IRS commissioner for tax-exempt organizations now in charge of Obamacare enforcement???

The current administration fails to profile terrorists, while the IRS has been profiling patriot, liberty groups, and other related tea party organizations. It is not going to be enough to call for a few token resignations, such as interim personnel whose days were numbered anyway, such as IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller. 

 

This is this same IRS that will be in charge of enforcing key elements of Obamacare. And it just got worse. According to ABC News [emphasis added]:

The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.

Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

Grant announced today that he would retire June 3, despite being appointed as commissioner of the tax-exempt office May 8, a week ago.

As bad as the appointment of Sarah Hall Ingram is, does anyone really think it’s a good idea for the beloved IRS to dictate to citizens on health care matters? (Postscript: Not that it will eliminate nationalized healthcare, but The House of Representatives voted again today to repeal Obamacare, mostly along  party lines in a 229-195 vote. There is no chance it will pass in the Senate.)

Stop Common Core in Ohio Weekly Action Items

From Ohioans Against Common Core --

       Hey Ohio Legislators…Have you heard?

It has been an action packed week! Common Core has become a top story, especially here in the midwest. Indiana Govenor Mike Pence signed the one year pause on Common Core implementation and Kentucky experienced first hand the ramifications of an untested, centrally planned, computer dependent assessment. How can our representatives chance the education of Ohio’s kids to an untested program? If it was really about the standards, why were they adopted before they were written?

LEVEL ONE PRIORITY – HOUSE EDUCATION  COMMITTEE CALLS

House Education Chair, Gerald Stebelton has scheduled a Pro-Common Core presentation to be made by Greater Columbus area superintendents for this Tuesday, May 14th at 4:00 pm, in Statehhouse Mtg Rm 116. Please make sure they hear from you before Tuesday’s presentation.

Please call each of the committee members listed below and ask them the following:

1. Did you hear that Indiana has put common core on pause to thoroughly vet the standards? National Review Online-Two Moms vs Common Core
2. Did you hear that four states including Kentucky experienced severe technical problems during online testing including a server crash that will require all tests to be retaken? Washington Post-Severe Technical Problems Raise Concerns Over Online Tests
3. Did you hear Georgia State Superintendent John Barge warn that Common Core will result in a federal curriculum? Marietta Daily Journal-Common Core Will Bring National Assessment and Federal Curriculum

Legislator switchboard – 800-282-0253

Gerald Stebelton-Chair (very pro-common core), Andrew Brenner, John Becker, Tim Derickson, Bill Hayes, Michael Henne, Matt Huffman, Stephanie Kunze, Kristina Roegner, Marilyn Slaby, Ryan Smith, Andy Thompson

LEVEL TWO PRIORITY – SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE CALLS 

Same action as above – 800-282-0253 

Peggy Lehner-Chair (very pro-common core), Cliff Hite, Troy Balderson, Bill Beagle, Bill Coley, Randy Gardner, Gayle Manning

LEVEL THREE PRIORITY – THANK YOU CALLS

Senator Grassley and Representative Luetkemeyer each solicited Common Core defunding letters within the U.S. Senate and House.  Neither of our Senators sign on but three Ohio Representatives did and deserve our thanks. Their acknowledgment of this federal intrusion lends credibility to our effort to pause Common Core and vet it through our state legislative process, particularly Rep. Jim Jordan’s. As a former Ohio House member, he is well respected and is a staunch school choice advocate. Representative Luetkemeyer’s letter with signers
Rep. Jim Jordan   202-225-2676
Rep Bill Johnson   202-225-5705
Rep. Brad Wenstrup   202-225-3164

SUMMARY

The massive effort to research and educate Ohioans on the implications of Common Core continues. We greatly appreciate your support and ask you to continue to spread the word. The powers that be will always take the path of least resistance. It’s now our job to make that path an exit from Common Core.

Yours In Liberty,

OACC

Senator Rob Portman; Keynote Speaker at Pro-Amnesty Event

Already being undermined on the immigration reform fight raging in D.C. by Senator Marco Rubio, the Cato Institute, some national Tea Party groups and some Tea Party groups in Ohio ridiculously claiming that illegal immigrants are good for the economy, we find Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) trying to one up all of them.

Today, the pro-amnesty for illegal immigrants group, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) will be hosting their 2013 LULAC Ohio Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio and they are proudly promoting that Senator Rob Portman will be a keynote speaker for the event.

Along with his new found love of amnesty for illegal immigrants, and knowing he has done a 180 degree pirouette on marriage, it appears Senator Portman has made himself a new friend....

