Archives for January 2015

Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) says President Obama’s loyalty to liberal special interests could doom Republican efforts to fund the Department of Homeland Security while blocking funding for Obama’s unilateral action to confer legal status on at least five million people in the nation illegally.

However, Flores says Obama is already taking additional actions to undermine the rule of law and American families before Congress even finishes it defunding efforts.

“I don’t hold out much hope for the president.  He puts the interests of others ahead of the interests of families,” said Flores.

Congress did agree to fund the process to confer legal status on those millions of illegal aliens through the end of February as part of the “cromnibus” vote in December that postponed the long-term debate over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations while funding the rest of government through September.  On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved legislation funding DHS through September but stripping out money to enforce Obama’s November memorandum.

However, the House legislation will need 60 votes to clear the U.S. Senate and that appears very unlikely.  Even if the votes do materialize, an Obama veto would make an override impossible.  Republican leaders vow to push hard to pass the House bill but admit they’re not sure what to do if it fails.

But even if Republicans were to defy the odds and stop the funding, Flores says Obama is already tapping into other money to accomplish his goals.

“He’s taking the fees from people who are trying to go through the legal immigration process properly.  He’s using those fees to pay for the cost of trying to allow the folks that are here illegally  to jump to the head of the line,” said Flores.

Obama is not only treating legal immigrants worse than illegal ones, but Flores reminds American workers that the soon-to-be legalized immigrants will also have a major advantage when competing for jobs.

“He’s created this perverse incentive for American employers to hire illegals under this new program, over hiring Americans.  The employers don’t have to provide Obamacare.  There’s certain other benefits they don’t have to provide.  So you have a $3,000 advantage if you’re an employer to hire somebody here illegally than to hire legal American workers,” said Flores.

Flores says this is just the latest punch in the gut to hard working Americans.

“He’s put American workers at the back of the line, and this is after they’re already hurting under the Obama economic policies,” he said.

While the odds of victory seem slim in stopping Obama’s agenda, Flores says Republicans will continue to fight.

“Those of us in the House of Representatives who believe in the rule of law are going to side with the strong majority of Americans that thinks that the president’s action was improper and unlawful.  So we are going to fight to stop this presidential action,” said Flores, pointing to constitutional clarity on how laws get changed in the United States.

“Article I of the Constitution says that Congress has the right to make all laws.  It doesn’t say anything about the president having any right to break the laws.  It also doesn’t say the president has the right to make the law if Congress fails to act,” said Flores.  “If Congress addresses immigration reform, then that’s solely for us to do.  If we elect not to address immigration reform, the president really doesn’t have any options.  He has to live with that.”

Flores is also focused on a debate brewing among House Republicans.  He chairs the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a coalition of House conservatives that is the largest caucus on Capitol Hill.  More than a dozen Republicans contend the RSC is becoming insufficiently conservative and are planning to form a new group designed to push GOP leaders to the right.

The congressman dismisses allegations that the RSC is too moderate or too timid in lobbying leadership.

“It is the largest, most conservative, most effective caucus in Congress.  There are at least 150 members of Congress, which make up about two-thirds of the House Republicans, that want to be part of that because it has the greatest ability to influence legislation and to push our leadership toward conservative principles,” he said.

As for the possible defections by some conservatives, Flores says he has no problem with the formation of other conservative groups that will advocate for conservative ideas.

“There’s room for other groups as well.  So to the extent that other members of the RSC would like to form another group to be part of so that they can talk about their ideas, I’m fine with that.  I think it’s complementary and most of those folks that are doing that are remaining as members of the RSC.  So there’s not really a split in the RSC.  There are just a smaller number of people that want to go form a group so that they can share their ideas among themselves.  We applaud that move and think that it’s perfectly appropriate,” said Flores.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged that European nations finally seem to be serious about rooting out terrorism within their borders.  They also shake their heads as Republicans seem to indicate they’re going to fail to stop President Obama’s unilateral amnesty.  And they unload on the Obama administration for trying to make up for the Paris no-shows by bringing James Taylor in to sing a song for the French.

Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) says building the Keystone XL Pipeline will create thousands of good jobs, greater energy independence and lower energy prices, but it will require President Obama to prioritize working families over liberal special interests.

Flores is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is chairman of the Republican Study Committee.  Prior to his election to Congress in 2010, he was president and CEO of Phoenix Exploration Company in the oil and gas industry.

The congressman says projects like this are vital in numerous ways to American families that need relief.  Flores and most other GOP lawmakers are at the party retreat in Pennsylvania.  American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks addressed the group Thursday morning and stated that the wealthiest Americans have seen seven percent growth since Obama took office while the bottom 50 percent have seen any growth at all.

Flores says that frustration is compounded by the fact that many costs for families are on the rise.

“During that same period of time, their cost of health care is higher.  Their cost of education is higher.  Their cost of energy is higher.  The Obama economy has really put a squeeze on these folks and bills like the Keystone Pipeline are the exact solution we need to be able to give those families an opportunity to improve their economic position.  I’m hoping the president will one day see that and he’ll start to stand with them, instead of standing in their way,” said Flores.

In recent weeks, President Obama has downplayed the potential benefits of the pipeline, saying it’s Canadian oil that will be largely shipped to other countries after being refined along the U.S. gulf coast.  He further states that the pipeline will only create about 35 long-term jobs once construction is over.

Flores strongly disputes that characterization of the pipeline’s impact, especially when it comes to jobs.

“There would be thousands of jobs during the construction of the pipeline.  There would be lots of jobs to continue to operate the pipeline after it’s constructed,” said Flores.  “That oil is going to be refined in U.S. refineries, and that creates thousands of jobs for hard-working American families,” he said.

And Flores says the benefits wouldn’t end there.

“The first thing it would mean is for every barrel of oil that came out of Canada, from our friendly North American neighbor, it would displace a barrel of oil from an unfriendly country like Venezuela or those that are having turmoil in the Middle East,” said Flores.

In addition to new jobs, he says it would also mean lower bills.

“Probably the most important from an American economy aspect is that it will lower the cost of energy, particularly for gasoline and for heating our homes and for our air fares and things like that,” he said.  “Whenever you’re spending less money on energy , that’s more money in the pockets of families and that means they can start to re-enjoy the American dream,” said Flores.

On January 9, the House of Representatives passed Keystone 266-153.  The Senate is likely to pass the bill next week, with at least 63 and possibly as many as 65 votes.  Flores says GOP Senate leaders are working hard to get to 67 votes, which would be enough to override a veto.

“I’ve had some good conversations with the senators that are here at the GOP retreat this week.  They are trying to find enough votes to get to 67 on the procedural votes so they know they’ve got a veto-proof group of people supporting the bill,” said Flores.

The congressman says the simplest way forward is for President Obama to acknowledge the will of the vast majority of Americans and sign the bill.

“What I hope will happen is that the president will put the American people ahead of special interests and that he will sign the bill and we can create thousands of great-paying American jobs by doing this,” said Flores.

Earlier this week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) predicted that Republicans and enough Democrats would come together to override an Obama veto if necessary.  Flores isn’t so sure, but he believes Republicans can make progress either way.

“The worst case is we can show the American people how he’s against it, how he puts special interests ahead of them.  In the best case, we might be able to get enough votes to stand with those American families and approve this thing,” he said.

Flores says his four years in Washington have shown him Democrats are all to willing to do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

“One of the thing I’ve learned is that all too often there are too many people, particularly those on the left that put their special interests ahead of American families that are struggling.  That’s what causes me to be sanguine about this,” said Flores.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleasantly stunned to see a fixture in the foreign policy establishment turn on President Obama and demand major changes in his national security team.  They also react to Pope Francis saying there should be limits on how offensive people should be when talking about religion.  And they discuss the temporary ban on cheese at City Hall on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Former President Jimmy Carter says terrorists like the ones in Paris last week are motivated in large part by Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, but Middle East expert Dr. Mike Evans not only says Carter is wrong but that Carter himself bears a great deal of responsibility for the rise in Islamic radicalism that played out in the French capital last week.

