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WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan today wrapped up a round of hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the new U.S. approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The themes Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal touched on in appearances before members of both chambers of Congress this week were consistent: he embraced the plan that sends 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and sets a flexible date for beginning a withdrawal, and expressed measured optimism in its potential to reverse insurgents’ momentum. “The president's decision rapidly resources our strategy, recognizing that the next 18 months will...

House Approves Bill That Funds Abortions in Nation's Capital Washington, DC -- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved an omnibus spending bill that would overturn a decades-long policy preventing taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation's capital. One pro-life group suggests overturning the policy could increase abortions by as much as 1,000 a year. The Senate will vote on this bill as soon as this weekend! Full story and action alert at: http://www.lifenews.com/nat5762.html

Jamie Dupree The Omnibus Arrives It's a classic time in Congress, as lawmakers will try in the next few days to jam six budget bills through the House and Senate, so they can quickly issue press releases to take credit for some of the local projects stuffed in there. We already had one Omnibus earlier this year, which wrapped up the leftover budget work from 2008. Now we have a second one, as Democrats have rolled six budget bills into one, totaling $448 billion in government budgets. And yes, there will be a lot of Republican votes for this, because...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Eleven months before crucial midterm elections, a new national poll indicates that the public is divided over whether the country would be better off with Democrats or Republicans controlling Congress. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday, 40 percent of people questioned say the U.S. would be better off if Democrats ran Congress; 39 percent feel things would be better if Republicans took charge on Capitol Hill. The one point margin for Democrats is a statistical tie, and it's a big drop from a 10 point advantage in August and a 25 point margin in...

Two Dem retirements in competitive districts have given GOPers new hopes that a wave of open seats can hand them new opportunities. Now, GOP strategists are putting extra pressure on more than a dozen Dem lawmakers, hoping to convince them to retire rather than face difficult re-elections. An informal list of 17 members the NRCC believes can be convinced to step down, privately called the "Dem Retirement Assault List," makes clear the party needs Dem incumbents to step aside if they have hopes of taking back the majority. The NRCC has taken pains to attack those lawmakers in recent weeks.

House to Vote Thursday on Tax-Funding of Abortions in Nation's Capital Washington, DC -- A House-Senate Conference committee met Tuesday night to prepare an omnibus bill combining several spending measures that must be approved soon to fund the federal government. The omnibus bill includes a provision that would overturn a longstanding law that stops abortion funding in the nation's capital. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5753.html

According to a university colleague, former president of Harvard and current White House economist Larry Summers once asked for help to "f--- up" one of the school's conservative professors.

Contentious exchanges between White House press secretaries and members of the media have been fairly commonplace during the past few presidential administrations. However, the one that took place Wednesday between White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and April Ryan of American Urban Radio, in which Gibbs essentially compared Ryan to a petulant child, is among the most heated (and entertaining) in recent memory. The testy exchange was sparked by Ryan's insistent questioning of White House social secretary Desiree Rogers' role at the recent state dinner, which has been in the headlines because of the fallout from Tareq and Michaele Salahi's...

The White House indicated it will fight any congressional attempts to subpoena an administration official to testify about the security breach at last week’s state dinner. Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, threatened to subpoena White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to discuss how Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the event.

The House votes 224-199 to cancel a one-year repeal of the estate tax, set to begin next month, and instead permanently extends the current tax, with a top rate of 45 percent on estates larger than $3.5 million.

The White House says it will not send social secretary Desiree Rogers up to the Hill to testify about how a couple of alleged gate-crashers sashayed into the India state dinner last week uninvited. And that “is clearly stonewalling,” Rep. Pete King (R-Long Island) told The Mouth. King, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, wanted Rogers to come explain, either in private or public, why no one from her office was at the White House entrance where Michaele and Tareq Sahali made their now-infamous entrance. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson agreed with King, and invited Rogers to attend....

Some highlights: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spent $2,993 in taxpayer money on flowers between June and October. House Majority Whip James Clyburn has a thing for Chantilly Donuts, spending about $265 at the Virginia shop in the past quarter. And Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a fiscal conservative, decided to give about $2,000 in unused office funds back to the government to help reduce the deficit. Entire source doc embedded.

