Morning Briefing

For January 8, 2013
Somewhere in America, a Notre Dame fan thinks God is smiting them for letting Barack Obama speak on campus. Really, the answer is much simpler than that — just root for the SEC. For those of you adamantly anti-Alabama, Joe Scarborough might just be insufferable for you this morning. Fair warning.
1. Harry Reid Plotting to Abolish the Filibuster
There is no breathing room this year for those of us who fight endless GOP capitulations in Washington. Within the first few weeks of the new session, we must confront a grave assault on the Filibuster in the Senate.
Harry Reid is plotting some version of the “nuclear option” to limit the filibuster when the Senate convenes to adopt the rules package for the new Congress. It essentially works like this. Every rules change in the Senate requires a 67-vote threshold to adopt the change. Harry Reid is offering the absurd argument that the Senate is not a continuous body, and is therefore not governed by the rules of the previous session on the first day of the new Congress (before the rules package is adopted). With that in mind, he plans to abolish the filibuster on “the motion to proceed” and limit the minority’s ability to offer amendments when they vote on the rules package. He plans to do this with a simple majority vote.
Although the Senate already convened last Thursday, Reid used a parliamentary procedure blocking any adjournment of the Senate, so that the body will technically remain in its first “legislative day.” This will provide him with the opportunity to pull the trigger later this month. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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2. Witness Protection Program Needed: Obama’s NLRB Gives Unions License To Intimidate & Retaliate Against Witnesses
It’s a strange thing when, in a democracy*, dissent is stifled by those that presume to value dissent.
Notwithstanding the union-backed effort to end Senate filibusters, time and time again, both publicly and behind-the-scenes, Barack Obama and his union cronies and backers work to stifle–even purge and eradicate–any form of dissent if it does not benefit union bosses.
What’s worse is the fact that this trend is becoming the official labor policy of the United States. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. Blackburn: ‘America Deserves Better Than Abortion’
POn January 4th, Congressman Marsha Blackburn introduced the first pro-life bill in the House for the 113th Congress. The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 61) seeks to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from giving more money to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood. In her statement, Blackburn points out that, in 2010, Planned Parenthood received over $340 million from the federal government under the Title X family planning program. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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Sincerely yours,

Erick Erickson
Editor-in-Chief, RedState