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I was pleased to join a huge bipartisan majority in the U.S. House to pass an omnibus spending package that will fund the federal government through the end of Fiscal Year 2017 (September 30).The $1.1 trillion bill passed by a vote of 309-118.Included within that funding bill is money for several top priorities of the Congressional Black Caucus and progressive Democrats and high-priority projects that will help St. Louis and other urban areas.

Despite the irresponsible demands of the Republican majority, Democrats prevailed in many funding fights and we defeated efforts to fund President Trumps border wall.

Federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which delivers cancer screening and well-woman services to over 3 million low-income patients each year, was preserved.

In St. Louis, the spending bill will also guarantee production of 17 new FA-18 Super Hornets this year.That remarkable aircraft, which is a high priority for the U.S. Navy, is built by 5,000 highly skilled union machinists at Boeing in Hazelwood.

Democrats also won continued funding for cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurers that help offset costs for low-income consumers who are covered under the Affordable Care Act.

And despite President Trumps misguided attempt to slash funding for vital medical research, the National Institutes of Health will receive a major $2 billion increase in federal funding that will be targeted towards research for conditions that African Americans and other minorities suffer from disproportionately. Chronic and deadly illnesses like cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, kidney failure and Alzheimers disease. Each year, I am pleased to support almost half a billion dollars in NIH-funded research at Washington University School of Medicine and Saint Louis University School of Medicine as they seek life-saving cures and create thousands of STEM jobs in our region.

The spending package also provides an additional $600 million for fighting the epidemic of opioid addiction.

I also worked closely with House Appropriators to provide an additional $1 million within the Commerce, Justice and Science line items to specifically fund upgraded and enhanced police sensitivity training for local law enforcement.

The bill also preserves funding for Pell grants and restores year-round use of those funds for low-income college students.

Each year the Congressional Black Caucus and progressive Democrats target key spending priorities that we fight for in the overall funding bill.This year, we were successful beyond our best expectations.

Some of those key federal investments include: $22.6 million for the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; $68 million for the Second Chance Act,; $100 million to upgrade municipal water system in Flint, Michigan; $4 million in competitive grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities; $73 million for Promise Neighborhoods; $1.7 billion for Office of Job Corps; $95 million in apprenticeship grants; $25 million for reintegration of ex-offenders in high-crime, high-poverty areas; $715 million for Community Service Block Grants; $244 million for Strengthening HBCUs; $7.5 million for Strengthening HBCUs Masters Programs; $9 million for Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions; $291,033 for in-school GED training for young people with occupational training in St. Louis County; $3,225,991 for Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program; $485,940 for weatherization program for low-income Missouri seniors; $3 billion for Community Development Block Grants; $137.5 million for Choice Neighborhood Program.

This federal spending agreement invests in urban communities by funding vital human services; restoring distressed neighborhoods; making college possible for low-income and minority students; growing jobs by investing in STEM and infrastructure projects; and making real investments in transforming local law enforcement and our criminal justice system.

This spending package is a victory for the Congressional Black Caucus and for all of us who continue to fight for jobs, education, healthcare, housing and equal justice for all, instead of just for some.

U.S. Rep.Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) represents Missouris 1st Congressional District.

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Omnibus Spending Bill has wins for progressives - St. Louis American

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Posted: May 20, 2017 12:01 AM

If self-delusion were magic, average liberals would be David Blaine, David Copperfield and Houdini all rolled up into one. Most of what they say has no relation to what theyre doing, the policies they push rarely work and logic might as well be a strange, alien language to them. Since thats the case, explaining all the things liberals get wrong about themselves could easily be the topic of my second book (Heres a link to my first one), but since we only have so much space to work with in a column, here are the top five.

1) Liberals Are Better Than Everyone Else: If theres one thing that liberals are sure of beyond all others, its that they are better, smarter and more capable than everyone else by virtue of being liberals. As the great Thomas Sowell has noted:

The presumed irrationality of the public is a pattern running through many, if not most or all, of the great crusades of (liberals) in the twentieth centuryregardless of the subject matter of the crusade or the field in which it arises. Whether the issue has been overpopulation, Keynesian economics, criminal justice, or natural resource exhaustion, a key assumption has been that the public is so irrational that the superior wisdom of (liberals) must be imposed, in order to avert disaster. The (liberals) do not simply happen to have a disdain for the public. Such disdain is an integral part of their vision, for the central feature of that vision is preemption of the decisions of others.

