Louie Gohmert RSS Articles

Border apprehensions wildly exaggerated in formula behind Senate bill, say critics

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

The 90 percent apprehension goal set by Senate and House bills seeking to rein in illegal immigration while establishing a path to citizenship for those crossing into the U.S. from Mexico is based on fuzzy math, according to critics.

The goal, which is supposed to give teeth to legislation some view as amnesty, would depend on a Department of Homeland Security formula for determining the success rate of catching illegal border crossers. That formula requires visual or physical evidence for determining someone got past the border patrol, evidence that simply isn’t left behind in most cases. The result, say critics, is a wildly exaggerated success rate for catching illegal border crossers.

“To calculate it, border patrol officers go out and look for physical evidence of crossings… you know, ‘I saw this person cross and I didn't get him.’ Or, ‘I saw footprints in the sand,’” John Whitley, an economist who analyzed such statistics while he served as the director of the DHS’s Program Analysis & Evaluation department under President Bush, told FoxNews.com.

The problem is that, no matter how hard border patrol officers try to find physical evidence of successful illegal crossings, they can’t find everything.

“We know that this method of calculation understates the number of successful crossings, because you're excluding anyone you don't have physical evidence for,” Whitley said.

Using that method, Department of Homeland Security data already indicate a border security effectiveness rate of 84 percent -- close to the 90 percent target.

Some congressmen are concerned about the numbers.

“To just look for footprints and have a guesstimate – that would be outrageous,” Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told FoxNews.com.

“We can't go along with a bill that says, ‘Hey, we have a 90 percent requirement for security’ – when there is no way to verify whether or not the 90 percent is accurate.”

In addition to not being accurate, the DHS methodology presents other problems, according to critics. For instance, an administration looking to artificially inflate the border effectiveness rate could simply call Border Patrol officers off from looking for signs of successful crossings and assign them to other tasks.

“There is no way we could trust this Department of Homeland Security to verify,” Gohmert said. “And there are independent sources that we could trust. We could have drones and other monitoring where we can find out exactly how many make it across without being apprehended.”

Other methods of estimating border crossings show a much lower apprehension rate.

“Survey data, recidivism data, and press reports about the Vader radar system all put it in the 50 percent range,” Whitley said, referring to the DHS’s new airborne Vader radar system which, during a test last winter in the Sonora Desert, indicated that the Border Patrol caught 1,874 people but missed 1,962 who successfully crossed.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

But groups that support more immigration said that border enforcement should not be a priority in the first place.

“Government obsession with the particulars of border enforcement metrics misses the point,” said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration analyst at the CATO institute. “We know from experience that increasing legal immigration opportunities, especially for lower-skilled guest workers, is the best way to eliminate unlawful immigration. Border Patrol should operate as a funnel to channel would-be unlawful immigrants into the legal market rather than an agency that separates willing workers from willing employers.”

Policy questions aside, the formula some say is flawed makes the pending Senate bill being touted by Marco Rubio R-Fla., and others problematic, according to sources on Capitol Hill.

“It doesn’t make sense if you’re allowing the Department of Homeland Security to judge themselves,” a GOP Senate staffer told FoxNews.com. “They can game the system, game the statistics, and then end up meeting the requirements.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced Tuesday that he would introduce an amendment that would put Congress, not the DHS, in charge of making the determination about whether the border is 90 percent secure.

“My amendment requires Congress to vote every year on border security. If Congress votes that the border is not secure, elements of immigration reform will cease to go forward and visa programs will be slowed," Paul said in a press release.

As of now, the 90 percent goal remains only that, a goal – and the path to citizenship provisions for illegal aliens would be implemented even if the 90 percent target were not met. The only consequence of not meeting the target is the creation of a government committee that would issue a report with recommendations for meeting the target.

Gohmert says he does not want the bills to pass.

“Let's secure the border. And then we can get a deal worked out very, very quickly after that. But not until the border is secure.”

Liberals Must Help Us Reform IRS or They Could Be Targeted Next

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Liberal groups could one day find themselves targeted by the Internal Revenue Service unless they join conservatives in helping radically reform the "abusive" agency, according to Rep. Louie Gohmert, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

"When you set up something this abusive . . . capable of being manipulated and abused and being so powerful that they can destroy individuals, they can destroy companies, they can destroy nonprofit groups — then, at some point — you're going to have happen exactly what we've got now," Gohmert told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

Gohmert, who represents Texas' First Congressional District, said he's been flabbergasted by the IRS's revelations that it targeted conservative groups applying for non-profit status.

