TEA Party of Greater Gaston County

Last week, the House passed H.R. 5326, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, by a vote of 247-163, providing $51.131 billion in discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2013. That’s $1.61 billion or 3% below the amount of funding provided for these programs in fiscal year 2012–and $731 million or 1.4% below the amount requested by the president for fiscal year 2013.

Not terrible, but clearly there was room to cut more spending, right? Surely House Republicans realized that Americans want them to cut more spending than 3%–and be more than 1.4% below where President Obama is, right?

Right?

Well, some conservative amendments did indeed pass. See these, for example:

• Diane Black (R-TN) – Prohibits the use of funds by the Attorney General to sue states over their immigration laws. Passed 238-173.
• Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) – Prohibits DOJ from using funds to defend Obamacare. Passed 229-194.
• Paul Broun (R-GA) – Cuts $181,000 from the Marine Mammal Commission. Passed by voice vote.
• Bill Flores (R-TX) – Prohibits funding to continue the ban on federal procurement of unconventional fuels. Passed 250-173.
• Trey Gowdy (R-SC) – Cut $1 million from the DOJ Administrative Account for Fast and Furious Program. Passed by voice vote.
• Rep Andy Harris (R-MD) – Cut $542,000 from NOAA Climate Website. Passed 219-189.
• Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) – Prohibits the use of funds by DOJ in contravention of the Defense of Marriage Act. Passed 245-171.
• Ben Quayle (R-AZ) – Blocks Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance that limits employers from looking at criminal records. Passed by voice vote.
• David Schweikert (R-AZ) – Prohibits the use of funds by the Attorney General to sue states over their voter ID laws. Passed 232-190.
• Joe Walsh (R-IL) – Prohibits funding for sanctuary cities. Passed by voice vote.
• Daniel Webster (R-FL) – Prohibits funding for the American Community Survey. Passed 232-190.

But check out these conservative amendments that failed–and by how much they failed:

• Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) – 1% across-the-board cut to discretionary spending. Defeated 160-251.
• Paul Broun (R-GA) – A 3% cut to all salaries and expenses—as well as administrative costs—in the bill, for a total savings of $847 million. Defeated 137-270.
• Paul Broun (R-GA) – 12.2% across-the-board cut, exempting US Marshals, FBI, and NASA. Defeated 105-307.
• Paul Broun (R-GA) – Cuts $15 million from the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery program. Defeated 168-239.
• Jeff Flake (R-AZ) – Cuts the National Science Foundation to fiscal year 2008 levels, for a total savings of $1.2 billion. Defeated 121-291.
• Bill Huizenga (R-MI) – Strikes the provision that bans public-private sector competition within the Bureau of Prisons and Federal Prison Industries. Defeated 199-211.
• Tom McClintock (R-CA) – Cuts $277.8 million from the International Trade Administration. Defeated 121-287.
• Mike Pompeo (R-KS) – Eliminates all funding for the Economic Development Agency (EDA), for a total savings of $219.5 million. Defeated 129-279.
• Ben Quayle (R-AZ) – Eliminates funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, for a total savings of $21 million. Defeated 147-259.
• Steve Scalise (R-LA) – Reduces Economic Development Administration funding to fiscal year 2008 levels, for a total savings of $18.2 million. Defeated 174-233.
• Austin Scott (R-GA) – Eliminates all funding for the Legal Services Corporation, for a total savings of $328 million. Defeated 122-289.
• Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) – Cuts $128 million from the Legal Services Corporation. Defeated 165-246.

Are you kidding me?

House Republicans can’t come together to cut an additional 1%? Not $128 million from the much-hated Legal Services Corporation? Not $15 million from a salmon program?

House Republicans are still deaf to your requests to cut more spending. Make sure they hear you.

Original article: http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/05/15/house-republicans-still-hate-spending-cuts/

Despite the fact that the TSA attracts more bad publicity than any other federal agency in existence for its routine harassment of the traveling public and its penchant for hiring criminals, Congressman Mike Rogers has called for the TSA to get even “tougher” in the name of preventing the next terrorist attack.

