Today, Democrats in the House narrowly passed their controversial DISCLOSE Act to counter a recent Supreme Court decision regarding campaign contributions.  This bill is designed to block organizations from engaging in political debate before the upcoming elections by requiring them to comply with cumbersome, costly disclosure requirements and restrictions.

The Democrats' bill blatantly restricts political free speech, but at the same time, brings out the worst in politics by exempting political allies and special interest groups from the law. Whether you agree with the intention of the bill or not, its backroom deals like the ones contained in this bill for labor unions and other special interest groups that really rile up the American people.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) made an excellent point after the passing of the bill:

"The Constitution states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.  It does not say ‘unless Democrats want to protect themselves from criticism.’  The majority is blatantly ignoring the Constitution in an attempt to silence those who disagree with their radical agenda.”

The President had this to say about the legislation:

"I congratulate the House of Representatives on today's passage of the DISCLOSE Act, a critical piece of legislation to control the flood of special interest money into our elections..."

Mr. President, it does control the flood of special interest money into our elections, but for the benefit of one political party at the expense of another and our constitution. We deserve better than this.

Fox News is reporting this week that over the past two years, 17 Afghan military officers have gone missing from a U.S. Air Force base in Texas. What's most troubling about this story is not that these soldiers went missing in the first place, although that is a major concern, but that it took two years for the military to alert local and federal law enforcement of the situation. To make matters worse, these soldiers have security badges that grant them access to U.S. defense installations.

One solider going missing should have raised concerned. 17 is absolutely unacceptable. Could we have at least put their faces on milk cartons? Something to show some sort of urgency in accounting for their whereabouts.

We need to seriously reassess our protocols for dealing with foreign nationals here in the United States, and consider suspending any further acceptance of foreign military personnel until these missing 17 are accounted for. Anything less would be sheer ineptitude by an Administration responsible for keeping us safe.

According to a new survey by Rasmussen, seven out of 10 Americans are opposed to bailing out the struggling newspaper industry like we did Wall Street and the automobile industry. This is up from 65% from a survey done in March 2009.

The key take away in all this is that Americans oppose the government getting involved in financially sustaining the industry due in large part to the concern that newspapers will be less likely to report objectively on government officials and policies. I think that's a legitimate concern. After all, it's not smart to bite the hand that feeds you.

Another interesting finding is that an overwhelming 85% of Americans believe that maintaining freedom of the press is more important than supporting the newspaper industry.

At a time when our country is bankrupt, facing a $13 trillion debt that's on its way up to $19 trillion by 2015, it's great to see that the American people understand the dire economic straights our nation is facing. Now, if we could only get that message to the Democrat majority in Congress who control the purse strings.

More bailouts for ANY industry should be out of the question. That's the bottom line. 

Back in 2009 when President Obama was touting his $787 billion economic "stimulus" plan, he claimed that we passed the bill so that "local districts didn't have to lay off teachers, firefighters, police officers and others, and the stimulus succeeded in that." (Fox News - 7/5/2009)

Well, something strange must have happened this past year. Those jobs we already saved... well, apparently they're in need of saving once again.

This past weekend, the Washington Post reported that “President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid ‘massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters’ and to support the still-fragile economic recovery."

Apparently the first $787 billion worked so well that we now have to spend $50 billion more or face economic doom. Who knows, instead of our unemployment skyrocketing to the 9.7% where we sit right now, maybe we can pass 10% if we just spend more money!

It's becoming clearer by the day that this Administration's solution to everything is to simply throw money at it. But the problem with that approach is two-fold:

One, it doesn't work. And two, we don't have the money to spend in the first place. In fact, we are over $13 trillion in debt and the Treasury Department reported earlier this month that our debt will climb to $19.6 trillion by 2015. The approach of this Administration is akin to trying to dig your way out of a hole.

Instead of the same failed policies, perhaps it's time for a pro-growth alternative that unleashes the potential of American businesses, investors, and entrepreneurs and puts more money back into the hands of the taxpayer.

Should we be sending $400 million in "aid" to Gaza, an area controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas?

Today, President Obama kicked off a new PR campaign to try and resuscitate his health care bill that has fallen on hard times since being signed into law a couple months back.

On a tele-townhall meeting this morning with senior citizens in Maryland, the President focused on promoting $250 rebate checks for Medicare beneficiaries. The problem with this is that very few Americans will actually receive the check. In fact, more than 9 in 10 beneficiaries are expected to be left out. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said as much in a letter to Congressional Leadership on May 11, 2010.