"And so I am encouraged that maybe we've got a shot to completely reform our tax system, something Republicans have been promising for many years," he said.

"As long as there is a government entity that can put you out of business, that has the power to demand who you voted for . . . who are your friends, where have you been, who have you spoken to — it is going to be abused."

But Gohmert told Steve Malzberg the scandal transcends politics and that reform must be a bipartisan effort from the get-go.

"Our liberal friends better get on board and help us have a total revamping of this tax system,'' he said.

"Because if they don’t, then they are giving this system their stamp of approval and . . . you can expect sometime in the future, hopefully, there will be a conservative elected president and [liberals] — if they do not let us completely revamp the tax system — they can be expecting a group to visit them.

"They have got to help us or they're going to be trouble down the road."

Newly released docs show inconsistencies in FBI training manual censorship

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Implying the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization or that al Qaeda had links to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center were enough to have documents purged from FBI training manuals, according to newly released agency documents.

Other training materials that were scrubbed from the counter-terror curriculum were deemed to be inaccurate, inappropriate stereotypes of Muslims or unsuitable "in the current political context," according to the hundreds of pages of memos and other documents posted by the non-partisan government watchdog group Judicial Watch.

The FBI began overhauling its training materials in 2011 after media reports that some presentations were deemed offensive or inaccurate. Under pressure from a variety of Islamic-American groups, FBI Director Robert Mueller ordered the complete review of training materials, which resulted in 876 documents being removed or revised. In all, the agency reviewed 163,446 pages in almost 5,000 different presentations that were being used to train agents.

Deciding whether the material was inappropriate was left to five "subject matter experts," or SMEs, two from within the FBI and three outsiders with expertise in Islamic history and culture.

The training documents themselves were not released, nor were the identities of the SMEs. However, the records in most cases do include comments the SMEs.

Among their reasons for scrapping various documents:

• "Article is highly inflammatory and inaccurately argues the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization."

• "Page 15 inaccurately states that AQ (al Qaeda) is responsible for the bombing of Khobar towers and that AQ is 'clearly linked' to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

• "The overall tenor of the presentation is too informal in the current political context."

• "The Qur'an is not the teachings of the Prophet, but the revealed word of God."

• "Remove references to mosques specifically as a radicalization incubator."

That sampling of the SME comments shows the FBI is more interested in political correctness than ensuring counter-terror agents are properly trained, said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, a vocal critic of the review.

Making matters worse, the FBI refuses to reveal any information about the SMEs and apparently did not allow for any discussion or appeal once their edicts were issued, Gohmert said.

"They are looking at these presentations from a political standpoint instead of from an educational standpoint," he said. "If you removed all of these items, what is left to teach our FBI agents, our intelligence people, about radical Islam? We have blinded ourselves of our ability to see our enemies."

An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

There are indications that some offices tried to argue against removing certain training material. One memo from the Phoenix office in December 2011 includes a three-page response to the order to remove an entire training document dealing with "Salafi Ideology - Fundamentalism and Extremism."

The office's entire response was redacted by the FBI before the document was turned over to Judicial Watch.

Most of the SME comments were short and non-descriptive, such as that a particular document contained factual errors or was outdated. Since the training documents themselves were not released, there is no way to put the SME assessments into context.

Overall, about half of the pages removed from training material were deleted because they "lacked precision," according to an agency report. Those documents could still be used in training courses after they are revised.

About 269 pages were deemed to use inappropriate stereotypes of religious or ethnic groups, 84 pages were found to be in "poor taste," and 82 had factual errors, according to agency records.

While the Muslim Brotherhood is not on the U.S. State Department's list of international terrorist organizations, some of its offshoots, including the Palestinian group Hamas, are.

FBI and Justice Department officials, including Mueller, have described the Muslim Brotherhood as a group that supports terrorism.

Al Qaeda's involvement in the bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993 and Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia three years later are unclear. The commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks found "signs that al Qaeda played some role, as yet unknown," in the Khobar bombing which killed 19 Americans and wounded 372.

The 9/11 commission also found links between al Qaeda and the first World Trade Center bombing, but concluded evidence of a direct connection was "at best cloudy."

