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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato (429-347 BC)

Thursday, July 30, 2015

House Dems Oppose VA Accountability; Kerry Minces Words On Iran Side Deals

Editorial Cartoon by Mike Luckovich
Today in Washington, D.C. - July 30 2015
The House is scheduled to reconvene today at 1 PM on Friday. This may be only a pro-forma meeting as the House schedule says there will be no votes on Friday and the House members are not in session and are in their Home Districts for all of August and not in session again until Sept 8th, 2015 (no recorded votes until 6:30 PM). What a job!

Yesterday, the House passed:
H.R. 1300 (424-0) — "To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to make anthrax vaccines and antimicrobials available to emergency response providers, and for other purposes."
H.R. 1994 (256-170) — VA Accountability Act: "To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the removal or demotion of employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs based on performance or misconduct, and for other purposes." Editor Rant: 90% - (167) Democrats opposed to the demotion and removal for misconduct or poor performance of VA employees. They are so beyond liberal they make idiots look good. These democrats were elected to represent their constituents and not big government workers who are not doing their jobs properly. No wonder veterans are suffering. Time for all vets to not support or vote for any democrat who voted NO on this bill because they like your vote but don't give a damn when veterans need of care! There were 16 democrats who voted for veterans. Visit this link to the vote, to see your Congress person vote. Note also that over a year ago, Senate Democrats blocked the VA Accountability Act.
H.R. 3236 (385-34) — "To provide an extension of Federal-aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit, and other programs funded out of the Highway Trust Fund, to provide resource flexibility to the Department of Veterans Affairs for health care services, and for other purposes." The extension is for 3 months.

Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) called for lifting the oil export ban – a move he says will help create jobs, lower energy prices, and support our allies. He said, "Until recently, our nation’s energy policy was rooted in a scarcity mindset that went back to the 1970s. But now, America is experiencing an energy boom, and our policy needs to follow suit. That’s why the Energy & Commerce Committee is working on legislation to ensure that we fulfill our energy potential. Chairman Upton will mark up a bill this fall, and it’s a top priority here in the House. By embracing our resources, we’ll keep energy prices affordable, help create jobs, and boost our economy.

"But there’s another important energy issue that would provide a big boost to our economy, and that is lifting the ban on exporting crude oil. Lifting the ban would create an estimated one million jobs here at home – jobs that would frankly get created in every state. It would help bring down prices at the pump for consumers. And it would be good for our allies. If the administration wants to lift the ban for Iran, certainly the United States should not be the only country left in the world with such a ban in place.

“I would support lifting the ban, and I hope that we can work together in a bipartisan fashion to bring our energy policies into this century.”

The Senate reconvened at 10 AM today and resumed post-cloture consideration of H.R. 22, as amended.

At noon, the Senate Will begin voting on final passage of H.R. 22, the 3 year paid-for highway bill.

At 1:45, the Senate will vote on passage of H.R. 3236, the House-passed 3 month extension of the current highway authorization.

In the News:
The Hill writes, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed President Obama on Thursday, suggesting that it's unacceptable that the administration hasn't turned over agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

“McConnell, as well as Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), wrote to Obama earlier this month demanding that the administration hand over the two so-called ‘side’ deals.

‘That was more than a week ago, but we still have yet to receive them,’ the Republican leader said. ‘Without this critical information, Republicans and Democrats in Congress may not be able to properly assess such a highly consequential deal with Iran. That simply is not acceptable.’

“He added that the administration ‘needs to turn over side agreements without delays.’”

Leader McConnell explained, “The purpose of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act is to ensure Congress has a fully informed understanding of any comprehensive agreement reached between the Administration and Iran.

“These are principles both parties endorsed when they voted overwhelmingly to pass the measure.

“These are principles President Obama endorsed when he signed it into law.

"These are principles that need to be upheld."

“That’s why I recently joined Speaker Boehner, Senator Cotton, and Congressman Pompeo in calling on the administration to comply with the terms of this law by providing the Senate with the text of two side agreements reached between Iran and the IAEA.”

Yet the Obama administration keeps claiming they either don’t have the full text these agreements or can’t share them with Congress.

At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked both Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz if they’d read these agreements. Both said they had not. Neither was even sure if anyone on their teams had read them. Kerry said wasn’t sure if anyone in the U.S. government had read them. The Weekly Standard posted a video of the exchange.

Sen. Cotton pressed Kerry, “Why can't we confirm or deny the content of these agreements in public? Why is this classified? It's not a sensitive U.S. government document. The ayatollahs know what they agreed to.”

Kerry responded, “Because we respect the process of the IAEA and we don't have their authorization to reveal what is a confidential agreement between them and another country.”

Sen. Cotton summarized, “So the ayatollahs will know what they agreed to but not the American people?”

Kerry claimed, “No, not exactly, because we will share with you, in the classified briefing, what we understand the contents to be.”

But just minutes earlier Kerry was saying he wasn’t sure anyone in the administration had even read the full document. Will Congress only get a briefing based on a summary of another briefing?

As Sen. Cotton pointed out yesterday, and Leader McConnell did today, the law President Obama signed requires that Congress be presented with the text of these agreements.

Leader McConnell concluded his remarks today, “As the review moves forward, we’ll continue working to assess the relative threat posed to the greater Middle East and to the United States by an Iranian regime empowered with a threshold nuclear program and billions of dollars in additional resources.

“I know this worries a lot of members in both parties. Consider what the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said just this week: ‘I’m troubled that what this essentially does is after fifteen years it legitimatizes Iran as a nuclear threshold state. After fifteen years Iran can produce weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium without limitations and that is disturbing because what that means to me is it really doesn’t prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. It just postpones it.’"

“He’s not the only Democrat or Republican with these types of concerns. . . . So we’ll continue working hard to assess this agreement on behalf of the American people, who absolutely deserve a say in a deal of this magnitude.

“And at the end, Congress will take a vote and answer a simple but powerful question: Will this agreement actually make America and its allies safer?”

Tags: U.S., House, Senate, VA Accountability Act, Iran Side Deals To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 11:40 AM - Post Link

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