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WTF? Cruz: GOP Senators Yelled at Me for Supporting Gun Filibuster
Texas senator Ted Cruz on Friday indicated that the battle among GOP senators over gun-control legislation was so fierce that, at several points during the debate, some of his Republican colleagues yelled at him “at the top of their lungs.”
“I don’t know that there is an issue that has generated more heat internally in the Republican conference,” Cruz said at a Texas tea-party rally. “We’ve had probably five or six lunches with a bunch of Republican senators standing up and looking at Rand [Paul] and Mike [Lee] and me and yelling at us at the top of their lungs, I mean, really upset.” He continued, “They said, ‘Look, why did you do this? As a result of what you did, when I go home, my constituents are yelling at me that I gotta stand on principle.’ I’m really not making that up. I don’t ever bother to argue with them, I just sorta let them yell and said, ‘Look, you know, vote your conscience.’”
Cruz who, along with senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee, launched an effort to filibuster any gun-control legislation brought to the Senate floor, called Republicans who did not back the effort ”squishes.” The trio were criticized by conservatives outside the halls of Congress as well — Cruz noted that the Wall Street Journal ran two editorials attacking their efforts.
Though their motion was defeated, aides to Cruz and Lee told National Review in the wake of the Senate vote that the trio believe they achieved an important strategic victory by drawing attention to the constitutional issues at stake before in the preceding weeks. They point to the defeat of the Democrats’ legislation as proof of their success.
Since his election to the Senate in November, Cruz has joined with Paul and Lee — both tea-party candidates elected in 2010 — to challenge not only the Democrats, but much of the Republican party, which they appear to be trying to steer in a different direction. More than once, senior senators such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham have voiced their disdain and disapproval.
Thus far, though, the newcomers are undeterred. ”We are winning,” Cruz told the crowd.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/346926/cruz-gop-senators-yelled-me-supporting-gun-filibuster
Damn!!! We almost got it done.
Reid to Pull Gun Control Bill Entirely…
Damn!!!… We almost got it done.
The Democrats and Republicans agreed to hold a vote on all nine amendments with a 60 vote threshold.
Using the 60-vote hurdle so early in the process allowed Democrats to prevent the passage of an amendment mandating that any state with a concealed-weapons law, no matter how rigorous, would have to recognize the concealed-weapons permit of residents from any other state. The amendment received 57 votes in favor, including those of 12 Democrats, and 43 votes against.
It is interesting that universal CCW got more support than the AWB or the Toomey-Manchin Amendment. President Obama held a press conference shortly after the Toomey-Manchin amendment, berating America for not passing this monstrous piece of legislation. Media personalities and Hollywood‘s political pundits weighed in with their disappointment. But he issue isn’t going to disappear, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said ““Background checks will happen,” he added, minutes after the vote. “This outcome is a delay, not a defeat.”
Reid could still pull the bill out at a later date, but for now the it looks like the Senate will be moving on to other issues.
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/04/18/Reports-Reid-Is-Pulling-Gun-Control-Bill-Entirely
Oklahoma House Passes Bill to Ban UN Agenda 21
by Alex Newman, The New American via Tenth Amendment Center Blog
Following Alabama’s lead, lawmakers in the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve popular legislation protecting private-property rights and banning a controversial United Nations “sustainable development” scheme known as Agenda 21, which critics say represents a serious threat to American values and liberty. If approved by the Senate as expected, the law would also prohibit state and local governments from working with the UN or its affiliates to implement any sort of “international law” that violates the U.S. or Oklahoma constitutions.
The bill, H.B. 1412, was passed in the state House last week on a bipartisan vote, with a Republican-led coalition of 67 supporting the legislation against 17 Democrats who opposed the measure. It originally passed out of the States’ Rights Committee in late February and is now in the state Senate, where a broad coalition of activists — supporters of national sovereignty, private property, the Constitution, individual liberty, Tea Party groups, and more — is working to ensure its passage.
Of course, Oklahoma is just the latest state to take action against the highly controversial UN plan, which calls for a transformation of human civilization under the guise of promoting so-called “sustainability.” In May of last year, Alabama became the first state to officially ban UN Agenda 21 after a law to protect private property and due process rights was signed by Gov. Robert Bentley. The wildly popular bi-partisan legislation was approved unanimously in both houses of the state legislature.
Before that, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Tennessee adopted a resolution blasting the dubious UN agenda as a radical “socialist” plot at odds with individual liberty, private-property rights, and the U.S. Constitution. Lawmakers in Kansas followed suit. Numerous other state governments, under heavy pressure from activists across the political spectrum, are also working to ban the “sustainable development” scheme in their jurisdictions. City and county governments, meanwhile, are taking action to protect residents, too.
In Oklahoma, lawmakers said legislation was needed to defend citizens and their rights from the UN scheme as well. Despite having never been ratified by the U.S. Senate as required by the Constitution, supporters of the bill explained, officials at all levels — especially the federal executive branch, mostly using unconstitutional “grants” and decrees — have been quietly working to implement the controversial 1992 international agreement across America.
“House Bill 1412 is a short little bill, barely two pages long; it deals with a big topic though, protecting personal property rights,” noted Republican Rep. Sally Kern, who sponsored the legislation in the Oklahoma House.
