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House Committee Passes Bill to End Tax Funding of Abortions Washington, DC -- Thee House Judiciary Committee approved a bill today on a mostly partisan 23-14 vote that would ban taxpayer funding of abortions across all federal government departments and programs. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/03/03/house-committee-passes-bill-to-end-tax-funding-of-abortions/

BOISE -- A resolution supporting repeal of the amendment that gives voters the right to pick U.S. Senators has died in a House committee. The House State Affairs Committee voted 13-6 to defeat the measure encouraging the repeal of the 17th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The loss is a blow for Mountain Home Rep. Pete Nielsen, who claimed such a step was necessary to get the U.S. Senate more in tune with the needs of states. But several lawmakers said they were concerned with wording in measure, including a reference calling Congress an "arrogant bureaucracy."

Legislation that would legalize same-sex marriages in Maryland appeared headed for passage in the state Senate after winning approval Thursday from a key committee and the backing of a Prince George's senator who had withheld his support. A 7 to 4 vote by the Judicial Proceedings Committee sends the bill to the Senate floor, where a lengthy and emotional debate is expected next week on the most high-profile social issue of the 90-day session. Although the vote in the full Senate is expected to be close, leadership of both parties on Thursday predicted passage. The legislation would then move to...

According to the Daily Caller’s Chris Moody, California Democrat Loretta Sanchez proposed yanking fellow Rep. Gabrielle Giffords off of the House Armed Services Committee after being at least temporarily disabled by a gunshot wound to the head less than three weeks ago. Sanchez argued that Democrats needed every vote they have on the panel and that they could not leave the seat open indefinitely. The reaction from her colleagues was, not surprisingly, strongly negative: Behind closed doors, California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez has proposed removing Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords from the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) until she recovers from...

After last night’s show of civility across party lines at the State of the Union, Rep. Darrell Issa’s first Oversight Committee hearing on bailouts and the foreclosure crisis started with a bout over procedure. At the start of the hearing, chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced the committee members would waive their opening statements and instead would have seven days to place them into the record. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s ranking Democrat, immediately fought back questioning this deviation in traditional procedure, but Issa held his ground.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez sparks outrage from fellow Democrats with proposal to boot Giffords from Armed Services CommitteeChris Moody - The Daily Caller – Tue Jan 25, 5:17 pm ET Behind closed doors, California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez has proposed removing Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords from the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) until she recovers from injuries sustained after being shot in the head on Jan. 8 in Tucson, The Daily Caller has learned. The proposal sparked an outrage, according to those in the room — including from those in Sanchez’s own party. “It’s not appropriate,” Texas Democratic Rep. Silvestre Reyes...

The US House Global Warming Committee is Officially Deadby Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 01. 6.11 We knew it was going to happen, and now it has: Republicans have killed the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. They did so as promised, shortly after taking office. The committee was designed specifically to shape policy on global warming and energy issues. Since its creation in 2006, it held 80 hearings and briefings, according to Mother Jones. Here's what the Committee accomplished, and why it will be missed: **SNIFF** Under the leadership of chairman Ed Markey (D-MA), it...

Republicans kill global warming committeeMother Jones: Republicans have disbanded the one committee devoted solely to climate change and energy issues. At least it went out on its own terms Kate Sheppard for Mother Jones guardian.co.uk Thursday 6 January 2011 15.51 GMT The kick-off of the 112th Congress on Wednesday also marked the end of an era in the House – the demise of a committee devoted solely to climate change and energy issues. The Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, created by Nancy Pelosi in 2006, has been shuttered under the new Republican leadership. In the final days...

Watchdog group calls on leaders to name new ethics committeeBy Susan Crabtree - 12/17/10 02:38 PM ET A prominent watchdog group is calling on the House’s top Democrat and Republican to start off the 112th Congress with a wholly new ethics committee because the present one is plagued by "utter turmoil." Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio), urging them to name an entirely new roster of ethics committee members after a tumultuous period for the panel. “The American people need to have confidence that the...