“TSA likes to talk about their successes and I’m proud of their successes — we haven’t had another successful attack in 10 years. The problem is, we have only have to miss one and it’s a disaster,” Rogers (R-Ala.) said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “We want TSA to become smarter, leaner and tougher.”

It’s somewhat difficult to grasp precisely how the TSA should heed Rogers’ call to get “tougher” with people traveling through airports and other transportation hubs which are now festooned with TSA agents.

Perhaps Rogers is “proud” of such “successes” as the TSA’s mistreatment of young girls with cerebral palsy.

Maybe it was the clip of a three-year-old boy with a broken leg in a wheelchair being groped by a TSA goon that impressed Rogers.

Or possibly the strip-searching of 85-year-old grandmothers so TSA workers can inspect colostomy bags.

Maybe it was the harassment of a double amputee Afghanistan war veteran that helped protect us from Al-Qaeda.

Or are we talking about success stories like how wheelchair-bound 95-year-old veteran Omer Petti and his 85-year-old partner Madge Woodward were treated like terrorists by TSA agents at San Diego International airport, ostensibly so TSA workers could separate them from $300 dollars in cash which subsequently went missing.

How any of these incidents have helped prevent a terrorist attack is anyone’s guess. If anything, the TSA’s clear targeting of the elderly, children and disabled people has taken resources away from detecting genuine threats.

Maybe Rogers is referring to the TSA’s penchant for hiring criminals who abuse the position to fulfil their sexual perversions, deal drugs, or steal other people’s money and possessions.

Rogers’s call for a more aggressive TSA follows similar rhetoric by Democrat Senator from California Diane Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Appearing on Fox News last week, Feinstein addressed increasing widespread condemnation of the TSA in noting that the “public has not been terribly sympathetic” to the federal agency’s behavior, adding “it’s very important that TSA keeps up its efforts.”

Yes, it’s very important that TSA workers keep up their “efforts” to grope the elderly, children, and amputees while stealing, molesting and drug dealing in the process.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.

Original article: http://www.infowars.com/congressman-calls-for-tougher-tsa/

This past January, President Barack Obama  announced his contraceptive mandate  that would require all employers to obtain health insurance that would provide coverage for contraceptives, abortion drugs and sterilization and offer it to all of their employees.  The mandate was written in such a way that even religious institutions (churches, schools, ministries) would be required to furnish the controversial coverage even if it violated their religious  faith.

In their attempt to appease the outrage and backlash from Catholic and Protestant organizations, the Obama administration provided a religious exemption.  However that exemption was very limiting as it only applied to an institution that was a non-profit and that the majority of its employees and the people they served belonged to the same religious affiliation.

The feds religious exemption was so tightly written that many religious institutions including colleges, universities, schools and ministers would not be able to qualify for it.

Arizona  State Representative Debbie Lasko and State Senator Nancy Barto re-introduced HB 2625 into the Arizona  legislature this year to help protect the religious freedom of a number of organizations within the state.  HB 2625 broadens the religious exemption to include ‘any organization whose articles of incorporation state a religious motivation and whose religious beliefs play a significant role in its operations.’

As Governor Jan Brewer  signed the bill into law last week, she said,

“In its final form, this bill is about nothing more than preserving the religious freedom to which we are all Constitutionally-entitled.”

Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference responded to Gov Brewer’s signing of the bill by saying,

“We’re absolutely thrilled that Gov. Brewer signed this important religious liberty legislation after many years of battling over this issue in Arizona and now across the country.”

“It’s also a very good time to unite with people of other faiths on this bedrock issue.  If we don’t do it now, we’re going to see much more serious erosion.”

Hopefully other states will follow Arizona’s lead and pass similar measures to protect the constitutional freedom of all religious organizations and help prevent them from being forced to do things that are against their faith.

Read more: http://godfatherpolitics.com/5222/arizona-governor-signs-religious-freedom-bill-to-counter-obamas-contraception-mandate/#ixzz1vFnhV0TZ