Senate Republican Supports Birther Lawsuits

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) told a Louisiana constituent Sunday that he supports legal efforts to require President Barack Obama to confirm his U.S. citizenship.

“I personally don’t have standing to bring litigation in court, but I support conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court,” Vitter said when asked during a campaign event about what he would do about Obama’s alleged refusal to provide a birth certificate. “I think that is the valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it.”

The exchange takes place in an online video supplied Monday evening to the political news site TalkingPointsMemo.com by the Louisiana Democratic Party.

Conspiracy theories surrounding Obama’s place of birth, which fringe conservatives claim to be Kenya, date back to the Democratic Presidential primary. In 2007, the Obama campaign responded to the rumors by publishing Obama’s certificate of live birth from the state of Hawai and allowing the non-partisan organization FactCheck.Org to examine it. FactCheck.org determined it was authentic.

The theories have thus proven to be politically toxic, a circumstance Vitter seemed to acknowledge in the video.

“If we focus on that issue and let our eye off the ball in terms of this fall’s election, in terms of ongoing policy votes, week in, week out in the Congress, I think that’s a big mistake,” Vitter said.

Vitter, who is running for re-election, recently acquired a primary challenger, former state Supreme Court Justice Chet Traylor. 

Sanders Amendment To Financial Reform Bill Passes Easily

An amendment to increase the transparency through which the Federal Reserve (Fed) operates passed on Tuesday by a vote of 96-0.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a one-time audit of the powerful central banking agency, going back to December 1, 2007. At a press conference with reporters immediately following the vote, Sanders praised his colleagues for their unanimous support.

"What just transpired is an historic vote for the American people in terms of finally bringing transparency to what is perhaps the most powerful federal agency, and that is the Fed," he said.

A similar amendment that would've required the GAO to conduct a far more wide-ranging audit, and would've made such audits recurring, failed by a vote of 62-37. The measure was the product of Sanders's initial, less watered-down effort to shine more light on the Fed, mirrored after a proposal put forth by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) that passed the House last year.

After Sanders modified his amendment, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) re-introduced the original version.

Sen. Vitter (R-La.) Criticizes Plan To Increase The Fed's Powers

Senator David Vitter (R-La.) argued that Obama's plan to increase the power of the Fed and link some of its behavior to Treasury approval could go too far in collapsing the distinction between the Federal Reserve and the government. (0:34)

Republicans move for stimulus package free of spending

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

It may seem like magic to some these days that one could stimulate the economy without spending a nickel, but that’s exactly what Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and 40 other Congressmen are proposing. A bill to be introduced concurrently in both the Senate and the House would provide revenue and create jobs by drilling for oil domestically. The focus of The No Cost Stimulus Act of 2009 would be primarily energy, because in addition to further tapping domestic gas and oil reserves, it would streamline the process for creating nuclear power plants, which the bill sponsors say would create jobs. According to the sponsors, it would also lessen EPA regulation of CO2 under the Clean Air Act, which the Congressmen claimed would save 500,000 jobs annually and saves over $7 trillion in GDP over the next 20 years.

Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ) said that currently we are outsourcing our energy production, providing jobs to regimes such as Russia, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia, when these very same jobs can be done domestically with our reserves.

The specific regions to be further tapped for their energy potential include the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and ANWR, which the Congressmen estimate alone would create nearly 2 million long term high paying jobs.