1. RubenCastillaHerrera ‏@LatinoLdrSHIFT2h

   Just asked Sen. Portman to support Immigration reform, UAFA inclusion & ask the President to stop the deportations. Led a prayer w/him

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   •  Reply 
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2. RubenCastillaHerrera ‏@LatinoLdrSHIFT2h

   About to have a private meeting with Sen. Rob Portman in a back room at LULAC conference

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3. RubenCastillaHerrera ‏@LatinoLdrSHIFT5h

   Hosting a conversation on Queer Latino identity at the #Ohio state #LULAC conference.

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4. RubenCastillaHerrera ‏@LatinoLdrSHIFT5h

   It's time to take a stand on immigration reform at the #OHIO LULAC conference @robportman.

    View conversation
5. RubenCastillaHerrera ‏@LatinoLdrSHIFT18h

   It's time to take a stand on immigration reform at the #OHIO LULAC conference @robportman.

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Also speaking at the event with Senator Portman, Ruben Castilla Herrera will discuss LGBT issues in the Latino community at today's LULAC event where the group is expected to endorse the Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom amendment being debated in the Gang of 8's immigration reform bill.

Marketplace "Fairness" Act is anything but

Attention Internet Shoppers

In The Hill today:

The Senate passed the bipartisan Marketplace Fairness Act by a 69 to 27 vote on Monday, with most Democrats — except for five who represent states without a sales tax — backing the bill.Senate Republicans split roughly down the middle — 21 for, and 22 against — on the proposal. The breakdown underscores that the measure likely faces a rockier path in the GOP-controlled House.

Tea Party Patriots had alerted members before the Senate vote:

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) outlined why all supporters of free markets and low taxes should oppose this bill. Among other reasons:

Naturally, state and local governments are salivating at the prospect of getting a purported $23 billion in new revenue from the private economy. Especially when the out-of-state consumers paying those taxes and the out-of-state businesses owners who collect them can’t vote them out of office.

Last but not least, this bill doesn’t pass constitutional muster. The MFA overturns the fundamental idea that states’ taxing authority ends at their borders. The Supreme Court has said that an out-of-state business could subject itself to a state’s taxing power if due-process concerns are satisfied, namely that the business purposefully targets its activities in that state. But because pure Internet sales by their nature don’t target any one state, this legislation presents a serious constitutional problem.

In addition to the ... reasons cited above, the bill would make bad law because it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. . . :

[Lawmakers] who vote for it are voting to impose audits, compliance costs, lost wages, and inefficiency on small businesses in every state. And they are potentially crippling an engine of new job creation at a time of economic struggle. This bill will not create jobs; it will not create new opportunities; and it will not create the economic growth our country needs and our people deserve.

This bill would make for extremely bad law. It’s time to put the quash to it today, and not risk its passage in the House.

-----
Now that this bad bill has passed the Senate, we'll have to double down on the House as soon as it gets on the calendar.

Food Stamp Give Away to Illegal Immigrants Must be Stopped!

Already not having enough money to continue funding a signature program of Obamacare, medical coverage for pre-existing conditions, President Obama's Department of Agriculture is actively promoting and funding a program for illegal immigrants to get food stamps. 

In pushing healthy American citizens to the back of the bus and forcing us to pay to feed illegal immigrants while many Americans still go hungry, President Obama also sends a message to those Americans with pre-existing medical conditions that he would rather feed illegal immigrants over treating their health issues as he promised....

From The Washington Examiner -- 

With food stamp spending in the United States skyrocketing since the beginning of the recession, the Department of Agriculture is paying to promote food stamp usage to illegal immigrants for the sake of their American children, according to documents obtained by a government watchdog.

“The promotion of the food stamp program, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to declare their immigration status in order to receive financial assistance,” Judicial Watch announced today.

“Emphasized in bold and underlined, the statement reads, ‘You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.’”

Under President Obama's watch food stamp benefits have increased more than double each year. In addition, with the removing of a 1996 requirement that individuals receiving SNAP must have a job or be enrolled in work training and lowering the bar for SNAP eligibility - people receiving food stamps has increased to an all time high of 47.8 million people.

To find out how many people in your county are on food stamps, click here.

Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) have introduced a bill, "Streamlining the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SSNAP) Act" in attempts to stop this foolishness and reign in the rampant fraud, waste and abuse of an already out of control food stamp program....

The food stamp program may be cut when Congress moves to pass a farm bill this year. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., introduced a bill last week to cut $30 billion from the $760 billion the program is expected to spend over the next ten years.

“Since President Obama came into office, SNAP participation has increased at 10 times the rate of job creation, the annual spending on SNAP has doubled, and one in seven Americans now participates in SNAP,” Thune said in a statement on the bill. “This explosive growth in both the SNAP enrollment and federal cost of the program is alarming and requires lawmakers to take cost-effective legislative control measures.”

“We save taxpayers $30 billion and make sure that families in need still receive a helping hand,” Stutzman added. “This is a common-sense start for Congress’ Farm Bill discussions as we look for ways to tackle Washington’s nearly $17 trillion debt.”

