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Two members of the House Republicans’ elite vote-counting operation have quit. Reps. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Jeff Duncan of South Carolina both gave notice that they no longer wanted to be part of the leadership operation, according to more than a half-dozen GOP sources. Their departures come as Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 3 House Republican, told members of the whip team that they would be kicked off if they voted against procedural motions. The move was designed to solidify control of the Republican conference. DeSantis and Duncan told Scalise that they were leaving the team...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US lawmakers on Friday "strongly condemned" what they called Beijing's harsh pre-Olympic crackdown in China's Muslim-populated far northwest Xinjiang region. The bipartisan leadership of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in a statement cited "credible" reports about a July 9 conviction in a closed trial of 15 minority Muslim Uighurs on terrorism charges that led to "the immediate execution of two" of them. Three others were given suspended death sentences and the remaining 10 received life imprisonment, it said. These are "abuses of due process and rule of law," said caucus co-chairmen Democrat Jim McGovern and Republican Frank...

South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan is dropping his co-sponsorship of an immigration bill House Republicans have been quietly working to include in the upcoming Department of Defense authorization bill, saying the language should never have been considered to be added to the unrelated measure. Late Wednesday, Duncan said he hadn't been aware of efforts by the bill's author, California Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), to add the language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – and that if it were added, “NDAA would lose my vote as well.” At issue is a proposal to allow so-called DREAMers to obtain...

Top Republicans are hoping for a happy beginning to the next, 114th Congress, with the GOP taking control of the Senate and forcing President Obama on his heels for the last two years of his term. But in the House, the clouds are already gathering over the first day of the next session, when the chamber votes to elect a Speaker. “My sense at the present time that the Speaker doesn't have the support of the conference,” says South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan about John Boehner. Another member of the House privately estimates that 40 Republican lawmakers would vote...

CNSNews.com) -- Secretary of State John Kerry got into a heated exchange with Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) while appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday urging members to approve President Obama’s request to use military force in Syria. After Kerry made the administration’s case for military action in response to the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, Duncan responded: “I can’t discuss the possibility of U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war without also talking about Benghazi. The administration has a serious credibility issue with the American people due to the unanswered questions surrounding the terrorist...

Appearing on TruNews talk radio this week, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) agreed with host Rick Wiles that Congress ought to revisit questions about the validity of President Obama’s birth certificate in light of the recent scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice. After Wiles and Rep. Duncan discussed their desire to pursue and deport illegal immigrants, rather than extend the possibility of citizenship to them, the host asked if the House has any intention to also “pursue Barack Obama’s phony identification papers.” At first, Duncan shied away from directly addressing the so-called “birther” concerns, simply...

A Republican congressman is reviving the birther conspiracy and calling on Congress to revisit key issues that he says test “the president’s validity.” When pressed by conservative radio host Rick Wiles last week, South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan played along with a conspiracy dubbed by Wiles as “the original scandal”: President Obama’s “phony identification papers.” Duncan, who chairs the House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee, went on to suggest that investigations into President Obama’s place of birth was an issue deserving of the Supreme Court’s attention. WILES: But if we know they’re lying about all these other things, why not go...

Rep. Jeff Duncan, who is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee, agreed with host Rick Wiles from TruNews in a radio interview Friday that it is time for a new investigation into Obama's validity. Here is the transcript of what was said: WILES: While you guys are rounding up and deporting the illegal immigrants, any chance the House may actually pursue Barack Obama’s phony identification papers? That’s the original scandal, congressman. DUNCAN: People should have voted against him in November. I’m afraid that that wouldn’t get to the Supreme Court where it ought to get. WILES: But...

US Congressman Jeff Duncan says that he saw IRS “special agents” using semi-automatic rifles during a visit to a federal law enforcement facility at the end of May. He noted that the agents seemed to be using AR-15 rifles. Rep. Duncan stated that he will begin pressing the agency for answers as to why the nation’s taxing agency is training with semi-automatic weapons, and added that he could not “fathom a reason they would need that.”...

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...

South Carolina Republicans upset with U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham's support of an immigration bill are readying to challenge on of their own next year. At least two political newcomers plan to run against the state's senior senator when he seeks a second term in 2008. Also, state Rep. Jeff Duncan and former U.S. Rep. Tommy Hartnett said Friday they are considering entering the race. "I'm keeping the track shoes unlaced so I can slip my feet into them quick if I need to," said Hartnett, 65. "I would hate to see him get a free ride." The newcomers cited Graham's...