Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has just released a statement strongly opposing the McKeon Amendment to the Continuing Resolution (HJ Res 124) scheduled for a vote today. The amendment would grant Congressional approval for the president's plan to arm and train "moderate" rebels fighting in Syria to overthrow the Assad government. Repeating the words of a former US Marine Commandant, Rep. Jones asks, "are we arming another Taliban?" read on...
Do you follow Congress? Let us make it easier for you. Here is your guide to House and Senate hearings and mark-ups of interest to RPI readers for the week beginning Nov. 18, 2013. read on...
House sources tell RPI that Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) is preparing to introduce legislation to forbid the president from providing military assistance to any of the combatant groups in the current Syrian conflict. Absent a Congressional declaration of war, the legislation asserts, the president may not expend money appropriated by Congress for the purposes of arming any side in Syria. read on...
Today the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the United States House of Representatives is holding a hearing designed to cheer the US government's secret mass spying programs. The committee leadership's one-sided agenda is highlighted by the title of this morning's hearing—How Disclosed NSA Programs Protect Americans, and Why Disclosure Aids Our Adversaries—and the hearing's witness list, composed entirely of high-level managers and lawyers in government entities administering the programs: read on...
