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The obituary of Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to claw back the sweeping powers of the National Security Agency has largely been written as a victory for the White House and NSA chief Keith Alexander, who lobbied the Hill aggressively in the days and hours ahead of Wednesday's shockingly close vote. But Hill sources say most of the credit for the amendment's defeat goes to someone else: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It's an odd turn, considering that Pelosi has been, on many occasions, a vocal surveillance critic. Ahead of the razor-thin 205-217 vote, which would have severely limited the NSA's...

The fact that a majority of Republicans voted against and a majority of Democrats voted in favor of the Amash amendment demonstrates that the Establishment draws support from both major parties. Vote on Amash Amendment Reveals Ruse of Two-Party System The New American 25 July 2013 For all those who still believe that Republican=Constitutionalist and Democrat=Liberty-hating liberal, something happened on Capitol Hill that might change your mind. As was reported by The New American, the House of Representatives narrowly defeated an amendment to the defense appropriations sponsored by Republican Congressman Justin Amash (shown) of Michigan and Democratic Congressman John...

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. House Wednesday narrowly defeated Rep. Justin Amash's attempt to severely restrict the National Security Agency's telephone data mining. The Michigan Republican's measure, opposed by the White House and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, was voted down 205-217, Roll Call reported.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to continue the collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records in the fight against terrorism. The chamber rejected a measure to end the program's authority. The vote was 217-205 on Wednesday. Republican Rep. Justin Amash had challenged the program as an indiscriminate collection of phone records. His measure, if approved by the full House and Senate and signed by the president, would have ended the program's statutory authority. The White House, national security experts in Congress and the Republican establishment had lobbied hard against Amash's effort. Libertarian-leaning conservatives and...

Members of the House of Representatives will vote this week on Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to defund the National Security Agency. Amash, R-Mich., announced the news on his Facebook page, writing, "I want to thank Speaker Boehner for working diligently toward resolving significant concerns over the amendment process with respect to NSA." Amash's amendment would defund the NSA if the agency collected data and records from individuals who were not under official investigation. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court would be required to provide a statement confirming that the data being collected by the NSA is from a person under investigation....

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash wants the Supreme Court to throw out the federal definition of marriage altogether, a revelation made the night before justices were set to weigh one of two gay marriage cases this week. Amash, R-Cascade Township, was pressed for his take on the federal Defense of Marriage Act during an American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan forum Monday in Grand Rapids. "My view has always been that government should not be in the business of defining or redefining marriage," Amash said. "I see it as a private issue. I personally see it as...

I’m embarrassed that I forgot he was from Detroit when I was gaming out his paths to elected office. He works in Maryland, but Maryland’s a very blue state for a conservative-leaning novice pol who’d presumably run as a Republican. Virginia’s a bit more purple, but the only seat that’s open anytime soon is Mark Warner’s and Warner doesn’t seem especially vulnerable. He could always proceed directly to running for president, but how often does someone start their political career as commander-in-chief? Even O spent some time in federal and state legislatures before taking the plunge. But wait. What about...

Republican Sen. John McCain’s tweet comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a monkey is drawing criticism from a fellow GOP lawmaker (Justin Amash) as racist. On Monday, McCain wrote, “So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space—wasn’t he just there last week?” …

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) may have finally gone too far betraying conservatives. This past week, he removed three conservative Republican Congressmen from their committee positions in retaliation for not voting for his compromises on the budget with Democrats – compromises that led us to the current “fiscal cliff.” Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) was removed from the Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) were removed from the Budget Committee. All three were elected with strong Tea Party support. An aide to GOP leadership said they were removed for “not being team...

Conservative groups are attacking Speaker of the House John Boehner for his decision to boot constitutionalist representatives off the Budget Committee. John Boehner Brings Down Conservatives' Wrath in Wake of Committee Firings The New American 05 December 2012 When he kicked Representatives Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) off the Budget Committee, Speaker of the House John Boehner (shown), a Republican from Ohio, also kicked up a firestorm of controversy, riling up the libertarian wing of the GOP. On Tuesday, for example, liberty-minded activists from FreedomWorks and Young Americans for Liberty visited Speaker Boehner‘s office “to register their...