The documents posted by Judicial Watch can be found here.

Gohmert's Statement on Gosnell Abortion Trial Verdict

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement regarding the guilty verdict reached in the Philadelphia abortionist trial:

"The verdict in the Gosnell case certainly sounds appropriate based upon the evidence we've seen. Pro-life and pro-abortion supporters agree in their stances against the “murder” of a living human being. Unfortunately, there has been a disagreement about the point at which a baby becomes a life entitled to live. In this case, a very hard-working and discerning jury found that when a baby survives an abortion attempt, that child has a right not to be murdered. I am so grateful for that finding and will work and pray that this verdict will cause at least some babies to be saved in the future who otherwise would not.”

Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. He also served as Chief Justice of Texas'12th Court of Appeals.

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Gohmert Praises Baseline Reform Act of 2013

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, the House Budget Committee, chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced the Woodall-Gohmert “Baseline Reform Act of 2013.” This bill, originally introduced by Reps. Gohmert (R-TX) and Woodall (R-GA) is designed to cut wasteful government spending by eliminating automatic increases in every federal department’s budget.

“Conservatives have advocated for years that there should be no automatic increases in any federal department's budget,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert. “That has been a trap so when we simply slow the rate of increase, we are accused of making draconian cuts. As reckless deficit spending continues, it is paramount that we be honest about what is an increase and what is a cut. This legislation ends the annual automatic increases in every federal department's budget, putting the government in the same position as all working Americans and is an important step to getting out debt under control. I thank Chairman Ryan for seeing this bill through to fruition.”

“Families don’t get automatic raises every year. Neither should Washington,” said Chairman Paul Ryan. “My colleague Louie Gohmert has been a strong leader on this issue, and I hope the Senate will follow his lead.”

Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. He also served as Chief Justice of Texas'12th Court of Appeals.

Rep. Louie Gohmert Speaks Out on President Obama’s Trip to Texas

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement today regarding President Obama’s trip to Texas to promote job growth:

“Despite the Obama Administration’s failed policies and damage done to the nation's economy, I was delighted that President Obama was traveling to Texas so he could learn how Texas has been creating more jobs than it loses. One of the things that makes Texas the leader in American job growth is our low taxes, rational regulations, and a balanced budget approach.

However, I was deeply saddened to find out President Obama did not come to learn but to lecture our state against our own successful common-sense approach to reigning in the invasive government. It's almost as bad as dramatically cutting back drilling for oil and gas on federal land, while taking credit for increased production on private land that he had also been impeding."

Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. He also served as Chief Justice of Texas'12th Court of Appeals.

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Gohmert’s Statement on Benghazi Whistleblower Hearing

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement today regarding the Benghazi Whistleblower hearings in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

“This hearing on Capitol Hill today is not only important, it is absolutely critical. The valiant whistleblowers’ testimonies shed light on details that have been covered-up time and time again by this administration. To believe what this administration is telling us, one would have to believe that the greatest military in the world could not have gotten a plane to Benghazi for 20 hours, when I have traveled from Andrews Air Force Base here near Washington, DC clear past Libya to Jordan in less than half that time.

It became abundantly clear today that the American people have not gotten the truth about Benghazi but actually were lied to about what happened and about what was known during and immediately after the terrorist attack on our Consulate. Gregory Hicks, at the time the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in Libya, testified that Special Operations troops on the way to Benghazi were ordered to stand down as our people were fighting for their very lives. The statement by the military officer upon receiving the "stand down" order was, paraphrasing, that this was a case in which the diplomat in Libya had more testicular fortitude than the military officer who ordered him to stand down. It is now vital that we find out who gave that order and why.

Perhaps the most tragic thing that came out today was that as two former Navy SEALS were fighting to defend our American personnel there on the rooftop in Benghazi, they were doing so without the support of the administration that sent them to Libya. The American people deserve the truth. The families of our brave Navy SEALS and diplomatic personnel who were brutally murdered deserve to know the truth. As was brought out at the hearing, deaths during the Clinton administration resulted in findings that could have prevented the four American deaths in Benghazi if they had been followed, but the lesson was not learned. What we learned today also was that it DOES make a difference what happened in Benghazi and that we must get to that truth if we have any chance of preventing it from happening again. We dishonor the memory of our patriots' with what has passed for an investigation by this administration.