No matter who you are or what you do, there are always tens of millions of liberals who believe they have a better idea of what you should be thinking, feeling and spending your money on. Of course, that sense of smug superiority coupled with the disastrous results of liberal policies would almost be comical, except for the destruction in real peoples lives that is left in the wake of liberal policies.

2) Liberals Are Victims: Wrong. Liberals are bullies. In fact, theyre the worst kind of bullies -- bullies who believe that theyre the victims. Those are the worst kind of bullies because they believe theyve already been wronged and therefore almost anything they do in retaliation is justified. Of course, being wronged may mean someone disagreed with them, voted for a candidate they dont like or simply didnt want to give up more of his income for a liberal program. Liberals are the epitome of the Stop Bullying Song from South Park -- aggrieved bullies looking for a victim they can claim wronged someone so they can try to destroy him in the name of tolerance.

Bullying isn't cool. Bullying is lame.

Bullying is ugly and has a stupid name.

For a healthy world, bullying's unfit.

And I think I know what we should do to i-it.

Do do do do do to i-it.

Let's all get together and make bullying kill itself.

Bullying's an ugly thing

Lets shove its face in the dirt and make bullying kill itself.

3) Liberals Are Rebellious: If some nerd standing in the middle of a Star Trek convention shouted, Star Wars is inferior to Star Trek and then wanted everyone to pat him on the back and tell him how courageous he was for doing it, people would laugh. Yet liberals surround themselves almost entirely with other liberals, get liberalism served up to them at school, watch liberalism on TV at home, hear liberal messages from their favorite celebrities and musicians, get their news from MSNBC and the Daily Show and then want all the other libs doing the same thing to laud them for their courage because they say, I dont like Donald Trump or Good for Colin Kaepernick for protesting during the national anthem! Look at how Im fighting the power by saying the same thing as the New York Times, Washington Post and Lady Gaga! As Greg Gutfeld said, Liberalism is the one-way ticket to backslapping approval among the cool kids, which makes it about as rebellious as a divorced dad getting an earring from the local malls Piercing Pagoda.

4) Liberals Are Tolerant: The LEAST TOLERANT people in America outside of maybe the God Hates F*gs wackos are liberals. Dont believe that? Try being a conservative whos invited to speak on a college campus, a black man who likes Donald Trump or a gay American who opposes gay marriage and see how that goes for you when you interact with liberals. Think about the fact that there are college professors, actors and reporters who have to hide their ideologies because it would hurt their careers to have their liberal colleagues know they dont agree with everything Michael Moore has to say. The most abusive people in America when it comes to women? Theyre liberal men talking to conservative women. Incidentally, the second most abusive group are liberal feminists who claim to represent all women. Liberals are habitually nasty, dishonest and vindictive toward people for no other reason than because theyre incapable of tolerating even a politely offered dissenting viewpoint.

5) Liberals Are In Favor Of Progress: Liberals are so sure that theyre in favor of progress that they call themselves progressives. Meanwhile, theyve been pushing variations on the same economic agenda for 80 years even after socialism became so discredited that even the red Chinese started moving toward capitalism. Their ideas on free speech at college campuses? They believe in shutting down the speech of people that disagree with them, with violence if necessary, just like Mussolini. By the way, did you know Mussolini was widely acknowledged as a lefty even by other liberals until WWII kicked off? Liberal Democrats finally reached the same place on race in the 1960s as conservative Republicans were during the Civil War, then pretended they were the good guys all along. Once you get beyond that, what do you have? A reflexive hostility toward morals and Christianity that has been around for decades and a bunch of libs who arent sure what gender they are trying to come up with creative new things to be offended about.

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The 5 Biggest Things Liberals Get Wrong About Themselves - Townhall

Don Gaetz, Columnist 12:00 p.m. CT May 20, 2017

Don Gaetz(Photo: Don Gaetz)

Texas did it. The Lone Star State passed a law that prohibits local governments from establishing sanctuaries for illegal aliens and penalizes local officials if criminals protected by sanctuary policies cause harm to people or property.

