The same company that ran Edward Snowden's background check also ran the Navy Yard shooter's, making us wonder if it also is in charge of fixing the escalators in the Metro, running Kenneth Cole's Twitter account and the Syria desk at the State Department. Chuck Grassley announced he is running for reelection, so all eyes turn to John McCain to see if the KIDS' PANTS ARE TOO BAGGY THESE DAYS Caucus will remain intact after 2016. And one Republican congressman says Democrats need to "find Jesus" and defund Obamacare. Clearly the Democrat party has forgotten how hard it is to heal the blind while mired in bureaucratic red tape. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, September 20th, 2013:
HOUSE VOTES TO DEFUND OBAMACARE - Sabrina Siddiqui and Mike McAuliff: "The House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill Friday that will shut down the government unless Democrats agree to defund President Barack Obama's marquee health care law. While the House voted 230 to 189 to pass the measure that Democrats have called unacceptable, Republicans insisted their bill does nothing to shutter the federal government...The vote marked the 42nd time that the House Republican conference has said yes to gutting Obamacare. While some tweaks have been made to the program, the Senate has ignored nearly everything the House has pushed for...The continuing resolution would not only permanently strip the Affordable Care Act of its funding, but would lock in government spending at sequester levels that conflict with the budget passed in the Senate. It also sets up another potentially even more consequential showdown over the nation's debt limit, by including the so-called Full Faith and Credit Act, a measure that Republicans say would allow the Treasury Department to still pay the nation's creditors, and therefore avoid a default, if the debt limit, now at $16.7 trillion, is not raised sometime next month. Democrats have dubbed that measure the "Pay China First Act," pointing out that it would prioritize payments to U.S. bondholders, which include many foreign governments like China, while obligations such as Medicare and military benefits would be placed on the backburner." [HuffPost]
Eric Cantor breaks the rules: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) quickly made the Friday vote to defund Obamacare political, singling out four Democratic senators up for reelection in conservative states in 2014. Speaking at a rally where Republican leaders cheered the House's passage of a government spending bill that would permanently strip funding from the Affordable Care Act, Cantor called out by name each red state Senate Democrat facing reelection: Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Kay Hagan (N.C.). As the majority leader asked what those Democrats were doing to protect their states from Obamacare, audience members cheered loudly and applauded his remarks...On Friday, one reporter quipped that Cantor was 'holding an NRSC rally in the Rayburn Room' as the majority leader spoke." [HuffPost]
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on defunding Obamacare: "When the American people get engaged, they have a way of making elected officials see the light, find the Lord, and do the right thing... The people have a way of weighing in on these debates, and changing the minds of politicians... I think there are senators who are going to find Jesus and do the right thing." [CNN ]
FORMER ABRAMOFF LOBBYIST PISSED AT THINGS CELEBRATES TOM DELAY'S EXONERATION - HuffPost Hill's Former Abramoff Lobbyist Pissed At Things usually spends his Thursday evenings at Equinox, telling the bartender to "put it on my black card" within earshot of attractive women. However he had other plans last night. "FALPAT is happy to report that the acquittal party held at BVG last evening did not disappoint as it was a little slice of sweet old 2002 -- flowing booze, DeLay Whip Chicks, a sense of GOP purpose and the periodic spitting of chewing tobacco at liberals in the name of Christ," FALPAT writes. "God I miss the drama: the Congressional investigations, Jim Vandehei's hit pieces, and inter-office squabbles. I even miss the slightly more creepy -- and perpetually oily -- Bresnahan lurking around…..well, everywhere." Thanks, FALPAT!