Related articles
- Oklahoma Bill Would Nullify Agenda 21 (tenthamendmentcenter.com)
- Alabama & Oklahoma Ban NWO Agenda 21 Banking Scheme: States At War With Their Over Taken Federal Corporation! (politicalvelcraft.org)
- Oklahoma House Passes Obamacare Nullification Bill (godfatherpolitics.com)
Assault weapons ban now unlikely to pass. What happened?
Assault weapons ban now unlikely to pass. What happened?
What’s behind this development? The assault weapons ban was unlikely to pass the Senate in any case, and had become so unpopular it risked taking down with it other gun control measures, such as new restrictions on weapons trafficking and a possible expansion of federal background checks.
In truth, it’s been clear for a long time that the assault weapons ban was doomed, notes Washington Post political blogger Chris Cillizza.
For one thing, the ban was just too controversial. Gun rights advocates argue that the difference between assault weapons and non-assault hunting rifles is largely cosmetic, and that banning guns based on style won’t make Americans any safer. In the proposed prohibition of an entire class of firearms many saw the beginnings of their nightmare of Washington coming after their guns.
For another, some Senate Democrats were uneasy about the ban. Reid was never behind it, and it made a number of Democrats from red states uneasy.
Graham, McCain blast Paul filibuster
via Washington Times
Almost exactly 24 hours after Mr. Paul began his information-seeking filibuster against John O. Brennan, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham took to the Senate floor to denounce his demands and say he was doing a “disservice” to the debate on drones.
“The country needs more senators who care about liberty, but if Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he’s talking about,” said Mr. McCain, Republicans’ presidential nominee in 2008 — who topped Mr. Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul, in that year’s primary.
And where Democrats praised Mr. Paul for using Senate rules properly to launch a filibuster, Mr. McCain said it was an abuse of rules that could hurt the GOP in the long run.
“What we saw yesterday is going to give ammunition to those who say the rules of the Senate are being abused,” the Arizona Republican said.
Mr. Paul said he was filibustering to get the administration to affirm it won’t kill non-combatant Americans in the U.S. — and his effort was joined by more than a dozen other senators who said they, too, supported his effort to get answers.
Mr. Graham said asking whether the president has the power to kill Americans here at home is a ludicrous question.
“I do not believe that question deserves an answer,” Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Graham and Mr. McCain led a Republican delegation that held a private dinner with President Obama on Wednesday, as Mr. Paul was holding the floor with help from other GOP colleagues.
Mr. McCain even joked about Mr. Graham’s “behavior” at the dinner.
“He was on his best manners and everyone was impressed,” Mr. McCain said.
Related articles
- McCain And Graham’s @SenRandPaul Temper Tantrum (thecampofthesaints.org)
- IT’S WAR: John McCain And Lindsey Graham Are Tearing Into Rand Paul Right Now On The Senate Floor (businessinsider.com)
- Rush to Rand: ‘You’re a hero’ (wnd.com)
- McCain, Graham blast Paul filibuster (politico.com)
- Moronic: Sen. McCain blasts Sen. Paul’s filibuster as ‘political stunt,’ ‘ridiculous’ (twitchy.com)
- Rand Paul’s Drone Filibuster Sparks GOP Civil War (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
18 Democratic senators buck Harry Reid on Obamacare tax
via The Daily Caller
Eighteen Democratic U.S. Senators and senators-elect sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week calling for a “delay in the implementation” of the medical device tax in Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The provision was an integral part of the version of the Obamacare law, which was passed in the Senate under Reid’s stewardship in 2009. It is set to take effect on January 1, 2013.
An effort to repeal the provision failed in Congress in June. At the time, Reid characterized the proposed repeal as a Republican attack on Obamacare.
“The medical technology industry directly employs over 400,000 people in the United States and is responsible for a total of two million high-skilled manufacturing jobs. … With this year quickly drawing to a close, the medical device industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax — causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses,” according to the letter. “We urge you to support delaying enactment of this provision in a fiscally responsible manner.”
The provision’s 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers has sparked panic within the medical devices industry. Indiana-based Zimmer Holdings, which manufactures hip replacement implants, laid off 450 workers in anticipation of $60 million in taxes in 2013. Michigan-based Stryker Corp., which also produces hip implants, laid off 5 percent of its workers in a bid to compensate for the $100 million it will pay in taxes next year.
MORE . . .
Related articles
- 18 Democrat Senators Revolt Against Harry Reid On Obamacare Tax (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
- Democrats Admit Obamacare Is a Job-Killer (powerlineblog.com)
- Ultimate Hypocrisy: 16 Democratic Senators Who Voted For ObamaCare Denounce ‘Job-Killing’ ObamaCare Tax (mikesright.wordpress.com)
- 16 Democrats that voted for Obamacare now want to delay it.. (wherearemykeys.typepad.com)
- 18 Dem Senators seemingly unaware that Obamacare tax would kill jobs (hotair.com)
- Dems join in calling for delay to ObamaCare medical device tax (foxnews.com)
- Democrats in Congress ‘want out’ of Obamacare (wnd.com)
- Senate Democrats Seek Delay in Medical-Device Tax (blogs.wsj.com)