Everyone who can see Al Sharpton from where you sit on the political spectrum please breathe in a brown paper bag. Calm yourselves. This isnt about deportation patrols or profiling Muslims or banning travel from countries rife with terrorists. It isnt even about The Wall. So find a safe space and take a breath. Or, if youre John Morgan, take a toke and pass the joint.

Heres the question before us: should a county or city be able to pick and choose which federal laws it wants to abide by and whether and when to accept federal authority? Before you answer, lets roll the reel back and change the names and the circumstances but not the constitutional issue.

One hundred years ago Republicans in Congress were trying to pass a bill which would penalize counties which failed to enact anti-lynching ordinances. Democrats objected, saying Southern jurisdictions should be allowed to deal with lynching their own way, sort of a sanctuary policy. Florida, including right here in Five Flags, was dealing with it in our way by undertaking more lynchings per capita than any other state.

When Arkansas refused to acknowledge the authority of federal de-segregation rulings, should President Eisenhower have recognized Little Rock as a sanctuary instead of sending federal troops to escort those nine Black children to school?

More:Impatient Rep. Matt Gaetz tries to shake up Capitol Hill

Was it OK in January, 2017, for Jacksonville to establish itself as a sanctuary where the Americans for Disabilities Act wouldnt be enforced, thereby keeping disabled combat veterans out of housing in a gentrifying neighborhood? Should the Department of Justice have minded their own business or dropped the federal hammer?

How about consumer protection laws? Voting rights laws? Freedom of speech and, oh God, freedom of the press? You dont think there would be school boards or city councils or university boards that would welcome the chance to create sanctuaries from the nettlesome nagging of the media?

You get the idea. Lets pause to appreciate the irony. Why is it fashionable for mayors to create sanctuaries for illegal aliens who commit serious crimes? What makes it ennobling to advertise your city as a place where convicted criminals are welcome to roam loose so long as they have violated immigration laws? What gymnastics of logic and the law justify local sanctuaries of any kind from any federal jurisdiction? The answer, of course, is Trump.

President Obama deported more illegals than any other chief executive in American history. The ACLU didnt even clear its throat. But now because its Trump, the Left has succumbed, as it often does, to selective indignation.

Our liberal friends would be horrified, and justly so, if a state legislator proposed that Florida cities or counties or universities be allowed to set themselves apart as sanctuaries that disregard good federal laws. Not a whisper of protest would be heard if municipal satraps were held personally liable, shamed, shunned and run out of office for non-cooperation with federal enforcement of laws governing race, disability, consumer protection, voting rights and the First Amendment.

More:Gaetz: Call your mother. Go see her. I wish I could.

But standing arms folded athwart the city limits of San Francisco or New York City or Chicago or thirty Florida counties, if the ACLU is to be believed, celebrates a politician as a profile in courage so long as hes flaunting Trumps enforcement of federal immigration laws. From their perches in the hereafter, North Floridas infamous Pork Chop Gang must be slapping their knees and pouring up another bourbon and branch in tribute to the whole notion of sanctuary cities. What an imaginative iteration of states rights!

Trumps Justice Department isnt sifting through records at your childs elementary school looking for dreamers. If they tried, it would require subpoenas issued by judges. Jeff Sessions isnt busting down doors in Hispanic neighborhoods checking peoples citizenship status. If he tried, that would require warrants. But none of that is happening.

The Trump Administrations focus is finding and deporting those illegals who are being sought for or who have been convicted of serious crimes. Trumps DOJ is looking for thugs, drug dealers, rapists, violators of people and property bad hombres, to borrow a phrase who are in this country illegally, who were deported but returned, and who violate other laws. The President and the Attorney General are on the hunt for MS-13, the murderous gang of illegals that terrorizes minority neighborhoods in major US cities. Trump wants them out.

Sessions says if cities and counties declare themselves sanctuaries from enforcement of federal laws then DOJ will cut their federal grants. Actually, thats pretty mild. Eisenhower sent soldiers with bayonets to enforce federal law. So did President Kennedy. When Pennsylvania farmers wouldnt pay federal taxes on whiskey, President Washington suited up and led an army into the field to put down the recalcitrance.

