This Week in Congress

This Week in Congress
In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader: Leader Cantor Statement on the Legislative Schedule for the Week of January 10th WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued the following statement regarding the legislative schedule for the House of Representatives during the upcoming week: "In consultation with the Speaker and the Democratic Leadership, I have postponed all previously-scheduled Legislation for the coming week to accommodate any ac...

Nation gets first look at suspect, Tucson grieves
A woman prays at the memorial located in front of the University Medical Center, Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in Tucson, Ariz. The memorial has been set up for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is in critical condition at the Hospital, and other Victims who were shot on Saturday, leaving six dead and more injured. When Jared Loughner walked into the courtroom, everything fell silent. Law clerks, courtroom artists and reporters alike turned from the wooden benches to look at the vacant-e...

No Signs Obama Will Shift On Gun Control After Giffords Shooting
Virtually since the Obama Administration took office, the White House has avoided touching the third-rail issue of Gun Control with a 10-foot pole. So will the mass shooting in Arizona that gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six others (including a Federal Judge) change their approach? Gun control advocates hope so. Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said in an interview that banning the high-capacity clips (the type use...

Can the Hate Be Stopped?: Tucson Struggles to Come to Terms with Slayings
Tucson, Arizona, has become a symbol of fanatacism following the Assassination attempt on a member of Congress. The city, with its deep political divisions, is struggling to cope with the attack. President Obama is hoping to foster Reconciliation during a visit on Wednesday. When the tears start flowing, she raises her sign, trying to hide herself behind it. Susan Shobe is standing close to the impromptu memorial that has been set up on the lawn in front of the University Medical Center in Tuc...

House GOP postpones votes for this week
In light of the tragedy that took place in Tucson on Saturday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has postponed votes on Legislation for the week, including an planned vote to Repeal the Health Care reform Legislation passed last March: “In consultation with the Speaker and the Democratic Leadership, I have postponed all previously-scheduled Legislation for the coming week to accommodate any action needed in light of yesterday’s tragic events in Arizona. “The House will meet...

Tributes to mark the week ahead in Congress
Legislative action in the House will come to a standstill this week following the shooting Saturday of 20 people, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), at a "Congress on Your Corner" event in Tucson. The lower chamber is not in session Monday, but House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood requested Sunday that all members of Congress, Staffers and visitors present on the House side of the Capitol join President Obama and the country at 11 a.m. in observing a moment of silence for...

Hold bad political actors accountable (Politico)
Every Sunday morning starts the same way: I go to Starbucks, pick up The New York Times and dive in. Every Sunday morning, that is, except for the one that just passed. When I went to the Coffee Shop, I passed the newspaper rack without a glance. I simply couldn’t bear to look. The day before, my wife, Susan, had rushed into our apartment, shaking and with both fists clenched. Through tears, she told me about the shootings at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s meeting at a Parking Lot in Tu...

Poll: Rhetoric, Arizona shooting unrelated
Almost 60 percent of the public believes that heated political Rhetoric has nothing to do with an Arizona Shooting Spree that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and killed a Federal Judge. Fifty-seven percent of respondents in a new CBS News poll said Rhetoric is unrelated to the shooting, while 32 percent said they believe the two are connected. Many pundits and lawmakers have keyed in on political vitriol as a potential contributing factor to the shootings allegedly carried out by...

Sorry Libs Only 32% of Public Agrees That Political Rhetoric Was Cause of Tucson Slaughter
Sorry libs. Only 32% of the public believes that political Rhetoric caused the “quite liberal” Tucson crackpot to go on a shooting binge at a Safeway. Even a majority of honest Democrats believe the shootings were not caused by heated political rhetoric. Almost 60 percent of the public believes that heated political Rhetoric has nothing to do with an Arizona Shooting Spree that gravely wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and killed a Federal Judge. … Republicans who responded...

Founders' Intent, Indeed
Charles Krauthammer’s recent opinion column in the Washington Post, Constitutionalism, calls “for a more restrictive vision of government more consistent with the Founders' intent . . . that legal interpretation be bound by the text of the Constitution as understood by those who wrote it and their contemporaries.” “The Founders’ intent,” indeed. What unmitigated codswallop. Krauthammer concludes, “Constitutionalism as a guiding political tendency&rdquo...;

Will Democrats Throw Down on Filibuster Reform?
Tue Jan. 11, 2011 3:00 AM PST — Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. All 53 Senate Democrats have endorsed some level of Filibuster reform—but will they actually make it happen? The push to overhaul this procedural tactic, which has allowed the minority to block debate on a number of legislative issues, is the top item on the table heading into a two-week break for senators, and prospects of passing it are unclear. The outcome hinges largely on whether Senate Democrats are...

Outlaw that speech because it MIGHT be a threat...
It was only a matter of time before the Gabrielle Giffords tragedy was turned into a rationale for the government to take more of our freedoms. This is how our government always responds to tragedy--it's almost formulaic: Step 1 - wait for tragedy to occur, or actually create the tragedy. Step 3 - pass laws, or institute policies, that take away people's freedoms. This same process, has led to the creation of most traffic laws, to the Patriot Act, to "enhanced pat-downs," and countless other usu...

