NEWS AND OPINION:
THINKING AHEAD
A large, feisty group of conservatives are advising Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan to forego a lame duck session at the end of this year. The 75-member group warns that voters are wary of sly deals and last minute melodrama, advising in an open letter, “At a time when the American people’s trust in their government is near an all-time low, the Republican-led Congress should demonstrate exemplary behavior by completing its work before the November elections so that voters can judge all the legislators on the basis of the votes they have cast.”
The signers to the lengthy letter include Reagan stalwarts Ed Meese and Becky Norton Dunlop, media watchdog Brent Bozell, Citizens United president David Bossie, Less Government president Seton Motley and American Values president Gary Bauer, among many. They have anther point.
“The Republican-led Congress must not provide President Obama with an additional opportunity to enact his agenda of progressive social engineering programs and job-killing economic policies before he leaves office,” they write. “A lame duck session would be his swan song: he can be expected to leave no arm untwisted, no threat unmade, no quid un-quod, to get his dream-policies enacted, his liberal judges confirmed, and his international agreements approved.”
The missive was organized by the Conservative Action Project, founded in 2008 by the aforementioned Mr. Meese.
“By making it absolutely clear that there will not be a lame duck session, the Republican leaders in Congress will encourage all members of Congress to complete the people’s work in an orderly manner before the elections, putting an end to the unfortunate practice of recent years of governing by manufactured ’cliffs and crises’ at the end of the year,” they reason.
Find the entire letter here.
SENDING THEM HOME
Welcome aboard? “American taxpayers are forking out more than $300,000 every day to deport illegal immigrants on commercial flights and even on private jets. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent $116 million in 2015 to transport 235,413 people in the United States illegally back to their home countries,” reports Wills Robinson, a Daily Mail reporter who obtained the numbers through a Freedom of Information Act request. “More than 40 per cent of those who had violated visa restrictions were convicted criminals while more than 1,000 were identified as gang members,” he notes.
In addition, Mr. Robinson found the average cost of every immigrant in 2015 was $12,213, which includes apprehension, detention, court appearances and deportation. “To remove an illegal immigrant costs an average of $1,962,” he says. The cost includes both ground and air fares via commercial flights or private hired jets — including a fancy Gulfstream IV.
“This is insane,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told the Mail.
TRUMPVILLE: MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA
Back-to-back Monmouth University polls released Thursday have voter news in two states.
“Donald Trump’s sizable lead in Maryland’s GOP primary puts him on track to claim all 38 delegates available,” predicts one poll, which found that 47 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the state support him, compared to 27 percent who favor Gov. John Kasich and 19 percent who intend to vote for Sen. Ted Cruz.
Meanwhile, a second Monmouth poll reveals that Mr. Kasich — who was born in Pennsylvania — still loses to Mr. Trump in the state. “Native son status amounts to zilch for Kasich,” the survey declares. It found that 44 percent of likely GOP primary voters in Pennsylvania support Mr. Trump, 28 percent back Mr. Cruz and 23 percent Mr. Kasich.
“It looks like Trump should be able to bank the 17 statewide delegates in Pennsylvania. The real question is how the directly elected district delegates will vote at the convention in July,” notes Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.
CRUZ CONTROL
National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg believes that Sen. Ted Cruz “is the likely choice” at the GOP national convention in July.
“I wouldn’t say that the GOP is falling in love with Ted Cruz, but maybe it’s falling in like,” Mr. Goldberg writes, adding, “Like Perseus pulling Medusa’s head out of a sack to petrify his enemies, Cruz has been able to dangle the prospect of a President Trump to strike fear in the hearts of even his biggest detractors.”
WEEKEND CANDIDATE TRACKER
Our presidential candidates are mostly circulating in New York. The exception is Hillary Clinton, who will be in Los Angeles on Saturday for a public appearance and an afternoon fundraiser; this follows a star-studded fundraiser hosted by George Clooney on Friday night in San Francisco where ticket prices reached $353,400 a couple. Sen. Bernard Sanders will remain in the boroughs of New York City, where he has been for much of the week, campaigning through Monday with his own celebrity following, which includes Danny Glover, Danny DeVito, Spike Lee and Tim Robbins.
Sen. Ted Cruz is also in New York — way up in Binghamton, appearing at a forum hosted by Fox News host Sean Hannity, followed by appearances in Rochester, and Evansville, Indiana. Gov. John Kasich is in Watertown and Utica, Donald Trump in Plattsburgh, Syracuse and Hartford for a trio of his signature jumbo rallies.
THINKING AHEAD
A large, feisty group of conservatives are advising Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speak Paul Ryan to forego a lame duck session at the end of this year. The 75-member group warns that voters are wary of sly, last minute deals, advising in an open letter, “At a time when the American people’s trust in their government is near an all-time low, the Republican-led Congress should demonstrate exemplary behavior by completing its work before the November elections so that voters can judge all the legislators on the basis of the votes they have cast.”
The signers to the lengthy letter include Reagan stalwart Ed Meese, media watchdog Brent Bozell, Citizens United president David Bossie and American Values president Gary Bauer, among many. They have one other point.
“The Republican-led Congress must not provide President Obama with an additional opportunity to enact his agenda of progressive social engineering programs and job-killing economic policies before he leaves office,” they write. “A lame duck session would be his swan song: he can be expected to leave no arm untwisted, no threat unmade, no quid un-quod, to get his dream-policies enacted, his liberal judges confirmed, and his international agreements approved.”
WEEKEND REAL ESTATE
For sale: Six-story limestone mansion, built in 1903 on Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side of New York City. Five en suite bedrooms with baths and dressing rooms, formal dining and living rooms, library, elaborate mosaics and millwork, 17-foot ceilings, decorative windows and marble work, serpentine staircase, elevator, rooftop terrace, garden. Completely renovated to “Gilded Age Splendor”; sauna, gym, billiard room includes red Hermes leather walls; woman’s boudoir includes cosmetics refrigerator and handbag display area. Priced at $85.5 million through ModlinGroup.com; enter 20625TH in search function.
POLL DU JOUR
• 41 percent of U.S. workers do not think their company has an emergency plan if the workplace comes under attack of some form.
• 37 percent of the workers say their workplace has a security guard.
• 31 percent do no feel their workplace is well protected from physical threats; 31 percent say the company is not protected from cyber threats.
• 19 percent say their workplace is not well protected from a weather threat; 17 percent say their workplace is not protected from fire, flood or other disaster.
Source: A CareerBuilder/Harris Poll survey of 3,000 full time U.S. workers conducted Feb. 10-March 17 and released Thursday.
• Insight, churlish remarks to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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