This common sense bill will also protect and help assure that Americans that really do need these benefits will still receive them. 

This is important as the Obama Administration's progressive policies have clearly shown their repeated willingness to push Americans to the back of the bus. Most notably, it is the elderly, sick, less fortunate and low-income Americans - that Obama claims to protect - that most often suffer the undue hardships of these policies.

Please contact your Senator and Congressman and ask them to support Senator Thune and Rep. Stutzman's "Streamlining the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SSNAP) Act".

To read a one-page over view of the bill, click here.  

For contact info for your Senator - click here.  For contact info for your Congressman - click here.

EPA’s Proposed Regulations Will Stifle Technologies That Allow Continued Use of Abundant, Affordable Coal

From our friends at Count on Coal -- 

EPA’s Proposed Regulations Will Stifle Technologies                  That Allow Continued Use of Abundant, Affordable Coal

Coal is America’s most abundant fossil fuel energy source and, historically, our most consistently affordable. It can and must continue to play a vital role in the nation’s energy future, with advancing technology assuring us of cleaner-burning coal to address environmental concerns.

Despite these technological advances and cleaner coal burning technologies, the most common use of coal in America – electricity generation – could be brought to a halt by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) new source performance standard (NSPS) regulations for new fossil fuel-based electric generating sources.

These regulations threaten to stifle technological advancement and make coal unusable for power generation in either existing or new power plants – a matter of tremendous importance to a nation that generates 43 percent of its electricity using coal. This could leave business, industrial and residential consumers open to surges in power costs when, inevitably, the cost of natural gas rises. 

The EPA is proposing standards unprecedented under the Clean Air Act, effectively banning construction of new coal-fired power plants. It requires that all future plants using fossil fuels—coal or gas—emit no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. Even the most modern, efficient coal boiler emits 1,800 pounds, while combined cycle natural gas turbines come in barely under that threshold. This is simply a matter of regulatory policy favoring natural gas as an electricity generator and ignoring the promise that new technology holds for cleaner-burning coal. 

The regulations also will prevent upgrades of existing plants to improve efficiency and facilitate more electricity generation with less fuel and less emissions. This will cost America opportunities to provide economic stimulus through new manufacturing and construction jobs.

The goal of near-zero emissions from coal is within sight. New technologies will allow us to modernize the existing coal-fueled generation fleet, improving efficiency and reducing emissions while continuing to produce low-cost electricity. 

With innovation and technological advances, America can continue to use coal and continue to lower emissions at the same time.

Action Alert: Stop the Gang of 8 Immigration Train Wreck

According to a recent press release issued by Jeff Sessions, US Senator from Alabama, the central sales pitch for the Gang of Eight's immigration legislation has been the claim of strong border security triggers that are supposed to be the "toughest border immigration enforcement measures in U.S. history." But the promised enforcement is nowhere to be found, in fact, this bill would actually weaken requirements previously enacted by Congress-while granting extraordinary new discretion to the Department of Homeland Security to waive security protocols, removal proceedings, and denials of entry. 

This bill also repeals the proven E-Verify workplace enforcement system.

Click Here to Read the Complete Press Release

This Amnesty Bill, like Obamacare, is a massive piece of legislation that is quickly ramming its way through the Senate. During one of the Judiciary committee hearings it was clear that the Senate has not had enough time to read and understand all of the impacts of this bill.

Take Action

No More Train Wrecks

You may have heard last week that Senator Max Baucus, The Architect of Obamacare, said that its implementation was going to be a "train wreck!"

Now the Senate is dead set on pushing another piece of legislation that has all of the same characteristics of Obamacare - The Amnesty Bill. 

The Senate is on recess this week, so this is perfect timing for you to show up and let your voices be heard!

If you don't stand up against the "Gangsters of Eight", who will do it for you?

This Week's Action Items

Tuesday: Tuesday is Social Media Blitz day and "Tweet It Tuesday." The hashtag campaign this week is: #NoMoreTrainWrecks. Click for Sample Tweets and Facebook Posts

Wednesday: Today's focus is on making phone calls and visiting the district office for your U.S. Senators to drop off letters. Click to Find Your Senators Local Offices

Click for Thank You Letter for Senators who are standing for principle (Note: Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Jeff Sessions, James Inhofe, and Rand Paul will receive these letters.)

Click for Train Wreck Letter for Senators who are not doing anything to stop the ramming of this bill

Click to Call Your Senators
Thursday: Thursday's focus is on hosting Street Rallies at busy intersections. The ideal time for these rallies is 5:00-7:00 pm (local time). 

Click for How to Host a Sign Waving Event
Click for Sample Sign Messages

If you are organizing any events for the week, please let us know so we can help you promote it.

Friday: On Friday we will re-cap all of our activities this week and begin planning for next week’s theme and messaging opportunities.