The Obama administration today announced a new campaign to get mortgage companies to lower mortgage payments for struggling homeowners – and part of the strategy is some old-fashioned "name and shame." Share To date over 650,000 homeowners have entered into trial modifications under the Treasury Department's housing relief plan – a ratio of about one in five eligible borrowers. But the administration – frustrated with the performance of mortgage companies thus far – will now try to ratchet up the pressure on servicers, especially with 375,000 of these trial modifications set to convert to permanent ones by year's end.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested 57 people discovered packed into a Pirtleville house they believe was used by smugglers to hide undocumented immigrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that the stash house was discovered Friday. The federal agency says 56 people are Mexicans and one person is from El Salvador. The group consists of 19 females and 38 males. The group was taken to the Douglas Border Patrol Station for further processing. The agency says stash houses are used by smugglers to hold undocumented immigrants while they wait for a chance to transport them farther into the...

Just hours after Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa released a report Friday on their investigation into the abrupt firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin, the Obama White House gave the lawmakers a trove of new, previously-withheld documents on the affair. It was a twist on the now-familiar White House late-Friday release of bad news; this time, the new evidence was put out not only at the start of a weekend but also hours too late for inclusion in the report.

A top federal health official said Wednesday that the controversial new guidelines for breast cancer screening do not represent government policy, as the Obama administration sought to keep the debate over mammograms from undermining the prospects for health-care reform. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a written statement, said the new guidelines had "caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women and their families across this country," and she stressed that they were issued by "an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who . . . do not set federal policy and . . ....

Congressional panels in both chambers will look into the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, which left 13 dead and at least 30 wounded. Military prosecutors on Thursday charged Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, with 13 initial counts of premeditated murder. Hasan opened fire on a soldier processing center on the Texas base on Nov. 6.

Health Care Reform: Failure to buy health insurance in the just-passed health care bill could get you five years in jail with a $250,000 fine. How can violating a law that's unconstitutional be a felony? The passage last Saturday night of the House health care measure by a fragile 220-215 margin may well prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. In polls, townhall meetings and tea parties, Americans have shown they don't want a "reform" that costs a staggering $1.2 trillion yet fails to meet the left's desire of insuring all the uninsured. And they certainly don't want a bill that...

The House-approved healthcare overhaul would raise the costs of healthcare by $289 billion over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan, independent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The long-awaited report sent to lawmakers late Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services should serve as a "stark warning to every Republican, Democrat and Independent worried about the future of this nation," Ways and Means ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said in a statement on Saturday. Though House Republicans pressed to have this analysis completed before the lower chamber voted on the Democrats' sweeping...

Democrat's Winning Margin in Upstate New York House Race in DoubtUpdated November 12, 2009 by AP Though Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman conceded and Democrat Bill Owens was sworn into Congress last week, the routine recanvassing of votes shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes, with about 5,800 absentee ballots received so far that have yet to be counted. The special election last week for the 23rd Congressional District seat in New York may not be over after all. Though Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman conceded and Democrat Bill Owens was sworn into Congress last week, the routine recanvassing of votes...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House. Those mistakes — which ranged from initially having too few people on board to handle the workload to misreading Congress — have put the timetable months behind schedule and will push the prison's closure well beyond the January deadline, which Obama announced with great fanfare two days after...

Obamacare, the bill that jut got voted for in the House last Saturday, is a brand new can of worms. It has occurred to me after thinking some more about Saturday evening’s vote in the House to approve the Pelosi version of Obamacare, that there is far more to what happened than appears. The polls clearly show that the American public is not overwhelming in favor of Obamacare. Most Americans are relatively happy with their insurance, and, even those who are not, believe that Obamacare will not lower costs, will, in fact, increase costs, and will, more than likely, decrease...

WASHINGTON - Prodded by labor unions, the Obama administration is taking its first step toward trying to fix the ailing airline industry, which could lead to a partial return to economic regulation. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is holding a forum with aviation stakeholders on Thursday to discuss the state of the industry and ways government can help provide economic stability for air carriers. The industry has been rocked by repeated crises in recent years, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States; the global SARS virus in 2003; skyrocketing oil prices in recent years; and the current economic...

Cannot post article.

Republicans Jump to Six-Point Lead on Generic Ballot Republican candidates have stretched their lead over Democrats to six points in the Generic Congressional Ballot. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 43% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 37% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent. Republicans have held the lead for over four months now. Voters not affiliated with either party continue to heavily favor Republicans, 43% to 20%.

Cost The CBO now estimates health bill spending at $3 trillion over 10 years. Since the CBO historically underestimates expenses, assume massive new deficits for a country that can ill afford them. Personal Requirements You'll be required to buy a 'qualified' health plan. A family earning $102K a year will pay $1,700 a month in premium and out-of-pocket expenses. 'Willful' failure to buy a plan will result in a fine of up to $250,000 and 'imprisonment of up to five years'. Illegal immigrants are exempt from fines and imprisonment.