It is my hope and prayer that as these hearings continue, the truth will completely come to light, and the sunlight will be a great disinfectant.”

Congressman Louie Gohmert is the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. He also served as Chief Justice of Texas'12th Court of Appeals.

Rep. Louie Gohmert Editorial: Bombing Shows Immigration Flaws

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

The terrorist bombing in Boston offers a glimpse of our immigration system's serious failure. While failing to address massive risks to our security, proposed immigration changes actually exacerbate them.

Inadequately secured borders and defectively monitored visas currently overwhelm our immigration system. Granting immediate legal status to the alleged 11 million illegally here would cripple our dysfunctional system.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were granted asylum through defective immigration and visa systems. Indeed, asylum regulations made the brothers and their mother, Zubeidat, eligible for legal permanent residence within one year.

A proper system would not have granted the Tsarnaevs asylum. It would have revoked asylum after they traveled to the region they supposedly fled. Some travel apparently occurred even while Tamerlan and his mother were watch-listed as terrorists. Also, shouldn't proper systems "ping" when Zubeidat fled the U.S. with a pending warrant for her arrest?

Reports say Tamerlan lived comfortably while unemployed and improperly received welfare. Our system failed to find danger, even after Russia force-fed red flags to our authorities and after he traveled to the epicenter of Russia's violent jihad movement.

In a broken system that failed to properly monitor the 9/11 terrorists, the solution from the Senate's "Gang of Eight" is to grant 11 million people legalized status. And if we don't, the president will not secure our border.

President Obama, however, has the resources to secure the border now. Because 34.9% of federal prosecutions are for those who criminally re-enter the U.S. after being deported, our justice system would have a third of the workload along with massive savings if he secured the border without any change to the law.

But the massive cuts in the president's 2014 budget show that his heart is not in border security. By adding millions more aliens to the mix, the problems will figuratively and literally explode.

It's imperative that we secure the border against all but legal immigrants, dramatically reform the immigration process and improve our vetting capability now. Then, we can swiftly agree on what to do about those illegally here. Otherwise, we put the cart before the horse as it rolls over the infamous cliff.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, is vice chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.Before Congress, he served as a district judge in Smith County, Texas, and as chief justice of Texas' 12th Court of Appeals.

Read this editorial in USA Today

A Day in the Life of Louie Gohmert

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

On Wednesday April 24, The Daily Caller spent a whole day with Louie Gohmert, the rib-making, baseball-playing, red-meat slinging former Texas judge who now represents Texas’ 1st Congressional District. From the baseball field, to a car ride with he and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, to a couple of television hits, I shadowed him. Here’s an hour-by-hour breakdown of what I saw:

6:30 a.m.: Baseball Practice

It’s Wednesday and Louie Gohmert is at Simpson Stadium in Alexandria, Va. — “Home of the Titans” — for the GOP’s first practice for the summer baseball game against congressional Democrats.

Gohmert has played in every baseball clash between Democrats and Republicans since he joined Congress in 2005 with the exception of one, due to injury. During one of those games, Gohmert says he tore his ACL when he collided with former Democratic California Rep. Joe Baca at home plate in an effort to score.

He says he has also had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, which has affected his throwing arm. That makes it more difficult for him to play his natural position in the outfield. Nonetheless, Gohmert spent most of practice in right field. TheDC suspects he feels most comfortable when he is on the right.

A team player, Gohmert also played catcher for one of the GOP’s would-be pitchers in the batting cage.

Word at the field is that the GOP lost last year because of poor infield play so infield players are asked to arrive earlier to practices so they can work on their defense. There is excitement surrounding freshman Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis. Some believe he could be the GOP’s secret weapon this year. The 34-year-old congressman captained Yale’s baseball team.

7:30: Off to the Hill

After practice, TheDC tags along with Gohmert back to Capitol Hill. It turns out Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake will be joining us for the ride.

TheDC gets in the back of Gohmert’s black Ford Explorer, which provides a nice view of the congressman’s boots. He will later put those puppies on. He’s from Texas, remember.

Gohmert and Flake, who until January served in the House with Gohmert, catch up. Gohmert laments that John Boehner “is still speaker so I’m still not chairman” of a committee.

Gohmert and Boehner don’t get along all too well. Instead of voting for Boehner for speaker in January, Gohmert voted for Allen West, who is no longer even a congressman.