Im for the application of reason. The Justice Department needs to quietly meet with each sanctuary city leader and read them the supremacy clause in the Constitution, remind them that Lee surrendered to Grant not the other way around and explain that the object of federal action is deporting dangerous thugs not hunting music students overstaying their visas. That will work on at least some local officials, like the Mayor of Miami who recently re-checked his oath of office and decided against being a sanctuary.

Im also for the fierce clash of ideas. Let those who believe in open borders or porous borders or knee-high walls or immigration reform bring their proposals into the public square and the halls of Congress. Lets debate and decide the best way to secure our sovereignty and still get our blueberries picked.

But, in the end, there should be no place in America where local politicians or local police decide for themselves whose rights should be upheld and which federal laws should be enforced. There should be no sanctuary from equal justice under the law.

Don Gaetz is the former president of the Florida State Senate.Contact Gaetz at djgaetz1@gmail.com.

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Gaetz: Why liberals are wrong about sanctuary cities - Pensacola News Journal

Last week, Mayor Ivy Taylor's new campaign director told us Taylor was going to get "back to her roots" before the June 10 runoff election against Councilman Ron Nirenberg.

Judging by the campaign's most recent move, that apparently means the online trolling of her "liberal" opponent.

On Wednesday, the website LiberalRon.com started making the rounds in political circles on social media. The site loudly welcomes visitors with the gigantic words "Liberal Ron Nirenberg for Mayor" and features a fake news story chiding Nirenberg for supposedly flip-flopping on a number of city issues.

The story, complete with faux Nirenberg quotes, sprinkles in a few examples of the councilman's shifting views on specific issues, like when he voted to approve the construction of the Vista Ridge Pipeline, a project that would funnel water from the Hill Country to San Antonio that is, before he later raised concerns about what he calls serious changes to the contract. Or when Nirenberg supported the rezoning of the Mission Trails mobile home park to allow for the construction of a luxury apartment complex and later, after learning of how the park's tenants were negatively impacted by the decision, called it a mistake.

Colin Strother, Taylor's new campaign strategist, told the Currentthat the campaign is just trying to have a little fun with the site and thinks it'll bring a breath of fresh air to politics. A blurb posted at the bottom of the site telling readers to call a phone number and yell "FLIP FLOP" to get a discount on some sandals (get it?!). That number, of course, dials Nirenberg's campaign headquarters.

Is this the "breath of fresh air" San Antonio voters are looking for in local politics? The move seems fairly standard at this point. At the beginning of this mayoral campaign, Taylor's camp bought the domain VoteRonSA.org (easily confused with Nirenberg's VoteRonSA.com), which rerouted visitors to Taylor's campaign page prompting an anonymous person to do the exact same thing with VoteIvy.org and Nirenberg's site (his campaign team claimed it wasn't them, but he's admitted to similar stunts in the past.)

This time around, however, the online trolling extends to Nirenberg's progressive followers. The site uses textbook conservative caricatures of liberals to attack the councilman like saying he'll bring a "nanny state" to San Antonio, tank job production, and protect the environment. They even make a cringeworthy yoga reference (because making fun of a granola-loving lefty in yoga pants isn't the laziest way to burn a liberal).

Perhaps this is Taylor's way of cementing herself as the "conservative" candidate after seeing North Side precinctsthat originally voted for her in the 2015 election swing toward Nirenberg this time around.

It's a tactic that certainly seems to clash with the message Taylor delivered at Tuesday's mayoral debate, during which she touted her own "track record of building consensus."

A day later, the campaign went live with LiberalRon.com.

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So This Is Apparently What Mayor Taylor's Campaign Thinks of ... - San Antonio Current

Montreal Gazette

Coalitions could unseat Quebec Liberals, a new poll suggests Montreal Gazette A new poll suggests the Coalition avenir Qubec's popularity is surging and that a political merger could unseat the governing Liberals. If an election were held this month, the CAQ would garner 26 per cent of the vote, outperforming the PQ's 23 per ... and more »

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Coalitions could unseat Quebec Liberals, a new poll suggests - Montreal Gazette