The House Ethics Committee Has Spent Too Much Time Sniping At Its Own Investigative Arm A simmering conflict between the House ethics committee and its fledgling investigative arm has escalated into open combat, prompting watchdogs to warn that lawmakers may be gearing up to kill the new Office of Congressional Ethics.Following the accidental leak on Oct. 29 of a 22-page ethics panel activity report, most news stories have trumpeted the more than 30 House members identified as apparently under investigation. These include at least seven lawmakers caught up in the panel's ongoing probe of defense earmarks and the now-defunct lobbying...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said today it was time for the Senate to "take the baton" on health care reform after the House passed its plan for overhauling the nation's health care system. "For years we've been told that this couldn't be done," Obama said in a brief statement from the Rose Garden. "But last night the House proved different." The Democratic-controlled House on Saturday narrowly passed the far-reaching legislation, 220-215, but the road ahead in the Senate promises to be rocky. The president said the House vote took courage for many lawmakers because of the heated and often...

Nancy Pelosi's Democrats operated under a moral and ideological compul sion to pass ObamaCare -- consequences be damned. The late conservative columnist Robert Novak liked to say that God had put Republicans on the Earth to cut taxes. Democrats believe they were put on Earth to nationalize health care. It doesn't matter if the legislation to do so is unpopular; if it is fiscally unsustainable and will increase insurance premiums; if it can only pass on a party-line vote, in contrast to other major pieces of social legislation like Social Security and Medicare.

WASHINGTON - The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate. .................. The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

Democrats are certainly jubilant over the passage of PelosiCare last night by a vote of 220-215, a margin of just 5 votes. But one wonders how comfortable supporters of the bill are with such a razor-thin victory. After all, Cap and Tax passed the House by 7 votes and that is, in all likelihood, dead in the Senate.

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a massive overhaul of the American health care system Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215. One Republican, Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana, crossed the aisle, while 39 Democrats joined the Republicans in opposing the measure. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called passage of the bill "an historic moment for our nation and for America's families," while Republicans warned that the bill will raise taxes, increase insurance premiums and make cuts to Medicare. An enormous round of applause broke out throughout the House chamber when the crucial 218th vote was cast to...

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has regularly accused the Republicans in the House of displaying “a culture of corruption.” Yet the critical vote to get the House version of the health bill out of the House, demonstrates that Speaker Pelosi not only likes corruption, she counts on it. Remember her middle name because it figures in the proof. On 7 November at 11:15 pm House bill 3962 passed by a vote of 220-215. Votes in favor of that bill included the following: Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Jane Harman (D-Cal), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Alan Mollohan (D-WVa). Jim Moran...

After months of Tea Parties, town hall meetings, marches on Washington, and millions of calls, letters, and faxes, the Pelosi House of Representatives still passed the most comprehensive control of American lives to date. On the C-SPAN broadcast of the live vote, several citizens who supported the bill called in to tell their stories. Some had pre-existing conditions. Some were elderly and on Medicare. Some just wanted things to be “fair.” All of them, whether they believe it or not, were simply making the statement that they were willing to trade their freedom for financial security. I, on the other...

At this moment, Democratic sources say their internal head counts have them breaking through the 218 mark this afternoon. Whether that will mean that more Democrats will come on board, or that Pelosi is going to cut other members lose, is still unclear. But Dems are confident they have won. By John Bresnahan

During a debate on the house floor numerous Republicans continously object while the democrats are speaking. It appears they are doing this in protests of the dems holding up procedure. Because of the back and forth and interupting I'm not going to attempt a transcript. Here's the video link.

Here is video of GOP Members of the House objecting as Democrats begin trying to ram the Health Care Bill through today. Democrats set only four hours for debate. . . . (VIDEO)

Audio runs about 20 minutes. The main points were that dems are peeling away from "yes" votes on a daily basis, although the consensus was that it would pass - but this varied a lot in the conversation. Dems are feeling heat both directly from constituents and indirectly from Tuesday's election returns. Speaker Pelosi is pushing this vote at this time, they suggested, because the closer the 2010 mid-terms come, the harder it will be to keep votes. Rep. Capito suggested that there is a lot of pressure from the White House - President Obama will have no momentum whatsoever...

Paul Singer of Roll Call is reporting: The House ethics committee is likely to exonerate five members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who were accused of taking an improper trip to the Caribbean, according to sources familiar with the case. If this is true, we are not surprised. When we provided photographs and audio recordings from the trip at the request of the Committee in May, we made clear that our willingness to do so was not an endorsement of the Ethics Committee process, which has again proven to be a joke.Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), a member of...

