ON THE FLOOR
The House and Senate has adjourned and will reconvene the week of March 28, 2011
To read about the debate over the Continuing Resolution please go here.
Before leaving town last week, by a vote of 228-192-1, the House passed a bill to defund NPR by prohibiting direct federal funding to the organization, as well as restricting local stations from paying NPR dues or purchasing programming with federal dollars. Please see below Leader Cantor’s floor remarks from today.
The White House opposes the legislation, which in fact cuts very little from NPR’s budget. From the Statement of Administration policies
The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1076, which would unacceptably prohibit Federal funding of National Public Radio (NPR) and the use of Federal funds by public radio stations to acquire radio content.
LEGISLATION
DOMA
Even though it is likely to go nowhere in this Congress, as it didn’t go anywhere when the Democrats controlled both chambers, Democrats in both chambers introduced bills to repeal Defense of Marriage Act last week
At the height of hypocrisy, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, wrote a letter to the speaker, John A. Boehner, requesting an estimate of the cost of defending cases concerning the Defense of Marriage Act, and suggested that to do so will be too costly to taxpayers.
Yet how much does the Justice Department waste in cover ups?
JUDGES
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226
March 31, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.
I. Nominations
John J. McConnell, to be United States District Judge for the District of Rhode Island
Goodwin Liu, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit
Kevin Hunter Sharp, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee
Roy Bale Dalton, Jr., to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida
Claire C. Cecchi, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey
Esther Salas, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey
After being held over for a week the Committee vote on Goodwin Liu is now expected to be on March 31. Mr. Liu is considered so left wing and radical that even former WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel tried to nix his nomination.
The Conservative Action Project put out a “Memo for the Movement” opposing Mr. Liu’s nomination
Should Liu’s nomination be brought up on the floor by the Majority Leader, expect to have Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speak and encourage other members to speak in opposition.
Here are responses from Goodwin Liu to questions from various Senators
Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Texas)
Other troubling nominations that are on the horizon include Edward Carroll DuMont for the 5th Circuit. Mr. DuMont has a history of advocating and donating to radical liberal causes. As a litigator he has been heavily involved in cases advocating for assisted suicide as well as against freedom of speech in relation to campaign finance reform. More on his record can be found here
Additionally President Obama has nominated abortion advocate Steve Six for Federal Appeals Court. As the Kansas Attorney General Mr. Six repeatedly tried to protect abortionists from prosecutor Phill Kline.
HEARINGS/BRIEFINGS
Stemming the Tide
On Thursday, March 24, Congressman Dan Lungren will be hosting a briefing entitled, “Hope for Healing,” featuring Dr. Catherine Kolf. The briefing will focus on a discussion about the promise and perils of stem cell research. Dr. Kolf holds a PhD in stem cell biology from Johns Hopkins University, obtained in partnership with the National Institutes of Health.
When: Thursday, March 24, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Where: 1310 Longworth House Office Building
ADMINISTRATION
The Witches of Berwick
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has publicly said that “the votes aren’t there” to confirm Donald M. Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. His comments came after 42 GOP senators said they would vote against Berwick’s nomination — enough to sustain a filibuster. The president bypassed the Senate last July when he gave Berwick a recess appointment at CMS. Some sources are saying that the Democrats giving up on Donald Berwick.
Dr. Berwick receives a lot of heat for past comments he has made embracing health care reforms that include government rationing. Additionally recently a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found nearly 10 percent of all Medicare payments are fraudulent or otherwise improper, and the government isn’t doing enough to stop them. The report, issued at the request of a House subcommittee investigating Medicare and Medicaid fraud, estimates that the federal government is losing $48 billion on the improper payments – a significant amount for a program that “is fiscally unsustainable in the long term” unless action is taken.
The problems are not isolated to CMS though. Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy, using data from the United States Department of the Treasury and the GAO to examine recently reported improper payments within the federal government. Since the implementation of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), these reported wasteful payments have increased by over 500% to $125.4 billion in fiscal year 2010.
Sebelius’ Lost Letters
The attached letter was sent to Secretary Sebelius from Senators Hatch and Enzi requesting greater transparency and increased level of responsiveness surrounding the Department’s health care decisions.