Should It Be Against the Law for "Perceived" Threats Against Federal Officials?
I think there are going to be constitutional problems with this idea: Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce Legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress. Brady told CNN that he wants federal lawmakers and officials to have the same protections against threat currently provided to the president. His call comes one day after Rep. Gabrielle Gif...

The Morning Plum
* Obama steps up: The President is set to travel to Arizona tomorrow to attend the Funeral service of the Shooting Victims, and he is expected to give a Speech about tolerance, a theme he may reprise in the State of the Union address. But Obama's advisers are uncertain about the exact message he should send: It is not clear whether ideology motivated the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, and Obama's advisers may conclude it unwise for the president to lecture the nation on mutual respect -- whi...

Cantor observes moment of silence with staff in Henrico
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, and his staff paused for a moment of silence Monday in honor of Victims of Saturday's shootings in Arizona. Video by Penelope M. Carrington/Times-Dispatc ... (more) » Article: Ariz. suspect in court; nation mourns fallen House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, observed a moment of silence Monday in his Henrico County office in honor of the Victims of Saturday's shootings in Arizona. His local staff assembled for the 11 a.m. moment of silence as ...

Gun control, tone of rhetoric take center stage after Arizona shooting
The Tuscon shooting Saturday that left Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords severely wounded, six dead and 13 others injured, is shaking Washington politically as much as it is emotionally. Health Care is off, for now. A debate about Gun Control may be back on. But the biggest breakdown, it seems, is over conduct rather than content. Several lawmakers (mostly Democrats) are blaming a poisoned political discourse and thinly veiled incitements to violence for having created an environment that...

Good grief: Hillary Clinton compares Gabrielle Giffords shooting to 9/11 attacks
Every liberal seems to be jumping the shark, one after another, over the shooting over the weekend of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson AZ. Palin's fault. Limbaugh's fault. It's because the GOP is trying to Repeal ObamaCare. Etc, etc, yada, yada. Clinton jumped the shark herself: Hillary Clinton compares Gabrielle Giffords shooting to 9/11 attacks In a television broadcast filmed before Students in Abu Dhabi, Mrs Clinton was asked why the 9/11 terror attacks, the work of a handful of ...

McDonnell names redistricting panel
Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday announced a Bipartisan advisory redistricting commission to help the General Assembly redraw legislative and Congressional Districts. Though the General Assembly is not bound by its recommendations, supporters hope the 11-member panel of former officeholders, judges and government officials will put pressure on the legislators to ignore political considerations when drawing up the districts. Legislators, probably meeting in a spring special session, will use new cens...

Judge sentences ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to 3 years in prison
© AP Photo/Jack Plunkett Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay A judge ordered former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in Prison Monday for his role in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas Candidates in 2002. The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of Money Laundering and Conspiracy to commit money laundering. DeLay was once one of the Most Powerful men in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Re...

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Sentenced to Three Years
...but out on bond pending appeal, could be a long time before he starts serving his time. Details from the New York Times: The sentence comes after a jury in November convicted DeLay on charges of Money Laundering and Conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Republican who represented the Houston area was once one of the Most Powerful people in U.S. politics, ascending to the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives. During a several-minute statement to the judge prior to sentencing, DeLay ...

Congressional leaders urge unity in call to members on Gabrielle Giffords shooting
Some 800 Republican and Democratic Congress members and spouses took part in an extraordinary Conference Call Sunday in which Party Leaders pleaded for everyone to come together in the wake of the shooting in Tucson that targeted Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) "At a time when an individual has shown us humanity at its worst, we must rise to the occasion for our nation and show Congress at its best," new Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) told the group during a call that lasted more than an hour, ...

Aide: Giffords is 'sort of alert'
Speaking on a rare Bipartisan telephone briefing, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Chief of Staff Pia Carusone described Giffords’ state as “sort of alert,” in the wake of the attempted Assassination, which claimed the lives of six people, including federal District Court Judge John M. Roll and Giffords’ outreach director, Gabe Zimmerman. Carusone said Sunday that her boss is “sort of alert” when she is “taken off medicine” and that “when the...

House joint caucus conference on security to be held Wednesday
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) told reporters at a Capitol briefing after Sunday's Conference Call that leaders of both parties have scheduled a joint Caucus conference for Wednesday at House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) request. At Wednesday's meeting, members are expected to be given additional recommendations on security measures, Larson said. "The primary thing here is to make sure that all members are coordinating their efforts with local police officials, which a l...

Tucson shooting alters congressional agenda
WASHINGTON - This weekend's shooting in Tucson that killed six and wounded 14, including Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, hasn't just shaken Washington emotionally -- it's also shaken up the congressional agenda. The new Republican leadership in the House had planned an ambitious agenda for the first days of the 112th Congress, following up its adoption of new Budget rules last week with a vote to Repeal the Health Care bill this week. But on Sunday, Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor sent o...

Ariz. survivor: 'It was like a bad crime drama'
Eric Fuller said Tuesday on the CBS "The Early Show" that he felt the bullet that hit his knee but didn't know he had also been hit in the back. Jared Loughner (LAWF'-nuhr) is being held on federal charges. He's accused of killing six people and wounding or injuring 14 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Fuller says he was lucky and feels fine physically but is outraged that Giffords was attacked. Ariz. survivor: 'It was like a bad crime drama' Why hasn't Obama warned...