Senate Votes To Advance Immigration Bill | Time For Answers on the IRS
Today in Washington, D.C. - June 11, 2013
The Senate reconvened and resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 744, the immigration reform bill. At 2:15 PM, the Senate voted on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 744 (i.e. to cut off debate on whether to take up the bill). After two hours of further debate, the cloture vote passed with a wide margin 82-15; 55 Democrats and 27 Republicans voted yea. While amendments may now be debated, the outcome is predestined as final passage only requires a simple majority vote. The only potential now to stop this run-away Immigration bill is for the House NOT To Take up the Bill or to overwhelmingly defeat the House version of the bill. If passed in the House with any modifications, the bill would go to conference and American citizens would still be the losers.
With the present American economy in the tanks, high unemployment for "legal citizens," lack of border control, it appears Congress cares little as to what the majority of legal American beleive. The potential runaway train is headed towards rewarding the illegals and punishing law abiding taxpaying American citizens. Something we cannot afford let alone desire to do. We are being punished AGAIN for the failure of Big Government to do its job in the first place - securing the borders and deporting those who are here illegally.
I commend the 15 Senators (all Republicans who voted against cloture: Sens. John Barrasso (WY), John Boozman (AR), Mike Crapo (ID), Ted Cruz (TX), Mike Enzi (WY), Charles E. Grassley (IA), James Inhofe (OK), Mark Kirk (IL), Mike Lee (UT), James Risch (ID), Pat Roberts (KS), Tim Scott (SC), Jeff Sessions (AL), Richard Shelby (AL) and David Vitter (LA). Vitter said he voted against the measure because of it going to cost $6.3 TRILLION. Should we repeat this? All this money to be spent while having already paid for the Governments failure to do the job correctly in the first place.
Very disappointed in Sens. Rand Paul (KY), GOP Minority Leaders Mitch McConnell (KY) deputy leader, John Cornyn (TX) for voting with the 24 Republican senators.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 66-27 to pass S. 954, the farm bill. Prior to passage, the Senate voted 48-38 to adopt an amendment to the bill offered by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), which would establish a pilot program for gigabit Internet projects in rural areas.
The House was in session and when not watching the actions and outcome of the Senate over the cloture vote in the Senate on the Immigration bill and internally debating and considering their actions for the upcoming Farm Bill debate in the House, potential amendments and votes, they cleared out some perfunctory bills related to managing lands and building which are required by the Constitution. List follows:
H.R. 993(Passed by Voice)< — "To provide for the conveyance of certain parcels of National Forest System land to the city of Fruit Heights, Utah." H.R. 1158 (Passed by Voice) — "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area."
H.R. 723 (Passed by Voice) — "To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of the Beaver, Chipuxet, Queen, Wood, and Pawcatuck Rivers in the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island for study for potential addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes."
H.R. 251 (404-0) — "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain Federal features of the electric distribution system to the South Utah Valley Electric Service District, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1157 (409-0) — "To ensure public access to the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain in the Hanford Reach National Monument for educational, recreational, historical, scientific, cultural, and other purposes."
The Washington Post reported yesterday, “The Internal Revenue Service has replaced one of the officials who oversaw the agency’s tax-exemption division in Cincinnati during a targeting campaign that singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny. An internal memo to employees on Monday said that Karen Schiller would serve as acting director of the IRS rulings and agreements for exempt organizations, replacing Holly Paz, who headed the same division during the targeting. Paz has come under fire from Republicans, particularly from House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa (Calif.), for attending interviews between her IRS subordinates and investigators from the inspector general’s office. Issa has also said that Paz was involved in an internal IRS investigation a year before an IG report concluded the agency had targeted conservative groups. . . . Last month, the IRS placed Lois Lerner, another official who oversaw the agency’s Cincinnati operation, on administrative leave. Additionally, a third official with responsibilities over that division, Joseph Grant, retired in May. Former acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller also stepped down last month amid pressure from the White House to resign.”
Yet there are still many questions that remain in this scandal. Americans still don’t know if anyone ordered this targeting and it’s still unclear what was known and when by the White House and Treasury Department. The conflicting timelines and explanations need to be clarified.
