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Last year, Harry Reid invoked the nuclear option in the Senate in order to get Barack Obama’s appointees confirmed over Republican opposition. His latest appointee might be doomed anyway. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) announced on Friday that he will oppose the confirmation of Debo Adegbile to run the Civil Rights Division at Justice on account of Adegbile’s activism for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal: Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said Friday he will vote against Senate confirmation of Debo Adegbile, an Obama administration nominee who has been criticized for his role in trying to overturn the death sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal,...

The following Republicans voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit: John Boehner, R-Ohio. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy,R-Calif. Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam, R-Ill. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. Pete King, R-N.Y. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Gary Miller, R-Calif. Ed Royce, R-Calif. John Runyan, R-N.J. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Chris Smith, R-N.J. David Valadao, R-Calif. Frank Wolf,...

Five years of the Obama presidency have produced nothing but economic "roadblocks" that inhibit growth and job creation, Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., charged in the weekly Republican address on Saturday. He accused the Obama administration of "choking the engines of our economy," singling out the health-care reform law, the administration's energy policy and the government's excessive taxing and spending as areas of particular concern. Republicans have a better plan to "simplify the tax code" and "eliminate excessive regulations," Fitzpatrick said, touting a GOP jobs plan that would break down "the government roadblocks that are hurting our economy." "People want Congress...

A pro-life Congressman in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood has six children, one of whom tweeted that she was picking up contraception at Planned Parenthood. Now the media, which is currently, obsessed with lecturing conservatives on civility in the discussion of contraception and religious liberty, is descending and dragging the Congressman's daughter into the spotlight. Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill" column reports:Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R) has six kids, and HOH has a favorite! Her name is Maggie Fitzpatrick, and she’s a young co-ed and a prolific tweeter without a filter. Her tweets chronicle the life of an average...

Two government watchdogs are calling for an ethics investigation into the reception a House Republican held in the Capitol while the 112th Congress was being sworn in on Wednesday. The Campaign Legal Center and the Sunlight Foundation said Friday that the Office of Congressional Ethics should look into whether Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) violated House rules by soliciting campaign contributions for his swearing-in ceremony. And the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), on Friday called on Republicans to “use their investigative powers to clarify the circumstances surrounding the issue.”

During ObamaCare debates, past and present, Democrats point to the estimates of the Congressional Budget office which show that enacting Health Care Reform gives the U.S. $143 billion in savings over the first ten years (starting in early 2010), and repealing ObamaCare would 'wipe-out' these very savings. The crucial thing to understand is that the CBO is just a calculator: It only adds and subtracts the numbers Congress gives it. For example, a bill -- to be called ObamaCare -- that has $857 billion in expenses over the first ten years; approximately $500 billion in tax increases, in addition to...

The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021. That number represents the cost of the new provisions, minus Medicare cuts. Repealing the bill would also eliminate $770 billion in taxes. It's the tax hikes in the health care law (along with the Medicare cuts) which accounts for the $230 billion in deficit reduction. Full email, from Edward "Sandy" Davis, CBO's Associate Director for Legislative Affairs, below.

The votes cast during the first days of the congressional session by two Republican lawmakers who skipped Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony will be invalidated, House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) said Thursday. Dreier made the announcement at a meeting of the Rules Committee after it became clear that Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) had cast votes during the first two days of the 112th Congress despite having not technically been sworn into office. According to a report in The Hill, GOP leaders became aware that Sessions and Fitzpatrick had missed Wednesday's swearing-in after a photo surfaced of...

LANGHORNE, Pa. -- From the 1930s through the 1950s, Bucks County northeast of Philadelphia acquired a glamorous reputation as a retreat for Manhattan celebrities, including Oscar Hammerstein, who, according to local legend, was inspired by the view from his Doylestown front porch to write “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” the opening song of “Oklahoma!” Today the county, which is 93 percent of Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, figures in Republicans’ plans to sing that song on the morning of Nov. 3. The district has about 209,000 Democrats, 189,000 Republicans and 66,000 independents. The seat is held by a Democrat, Patrick Murphy,...

The conventional wisdom is Tom Lingenfelter will pull votes from Republican Mike Fitzpatrick. Two former interns for Congressman Patrick Murphy, now working for the state Democratic Party, have turned in nominating petitions to get a third-party candidate on the ballot. The interns - Brian Caplan of Northampton and Jessica Milinichik of Bristol Township - submitted 148 signatures on the notarized papers for Tom Lingenfelter, a Doylestown historian. The addition of Lingenfelter to the 8th District ballot is significant as his presence in a rematch between Murphy, a Democrat, and former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican, could tilt the outcome. Back...

In a conference call Friday morning, U.S. Sen. John Kerry called Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick’s recent stand against President Bush’s “stay-the-course” policy in Iraq a “short-term political ploy.” The 2004 Democratic presidential candidate said Fitzpatrick’s opposition to the president offered “no plan, no direction; it only offers criticism.” On Monday, Fitzpatrick said Bush has been “mistaken in crucial ways vital to the success of our mission” in Iraq and said he would no longer support the president’s “stay-thecourse” policy there. Fitzpatrick also said he wouldn’t support what he called Murphy’s “cut-and-run” strategy in Iraq and offered no additional policy...

Fitzpatrick steps in for Boy Scoutshttp://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-07312006-691181.html http://tinyurl.com/pvk5s By BRIAN SCHEID Bucks County Courier Times Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, wants the city of Philadelphia to end its dispute with the Boy Scouts of America. Fitzpatrick has sent a letter to Philadelphia Mayor John Street, blasting the city's pending decision to oust the Boy Scouts from their Philadelphia headquarters for refusing to change their policy prohibiting gay members. Fitzpatrick, an Eagle Scout and former president of the Bucks County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, also gave a brief speech on the floor of the House of Representatives Wednesday in support...

Pa. races could set table for 2008 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, July 9, 2006 Welcome to Pennsylvania, known as "The Cradle of America" because the Founders drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Fast-forward 230 years and it is about to become another national cradle - a political one -- for the 2006 midterm elections.

Moderate RINOS Undermine the GOP November 11, 2005 Download Windows Media PlayerListen to Rush Conduct Broadcast Excellence BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Well, now the White House has fought back. Will the congressional Republicans get their acts in gear? It looks like they're falling part. This gang of moderates under the tutelage of George Soros that killed the ANWR drilling project-- (interruption) You are unaware that the Republican mainstream partnership is funded by George Soros? I kid you not. It's on Michelle Malkin's website. I pulled it down last night. Here we go. She writes, "Many of you were asking for...

The 10 members are Reps. Bob Beauprez (Colo.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.), Anne Northup (Ky.), Jon Porter (Nev.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Rick Renzi (Ariz.), Rob Simmons (Conn.) and Mike Sodrel (Ind.).

House Republican leaders last night notified their 10 most vulnerable lawmakers that they will be the lucky beneficiaries of this year's first ROMP (Retain Our Majority Program) fundraiser. The list provides an early preview of who GOP leaders think need the most help from their fellow lawmakers. It also lets potential Democratic challengers know that any run will be expensive. The 10 members are Reps. Bob Beauprez (Colo.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Marilyn Musgrave (Colo.), Anne Northup (Ky.), Jon Porter (Nev.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Rick Renzi (Ariz.), Rob Simmons (Conn.) and Mike Sodrel (Ind.). Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.),...