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President Barack Obama should not necessarily wait for Congress to return from recess before taking action in Syria, two lawmakers said on "Fox News Sunday." "We have to move, and we have to move quickly," said Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Congress needs to be involved, but perhaps not initially." The U.S. can and should act to respond after reported widespread chemical attacks in Syria, using cruise missile strikes but not "boots on the ground" to destroy Bashar al Assad's runways, munitions and fuel, Engel added. "I think we have to respond,...

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) predicted Sunday the U.S. will take military action against Syria. Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had been in discussions with the administration, and that he believed it would ask Congress for authorization to take military action. Corker suggested the action would be limited to air strikes and that U.S. forces should not be involved on the ground. "I think we will respond in a surgical way and I hope the president as soon as we get back to Washington will ask for authorization from Congress to do something in...

NASHVILLE — A conservative political action committee today begins running radio ads that say U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander “refuses to join the fight” to “defund Obamacare” — a proposal pushed by some Republicans while ridiculed by others, including U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. “Obamacare is a job killer, yet Lamar Alexander refuses to do what it takes to stop funding of this liberal train wreck,” says a line in the ad sponsored by Senate Conservatives Fund. The group said in a news release that it is paying $45,900 to air the ad on radio stations statewide. An Alexander aide noted Wednesday...

Kerry and Co. have been insisting that we have to keep plowing money into Morsi’s Brotherhood regime because it’s in America’s national security interests. Those claims never held much water and they hold even less water now that unnamed Obama officials are warning the military that if it takes power, it will face a loss of that same military aid. U.S. officials said Washington has suggested to Morsi that he call early elections, though they underlined they were demanding specific steps — and they said they had underlined to Egypt’s military that a coup would have consequences for U.S. aid....

Despite calls for ending foreign aid to Egypt in the wake of an attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo, the White House is standing by funding commitments. Asked on Air Force One Thursday if the United States would withhold aid, White House press secretary Jay Carney said simply: "No."

Israel is concerned that cutting US aid to Egypt because of a military coup could jeopardize the peace treaty. Israel is concerned that the Obama administration will suspend the $1.3 billion annual military aid to Egypt following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, and that suspension of aid could jeopardize the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Israel may ask the US to find a way to continue the aid program, even though US law bans financial aid to regimes that seized power in a coup, US sources told "Globes" yesterday. The sources familiar with the complicated three-way US-Egyptian-Israeli relationship said that keeping...

<p>WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama urged Egypt's military Wednesday to hand back control to a democratic, civilian government without delay, but stopped short of calling the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi a coup d'etat.</p> <p>In a carefully worded statement, Obama said he was "deeply concerned" by the military's move to topple Morsi's government and suspend Egypt's constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the military's actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt -- $1.5 billion a year in military and economic assistance.</p>

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) blasted the Obama administration on Wednesday for suspending tuition assistance benefits for Army and Marine Corps servicemen, and called on the White House to restore funding to the program by paring back U.S. assistance to Egypt. “We are not under any obligation to continue to provide [Egypt] with over a billion and a half dollars in aid every year. Re-prioritizing this funding to our soldiers and Marines is the right thing to do,” said Coffman. Coffman has proposed trimming $500 million from unspent foreign aid to Egypt, and reprogramming the funding to the military tuition...

White House officials declined to say whether any of the new money would go directly or indirectly to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most prominent Islamic party.

As I have said since the Egyptian Revolution, the United States supports a set of core principles, including opposition to violence, protection of universal human rights, and reform that meets the legitimate aspirations of the people. The United States does not support particular individuals or political parties, but we are committed to the democratic process and respect for the rule of law. Since the current unrest in Egypt began, we have called on all parties to work together to address the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people, in accordance with the democratic process, and without recourse to violence or the...

