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Rep. Raul M. Grijalva quietly arranged a “severance package” in 2015 for one of his top staffers who threatened a lawsuit claiming the Arizona Democrat was frequently drunk and created a hostile workplace environment, revealing yet another way that lawmakers can use taxpayer dollars to hide their misbehavior on Capitol Hill.

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources used taxpayer dollars to pay off a former staffer who threatened to sue, claiming the lawmaker was often drunk and created a hostile workplace. Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva’s secret deal with a former female staffer was revealed by The Washington Times on Monday. The payout was negotiated by the House Employment Counsel, the body’s attorney, and cost taxpayers $48,395. The settlement, however, may have violated House rules, The Times reported. It’s against House rules for a lawmaker to retain “an employee who does not perform duties for the offices of...

Now ten members of the "progressive caucus" of the Democratic Party are trying to give these terrorist leaders another reason for using even younger terrorists to kill even more innocent civilians. The bill fails to acknowledge that some of the most barbaric terrorist attacks against Jewish Israelis have been committed by Palestinian teens who have been recruited by terrorist leaders. Israel has a right — according to international law — to protect its citizens from constant terror attacks, even those committed by young Palestinians. Indeed, it has an obligation to do so. Palestinian terrorist leaders often use teenagers to...

Three senior House Democrats asked U.S. teachers Monday to destroy a book written by climate scientists challenging the environmentalist view of global warming. The Democrats were responding to a campaign by the conservative Heartland Institute copies of the 2015 book, “Why Climate Scientists Disagree About Global Warming” to about 200,000 science teachers. Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott of the Committee on Education, Raúl M. Grijalva of the Committee on Natural Resources, and Eddie Bernice Johnson of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology all issued a statement telling teachers to trash the book. “Public school classrooms are no place for anti-science...

Arizona Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Hillary Clinton supporter, thinks that the Clinton Foundation should be “cut off” due to the pay-for-play scandal haunting Clinton’s campaign. “We’ve got to get rid of extraneous issues and if this foundation is an extraneous issue that goes to the heart of whether it’s trust or transparency then get rid of it because there is so much on the table right now for the American people and for the future of this nation, that extraneous issues such as the foundation, if that is something that needs to be cut off then it should be...

The Census should be demanding more information about “gender identity,” leading liberal lawmakers said Wednesday, asking the agency to start including more probing questions to get at the increasingly complex family dynamics in America. “Many federal data collection instruments gather respondents’ race, ethnicity, sex, marital status and other personal demographic information. However, most of these instruments do not include direct measures of respondents’ sexual orientation or gender identity,” Rep. Raul Grijalva and Sen. Tammy Baldwin said in a letter they led, and which was co-signed by dozens of their Democratic colleagues.

Just when we thought liberalism can’t get any more authoritarian, the Obama administration reminds us that it can.Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently confirmed that she had “referred” the “matter” of whether climate change “deniers” should be brought to court on racketeering charges to the FBI.Yes, that’s right. If you happen to disagree with the administration’s views of global warming, you could face a civil suit accusing you of fraud and corruption. This represents a breathtaking corruption of the law. Laws designed to catch mafia figures on corruption charges could be twisted to punish Americans whose only crime is to contest...

One Republican has joined eight Democrats in creating the first Transgender Equality Task Force in Congress. Created by the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and chaired by Rep. Mike Honda, D-CA, the task force held a hearing yesterday to discuss challenges, especially violence, that transgender advocates say are prevalent among transgendered Americans. According to the description below the Human Rights Campaign's video of the two-hour forum, the event consisted of two panels. The first was about "the lived experience of transgender victims and educating on the scope of violence experienced by transgender people." The second panel included "HRC President Chad Griffin...

Senator Bernie Sanders has scored his first endorsement from a member of Congress, getting it just ahead of next week’s first Democratic debate.The backing of Representative Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona is especially significant as he is a longstanding member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, offering the independent from Vermont a valuable spokesman as he seeks to court Hispanic voters. They will campaign together in Tuscon, Ariz., at a rally ahead of the debate in Las Vegas next Tuesday.“I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and wait for the tea leaves to be read better,” Mr. Grijalva said in an interview....

The science on global warming is settled. In fact, so settled that 20 climate scientists are asking President Barack Obama to prosecute people who disagree with them on the science behind man-made global warming. Scientists from several universities and research centers even asked Obama to use the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to prosecute groups that “have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change, as a means to forestall America’s response to climate change.” RICO was a law designed to take down organized crime syndicates, but scientists now want it to be used against...

