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[w/video] Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is dismayed that “every single Democrat senator goes in line and docilely agrees” with the Obama administration, claiming the president’s abuse of authority and ever-expanding powers should be challenged by lawmakers in both parties. Cruz spoke with Fox News’ Shannon Bream on Sunday about President Barack Obama’s increasing authority at the expense of Congress, particularly after Senate Republicans were blocked from filibustering judicial nominees through the “nuclear option.” Bream asked the senator if “stacking courts” is a presidential right and whether Republicans would be objecting if one of their own was in the White...

The White House issued two executive actions on Friday that aim to beef up background checks for would-be gun buyers and keep the weapons away from those at risk of harming themselves or others. The first order, proposed by the Department of Justice, more clearly defines who cannot possess a handgun under federal law due to mental health issues. It is designed to clarify the language of the current law by providing better definitions for phrases like what it means to be "committed to a mental institution." This, in turn, will provide a more well-rounded picture of a potential buyer's...

Immigration: The Border Patrol and other agencies report a "surge" of unaccompanied minors coming across our border. It coincides with the White House's de facto amnesty via the Dream Act to reward such lawbreaking. The Office of Refugee Resettlement noted a "surge" in unaccompanied alien children in its year-end report last week, pointing out that 24,668 foreign minors in the country illegally were placed in the care of a federal de facto baby-sitting service because no parents were around to care for them. Last year's number was a near doubling from 2012, and nearly quadruple what it was at the...

Congressional Democrats are now facing the uncomfortable political reality — largely as a result of the budget agreements they have made over the past few years — that they will have to choose which benefits to the poor they prioritize. And that could leave them unable to pass the minimum wage increase Obama is now touting. An aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Nevada Democrat is interested in bringing a minimum wage bill to the floor. And an aide to Harkin, whose bill would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, said the senator is...

By 2020, federal agencies will have to up their use of renewable energy sources significantly and replace 20 percent of electricity with greener options, President Obama said in a new executive order due for release on Thursday. That demand will almost triple the federal government’s use of renewable energy, The Hill reported. The order is applicable to all federal agencies, including the civilian and military sectors.

More than a year after the Sandy Hook school shooting, President Obama’s directive to amp up prosecutions of federal gun laws hasn’t made much difference in how many people are charged with gun crimes. U.S. attorneys that prosecute such cases charged 11,674 people with breaking federal gun laws in the fiscal year that ended in September, compared to 11,728 people the year before. “The federal gun charge numbers are not an accurate reflection of the Department's efforts to investigate and prosecute gun violence,” said Allison Price, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, in a statement. “The fact that we may...

In recent months Washington has been rocked by scandals such the IRS's manipulation of tax exempt status for political groups opposing the Democratic Party. This is just the most recent example of how federal public sector unions have been clandestinely involved in public policy. Looking back, it can be seen that the involvement of Federal public unions in the American political system began in January, 1962 when President Kennedy established collective bargaining powers for Federal workers, by Executive Order 10988. * * * How public sector unions obtained this power is a little-discussed phenomenon, since the media are largely supportive...

On the surface, it might seem to make sense for the President to want to “do something” about climate events such as hurricanes, but there have always been hurricanes and blaming them and everything from droughts to wildfires on “climate change” is not just absurd, it is a deliberate lie that blames a rise in the amount of carbon dioxide, a so-called but incorrectly named “greenhouse gas”, as the cause of these natural events. The President has issued an Executive Order to ramp up efforts to address “climate change.” At the heart of the global warming hoax has been this...

With all the talk about the failures of Obamacare and dismal economic numbers, something happened last week that you may have missed. On Friday afternoon, which means it was overlooked by most members of the media, Barack Obama issued an executive order which could bring sweeping new power to himself and could allow him to bypass Congress all in the name of combatting "climate change." Under the title Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change, Obama's executive order seeks to pour more federal funds into controlling... the weather. That's right. Apparently Obama feels that controlling America's healthcare...

