GOP Ready to Confront the Passed
The House wasn't planning to be
in session next week, but after today's announcement, it's a good thing
they've changed their minds. Members will need all the time they can get
to launch the most aggressive strike against ObamaCare yet. To the
cheers of conservative activists everywhere, Republican members of the
House emerged from a closed-door meeting this morning with the news
everyone was waiting for: the GOP is ready to fight.
After weighing dozens of options, House leaders are going "all in" on
the push to defund the worst mistake of Obama's presidency. "It's
time," said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), "to protect American families
from this unworkable law." For now, "protecting America" means backing
Rep. Tom Graves's (R-Ga.) plan, which would hitch the vote to defund ObamaCare to the continuing resolution (or CR, the short-term budget bill).
Before the government's cash
officially runs out at midnight on September 30, conservatives are
offering to raise the debt ceiling for a year and keep
Washington running with a $988 billion budget extension. In exchange,
they want to put ObamaCare on ice until 2015. But here's the best part.
If Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) doesn't take the deal, his party
will be forced to shut down the government -- to protect a law that a
majority of Americans don't even want! Unlike other proposals, Tom
Graves's measure would not only solve the problem of abortion funding in
health care, but put a cease-fire on conscience violations.
Obviously, it's a politically risky strategy for both parties. Even if Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are ready to take on the Senate, there's still the very real possibility that the President won't take the dare. At this point, though, even the temporary reward outweighs the "what ifs."
As outraged as Americans are over ObamaCare, their frustration with the GOP's handling of the situation is a close second. For some of them, this debate is eerily similar to the "cut, cap, and balance" debate -- when House leadership voted to slash spending, only to throw up its arms when the real negotiating with the Senate began. Conservatives applaud the GOP's decision and expect them to stand their ground against this unprecedented attack on faith, family, and freedom -- regardless of what Harry Reid does.
If it does come to a government shutdown, 51% of voters will back them up. According to Rasmussen, a majority of Americans would support cutting off Washington if it means putting off ObamaCare. Eighty percent of GOP voters agree with us: it's more important for their party to stand for what it believes in rather than cower to the President's liberal demands. And while 79% of Democrats think a shutdown would be bad for the economy, it won't be nearly as bad as ObamaCare is proving to be.
"Every member in this room is for defunding ObamaCare while letting the rest of the government continue to operate," said Speaker Boehner. "We're going to put ObamaCare defunding directly into the CR. And then we're going to send it over to the Senate, so our conservative allies over there can contribute to the fight. That's where the fight is." For now,America's fate is tied to the bill by Tom Graves. Voters put Republicans in power, now let's see them use it.
Deep in the Heart of Taxes...
If you want to engage in free speech, prepare to be taxed! That's the message from the IRS, where new documents are showing just how deep the roots of ideological corruption go. In the most powerful display of political profiling yet, USA Today leaked new paperwork proving that IRS was not only targeting conservative groups, but any groups that participated in "emotional" or "anti-Obama rhetoric." A whopping 162 groups were flagged by IRS agents for extra scrutiny on their tax exempt applications -- only 11 of them liberal.
The scandal, which grabbed
plenty of headlines when it first broke, fell off the radar during the
Syria crisis. Unfortunately for the Obama administration, these new
revelations are putting the agency where it belongs: on the hot seat.
Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) made sure of that today
in a Ways and Means Committee hearing with acting IRS Director Daniel
Werfel. "Four months after the IRS admitted to targeting applicants for
tax-exempt status, there are still many outstanding questions about when
the targeting started, who knew about it, and why it was allowed to
continue." Boutany's goal -- like ours -- is to ensure this abuse never
happens again.
No one can be sure of that now,
in an administration that uses the IRS as a hired thug to punish and
silence conservatives. Ed Morrissey at HotAir.com
is just one of the voices demanding accountability. "When the IRS
starts targeting political dissent for scrutiny, they have stopped being
a revenue collector and have become instead a political enforcer.
That's dangerous for all Americans." If the IRS is going to wage a
secret war against conservatives, then it's time for the House to wage
an open one against corruption.
Lackland's Lackluster Record on Rights
It may be the Air Force's 66th
birthday, but for some airmen, the mood is anything but festive. At
Lackland Air Force base, dozens of men and women are facing a painful
choice: take their faith underground or give up a lifetime of service.
Pastor Steve Branson, whose church is in the shadow of the Texas base,
says his congregation is literally ground zero in the fight for
religious liberty in the military. Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk,
who felt convicted to take a stand
for religious freedom after a sermon by Pastor Branson, is just one of
dozens of under threat. On the radio show yesterday, Pastor Branson said
he was stunned by the number of airmen who took him aside and asked for
prayer. And it's not just enlisted men struggling with this climate of
intimidation -- it's colonels and generals too.
Thanks to Sgt. Monk, people at
Branson's Village Parkway Church are starting to tell their stories. At
an informal meeting at the church, Pastor Branson said 80 airmen got
together to share their concerns and find encouragement in numbers.
"[T]hey concurred with what Sgt. Monk was saying, that there are a lot
of difficulties at Lackland -- that it's making life very miserable for
them and for the cohesiveness of the Air Force at the base here in San
Antonio... I've got several training instructors in the church, and
they're getting Mirandas twice a month on average is what they are
telling me. They're getting to the point where their getting afraid to
do anything... I've got guys in my church that have been serving a long
time, that love the military. They're the perfect kind of people you
want in the military, and they are looking at how are they going to get
out. I'm getting emails from everywhere."
When I asked Pastor Branson if
he was surprised by the outpouring, he said he had no idea there was
this much turmoil over faith in Air Force. "It's time for people in
America to wake up," he warned. "Things are happing and if we're not
careful, we'll wake up one day and have lost a lot of things we have
treasured for many years." (To hear the whole interview, click here.)
Unfortunately, our military
doesn't have a lot of safe places to turn. That's why this issue is so
important. These brave men and women who are willing to lay down their
lives to protect our freedoms are having their freedoms taken away. It's
time for us to stand and speak out for them. If "one man with courage
is a majority," then imagine what the entire church could do!
**
Yesterday, America celebrated 226 years of "We the People." See why the
colonies' document is as important today as it was in 1787 in Bob
Morrison's new piece for the Daily Caller, "The Constitution: What Difference Does It Make."
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