Majority Leader Eric Cantor: In a shocking primary, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) lost to Professor Dave Brat. This week he announced that he will be stepping down as Leader as of July 31. This announcement set off political jockeying within the Republican Conference as to which Members will fill leadership slots. The leadership elections will be held next week.
Homeland Security Appropriations Bill FY 2015: On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the Homeland Security bill. Included in this legislation was a pro-life rider to prohibit funding for elective abortion for detainees held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. To read CWALAC’s letter to the Hill, please click here. To watch Rep. Robert Aderholt’s (R-Alabama) introduction of the amendment, please click here.
Religious Liberty Hearing: On June 10, the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “The State of Religious Liberty in the United States.” Chairman Trent Franks (R-Arizona) opened with powerful, principled remarks using the words of Thomas Jefferson. Four witnesses offered testimony on this pressing topic. Pointed questions from Democrat Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), and Bobby Scott (D-Virginia) resulted in nearly an hour of heated debate.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS): On Friday, the IRS told the Ways and Means Committee that it lost the Lois Lerner e-mails from January 2009 to April 2011 supposedly due to a computer crash. Lois Lerner is the agent who was responsible for the targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups.