Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Shot in Virginia During Morning Congressional Basebal Practice

LAWMAKER SHOT IN VA …

As reported at FOX News, Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot early this morning in Alexandria, Virginia while practicing baseball.  According to Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, shots were first reported on East Monroe Street in Alexandria. at about 7:10 am ET. Louisiana Congressman Scalise was standing near second base when he was shot. Scalise was hit in the hip. Others have also been wounded. The suspect is reported to have been shot and in custody.

Thankfully, Majority Whip Steve Scalise was traveling with a security detail of Capitol police, otherwise this would have been much worse and a massacre.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot in the hip and at least one other aide was also hit in the chest by a gunman with a rifle who opened fire at a baseball practice in Virginia Wednesday morning, Fox News confirmed.

Police tweeted they “believed” the gunman was in custody. Sen. Mike Lee told Fox News, however, the gunman was dead. He said a staffer used a belt as a tourniquet to stop Scalise’s bleeding.

UPDATE I: Rep. Steve Scalise was shot Wednesday morning in Alexandria, VA.

According to both congressional and law enforcement sources, the shooting appears to be a “deliberate attack.” Alexandria police said earlier Wednesday they were responding to a “multiple shooting” in the city. The tweet also said the suspect is in custody “and not a threat.” CNN has reached out to Capitol Hill police for details.

Brooks said there were a number of congressmen and congressional staffers lying on the ground, and at least one of them was wounded. The Alabama Republican said he used his belt as a tourniquet to help one of the victims.

He said the shooter appeared to be a white male but added that “I saw him for a second or two.” He said the shooter was behind the third base dugout and didn’t say anything.

“The gun was a semiautomatic,” Brooks said. “It continued to fire at different people. You can imagine, all the people on the field scatter.”

UPDATE II: Paul said about 50-60 rifle shots rang out from a distance and “no one on the field had a chance”.

Alexandria police said the suspect was in custody and was “not a threat.”

Scalise was with 15-20 lawmakers who were practicing for the annual Congressional baseball game, according to HLN. Fox said a staffer used a belt as a tourniquet to stop Scalise’s bleeding.

Sen. Rand Paul told MSNBC said he was in a batting cage when it happened. Paul said about 50-60 rifle shots rang out from a distance and “no one on the field had a chance.” He said two Capital Hill police return fire.

UPDATE III: Virginia shooting: House majority whip shot at congressional baseball practice – live.

4m ago 13:44 David Taylor

Rand Paul, the Republican senator for Kentucky, told MSNBC he was practicing in a batting cage just outside the fence to the baseball field when the shots started.

He heard a succession of five or 10 shots and then realized the Republican majority whip senator Steve Scalise was hit on the baseball field and was “trying to drag himself through the dirt towards the dugout”.

Two Congressional staffers were also on the ground, with shots kicking up dirt all around them, he said.

Paul, who hid behind a tree with a staffer who leapt over a high fence, described shots landing in the dirt in the outfield and around them.

He said at one point the gunman, who he thought was armed with a rifle must have reloaded and then there were 50 or 60 shots.

“Everybody probably would have died except for the fact that the Capitol Hill police were there,” he said.

The Republicans have been having regular morning practice at the field for about two months in advance of Thursday’s charity congressional baseball game at Nationals Park.

Armed police were there because Senator Scalise, a member of the leadership is on their team, Paul said.

“The Capitol Hill police, incredibly brave, probably saved the lives of everybody there. Had they not been there it would have been a massacre because there’s no escape, a guy, if he has got 100 bullets, we had no weapons and no place to hide.”

So if he had advanced on the rest of us, there would have been no chance … shots were returned by the Capitol Hill police. From what I understand, they both were shot, I hope they are OK. One still protected the scene after being shot.”

6m ago 08:41

Congressman Mo Brooks said that Scalise “crawled into the outfield, leaving a trail of blood”.

“We started giving him the liquids; I put pressure on his wound in his hip,” Brooks said.

FINALLY … House Republicans Pass Obamacare Repeal, 217-213

HOUSE FINALLY REPEALS OBAMACARE …

After campaigning on the issue for nearly seven years, House Republicans have finally passed a health care bill to repeal and replace the failed disaster known as Obamacare. The legislation passed 217 to 213 with no Democrats joining Republicans to repeal the failed Obamacare law. There were 20 Republicans voted no on the legislation. President Donald Trump praised House Speaker Paul Ryan and said he’s confident in Senate passage and predicted an “unbelievable victory.” “Trump went on to say, “As far as I’m concerned, your premiums are going to come down.”