Flake says he is still trying to get used to the Senate culture.

Flake is a member of the Senate “Gang of Eight” that recently unveiled its immigration reform bill. Gohmert has not spoken positively about the bill. Naturally, this seemed like a good topic to bring up.

“I don’t think the Senate bill will pass the House,” Gohmert says.

“I don’t think it will pass with Republican votes,” Flake proffers.

Gohmert says he is trying to get the Hastert Rule, an informal rule that stipulates that House leadership will not move to pass a bill that doesn’t have a majority of the GOP caucus, enacted as an actual rule. But so far he says he only has six or seven co-sponsors because people don’t want to put their name on something that will upset Boehner.

But back to immigration. Gohmert says that Flake’s “views differ a little on immigration,” but adds, “He’s always been a man of his word.”

Gohmert, who is known for being somewhat of a conservative firebrand, says he has no problem befriending fellow legislators who disagree with him as long as they’re honest.

“I’ve got a lot of good friends who are really liberal Democrats that will shock people,” he said, naming as examples former Democratic Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Democratic Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo.

“She’s a sweetheart,” he says of Kaptur.

But Gohmert wants to make clear he respects Flake because he has seen Flake stand alone on principle in a similar way he has.

“If you ever stand alone and make people mad like I have, you have tremendous respect for people who do that,” he says.

Gohmert also talks about his rib-making, which he says he is legendary for. People love his ribs, he exclaims — even vegetarians. Apparently Democratic New York Rep. Louise Slaughter loved them so much, she brought some home, only to have her vegetarian husband eat them. Or that’s at least what she apparently told Gohmert.

But the rib BBQs don’t happen as often anymore. He used to make them on the balcony of his office but the Architect of the Capitol shut down his barbecues, he said. Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton allows him to cook them on his office balcony, which apparently doesn’t violate the codes that concerned the Architect of the Capitol, Gohmert says. But he doesn’t like to inconvenience Upton so he doesn’t do it as often.

8:45 a.m.: Immigration briefing

Gohmert changes out of his baseball clothes and meets me in the Cannon House Office Building for the Conservative Opportunity Society Breakfast with “Gang of Eight” bill opponent Mark Kirkorian of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Gohmert is late for the meeting, largely due to baseball practice and talking to TheDC. The meeting is off the record.

9:15 a.m. GOP Conference Meeting

The meeting, unfortunately, is not for reporters.

10:00 a.m.: CBN Interview

From the conference meeting, we head outside the Capitol for the congressman’s CBN interview.

As we walk, we talk about Oregon Republican Rep. Greg Walden’s comments attacking the president’s Social Security reform proposal in his budget as a “shocking attack on seniors.” Some GOP leaders criticized Walden for his comments, but Gohmert says he agrees with them.

“We need to reform Social Security, but it needs to be done in such a way that we don’t hurt people 55 and older who counted on it and had lived with that assurance it would be there,” he says. “And for those under 55, we got to make some big changes and that way we can make sure young people have a Social Security when they get there. But we weren’t supposed to hurt anybody that’s over 55.”

We also talk about Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s comments the day before on drones, which some thought contradicted his previous position. Gohmert had gone to the Senate floor to support Paul’s filibuster of President Barack Obama’s position on drones. When TheDC summarized Paul’s new comments on the matter, he says, “I didn’t realize that that was his position.”

“I don’t have any problem with using a drone like a helicopter when you’re in pursuit or trying to make sure American citizens aren’t going to be harmed,” he adds.

“But, again, to use a drone to take out an American citizen on American soil, the president had said it would have to be a very imminent threat previously when Rand filibustered and finally got him to say, but there’s just too much chance in that case that there would be civilian casualties so we would have to make sure there really and truly was an imminent threat and a chance to have him completely isolated so that the president didn’t unintentionally kill innocent people himself.”

Gohmert goes to do his CBN interview, which is on the Boston bombings. Naturally, this being D.C., in the background a man with a cardboard box on his head can be seen playing a guitar.

10:15 a.m.: Natural Resources Committee

Gohmert now has to go to a Natural Resources Committee markup and to meet with a constituent. TheDC is going to meet him afterwards.

But as we walk toward his destination, we talk about immigration again.

“We’ve got to secure the border before we can pass a bill,” Gohmert says of the possibility of voting on the Senate’s Gang of Eight bill.

