In This Issue• Today's Daily Brief
• The Middle East in Focus
• ObamaCare Will Cost You
• More Obamacare News
• Please note for prayer:
• Viriginia AG Warns Pelosi
• The Good News Corner: IDAHO VS. OBAMA
• Worship With Us!
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The Daily Brief - Thursday, March 18, 2010
Today's Daily Brief
1. Fed holds rates at record lows to foster recovery - AP
The Federal Reserve repeats its pledge to hold interest rates at record lows to foster the economic recovery and ease high unemployment.
- Father, we ask that You keep the Federal Reserve under Your mighty power and hold them to the course that is Your perfect will for our nation. In Jesus' Name.
- "The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casts away the substance of the wicked." (Proverbs 10:3)
2. 'Historic flooding' a risk this spring - USA Today
More than a third of the contiguous USA has a higher-than-average risk of flooding in the coming months, and residents in the Midwest are likely to see the worst of it, government forecasters warned Tuesday.
- Lord God, we pray for national repentance regarding our lack of support for Israel. You have said in Your Word that many times natural disasters occur, as noted in history, when a nation turns against Israel, which is the land where God put His name. Disasters will come but our God will protect those whose hearts are turned toward Him. In Jesus' Name.
- "God said to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, 'And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.'" (Genesis 12:3)
3. Idaho Becomes First State to Sign Law Against Health Care Reform - AP
Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is the first state chief executive to sign a measure requiring his attorney general to sue the federal government if Congress passes health care reform. Legal experts say the measure, signed Wednesday, will likely be struck down. But Idaho's new law reflects growing frustration with President Obama's health-care proposal. Legislation similar to Idaho's is pending in as many as 37 other states nationwide. Democrats in the nation's capital are hoping to pass health care reform by this weekend. The American Legislative Exchange Council created the model legislation for Idaho and other states. The Washington, D.C.-based, nonprofit says Idaho is the first to sign a version into law.
- Lord, whether or not this legislation passes a Supreme Court test, it should be a harbinger of concern for our leadership. If 38 states have drafted similar legislation rejecting the current healthcare proposal, they should see that Americans are not in favor of the plan! Our government has rebelled against You and against the people. We ask Your Divine intervention!
- "Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You, cast Your law behind their backs, and killed Your prophets who testified against them, to turn them to Yourself; and they worked great provocations;" (Nehemiah 9:26)
4. a) Obama: 'Procedural' Spat Over Health Bill Vote Doesn't Worry Me - Fox News
President Obama is not worried -- and doesn't think Americans should worry -- about the "procedural" debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.
b) Democrats Inch Toward Securing Votes for Health Bill - New York Times
House Democrats moved toward the majority they need to pass health care legislation, giving them confidence as they worked out details and girded for a historic showdown.
- Father, we continue to ask Your mercy over America, and stop this healthcare bill from becoming law. We pray that pro-life Democrats will not cave to the pressure from the White House, and that they will not fold under the constant barrage of manipulated "facts" being pushed upon them, or promises of money and power.
- "Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away."(Psalm 36:11)
5. Job Bill Passes in Senate With 11 Republican Votes - New York Times
In a rare bipartisan vote, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama on Wednesday a bill intended to spur employment by providing businesses with incentives to hire new workers - an approach that Congressional Democrats hope to repeat.
The legislation, approved 68 to 29, would give employers an exemption from payroll taxes through the end of 2010 on workers they hire who have been unemployed for at least 60 days.
- Lord, we ask that this bill actually produce jobs and stabilize the work force. If it cannot do that, we ask that the truth be shown quickly to the American people.
- "Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Your precepts." (Psalm 119:134)
6. FBI Director Mueller: Al-Qaida Still Wants Nuclear Bomb - Newsmax
FBI Director Robert Mueller warned Congress on Wednesday of ongoing al-Qaida efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States.