Make no mistake about it America, Obamacare was a lie fed to you by Barack Obama and Democrats. Do I think this legislation is perfect, not a chance, but Obamacare was a failing disaster.

House Republicans on Thursday narrowly approved their sweeping health care bill aimed at fulfilling a campaign promise to upend ObamaCare, after resuscitating legislation that had flatlined on the floor not six weeks earlier.

The revised American Health Care Act passed on a 217-213 vote.

“We’re going to get this finished,” President Trump declared in a celebratory Rose Garden event, surrounded by Republican congressional allies shortly after the vote. He vowed premiums and deductibles will be “coming down” and the Affordable Care Act is “essentially dead.”

The passage marked Republicans’ biggest step yet toward replacing the Obama administration’s signature domestic policy law. The bill heads next to the Senate, however, where it faces an uncertain fate.

NYT: Vote Count

I can only hope that this is the beginning of really providing affordable and fair insurance coverage to Americans who want insurance. not forced to purchase government sponsored and unaffordable insurance. My person opinion having been in the healthcare field for nearly 30 years is that the fix should have been more market driven, not a spoon fed insurance plan. Individuals are going to have to start taking responsibility for their lives and stop depending on government, that goes for Republicans too.

Full White House Press Conference following House Repeal of Obamacare

From CNN:

Democrats were unable to stop the GOP vote aimed at President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. But after the final vote was cast, they chanted “nah nah nah nah hey hey hey goodbye” to their Republican colleagues, with a few members waving, as they believe the vote will lead to many GOP lawmakers losing their seats in the November 2018 midterms.

Thursday marks a political milestone — one that has painfully eluded Trump and House leaders for months. The controversial health care bill delivered Trump the biggest political defeat of his short presidency in March, when the legislation had to be yanked from the House floor because it simply didn’t have enough support.

Under pressure from an antsy Trump looking to score a big political victory, Republican leaders tried again last week, hoping to to get to 216 votes ahead of the President’s symbolically important 100-day mark in office. That effort, too, failed.

Obama’s Post Presidency $400,000 Speech Could Prompt Congress to Go after His Pension

MY PERSONAL BELIEF IS THAT ALL GOVERNMENT PENSIONS EXCEPT THOSE IN MILITARY SHOULD BE DONE AWAY WITH, INCLUDING CONGRESS …

Following Barack Obama’s $400,000 speech, Congress may pass legislation to cap presidential pensions. A bill like this had been previously introduced in 2016 in the House by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and in the Senate by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. However, with no opposition last year in the Senate or House or threat of presidential veto, at the last minute Obama vetoed the bill. Imagine that. Talk about self-serving. Why would Obama have vetoed such a bill? Hopefully this will pass the Congress once again and President Trump will sign it. If not, the American tax payers will be providing a pension to a billionaire by law.

Of course Congress should pass a similar bill on themselves as well.

And I am still bleeding the tax payer …

Last year, then-president Barack Obama vetoed a bill that would have curbed the pensions of former presidents if they took outside income of $400,000 or more.

So now that former president Barack Obama has decided to accept $400,000 for an upcoming Wall Street speech, the sponsors of that bill say they’ll reintroduce that bill in hopes that President Trump will sign it.

“The Obama hypocrisy on this issue is revealing,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and sponsor of the 2016 bill. “His veto was very self-serving.”

Chaffetz and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the sponsor of the companion Senate bill, say they will re-introduce the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act this month. The bill would cap presidential pensions at $200,000, with another $200,000 for expenses. But those payments would be reduced dollar-for-dollar once their outside income exceeds $400,000.

The issue isn’t a partisan one — or at least, it wasn’t last year. The bill passed both the House and Senate with no opposition, and no veto threat had come from the White House.

So when Obama’s veto came one Friday night last July — on the last day for him to sign or veto the legislation — it took lawmakers by surprise. It was the 11th of Obama’s 12 vetoes.

My personal belief is that all pensions should be done away with, except for the men and woman of our military. It is a means of payment that is long since obsolete. If presidents want to go on the speaking tour and some company is ignorant enough to pay $400K, so be it. However, the American people should never have to foot the bill of a pension of millionaires. That goes for Congress also. These positions were never intended to be a full time job forever. That is never what The Founders envisioned.

“The basic premise here is, if they want to go fishing in Utah for the rest of their lives, they can do that. They will be well compensated for the rest of their lives,” Chaffetz said. “If they’re going to make millions of dollars, the taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize them.”

Why are the American people paying pensions to millionaires? Who honestly thinks this makes any sense, no matter what political party the former president belongs to. Who thinks the Bush’s are hurting for money? How about the Clinton’s?