Asked if there is any way he would support a path to citizenship, he says he is not going to “create this magnet that has been created by talking about amnesty and legal status for people that are here.”

But he seems to suggest that once the border is secure, he would consider somehow regularizing the illegal immigrants in the U.S.

“Well, if the border is secure, that’s why I say we’ll have an agreement done in no time,” he says. “But if I say, Jamie, ‘Yea, we’ll talk about legal status for everybody, then [more immigrants will break the law to come here].’”

11:30 a.m.: Pastor Briefing with David Barton

Gohmert meets up with TheDC again in the Capitol Visitor Center to speak to a group of pastors organized by David Barton. Barton is an evangelical activist and historian who is a favorite of Glenn Beck. Beck has praised him as “the Library of Congress in shoes.” But beyond Beck, historians have been critical of the accuracy of Barton’s books, even conservative Christian historians.

TheDC is told that they aren’t letting reporters in, but at Gohmert’s request, they will make an exception since TheDC says it will only report on Gohmert’s speech. Gohmert is a believing Christian and gives a pro-Israel talk. He also presents what he says is a simple foreign policy theory: “If you’re our friend, it’s beneficial. If you’re not our friend, it’s not beneficial.” He wishes Obama would abide by that formula.

At the end, he asks the pastors gathered in the room to not always trust what the media says about him. He tells them to “leave open the possibility you’re not reading the real truth,” when they hear attacks flung against him.

12:30 p.m.: Republican Study Committee meeting

The meeting is off the record. TheDC may or may not have been snuck in.

1:30 p.m. – 4:30 pm: Constituent meetings

TheDC parted ways with the congressman so he could conduct some constituent meetings in his office.

5:25 p.m.: Fox Business Network hit

TheDC returned to the congressman’s office at 4:30 p.m., but he was still in a meeting.

But when he leaves the meeting, he disappears. His press secretary gets nervous since he has a 5:25 p.m. TV hit in the Cannon House Office Building. Assuming he has walked over there himself, she takes TheDC and hurries over with his earpiece.

At one point, we are literally running down the halls of Cannon. But all is well. We arrive shortly before the interview, which is on the Keystone pipeline.

After the hit, TheDC talks with Gohmert as we walk back to his office. Gohmert gives his take on what the GOP has to do after November’s electoral defeat, says that Obama’s Middle East policy is failing because he is getting advice from members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and explains where he thinks Democrats and Republicans can come together.

TheDC also asks him about the media attacks against him for some of his controversial comments. He responds that no matter what he says, the liberal media will go after him.

“I think it wouldn’t matter what I say, that they are going to take things I’ve said that were accurate and truth, and twist it into something that appears to be less than truth,” he explains. “So, I also am so incredibly flattered that some of these groups feel like that I’m worth all the tremendous amount of time and attention they’re giving me. As I hear from my chief of staff and other staff members, you don’t take flak until you’re over the target, so I must be over the target.”

After we reach his office, Gohmert responds to a few more questions before heading into his private office. He has a couple of more events later, and while TheDC is exhausted and done for the day, Gohmert keeps on trucking.

6:00 p.m.: Reception with a constituent

When TheDC left, there was still a question whether he was going to attend.

7:30 p.m.: Capitol Tour

Every week Congress is in session, Gohmert says he gives a tour of the Capitol to a constituent group. That night he was scheduled to take a visiting Christian school from his district.

“He takes HUGE groups, and is WELL known for these,” his press secretary emailed TheDC.

She said the tours can sometimes last over three hours.

That tour will end his day. But he had to be up bright and early again for baseball practice in the morning.

Read this on The Daily Caller

Rare Questions & Answers with Rep. Gohmert: FBI’s willful blindness enabled Boston terror attack

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Louie Gohmert represents the 1st congressional district of Texas. Last year, he won his fifth term with 71.2% of the vote. A district judge in the Lone Star State for 10 years, he was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to be chief justice of the state’s 12th Court of Appeals, where served before Congress. One of the more outspokenly conservative members of the Republican House Conference, the congressman made waves earlier this year by bucking the party leadership and voting for former Rep. Allen West to be head of the chamber over sitting Speaker John Boehner. An articulate voice on the nature and extent of the danger of radical Islam to the United States, Rep. Gohmert is vice chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. He began his career in public service as an Army officer in the JAG Corps. You can find out more about him and his policy positions at: gohmert.house.gov

Decker: One of the most basic laws of war is that you cannot defeat an enemy if you don’t know who he is. The specific nature of a threat must be defined to craft a strategy to neutralize it. Federal agencies ignored countless warning signs that the Boston Marathon jihadists were dangerous. Is the U.S. government’s mania for political correctness blinding it to the nature and extent of the danger posed by radical Islam?

