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The House of Representatives today passed a bill by Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties) to honor President Ronald Reagan on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The bill passed on a 371-19 vote, with one Member voting present.

The Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act would create an 11-member commission that will plan and carry out activities deemed fitting to honor Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday, which will be on Feb. 6, 2011.

The commission will make recommendations and provide necessary assistance for federal, state and local governmental agencies and civic groups to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday. Such activities could include special stamps or coins. In addition, the commission will recommend to Congress activities to honor Reagan’s 100th birthday, including the possible convening of a Joint Session of Congress.

No federal money can be spent on the commission or its activities.

“‘The Great Communicator’ spoke for the American people, capturing the hearts of small-town citizens and world leaders alike,” Gallegly told his colleagues before the vote today. “California enjoyed an economic resurgence during his terms as governor, and as President of the United States his legacy is extraordinary: In eight short years as President, Ronald Reagan presided over international changes and ushered in unparalleled peace and prosperity—not only for our nation, but for the world.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is in Simi Valley, CA, Gallegly’s hometown.

Previous commissions have been instituted to honor Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Abraham Lincoln.

The bill, H.R. 131 can be found here.

So, why is Democrat Senator Feingold blocking the bill or better yet holding the bill hostage?

Politics – Feingold wants to drive his own agenda and amend a non-controversial bill.

Republicans are trying to pass legislation in the next few weeks to kick off the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, and the only hurdle appears to be Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who is refusing to let the Senate vote on the bill.

Feingold’s decision to block passage of a bipartisan commission to celebrate the former president’s 100th birthday has nothing to do with antagonism toward the conservative icon. But he does want to use the momentum behind the bill to drive legislation of his own.

“Sen. Feingold has no interest in blocking this bill,” said a Feingold spokesman, referring to the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act. “He wants to offer an amendment to it, but that request was blocked by a Republican Senator.”

Feingold’s amendment would establish two commissions to study the internment and restrictions of German and Italian Americans and Jewish refugees during World War II, and it is unrelated to the Reagan bill. The Reagan measure would establish a commission to plan federal and state celebrations around Reagan’s centennial birthday in February 2011.

Feingold’s spokesman said that the noncontroversial bill would be a good vehicle for the internment amendment, which he said is also noncontroversial.

Supporters of the Reagan commission question Feingold’s motives for blocking a bill that passed the House 371-19 on March 9.

Ryan Patmintra, a spokesman for Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), said if Feingold’s amendment is truly noncontroversial, he should simply go through the regular committee process and move it to the Senate floor.

“It should have no problem passing through the Judiciary Committee where Democrats have a 12-seat majority,” Patmintra said. “Sen. Feingold has decided to hold this bill hostage using his own” amendment.
On May 11, Kyl rejected a request by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on behalf of Feingold to attach the Wartime Treatment Study Act to the Reagan commission bill.

A GOP aide said some Senate Democrats were not comfortable with Feingold’s amendment.

“That’s why he wants to attach it. [The Reagan bill] is a commission that everybody supports,” the aide said.

Representative Gallegly is not pleased.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), the bill’s lead sponsor in the House, said the commission’s funding has been restructured and that private donors have been found to pay for the Reagan tributes, which are likely to cost millions of dollars. 

“I didn’t question their motives,” Gallegly said. “We got all the funding struck from it and passed it out of committee with overwhelming support.” 

He added, “In a matter of a week we got 140 co-sponsors.” 

Gallegly said he had hoped to have the legislation passed in time for the unveiling of Reagan’s statue in the Rotunda on June 3, since former first lady Nancy Reagan will be attending the ceremony. 

Gallegly said it would be a shame “to have her here and not to be able to do these things concurrently [because] of folly about what should be simple.” 

Clearly, this is grandstanding partisan politics by Feingold.

The left-wing Democrat Senator should really cut the crap, unblock the bill and move on to moving his own bill forward.

Well, that is the leading question that Jonathan Martin is implying.

In an unusual attempt to forge an alliance between two of the most prominent families in American politics, John Coale, a Washington-area Democratic donor and onetime adviser to Sarah Palin, urged the conservative Alaska governor to use her political action committee to help retire the presidential campaign debt of Hillary Clinton.

Coale, a wealthy trial attorney and the husband of Fox News talk show host Greta Van Susteren, approached Palin with the improbable plan in February while in Alaska with his wife, who was taping an interview with the former Republican vice presidential nominee.

An outspoken Clinton supporter during the Democratic primary who switched his allegiance to the GOP ticket for the general election, Coale made his case to Palin at the Iron Dog snowmachine competition in Fairbanks, where Todd Palin was competing over Valentine’s Day weekend. His broader aim, say Palin camp insiders, was to help Palin develop a relationship with the former first family that he thought could bolster the polarizing governor’s standing with Democrats and independents.

Palin was amenable to getting acquainted with the Clintons but was skeptical of using her PAC to help the former first lady.

She expressed concern to aides about Coale’s request that weekend and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton
, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton’s debt.

John Coale is a scientologist political kingmaker/matchmaker with a prominent wife in the media. Should Palin continue the whacked out association with this groupie it will be to her detriment with her conservative base.

And, Flap agrees with the observation that Sarah Palin needs a Washington based GOP political operative to move to Alaska to help her win re-election and then immiidatley therafter help her re-emerge on the national political scene.

Sarah Palin without a colossal gaffe or misstep looks like a lock for re-election.

Watch for the attacks from the LEFT to increase.

Soon, the public will realize that the economic mess is no longer a Bush-Cheney blame session and that Obama’s hope and change is nothing but the old Demcorat tax and spend with a teleprompter spin.

Watch the California budget special election today to gauge the amount of latent unrest with the old Democrat policies of spending the government blind.

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Vote NO on California Propositions 1A – 1F tomorrow at the polls.