"Al-Qaida remains committed to its goal of conducting attacks inside the United States," Mueller told a House appropriations subcommittee. "Further, al-Qaida's continued efforts to access chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material pose a serious threat to the United States."
To accomplish its goals of new attacks on the American homeland, al-Qaida "seeks to infiltrate overseas operatives who have no known nexus to terrorism into the United States using both legal and illegal methods of entry," Mueller said.
- Lord, we bind the plans of Al-Qaida against America, and loose Your Heavenly Host against them. We ask that Your intercessors rise up on the wall and hear Your Voice in these critical times!
- "but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits." (Daniel 11:32b)
The Middle East in Focus
This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:
Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face evermore! (Psalm 105:4)
1. Obama: No crisis in Israel-US ties - Jerusalem Post
While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened his six senior ministers to discuss the tension with Washington, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday night said the US-Israeli relationship was not in crisis over the approval of an east Jerusalem building plan during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel last week.
2. Dahlan to Hamas: Join forces against Israel - Ynet News
Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan made a surprising statement Wednesday evening, calling on Hamas to join forces and defend the Muslim holy sites against Israel's policy. He spoke on the backdrop of Tuesday's riots in east Jerusalem and the stalemate in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
3. Report demonizing Israel risks Presbyterian-Jewish ties - Jerusalem Post
American Jewish leaders are slamming a report by the Presbyterian Church USA that blames Israel for the "Palestinian resistance" and denounces companies doing business with Israel.
4. On PA television for kids, Israel is only a fairy tale - Jerusalem Post
Palestinian Authority television is broadcasting a new children's show that shows a map of "Palestine" that covers the entire territory of the State of Israel, the group Palestinian Media Watch reported on Tuesday.
ObamaCare Will Cost You
There are many reasons to oppose ObamaCare, and one of the biggest is its $500 billion in tax increases. To pay for their socialized medicine scheme, Democrats are proposing a slew of new tax hikes. Here are a few of the proposed tax hikes identified by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office that are contained in the Senate's healthcare "reform" bill:
• New "fees" on drug companies, insurance companies and producers of medical devices. These new taxes are expected to raise $100 billion.
• The "Cadillac" excise tax on employer-provided insurance plans is expected to raise $150 billion.
• There are taxes on employers and individuals who refuse to buy government-mandated health plans. These taxes are supposed to raise $40 billion.
• The government is capping the amount of money employees can contribute to tax-free health spending accounts and increasing the threshold to deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses. Combined, these two restrictions will generate $35 billion in tax revenue.
• Obama's new investment tax - raising the Medicare payroll tax and applying it to investment income. This tax is expected to raise $185 billion.
Imposing one of the largest tax hikes in history in the middle of a recession will not help boost the economy. With unemployment anywhere from 9.7% to 17%, why isn't Obama focused solely on pro-growth job creation? (Gary Bauer; End-of-Day; March 17, 2010)
More Obamacare News
1) Score One For Team Pelosi
There is chaos on Capitol Hill today as the Democrats are scrambling to line up votes for ObamaCare, which Nancy Pelosi admits "Nobody wants to vote for." She is also having to defend the outrageous and unconstitutional procedure they will likely use to get it passed. Yesterday, top Democrat leaders were even contradicting one another as to whether they had the votes and when a vote might take place.
But Pelosi got some good news today when Ohio liberal Dennis Kucinich announced that he will vote for the bill. He voted "no" in November because the bill wasn't liberal enough. So, that's one flipped "no" vote, and according to Fox News that gives Pelosi 212 - four short of the 216 she needs for a majority.
2) Don't Give Up Now!
Don't be discouraged that Dennis Kucinich got on board. I never believed that die-hard progressives like Kucinich would ultimately stand in the way of ObamaCare. Besides, Kucinich was "low hanging fruit" - Obama carried his Cleveland-area district by 20 points in 2008. But let me reiterate exactly what is at stake. This bill is the foundation of socialized medicine in America.
