Nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) are confirmed to speak at the upcoming American Conservative Union (ACU) hosted Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the organization told Breitbart News exclusively on Friday.
“Representative Blackburn, Laura Ingraham, and Senator Scott have a proven track record of fighting for our shared conservative principles,” ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said. “Whether it’s on Capitol Hill, or on the airwaves, we are certain that these strong conservative leaders will assist our mission of equipping our attendees with the tools they need to be successful in their communities and campuses across America.”
Scott, who has a lifetime ACU scorecard rating of 97 percent, said that this forthcoming CPAC is massively important in ensuring that a conservative–not an establishment Republican–gets the GOP nomination in 2016. Scott, who’s a fairly quiet U.S. Senator compared to some of the other younger, reliable conservative Republicans, is black–something that undercuts the left’s narrative that Republicans or conservatives are somehow racist.
“I’m proud to represent the people of South Carolina, the folks who will host one of the first Presidential primaries,” Scott said in the statement provided to Breitbart News. “CPAC will be the unofficial launch of the Presidential campaign and our best opportunity to fight for a conservative candidate.”
Ingraham has been one of the loudest conservative media figures in recent years, leading the charge almost single-handedly to help now Rep. David Brat (R-VA) beat the GOP establishment’s now former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in his Republican primary. Ingraham has promised to seek the same fate for House Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) for his work on Speaker John Boehner’s behalf to fund President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty.
Ingraham said on her radio program on Thursday:
Hal Rogers, who’s the Appropriations Chairman from Kentucky in House of Representatives, I have concluded needs to be primaried. Hal Rogers refuses to consider the sensible process of defunding Obama’s executive amnesty and instead throws up all of these false road blocks to defunding Obama’s executive amnesty, which we have exposed here on this show (like, ‘You can’t defund a program that’s funded by fees.’ When in fact, we have done it in the past, including last year more than a dozen times). Hal Rogers clearly wants executive amnesty to go through, so he’s not going to fight on the funding as we need him to, and that’s a betrayal of the American worker. He must be primaried. We need a strong advocate for the American worker from Kentucky to work for us and work for the people of Kentucky, so we’re going to be working with our friends in Kentucky to try to find a suitable primary candidate for Hal Rogers. Lots of people are already contacting us and suggesting folks. Anything I can do to help, I’ll be happy to help.
The United Kentucky Tea Party told Breitbart News previously that it is actively searching for a suitable primary candidate for Rogers, something that was subsequently highlighted by the New York Times.
Blackburn, the third ACU speaker the group is announcing on Friday with this exclusive with Breitbart News, is the major House sponsor of legislation that passed the House of Representatives this past summer, right before August recess, that would have blocked funding for Obama’s executive amnesty–through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) 2012 executive amnesty or for this executive amnesty that the president announced a couple of weeks ago.
Blackburn, who has a lifetime ACU scorecard rating of 96 percent–the best rating in the entire Tennessee Congressional delegation–said:
I am honored to be a part of CPAC’s growing roster of conservative opinion leaders. Conservative principles produce the best solutions for the challenges facing America. Our ideas provide opportunities for all Americans, not just the well-connected few. I look forward to discussing how best to implement our ideas at CPAC.
Blackburn, who offered the House version of a bill from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), fought to ensure the House passed the bill–which it did–and in doing so, forced the Democrats such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi into a full-scale meltdown. Pelosi actually chased Republican Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) across the floor of the House of Representatives, wagging her finger in his face, in an attempt to explain the Democrats’ opposition to blocking funding for Obama’s executive amnesties.
CPAC 2015 will be held from Feb. 25 through Feb. 28 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, just outside of Washington, D.C.
Despite some issues in previous years, the ACU under new chairman Matt Schlapp is clearly making efforts to cover issues conservatives care about–especially on immigration. On a new “Road To CPAC” feature on the ACU’s CPAC website, the ACU has been making a new announcement every day on the way to CPAC’s opening. Several of the posts have focused on immigration–from highlighting Milton Friedman’s speech about how open borders can’t exist with a welfare state, to hammering Obama’s executive amnesty announcement, to comparing Obamacare to “Obamnesty.”
Other speakers who have already been announced include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dr. Ben Carson, nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin, and ACU Foundation chairwoman Carly Fiorina.
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