Gohmert: Because of the purging of FBI language of virtually any specifics regarding the beliefs of radical Islam, it is no wonder that the FBI found nothing after their conversations with Tamerlan and his family members. It is also no wonder the Russians did not volunteer any more of their knowledge of his radicalization. They surely discerned that there was no use describing features to a blinded agency that could not see. It was one of our own agents who confided to me that we had blinded ourselves of the ability to see the enemy at war with us.

Decker: The need to protect our borders gets so bogged down in the immigration controversy that national security implications are overshadowed. If millions of unskilled workers can hop the fence, terrorists can too. Isn’t America vulnerable to this very real threat?

Gohmert: America is and has been vulnerable to the threat of illegal entrance by people who want to destroy us. We also fail miserably in forcing people to leave after their visas expire, which increases the chances of radicalized aliens being here in the United States.

Decker: There is a lot of media talk about a supposed economic recovery that is underway. This smells like a bunch of baloney, especially given the growing millions of long-term unemployed out there. It seems to me that just about everything done in Washington is hindering a recovery not encouraging it. Am I missing something here?

Gohmert: You have missed nothing. Producing our own energy could both add new jobs and cut dependency on foreign energy. There are countries that supply oil which also help fund terrorism. It would be a win for the U.S. in every conceivable way to produce more of our own energy, especially with regard to natural gas. Yet, this administration has cut permits on federal property over 25% and growing, while using the executive branch, especially the EPA, to throw as many impediments in the way as possible.

In the meantime, the biggest factor keeping the official unemployment rate from blowing through the roof is that millions of those out of work have given up hope and quit looking for work. When workers stop looking for jobs, they are no longer counted in the official unemployment rate. There are people illegally here who take jobs Americans would not take, at the pay offered. But, there are Americans who would take those jobs at higher rates of pay, so the millions of illegal immigrants both bring down the level of pay and take jobs from Americans.

Decker: The 2012 election was terrible for the GOP, which now has lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential contests. Is this losing streak a problem of style, substance, or both? What do conservatives need to do to start winning national elections again?

Gohmert: Republicans need to keep their promises made and keep hammering the fact that we are doing so. For example, when we say for eight years we are going to reform the ridiculously complex tax code, we should do it. We can win votes, not by pandering, but by showing that we deliver on what we promise. We could reform the immigration process so no lawyer need ever be hired, and results be obtained in days and not months or years, all while securing our border at the same time. Fairness and truth will win more voters than the numbers Democrats win by promising free things.

Republicans should also decide that there is no identifiable group in this country that we should not be making our case to show we are better for them in the long run than the Democrats. They want to pander, like saying we want children to learn in their native language, knowing that failure to speak English could confine them to manual labor the rest of their lives. We want them to learn English so they can someday run the company. Another group that votes Democrat by a huge majority are the deceased. If the vote is fair, there should be as many deceased voting Republican as are currently voting Democrat. It should be zero. We need stricter voter ID laws nationwide.

Decker: America is at a crossroads in so many ways. What do you worry about when you can’t sleep at night?

Gohmert: I sleep very little when in Washington because I know we continue to encounter mile-markers that traditionally have been passed on the downhill road to the dustbin of history. We must again start educating Americans to understand how this became the greatest nation in history and how there are basic premises that keep it free and great, that are being violated on a broad scale every day. We have created more incentives to be non-productive than to be productive, and the amounts we are spending on incentives to bankrupt this nation continue to grow.

Those issues most pressing on my mind are whether we fall by becoming bankrupt at our own hands, or by being overrun by turning a blind eye to a radical ideology that is producing fanatics who think America is the “great Satan,” or by failing to educate students of how profoundly amazing, rare and exceptional this country is so that future generations see no need to perpetuate it, or by a combination of these. We have been blessed by our Creator with more than any other nation in history. Therefore, I share Thomas Jefferson’s concern: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

Brett M. Decker is Editor-in-Chief of Rare.

Read the FULL interview on Rare