WASHINGTON UPDATE 10/08/2015

October 08, 2015 | Permalink Foxx and Friends Debut New Panel There's plenty of uncertainty about who will be leading the House -- but not quite as much on where they'll lead. One of the biggest priorities of the new Speaker has already been decided, thanks in part to yesterday's vote to turn up the heat on Planned Parenthood. Now five investigations into the ghoulish organ harvesting business, members say the only thing they're left with is more questions. To put the full weight of the House behind the issue, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) introduced a resolution to create a special investigative panel to get to the bottom of the group's wrongdoing. By a vote of 242-184 -- including the support of two Democrats (Reps. Dan Lipinski, Ill. and Collin Peterson, Minn.) -- members gave the committee the green light to launch. For Planned Parenthood leaders, who probably thought they'd weathered the worst of the storm, this guarantees that the issue will continue to roil well into 2016. Over the Left's protests, Foxx explained, "It should be simple to unite behind the principle that organizations receiving hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds are subject to congressional oversight, particularly when their practices may violate federal law and are, frankly, barbaric." Already, Cecile Richards's group has been forced to turn over 20,000 documents to GOP, which, they complain, has spent six consecutive weeks on their baby parts-for-profits scheme. That focus continued this afternoon, as the House Judiciary Committee kicked off its own hearing about Planned Parenthood. While the House committees will continue their work, this special investigation will help bring all of the work under one umbrella. With seats for six Democrats and seven Republicans, the panel will have full subpoena power and the benefit of full-time staff. "The thought," Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) explained, "is that this will be a more expedient way to handle this, a more efficient way, and allow us to determine if there was any law broken and if there is any need for further investigation." For the sake of every taxpayer, she said, "We need to have a national conversation about these practices. This is a discussion we cannot shy away from." She's right. This goes to the very heart of who we are as a nation. "This is not simply an investigation of Planned Parenthood. This will be a broad-based, information-gathering, fact-finding mission to answer questions about how we treat and protect life in this country." While we applaud House leadership for pulling the curtain back on what a half-billion dollars is really buying taxpayers, we have clearly communicated that this is no substitute for defunding the abortion giant. Extremists like Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) can complain all they want about the GOP wasting "taxpayer money to make political points." But it's better than using taxpayer dollars to fund a potentially criminal operation! Here Today, Gun Tomorrow Rahm Emanuel may no longer be the White House Chief of Staff, but the President is still taking his controversial advice: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." Unfortunately for the heartbroken families of Roseberg, Oregon, that philosophy seems to be the guiding force behind the President's Friday visit. While parents try to pick up the pieces after a devastating shooting rocked their worlds, the last thing they need is to "be in the middle of a national gun rights debate." "We have people who are healing," said City Council President Tom Ryan. "That is our main concern." Unfortunately, it isn't President Obama's. The man who seized on Sandy Hook as an opportunity to push his radical gun control agenda is planning an encore to his political theater in Oregon. An encore, locals agree, that isn't welcome. "I really feel," the father of one recovering student told Megyn Kelly, "that his visit here is completely to support his gun control agenda." Even the President, who, after so much criticism, decided to host a private meeting with the families instead of a public event, admitted outright: "Some people will accuse me of politicizing the issue, but it should be." It's a sad display of opportunism that exposes exactly what this President is all about. And the reality is, as many frustrated Oregonians have expressed, the White House's "solution" only exacerbates the problem. All his gun control policies do is create a magnet for madmen to turn innocent citizens into sitting ducks. The families of the victims know it. In fact, they're the ones frustrated that their college-aged kids didn't have the ability to protect themselves with legal weapons of their own. Instead, the Left wants to disarm law-abiding citizens with gun-free zones, which criminals will exploit because they know they won't be met by resistance. It's like dropping a purse-snatcher in the middle of a senior citizen bingo hall. In the end, all these policies accomplish is keeping honest Americans from having the ability to protect themselves. Just look at places like Chicago and Baltimore -- cities with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Gun-related violence is through the roof! Just this week, the press declared September the deadliest in Chicago since 2002 -- with 351 people shot. Experts say it's shaping up to be the worst year for gun violence and homicide in history. Hardly a ringing endorsement for anti-Second Amendment crusade. As FRC has argued for years, if the President really wanted to do something to stop the violence, he'd put a higher priority on the family. In our own MARRI research, we know that some areas of inner-city Chicago have a rejection ratio (parents not together when children hit age 17) up to 85 percent! Instead of trying to redefine marriage and the role of moms and dads, the administration could be focusing its energy on encouraging family formation and ending fatherlessness. Both are salient points in this latest tragedy and have gotten relatively little media attention. While the press focuses its attention elsewhere, two aspects of this shooting seem absent: the fact that the shooter came from a broken home and that he specifically targeted people based on their Christian faith. Could the President's agenda of religious hostility have something to do with this? What about his policies pushing America away from the natural family? Or his pattern of lawlessness? Together, they create a far more compelling case than any gun control laws ever have. For more on the debate, check out the Washington Times piece by Ken Blackwell, "Ban Gun-Free Zones." Licensed to Lie "Let justice roll on like a river," Scripture tells us (Amos 5:24). Instead, according to top attorney Sidney Powell, we see justice rolling over good and honorable people. The U.S. Department of Justice claims as part of its mission "to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans." According to former Justice Department attorney Powell, the department is doing everything but fulfill this essential part of its mission. Powell, "the youngest Assistant United States Attorney in the country when she was appointed" went on to become Chief of the Appellate Section for the Western and Northern Districts of Texas. Now one of the nation's leading appellate attorneys, she spoke yesterday at FRC about her new book, License to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice. She described the "lawlessness" at the Department and said, "no one is doing anything about it." In her lecture, she detailed how Justice has used the most flimsy of premises to imprison people seemingly at will. Powell also noted that some of the attorneys she believes have been most corrupt are now senior attorneys in the Obama administration. This important lecture is available to watch on-line, and you can find out more about Powell's gripping book on her website. ** FRC's coalition bus, "Don't Fund Planned Parenthood," took a turn into the University of North Carolina campus yesterday, where FRC's Arina Grossu had a chance to speak to students. Check out the media coverage here and video here. Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.