Pelosi Insists She Has Drained The Swamp

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) previously promised one of the most ethical Houses in years. Today, she commended the House Ethics committee hours before its hearing to possibly lay charges against embattled Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

“What we did when we came in was to implement the toughest ethics reform in a generation,” said Pelosi during her weekly briefing with reporters. “Are there going to be individual issues to be dealt with? Yes. I never said that there wouldn’t be, but we would have a process to deal with it.

Reporters asked the Speaker if today’s hearing at all undermined a 2006 statement she made about “draining the swamp,” referring to her pledge to cleanse the lower chamber of unethical conduct.
 
“Drain the swamp we did, because this was a terrible place,” she said. “We have made a tremendous difference and I take great pride in that.”

Today At TRNS

The Washington Bureau will be covering:


Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Contracting Oversight Subcommittee hearing on mismanagement of contracts at Arlington National Cemetery.

House Armed Services Committee hearing on “Final Report of the Independent Panel’s Assessment of the Quadrennial Defense Review.”

The Heritage Foundation holds a discussion on “The Pence Plan for Economic Growth and Prosperity.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) holds her weekly news conference.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) holds his weekly briefing.

House Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics) Committee Adjudicatory Subcommittee meeting to organize for its task to determine whether Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) violated House ethics rules.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus hold a news conference on Arizona immigration.

House briefing on “Future of U.S. Policy in Afghanistan.”

Arizona Lawmakers React to Court Decision

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Arizona lawmakers from both parties released statements in response to Judge Susan Bolton’s decision to curtail some of the more controversial provisions in the Arizona immigration bill, SB 1070.

Republican senators John McCain and Jon Kyl released a joint statement condemning the court’s decision. 

“We are deeply disappointed in the court’s ruling and disagree with the court’s opinion that the Arizona’s law will unduly ‘burden’ the enforcement of federal immigration law,” the two senators said, “Instead of wasting taxpayer resources filing a lawsuit against Arizona…Obama Administration should have focused its efforts on working with Congress to provide the necessary resources to support the state”

Rep. Ed Pastor (D-4th), on the other hand, was satisfied with the decision. 

“I am pleased with U.S. District Court Judge Bolton’s decision to issue a preliminary injunction that will prevent the core provisions of Senate Bill 1070 from taking effect,” said Pastor in a statement. “The implementation of these provisions would have seriously interfered with federal immigration enforcement causing irreparable harm to the people of Arizona.”

Congressman Jeff Flake (R-6th) said that it was “frustrating to have the federal government actively preventing states from addressing immigration enforcement, when the federal government has shown that it’s unwilling to address immigration reform on its own,” and that it is “going to take comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level to successfully address this issue.”

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-1st), while opposed to SB 1070, supported the attention that it brought to illegal immigration.  Kirkpatrick was rather pessimistic in her statement, concluding that, “there are no winners here – no matter what the courts ultimately decide, we will still have wasted millions of dollars and our borders will still not be secure.”

Congressman Harry Mitchell (D-5th) joined his collegues in harshly criticizing the Obama administration for suing Arizona, saying that “today’s ruling should not provide Washington any kind of excuse not to address the issue.  Arizonans are justifiably fed up with the federal government’s failure to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system, and are fed up with of all the political posturing and grandstanding on this issue.”

FBI Director Defends Bureau Against Hard Line Of Questions

By Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service 

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Robert Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday the bureau has a broad range of national security and criminal threats it is currently working to alleviate.

Some members of the committee, including Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (D-Ala.), said they were “taken back” by the apparent policy of the FBI to try arrested individuals in federal civilian court instead of transferring them to the military. 

“The presumption needs to be that persons coming from al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations should be held in military custody,” said Sessions. 

Mueller did not elaborate on the bureau’s alleged policy but said “our authority is somewhat limited in that regard.”  

Mueller explained that after the bureau makes arrests, the president has the authority to direct the FBI to turn over individuals to a military commission. When Sessions asked if presidential authority was absolutely necessary for transfers to occur, Mueller said, “That’s a type of question, in my mind, that should be answered by the Office of Legal Council.”

The FBI has also been criticized for its growing reliance to outsource to independent contractors, an issue that Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) showed growing concern over.

“We of course use contractors,” said Mueller. “We, for several years now, have undertaken to reduce our reliance.”

According to Mueller, the FBI is working to decrease the amount of contractors in the information technology sector. Despite wanting to use in-house personnel for duties, Mueller also stressed the necessity of outsiders for their expertise in “discreet” arenas.

Mueller faced gruelling questions from committee members over allegations that FBI agents cheated on an exam that tested their knowledge of the limitations of the bureau’s powers to conduct surveillance and open cases without evidence that a crime has been committed.

Mueller defended his agents but said he nor the Inspector General would know the number of agents involved in the investigation.

“I do believe our workforce absolutely understands what can be investigated in this day and age,” Mueller said.

Federal Judge Stalls Controversial AZ Immigration Law

By Brandon Kosters - Talk Radio News Service

U.S District Judge Susan Bolton has blocked the controversial provisions of the Arizona immigration law, S.B. 1070. Bolton filed a preliminary injunction against the sections of the law which allowed Arizona police officers to check citizens’ immigration status and required immigrants to carry proof of citizenship with them at all times.

She said that the law could easily lead to wrongful imprisonment of legal residents and that it called for police to perform tasks and exercise authority reserved for the federal government.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is expected to appeal Bolton’s ruling and the case is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Proponents of the law claim that action must be taken to mitigate the incredibly large number of illegal immigrants in Arizona and that the state is simply taking action that the federal government has declined to take.

Opponents of the bill have said the law leads to racial profiling and hurts tourism to the area, particularly from Mexico.

Outspoken critics of the law include President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a prospective Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Arizona.