Mitt Romney doesn't remember how many grandchildren he has: "Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney tweeted that he and wife Ann have welcomed a new grandchild. Kieran James Romney was officially adopted Friday, according to the tweet:'Our 22nd grandchild was officially adopted today: Kieran James Romney. cc: @AnnDRomney pic.twitter.com/7t1ZFxOJS4' Romney said this is his 22nd grandchild. But he also said that about his last grandchild, born to his son Josh." [HuffPost]
FARM BILL NEXT - David Rogers: "Having put down their marker on food stamp cuts, House Republican leaders are promising to end the delays and move toward a formal farm bill conference with the Senate “as soon as we can” Speaker John Boehner pledged this week. Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) still hopes to take the first steps next week when the House could vote on a procedural motion to marry the newly-passed nutrition title with the rest of the farm bill already sent to the Senate in July." [Politico]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Jason Greenslate, the Fox News food stamp surfer, responds to the haters: "I do work," Greenslate said. "I'm just not making any money. I'm setting up a career for myself." House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who represents part of San Diego county, said he has a low opinion of Greenslate's career strategy. "Clearly it's an example of somebody using a government program that is unreasonable, considering he has chosen to make less money and is using public assistance for a lifestyle decision," Issa told HuffPost. "He obviously is anticipating being very rich later and not paying back the money." Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a member of the House committee that oversees nutrition assistance, said he resented that Greenslate had posed for a portrait of the ultimate food stamp loafer. "I don't give a damn about surfer dude," McGovern told HuffPost. "As far as I'm concerned, he can walk off the nearest pier. To suggest that he's the face of SNAP is offensive." In a follow-up email, Greenslate lamented that Fox had portrayed him as a beach bum. "I don't feel like a bum," he said. "I pull hot chicks, drive nice cars, dress nice and wear the most baddest jewelry in the world." [HuffPost]
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GRASSLEY RUNNING FOR REELECTION - Assume senator running. Des Moines Register: "Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, 80, said today that he will run again, which likely means at least one of Iowa’s U.S. Senate seats will remain in Republican hands. 'I’m planning on running for re-election,' he said on the public television show 'Iowa Press.' Today’s news was a political bombshell, just as U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s surprise decision to retire in January 2015 caught activists and political operatives off guard. Grassley said he made up his mind a couple months ago. The announcement this past winter by Harkin, 73, propelled Grassley’s decision. 'If Iowa had to start over two years from now with two very junior senators it would hurt Iowans’ opportunities to get anything done in the Senate,' Grassley told reporters after the show." [DMR]
SYRIA: LOW APPROVALS FOR OBAMA AND KERRY - Pro tip: The public doesn't respond well to almost going to war because you forgot to ask the enemy to stop doing the thing that almost provoked the war. Emily Swanson: "The unpopular possibility of U.S. air strikes against Syria has been at least temporarily averted, but a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds most Americans still have little confidence in either President Barack Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry to handle the situation there. According to the new poll, just 36 percent of Americans approve of Obama's handling of the Syrian conflict, while 51 percent disapprove...In the newest HuffPost/YouGov poll, opinion on Obama's handling of Syria was starkly divided along party lines, with Democrats saying they approved by a 61 percent to 26 percent margin, while Republicans said they disapproved by a 77 percent to 15 percent margin. A majority of independents also said they disapproved, 57 percent to 26 percent. Secretary of State John Kerry fared little better than Obama, with only 35 percent saying they approved of his handling of Syria and 42 percent saying they disapproved." [HuffPost]
IMMIGRATION TALKS STALL IN HOUSE - Elise Foley: "An effort by a bipartisan House group to create a comprehensive immigration reform bill has stalled, group member Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said Friday, and likely won't produce any bill this fall, as two Republicans have dropped out of negotiations. 'The bipartisan group just wasn't getting support from Republican House leadership,' Gutierrez told the Washington Post's Greg Sargent. 'It's just not gonna happen now.' The group of seven members had been working for years on comprehensive immigration reform that would, unlike most GOP proposals, include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. It suffered a blow in June when Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) dropped out over health care issues, but the remaining members continued to insist they were close to a deal. hey announced they had agreed to key principles in May, but observers began to worry they wouldn't release a bill at all when the process continued to drag on. It was never clear whether House GOP leadership would allow a vote on the group's legislation, even if they were to introduce it." [HuffPost]
