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On Monday, a federal judge struck down DC’s concealed carry law, calling the requirement for applicants to show “a good reason to fear injury to his or her person, which shall at a minimum require a showing of a special need for self protection distinguishable from the general community” as unconstitutional. Applicants had to document threats to their personal safety as well. Judge Frederick Scullin, who also struck down DC’s ban on carrying firearms outside of one’s home last summer, issued a preliminary injunction after two Florida residents sued over the DC’s onerous statute.

There’s a widely-unknown provision in the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) — legislative wording that is capturing attention in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Pushed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), a newly-noticed regulation that was placed deep within the bill back in 2010, among other things, bans doctors from documenting patients’ answers to questions that focus upon guns. The Washington Post first reported on Dec. 30 about the presence of this controversial wording. Under a section with the headline “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights,” the NRA-advocated wording is nestled deep within the...

House insider trading bill takes dig at PelosiBy David Lawder | Reuters – 1 hr 17 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the House of Representatives will take an election-year dig at top Democrat Nancy Pelosi in changes added to a fast-moving ethics bill, adding new curbs to prevent government officials from gaining special access to initial public stock offerings. A senior House Republican aide said on Tuesday the so-called "Pelosi Provision" would strengthen the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act passed by the Senate last week. **SNIP** The provision, one of a number of changes drafted by...

MEMORANDUM April 30, 2010 To: Hon. Tom Coburn Attention: Josh Trent From: Carol A. Pettit, Legislative Attorney, 7-9496 Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney, 7-9166 Subject: The PPACA Penalty Provision and the Internal Revenue Service This memorandum responds to your request for information regarding the penalty imposed on those who fail to maintain minimum essential health benefits coverage. The requirement for coverage and the penalty for noncompliance, beginning in tax year 2014, were established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, in new section 5000A of the Internal...

While Congress spent the last year debating how to provide health insurance for the uninsured, a little-known provision slipped into the heath care law that could cost some Americans upwards of $2,000 a year. The Class Act, otherwise known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, is the federal government's first long-term care insurance program. Here's how the program will work: -- The federal government will approach employers next year about alerting workers to the proposed deduction. -- The deduction will work on a sliding scale based on age. Younger workers will be charged less, older workers more....

Vatican City, Nov 9, 2009 / 12:33 pm (CNA).- Anglicans who wish to enter into communion with the Catholic Church received the path for doing so today as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) published the papal declaration “Anglicaoranum coetibus.” The document clears up questions about married priests and the power of the ordinariates' bishops among other issues.The president of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, welcomed the publication of the Apostolic Constitution and accompanying norms saying, “This now makes clear the provision made by the Holy See and enables those who...

Sen. Isakson: Health care bill's end-of-life provision not my ideaGeorgia senator says Obama wrongly credited him with being part of controversial legislation By Halimah Abdullah Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 WASHINGTON — When Sen. Johnny Isakson takes the floor at a meeting at Macon’s Vineville Methodist Church today, he’ll no doubt face tough questions about why President Barack Obama credits the Georgia Republican as the inspiration behind the Democratic health care bills’ end-of-life counseling efforts that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some fellow conservatives call “death panels.” Both the president and Palin have it all wrong, Isakson said, seeking to...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Sept. 2, 2005) -- Gear that is brand new to the Marine Corps and has a high-dollar value first comes to the Initial Issues Provision and is then distributed out to the units who request or need the gear. “All units use the IIP to obtain gear that is not readily available through the supply system,” said Cpl. Thomas D. McKenzie, IIP operations chief. “From the new brown T-shirts, enhanced [Small-Arms Protective Inserts], brand new up armored humvees and the [Explosive Ordnance Vehicles], we get it if it is brand new. Once we get it, we push...

WASHINGTON - Utilities would have to generate at least 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources under a measure the Senate approved Thursday. Separately, a package of environmentally friendly tax incentives was advanced by a committee as senators made clear their intention to fashion a sharply different energy bill from one passed by the House. Electric utilities would have to rely more heavily on wind turbines, solar energy, biomass from garbage or plants and other non-fossil fuels to generate electricity under the provision approved by a 52-48 vote. Opponents argued the mandate, which would begin in 2020, would force...

WASHINGTON (Nov. 24) -- A proposal to let more lawmakers see income tax returns is going to stay alive into December, thanks to Democratic complaints over how the one-sentence provision was stuffed into a gargantuan spending bill. With most of its members scattered for the Thanksgiving holiday, a handful of House members had been scheduled to use a voice vote on Wednesday to kill the tax-peeking idea. The Senate voted to kill it Saturday night. But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Tuesday that Democrats would not allow the provision to be withdrawn Wednesday unless Republicans agreed to stop...

Spending Bill Held Up by Tax ProvisionSurprise in Measure Spurs Criticism of Legislative Process A $388 billion government-wide spending bill, passed by Congress on Saturday, was stranded on Capitol Hill yesterday, its trip to the White House on hold as embarrassed Republicans prepared to repeal a provision that could give the Appropriations committees the right to examine the tax returns of Americans. Top GOP lawmakers disavowed the provision, expressed surprise that it was in the bill, and blamed both the Internal Revenue Service and congressional staffs for incorporating it into the omnibus spending package funding domestic departments in 2005. But...

Included in Omnibus Spending Bill Nearing Passage in Congress Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004 -- The House of Representatives today (Saturday Nov. 20) takes up an omnibus spending bill that contains an important provision strongly supported by National Right to Life, known as the "Hyde-Weldon anti-discrimination amendment" or "Hyde-Weldon conscience amendment." The House is expected to pass the bill Saturday afternoon. The Senate will then begin debate on the bill. A number of pro-abortion senators, including Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Me.), are objecting to inclusion of the Hyde-Weldon provision in the omnibus bill. The bill can...

WASHINGTON - Hoping to rescue energy legislation stalled in the Senate, Republicans were discussing elimination of a controversial provision to give legal protection to the makers of MTBE, a gasoline additive found to contaminate drinking water, officials said. These sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Senate and House officials, as well as the Bush administration, have discussed the suggestion, but no decisions have been made. Another GOP source emphasized that House Republican leaders so far have refused to give in on the MTBE liability protection. This source expressed doubt that a solution can be reached over the next three...