The Lameduck-RINO Reconciliation Surrenders Begin - Choosing the Symbolic over the Substantive

from Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House may vote this week to undo President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, House Speaker John Boehner told lawmakers Tuesday as he sought to give outraged conservatives an outlet to vent over Obama's move without shutting down the government.

The move would be mostly symbolic, since Obama would certainly veto such legislation and the Democratic-led Senate likely wouldn't go along with it. But GOP leaders hope it will assuage Republicans furious about Obama's two-week-old actions to shield some 4 million immigrants in this country illegally from deportation, and grant them work permits.

"We're looking at a number of options in terms of how to address this. This is a serious breach of our Constitution," Boehner told reporters. "It's a serious threat to our system of government, and frankly we have limited options and limited ability to deal with it directly."

Publicly, the speaker told reporters that Republicans were considering several options and no decision had been made, but aides and lawmakers said that he indicated during a closed-door meeting with the rank and file earlier that the vote on legislation to block Obama was the leading option. It would be on a bill by Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., aimed at blocking Obama from unilaterally allowing categories of unlawful immigrants to live and work here.

Party leaders then hope to move on next week to voting on must-pass spending legislation to keep the government running. In the wake of their midterm election victories last month to win full control of Congress, Republican leaders are eager to show they can govern responsibly without risking government shutdowns. But Obama's administrative moves on immigration and the resulting GOP fury has created complications.

Boehner floated the two-step approach as Congress reconvened after a week-long Thanksgiving recess. But there were immediate signs of opposition from immigration hard-liners who have scuttled past efforts by Boehner to address the issue.

Several conservative lawmakers said Boehner's approach didn't go far enough. They said they would hold out for a spending bill to include language explicitly blocking Obama's actions from taking effect. GOP leaders fear that could scuttle the spending bill or even lead to a government shutdown.

"If we start out with a bill that does nothing to reverse the president's illegal conduct it will be difficult for me to support it," said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. "I'll be surprised if they can muster the 218 votes needed to pass the House."

Some conservatives were not mollified by the prospect of voting on Yoho's bill aimed at overturning Obama.

"I'm going to vote for Yoho's bill but it's not going to go anywhere and everybody knows that," said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.

Meanwhile Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended Obama's new immigration plans before a House committee where Republicans took turns denouncing them as an unconstitutional power grab that would incite a new rush of illegal immigration at the border.

"The president's unilateral actions to bypass Congress undermine the Constitution and threaten our democracy," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "We will see a wave of illegal immigration because of the president's actions."

Johnson disputed that point and others, arguing the president acted within his executive authority to temporarily defer deportations for certain immigrants who are not priorities for removal anyway. The actions apply mostly to people who've been in the country five years or more and have kids who are citizens or green card holders.

"I'm fully comfortable that we have the legal authority to push forward these reforms," Johnson said. "Deferred action is an inherent executive branch authority that can and should be used from time to time, and we've done so here."

The spending measure the House will vote on next week will top $1 trillion and fund the day-to-day operations of Cabinet agencies through the Sept. 30 end of the 2015 fiscal year. The Department of Homeland Security — whose personnel implement Obama's orders to permit more immigrants here illegally to remain in the U.S. — may be kept on a shorter leash and be funded only into early 2015 under a plan floated by Boehner. The idea would be to try to reverse Obama's moves on immigration when revisiting its budget next year.

Boehner said no decision has been made. If GOP leaders go forward with the plan they would be rejecting demands by conservative activists to take a more confrontational approach now and try to attach legislation explicitly blocking Obama's immigration orders to the must-pass spending bill.

Johnson spoke out strongly against such a short-term spending measure for his department, saying it could prevent him from funding needed priorities including hiring protection for presidential candidates heading into the 2016 elections.

In Boehner's eyes, "a serious breech of the Constitution" only merits "symbolic" action by the Congress.

41...43...45?

from the Washington Examiner

Conservative leaders who had a hand in key Republican victories including Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the Contract with America and the birth of the Tea Party, are ganging up to oppose a Jeb Bush presidential bid, declaring him easier to beat than Bob Dole or John McCain.

“I don’t know of any conservatives who are supporting him,” said Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com.

“Jeb is a very good moderate Democrat,” added top-rated talk radio host Mark Levin. “He's very boring. He doesn't elicit excitement and energy outside a very small circle of wealthy corporatists and GOP Beltway operatives. Time to move on.”

The criticism of Bush, a media darling and leading centrist GOP potential presidential candidate, took off when Phyllis Schlafly updated her 50-year-old conservative manifesto, A Choice Not an Echo, with a slap at Bush.

In her latest revision, provided to the Washington Examiner, she wrote: “Do you get the message that the media buildup for Jeb Bush has begun and that the 2016 Republican National Convention may nominate another establishment loser, the next one in line? But it doesn’t have to be.”

Many conservatives are critical of Bush’s support for Common Core educational standards and immigration reform.

But his biggest hurdle may be his last name.

“The objection so many Reaganites have to another Bush is because he is another Bush,” said Reagan biographer Craig Shirley. “He, too, has an alarming belief in centralized authority. From the standpoint of history, the Bush family got their start in 1980 opposing Reagan and Reaganism, as they continue to do today.”

“We just don’t trust him,” said Viguerie, who favors Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. “Conservatives are going to be very, very critical of Jeb, not only for the sins of the father and brother, but also for his own views.”

Well, at least its' not Romney!

I used to get mad at Republicans who "poisoned the wells" of other potential Republican candidates, like the establishment did to Ron Paul and many others before him. But hey, what's good for the goose, is gravy for the gander!

Harford County Changing of the Guard

from the Baltimore Sun

Republican Barry Glassman took office Monday as Harford County executive, promising to make the county “a leader in economic development and job creation.”

In a ceremony at Harford Community College, Gov.-elect Larry Hogan praised Glassman as both a political ally and “a genuinely nice man.”

“Together we’ll put Maryland on a new path and together we will change Maryland for the better,” Hogan said.

The governor-elect received a thunderous welcome in a jurisdiction he carried with more than three-quarters of the vote. He did not stay to witness Glassman’s swearing-in because he left for Annapolis to attend the inauguration of Steve Schuh as Anne Arundel County executive.

In his address, Glassman promised to take on what he called a “heroin epidemic” in the county. He also said he will introduce a number of measures before the County Council this week, including a repeal of the storm water remediation fee derided by Republicans as the “rain tax.”

“Rain will no longer be taxed in Harford County,” he said. Glassman said the county would keep up its federally required storm water efforts using existing resources.

Glassman, 52, was appointed to the Senate in 2008 to fill a vacancy. He had previously served nine years in the House of Delegates and eight on the Harford County Council.

On Election Day, Glassman gained 75 percent of votes in his victory over Democrat Joseph Werner. Glassman succeeds David R. Craig, who held the office for the past decade.

With Schuh and Howard County’s Allan Kittleman, Glassman gives Maryland Republicans added “bench strength” at the county executive level for future statewide races. All three men will lead large urban counties and are in their 50s.

The inauguration attracted many of Glassman’s former General Assembly colleagues, in addition to former county executives Eileen Rehrmann and James Harkins and U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican who represents the First District.