On Monday, Carter appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”  After Stewart contended that terrorists only use Islam as a cloak, Carter suggested Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians was a highly motivating factor for terrorists.

“One of the origins for it is the Palestinian problem, you know, and this aggravates people who are affiliated any way with the Arab people who live in the West Bank and Gaza, what they’re doing now (and) what’s being done to them,” said Carter.

Evans is having none of that explanation.

“It’s not about the Palestinians.  It’s about terror and Carter’s weak liberal left policies that accommodates terror,” he said.

If Carter is looking to assign blame to influences beyond the terrorists who murdered people in France, Evans says Carter needs to take a long look in the mirror.

“I blame Jimmy Carter for what happened in Paris, France.  I blame Jimmy Carter, because he began it all with his liberal left policies in Iran,” said Evans, who is also author of “Jimmy Carter, the Liberal Left and World Chaos.

“He needs to take responsibility because the terror we’re experiencing today,” said Evans.  “This man was the chief architect of everything that fueled and fed terror and he still is.”

Evans says Carter’s diplomatic activism paved the way for a regime change in Iran that ushered in radicals more responsible for terrorism than any other government.

“It was Jimmy Carter himself, who used (then-Secretary of State) Cyrus Vance to negotiate what’s called the Algerian Accords.  He told Iran, ‘If you do what I want you to do, I will give you $7.9 billion,’ which he did by the way.  He transferred it to the Bank of England from the Federal Reserve and signed the Algerian Accords.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about the overthrow of the Shah of Iran,” said Evans.

The Algerian Accords were signed on Carter’s last full day in office as part of his last-ditch attempt to free the 52 Americans held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Iran.

Evans says personal conversations with two key figures also shed light on Carter’s role in the rise of radicals in Iran and his unwillingness to see and hear the warnings.

He says Farah Pahlavi, the widow of the deposed Shah, expressed her husband’s grave concerns about Carter’s foreign policy.

“When Jimmy Carter met with them, her husband said to her, ‘He wants the political prisoners released.  He wants freedom of the press.  He wants a terrorist by the name of Khomeini to be the head of this country.  If Carter succeeds, Iran will be overthrown, the Russians will invade Afghanistan, Iraq will invade Iran and who knows what hell will come upon the earth?'” said Evans.

According to Evans, Carter was also strong urged by then-French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to end his desire to see Khomeini rule Iran, but he says Carter would not listen and ultimately played a leading role in the erosion of support for the Shah in the West.

“[Giscard d’Estraing] said, ‘At the Guadalupe Summit, Mr. Carter came.  I told him Khomeini’s a terrorist.  He said, ‘No, no, no.  He’s going to be a Gandhi-like figure.  We’re going to bring him into Iran and we’re going to get the Shah out,'” said Evans.

Evans says the former French president also referred to Carter as “a bastard of conscience.”  The Guadalupe Summit was in January 1979.  Two weeks later the Shah left Iran.  Two weeks after that, Khomeini returned triumphantly to Iran.  In early November, the hostage crisis began at the U.S. embassy and for decades the State Department has declared Iran to be the number one state sponsor of terrorism.

The way Evans sees it, President Obama is cut from the same ideological cloth as Jimmy Carter.

“Unfortunately, Obama is Carter on steroids.  He buys into the Carter ideology that these people are victims and that the perpetrators are us.  He won’t say it, but that’s what he believes,” said Evans.

Obama is taking a great deal of heat for failing to appear at the unity rally in Paris on Sunday.

“He was simply saying to the Muslim world, ‘I feel your pain.  I understand the hurt and the injustices done to you.’  That’s what he was fundamentally saying.  He was giving a liberal left excuse for what happened.  Shame on him,” said Evans.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are glad to see the 2016 presidential field starting to take shape and some candidates deciding not to run.  They also groan as Al Qaeda in Yemen takes credit for the Paris terrorist attack.  And they scold Virginia voters for re-electing an admitted sex offender.

Radical Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram is taking its persecution of Christians and other Muslims to a new level with the recent slaughter of some 2,000 people, but Voice of the Martyrs says Christians are rock solid in their faith and even evangelizing the terrorists while the Nigerian government does little to stop the carnage.

