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Rosen: Fireproofing the flag July 8, 2005 Linda Grist Cunningham is the executive editor of the Rockford (Illinois) Register Star, a Gannett newspaper owned by the publishers of USA Today. She's angry with members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats, who voted in favor of House Resolution 10, which reads as follows: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit physical desecration of the flag of the United States." Cunningham pledged that, "If the U.S. Senate follows its silly siblings in the House of Representatives and votes for a ban on burning the American flag, I'm going to...

[I just called a few minutes ago and the bill hasn't gone to the floor yet] Immediate Action Needed Calls Needed Immediately to House Speaker Hastert FAIR has learned that last night, almost all of the immigration reform provisions were removed from H.R. 10/ S.2845. As you know, House Conferee Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has been a vocal advocate for including the House identification security provisions in the final bill and has held out against stubborn opposition from Senate conferees. We now know that House Speaker Hastert has given the ok to removing those provisions. A vote on the conference report,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Breaking a monthslong deadlock, key congressional negotiators reported agreement Saturday on legislation to overhaul U.S. intelligence agencies along lines recommended by the September 11 commission. The agreement, reached in the waning hours of a postelection session of Congress, would create a powerful position to oversee the CIA and several other nonmilitary spy agencies. A new national counterterrorism center would coordinate the fight against foreign terrorists. The agreement is subject to approval by both the House and Senate before legislation can go to the White House. -snip In private meetings, negotiators also clashed over whether to include an...

You say you remember growing up and being able to play at the park without your parents. You rode your bike all day long all over town and didn't need their protection. It's not like that anymore. You say you remember America. You say you want to make a difference. It's time to prove it. Treat this email as a chain letter and forward it to at least 10 people you know. If you break the chain, you risk losing control over most of SouthWest America as we know it. A critical vote has passed in the House, the 9/11...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans, who had been criticized for weeks as obstacles to a bill consolidating authority over the nation's intelligence services, offered a compromise Wednesday that they said could get the bill finished before the Nov. 2 elections. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House-Senate negotiating committee to reconcile differences in the House-passed and Senate-passed intelligence reform bills, announced the proposal at the end of the committee's first formal meeting. Details of the proposal were expected to be released sometime today. House Democrats immediately cried foul, saying they were excluded from crafting the compromise. Many...

The 9-11 Commission made several recommendations with regard to immigration that, in the Commission's opinion, would increase security and help prevent a future attack. Many of the Commission's immigration recommendations were included in H.R. 10 such as provisions to: prohibit driver's licenses to illegal aliens; expedite removal of illegal aliens; increase Border Patrol and ICE agents; and prevent Federal agencies from accepting or recognizing consular ID as valid proof of identity. Every one of the immigration provisions recommended by the 9-11 Commission would help reduce illegal immigration and improve homeland security. Together, they would make major strides toward reducing the...

WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders on Friday easily pushed through sweeping new law enforcement powers as part of a Sept. 11 anti-terrorism package, but the House now must negotiate a truce with the Senate on those measures to get President Bush (news - web sites)'s signature before the elections. The House voted 282-134 to approve the GOP leaders' bill to create a new national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center as recommended by the 9/11 commission. But they also included new government anti-terrorism, deportation, border security and identity theft powers to the bill that the Senate had rejected. The...

House Republican leaders say the immigration reforms in their intelligence overhaul bill will remain, despite prodding by Senate Republicans and the White House to delete the provisions. The bill calls for a crackdown on driver's licenses for illegal aliens, easier deportations and limits on the use of foreign consular identification cards. The White House initially signed off on these provisions, which House leaders and some September 11 family members endorsed.

Code Red Alert - Act Now to Defeat Efforts to Gut Immigration Provisions in H.R.10 This just in... the Rules Committee has approved three amendments to be debated during consideration of H.R. 10 that would gut the immigration provisions in the 9/11 Recommendation Implementation Act. These amendments will be considered as early as late this afternoon. ACT NOW to build opposition to Menendez Amendment #27 and Smith Amendments # 50 and #51... Go here for more information and to send a free FAX. Or, call using the phone number at that link.

WASHINGTON (AP) - House GOP leaders braced Thursday for a late-session showdown with the Senate over conflicting versions of legislation written in response to the terror-fighting recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. Republicans leaders say the House version, which includes creation of a national intelligence director as well as anti-terrorism, illegal immigration, border-security and identity-theft powers, is the best bill and should be the one that prevails. "It's real simple. The House bill - every single word of it - will make the American people safer," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, proclaimed as Congress neared the time for lawmakers...

From the WashTimes: House Republican leaders say the immigration reforms in their intelligence overhaul bill will remain, despite prodding by Senate Republicans and the White House to delete the provisions. The bill calls for a crackdown on driver's licenses for illegal aliens, easier deportations and limits on the use of foreign consular identification cards. The White House initially signed off on these provisions, which House leaders and some September 11 family members endorsed. "This bill will make the American people safer," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican. "In order for anything to be added or taken out of...

Within the past few days, the potential for a seismic breakthrough against terrorism has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee, sponsored by Dennis Hastert, House Speaker, who has just introduced a bill, HR 10, which embodies most of the recommendations of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9-11 Commission) as contained in its recently released report. In short, in the climate in which we all want greater safety from terrorism, guess what? It has just been learned that the Bush Administration is pressuring the GOP Leadership, the main authors of H.R. 10, to strip the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - After Congress shuffled the federal bureaucracy in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by creating the Homeland Security Department, Democrats lost control of the Senate and four seats in the House. With a new government reorganization on the table - this time a restructuring of the nation's intelligence network - Democrats fear Republicans will succeed in using a critical national security debate to play to voter fears about terrorism. "There is anxiety - you will not be surprised to hear - among some of my Democratic colleagues in Congress, based on the 2002 experience with...