Just yesterday National Review Online discussed the case of the National Organization for Marriage, whose confidential donor info found its way into the hands of one of its key political opponents. According to NRO, “What makes NOM’s case unusual is this: The National Organization for Marriage has been operating as a nonprofit since 2008, so . . . it is not like the dozens or hundreds of conservative groups whose applications for tax-exempt status after Obama became president have led to invasive questioning, home visits, and audits. Rather, when it comes to IRS abuse, NOM is in a league of its own: As-yet-unknown IRS personnel may have dug into the records of NOM specifically and leaked confidential tax documents to its principal political opponent. . . . But NOM is not getting any help finding out. In an April 2012 letter to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George, whose report has been at the center of the ongoing IRS investigation, NOM set forth its allegations and called for an investigation. NOM received confirmation that an investigation had begun, and the organization was provided a complaint number. One year later, having heard nothing — except for confirmation that the leak had not come from within NOM itself — NOM sent a letter to the TIGTA Disclosure Branch requesting to know whether the investigation was still going on. On May 3, citing confidentiality provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, TIGTA responded that it ‘can neither admit nor deny the existence of any records responsive to your current request.’ That investigation could help to determine whether the impetus for the leaks came from within the IRS or from elsewhere.”
We need to know what’s been going on at the IRS and have a thorough investigation of the treatment of conservative groups. The hearings that have been held by several House committees and the Senate Finance Committee are a good start, but they are not enough. The Obama administration needs to provide answers to the American people.
Tags: Senate, Farm Bill, Immigration bill, IRS To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Senate reconvened and resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 744, the immigration reform bill. At 2:15 PM, the Senate voted on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 744 (i.e. to cut off debate on whether to take up the bill). After two hours of further debate, the cloture vote passed with a wide margin 82-15; 55 Democrats and 27 Republicans voted yea. While amendments may now be debated, the outcome is predestined as final passage only requires a simple majority vote. The only potential now to stop this run-away Immigration bill is for the House NOT To Take up the Bill or to overwhelmingly defeat the House version of the bill. If passed in the House with any modifications, the bill would go to conference and American citizens would still be the losers.
With the present American economy in the tanks, high unemployment for "legal citizens," lack of border control, it appears Congress cares little as to what the majority of legal American beleive. The potential runaway train is headed towards rewarding the illegals and punishing law abiding taxpaying American citizens. Something we cannot afford let alone desire to do. We are being punished AGAIN for the failure of Big Government to do its job in the first place - securing the borders and deporting those who are here illegally.
I commend the 15 Senators (all Republicans who voted against cloture: Sens. John Barrasso (WY), John Boozman (AR), Mike Crapo (ID), Ted Cruz (TX), Mike Enzi (WY), Charles E. Grassley (IA), James Inhofe (OK), Mark Kirk (IL), Mike Lee (UT), James Risch (ID), Pat Roberts (KS), Tim Scott (SC), Jeff Sessions (AL), Richard Shelby (AL) and David Vitter (LA). Vitter said he voted against the measure because of it going to cost $6.3 TRILLION. Should we repeat this? All this money to be spent while having already paid for the Governments failure to do the job correctly in the first place.
Very disappointed in Sens. Rand Paul (KY), GOP Minority Leaders Mitch McConnell (KY) deputy leader, John Cornyn (TX) for voting with the 24 Republican senators.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 66-27 to pass S. 954, the farm bill. Prior to passage, the Senate voted 48-38 to adopt an amendment to the bill offered by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), which would establish a pilot program for gigabit Internet projects in rural areas.
The House was in session and when not watching the actions and outcome of the Senate over the cloture vote in the Senate on the Immigration bill and internally debating and considering their actions for the upcoming Farm Bill debate in the House, potential amendments and votes, they cleared out some perfunctory bills related to managing lands and building which are required by the Constitution. List follows:
H.R. 993(Passed by Voice)< — "To provide for the conveyance of certain parcels of National Forest System land to the city of Fruit Heights, Utah." H.R. 1158 (Passed by Voice) — "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area."
