In This Issue• On Capitol Hill This Week: Vol. XVI, No. 37
• This Week, Worship Our Lord As . . .
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On Capitol Hill This Week - Volume XVI, Number 37
December 7 - 11, 2009
December 7 - 11, 2009
"Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." (2 Kings 6:16)
1. SENATE WORKS THROUGH RARE WEEKEND SESSION
2. PRO-LIFE NELSON AMENDMENT INTRODUCED TODAY
3. OBAMACARE: A FACT A DAY
4. BAUCUS NOMINATES GIRLFRIEND FOR U.S. ATTORNEY
5. REID: "OPPONENTS OF HEALTH CARE REFORM SIMILAR TO SUPPORTERS OF SLAVERY"
6. REPUBLICANS BLAST ACORN REPRIEVE
7. OBAMA SHIFTS COPENHAGEN VISIT DATE AS AGREEMENT SEEMS LIKELY
8. UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE OPENS WITH PRESSURE ON U.S.
9. EU PLANS A DECLARATION ON THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM
10. RUSSIA'S PUTIN TO VISIT ISRAEL IN 2010
1. SENATE WORKS THROUGH RARE WEEKEND SESSION
Violates Constitution and the Commandments
On Sunday, December 6, 2009, President Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to speak to the Senate Democrat Caucus to rally their support for the federal government health care seizure and takeover plan. Following that lobbying meeting with the President, Senate leader Harry Reid took the Senate into an extremely rare Sunday session where they continued debating the many problems with the health care bill, including required abortion coverage and the public option issue.
Sunday sessions have been extremely rare because of the U. S. Constitution's Article I "Sundays Excepted" Clause, which excludes Sunday from the federal lawmaking process. The Framers of the Constitution held great respect for the Christian Sabbath and therefore removed it from the federal lawmaking calendar.
In fact, only a few years ago when a Sunday session was proposed, Sen. Robert Byrd boldly declared: "I think we are setting a bad example. I don't think we are showing proper respect to Christians in our country - and all over the world, for that matter - by publicly failing to observe that Commandment that we keep the Sabbath Day holy and remember it."
Despite such concerns, earlier in the year Senator Harry Reid called the Senate into a rare Sunday session for a vote on a lands bill - a session which, in the words of one prominent national newspaper, communicated the clear message "church be damned."
In 1853, the U. S. Senate likewise affirmed: Sunday - the Christian Sabbath - is recognized and respected by all the departments of the government. In the law, Sunday is a "dies non" [a day on which no legal business can be transacted]; it cannot be used for the service of legal process, the return of writs, or other judicial purposes; the executive departments, the public establishments, are all closed on Sundays; on that day neither House of Congress sits. . . . Here is a recognition by law and by universal usage not only of a Sabbath, but of the Christian Sabbath in exclusion of the Jewish or Mohammedan Sabbath. The recognition of the Christian Sabbath is complete and perfect. (David Barton: Wallbuilders)
- Stand in the gap for this president and this Congress who seem more and more now to have lost their way. Ask God to forgive us for disobeying His Commandments, and thank Him that He is a merciful God. Amen.
- "8 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labour and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work . . ." (Exodus 20:8-10)
2. PRO-LIFE NELSON AMENDMENT INTRODUCED TODAY
So far things have been humming along rather well for Sen. Harry Reid (D- Nev.), who said over the working weekend that he is aiming to cut off debate on his $2.5 trillion health care bill as early as this week. For leaders like Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebr.), however, the debate is just beginning. Today, the Nebraska Democrat is set to run with the pro-life torch passed by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and introduced the first Senate amendment banning taxpayer-funded abortion. "I don't ordinarily draw a line in the sand," Sen. Nelson said Friday, "but I have drawn a line in the sand."
All amendments--including Nelson's--need 60 votes to pass. Both Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Nelson filed their joint amendment today and are gearing up for a vote on Tuesday. If it fails, Sen. Nelson has said he refuses to vote for cloture on the overall bill, leaving the Democrats at least one vote shy of victory. Asked about the possibility of an abortion "compromise," the Nebraska Democrat hinted that there's no such thing. "It's certainly not a lock that there's language in the middle," he told reporters.
