Franks co-introduces bill to extend Patriot Act provisions (roving wiretaps, library patron info) for 10 years. [The Hill]
Calls Arpaio investigation “just another witch hunt by the liberals on the House Judiciary Committee”. [AzCentral]
On Obama’s recent lifting of embyonic stem cell restrictions: “The decision is grounded purely in partisan politics, since all the remarkable advances in [...]

Robert Naiman:
Last week, more than 30 Members of Congress joined Rep. Raul Grijalva in asking President Obama to affirm U.S. neutrality in El Salvador’s Presidential election on Sunday March 15, to stop the recycling in El Salvador of US threats when Salvadorans voted in 2004. But there has been no high-level response from the Obama [...]

H R 1106, Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, seeks to prevent mortgage foreclosures and enhance mortgage credit availability. Passed the House 234 – 191.
Yea: Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Mitchell, Grijalva, Giffords
Nay: Franks, Shadegg, Flake

H Res 153, Commending the University of Southern California Trojan football team for its victory in the 2009 Rose Bowl. Yes, [...]

Christian News Wire:
Prior to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi’s visit to the U.S. on March 9, 16 members of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urging her to make certain her conversations with the Chinese government are consistent with the true state of deteriorating human rights conditions [...]

H Res 45, establishing March as National Criminal Justice Month. Passed 415 – 0.

H Res 195, Recognizing and honoring the employees of the Department of Homeland Security on its sixth anniversary for their continuous efforts to keep the nation safe. Passed 418 – 0.

H Res 201, Recognizing Beverly Eckerts service to the Nation and particularly [...]

Las Vegas PO’d at Franks’ assertion that stimulus money will pay for a mag-lev train from Las Vegas to the Bunny Ranch in Carson City. Franks “has either lost his moral compass, spent too much time in the Arizona sun or is a baldfaced liar.” (Video has been ganked…) [Las Vegas Sun]
Franks is not pleased [...]

H R 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009, passed the House 245 – 178. $410 billion, read Republican and Blue Dog responses in posts below.
Yea: Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Grijalva
Nay: Franks, Shadegg, Mitchell, Flake, Giffords

Franks panned Obama’s speech on the grounds that it did not address “jihadist terrorism”: “For the commander in chief to leave out the first purpose of government, to protect its citizens against one of the most eminent threats facing us in the world, was a pretty serious hole in his speech.” [CSM]
And: “Essentially [Obama] had [...]

H R 80, the Captive Primate Safety Act, seeks to treat nonhuman primates as prohibited wildlife species. Passed the House 323 – 95.
Aye: Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Mitchell, Grijalva, Giffords
No: Franks, Shadegg, Flake

H R 911, Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act. Seeks to require certain standards and enforcement provisions to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs. Passed the House 295 – 102.
Yea: Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Mitchell, Grijalva, Giffords
Nay: Franks, Shadegg, Flake

H R 44, Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act. Seeks to implement [...]

H.R. 1, The Stimulus, passed the House again 246 – 183 – 1.
Yea: Kirkpatrick, Pastor, Mitchell, Grijalva, Giffords
Nay: Franks, Shadegg, Flake

YourWestValley.com:
Congressman Trent Franks will have a press conference Tuesday in Sun City to introduce the Seniors Financial Security Act, a measure aimed at eliminating taxation on Social Security benefits.
…
Describing the Social Security tax as “redundant” and “unfair,” Franks, a Glendale Republican who represents District 2, said it amounts to a penalty.

Legal Times Blog:
For U.S. authors and publishers, “libel tourism” is no vacation, and a U.S. House of Representatives committee met on Thursday to discuss possible remedies.
“Libel tourism” refers to bringing libel suits against U.S.-based defendants in foreign countries that have weaker protection for speech than does the United States. The United Kingdom, for example, has [...]

H. R. 448, the Elder Abuse Victims Act, passed the House 397 – 25.
The bill seeks to protect seniors in the United States from elder abuse by establishing specialized elder abuse prosecution and research programs and activities to aid victims of elder abuse, to provide training to prosecutors and other law enforcement related [...]

H RES 114, Supporting the goals and ideals of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Passed 398 – 0. Everyone from AZ voted Yea.
H RES 60, Recognizing and commending University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford for winning the 2008 Heisman Trophy and for his academic and athletic accomplishments. Passed 394 – 0. Happy that [...]

Phoenix Business Journal:
U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., introduced a bill Tuesday to prohibit prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility from being transferred to federal prisons or military bases in Arizona.
…
“The legislation I introduced today would prohibit the use of federal funds for relocating Gitmo detainees to the state of Arizona,” Franks said in [...]

Phoenix Business Journal:
A Superior Court judge has ruled with the state and against Maricopa County over possible development encroachment at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale.
The state and county had filed lawsuits against each other over state laws aimed at restricting development near Luke and the county’s approval of housing and other developments in the [...]

Daily Mirror:
The Sri Lankan ambassador to the United States, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, received a letter recently, signed by 15 US Congressmen, requesting that Sri Lanka shelve the proposed legislation outlawing religious conversion.
The Bill was approved in January, and a final vote in Sri Lanka’s parliament is expected this month.
“We believe this proposed legislation will harm, not [...]

Public Knowledge:
While there is lots of legislation that Public Knowledge disagrees with, we can often see the rationale for it. Not so with H.R. 801, the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, now introduced for the second Congress in a row by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), and co-sponsored by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), [...]

Senate
John McCain’s amendment to prohibit the applicability of Buy American requirements in the stimulus bill to the utilization of funds provided by the Act failed 31 – 65. The Senate is still working on the stimulus.
House
S 352, the DTV Delay Act, passed the House 264 – 158. The bill’s purpose is to postpone the DTV [...]