Thursday, July 2, 2015

Is Polygamy Next?





Nuclear negotiations with Iran

Congressman Randy Forbes

 

 

On Tuesday, June 30th, the U.S. State Department announced that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have been extended until July 7th. This Tuesday marked what had previously been the final deadline for reaching a long-term solution to Iran's effort to obtain nuclear capability.

The goal of the negotiations between the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, and Russia (collectively known as the P5+1), and Iran is to restrict Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from currently imposed economic sanctions.  Iranian negotiators, however, have pushed back strongly over the level of access the international community would have into any facility in Iran suspected of non-commercial nuclear activity, and there remain difficulties resolving fundamental differences. Previously, a four-month extension to the first of two original agreement deadlines was declared on July 18, 2014, followed by another seven-month extension, which was enacted when the November 24, 2014 deadline was missed and the yearlong effort to reach a deal failed to come to fruition.

This new deadline is intended to allow for a final deal to be submitted to the U.S. Congress before July 9th, giving Congress 30 days to review the agreement and vote over whether or not it will lift Congressionally mandated sanctions on Iran. If, however, the deal is submitted after the July 9th deadline, Congress would have an additional 30 days to review the agreement.

Opponents of the negotiations continue to be concerned that the agreement is too lenient and that Iran, a U.S. designated state-sponsor of terrorism and the developer of a robust ballistic missile capability, cannot be trusted to uphold their end of the agreement. Former CIA Director Michael Hayden has stated he is fearful of what might come out of continued talks because he believes that Iran has the "upper hand" in negotiations. The Administration, however, has declared the deal to be a national security priority.


Question of the Week: Are you concerned that the Administration's continued nuclear negotiations with Iran put the U.S. in a position of weakness?


(  ) Yes.
(  ) No.
(  ) I don't know.
(  ) Other.


Take the Poll here

Find the results of last week's InstaPoll here.

 
 

Home | Contact | Unsubscribe | Privacy | Office Locations
Please do not reply to this message. This email address does not accept incoming messages. To send an email, click here.
Trouble viewing this email? See it in your web browser: http://forbes.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=A67FTWFIDGOYVTF4ZZ543OGCRA


Click Here to view this email in your browser
Click Here to be removed from this list

Friday, June 26, 2015

InstaPoll: Government data breach

Congressman Randy Forbes

 

 
In April, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) first detected an intrusion affecting their systems. On June 4, 2015, OPM officially announced the cyber intrusion compromising personnel records. This sweeping cyber breach has impacted the personal data of current, former, and prospective federal employees, potentially exposing and putting at risk their personal and financial information. OPM has reported that an estimated 4 million were impacted by the data breach, while U.S. officials briefed on the investigation say the number could be closer to 18 million people affected. However, the full extent of the data breach, including who was affected and what information was accessed, is still unknown.

On Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government hosted a hearing with OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and OPM Assistant Inspector General Michael Esser to discuss the cause of the massive breach. Director Archuleta stated that she does not believe, "anyone is personally responsible" for the breach and that the majority of the blame should be placed on old computer systems. Alternatively, Assistant Inspector General Esser stated the computer systems were modern and the source of the weakness was rather a lack of follow-through to improve the computers' security systems. On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also held a hearing investigating the OPM data breach.

U.S. investigators believe there is evidence that the Chinese government could be behind the cyber-attack, which some consider to be the worst and most widespread cyber-attack ever carried out against the U.S. government. In the aftermath of the breach, many have raised concerns that U.S. security practices have not kept up with the latest hacking tactics and capabilities, leaving the United States exposed to potential attacks.


Question of the Week: In light of the recent OPM hack, are you concerned that the U.S. government is dangerously vulnerable to cyber-attacks?


(  ) Yes.
(  ) No.
(  ) I don't know.
(  ) Other.


Take the Poll here


Find the results of last week's InstaPoll here.
 
 

Home | Contact | Unsubscribe | Privacy | Office Locations
Please do not reply to this message. This email address does not accept incoming messages. To send an email, click here.
Trouble viewing this email? See it in your web browser: http://forbes.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=A67FTWFIDGOYVTOFJSASV4GV5M


Click Here to view this email in your browser
Click Here to be removed from this list

Is America Exceptionally Good Or Exceptionally Bad?





Saturday, June 20, 2015

God's Purpose for America





Friday, June 19, 2015

InstaPoll: Obamacare Before the Supreme Court

Congressman Randy Forbes

 

 
This month, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a major decision in the case King v. Burwell on the subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The case considers the question of whether the over 30 states that decided not to establish healthcare exchanges—and instead let the federal government set up their exchanges for them—are legally allowed to continue to accept the federal tax credits that subsidize those eligible in state-run exchanges. The Administration is arguing that the broader intent of the statute implies that subsidies should be available to plans on all exchanges. Plaintiffs, however, argue that that is contrary to the plain text of the ACA.

Meanwhile, as the nation awaits the Supreme Court's decision, two bipartisan bills passed the House of Representatives this week to reverse some of the most harmful elements of the ACA. First, the Medical Device Tax Elimination Act (H.R. 1533), repeals the ACA's tax on medical devices that has been criticized for eliminating jobs and reducing investment in research. Additionally, the House is voting on The Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2015 (H.R. 1190) to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) established under the ACA, more commonly referred to as a Medicare rationing board or "death panel."


Question of the Week: Do you support measures in the legislative and judicial branches to roll back Obamacare? 


(  ) Yes.
(  ) No.
(  ) I don't know.
(  ) Other.


Take the Poll here

Find the results of last week's InstaPoll here.                    
 
 

Home | Contact | Unsubscribe | Privacy | Office Locations
Please do not reply to this message. This email address does not accept incoming messages. To send an email, click here.
Trouble viewing this email? See it in your web browser: http://forbes.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=5H4A5XLRQ5FANM2XRX7ZKBFYRQ


Click Here to view this email in your browser
Click Here to be removed from this list

Saturday, June 13, 2015

VIDEO: Living With Hardened Criminals