H.R. 723 (Passed by Voice) — "To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of the Beaver, Chipuxet, Queen, Wood, and Pawcatuck Rivers in the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island for study for potential addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes."
H.R. 251 (404-0) — "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain Federal features of the electric distribution system to the South Utah Valley Electric Service District, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1157 (409-0) — "To ensure public access to the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain in the Hanford Reach National Monument for educational, recreational, historical, scientific, cultural, and other purposes."
The Washington Post reported yesterday, “The Internal Revenue Service has replaced one of the officials who oversaw the agency’s tax-exemption division in Cincinnati during a targeting campaign that singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny. An internal memo to employees on Monday said that Karen Schiller would serve as acting director of the IRS rulings and agreements for exempt organizations, replacing Holly Paz, who headed the same division during the targeting. Paz has come under fire from Republicans, particularly from House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa (Calif.), for attending interviews between her IRS subordinates and investigators from the inspector general’s office. Issa has also said that Paz was involved in an internal IRS investigation a year before an IG report concluded the agency had targeted conservative groups. . . . Last month, the IRS placed Lois Lerner, another official who oversaw the agency’s Cincinnati operation, on administrative leave. Additionally, a third official with responsibilities over that division, Joseph Grant, retired in May. Former acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller also stepped down last month amid pressure from the White House to resign.”
Yet there are still many questions that remain in this scandal. Americans still don’t know if anyone ordered this targeting and it’s still unclear what was known and when by the White House and Treasury Department. The conflicting timelines and explanations need to be clarified.
Just yesterday National Review Online discussed the case of the National Organization for Marriage, whose confidential donor info found its way into the hands of one of its key political opponents. According to NRO, “What makes NOM’s case unusual is this: The National Organization for Marriage has been operating as a nonprofit since 2008, so . . . it is not like the dozens or hundreds of conservative groups whose applications for tax-exempt status after Obama became president have led to invasive questioning, home visits, and audits. Rather, when it comes to IRS abuse, NOM is in a league of its own: As-yet-unknown IRS personnel may have dug into the records of NOM specifically and leaked confidential tax documents to its principal political opponent. . . . But NOM is not getting any help finding out. In an April 2012 letter to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) J. Russell George, whose report has been at the center of the ongoing IRS investigation, NOM set forth its allegations and called for an investigation. NOM received confirmation that an investigation had begun, and the organization was provided a complaint number. One year later, having heard nothing — except for confirmation that the leak had not come from within NOM itself — NOM sent a letter to the TIGTA Disclosure Branch requesting to know whether the investigation was still going on. On May 3, citing confidentiality provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, TIGTA responded that it ‘can neither admit nor deny the existence of any records responsive to your current request.’ That investigation could help to determine whether the impetus for the leaks came from within the IRS or from elsewhere.”
We need to know what’s been going on at the IRS and have a thorough investigation of the treatment of conservative groups. The hearings that have been held by several House committees and the Senate Finance Committee are a good start, but they are not enough. The Obama administration needs to provide answers to the American people.
Tags: Senate, Farm Bill, Immigration bill, IRS To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
1 Comments:
One of the principal purposes of the Tea Party is to be destructive to the re-election of RINO Republicans and to replace them with elected rock-ribbed conservative Republicans that do not vote with the Democrats.
So, attempts to cloak as being "the good guys" with the attribute of utmost efforts to "elect Republicans" is worthless, if those Republicans are RINO imposters in Republican cloth, but who nontheless, like Republican US Senator Sarah Snowe, vote with the Democrats when the chips are down.
Everyone in the Tea Party remembers that it was US Senator Sarah Snowe, (Republican, Maine) who cast the one vote for Obamacare that propelled that fiendish legislation-from-Hell through the Congress and to the White House for Obama's signaure, when the real Republicans had it bottled up to require a supermajority of 60 Senators, before your RINO Republican supplied the Democrats with the 60th turncoat traitor vote to send the Obamacare Bill to the Conference Committee. In fact, there is so much Sarah Snowe stench on Obamacare, that people in the know could logically call the Obamacare law, the Pelosi-Snow Obamacare Act!
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