Boehner Critical Of Obama's "Reset" Policy With Russia

By Lisa Kellman

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned Americans of the threats Russia poses to the country, despite President Obama’s 2009 “reset” policy and insisted the Commander-in-Chief reconsider.

“The United States should insist Russia ‘reset’ its own policies. If those appeals require teeth, the House stands ready to approve them,” Boehner said during a rare speech on foreign policy.

Boehner’s many grievances with Russia range from the nation’s political, economical and physical expansion to the nationalization of its industries. The House Speaker also expressed concern over the relationship Russia has with dangerous regimes and its “general lack of democratic values.”

The Ohio Republican said Russia’s reappointment of Vladimir Putin aspresident who has called the fall of the Soviet Union “the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the 20th century,” has only served to reinforce concerns.

“Instead of downplaying Russia’s disregard for democratic values and human rights, we should call on them and call them out on it, publicly, forcefully and frequently,” Boehner said. “The United States should Insist Russia reset its own policies and if those appeals require teeth, the House is ready to approve them.”

ACLU, Heritage Foundation Weigh In On Supreme Court's Next Term

By Andrea Salazar

Health care reform and Arizona’s immigration law are expected to be two of the major issues the United States Supreme Court tackles during its fall 2011 term starting in October, and legal analysts representing both ends of the political spectrum are expecting victories for their sides.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Heritage Foundation held dual events in Washington, D.C. Wednesday previewing the upcoming term.

Both organizations touched on the subject of ‘Obamacare’ and agreed that politics must have been involved in the decision to forgo appealing a lower court’s ruling deeming the health care reform law’s individual mandate unconstitutional.

However, Paul Clement, former U.S. solicitor general and partner at Bancroft PLLC, said the question of the mandate’s constitutionality is only the beginning.

“A lot of the focus has been on the individual mandate, but the individual mandate is the tip of the constitutional iceberg when it comes to this case,” he said, “Because you have the question of whether or not the individual mandate is constitutional, if the individual mandate is, in fact, not constitutional, then you have the question of what effect does that have on the rest of this remarkably long and remarkably multifarious statute.”

The ACLU has not officially released an position on the matter, but its legal director, Steven Shapiro, said the mandate falls under the commerce clause and is, therefore, constitutional.

As for Arizona’s immigration law, the constitutionality of which could impact “copycat” laws in states like Georgia, Alabama, Utah, Indiana and South Carolina, Clement says that the administration may face challenges trying to make its case.

“The burden’s on the federal government to explain why it is that immigration is sufficiently different from every other area of the law that a state can’t effectively try to enforce the federal substantive law,” Clement said.

The ACLU’s Omar Jadwat, however, argued that S.B. 1070 goes beyond a federal versus state issue but also has major civil rights implications.

“It’s reminiscent of Jim Crow laws,” Jadwat said, explaining that penalties for being unable to prove one’s legal status creates a system where “certain people are essentially not persons.”

Rulings on the cases the Supreme Court accepts are expected in late June.

Tea Party Underwhelmed By Current GOP Field

TAMPA — Conservatives will be paying particularly close attention to tonight’s Republican debate, the second of three scheduled for this month and the first ever to be co-hosted by the Tea Party.

At a pre-debate luncheon sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, voters listened to analysts explain what candidates must do to win the support of the Tea Party crowd. Most of the 150 or so in attendance raised their hands when CNN’s John King, who moderated the panel discussion, asked them whether they were satisfied with the current field. Moreover, only a handful said they wanted former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin to enter the race.

That would appear to be good news for the current crop of contenders. Except that there are still some out there who question whether the candidates will truly represent the Tea Party’s interests.

For example, ever heard of Agenda 21? Probably not. But ask members of the Sutter Buttes Tea Party based in Yuba City, California. These folks argue that the plan, adopted by 178 nations at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) back in 1992, is allowing governments worldwide to force “green” lifestyles upon citizens. The issue most recently came up during a townhall event hosted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who downplayed concerns over Agenda 21 after being confronted about it. Larry Virga, Coordinator of the Sutter Buttes Tea Party Patriots, told me that even the most conservative of candidates this cycle have not paid enough attention to the issue. He doubted that any of them have even heard about the program.

