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When President Obama unveiled his draft of a new Joint Resolution "To authorize the limited use of the United States Armed Forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," I was talking with the man who man who is mostly responsible for putting the president in the Oval Office, David Axelrod. (The audio and text of that interview is here.) Axelrod obviously considers the draw-down of American forces from Iraq to be among if not the single greatest achievement of the president's years in office, and this limp draft AUMF reflects this president's intractable opposition to doing anything...

In 1973, National Lampoon put a dog on its cover with a gun to the animal’s head. The tongue-in-cheek headline was: “If you don’t buy this magazine, we’ll kill this dog.” In the same vein, President Obama might as well be preparing a new cover, with a frightened elderly lady, and a headline saying, “Raise the debt limit again or we’ll kill this woman.” Mr. Obama threatens to withhold Social Security checks each time the debt limit deadline nears, ignoring the fact that even if the limit were met, the government could pay its debt obligation and all Social Security...

U.S. Embassy Marines in Yemen handed over their M-9 pistols and M-4 carbines before evacuating the chaotic country with diplomatic personnel, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The Marines also left behind several vehicles at the airport in the capital city of Sanaa before departing on a civilian flight, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. Warren said the Marines destroyed their machine guns and other crew-served weapons before leaving the Embassy for the airport. He also said that it was unclear who now had custody of the weapons and vehicles that were surrendered. A Marine spokesman could not immediately say...

President Obama is going before Congress to request authorization for the limited use of military force in a battle of up to three years against the Islamic State. On the surface, this looks like a welcome recognition of Congress’s ultimate authority in matters of war and peace. But unless the resolution put forward by the White House is amended, it will have the opposite effect. Congressional support will amount to the ringing endorsement of unlimited presidential war making. Whatever else they decide, the House and Senate should revise the White House initiative to guarantee that it won’t have this tragic...

When you're in the White house, it seems that telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth not only hurts, it makes you howl in pretend pain Longstanding querulous charges from the ever savvy peanut gallery that the U.S. Congress, the Senate, and all life at the White House is nothing but an ongoing soap opera, can now be taken literally. According to Breaking Israel News, “the White House fabricated the spat with Netanyahu and knew of the Congress Invite all along”. We can hear the resounding cries “Told ya’! and “We knew it!” emanating from office...

Tuesday, during an event Vice President Joe Biden hosted for lawmakers and disability advocates who helped pass the ABLE Act, he said, “I actually think it’s [Congress] an equal branch of government.”

The audience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on March 3 is shaping up to be largely Republican — and almost completely white. Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus say they’re planning to skip the speech, calling it a slight to President Barack Obama that they can’t and won’t support.

An Indiana state senator wants to change the way US senators are elected. Until the 17th Amendment was ratified a century ago, senators weren't elected directly, but by state legislatures. Charlestown State Senator Jim Smith says the idea was to make senators responsive to their states‘ concerns. He argues the switch to direct election has contributed to a shift in the balance of power from the states to the federal government. Smith says it‘s separated senators from state concerns and made it harder to remove them. "As the needs of the state of Indiana change," says Smith,"then we would essentially...

Both parties agree we can expand opportunity in our country by expanding American exports. In fact, the U.S. is negotiating a number of important trade agreements right now. And to make sure they’re successful, my colleagues and I have called for Congress to put in place trade promotion authority. TPA, as it’s called, is important for a number of reasons, but for starters it empowers Congress by giving it a real say in the negotiating process. Now, nothing prevents a president from negotiating a trade agreement. But an agreement can take effect only if Congress approves it. So the administration...

Obama claims he was the most productive US president in 50 years – until Republicans took partial control of Congress and 'stuff got blocked' President Barack Obama presented a rose-colored version of congressional history to a liberal-leaning online audience on Monday, as he claimed that he was the most productive president since Jyndon Johnson until Republicans got in the way. Asked by the news website Vox if he had a prescription for the political polarization of Washington since his arrival in 2009, he blamed the GOP. 'You know,' he said, 'my first two years in office when I had a...