Majority leader: House will pass health bill By ERICA WERNER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON – The second-ranking House Democrat predicted that historic health care legislation will be passed Saturday as the AARP, the nation's premier lobbying group for the elderly, announced it was signing on to the bill. Rep. Steny Hoyer said House leaders expect to have the 218 votes needed to pass the sweeping bill, which would extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured people and ban insurance companies from turning people away. President Barack Obama has the health care overhaul the defining social goal...

Need some help. Was there a Health Care bill voted on in the House a few months back? Or are all health care bills still in the planning stages with no votes on any of them? What was the bill a few months back that about 20 Repubicans voted for? Was that the stimulus bill?

President Barack Obama plans a trip to Capitol Hill this week to meet with lawmakers as his push for healthcare legislation moves forward. Congressional officials say Obama plans to visit the Capitol on Friday. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the meetings have not been announced. The White House declined to confirm details of the president's schedule for Friday. Obama's fellow Democrats are pushing a healthcare overhaul that remains the president's top domestic priority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hopes to have legislation on the House floor for a vote on Saturday.

House Will Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill on Saturday Washington, DC -- The House of Representatives will finally cast its first votes on the pro-abortion health care reform bill this weekend. After a fluid process that saw dates repeatedly pushed back, the first chance pro-life advocates will have to stop the abortion funding bill will come Saturday night. ACTION NEEDED! This is it, the House will finally vote on the pro-abortion health care bill. Please pass this on and then call or email NOW and urge NO votes on the rule and the bill. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5615.html

Congressional Phone/Office Directory HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 111th CONGRESS Phone# & Room# (alpha by State & Name) 40094 Representative State District Phone Room Young, Don AK At Large 202-225-5765 2111 * Aderholt, Robert B. AL 4th 202-225-4876 1433 Bachus, Spencer AL 6th 202-225-4921 2246 Bonner, Jo AL 1st 202-225-4931 2236 Bright, Bobby AL 2nd 202-225-2901 1205 Davis, Artur AL 7th 202-225-2665 208 Griffith, Parker AL 5th 202-225-4801 417 Rogers, Mike AL 3rd 202-225-3261 324 * Berry, Marion AR 1st 202-225-4076 2305 Boozman, John AR 3rd 202-225-4301 1519 Ross, Mike AR 4th 202-225-3772 2436 Snyder, Vic AR 2nd 202-225-2506 2210 *...

Expect GOP to Pickup 1 to 4 seats in Virginia House of Delegates.

While press and pundits focus almost ad nauseum on what will happen Tuesday in New York's 23rd Congressional District, as well as the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, everyone has forgotten the battle being waged for the California congressional seat vacated by Ellen Tauscher when she resigned to become a member of President Obama's State Department. To be sure, the 10th Congressional District of the Golden State is a Democratic stronghold, especially after some recent gerrymandering. The latest poll shows Democratic candidate and current Lt. Gov. John Garamendi with a commanding 10-point lead over Republican challenger David Harmer,...

Republican House members will be joined by actor Jon Voight and nationally-syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin to host a “House Call on Congress” this Thursday. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has led the charge announcing the event last week. Bachmann spoke with HUMAN EVENTS yesterday about the effort to lobby members of Congress in person on their health care vote. “We’re billing this as an emergency house call on Congress. We want to bring all of the town halls of August here to Washington, D.C. because in two months, they’ve forgotten the message that the American people sent loud...

House Health Care Bill Would Fund Abortions "For Years to Come" Washington, DC -- The pro-life movement is unified in its opposition to the House health care reform bill Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled last week because of its abortion funding. In a new letter to members of Congress, the National Right to Life more exactly spells out what is at stake in the votes expected later this week. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5606.html

House Health Care Bill Has Death Panels, Assisted Suicide Promotion Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The new House health care reform bill unveiled last week by Speaker Nancy Pelosi contains more than the controversial "death panels" panned in the previous legislation. The new bill, H.R. 3962, contains direct taxpayer-funded promotion of assisted suicide in the states where it is currently legal. http://www.lifenews.com/bio2988.html

As part of President Obama's commitment to government transparency, we are providing records of White House visitors on an ongoing basis online. In December 2009, we will begin posting all White House visitor records for the period from September 15th onwards under the terms of our new voluntary disclosure policy. In addition, as part of our new policy, we will post records dating from January 20th that are specifically requested on an ongoing basis. For more information, read the White House blog post announcing the new policy.