<p>President Obama issued an executive order Friday directing a government-wide effort to boost preparation in states and local communities for the impact of global warming.</p> <p>The action orders federal agencies to work with states to build “resilience” against major storms and other weather extremes. For example, the president’s order directs that infrastructure projects like bridges and flood control take into consideration climate conditions of the future, which might require building structures larger or stronger — and likely at a higher price tag.</p>

President Obama on Friday demanded “new strategies” to boost the nation’s resilience to powerful storms, drought, heat waves and other dangerous weather linked to climate change. Obama issued a wide-ranging executive order designed to support “climate resilient” infrastructure investment in states and communities. It also calls on federal agencies to change their policies and rules “to make the Nation's watersheds, natural resources, and ecosystems, and the communities and economies that depend on them, more resilient in the face of a changing climate.” The executive order, echoing Obama’s second-term climate agenda released in June, recognizes that climate change is inevitable even...

Appearing in the White House Rose Garden last Saturday, President Obama apparently experienced a revelation. He acknowledged there are constitutional limits on his power, something he has heretofore mostly ignored while issuing executive orders, bypassing Congress on appointments and deciding which parts of the Affordable Care Act to follow and which to delay or ignore. The president will wait for Congress to reconvene on Sept. 9 and debate whether to grant him authority to attack Syria. It is uncertain whether he will get approval for what he says will be a limited -- and likely inconsequential -- strike. His indecisiveness...

Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act, was written with explicit language that it was to include everyone. No exceptions. Even members of Congress and their staff were mandated to follow the same rules as every other American citizen. This was apparently done to appease the Republicans and get their support for the bill. Then just before the 2012 elections several unions who had endorsed and campaigned for Barack Hussein Obama began to receive exemptions from the mandatory requirements. Then it was disclosed that members of Congress were concerned that their highly paid staff members would be persuaded to...

Congress hasn’t passed immigration legislation, but that hasn’t stopped President Obama from issuing directives that grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. Last week, the Obama Administration issued the latest in a line of policy directives granting amnesty by default. This latest directive instructs Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials not to enforce immigration laws in cases where an illegal alien is the primary provider for any minor child—regardless of the child’s immigration status—or the parent or guardian of a child who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. In a statement about the new directive, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob...

In short, the 2 new executive orders bypass Congress and are essentially meaningless. Listen:

It sure sounds scary. "Military weapons" being reimported back into the United States. Or people getting guns without background checks. But the reception being given President Obama's two new executive orders on guns largely relies on ignorance of how the current rules work. The president's executive order banning the reimportation of "military weapons" really only affects old M-1 Garand 30-06 rifles. These rifles have been used in the Civilian Marksmanship Program program and are mainly purchased by collectors. At one time they were "military weapons," but they were used in World War II and the Korean War. No other US-made...

President Obama ordered two more executive actions Thursday to restrict guns, banning the re-importation of military surplus firearms to private entities and proposing a regulation that would close a loophole in background checks. On the day B. Todd Jones is being sworn in as the new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the White House said the ATF is proposing to conduct background checks on firearms registered to a trust or corporation. The administration said felons and others prohibited from having firearms currently are able to avoid background checks by choosing this route. [snip] The orders...

The Obama administration wants to unilaterally raise taxes on phone bills nationwide, bypassing Congress. As White House Spokesman Josh Earnest put it:“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a lot of action in Congress, so the President has advocated an administrative, unilateral action to get this done. We’re not going to wait for Congress to act.”The increased tax would go to a government-run program called E-Rate, which was ostensibly designed to connect low-income schools to high-speed Internet. … Schools applying for E-Rate subsidies run into a number of barriers that lead to delays in distributing funds and connecting schools. … Because of the...

Obama is slipping it past the People and the Congress again with Executive orders that the MSM refuses to report.

Skip to 3:45 for the key bit, in which a guy who’s willing to go nuclear in a quixotic bid to defund ObamaCare warns his party not to be too obstinate in resisting immigration reform — or else. Mark Krikorian summarizes his logic this way: Mark Krikorian @MarkSKrikorian Give your toddler all the candy he wants, because otherwise he´ll just take it anyway: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/marco-rubio-immigration-executive-order-95487.html … (Snip)In fairness to him, Rubio’s not making this up. Amnesty shills on the left have warned, with increasing volume lately, that King Barack might decide to grant de facto amnesty to illegals via executive order