There’s fallout from the July 27 Houston Chronicle exposé of a trip to Azerbaijan by 10 member of the House that violated House rules. The trip was ostensibly sponsored by nonprofit groups but was actually funded by oil companies BP, Conoco Phillips and SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan. According to the New York Post today: Rep. Gregory Meeks pushed to let an Iran-backed natural-gas project dodge US sanctions — after attending an illicit junket paid for by energy companies. Also from the Post: “Congressman Meeks went on a 2013 Congressional trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, subsidized in part...

A group of Democrats in the House of Representatives are circulating a petition asking Republican Speaker John Boehner to postpone the March 3 speech by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to a joint meeting of Congress, Bloomberg reported on Monday. “As members of Congress who support Israel, we share concern that it appears that you are using a foreign leader as a political tool against the president,” states the letter, which is being circulated among lawmakers by Representatives Keith Ellison, Steve Cohen and Maxine Waters. The three started sending the petition to fellow lawmakers last week, said Mike Casca, a spokesman...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday doubled down on his intention to speak to a joint session of Congress next month, despite criticism from Democrats who say they will boycott the event. Netanyahu said he fully intended to make the speech and that he will use the moment to criticize negotiations the Obama administration is holding with Iran, which he argues are endangering Israel. "A bad deal with Iran is forming in Munich that will endanger Israel's existence," Netanyahu said at an event for his Likud Party, according to The Associated Press. "Therefore, I am determined to go to...

When Speaker of the House John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Iran's nuclear weapons program, one might have thought that America's politicians could benefit from participating in a serious discussion about a menacing global threat from the leader of a gravely endangered U.S. ally. Instead, controversy erupted over the propriety of the speaker's invitation ...

By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — February 7, 2015 … There is only one entity that truly does not want Netanyahu to address the US Congress. Iran now has 19,000 centrifuges and admits it has 1,008 IR2m machines that can produce nuclear bomb grade material five times faster. Israeli Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, former military intelligence chief and executive director of the Institute for National Security Studies, states that the Iranian program is currently three to six months away from a bomb. Israel faces its worst threat since its rebirth in 1948. The Jewish people face their worst...

Pope Francis will address Congress Catholic News Service Paul Haring | CNSPope Francis prays as he leads ecumenical vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome Jan. 25. WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced Feb. 5 that Pope Francis will address a joint meeting of Congress Sept. 24.The pontiff's "historic visit" would make him the "first leader of the Holy See to address a joint meeting of Congress," Boehner said in a statement, adding that he was "truly grateful that Pope Francis has accepted our invitation."Boehner noted that "in a time of global...

Joe Biden will skip Israeli Prime Minister’s Congressional speech in March. He is going to leave the country. Minority Leader Pelosi says Democrats will be busy and she hopes the event won’t take place. And now we know that the Obama administration told Black Caucus members to skip the speech and to publicly speak out against it. The Daily Mail reported: Two prominent black Democrats in the House of Representatives are vowing to skip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next month, a move that a White House insider says was put in motion by the Obama administration.

Insider says Obama administration 'sent a message' to black Democratic lawmakers that they should skip Netanyahu speech to Congress, as Biden says he'll be a no-show **SNIP** That disapproval apparently was orchestrated, or at least strongly encouraged, by the White House through comamunications with lawmakers connected to the Congressional Black Caucus. 'I'm not saying the president called anyone personally,' a current White House staffer told Daily Mail Online. 'But yeah, the White House sent a message to some at the CBC that they should suddenly be very upset about the speech.' The source said it was a 'back-channel' arrangement that...

Vice President Joe Biden will not be attending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before a joint session of Congress next month, news agencies reported. A statement released by aides to Biden, who is usually in his seat whenever a foreign leader addresses the legislature by dint of his position as president of the Senate, indicated that the vice president will be traveling abroad during the speech. "We are not ready to announce details of his trip yet, and normally our office wouldn't announce this early, but the planning process has been underway for a while," an official in the vice...

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., wants to know why members of Congress and their staff are exempted from Obamacare. “Washington insiders should be forced to live under Obamacare just like the rest of America without a special taxpayer funded subsidy,” says @DavidVitter Vitter, who launched an investigation this week, said in a statement that “false information may have been filed with the D.C. Health Benefits Exchange to allow Congress to be exempt from [the] Obamacare exchange.” The chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee cited a court filing obtained by Judicial Watch that admits Congress—with more than 16,000 employees—doesn’t fit...