Investigating whether Obamacare fundraising violates the law
In recent weeks, major news
outlets have reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius is soliciting money and other support from private entities on
behalf of an organization helping to implement Obamacare. That
organization, Enroll America, is a non-profit run by a former aide to
President Obama. The administration has been quoted as saying that
Congress refused to provide additional funding for the exchanges, so
they had to come up with a Plan B. Our country’s founders gave Congress
the power of the purse – the strongest curb on executive power included
in our Constitution. The Antidefiency Act enforces these principles. If
Secretary Sebelius or others in her department are fundraising for
Enroll America and then coordinating with Enroll America for activities
Congress chose not to fund, that may be a violation of the
Antideficiency Act. That’s in addition to potentially raising money or
other support from companies that she regulates, which may be a
violation of ethics laws. I asked the Government Accountability Office
and HHS’s Inspector General to investigate, and called on Secretary
Sebelius to stop her fundraising activities.
Click here to see me discuss this issue on Fox Business and here to read more about me calling on HHS’s inspector general to launch an investigation.
Passing a law to stop the government from restricting fishing in Tennessee
Congress recently passed – and
the president signed – my legislation that stops the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers’ from restricting fishing below dams on the Cumberland River.
This two-year ban prevents the Corps from implementing its unnecessary,
unreasonable restrictions and delegates enforcement below the dams to
state agencies in Tennessee and Kentucky. Now the Corps is required, by
law, to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and ignoring those of us who have
been standing up for fishermen. In addition to this two-year ban, the
U.S. Senate has passed my permanent solution as part of the Water
Resources Development Act. This permanent solution would delegate
enforcement below the dams to state wildlife agencies and prevent the
Corps from installing permanent barriers or any restrictions that aren’t
based on operating conditions.
The U.S. House of Representatives
has not yet taken up its version of the Water Resources Development
Act, which is what made the two-year ban that recently became law
necessary. My legislation, which originated as the “Freedom to Fish
Act,” was cosponsored by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) and Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). A
similar version was sponsored in the House by U.S. Reps. Ed Whitfield
(R-Ky.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Stephen
Fincher (R-Tenn.), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Andy Barr (R-Ky.).
Click here to read more about my legislation to stop the Corps.
Obama administration must cooperate with investigation of IRS political targeting
On May 15, I joined all of my
Republican colleagues in the Senate in a letter calling on President
Obama to have his administration comply with congressional requests for
information as we examine the Internal Revenue Service’s admitted
targeting of conservative groups and others during the 2012 election
cycle. The First Amendment protects the rights of the American people to
organize and speak up and speak out, and the IRS has violated those
rights by creating what sounds like an enemies list to keep people
opposed to the president quiet. Congress needs to investigate the IRS’s
actions to make sure something like this never happens again, and the
Obama administration owes it to the American people to help us get to
the bottom of this.
Click here to read more about my concerns about the IRS’s activities.
Progress on legislation to help prevent another meningitis outbreak
Legislation I sponsored to help
prevent another nightmare like the meningitis outbreak that killed 15
Tennesseans and made more than 150 people in our state sick recently
passed the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which I
am Ranking Member, or lead Republican. This legislation makes clear that
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for regulating
large-scale compounding shipped across state lines, and that states are
in charge of regulating compounded drugs made by traditional pharmacies.
The bottom line is that under this legislation, when you walk into a
facility that makes drugs, you will now know who is regulating that
facility – and who is responsible for preventing another outbreak like
the one Tennessee faced last year.
Click here to read more about my legislation.
Opposing Obama’s labor secretary nominee; calling for labor relations board picks who respect Constitution
On May 16, I voted against
President Obama’s nominee for secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor,
Thomas Perez. I opposed voting Mr. Perez out of the Senate committee
that oversees labor policy, where I am the lead Republican, for two
reasons. First, my view of his record raises troubling questions about
his actions while at the Department of Justice, and his candor in
discussing those actions with the committee. Second, neither Mr. Perez
nor the administration had provided relevant and specific information
that congressional committees have asked for during the nomination
process. Mr. Perez orchestrated a quid pro quo arrangement between the
Department of Justice and the city of St. Paul, in which the department
agreed to drop two cases in exchange for the city withdrawing its case –
an extraordinary amount of wheeling and dealing that prevented the
potential recovery of millions of taxpayer dollars, and violated the
trust whistleblowers place in the federal government.
I also continue to push the Obama
administration to select nominees to the National Labor Relations Board
who haven’t served in violation of the Senate’s constitutional role of
advice and consent. On May 22, I opposed the nominations of Sharon Block
and Richard Griffin, because they have continued to serve on the board
even though the United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia has said their service is constitutionally invalid. The
president previously appointed both of them as so-called recess
appointments, at a time when the Senate wasn’t in recess. Any decisions
they’ve participated in are invalid, and they’ve shown a lack of respect
for the Constitution by not leaving the board.
Click here to see me discuss my opposition to Mr. Perez in the HELP Committee, and here to read more about my push for constitutionally appointed members of the NLRB.
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