Boehner in line for
3rd term as speaker; GOP readies agenda
Associated Press
By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner's prospects for a new term appeared secure Monday
despite grumblings from tea party-aligned dissidents on the eve of a Republican
takeover of Congress, while GOP leaders in both houses pointed toward a swift
veto showdown with President Barack Obama over
the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline.
Senate Republicans, winners of a majority in last fall's
elections, began laying down markers for legislative battles ahead. "Tax
reform should not be used as an excuse to raise taxes on the American
people," wrote Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who will become chairman of the
tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. "Any such effort is a needless
distraction," he added, pointedly rejecting a long-held view of the White
House and many Democrats.
Tax reform was a distant target as congressional veterans
and newcomers alike looked ahead to a day of pomp and ceremony beneath the
Capitol Dome.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's ascension Tuesday to the
post of Senate majority leader was automatic following his approval by
rank-and-file Republicans late last year.
That wasn't the case in the House, where the election of a
speaker is the main event on any opening day's agenda. Reps. Louie Gohmert of
Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida put themselves forward as challengers, and the
Tea Party Patriots tweeted out a request for rank and file Republicans to
support one or the other.
Roughly a dozen Republicans have announced they will oppose
Boehner's election, but that was far short of the number needed to place his
election in jeopardy. One lawmaker, Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, said
Boehner "deserves a chance" to try and pass a conservative agenda in
cooperation with the Senate under Republican control.
The speaker's spokesman, Michael Steel, said Boehner
"was selected as the House Republican Conference's choice for speaker in
November, and he expects to be elected by the whole House this week."
Nor did any of the rebels predict they would succeed in
toppling the 65-year-old Ohioan. Instead, they said the current high command
wasn't conservative enough.
Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, who defeated former Majority Leader
Eric Cantor in a primary last summer, said the Republican leadership has
"strayed from its own principles of free market, limited government,
constitutional conservatism. We are at a crucial turning point in our country's
history."
Two years ago, Boehner was faced with similar criticism, and
sweated out his election to a second term.
His hand is considerably stronger this year as a result of
the sweep of the Republican electoral triumph. The party will hold 246 House
seats in the new Congress, to 188 for the Democrats, the biggest GOP majority
in nearly 70 years.
It would have been bigger still, but New York Rep. Michael
Grimm's resignation took effect one day before the new Congress convened. He
pleaded guilty last month to federal tax evasion.
The intra-party leadership struggle underscored the
political peril facing Republicans as they looked ahead to two-house control of
Congress. Yet the evident ability to pass Keystone pipeline legislation showed
their potential to advance an agenda.
The legislation passed the House but died in a
Democratic-led filibuster in the Senate late last year. Now, Republican leaders
intend to push the bill through the House late this week, and appear to have
more than enough votes to clear it through the Senate as well, given the
Republican pickup of nine seats in the elections.
While Obama has not said if he will reject the measure,
White House spokesman Josh Earnest outlined a series of concerns with the
measure before adding, "I'm not prepared at this point to issue a veto
threat related to that specific piece of legislation."
But Republicans stand ready to cast the measure as a
bipartisan jobs bill of the type that should be signed into law.
"There's a lot we can get done together if the
president puts his famous pen to use signing bills rather than vetoing
legislation his liberal allies don't like," McConnell said late last year.
Earnest was less ambiguous about another issue.
Referring to an assertion by a Louisiana reporter, he said
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the third-ranking House GOP leader, had once
described himself as "David Duke without the baggage." Earnest also
said Scalise's presence in the leadership of House Republicans "says a lot
about who they are."
Scalise spoke more than a dozen years ago to a white
supremacist organization founded by Duke. The lawmaker said recently the
appearance was a mistake, and said he condemns the group's views.
John A. Boehner
John
A. Boehner is the speaker for the U.S.
House of Representatives, the house leader for the Republican establishment, and a member of the Burning Tree Club.
Note: Stanley Ebner is a
member of the Burning Tree Club, and
a director at the Atlantic Council of
the United States (think tank).
R. Scott Pastrick
is a member of the Burning Tree Club,
and was the president & CEO for BKSH
& Associates.
Paul
E. Brown was a managing director for BKSH
& Associates, and a floor assistant for Tom Daschle.
Tom Daschle’s
floor assistant was Paul E. Brown, Anita B. Dunn was his senior political
adviser, is the chairman for the Center
for American Progress, and a 2008
Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Center for American Progress, and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, the
chairman for the Foundation to Promote
Open Society, and a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Brookings Institution (think
tank), the Harlem Children's Zone,
and the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Madeleine K.
Albright is a director at the Center
for American Progress, an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and a friend of
Susan E. Rice.
Susan
E. Rice was a director at the Atlantic
Council of the United States (think tank), a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), is
a friend of Madeleine K. Albright,
the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a stockholder in the TransCanada Corporation.
TransCanada
Corporation is a proposed builder for the
Keystone XL pipeline, and a SKDKnickerbocker
client.
Anita
B. Dunn is a managing director for SKDKnickerbocker,
married to Robert F. Bauer, was a senior
political adviser for Tom Daschle, the
communications director for the Barack
Obama administration, and produced ad campaign for the Keystone XL pipeline.
Robert
F. Bauer is married to Anita B. Dunn,
a partner at Perkins Coie, was the White
House counsel for the Barack Obama
administration, and Barack Obama’s
personal counsel.
Obama's birth-certificate lawyer now FCC attack dog
Threatened suit against group for ad critical of Obamacare
Jerome R. Corsi
Published: 02/25/2014 at 8:47 PM
NEW YORK – Perkins Coie,
the Seattle-based law firm that has defended Barack Obama in lawsuits
challenging the authenticity of his birth records, has emerged as the muscle
for Federal Communications Commission threats against media that run
advertising critical of Obamacare and of Democrats running for election in
November 2014.
Independence
USA PAC is a media consultant for SKDKnickerbocker,
and a pro- gun safety PAC.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Independence
USA PAC, a co-chair for the Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, the founder of the Bloomberg
Family Foundation, a member of the Alfalfa
Club, was the New York (NY)
mayor, and a benefactor at the Harlem
Children's Zone.
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Jack
Valenti was a trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and a member of the Burning Tree Club.
George
H.W. Bush is a member of the Alfalfa
Club, and a member of the Burning
Tree Club.
John
A. Boehner is a member of the Burning
Tree Club, the speaker for the U.S.
House of Representatives, and the house leader for the Republican establishment.
U.S.
Chamber of Commerce is a longtime supporter for the Republican establishment.
Klaus Kleinfeld was a director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a trustee
at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Susan
E. Rice was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), is a friend of Madeleine K. Albright, the White House
national security adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and a stockholder in the TransCanada Corporation.
TransCanada
Corporation is a proposed builder for the
Keystone XL pipeline, and a SKDKnickerbocker
client.
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