Publius' Newsstand

• Senate Parliamentarian: Obama must sign bill as...

  The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress’ original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday. The Senate Parliamentarian’s Office was responding to questions posed by the Republican leadership. The answers were provided verbally, sources said. House Democratic leaders have been searching for a way to ensure that any move they make to approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill is followed by Senate action on a reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. One idea is to have the House and Senate act on reconciliation prior to House action on the Senate’s original health care bill.

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• House votes overwhelmingly to investigate Pelos...

  The House voted Thursday to open an ethics investigation into what and when House Democratic leaders knew of allegations of sexual harassment against former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.). The House overwhelmingly backed a privileged resolution offered by GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) that will have the Ethics Committee look into what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and other Democratic leaders and staffers knew about allegations of sexual harassment against Massa, and when they became aware of the situation. The Republican resolution came amid reports that members of Pelosi's staff had been allegedly been notified of the situation in Massa's office as early as last year.

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• House GOP votes to ban all earmarks

  This would be called leading while in the minority. The Dems only ban some earmarks. GOP bans 'em all.

  House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks. The Republican's moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee's ban in that it applies to all earmarks for all members of their caucus. "For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington," they said. "We believe the time has come for House Republicans to adopt an immediate, unilateral moratorium on all earmarks."

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• Gallup: Record number of people believe Global ...

  There is lots of good stuff in this poll. Support for the Warmists is dropping off a cliff (or off a melting glacier, if you prefer).

  Gallup's annual update on Americans' attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientists themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question.

  That increase to 48% is fully 7 points higher than last year, which was also a record high.

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• Dem Rep Holden (PA) - No

  The good part is the breadth of his No - read on: Holden, D-17, voted against the health care reform bill last year. However, another vote will likely be held soon, as the House appears set to pass the Senate's version of the bill. Johnson and others believe Holden is likely having "his arm twisted" by Democratic leaders eager to turn his "no" vote to a "yes" vote the second time around. However, in a telephone interview Wednesday night, Holden said his position will not change. "I will not vote for the Senate bill," Holden said. "It makes significant cuts to Medicare and Medicaid ... and the restrictions on (federal funding for) abortion are not as strong."

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• VA set to outlaw individual mandates - 34 more ...

  The Virginia General Assembly has given final approval to a bill that would make it illegal for the government to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a measure intended to conflict with Democratic efforts to reform health care in Washington. Thirty-four other states are weighing similar legislation to block the individual mandate, which is an element of bills that have passed both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. But Virginia is the first state to complete legislative action on such a bill.

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• 0-3 Obama says a "yes" vote worth a presidentia...

  These people stop at nothing to buy what they want: "At the same time, Obama intends to lobby wavering House Democrats to vote for a Senate version of the legislation and to support the subsequent reconciliation process, which Republicans have characterized as an unjustified use of majority power. Among the rewards Obama is ready to offer, White House officials said, are election-year visits to competitive congressional districts, where a presidential appearance can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds."

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• NYT won't report on the anti-Israel funders beh...

  Typical. Shameful. FTA: The story being ignored is the Im Tirtzu campaign to expose the New Israel Fund’s connection to the defamatory Goldstone Report via its funding of groups that spurred the creation of and then contributed harsh commentary about Israel to the UN document. Originally founded as a student organization to counter anti-Zionist activity on campus, Im Tirtzu publicized revelations about the NIF-Goldstone ties in provocative ads across the country. The campaign began in January and has already prompted moves in the Knesset to intensify oversight of foreign political entities financing groups in Israel.

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• Presbyterian Church elders are poised to defame...

  Speechless: A special committee of the U.S. Presbyterian Church is set to release a report on the Middle East that embraces parts of a manifesto by Christian Palestinians who call for an end to Israel as a Jewish state. ... "The phrase 'the right of Israel to exist' is a source of pain for some members of our study committee who are in solidarity with Palestinians, who feel that the creation of the state of Israel has denied them their inalienable human rights." The committee says the U.S. ought to employ "the strategic use of influence and the withholding of financial and military aid in order to enforce Israel's compliance with international law and peacemaking efforts." No similar tactics are recommended against Hamas, which fires rockets at Israeli homes and schools. Not against Iran, which pursues nukes and dreams of erasing Israel. Not against Hizbullah.

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• Blind, anti-Semites: European Parliament backs ...

  Go pound sand, Europe. May you live long enough to regret this day. FTA: In a move likely to worsen EU ties with Israel, the European Parliament urged its 27-member states Wednesday to monitor the Israeli and Palestinian probes into alleged war crimes in Gaza. The parliament also called on Israel to immediately open border crossings with the Gaza Strip, saying its blockade is worsening the humanitarian crisis there.

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