Best known in the U.S. for its brazen abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls last year, Boko Haram is now believed to have committed by far its most heinous atrocities to date in its massacre of two thousand people in and around the village of Baga, Nigeria.

“Those are unconfirmed reports.  The police and the Nigerian military can’t even get into the village to bury the dead and to evaluate the situation.  Boko Haram has made it so dangerous.  There are reports that one village was basically destroyed.  All the people they could get there, they killed.  They burned down all the huts in the village, so it is basically gone completely,” said Voice of the Martyrs Director of Media and Public Relations Todd Nettleton.

The population of Nigeria is effectively split between Christians and Muslims.  Christians dominate the southern part of the country, while Muslims are in the north.  Nettleton says the terrorist group effectively runs the northeast part of the country.

“They have actually gone so far as to declare a caliphate, very similar to what the Islamic State has done in Syria and Iraq.  They’ve said, ‘We’re going to run this territory according to Sharia Law.  I’m the caliph.  I’m the leader of this part of the country.  They basically have set up their own little country,” said Nettleton, who believes Boko Haram admires and emulates what the Islamic State forces are doing in the Middle East.

He says there are tremendous similarities between the two terrorist groups and Boko Haram is every bit as violent as their counterparts in Iraq and Syria.

“Most of the time the Islamic State has told the Christians, ‘You have to go or you will be killed,’ so they’re giving them an opportunity to leave.  Boko Haram seems to be going more directly towards violence.  We haven’t heard the opportunity where they’ve announced, ‘The Christians have to leave or they will be killed.’  They simply go in.  They’ve attacked churches, they’ve killed pastors and other Christians in Northern Nigeria,” said Nettleton.

As evidenced by the slow response to the recent slaughter in Baga, Nettleton says the government has done very little to push back against Boko Haram.

“So far, the Nigerian government has not been able to stop them.  They have not been able to respond militarily or police-wise,” he said.

And why not?

“There are very different stories.  There are some who say the government just doesn’t want to do this.  There are others who say that the government can’t, they don’t have the capabilities.  I even heard from some who said, ‘If this Christian president is deposed and a Muslim president comes into power Boko Haram will go away because what they really want is for a Muslim to be in charge of the country,” said Nettleton, noting that Boko Haram is a major issue in the upcoming election between incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and his Muslim challenger.

“They both say, ‘Elect me.  I can handle Boko Haram.  I will get this problem solved,'” said Nettleton.  “We’ll see which one the voters believe.”

Nettleton says the decision to attend church is far different than the one we make in the U.S.

“Even to hold a church meeting in the area controlled by Boko Haram is an act of incredible courage because you realize, ‘If I go to church on Sunday, I’m going to be at a place that’s going to be targeted and I’m going to paint a target on my own shoulders,” he said.

Despite the years of intense Boko Haram persecution, Nettleton says the courage and faith of Christians there remains very strong.

“They do keep following Christ.  They do keep meeting together with other believers and some even continue to evangelize.  They continue to share their faith with the people around them, which is pretty amazing that they would do that under such risks,” he said.

He says the faithfulness and boldness of persecuted believers has even led to heart changes among some terrorists.

“We have met former radical Muslims in Nigeria who even attacked and killed Christians, who then came face to face with Jesus Christ and are now serving Him faithfully.  They’re reaching out to fellow Muslims, sharing the gospel and inviting them to know Christ.  These people, even as they’re committing these atrocities, are not beyond the reach of God’s grace.  We can be part of the battle for their souls by getting on our knees and praying for them,” said Nettleton.

Voice of the Martyrs is very active in Nigeria.  Programs include medical care for those injured, Bibles for believers, counseling and training for pastors and assistance for the many Christian widows there.

“We need to understand this is a spiritual battle.  Because it’s a spiritual battle, we can be involved in the fight, even from 10,000 miles away.  We can get on our knees.  We can pray for the nation of Nigeria.  We can pray for our Christian brothers and sisters there and pray that God would move,” said Nettleton.