Action Point: Please call the U.S. Capitol switchboard NOW at 202-224-3121 and ask your state's two U.S. Senators to vote for the Nelson Amendment on abortion funding. (Family Research Council)
- Ask the Father for more time for Gideon's Army to find victory here and to prick the hearts of those who are strong-arming the promotion of wrong so much so that they are desperate to force it upon others also. Pray for forgiveness and intercede for Godly conviction to rise up in those with forked tongues, that they might find and speak only the truth. Please intercede that God will fully break their hearts for what breaks His and that the fear of the Lord will fill in their lack of understanding. Please break the back of this murderous spirit, binding it in prayer and intercession, and loose a spirit of life, to insure that the innocent will be protected, and not harmed, by our laws. Give thanks to Our Creator, God, for those who are standing against the tide of evil, for the right to live.
- Behold children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward!
(Psalm 127:3)
3. OBAMACARE: A FACT A DAY . . .
Last week, Senate Republicans tried to highlight the large cuts to Medicare Advantage under President Obama's Senate health care bill. Senate Democrats Max Baucus (Mont.) and Chris Dodd (Conn.) tried to counter, claiming that Medicare Advantage isn't a part of Medicare (it is, according to the Health and Human Services Agency that runs the program.)
In truth the Congressional Budget Office found that the Senate bill would "reduce access to care or diminish the quality of care" of those in the Medicare Advantage plan. It's not just the attack on Medicare Advantage that has doctors worried. The dean of John Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Edward Miller, writes in the Wall Street Journal, that the expansion of Medicaid under the Senate bill would bankrupt states and overwhelm the current health care system.
Action Point: The Family Research Council is publishing these "Facts a Day," to track news about the Health Care Plan on its website daily. You can track with them by visiting www.frc.org. -- the pray!
- Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matthew 5:37)
4. REID COMPARES OPPONENTS OF HEALTH CARE REFORM TO SUPPORTERS OF SLAVERY
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his GOP- blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday, comparing Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery more than a century ago.
The Nevada Democrat, in a sweeping set of accusations on the Senate floor, also compared health care foes to those who opposed women's suffrage and the civil rights movement -- even though it was Sen. Strom Thurmond, then a Democrat, who unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and it was Republicans who led the charge against slavery.
Senate Republicans on Monday called Reid's comments "offensive" and "unbelievable." Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Reid's remarks were over the top. "That is extremely offensive," he told Fox News. "It's language that should never be used, never be used. Those days are not here now." Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested Reid was starting to "crack" under the pressure of the health care reform debate. "I think it's beneath the dignity of the majority leader," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. "I personally am insulted." (Fox News) Read more.
- Pray for the mental health of the Senate Majority Leader. May he govern according to a sound mind, and not according to impulsive, emotional outbursts.
- But let all things be done decently, and according to order. (I Corinthians 14:40)
5. GOP CALLS FOR ETHICS PROBE OF BAUCUS FOR NOMINATING GIRLFRIEND FOR U.S. ATTORNEY
Republicans on Saturday called on the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the disclosure by a senior Democrat that he nominated his girlfriend to be U.S. attorney. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, defended recommending his girlfriend for appointment as Montana's U.S. attorney, saying Saturday his one-time staff member and former state prosecutor is "highly qualified" but eventually withdrew her nomination.
However, the Republican National Committee said the revelation "demands the attention of the Senate Ethics Committee. "Today's report that Senator Max Baucus used his Senate office to advance a taxpayer funded appointment for his staff-member girlfriend raises a whole host of ethical questions," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a written statement. "They should hold a hearing to identify who was involved in this process, what they knew, and when they knew it, and why Sen. Baucus put his personal needs above those of the people of Montana."