Under the Former Presidents Act, the nation’s five living former presidents — Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama — get a pension equal to the salary of a current cabinet secretary: $207,800 in 2017. They also get $150,000 to pay staff, and “suitable office space, appropriately furnished and equipped.”

In 2015, the entire benefit package ranged from $430,000 for Carter to $1.1 million for George W. Bush.

With Obama joining the club as of Jan. 20, the 2017 spending bill approved by the House Wednesday contained nearly $3.9 million for all the former presidents through Sept. 30 — a $588,000 annual increase.

Georgia’s 6th District Race Heads to Runoff … Democrat Jon Ossoff vs. Republican Karen Handel

 DEMOCRATS, HOLLYWOOD AND THE LEFT POWER ELITE SPENT ALL KINDS OF OUTSIDE MONEY AND STILL COULD NOT WIN THE SPECIAL ELECTION …

Last night’s Georgia’s 6th District special election was touted as a referendum on President Donald trump and Democrats thought for sure they had this one. However, at the end of the evening Georgia’s 6th District special election would be heading toward a runoff.  It will be Democrat Jon Ossoff vs. Republican Karen Handel. Much like the night of the presidential election with Hillary Clinton, Democrats thought they could win this one with 30 year old  Jon Ossoff against a mass of other opponents. They hoped to take advantage of the special election and take a GOP House seat. They did not. Now that the race is headed to a one on one run-off election with a formidable candidate like Karen Handel, this seat will most likely remain Republican. Democrats tried to pour in all kinds of outside money to win this seat, including a candidate in Ossoff who does not even live in the district. They failed. What do Democrats do now? The runoff election will take place in June.

Roughly five hours after polling locations closed, major networks began projecting that Georgia’s 6th District special election would be heading toward a runoff on June 20.

That means Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel, the race’s top two vote-getters, will have nine more weeks of expensive and heating campaigning before voters will decide who will replace Tom Price, now Trump’s health secretary, as the representative for Atlanta’s affluent, leafy northern suburbs in the House.

Ossoff, a 30-year-old documentary film maker and political novice, told his supporters late Tuesday that a runoff “shattered expectations.” “We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary,” he said.

Earlier Tuesday evening, former Secretary of State Karen Handel vowed “start the campaign anew” on Wednesday, as her onetime Republican opponents began to coalesce around her. “Beating Ossoff and holding this seat is something that rises above any one person,” she told supporters.

Democrats begin to wonder: When do we win?

For all the roiling anger and energy at the grassroots, the party still fell short in Georgia and Kansas. And Democratic prospects in upcoming elections aren’t promising.

For all the anger, energy, and money swirling at the grassroots level, Democrats didn’t manage to pick off the first two Republican-held congressional seats they contended for in the Trump era, and the prospects aren’t markedly better in the next few House races coming up: the Montana race at the end of May, and the South Carolina contest on June 20.

Their best shot at knocking Donald Trump down a peg appears to be Ossoff’s runoff against Republican Karen Handel, also scheduled for June 20. But the Democrat will be an underdog in that contest, when there won’t be a crowded field of Republicans to splinter the vote.

After that, it’ll be another five months before the New Jersey and Virginia elections for governor, leaving some strategists and lawmakers wondering how to keep the furious rank-and-file voters engaged in fueling and funding the party’s comeback — especially given the sky-high expectations that surrounded Ossoff’s ultimately unsuccessful run at the 50-percent threshold that was necessary to win the seat outright.

Trump claims credit as Georgia congressional election heads to runoff.

In many respects, why shouldn’t President Donal trump claim some credit for this? If Democrat Ossoff had won the MSM would have pronounced the Trump presidency over before it has even begun. If we are to take the opposite of what the LEFT and the MSM were spewing prior to this if the Democrat had won, then this is a huge victory for Trump. However, it is also a wake-up call to the GOP that nothing is for certain and they need to get their act in gear, do what they said they were going to do or … their base will not come out in off year elections.

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Devin Nunes Enters the ‘No Spin Zone’ … FBI & NSA Will Be No Shows for Closed Door Session (VIDEO)

WHO DOES THE FBI AND NSA WORK FOR AGAIN?

It would appear that the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Devin Nunes are getting very close to the truth with regards to the unmasking of individual’s names. Rep. Devin Nunes describes why he went to the old executive office building and saw the tapes. This is why Democrats and the MSM are calling for him to resign, that is what happens when some one gets really close to the truth that you don’t want exposed. Keep up the good work, the rats are getting nervous.