REDSTATE 5 Hours Ago Senator Ted Cruz Gets It. Will Others? by  Erick Erickson By:  Erick Erickson  ( Diary ) | July 11th, 2013 at 03:47 PM | RESIZE: AAA Senator Ted Cruz has come out forcefully today against half measures on Obamacare. Instead he wants the GOP to unite behind completely defunding the law. As the Senator noted: Delaying only one aspect of this tangled mess leaves Americans holding the tab for an irreparably broken law they do not support. Moreover, it leaves in motion many of the most egregious parts of the law, ensuring they will take root in just a few short months. This is untenable. I agree with the lead Senate author of Obamacare, Democrat Senator Max Baucus, that Obamacare has become a "huge train wreck." Good for him. No half measures in this. Defund it entirely and repeal it entirely as soon as we can. But I would be prepared to shut down the government over this and the GOP should get ready to. Cruz is rapidly working his way onto my list o...

 HOTAIR.COM 5 Hours Ago Congress: How can we do oversight of NSA surveillance with Obama's team continually lying to us? posted at 4:01 pm on July 11, 2013 by Allahpundit I used to think it was impossible to have a meaningful "national debate" on mass surveillance because too many of the nuts and bolts were classified, or because most members of Congress were too cowardly to take this topic on. Your incentive as a legislator is to err on the side of counterterrorism since it'll shield you from blame in case there's another big attack. By ducking the issue and rubber-stamping whatever O wants, you get to cover your ass on national security  and  point the finger at him in case the program runs into political trouble. But maybe those aren't the biggest barriers to a surveillance review. Maybe the biggest barrier is that … Congress often doesn't know what's going on because  Team Hopenchange keeps lying to them . The most recent example came on March 12, ...

 THE FOUNDRY 10 Hours Ago Farm Bill: You'll Never Believe Where the House Wants to Spend Your Tax Dollars by  Kelsey Harris Kelsey Harris July 11, 2013 at 10:46 am The House  split up  farm-related programs and food stamps, but they didn't make a single reform to farm programs — and House leadership is hoping America doesn't notice. The text of the farm-only bill was released late last night, and current plans are to vote on the bill as soon as midday today. Leadership may be rushing through the process so members don't have time to properly review the bill, but Heritage experts  have the facts . Everything that was bloated and egregious in the bill  remains in the bill and it still hands out taxpayer money to surprising recipients . We've highlighted just some of the ridiculous places Congress wants to send your tax dollars below. >>> Share this graphic on Twitter and Facebook. Posted in  Ongoing Priorities  [slideshow_deploy] Tags:...

 GARRETT.HOUSE.GOV 5 Hours Ago Rep. Garrett Introduces Resolution Outlining POTUS Violation of Constitution WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) issued the following statement after introducing a concurrent resolution expressing the sense of Congress that President Obama violated Section 3 of Article II of the Constitution by refusing to enforce the employer mandate provisions of ObamaCare. "Our government depends upon the rule of law. President Obama is in violation of Section 3 of Article II of the Constitution by refusing to enforce the employer mandate provisions of ObamaCare. The executive branch, which has no constitutional authority to write or rewrite law at whim, has usurped the exclusive legislative power of Congress. "Given that ObamaCare has proven to be unworkable, I believe the law should be repealed by Congress immediately." To read the text of the resolution click  here . ### Rep. Garrett Introduces Resolution Outlining POTUS Violation of Constit...

Thursday, July 11th Willfully Ignorant The arrogance of this White House truly knows no bounds. Amid the unraveling of ObamaCare, White House press secretary Jay Carney actually had the audacity to call critics "willfully ignorant." Willfully ignorant! What does that imply? That is implies that people who are critical of the law are deliberately uneducated or lacking awareness in their critique. Quite the opposite! I would say that those of us who have chronicled the pitfalls of ObamaCare are perhaps even MORE aware of what the law says and how it is effecting businesses, individuals and our econom...

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Morning Jolt . . . with Jim Geraghty July 11, 2013 On the Pre-Debate Campaign Trail with Ken Cuccinelli Ken Cuccinelli isn't showing any sweat. This is not to say he isn't sweating; it's just that he can hide it well as he walks through the Holly, Woods and Vines nursery and greenhouse in Alexandria, Virginia in a light-blue dress shirt, tie, and suit pants while in 80-degree heat with the region's traditional wet-mop-to-the-face mid-summer 88 percent humidity. I, meanwhile, have arrived straight from CNN's studios in a dark wool suit and can feel by body rapidly dehydrating as Cuccinelli talks to Vanessa Wheeler, the owner and proprietor of the nursery, about the challenges facing small businesses like hers. Ph...