When Is A Scandal Not A Scandal? When There’s A Democrat Involved
September 7, 2017
EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:
Menendez in on trial for allegedly having sold his office in exchange for luxury vacations, private flights, and piles of campaign cash. In his opening remarks, Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Koski said “this case is about a corrupt politician who sold his Senate office for a life of luxury he couldn’t afford and a greedy doctor who put that senator on his payroll. … The defendants didn’t just trade money for power, they also tried to cover it up.”
It’s the first time in 36 years that a sitting U.S. senator has been on trial for bribery, which you’d think would make it front page news.
And the stakes of the trial’s outcome are big, too. Should Menendez be found guilty and forced to give up his Senate seat, New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie would almost certainly replace him with a Republican, giving the GOP a bigger margin in the Senate. That could, among other things, improve the odds of getting things like ObamaCare repealed and tax reform enacted.
Corruption:A sitting U.S. Senator is currently on trial for bribery, and if he’s found guilty it could have major political ramifications. Haven’t heard about this case? That’s because the Senator in question is a Democrat.
A CNN story this week about the opening of the trial against New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez noted that “Democrats are eager to avoid the subject of Menendez’s bribery trial.”
That headline would have been just as accurate if it said “Reporters” instead of “Democrats.”
Since the senate seems to be incapable of drastically ending or altering Obamacare, this just may be the answer. President Trump could end Obama’s gift to Congress by ending the subsidies Congress was given to reduce the pain for them from the high cost of premiums for Obamacare. Let Congress be impacted by the high cost of Obamacare and perhaps that will add a little urgency to their voting. Nancy
How Trump can win the ObamaCare fight: End the “friends and cronies” exemption for Congress
by John Fund Fox News July 28, 2017
If President Trump wants to fulfill his repeated promise to end ObamaCare, his best course of action is a radical change in tactics that would hit members of Congress where it hurts – in their wallets. The 55-45 vote Wednesday by the Senate rejecting a straight repeal of ObamaCare makes it clear that the president needs to try something new.
With a mere stroke of his pen, President Trump could end the exemption that President Obama gave members of Congress and their staffs that makes them the only participants in the ObamaCare exchanges to receive generous subsidies from their employer (the American people) to pay for their health insurance. Nothing would better focus Congress’ attention on changing ObamaCare than being trapped in it just like other Americans.
When Vice President Pence was asked about the special exemption for Congress by Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Wednesday, he lamented that it was “pretty typical” for there to be “one set of rules for the American people and another for the political class here in our nation’s capital.” But he wouldn’t be pinned down over whether the Trump administration would act: “It would be (President Trump’s) decision to rescind that special treatment for members of Congress and their staffs,”he told Carlson
Well, it’s about time. Ending the special perk funded by taxpayers may represent the only leverage President Trump has to fulfill his promise to repeal ObamaCare.
Ending the special perk funded by taxpayers may represent the only leverage President Trump has to fulfill his promise to repeal ObamaCare.
Back in 2009, when ObamaCare was being debated, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was able to insert a provision requiring all members of Congress and their staffs to get insurance through the ObamaCare health exchanges.
“The more that Congress experiences the laws it passes, the better,” said Grassley.
Although his amendment was watered down to exclude committee staff, it still applies to members of Congress and their personal staffs. Most employment lawyers interpreted that to mean that the taxpayer-funded federal health insurance subsidies dispensed to members of Congress and their personal staffs – which now range from $6,000 to $12,000 a year and cover about 70 percent of the cost of insurance premiums – would have to end.
An open health-care debate finally would bring some actual accountability.
Friday, July 21, 2017 by Kimberley Strassel
Sen. Rob Portman on Capitol Hill, June 20.PHOTO:ASSOCIATED PRESS
EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:Voters would be able to see just how gigantic a Medicaid payoff Ohio’s Rob Portman, Nevada’s Dean Heller and West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito are demanding for their support. They’d watch supposed conservatives such as Tennessee’s Bob Corker vote against pro-growth tax cuts. They’d observe Utah’s Mike Lee offer up changes to ObamaCare mandates, muster not even a dozen votes, and realize how unpopular his position is. They’d witness Kentucky’s Rand Paul vote against all reform ideas—no matter how good—because they still weren’t good enough for Rand Paul.They’d see Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski cynically vote against the very same repeal-only amendment she supported in 2015, back when it didn’t matter. They’d see South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy cast the only two votes for a bill they’ve been pushing—and confusing everyone with—for weeks.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at this point has busted pretty much every move in his effort to rally 50 votes for an Obama Care replacement. He’s listened. He’s negotiated. He’s encouraged. He’s cajoled. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Months later, still lacking a majority, the time has come for the Kentucky Republican to execute the final, clarifying move. It’s time for Mr. McConnell to make this all about his self-interested members.
Up to now, this exercise has been about trying to improve health care and the federal fisc. The House bill isn’t perfect—no bill ever is—but it amounts to the biggest entitlement reform in history. It repeals crushing taxes. It dramatically cuts spending. And it begins the process of stabilizing the individual health-care market and expanding consumer freedom.