It’s extremely unlikely that the topic of Agenda 21 will surface either at tonight’s debate or any others that will follow. Candidates will instead be asked about their plans to grow the economy, strengthen America’s safety net programs and manage the nation’s wars abroad. In the end, the vast majority of those who align with the Tea Party will vote for a Republican — whether it’s Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin or anyone else — against President Obama next year.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll feel comfortable with their choice.

Larry Calabretta, who made the roughly one-hour trip down I-4 from Orlando, told me today that he doubts whether Republican leaders in Washington “get” the Tea Party. “I don’t know,” he said. “That remains to be seen.”

“Absolutely not,” added Billie Tucker, a leader in the First Coast Tea Party based in Jacksonville, Florida.

When I asked Calabretta about Perry, the presumptive frontrunner who leads the rest of the field according to recent polls, he sounded skeptical.

“I think a lot of [Perry’s success] is media driven,” he said. “Rush [Limbaugh] is right…you listen to what the media is saying and that’s who you want to steer away from.”

Cornyn: Growing Debt Giving Rise To China

By Philip Bunnell

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) made the case for passing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution today by highlighting the link between the growing U.S. debt and China’s military rise.

Cornyn highlighted the potential danger of China’s holdings of American debt, currently estimated to be around $1.1 trillion. “Some folks say there’s no cause for alarm,” Cornyn said. Yet he then noted how a former Chinese general said that “dumping U.S. bonds,” would be an appropriate response to antagonizing U.S. policy.

China, aside from its holdings of U.S. debt, has also become a belligerent security force in the Asian region  and is “unsettling its neighbors,” through the conducting of military excercises, Cornyn said. China has claimed the South China Sea, is increasing tensions on its disputed border with India, and is “an enabler of North Korea,” Cornyn warned.

Cornyn criticized President Obama for not accepting Taiwan’s letter of request to buy F16 fighter jets from the U.S. This reflects, Cornyn said, the fact that “China has intimidated US foreign policy.”

A number of Senate Republicans are launching a push this week to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he would like a vote to occur by the middle of July. With all 47 Republicans on board, the effort carries some weight, though actually amending the Constitution would require subsequent ratification by two-thirds of the states.

Cornyn pounced on a quote from then-Senator Barack Obama, who warned in 2006 of the consequences of a growing national debt. The quote, Cornyn explained, was meant to “point out the hypocrisy… and lack of leadership,” coming from Obama on the debate to raise the debt limit again later this summer.

Florida Republican Calls For Stronger Military, Strategic Clarity

By Philip Bunnell

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that the nation’s military strategy lacks clarity and pushed for a stronger military moving forward.

West raised many concerns with American military strategy and objectives. The War on Terror, West said, is “a terrible misnomer, because a nation cannot go and fight a tactic.”

“What has to be presented for us to be successful on this 21st century battlefield is an understanding of who are we fighting against,” he said. 

West warned against “narrowly defining yourself [because] then you create gaps by which you can be exploited.” West spoke of “strategic vision,” and the ability to recognize threats as important to the 21st century battlefield.

“We need to do a better job of getting the word out,” said West, blaming the media for focusing too much on American follies. “I see most stories about us doing things, like Abu Gharaib… than I do about the bad things that the enemy is doing.”  West added that he was concerned about the media becoming an “ideological-political wing.”

West seemed skeptical of the prospects of the Arab Spring and the Obama administration’s strategy in the Middle East. 

“No one can tell me who these [Libyan] rebels are, where they come from, what do they seek to have, what are they going to bring to the table that’s different from Muammar Gaddafi,” said West.  “I am very concerned over what is happening in Egypt because the story has not been told yet,” he said voicing specific concern over the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Florida Republican added that the up-and-down military spending during the 20th century is not a good roadmap. West said that after each of the World Wars, American military spending “fell into a bottomless pit,” and that if spending is not stable, “we will lose an opportunity to ensure that we protect America for the future.”