Baucus, who is helping lead Democratic efforts to expand health care, nominated Hanes for the federal prosecutor job in March. He said he appointed an independent, third-party reviewer and established "an open and fair process" that resulted in her name and two others being sent, unranked, to the White House for consideration. But Hanes later withdrew, saying earlier this year she did so because she received other opportunities she couldn't pass up. Hanes now works for the Justice Department, hired earlier this year as acting deputy administrator for policy in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.," Baucus said in his statement Saturday. Her withdrawal "allowed us to live together in Washington." (FOXNews.com)
- For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. (Amos 5:12)
6. REPUBLICANS BLAST ACORN REPRIEVE
A top House Republican today blasted a ruling by the Justice Department that allows the Obama administration to pay ACORN for services provided under contracts signed before Congress passed a law banning the community advocacy group from receiving taxpayers money.
Republicans have been on the warpath against ACORN since its voter registration efforts came under scrutiny during the 2008 presidential campaign. After conservative activists, posing as a prostitute and pimp, released videos showing ACORN staffers advising them how to skirt the law, Democrats joined in the outrage, leading to the congressional funding ban that Obama signed on Oct. 1.
. . . Representative Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said "the bipartisan intent of Congress was clear -- no more federal dollars should flow to ACORN. It is telling that this administration continues to look for every excuse possible to circumvent the intent of Congress," Issa said in a statement. "Taxpayers should not have to continue subsidizing a criminal enterprise that helped Barack Obama get elected president. The politicization of the Justice Department to payback one of the president's political allies is shameful and amounts to nothing more than old-fashioned cronyism." (Political Intelligence)
- Praise the Lord for politicians who stand up for the truth. If there has been legal manipulation at the Justice Department, shame on those who abuse the American citizens' trust. Pray that those who dishonestly use that trust to fulfill their own ambitions would be checked by the Holy Spirit.
- "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan." (Proverbs 29:2)
7. OBAMA SHIFTS COPENHAGEN VISIT DATE AS AGREEMENT SEEMS LIKELY
President Barack Obama is shifting the timing of his visit to an international climate summit in Copenhagen as prospects for a political agreement at the event seem more likely. The move means Obama will be at the summit on Dec. 18, considered a crucial period when more leaders will be in attendance, as opposed to his scheduled stop in Denmark on Wednesday on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Obama will be squeezing in a separate, 10th foreign trip before Christmas -- a record pace of travel for a first-year president -- as a means to giving momentum to a deal aimed at combating global warming.
The U.S., India and China all have specific proposals on the table for the first time, and world leaders are aiming for a deal that includes commitments on reducing emissions and financing for developing countries. They no longer expect to reach a legally binding agreement, as had long been the goal. On climate, India pledged Thursday to significantly slow the growth of its carbon emissions over the next decade. China announced its own targets for cutting carbon emissions last week, a day after Obama announced the U.S. goals.
Obama will now leave for Oslo late Wednesday, attend Nobel events Thursday and return to Washington on Friday. (AP)
- Pray for journeying mercies for Mr. Obama as he travels to Oslo this week to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. Pray, too, that God would intervene in order to cancel his second, planned trip to Copenhagen. Much can happen between now and then, and God is in control of all of our ways.
- "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." (Prov. 16:9)
8. UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE OPENS WITH PRESSURE ON U.S.
Obama May Decide to Sign Treaty without Congressional Action
The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened Monday, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the last, best chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming.
In a signal the Obama administration is prepared to act without congressional action, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has concluded that greenhouse gases are endangering Americans' health and must be regulated. The U.S. EPA said the scientific evidence surrounding climate change clearly shows that greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of the American people" and that the pollutants _ mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels _ should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Climate activists in Copenhagen said the decision could help the Obama administration move ahead on climate policy without waiting for action from Congress. "The question is will they use it that way, or are they using it as a bargaining chip to threaten action, and get Congress to act instead," said Damon Moglen, of Greenpeace USA. (AP) - This is another opportunity for Obama to review the Constitution of the United States Of America: the one he swore to uphold on January 20th. We pray our nation will remain A nation under law, and not under tyranny.
