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New York state lawmakers on Tuesday passed legislation tightening a “double-jeopardy loophole” that could undermine potential pardons by President Donald Trump. The state Assembly passed a measure that would permit authorities to bring state charges against individuals who have received presidential pardons for similar federal crimes. “Our democracy survives because we have checks and balances,” Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D) said during Tuesday’s vote, according to Courthouse News’ Adam Klasfeld. The bill heads now to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk for a signature.

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats proposed a 5% surtax on people earning more than $1 million a year to pay for the $447 billion cost of President Barack Obama's job-creation bill, in a move designed to shore up their party's support for the measure. The proposal would replace the range of tax deductions for wealthy people, oil companies and other businesses that the president had proposed to end to offset the cost of the job-creation initiatives in his plan. WSJ Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray and Evan Newmark discuss the politics of the proposed 5% surtax on millionaires put forth by Senate democrats....

The co-chairwoman of the Blue Dog Coalition says that using a controversial "deem and pass" mechanism to pass healthcare reform would be "poison."In a conference call with reporters today, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), who is a "firm no" on the bill itself, said the process Democrats are considering would spell disaster for the climate in Congress."While deeming, like reconciliation, has been used by Republicans and Democrats in the past, the context in which it would be used in this case leads me to conclude that it would poison an already terribly partisan atmosphere and leave the Congress even less...

In a curious development given the fact that the overwhelming majority of voters oppose the government takeover of healthcare, Democrats are now mocking voters who protest ObamaCare. Ben Smith at Politico is reporting that the Democratic National Committee mocked the Tea Party protesters in Washington as they gathered to confront Congressmen and Senators personally, in their offices, on the 2-trillion-dollar dismantling of the U.S. Healthcare System. At issue is the number of attendees.

Self-execution rule is right! The latest Fox News Poll was just released and it reflects the degree of anger and disenfranchisement Americans feel about their federal government, spurred on by the Obamcare poll that very few want. And the closer we get to the final vote that anger accelerates. Below are some key findings:

The two pending health bills are about health care and expanding health insurance coverage. They’re not about fiscal stimulus, nor about building highways, hiring teachers, or cutting State taxes. Right? Then why does the second health care bill provide sixteen States and DC with billions of dollars in unrestricted funding, spending which would produce no change in health insurance enrollment? According to the description of the new second health bill just released by Congressional Democratic Leaders, sixteen States and DC will receive billions of new dollars that they will be able to use for any purpose. This funding is, in...

I'll be honest. I had started to wonder whether this Slaughter Rule business was a bait-and-switch. I couldn't imagine that, with the pounding Democratic leadership have taken over the deem-and-pass strategy, there was any profit left in pushing it. After all, the point was to provide Democrats with political cover, via procedural obscurity, for a vote in favor of the Senate bill. But the procedure is no longer obscure and the cover is now a fig leaf. That's why I find it genuinely amazing that the House just defeated a Republican measure to block the Slaughter Rule by a vote...

SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: I want to send a couple of messages to my colleagues in the House. If you voted no and you vote yes, and you lose your election, and you think any nomination to a federal position isn't going to be held in the Senate, I've got news for you. It's going to be held. Number two is, if you get a deal, a parochial deal for you or your district, I've already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other senators that we will look at every appropriations bill, at every level, at every...

Not so fast. Democrats poised to use the so-called "deem and pass" strategy to force through a health care bill will have to deal with Mark Levin first. Levin, known to his fans as one of the most popular talk show hosts in the country, is also both a legal scholar and longtime president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, public interest law firm A former chief of staff to Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III, Levin is the author of two New York Times bestselling books on the Constitution and the judiciary, the last, Liberty and Tyranny, at...

Enough is enough! If these CRAZIES in the majority can DEEM a BILL passed, we should just DEEM our taxes paid.

Howard Stern finally realizes that RATS are red -- and says he'll never, never, never vote for one again. Really.

Obama et al. refuse to give up the fight to pass health care “reform” even though they have lost the battle in the public square in what has become a year- long war between Tea Party Patriots and Washington D.C. Delaying a planned trip overseas this weekend, the President will wait for Congress to “vote” on Obamacare and has demanded an end to debate on the issue. “The time for talking is over, let the bill have a vote” the President begs. But this isn’t about an up or down vote anymore, so determined to pass the bill, it doesn’t...

Under budget rules, any reconciliation bill must reduce the deficit by at least $1 billion. According to the CBO, the reconciliation bill reduces deficits by $19.8 billion over 10 years. However, as the final page of the CBO report notes, higher education spending changes — student loan subsidies — account for $19.4 billion. Which means that the reconciliation changes related to health care only reduce the deficit by $0.4 billion.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, to take a fresh look at the language on abortion in the Senate health care bill to see whether he could, in good conscience, support landmark health care legislation now days from a final vote. Cao, the only Republican to vote for the health care bill in either the House or Senate, said he would take another look. "He's asked if I would restudy the Senate language and that I would approach it with an open mind. And I promised that I would go back and study the...

Not too many times will you see Pence get heated on the House floor. Pence: "The Democrats are prepared to ram through a one trillion dollar government takeover of health care...Ignoring the will of the American people, twisting the rules of the House and the Senate into a pretzel, we're headed for a showdown this weekend, but I got to tell you, I like our chances. The reason House Democrats don't have the votes is because the American people know this is a government takeover of health care, mandating that every American purchase health care whether they want it or...

Even one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor whips, U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, says a proposed parliamentary move to pass health-care reform would be “disingenuous” and harm the credibility of Congress. In a sign of how tough it’s been for Pelosi to round up votes for the massive bill, Lynch - a South Boston Democrat who supported a House reform package last year - said he’ll probably vote against a key Senate version of the legislation, unless unexpected major changes are made soon. Lynch, who serves as one of Pelosi’s key vote counters, said he also can’t support a proposed...

Forget “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” All Mrs. Martin had to do was stay in her seat, and she landed another blow against Obamacare. Mrs. Martin, aka Ingrid, is an unemployed health care professional from Ohio. A friend took her along to see President Barack Obama’s “Health Care Hallelujah” speech in Strongsville Monday, where she wound up in the front row, listening in disbelief. “I crossed my hand and bit my lips a couple of time, and when he made his Medicare claim I said ‘no, no, no,’ As he shook hands after the speech, he asked her, “Are you...

Remember when Democrats mocked Jim DeMint for calling ObamaCare the President’s “Waterloo”? Apparently, that’s stopped being a bug and is now a feature, at least according to Barack Obama. In a pitch aimed at convincing skeptical members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to back the Senate version of the bill, Obama told them that the “fate of his presidency” depended on winning this vote: President Barack Obama had exhausted most of his health care reform arguments with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a White House meeting last Thursday when he made a more personal pitch that resonated with...

Talking Points Memo for Democrats, living up to its name, is providing the White House’s talking points on health care. Obamacare is to be voted on amid a final orgy of distortions and misinformation. Talking point: The plan gives Americans, rather than government or health insurers, more control over their health insurance. Reality: While you may want to go without insurance - especially once the government is done remaking it - the government will make you fork over cash to the insurance companies. If you want to buy a cheap catastrophic policy, the government will tell insurance companies not to...

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