| Runyan To Host Toms River Senior as his Guest for the State of the Union | |
| Tuesday, January 24, 2012 | |
| Congressman Jon Runyan (R-NJ) will host Toms River High School North senior Brittney Emery to be his guest at the State of the Union. Ms. Emery was selected by the high school’s administrative staff after Rep. Runyan extended an invitation to one student from the high school to attend. She is a student in the Political and Legal Education class and is very interested in government and politics. “I am pleased that Brittney has accepted my invitation to attend the State of the Union,” said Congressman Runyan. “I was very impressed by Brittney’s involvement in the Girl Scouts and her outreach to younger female students. I believe it is very important to provide our future leaders with every opportunity to see our democracy at work.“ President Barack Obama will speak in front of a Joint Session of Congress at 9pm on Tuesday January 24th. Ms. Emery will be seated in the Gallery of the House of Representatives with family, friends and guests of other Members of Congress. |
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| Up-to-date analysis of the 2012 campaign and all things politics. Occasional posts on the interworkings of the world of defense, intelligence, and U.S. national security. | |
| Measure Would Change Business as Usual in Washington | |
| Tuesday, January 24, 2012 | |
| U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, PA-10, on Monday introduced the One Subject at a Time Act that he says will “change business as usual in Washington.” Marino said the aim of the bill is to make representatives and senators more accountable by ensuring Congress only passes laws that stand on their own merit. “One of the biggest problems in Washington is the longtime practice of attaching unrelated bills together in order to get a favorite measure passed,” Marino said. “Both parties are guilty of this. The best way to ensure openness and transparency and for all representatives and senators to become more accountable is to conduct up-and-down votes on one issue at a time.” Marino said passage of the law would put an end to the deals and trades that legislators engage in to secure sufficient votes for pieces of legislation. It is common practice for congressional leaders to combine measures with other legislation on unrelated topics in order to gain the support of other elected officials. The clearest example of this abuse, he said, is the president’s health care reform law which was passed in 2010. In order to garner enough votes to pass the law, a host of unrelated measures was tacked onto Obamacare – namely the changes to the student loan process. The One Subject at a Time Act requires that all titles describe what a bill will actually do and that the legislation cover only one general issue at a time. In this way, Congress and the public will be well aware of the "one subject" on which they are voting and an issue can be fully vetted and considered on its own merits. |
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| Schumer, King Say Parties Need To Set Aside Differences | |
| Monday, September 05, 2011 | |
| Congress is reconvening this week for what could be a painful confrontation over how to put Americans back to work. Lawmakers returning after a monthlong recess are in accord on at least one thing: Jobs policy must be at the top of the agenda. “The American people have sent Washington a message: focus on jobs and the economy helping the average middle class family pay the bills because costs are going up and incomes are not,” Sen. Charles Schumer said. |
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| Carter steps up fight against Obama Amnesty | |
| Saturday, July 16, 2011 | |
| Congressman John Carter (R-TX) has stepped up the fight against a default amnesty plan for illegal aliens by adding his support to the HALT Act, HR 2497, which bars the Department of Homeland Security from ignoring millions of illegal aliens. “Congress has rejected blanket amnesty for illegal aliens, so the Obama Administration is now attempting to circumvent the law by ignoring it,” says Carter. “This is not a legitimate use of prosecutorial discretion, but a scheme to bypass the constitutional requirements of changing the law.” Carter has cosponsored the “Hinder the Administration's Legalization Temptation Act", the HALT Act by House Judiciary Committee Chairman and fellow Texan Lamar Smith. The HALT Act essentially bans enactment of a “prosecutorial discretion” directive issued June 17 by the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton. The Morton memo encourages federal agents to ignore or grant deferred action against illegal aliens for “relevant factors” including lack of conviction of serious crimes; attending school; having a relative who is a U.S. citizen; having been present illegally for multiple years; having a relative serving in the U.S. military; age; and other factors. The assortment of categories virtually guarantees amnesty for the majority of illegal aliens in the country. Carter joined Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) in passing similar language barring the default amnesty scheme as an amendment to H.R. 2017, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act that passed the House in June and awaits action in the Senate. The former Texas judge has been actively fighting the President’s attempt to undermine Congressional authority on immigration policy since August of 2010, when the Administration without warning dismissed the cases of 17,000 illegal aliens facing trial in Texas. |
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