- "All we, like sheep, have gone astray . . ." (Isaiah 53:6)
All this chatter about the treaty being signed in Copenhagen totally avoids the recent news that there is no climate warming. The chatter also avoids relating to the American public that such a treaty turns over to global governance the sovereignty of the United States. Pray that this meeting in Denmark will fall apart, and the parties involved will scatter in confusion. Pray that the American media will be forced to relay the real truth to our citizenry.
- "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods." (Exodus 23:32)
9. EU PLANS A DECLARATION ON THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM
NETANYAHU PUSHES BACK
The Swedish government, now holding the rotating EU- presidency, is planning to issue a unilateral declaration on Tuesday in Brussels stating that East Jerusalem is to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. The document, in its current form would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood. In the meantime the EU will strengthen the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem. The document states that "EU celebrations, commemorations and national or Europe day events are to be held in East Jerusalem."
But, P.M. Netanyahu is trying to stop the division of Jerusalem, thereby foiling the Swedish initiative. Israel and the Palestinian Authority are each lobbying European Union foreign ministers to adopt its respective position on Sweden's initiative to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. The proposal is to be discussed tomorrow in Brussels at the meeting of foreign ministers of EU member states.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has phoned several European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, asking them to oppose the plan and to pressure the PA to renew negotiations with Israel. The 27 European foreign ministers are to discuss a draft of the proposal, which is expected to be published on Tuesday. (www.watch.org)
- Please pray for courage for every friend of Israel who are in government positions in an EU-member state to stand firm on God´s promises to the Jewish people regarding Jerusalem. If this resolution is passed there will be no way back, but if it fails the next EU- presidency of Spain will hardly try to re-introduce the idea. Pray for the Swedish leadership, for they know not what they do! When men are ignorant of the Word, they become mouthpieces for the enemy of God.
- "I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isaiah 62:6,7)
10. RUSSIA'S PUTIN TO VISIT ISRAEL IN 2010
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Israel in 2010, he said on Friday, following a recent chill in ties between Moscow and Israel's arch-enemy Iran. Putin's pledge to visit the Jewish state came during a meeting in Moscow with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who told him: "We would be happy to see you in Israeli in 2010." Putin replied "Thank you very much for the invitation. I will definitely come. Israel is one of our highest-priority partners in the Middle East."
The announcement came after Russia's ties with Iran, a longtime partner, became strained in recent weeks due to an apparent toughening in Moscow's stance on the Iranian nuclear program. On Tuesday, Iranian President Ahmadinejad lashed out at Russia for supporting a vote by the UN's nuclear watchdog IAEA censuring Tehran over its nuclear plans, in a rare criticism of Moscow by the Iranian leader. Iranian officials have also complained that Russia is dragging its feet on fulfilling a contract to supply Iran with advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles, and Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi last month called on Russia "to fulfil the contract and not be influenced by Zionist pressure." Moscow has never officially confirmed the existence of the S-300 contract. (AFP)
- Remember to place this "promised" visit to Israel under continuing prayer. Who knows what the landscape will look like to the Russians in 2010? Continue to pray confusion into the Iranian camp so that its stances are always off balance. Is the Lord allowing this "cooling off period to fulfill His purposes?
- "The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him." (Nahum 1:7)
This Week, Worship Our Lord As . . .
GOD, THE LORD, THE STRENGTH OF MY SALVATION (Adnoi, Adoni, Oz Y'shuatee) "May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you." (Psalm 20:1)
"O God, the Lord, the strength of my salvation. You have covered my head in the day of battle." (Psalm 140:7)
O Lord, You give me the strength to work out my own salvaotin, with fear and trembling. I look to You for help. Some days seem so hard, but all You ask me to do is to rest in You, for You are the strength of my salvation. Thank You for Your help, Your hand of deliverance. Amen.
(Taken from: Intimate Moments with the Hebrew Names of God, by Barri Cae Malin and Shmuel Wolkenfeld; Bridge-Logos Publishers; Gainesville, FL, 32614. ISBN: 0-88270-801-5)
