WASHINGTON – Republican Senator John Ensign – speaking from his room at the C Street Center – has come out swinging against ex-Representative Eric Massa.
“That he would admit to a tickle fight is a travesty and an embarrassment for this Congress,” said Ensign, who at no time during his speech slept with any of his friends’ wives. “The Democrats have once again proven to have serious ethics problems.”

Ensign – who while speaking never once tried to find a job for anyone he cuckolded – said he felt his record showed him as a fierce non-tickler.

“I don’t tickle the Republican Party at all,” said Ensign, who was backed by close friend, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn. “I stridently avoid any ticklish situations.”

Ensign’s speech was cut short, however, as his parents arrived and chased away reporters with a broom and $100 bills.

[dagblog]

Recent Senate Votes

Temporary Extension Act of 2010 – Vote Passed (78-19, 3 Not Voting) The Senate passed this bill that provides short-term extensions of a number of programs that expired February 28, including unemployment benefits and federal health care subsidies for jobless workers. The bill was quickly signed by the President. Sen. John Ensign voted NO……send e-mail or see bio Sen. Harry Reid voted YES……send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act – Vote Passed (262-153, 16 Not Voting) The House passed this legislation that would establish the first federal safety standards on seclusion and restraint in schools, allowing for restraints in cases when there is immediate danger to the student or others. The bill now heads to the Senate. Rep. Shelley Berkley voted YES……send e-mail or see bio Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act – Vote Passed (217-201, 14 Not Voting) The House approved this bill that would provide $13 billion in payroll tax relief over 10 years for employers who hire unemployed workers and extend through 2010 a law that allows small businesses to deduct up to $250,000 in qualified expenses. The bill goes to the Senate. Rep. Shelley Berkley voted YES……send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act – Vote Passed (262-153, 16 Not Voting) The House passed this legislation that would establish the first federal safety standards on seclusion and restraint in schools, allowing for restraints in cases when there is immediate danger to the student or others. The bill now heads to the Senate. Rep. Dean Heller voted NO……send e-mail or see bio Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act – Vote Passed (217-201, 14 Not Voting) The House approved this bill that would provide $13 billion in payroll tax relief over 10 years for employers who hire unemployed workers and extend through 2010 a law that allows small businesses to deduct up to $250,000 in qualified expenses. The bill goes to the Senate. Rep. Dean Heller voted NO……send e-mail or see bio

Recent House Votes

Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act – Vote Passed (262-153, 16 Not Voting) The House passed this legislation that would establish the first federal safety standards on seclusion and restraint in schools, allowing for restraints in cases when there is immediate danger to the student or others. The bill now heads to the Senate. Rep. Dina Titus voted YES……send e-mail or see bio Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act – Vote Passed (217-201, 14 Not Voting) The House approved this bill that would provide $13 billion in payroll tax relief over 10 years for employers who hire unemployed workers and extend through 2010 a law that allows small businesses to deduct up to $250,000 in qualified expenses. The bill goes to the Senate. Rep. Dina Titus voted YES……send e-mail or see bio

Note that Congressman Heller voted against business deductions for  hiring unemployed workers.

So reports the Pahrump Valley Times. “Republicans are giddy in anticipation of defeating the Democrats in the 2010 mid-term elections,” writes Mark Waite, reporter for the PVT.

Their good spirits frothed over during the first Lincoln-Reagan Dinner sponsored by the Nye County Republican Central Committee at the Pahrump Nugget Event Center Friday night.

Republican Nevada Senator John Ensign was the keynote speaker at the event. He got standing ovations from the crowd of 250.

Regarding the Democrats pursuance of reconciliation of the pending health care bill, Senator Ensign is quoted saying:

“So they’re going to commit political suicide by trying it, passing it through the Senate,” said Ensign. “Let them all vote for it, including our senator [Harry Reid]. He’ll vote for it. Come November the president said, ‘OK, we’ll see what happens in the election.’ Let me tell you, if they haven’t gotten it by now, they’re about as close to politically tone deaf as any party I’ve seen. Because November comes, they’re going to get slaughtered.”

Referring to posters he sees in Washington Ensign remarked:

While posters at Washington, D.C., airports after Obama’s win used to say things like “vote for change,” Ensign joked, now you see things like “keep the change.”

Ensign “criticized the rising deficit under the Democrats, defended interrogation techniques like waterboarding, criticized the health care bill and unemployment,” Waite reported.

“With all these great candidates out there, afterwards let’s get together, so between now and Election Day we put all of our efforts into making sure we take as many seats as we can in the Assembly, we take as many seats as we can in the state Senate, we take every constitutional office, we end up with at least a two-to-one in our congressional seats, and by the way, we have two Republican senators from the state of Nevada,” Ensign said.

An ambitious target, I must say.

Nevada Republican Party Chairman Chris Comfort was in attendance.

“People want the titular heads of the Socialist movement, Harry Reid, locked up. They want it over and done with. We have competent and capable candidates, any one of them can do this to Harry Reid,” Comfort said. “What happened in Virginia and New Jersey, what happened in Massachusetts, pales in comparison to what we’re going to do to Harry Reid and the Democrats come November.”

Sounds like Nye County’s Democrats might as well sit out this next election.

Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada

Joining the likes of Republican Senators Jim Bunning and Jon Kyl, Nevada’s Republican Senator John Ensign also opposes extension of unemployment benefits.

He voted against the jobless benefits for out-of work Nevadans, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Unemployment is 13% in Nevada. Nationally it is 9.7%.

The bill passed 78-19 and President Obama has signed it into law.

Take a look at Senator Ensign on Project Vote Smart for his background and voting record. He voted to deny unemployment benefits back in 2004. On the floor of the Senate on May 6, 2004 Senator Ensign, opposing extension of unemployment benefits at that time, stated:

Unemployment insurance was set up to be a hand up. The longer and the more generous the benefits are, the less incentive there is for somebody to go out and get a job. We know that and can prove that.

Senator Ensigns’ history demonstrates he is no friend of Nevada’s working people.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) filed a constitutional point of order against the legislation Tuesday, arguing that the mandate that all U.S. residents purchase health insurance or pay a penalty is unconstitutional. [California Healthline]

Ensign said that the federal government does not have the power to force individuals to buy a specific product. “(I)f one of my constituents in Nevada does not want to spend his or her hard-earned income on health insurance coverage and would prefer to spend it on something else, such as rent or a car payment, this requirement could be a taking of private property under the Fifth Amendment,” Ensign said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) also said Monday that a provision in the bill that would levy fees on insurance companies — but would provide exceptions to benefit not-for-profit insurers in Nebraska and Michigan — “will not stand the test of the Constitution” because it “cannot be considered equal protection under the law.”

Some legal experts disagreed with Ensign and Hutchison, arguing that the mandate is constitutional because Congress is permitted to “regulate commerce… among the several states.” In addition, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does not apply to Congress (CQ Today, 12/22).

Interesting constitutional question. Congress can pass any bill they want, constitutional or not. At any rate, the case is not yet ripe. A challenge could only be filed by someone who was penalized for not purchasing insurance, and the fine (or tax) portion of the overhaul won’t kick in – if the bill becomes law – until 2014 as the measures now stand.

We won’t know for sure until the United States Supreme Court decides it.