None of this is good enough for a handful of senators, so now it’s time to make this exercise all about them. Mr. McConnell should make clear that the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands ready to make good on its repeal-and-replace campaign promise—and that it would have done so already were it not for a cynical or egotistic few. It’s time for some very public accountability.
That rests in Mr. McConnell giving his caucus a drop-dead date to broker a compromise, after which he will proceed to bring up the House bill. And any Republican who votes against moving forward, “a motion to proceed,” will forever be known as the Republican who saved ObamaCare. The Republican who voted to throw billions more taxpayer dollars at failing entitlement programs and collapsing insurance markets. The Republican who abandoned struggling American families. The Republican who voted against a tax cut and spending reductions. The Republican who made Chuck Schumer’s year.
[caption id="attachment_17661" align="alignnone" width="448"] Laura Ingraham ********** www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqNhDVcvrsg (She definitely brought down the house with this one ! )
It was wonderful to be able to celebrate the election of our new U.S. Senator from North Carolina, Thom Tillis. The following photos were taken at the swearing-in celebration on Tuesday, January 6, 2015 in Washington D.C . Nancy
THOM TILLIS
From the left: Sheila Salter, Susan Tillis, Pearl Burris-Floyd and P.J. Gentry
From the left: Sheila Salter, Meg Gresham, Susan Tillis and Nancy Clark
Thom Tillis and Nancy Clark
From the left: Linda Petrou, Meg Gresham, Martha Jenkins and Evelyn Poole-Kober
From the left: Val Nagle, Donna Williams and Jeff Mixon
From the left: Joyce Cotten, Evelyn Poole-Kober and Linda Boesch
Thom Tillis taking the oath of office
From the left: Emily Walker, Nancy Clark, back row – P.J. Gentry, Sheila Salter and Meg Gresham
North Carolina Supporters attending the swearing in
On the way to Washington !
From the left: Val Nagle and Donna Williams
A night on the town at the Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington D.C., From the left: Hanna Stein, Dr. Rosemary Stein, Sheila Salter, Nancy Clark, Meg Gresham and P.J. Gentry
One of the ornate bars at the Old Ebbitt Grill
A definite conversation piece !
Look who we ran into at the Old Ebbitt Grill – Zan Bunn and Linda and Matt Arnold who were also there to celebrate. By the Way, Karl Rove was also at the restaurant that night for a private party. I saw him walk in – what a fun night !
A snowy Washington, D.C.
The Capitol
The Old Supreme Court Chamber 1810 – 1860
The Baptism of Pocahontas 1839 by John Gadsby Chapman
A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET ON THE WAY HOME TO NORTH CAROLINA
Cracks Appear in Harry Reid’s North Carolina Firewall
By Joel Gehrke
North Carolina senator Kay Hagan’s admission that she skipped a hearing about the Islamic State to attend a campaign fundraiser threatens to waste the $42 million that Democrats have spent in this race to protect her candidacy and their Senate majority.
Two new polls show Republican state-house speaker Thom Tillis tied or leading Hagan, breaking a streak of 13 surveys that showed her with a small but steady lead.
Tillis leads 46 to 45, according to SurveyUSA, which showed Hagan leading 47–46 in September. High Point University shows the two candidates tied at 40, with libertarian Sean Haugh (whom voters saw during a debate with Hagan and Tillis last week) drawing 7 percent of the vote.
The polling data comes one week after Hagan admitted that she skipped a hearing on the threat of the Islamic State to attend a fundraiser. Tillis hammered her for that during their last debate. Local press has also focused on how the Hagan family has benefited from government spending programs that the senator supported, such as the 2009 stimulus.
“Our internals show that undecided voters are starting to break toward Thom Tillis, in large part because of Senator Hagan’s misplaced priorities and the negativity of her campaign,” NRSC spokesman Brad Dayspring tells National Review Online. “Polls show North Carolinians are deeply concerned that as national security threats like ISIS emerged, Kay Hagan was asleep at the wheel. Thom Tillis is the only candidate in the race with a proven record of getting things done, unlike Senator Hagan who simply voted whichever way that Harry Reid and Barack Obama wanted her to.”
Republicans moved to capitalize on Hagan’s apparent weakness by spending $6 million on the race, bringing their total to $10 million. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has spent $16 million on the race. Including outside groups on both sides, Democrats enjoy an $18 million to $16 million advantage in spending in the last month of the election
North Carolina Republicans are asking the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who has come under fire after revelations that her husband’s company, JDC Manufacturing, received nearly $400,000 in tax credits as part of the controversial 2009 stimulus package, which Hagan supported.
“The Committee needs to investigate whether Senator Hagan used her office to steer taxpayer dollars to her husband’s company and/or whether she provided him with insider knowledge obtained through her office as a United States Senator that allowed his company to receive almost $400,000 in taxpayer funds,” NC GOP chairman Claude Pope wrote in an official letter to the committee.
In a statement accompanying the letter, Pope said he hoped the committee would “determine whether Senator Hagan and her family used the influence of her high office, or access to inside information to profit herself and her family.”
According to financial disclosure forms, the Hagans’ income from JDC Manufacturing increased from essentially nothing in 2008 to almost $134,000 in 2013. Hagan’s son is also the CEO of a company that received more than half a million dollars in stimulus funding to install solar panels.
