Republicans across Capitol Hill are gagging at the amount of earmarks in the new omnibus spending bill unveiled by Senate Democrats. And many House conservatives have also decided that too much pork has been added to the bipartisan tax compromise too. Will either bill make it to the president’s desk? What about START and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell? We discuss it all with John Gizzi of Human Events.
Greg Corombos and National Review’s Dan Foster are both fascinated and alarmed by President Obama allegedly wooing House Democrats to back the tax compromise by saying his presidency is doomed if it fails. They also bemoan the increasingly unacceptable contents of the tax compromise and consider the audacity of Joe Biden to suggest Senate Republicans need to get out of the way on Democratic priorities like the START agreement.
Two major fiscal debates are playing out in Congress – over the tax rate compromise and the proposed $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package. Why are more and more House Republicans souring on the tax compromise? What earmark-type clutter is now part of the package? We ask Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, a key member of the House Appropriations Committee. Kingston also rails against the omnibus bill, calling it a pork-laden monstrosity. He also explains how the Appropriations Committee will act differently when the GOP controls it next year.
Just one week after a political prisoner in China was named the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the most prominent political prisoner in Russia faces another trumped up sentence. Energy company executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky is wrapping up an eight-year prison sentence in Siberia but is about to be kept there another 12 years as a sham trial in Russia plays out. So how did this happen? Why is Khodorkovsky being treated like a character out of a Solzhenitsyn novel? What does this case tell us about Vladimir Putin’s Russia? What do the Russian people think about this? Will pressure from Sen. John McCain and others make any difference at this latest trial? We ask Sandy Saunders, the lead U.S. attorney for Khodorkovsky.
Greg Corombos and National Review’s Jim Geraghty hail the fierce GOP opposition to the ridiculously pork-laden omnibus spending bill. They also rip Time magazine for ignoring the Tea Party as the biggest story of the year and grumble about three Republican presidential debate already being scheduled in the first half of 2011.
Georgia Rep. Tom Price, who is also a practicing physician, will be part of the Republican House leadership in the next Congress. What is his assessment of Monday’s federal court ruling of the individual health care mandate as unconstitutional? How will this legal fight impact doctors? Which side will likely win at the Supreme Court? Rep. Price also discusses the tax debate and explains why there will be no further compromise to accommodate frustrated liberals. And he addresses the massive, pork-laden omnibus spending bill Democrats have introduced to fund the government for the coming weeks.
Retired U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North says the best strategy change for the U.S. in Afghanistan would be for President Obama to renounce his goal of bringing troops home as early as next summer and vowing to have all of them home by 2014. What impact would that have? How successful have our troops been in Afghanistan in recent months? Are Afghan forces ready to provide their own security? We ask Col. North, who also skewers the Obama administration for trying to lift the ban on gays in the military and pushing to “legalize consensual sodomy on military bases”. North explains why lifting the ban would be devastating for recruiting and retention.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North joins us to discuss the many American heroes who serve this country in obscurity as members of Special Operations. North is author of the new book “American Heroes in Special Operations”, which chronicles the truly amazing exploits of our American heroes in Iraq and Afghanistan. He discusses why the media seem to spend little time reporting on the remarkable successes of our troops and the importance of America having heroes and knowing who those heroes are. He also explains how you can get the book in time for Christmas.
Greg Corombos and National Review’s Jim Geraghty delight in a federal judge declaring the individual health care mandate unconstitutional. They also worry about Republicans bringing forward their own version of the DREAM Act and wonder why Michael Steele is mounting a seemingly ill-fated re-election bid for RNC Chairman.
A federal judge in Virginia says the government cannot force someone to buy health insurance or anything else. The decision moves this fight one step closer to a Supreme Court showdown over whether we all have to buy a government-approved health insurance policy. So how significant is this decision? Why was this the right decision compared with two other judges, who have ruled the mandate is legal? And what is Congress ready to do to repeal and gut Obamacare next year? We ask Texas Rep. Ted Poe, a former judge and sponsor of a House resolution to prevent such legislation form being considered in the future.
