Townhall.com’s Washington Beat
by Katie Pavlich
May 10, 2011
OBAMA GIVES AMNESTY SPEECH
President Obama laid out his plan for “comprehensive immigration
reform” this week in El Paso, Texas, saying “immigrants” are the way to
expand the middle class, make America more competitive on a global
level and said immigration reform is an economic imperative, which it
is considering illegal immigration costs Arizona and California over
$12 billion per year. Obama failed to distinguish the difference
between legal and illegal immigrants through his speech and called for
Congress, again, to pass the DREAM Act as it failed in the previous
lame duck session. Obama also declared the border fence as “basically
complete,” a blatantly false and misleading statement. In addition,
Obama claimed his administration had done everything that was asked to
secure the southern border with Mexico and that his opposition should
avoid playing politics with the issue. This was Obama’s first visit to
the U.S.-Mexico border despite being invited by local officials
multiple times.
SENATE DEMOCRATS STILL DON’T HAVE A BUDGET
Not surprisingly, Senate democrats still haven’t produced a budget. The
news isn’t shocking considering democrats would have to agree to
spending cuts in order to garnish enough republican votes to actually
pass a budget. But there is good news, President Obama has asked to
meet with both Senate Caucuses for yet another budget summit. It has
been 740 days since the democrats in the Senate have passed a budget
and the fiscal year is quickly coming to an end.
DEBT CEILING TOUGH TALK
Speaker John Boehner drew his line in the sand this week as he laid out
a proposal for democrats complete with a compromise on raising the debt
ceiling. Boehner made it clear that although allowing America to
default on foreign loans would be irresponsible, it would be more
irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling without dramatically cutting
spending. Boehner vowed there would be no debt limit increase from
House republicans without significant and substantial spending cuts.
OBAMACARE RULING COULD COME THIS SUMMER
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has lead the way against the
implementation of ObamaCare and anticipated this week that a ruling by
the 4th Circuit Court panel regarding Virginia’s challenge to the
federal power grab and implementation of the new healthcare law could
come as early as this summer. Cuccinelli has argued that because
ObamaCare forces people to buy a good or service against their will,
the legislation is a violation of the U.S. Constitution and does not
have authority through the Commerce Clause.
COCKPIT STORMED ON A PLANE
A pilot of a jet kicked two Muslim men off his plane this week after
one man stormed the cockpit while yelling “Allah Akbar.” The media
however reported that the motives of Rageit Almurisi, a man with a
Yemeni passport were “unclear.” Townhall counted 11 different news
sources failing to reference Almurisi’s faith of Islam during their
reporting on the story.
ENERGY BILL PASSED IN THE HOUSE
House members finally passed legislation this week on the issue of
energy in America as gas prices continue to climb towards $5 per
gallon. HR 1230 allows for more offshore drilling leases off the coast
of Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill will now move to the
Senate where it will be considered by the Energy and Natural Resources
Committee. In Viriginia alone, newly granted leases will create nearly
2,000 jobs and supply over 700 million barrels of oil to the country.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Ken Cuccinelli discussing his challenge to ObamaCare: “This case is
about liberty, not health care.”
-Katie Pavlich is the News Editor for Townhall.com
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