House Leadership

Boyle: The Inside Game Decides Capitol Hill Power Centers – Politicians Run Against Other Politicians in Elections Decided by Politicians

Nothing screams “party of the people” more than elected politicians running against other elected politicians in elections that will be voted on only by yet more elected politicians. That might sound like a mouthful, but it’s what’s happening this month on Capitol Hill as House and Senate Republicans are divvying up the spoils of their majorities that the American people sent to Washington on Nov. 5.

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 25: The sun sets behind the U.S. Capitol Building on a warm, summe

Pro-Life Heads Press House Leaders: Defund ‘Barbaric’ Planned Parenthood

The leaders assert in a letter that the House’s Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives has worked to uncover Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue trafficking program and its “turn-key business relationship” with biomedical procurement company StemExpress. The outcome, they say, is that the panel has “established probable cause that federal law prohibiting the for-profit exchange of fetal tissue had been violated.”

Right to Life advocate Linda Heilman prays during a sit-in in front of a proposed Planned

Planned Parenthood Funding Led Rep. Diane Black to Vote Against CR

The author of the stand-alone Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 that the House approved, Rep. Diane Black was persistent in her message that a government shutdown would not be an effective strategy to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider in the wake of videos exposing its practices of selling the harvested body parts of aborted babies.

U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) testifies during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Commit

Boehner Sets GOP Leadership Elections For Next Thursday

“After consulting with our conference, a large majority of our members have made clear they want these elections held next week,” departing Speaker John Boehner says. “With their considerations in mind, the House leadership elections will take place on Thursday, October 8.”

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) leaves after announcing his resignation on Capito

House Votes To Reauthorize No Child Left Behind

Many in the GOP reportedly refrained from voting until the last minute and some changed their votes under pressure from Republican leadership. Only one conservative amendment, introduced by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) was adopted, by a vote of 251-178, that would allow parents to opt their children out of standardized testing.

AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Pro-Life Campaign Urges House to Vote on 20-Week Abortion Bill on Anniversary of Gosnell Murder Conviction

With a Republican Senate in charge as of January of this year, national pro-life groups were confident of a swift passage of the Pain-Capable bill in the House once again, and likely approval by the Senate. On the eve of the March for Life in late January, however, bill was pulled from the House floor when GOP leadership caved to a group of Republicans led by Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC).

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Rep. Renee Ellmers Calls Pro-Lifers ‘Abhorrent’ and ‘Childish’

Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers (NC) seems to be digging herself in deeper with the pro-life base of the GOP. On Friday, Ellmers—who led a group of House Republicans in January in a maneuver that torpedoed a late-term abortion ban on the eve of the March for Life—took to her blog to defend herself as she also referred to pro-life groups as “abhorrent” and “childish.”

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Gohmert to Have Oversight of BLM

U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was appointed chairman of the House Subcommittee for Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations. This subcommittee has, among other responsibilities, oversight of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

BLM Federal Agents at Bundy Standoff