#scott rigell

From the annals of hypocrisy history...

August 20, 2012: President Obama draws his famous “red line” in Syria over the use of chemical weapons:

“I have, at this point, not ordered military engagement in the situation. But the point that you made about chemical and biological weapons is critical. That’s an issue that doesn’t just concern Syria; it concerns our close allies in the region, including Israel. It concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.”

August 21, 2013: The Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad carries out a chemical attack that kills hundreds of his own people. President Obama begins discussions on an appropriate military response.

August 28, 2013: 140 members of Congress--mostly Republicans--declare that President Obama has no power to take any military action against Syria without formal Congressional authorization:

“Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution.”

September 5, 2013: Donald Trump publicly castigates President Obama for even considering taking any military action in Syria:

“The only reason President Obama wants to attack Syria is to save face over his very dumb RED LINE statement. Do NOT attack Syria”

Retiring U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell is front-and-center in a new push to deny gun purchases to people on the U.S. government's No Fly List.

Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, announced his version of this legislation Friday with three colleagues from both sides of the aisle. The four men said they hope a groundswell of public pressure will convince GOP leadership in the House to bring the bill up for a vote.

Rigell, who said he met with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's chief of staff shortly after the press conference, promised "continuous" pressure on members of his own party.

"If someone represents such a threat that we don't want them on a plane, why in the world would we let them go in and buy a gun?" Rigell asked during the Washington, D.C., press conference, which was broadcast online.

What’s with all these Virginians on Capitol Hill talking about budgeting the way we do it here?

It was just back in December that Sen. Tim Kaine was telling the state Chamber of Commerce that DC needs to look to Virginia and its formal debt management program and two-year budgets.

Now, Rep, Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, is telling the House Budget Committee the same kinds of things.

He wants the committee to pivot to a policy of basing the nation’s debt limit on a percentage of Gross Domestic Product rather than just a fixed amount.

In Virginia, both the state government and local governments take a tack like that – basing limits on things like the amount of tax revenue, the size of the state economy and the value of taxable property.

New Post has been published on http://breakingnews.watch/rep-scott-rigell-wont-seek-re-election-in-2nd-district/

Rep. Scott Rigell won't seek re-election in 2nd District

Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, is joining Sen. Tim Kaine's efforts to get Congress to formally authorize the use of military force against Islamic State terrorists.

Last week, Rigell and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., introduced a companion bill to the one introduced this summer by Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. That bill still has not been taken up by the Senate.

"I feel very strongly about this," Rigell said. "We need to have this difficult debate."

He said he had a sharp reminder of why this is important over the weekend, at a dinner in Virginia Beach for 200 families who have lost members in war.

"I think about our men and women (in the military) and the sacrifices they make for us," he said. "They're the ones who could be dropped into a Syrian village at 2 a.m."

Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, is joining Sen. Tim Kaine's efforts to get Congress to formally authorize the use of military force against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.

Rigell and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., are introducing a companion bill to the one Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., introduced this summer, and which still has not been taken up by the Senate.

“I feel very strongly about this,” Rigell said. “We need to have this difficult debate.”

He said he had a sharp reminder of why over the weekend, at a dinner for 200 Gold Star families at the Founders Inn in Virginia Beach.

“I think about our men and women (in the military) and the sacrifices they make for us,” he said. “They're the ones who could be dropped into a Syrian village at 2 a.m.”

It’s a hands-across-the aisle – and across Hampton Roads – kind of moment, with Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, and Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, teaming up with Ds and Rs from around the country to push major reform of the federal prison system and federal criminal code.

The idea is to learn from efforts in several states that aim at making sure the system is fairer about who goes to prison, how they are treated when they are there and how best to keep them from breaking the law again when they are out. The bill is the result of a two year review spearheaded by Scott and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc.

The reform bill “utilizes an evidence-based approach to reduce over-criminalization and over-incarceration and reinvests the savings into community based prevention and early-intervention programs to improve public safety,” Scott said.

Rigell said similar reforms in 32 states have had the three-fold effect of cutting crime, cutting the number of people in prison and freeing up millions of dollars for other public safety programs.

The 25 Republicans who voted against Boehner

By Lynn R. Mitchell

John Boehner (R-OH) was re-elected Tuesday as Speaker of the U.S. House of Reprsentatives. Many were glued to C-SPAN for the voice vote, waiting to see who would defect and who would support the Speaker. In the end, 25 Republicans voted for a wide variety of names that were not Boehner. Two of them were from Virginia:  Scott Rigell and Dave Brat.

The 25 are listed here in…