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged to see more Senate Democrats getting behind the Keystone XL Pipeline and putting President Obama in a more and more difficult position.  They also groan as President Obama is now vowing to veto five different pieces of legislation.  And they they rip Jimmy Carter for suggesting terrorists lash out because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) says President Obama is out of excuses for not supporting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and predicts supporters of the project may find enough votes to override the expected Obama veto.

On Friday, the House of Representatives voted 266-153 to authorize the pipeline.  The Senate is expected to follow suit in the coming days.  Friday’s vote came the same day the Nebraska Supreme Court threw out what may be the final legal hurdle to the pipeline.  The State Department green-lighted Keystone in 2012 after years of review.

“The president is out of excuses,” said Blackburn.  “It’s time for him to sign this.  It has wide, wide bipartisan support in the House.”

Blackburn believes the real reason for Obama’s intransigence is his fidelity to the environmental lobby.

“I think it has to do with his friends who are active in the environmental community.  They’ve invested heavily in alternative energy sources, primarily wind and solar.  But that doesn’t work in every state in the country.  Wind and solar [are] not predictable.  They are a very small part of our nation’s energy supply,” said Blackburn.

The Senate is expected to approve Keystone soon.  If Obama makes good on his veto threat, Blackburn thinks the president may surprised by what Congress does next.

“I think what you would see is we have the ability to override a veto if he moves forward with the veto.  We’re all looking forward to the Senate vote,” she said.

An override would be a tall order in either chamber, since two-thirds of the House and Senate would need to back Keystone to force it past the president.  Vote counters in the Senate believe GOP leaders can find the six Democrats needed to pass the original bill, but lining up 13 Democrats to reject an Obama veto may be hard to find.  In the House, 290 votes are needed to override a veto if all members are present.

Blackburn says the benefits of Keystone should be obvious, particularly when it comes to energy independence and job growth.

“It does increase the nation’s oil supply and it does move us further along the path to energy independence.  That’s the goal that we all share and are working toward.  Another thing it does is the jobs.  Twenty thousand jobs will be created by the pipeline,” said Blackburn, who says Keystone would also provide business owners with some desperately needed certainty.

“If you reduce the cost of doing business because you are aiding our nation’s energy security policy, which gives businesses that deal in logistics or transportation or packaging with plastics and polymers which come from crude oil, you give them a more solid and predictable foundation that they can do their pricing on,” said Blackburn.

Despite the apparent end to the legal battle over Keystone and his own State Department approving the project, Obama remains firmly opposed.  While Blackburn attributes this to the influence of environmental lobbyists, Obama argues the pipeline will move Canadian oil to the U.S. gulf coast for refining and much of the final product will be exported to other countries.

Blackburn says there are still major economic incentives to approve the plan.

“Yes, it is Canadian oil but it’s coming into our ports to be refined.  What it will help do is to get down the costs of oil and also (help) the ready supply for our businesses,” said Blackburn.

Blackburn says more energy gives another powerful geopolitical tool to help beleaguered allies.

“A great example of that is what’s happened in Europe and how they have had to depend on Russia.  Look what Russia has done to them.  We would like for our allies to be able to do business with that.  It’s short-sighted not to want that,” she said.

The number two Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee is also dismissing rumblings on Capitol Hill and beyond that a hike in federal gasoline taxes may be needed to replenish the Highway Trust Fund in order to address infrastructure needs around the nation.  She says that dog won’t hunt with her.

“I am completely opposed to raising the gas tax.  It’s the wrong step.  What you need to do is clean up what the transportation trust fund is used for.  Right now, it’s going to paths in parks and bike paths and museums, you name it.  There’s about 30 percent of that fund that has other uses,” said Blackburn.  “I think it’s time for us to just clean that up.”

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review scold the Obama administration for sending no high-ranking officials to the massive Paris rally denouncing radical Islamic terrorism.  They applaud Jake Tapper and others in the media for calling out the administration on the blunder.  And they discuss Jim’s new piece on the connection between Ben Carson and a Texas supplement company embroiled in legal troubles.