Diplomatic source told Israel Radio that Jerusalem expects Obama to back Egyptian military in its efforts to stabilize country following Morsi's presidency. The Israeli government expects US President Barack Obama to avoid pursuing the same "naïve" policies in its dealings with the post-Mohamed Morsi Egypt as he did in his handling of the crisis that brought down Hosni Mubarak, a senior official told Israel Radio. Jerusalem, which made no secret of its displeasure with Obama for what government officials believe was his abandonment of a key ally, is hopeful that the US will back the military's efforts to stabilize the...

<p>Outside observers might not have much trouble calling the events in Egypt on Wednesday a military coup. When a khaki-clad, beret-wearing general commandeers state TV to announce that the constitution is suspended and the president no longer president, “coup” seems like a pretty safe word.</p>

In 2011, President Obama quickly called on President Mubarak to acquiesce to demonstrators’ demands and leave office. With Mubarak out of the way, Obama proceeded to support the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, who succeeded in stealing the revolution. Obama’s support extended to an ex-con named Muhammad Morsi. By his own admission, Morsi was in prison during the January 25 demonstration. But he was in contact with members of Hamas, who broke into the prison and freed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood prisoners. When Morsi ran for the presidency, Obama continued to support him, even when it was clear that the close...

Existing federal law may force the U.S. government to do something previously proposed by Rand Paul: cut off foreign aid to Egypt. Under Section 508, “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available pursuant to this Act shall be obligated or expended to finance directly any assistance to any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by a military coup or decree.” While President Obama has been careful to avoid labeling the ouster of democratically elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi a coup, the provision is not subject to presidential waiver. Last year, Paul introduced legislation to suspend...

The way Rand Paul sees it, the 86 senators who opposed his amendment to freeze $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt voted "against the rule of law" on Wednesday. Paul's amendment to the transportation spending bill would have halted aid to the country until elections were held and redirected the money to domestic bridge repairs instead. In Paul’s defense, a 2010 law requires halting U.S. aid to any country that undergoes a military coup. The problem, however, is that the U.S. has failed to make the determination that the military’s ousting of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on July 3...

Another Republican senator is weighing in against a plan hatched by GOP conservatives to tie a new budget deal to defunding the implementation of Obamacare. “I think it’s a silly effort,” Bob Corker said on MSNBC. “What people are really saying who are behind that effort is we don’t have the courage to roll up our sleeves and deal with real deficit reduction and spending decisions. We want to take ourselves out of the debate and act like we’re being principled to the American people…” (snip) Other Republicans have offered similar remarks, with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid challenged House Republicans to forgo their own debate and pass the Senate’s immigration bill instead, telling Speaker John A. Boehner to ignore his Republican colleagues in order to get a bill done. In remarks kicking off Congress’ stretch run to its August summer vacation, Mr. Reid said the Senate’s 68-32 vote in late June to pass its immigration bill should be a beacon for the House. “Our responsibility didn’t end with that vote. Now it’s our responsibility to convince our colleagues in the House they should vote with us,” said Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) suggested in an interview Friday that he supports the border security deal crafted by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) . . . . //////////////////// Excerpt only.

WIMP (wmp) n. A subatomic particle that has a large mass and interacts with other matter primarily through gravitation. n. Informal. 1. a weak, ineffectual, timid person. Political Representing a state like North Dakota and scoring a 47% from Heritage Action while working overtime to save Democrats and pass a dying amnesty bill --------------------------------------------------------- Imagine if Democrats elected senators from blue states in the northeast who worked behind closed doors with Ted Cruz to craft national right to work legislation or a compromise plan to privatize Social Security? That’s about as likely as Lady Gaga joining the Family Research Council....

The fallout from the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal is going to be felt in many other federal agencies and programs, including Obamacare and immigration reform, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker says. "This episode is going to have a big effect … There are multiple, multiple issues that have to be addressed,'' Corker told "The Steve Malzberg Show'' on Newsmax TV. "This is a wakeup call for all of those who see our large government and the way people can be coerced … For instance, as we move to immigration reform, just being aware … of judgments that take place within...