• Ezra Klein of the Washington Post described the bill as "an enormous leftward shift for American social policy . . . unmatched by anything that has passed into law in recent decades. Progressives . . . are on the cusp of winning an incredibly important war."
• It will fund abortions (here and here) with your hard-earned tax dollars, making it the most pro-abortion legislation since Roe v. Wade.
• It massively expands the government and gives the IRS even more control over your life.
• And, as outlined above, it is full of tax hikes and job-killing measures.
So please, contact your members of Congress today and make your voice heard. Our elected representatives are under enormous pressure from the Left, but they are also hearing from the American people. Yesterday, the Capitol Hill phone systems overloaded after Rush Limbaugh urged listeners to call in.
This is no time to give up. If you can't get through, you can use our website to look up local phone numbers for your representative's district office or to send an email. (Gary Bauer; End-of-Day; March 17, 2010)
And the LORD shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him. (Ps 37:40)
Please note for prayer:
Committee to Vote Friday on Health Care Rule Change
A rules committee is expected to vote Friday on a procedure that that would allow Democrats to pass a rule and declare the Senate's health bill passed in the House. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who is head of the House Rules Committee, has proposed the lesser-known procedural move. The rule can be passed by a majority vote in committee, and members will be able to tell voters that they didn't actually vote for the language of the bill that is unpopular with a majority of Americans.
In response, Republicans have said they will attempt to force a vote on a resolution on Thursday. It would prevent Democrats from using the so-called "Slaughter solution" to move forward on health care.
Pro-lifer leaders have expressed disappointment over decisions by two Democrat lawmakers.
Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., and Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said they changed their minds today, and will vote for the Senate bill after all. The bill includes the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has criticized the proposal over the life issue.
"It expands federal funding and the role of the federal government in the provision of abortion procedures," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said in a statement. "It forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born."
Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst with Focus on the Family Action, said there is a lot wrong with this bill, and many "better alternatives that Democrats have simply rejected."
"We are down to the wire," she said, "and the historic vote is almost upon us. Americans must not delay in telling their lawmakers to 'start over' on health care and to vote 'NO' on a health care bill that throws open the door to federal funding of abortion."
TAKE ACTION:
Please contact James Oberstar, D-Minn., or Dale Kildee, D-Mich., if you live in their districts. Ask them to reconsider their decision and to vote against the health care bill, because it offers the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade. (Source: CitizenLink)
Viriginia AG Warns Pelosi
Virginia AG Warns Pelosi: Don't Bypass Direct Vote
Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli says the so-called "deem and pass" rule would expose President Obama's signature domestic initiative to a constitutional challenge. (Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli says the so-called "deem and pass" rule would expose President Obama's signature domestic initiative to a constitutional challenge.
Virginia's attorney general urged U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to use an arcane parliamentary tactic to pass health care reform without a direct vote, warning in a letter Wednesday that the move might be unconstitutional.
Republican Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, who last month went to court to oppose the federal plan to regulate greenhouse gases, said in the letter that using the so-called "deem and pass" rule would expose President Barack Obama's signature domestic initiative to a constitutional challenge. (AP; Fox News) Read more.
The Good News Corner: IDAHO VS. OBAMA
Idaho to Sue Feds Over Health Care Mandate Similar Legislation is Now Pending in 37 Other States
Gov. Otter becomes the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance - and similar legislation is now pending in 37 other states.
Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, a Republican, said he believes any future lawsuit from Idaho has a legitimate shot of winning, despite what the naysayers say.
"The ivory tower folks will tell you, 'No, they're not going anywhere,' " he told reporters. "But I'll tell you what, you get 36 states, that's a critical mass. That's a constitutional mass."
Last week, Virginia legislators passed a measure similar to Idaho's new law, but Otter was the first state chief executive to sign such a bill, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, which created model legislation for Idaho and other states. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group promotes limited government. (AP) Read more.
