On the House Floor
This week, the House passed H.R. 3222, which provides funding for our nation’s armed forces by investing in equipment, training and cutting-edge weaponry. The bill also provides a 3.5 percent pay increase for our men and women in uniform. The House also passed H.R. 3688, the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act, which establishes a bilateral free trade agreement between the U.S. and Peru; H.R. 3043, which provides spending for domestic social programs at a level of $9.8 billion over the President’s budget; H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which prohibits employment discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgender persons; and H.R. 3996, the Temporary Tax Relief Act, which extends several tax cuts, including relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax, while creating several permanent tax increases. Finally, both the House and Senate voted this week to override the President’s veto of H.R. 1495, the Water Resources Development Act, which authorizes flood control and water supply projects across the country.
Marriage Under Attack
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed this week over Republican objections, threatens to undermine state and federal marriage laws across the country. This legislation is modeled closely after state employment non-discrimination laws currently being misused by activist judges to impose same-sex marriage and civil union laws on states. For example, the Massachusetts State Supreme Court, in its 2003 Goodridge v. Department of Public Health decision, cited that state’s non-discrimination laws as evidence that the state should not discriminate in the area of marriage. The New Jersey Supreme Court, in its 2006 Lewis v. Harris decision, cited that state’s non-discrimination laws as a basis for requiring the state legislature to either pass a same-sex marriage law or a civil union law. The Vermont State Supreme Court ordered its state legislature to pass either a same-sex marriage or civil union law eight years ago, arguing that the state could not bar same-sex marriages or civil unions when it already had a law outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It is bad enough that ENDA will create a new protected class under our civil rights laws which meets none of the criteria of other federally-protected classes (race, gender, ethnicity), but the fact that this bill is being used to lay the groundwork for weakening the definition of marriage is shameful. Fortunately, the President will veto this bill if it ever reaches his desk
Too Much Green
NBC Universal’s new “Green is Universal” campaign kicked off this week with green-themed programming, including appearances by Al Gore to remind us of the “dangers” of global warming. The week started when Bob Costas turned off the lights in the studio of NBC’s Sunday Night Football to save energy. Jonah Goldberg noted the irony of this gesture in a recent National Review article: “On a typical game day, a large football stadium burns about 65,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and 35,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The cars driving to the game spew about 200 metric tons of CO2 (and that assumes nobody’s driving SUVs or RVs, which is like assuming tailgaters are eating only sushi). There’s also the electricity used to broadcast the game and to watch it. But thank goodness Costas turned off the studio lights for a minute or two.” In fact, NBC’s efforts to save the environment may actually be harming its cause. For example, consider the amount of energy consumed when Matt Lauer flew to the Arctic Circle for a live broadcast. The winners of a contest on The Biggest Loser were presented with new hybrid SUV’s, but at least one of the contestants did not even own a car. While this campaign purports to be a call to action for environmentalists, NBC’s own actions speak louder than words.
Quote of the Week
“You just heard a Ronald Reagan speech from a president of France. It was an almost out-of-body experience for all of us.” – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after French President Nicolas Sarkozy addressed a Joint Session of Congress on Wednesday, November 7, 2007.
|