ARMZ, the uranium mining arm of Russia's state-owned atomic energy monopoly, Rosatom, is taking a 51 percent interest in Canada's Uranium One. The acquisition will make ARMZ the world's fourth largest uranium mining company, according to a report in the Financial Times, and is part of the company's program of aggressive international expansion. It already has deals or is in serious discussion of deals with France, India, and South Korea, and hopes to be the world's second largest producer within a decade, trailing only Kazakhstan. Evidently the deal is structured financially in a way that will enable the paired companies...

Boehner spokesman: "The Select Committee on Global Warming is unnecessary and taxpayers will not have to fund it in the 112th Congress" thecaucus Members of the House of Representatives will not be pondering global warming on Speaker John A. Boehner’s watch. Republicans plan to eliminate the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which was created by the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in 2007 to examine climate change and press for possible caps on carbon dioxide emissions. Climate change matters are overseen by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the Natural Resources Committee; the select...

Did you know that the SEIU represents the voting machine technicians in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada? Is it any surprise, as we noted earlier today, that there was a voting glitch in Clark County, Nevada? The glitch caused Harry Reid’s name to be automatically checked on the ballot before voters had indicated who were they were supporting. According to Joyce Ferrara who was an eyewitness to this strange ballot ordeal, the problem was widespread, “One person that’s a fluke. Two, that’s strange. But several within a five minute period of time — that’s wrong.” It is particularly troubling that...

PARIS (AP) — The French Senate, pushed into an early vote, approved on Friday a hotly contested bill raising the retirement age to 62, hours after riot police forced the reopening of a strategic refinery to help halt growing fuel shortages amid nationwide strikes and protests. In tense balloting after 140 hours of debate, the Senate voted 177-153 for the pension reform. The measure is expected to win final formal approval by both houses of parliament next week. President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative government, keen to get the measure passed and quell increasingly radicalized protests, cut short the debate and voting...

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he would support continuing the separate global warming committee helmed by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the next Congress. Waxman, a political ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming created in 2007 “served a very useful purpose and I wouldn’t object to it being continued.”

Washington, DC -- In a nearly party-line vote with very little suspense, the Senate Judiciary Committee today approved President Barack Obama's nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. http://LifeNews.com/nat6556.html

While the people of the Gulf coast along with the rest of the nation watch the federal government's painfully fractured response to the BP oil spill, President Barack Obama continues to act as if he is being criticized for not personally diving into the slick waters and plugging the hole. In fact, the criticism is that he personally has demonstrated zero leadership, horrendous communication abilities and allowed the crisis to be mismanaged by committee.

Rep. Paul Ryan dressed down Democrats for reconciliation and their Budget Committee charade. Then, he proceeded to pick apart Obamacare. Rep. Paul Ryan deserves the accolade of 'awesome.' Watch the entire 8 minutes of the video if you have time. You won't be sorry. Here is a sample: "The only bipartisanship in this procedure is in the opposition to it. Never before has the House Committee process been so grossly exploited. The thousands of pages of legislation reported by the committees of jurisdiction are irrelevant; even before we vote on them. We will report these provisions as the process requires....

The organization was born in 1992 out of a major split in the Communist Party USA, incorporating Trotskyites, former Maoists, socialists and anarchists to form an entirely new party. The party has strong ties to Cuba , Vietnam, Venezuela and the communist parties of France and the former East Germany.

(IsraelNN.com) The Ministerial Committee on Legislation has approved a proposed a bill banning the commemoration of Independence Day as a day of mourning. The bill was originally proposed by MK Alex Miller (Israel Our Home). It addresses the increasingly widespread practice, by Arab citizens of Israel, of marking Israel’s Independence Day as a day of mourning, or Naqba Day

There's word tonight that Senate Democrats have denied Arlen Specter seniority on the committees on which he will now serve as a Democrat. That means Specter, who has been a senator for 28 years, will now occupy the most junior position among Senate Democrats. A few minutes ago, I asked a GOP Senate source for his reaction. "I don't know if it says more about [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid's lack of commitment or Specter's naiveté," he told me.