DEMOCRAT DROPS TRUTH BOMB -- A DISGUSTING, DISGUSTING TRUTH BOMB - It's really only a matter of time until Joe Biden says the exact same thing. The Hill: "Freshman Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Friday accused Republicans of pursuing a 'wet dream' by pushing for the repeal of ObamaCare as part of a short-term spending bill. "I rise in strong opposition to this radical right-wing effort to walk our economy off of a cliff and cause a government shutdown,' Swalwell said in today's debate. 'I invite my colleagues on the other side to wake up from this radical, ideological wet dream, and come back to reality.' Swalwell might be the first member to use the phrase 'wet dream' on the House floor — at the very least, it appears to be the first time it has been said in more than two decades. Based on a search of the Congressional Record dating back to 1989 — the earliest year that congressional records can be viewed electronically — the term "wet dream" appears only once. That appearance was in 1996, when a senator inserted an article from Climbing Magazine that used the term." [The Hill]
MAN FALSELY ACCUSED OF BEING NAVY YARD SHOOTER SPEAKS OUT - Sam Stein: "No one knows what it's like to be a dead mass murderer. But for about 20 minutes on Monday, Rollie Chance got about as close to that experience as you can get. The 50-year-old retired chief petty officer with the U.S. Navy was briefly identified as the Washington Navy Yard shooter that morning, only to have the news organizations circulating his name hastily retract their reports. What ensued was a life-altering swirl of events and emotions that will forever change his life, especially because the 12 people who were killed that day -- by the gunman Aaron Alexis, not him -- included former colleagues and friends...A call came in from ABC News sometime between 11:00 a.m. and noon asking him if anyone at his number and address knew Rollie Chance. 'They didn't know I was Rollie Chance,' he recalled. 'I think they still don't know that Rollie Chance answered the phone.' The person on the phone then asked him if he knew that Rollie Chance was the perpetrator. 'My first thought was, this must be a joke,' he said. 'I said to him, 'I can tell you 100 percent that Rollie Chance was not the shooter.' That was my first notification that I was, I guess, involved in the Washington Navy Yard shooting." [HuffPost]
ACTUAL NAVY YARD SHOOTER OK'ED BY SAME COMPANY THAT RAN EDWARD SNOWDEN'S BACKGROUND CHECK - Bloomberg: "The same federal contractor that vetted Edward Snowden, who leaked information about classified U.S. spying programs, also performed a background check that let the Washington Navy Yard shooter obtain a security clearance. Now the contractor, USIS, is drawing fire from a U.S. senator asking how Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis slipped through the cracks. The vetting process has also been included in an inquiry by law enforcement agencies into Alexis’s activities before his deadly rampage this week. No company does more U.S. government background checks for clearances than USIS, which was awarded $253 million by the Office of Personnel Management last year. The company did about two-thirds of background investigations done by contractors, and more than half of all those performed by the U.S. personnel office, according to Senator Claire McCaskill’s office." [Bloomberg]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some cats being jerks.
COMFORT FOOD
- Time-lapse film of an engine being stripped-down, dissasembled and then reassembled. [http://bit.ly/MEoyYn]
- "Men Taking Up Too Much Space on the Train" documents violations of the social contract. [http://bit.ly/110Dggk]
- Prepare to have your cinematic mind blown by The Pixar Theory. [http://bit.ly/13bg8Nn]
- "Sh*t You Can Afford," is like Sharper Image, except your broke-ass can afford it. [http://bit.ly/YHDvRD]
- A mostly suitable-for-work list of the top ten website you should never, EVER visit. [http://bit.ly/18H9HnC]
- Diner Porn features high-res photography from that most American of eating establishments. [http://bit.ly/1bNLnXV]
- ESPN announcers really love working in "Princess Bride" references to their analysis and play-by-play. [http://bit.ly/19kKPEp]
TWITTERAMA
@jaredbkeller: Mitt Romney has so many grandkids that people tweet about how many grandkids he has
@LOLGOP: If you're wondering who the guys are who think America is a Christian nation, they're the ones taking food and health care from the poor.
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