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva don’t agree on much, but both worry California could take Arizona’s water. The conservative governor and the liberal congressman say Arizona must be vigilant to ensure its drought-parched neighbor doesn’t use federal action to grab some of Arizona’s Colorado River supply. Of particular concern is a California drought bill that’s been quietly negotiated for months in the U.S. Senate. “The secrecy generates concern and nervousness. Nobody I know in Arizona knows what’s in this bill at this point,” says Chuck Cullom, who manages Colorado River issues for the Central Arizona Project,...

I'm a little under the weather (which is not as chronic as being under the climate), but I wanted to add something to what I said the other day about thug operator Raúl Grijalva, Democrat Representative from Arizona and Ranking Member of the House UnEnvironmental Activities Committee. It is not a small thing when even a jumped-up twerp hack announces that the national legislature of the world's superpower is targeting seven private citizens for disagreeing with him. In this case Commissar Grijalva is clamping the electrodes to various climate scientists - Robert Balling, John Christy, Judith Curry, Steven Hayward, David...

A full list of the Democrats who have confirmed they're missing the speech follows: SENATE - 4 members Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii) HOUSE - 26 members Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.) Rep. Andre Carson (Ind.) Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) Rep. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.) Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.) Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas) Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.) Rep. John Lewis (Ga.)...

The Dem Congressmen Boycotting Netanyahu are the Same Old Hamas SupportersPosted By Daniel Greenfield On February 26, 2015 @ 6:02 pm In The Point | 12 Comments There are a lot of stories about the Dem members of Congress boycotting Netanyahu’s speech. But most of the names on the list are longtime opponents of the Jewish State.The boycott lists consists of two groups. Congressional Black Caucus members who are offended on Obama’s behalf and can smell racism anywhere.The other consists of opponents of Israel.It’s instructive to compare the list of boycotters to the 54 members of Congress who signed...

A growing chorus of liberal Democrats is pushing President Obama to get Congress's explicit approval before launching missile strikes into Syria. The pressure from supporters on Capitol Hill is not only a headache for Obama, but also puts House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats in the difficult position of bucking a broad segment of their own caucus in order to protect an ally in the White House. Scores of Democrats had signed letters a year ago advocating against military strikes targeting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without congressional backing. Thirteen months later the enemy...

Last week’s standoff at Bundy Ranch is still reverberating in Washington today. According to Kate Sheppard at Huffington Post, Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) has sent a letter to Mary Kendall, acting Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, asking her to investigate whether legislation pushed by the Koch brothers-linked American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been aimed at undermining the agency’s work.Two member affiliates of the Koch-supported Americans For Prosperity (AFP) organization gave their blessing as armed ‘Patriot’ militias showed up to confront agents of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) doing the dangerous, difficult job of removing Bundy’s trespass...

January 15, 2014, 04:19 pm House easily passes $1T omnibus spending bill with 359-67 vote By Pete Kasperowicz and Erik Wasson Anne Wernikoff and Greg Nash The House on Wednesday easily approved a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill would fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2014 and let Congress avoid the risk of a shutdown until the end of September. Members voted 359-67 to pass the bill, which was opposed by 64 Republicans and three Democrats. The three Democrats who voted "no" were Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Rush Holt (N.J.), and Mike McIntyre (N.C.), a centrist Democrat who...

House Republicans say they’re proud of their 2013 campaign to stymie President Obama’s regulatory agenda, even as Congress comes under fire for one of its least productive years. The bitterly divided Congress will pass fewer laws in 2013 than any year in modern history. As a result of the gridlock, President Obama has turned to his administration’s regulatory authority in pursuit of key policy goals, including efforts to tackle gun violence and climate change. While House Republicans have pinned the blame for Congress’ anemic legislative output on Senate Democrats, they make no bones about their efforts to blunt Obama’s rulemaking...

Rtightened his handcuffs. “I thought I’d be treated better ep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said police who arrested him Tuesday by the Capitol Police than I was,” Rangel said on FOX Business Network Friday. Rangel was one of several Democratic lawmakers arrested by U.S. Capitol Police at an immigration reform rally on the National Mall. “I think they were trying to help me, but the cuffs were so tight that when I said loosen up the cuffs — and I wasn’t cursing then — in an attempt to loosen it up, one of the rookie cops actually tightened it,” he said....

Top Democrats and civil rights leaders on Sunday called on the Justice Department to examine bringing federal charges against George Zimmerman, just hours after a Florida jury acquitted him in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager. “I think the Justice Department is going to take a look at this,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press," as the fallout from the Zimmerman verdict dominated the nation’s attention on Sunday. “This isn’t over with and I think that’s good,” Reid continued. “That’s our system. It’s gotten better, not worse.” NAACP President Benjamin Jealous...