The Republican House Steering Committee header by Speaker of the House John Boehner kicked two of the most conservative representatives off the House Budget Committee. Party Over Principle: Boehner Boots Conservatives off Budget Committee The New American 04 December 2012 In a speech to the House of Representatives in January 2011, then newly-elected Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed that he would “renew focus on the Constitution.” Then, on Tuesday, Boehner demonstrated his lack of fidelity to that promise by politically ostracizing two of the most staunch constitutionalists in the House. Representatives Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) and Justin...

The party numbers are pretty much the same, but the congressional Democrats are far more liberal, and the Republicans are much closer to traditional constitutionalism. What to Expect From the New Congress The New American 21 November 2012 The election results were not even finished being tallied by the time the left-wing, establishment media began telling constitutionalist Republicans that the path to electoral success was to sell out their principles before the next election, call themselves “moderates,” and adopt every aspect of the far-left Democratic political agenda. Though Mitt Romney had no discernible difference on principles from Barack Obama...

GRAND RAPIDS – Roy Schmidt’s filing deadline switch to the Republican party has been immediately embraced by GOP colleagues who credited the now-former Democrat from Grand Rapids with aligning for the people he represents and not a party platform. Schmidt, who served for 16 years on the nonpartisan Grand Rapids City Commission, said in a statement that his ideals and priorities remain the same. “I am a moderate dedicated as ever to representing the people of Grand Rapids, and will always fight for improving education, public safety and protecting children,” Schmidt said. He was not available for interviews on the...

Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential campaign duties kept him from participating in the House of Representatives vote on Wednesday, but the GOP hopeful says he is opposed to the recent bill to reaffirm “In God We Trust” as America’s motto. During a House vote on Wednesday, only nine lawmakers voted against reaffirming the slogan to be used in governmental buildings across the United States. Paul was unable to it to Capitol Hill to cast his own voice but says that he would have voted against it. "I would have voted 'no' not because I don't like the motto and don't think...

The House of Representatives passed a bi-partisan resolution Tuesday night reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States. The 396-9 vote came at the request of Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) – in part over President Obama’s refusal to correct remarks he made that misstated the motto as “E pluribus unum” instead of “In God We Trust.”Lawmakers voting against “In God We Trust” include Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich), Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA),...

Speaker John Boehner pushed his debt-ceiling bill through the House Friday night with the support of 218 Republicans. Here are the 22 no votes: Justin Amash (Mich.) Michele Bachmann (Minn.) Chip Cravaack (Minn.) Jason Chaffetz (Utah) Scott Desjarlais (Tenn.) Tom Graves (Ga.) Tim Huelskamp (Kans.) Steve King (Iowa) Tim Johnson (Ill.) Tom McClintock (Calif.) Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) Ron Paul (Texas) Connie Mack (Fla.) Jim Jordan (Ohio) Tim Scott (S.C.) Paul Broun (Ga.) Tom Latham (Iowa) Jeff Duncan (S.C.) Trey Gowdy (S.C.) Steve Southerland (Fla.) Joe Walsh (Ill.) Joe Wilson (S.C.) CORRECTED: Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) voted YES on the Boehner...

The following twenty-two House members stood firm and opposed the Boehner bill, which is nothing more than a vehicle which will be sent to the Senate, reworked by Harry Reid into something even worse than it already is, and then returned to the House. Boehner will dutifully bring it up and the Tea Partiers who voted for it will then vote against it, but it will not matter. Boehner and Reid will pass the Bill in the House with Democrat votes and Obama will sign it. The votes today cast by conservatives, many of whom are good people, are very...

Yesterday, the House passed the largely non-controversial Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations (MilCon) bill for FY 2012. Unfortunately, it is these non-controversial bills which provide a safe haven for meretricious policy initiatives through the rapid fire amendment process. While everyone was focused on presidential politics, the House passed an amendment forcing government contractors to use labor unions on federal construction projects. Oh, and like most bad legislation, this amendment passed by one vote, with the help of 27 Republicans. In 2009, Obama used his signature power grab tool; an Executive Order, forcing all private companies to sign a project labor agreement...