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...

The gun consensus
Molly Ball and Shira Toeplitz write: A Bipartisan truce is in effect on Gun Control issues in Washington — a truce on the National Rifle Association’s terms. The NRA’s recognition of this is evident in the group’s response to the Arizona tragedy. It hasn’t bothered to mount a major Lobbying push to make sure lawmakers have their guns-don’t-kill-people talki...

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...

Group leader says 'God sent' Ariz. shooter
TUCSON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The leader of a Kansas sect of self-proclaimed Baptists says "God sent" the man accused of shooting 20 people in Arizona, killing six of them. In a telephone interview with the New Times in Phoenix, Shirley Phelps-Roper, a leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, said 22-year-old Jared Loughner acted on God's instructions. "God sent the shooter -- that guy's bat-[expletive] crazy -- but God sent him," she said. The congregation that publicizes Protests at U.S. s...

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...

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...

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...

Three Steps to a More Civil Congress?
Third Way, the Centrist Democratic group, sent a letter to Congressional leaders on Monday outlining some suggestions to help promote civility in Congress and perhaps help moderate the nation’s overall political discourse. The letter was in response to the shooting rampage in Arizona over the weekend that killed six people, and gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who is an honorary chairwoman of Third Way. The proposed steps include mixed, Bipartisan seating in the House cham...

CBS Poll: By 57% to 32% Margin Americans Say Political Rhetoric Had Nothing to do With Giffords Shooting
MSM Propaganda FAIL. (The Hill)- 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. Many pundits and lawmakers have keyed in on political vitriol as a potential contributing factor to the shootings allegedly carried out by Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old Tucson man who faces five federal Felony Charges. Loughner’s writings and videos suggest a...

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...

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...

It's On: Pawlenty Jabs Palin Over 'Crosshairs'
Possible Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty took a jab at Sarah Palin, saying he wouldn't have used gun crosshairs to target Rep Gabrielle Giffords and others. "I wouldn't have done it," the former Minnesota Governor told The New York Times on Monday when asked if he would have created a map like the one posted last year on Sarah PAC's website showing crosshairs on lawmakers who supported Health Care reform. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance,...

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...

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 ...

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...

Thumbs-Up for Giffords, Loughner Appears in Court, DeLay Sentenced to Three Years, Father Coughlin to Retire, Arrest Made in Ben
THE OFFICIAL WORD: 'NO CHANGE IS GOOD' -- From the University of Arizona Medical Center: "G. Michael Lemole Jr., MD, a leading authority on skull base surgery and section chief of Neurosurgery at the UA Department of Surgery, who performed surgery on Rep. Giffords with Martin Weinand, MD, Professor of surgery in the Neurosurgery section, remains cautiously optimistic about Rep. Giffords’ recovery. 'At this time, no change is good, and we have no change,' Dr. Lemole said. Rep. Giffords...

Gabrielle Giffords' Condition Unchanged, Feeling Pain, Doctor Says (VIDEO)
NEW YORK — One of the doctors treating Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords says there was no change in her condition overnight. Dr. Michael Lemole with the University of Arizona was interviewed Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. When asked about swelling in her brain on the third day, which is when it often reaches its peak, Lemole said a CAT Scan early Tuesday showed no increase in swelling. But he cautioned that it can sometimes take longer for swelling to peak. Lemole said the fact that ...

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...