The problem the President is having when it comes to winning support for his health care plan has nothing to do with him as a pitchman, but rather that it's simply a disastrous policy he's trying to sell.

The American people have expressed serious frustration with his plan going back to health care town-halls in the summer of 2009. People were outraged back then, and they're still outraged now. No matter what label or spin the President puts on his bill, it won't change the fact that it's simply bad policy. 

Israel has come under attack yet again from several world leaders who are calling the actions taken yesterday by their military "criminal" and "inhuman."  The AP reports that Israeli commandos stopped six flotillas headed towards Gaza to make sure that their cargo did not contain weapons. The first five ships abided by the checks peacefully, but on the sixth ship, Israeli commandoes were met with strong resistance.

The AP Reports:

"A soldier identified only as a sergeant told reporters at a military briefing that the activists on board 'were armed with knives, scissors, pepper spray and guns.' He said he was armed only with a paintball rifle. 'It was a civilian paintball gun that any 12-year-old can play with,' he said. 'I saw my friends on the deck spitting blood.'

"Israel intercepted the six ships carrying some 10,000 tons of aid for the isolated seaside territory, which has been blockaded by Israel for three years, with Egypt's cooperation. The Israeli government had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade before the ships set sail from waters off Cyprus on Sunday and offered to take some aid in for them.

"Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "regret" for the loss of life of ten activists on board, but said the soldiers "had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed."

While the world decries the actions of Israel, I think it's imperative that the United States stand strong with their ally. I support Israel's position to stop and inspect peace missions headed to Gaza for national security purposes and the U.S. should reiterate our support for Israel and stand by them throughout the peace process in the Middle East.

Over 87,000 votes have been cast for this week's winning YouCut proposal to Eliminate the Federal Employee Pay Raise scheduled to go into effect next year. Later today, I'll be bringing this legislation to the House Floor for a vote.

As part of his FY 2011 Budget submission President proposed raising federal civilian pay by 1.4% beginning in January of next year. This will be on top of the 2.0% raise federal civilian employees received this past January, the 3.9% raise they received the previous January, and the 3.5% raise they received the January before that. Freezing federal civilian pay at the current level for one year would save approximately $2 billion next year and $30 billion over ten years.
If the Democrats are really serious about cutting spending, this legislation is a great place to start.

Today, my House Republicans colleagues and I introduced America Speaking Out, an effort by House Republicans to engage the American people in the process of building a new policy agenda for America. Go to AmericaSpeakingOut.com to get involved and take part in the process. It’s time for the American people to drive the agenda in Washington, not the other way around.

The AP is reporting that ObamaCare, in its hasty construction, is leaving some business owners high and dry.  Specifically, business owners of small companies who were supposed to receive some of the “greatest benefits” from the reforms, including a tax credit unveiled earlier this week.  

According to the AP:

“When the administration unveiled the small business tax credit earlier this week, officials touted its "broad eligibility" for companies with fewer than 25 workers and average annual wages under $50,000 that provide health coverage.  Lost in the fine print: The credit drops off sharply once a company gets above 10 workers and $25,000 average annual wages.

“It's an example of how the early provisions of the health care law can create winners and losers among groups lawmakers intended to help—people with health problems, families with young adult children and small businesses. Because of the law's complexity, not everyone in a broadly similar situation will benefit.

“’On paper, the credit seems to be available to companies with fewer than 25 workers and average wages of $50,000. But in practice, a complicated formula that combines the two numbers works against companies that have more than 10 workers and $25,000 in average wages… You can get zero even if you are not hitting the max on both pieces,’ (Linda) Blumberg said.”

Unfortunately, this bill will only discourage small businesses from raising wages and/or hiring more employees.  The business owners and employers in Minnesota I’ve met with all have said one thing: the uncertainty of the newly passed Health Care bill is keeping them from hiring and expanding.  

The AP story concluded with the thoughts from a small business owner, Trevor Hoffman, who was shocked to discover he didn’t qualify for the tax credit, and determined that in order to qualify, he would need to go from 24 to 10 employees and everyone would need to take a pay cut. “That seems like a strange outcome, given we've got 10 percent unemployment,” Hoffman said.

I think that’s pretty strange too. Instead of punishing businesses, we need to repeal this bill and replace it with reforms that help businesses grow.