done regardless.

Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling for the inspector general at the Department of Justice to “open an investigation immediately.” That internal review, however, would be obviously insufficient. Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee and lead House manager in Trump's Senate-stifled impeachment trial, sent out an initial statement calling the reported Barr-Trump intervention a "blatant abuse of power" and, coupled with Trump's retaliatory firings, "the gravest threat to the rule of law in America in a generation." But it does not yet threaten subpoenas.

Schiff is correct in his diagnosis—and now the House must once again act. It is not optional; it cannot be danced around. Barr has committed an act of corruption so blatant that prosecutors have resigned rather than carry it out; he must explain himself under oath.

Congress.gov New, Tip and Top February 2020

Posted on by Margaret Wood

Last month Andrew told us about deep linking in Congress.gov while Robert informed us about sponsorship information in saved searches for legislation. This month we are implementing the ReadSpeaker function for use on the Congress.gov bill text tab. Since July 2015, Congress.gov has offered the ReadSpeaker function for bill summaries but now we are offering it for the bill text as well. We are also bringing you a new alert with this release; you can receive an email every Monday with the updated committee schedule for the week.

Visit the weekly committee schedule on Congress.gov, and click "get weekly alerts" to receive an email each Monday with the committee schedule for the week.

Visit the weekly committee schedule page on Congress.gov, and click “get weekly alerts” to receive an email each Monday with the updated committee schedule for the week.

 

Enhancements

Enhancement – Committee Schedule – Weekly Alert

Enhancement – Legislation – ReadSpeaker for Bill Text

  • Download an audio file of the text of a bill to listen to while commuting or multitasking.

Enhancement – Advanced Search – Cursor Focus

To quickly search by bill, resolution or law number, bookmark the advanced search page where your cursor is in the Legislation and Law Number search box by default.

Enhancement – Committee Videos – Links to Committee Schedule

  • New links from the House Committee Videos have been added to the Committee Hearing detail pages.
  • Titles now stay on videos when selecting a video to watch.

Enhancement – House Member Profile Pages  – Enhanced Link to Clerk Website

Search Tip

Congress.gov receives frequent updates, with new features added on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. To review a list of the features added in each release, please visit our Congress.gov enhancements page.

Most Viewed Bills

Here are the most-viewed bills for the week of February 2nd. All of these bills are from the 116th Congress.

1. H.R.1865 [116th] Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020
2. S.1790 [116th] National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020
3. H.R.5428 [115th] Stand with UK against Russia Violations Act
4. H.R.943 [116th] Never Again Education Act
5. H.R.1994 [116th] Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019
6. H.R.2474 [116th] Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019
7. S.386 [116th] Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019
8. H.R.5430 [116th] United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act
9. S.488 [116th] A resolution to provide for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, President of the United States.
10. H.R.3621 [116th] Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020

 

Gingrich: Pelosi Should be Censured for “Viciously Partisan” Actions

Posted on by Jack Hadfield

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called for Nancy Pelosi to be censured for her “viciously partisan” behaviour at the State of the Union.

Gingrich: “I am Disgusted and Insulted”

At the end of President Trump’s incredible State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi decided it would be a good idea to rip up a copy of the speech that the President had just given. Pelosi ripped it up while the cameras were still rolling, in some sort of cringeworthy “act of defiance” against the President who she is desperately trying to remove from office.

The speech included praise for World War II veterans, our brave border enforcement officers, young African-American students and premature babies, all of which Pelosi decided deserved to be torn up.

RELATED: Outrage After ‘Classless’ Nancy Pelosi Rips Up Trump’s SOTU Speech And Tosses It Away

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the Speaker during the last impeachment process, was appalled by Pelosi’s behavior.

“As Speaker of the House for four State of the Unions by a President of the other party, I am disgusted and insulted by the viciously partisan action of Nancy Pelosi tearing up the speech,” Gingrich wrote on Twitter. “She isn’t clever or cute her childishness insults our American traditions -should be censured.”

Censure is the Only Way Forward!

Many users on Twitter were in stern agreement with Gingrich, and were disgusted with Pelosi’s actions.

RELATED: Here’s The Exact Moment Trump Smacked Down Democrat Socialists In His SOTU Speech

I certainly agree with Gingrich that censuring Pelosi is the way forward. There is a difference between criticizing the President, which she has every right to do, and then being blatanly disrespectful to not only him, but all of his invited guests.

Furthermore, she couldn’t even wait until the speech had barely ended – another big middle finger to the President. Censuring occurs when a member’s actions “run counter to the group’s acceptable standards for individual behavior” – if this doesn’t fall under that category, then I don’t know what does!

The post Gingrich: Pelosi Should be Censured for “Viciously Partisan” Actions appeared first on The Political Insider.

Bernie Sanders Has Already Drafted ‘Dozens Of Executive Orders’ To Bypass Congress If Elected President

Posted on by LifeZette

By PoliZette Staff | January 31, 2020

Disturbing campaign documents have just come to light showing that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ staffers have already begun preparing “dozens of executive orders” so that he can bypass Congress in the first days of his presidency, should he win the election in November.

The documents, which were obtained by the Washington Post, show that Sanders’ has executive orders prepared on a wide range of issues that include the environment, immigration, and the economy.

Sanders’ team has prepared over a dozen options for reversing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, with one of them being the immediate halting of construction on the border wall. Another potential executive order would remove the limit for the number of refugees that could be admitted to the United States, while a third would reinstate Barack Obama’s DREAMER program, which granted legal status to undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children.

RELATED: Ilhan Omar Launches Bill To Stop Trump From Carrying Out ‘Muslim Ban’

This is just the beginning of the executive orders that Sanders has planned. One order legalizes marijuana in the entirety of the United States, and another would allow the U.S. to import prescription drugs from Canada. Sanders would also declare climate change to be a national emergency as soon as he took office, and he would ban the export of crude oil.

This shows that Sanders is anticipating that Republicans will keep control of the Senate come November, and that he has no intention of letting this stop him from achieving his radical agenda.

Another document obtained by the post was written by Faiz Shakir, Sanders’s campaign manager; Warren Gunnels, a senior adviser; and Josh Orton, the campaign policy director, who all urge him to use the executive orders to undo the many “wrongs” of Trump’s presidency.

“We cannot accept delays from Congress on some of the most pressing issues, especially those like immigration where Trump has governed with racism and for his own corrupt benefit,” they said.

RELATED: Impeachment Trial Could Be Over Friday Night

These documents make it all the more terrifying that Sanders has taken the lead in Democratic primary polls, according to The Blaze. This man clearly thinks that he is above the law, and he would destroy America as we know it if he is able to get to the White House.

Now, more than ever, it’s important that we ensure Trump is reelected in 2020, if for no other reason than to keep this nutcase Sanders out of power.

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Republican Lawmaker Launches Bill To Officially Classify CNN And Washington Post As ‘Fake News’
Fox Refuses To Air Super Bowl Ad About Abortion Survivors – Greenlights Commercial Featuring Drag Queens
Meghan McCain Breaks Her Silence About Feud With Whoopi Goldberg After Being Told To ‘Please Stop Talking’

The post Bernie Sanders Has Already Drafted ‘Dozens Of Executive Orders’ To Bypass Congress If Elected President appeared first on The Political Insider.