CBS News reports today:

The GOP-run House was expected to approve the roughly $180 billion legislation Tuesday in a battle that each party thinks gives it a chance to win over voters as the 2012 election year approaches. [...]

“The American people want jobs,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “This is as close to a shovel-ready project as you’re ever going to see.”

According to CBS, Democrats “complain that the bill does not do enough for unemployed people coping with one of the worst U.S. economies in decades. The bill prevents extra benefits for the long-term unemployed from expiring on Jan. 1, but would gradually wind down maximum coverage to 59 weeks, well below the current 99-week ceiling.”

According to CNN, “lawmakers could vote as soon as Tuesday on a controversial plan by House Republicans to link the payroll tax cut to government approval of a proposed oil pipeline.”

In early November, House Ways and Means Committee Democrats introduced the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act, legislation to extend federal unemployment insurance programs through 2012.

The National Employment Law Project, which supports the proposed Democratic legislation, writes that “the leadership of the House of Representatives has proposed [a bill] to slash the federal [Unemployment Insurance] programs and also do substantial harm to the basic state UI system.”

The Employment Law Project adds (PDF) that the new GOP bill, filed by Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., would:

• Cut the federal program by more than half in 2012, eliminating 40 weeks of benefits.
• “Allow the last leg of the federal unemployment insurance extension – the 13 to 20 weeks of Extended Benefits (EB) that are available in the hardest-hit states – to expire, mostly over the course 2of the first half of 2012.”
• Cut extended benefits in states with unemployment rates higher than the national average, which stands at 8.6 percent.

Florida, with an unemployment rate slightly higher than 10 percent, will “feel the impact of the full 40-week cut in benefits” by July 2012.

Camp’s bill also includes tax, Medicare and welfare provisions and “repeals provisions in the Democrat’s Health Care Law.”

According to the Employment Law Project, “over the past three years, federal unemployment insurance has helped more than 17 million Americans,” during the Great Recession’s tough job market.

“Doron Ofir Casting, in association with a major cable network, is looking for young hot politicos who care about America, follow the heated debates, rallies, protests, and scandals!” a release sent to press today reports. “We are looking for people of all party affliliations [sic] or those who are unaffliated [sic] as long as you’re outspoken, fearless, free thinking, unbound, unleashed, unrestrained, appear to be between 21-35 and are politically active and telegenic. WE WANT YOU!”

The translation that no one needs made: “We’re looking for sexy narcissists who aren’t afraid to drink too much and act horribly on television. Think Snooki and Anthony Weiner.”

Seriously, maybe staring into the horrific funhouse mirror that is reality TV will turn our politics around. Why not?

The release:

DORON OFIR CASTING LAUNCHES THE CASTING CALL FOR THE HOTTEST POLITICOS IN THE USA!

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 24, 2011) – Doron Ofir Casting, the epic star making company behind Jersey Shore, Nashville Star, Millionaire Matchmaker and The A-List officially confirms and announces the nationwide search for political activists with personalities that rally behind a cause and influence others to do the same.

“It’s about time we give a mainstream media opportunity to the generation that has the fortitude to proudly live as a representative of their individual politial beliefs. What could be more American than that?” Doron Ofir – Executive Casting Director.

Doron Ofir Casting, in association with a major cable network, is looking for young hot politicos who care about America, follow the heated debates, rallies, protests, and scandals! We are looking for people of all party affliliations or those who are unaffliated as long as you’re outspoken, fearless, free thinking, unbound, unleashed, unrestrained, appear to be between 21-35 and are politically active and telegenic. WE WANT YOU!

You’ve volunteered for a local political campaign, stood in protest, logged over a thousand comments on blogs, tweeted Fox News or CNN on a daily basis, you run your own blog, vlog, stream, podcast, and are still looking for the right forum to express yourself. Whatever the case, we want to hear from you!

With personalities such as Ann Coulter, Bill Maher, Meghan McCain, Rachael Maddow, Keith Olberman, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, Arianna Huffington, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Moore and Bill O’Reilly influencing the world of politics and dictating our national conversation, shouldn’t it be your turn?

Register online on the digital application: www.partypoliticscasting.com

Got a tip? Story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.

The freshman congressman from Colorado’s 3rd District raised roughly $300,000, according to campaign finance reports filed over the weekend. The sum is a marked improvement from the previous quarter when he raised just $147,000 and was widely panned as one of the GOP’s worst fundraisers.

Russell Gordy, owner of SG Interests in Houston, Texas, and two of his employees are among the congressman’s biggest boosters, collectively contributing $5,600 to his campaign coffers to date. SG Interests is seeking federal approval to commence exploratory drilling on leases that cover 32,000 acres of public land in a section of the Thompson Divide area that is in the congressman’s sprawling district.

Since taking office in 2011, Tipton has been a cheerleader for oil and gas and he has worked to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency and other bureaucracies that regulate the industry. He has not yet taken a position on Thompson Divide and is in the process of gathering stakeholder input.

Upon reviewing the congressman’s latest finance report, Tipton’s challenger, Sal Pace, didn’t seize on the oil and gas ties but instead issued a press release titled “Here’s a Tip — Don’t Loan Scott Tipton Any Money” in reference to a $110,000 debt listed in the Republican lawmaker’s latest report.

“How would you feel if Scott Tipton owed you $110,000? He has had enough money to pay off his campaign debt to a Colorado company for more than half a year, yet he has refused to,” the Democrat said in his prepared statement. “With Congress having to address serious fiscal problems in America, how can we trust Scott Tipton to make good choices when he can’t even balance his own budget?”

Joanna Burgos, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, responded that Tipton paid off the debt in October, and that it will be reflected in the next reporting period. She said Pace is trying to distract from his “weak” fundraising haul of $165,000 for the quarter that just ended.

“If Sal Pace wants to talk about debt, we’re happy to discuss the trillions in debt that his party has put on the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Burgos told The Colorado Independent.

To date, Tipton has raised almost $655,800 and has $510,800 on hand while Pace has raised about $267,500 and has $212,600 on hand.

The incumbent’s recent windfall can, in large part, be traced back to a fundraiser hosted by former Colorado gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman, who brought House Speaker John Boehner to his Aspen home to mingle with Tipton and a well-heeled crowd. Holtzman, his wife and his father collectively donated $6,000 to Tipton, records show. Other Aspen denizens gave generously too. Aspen area real estate brokers Lorraine Winnerman, Anthony Scheer, Shellie Roy, Arthur Martin and John Ginn made the list along with election activist Marilyn Marks, construction kingpin Mark Gould, Colorado Mountain College President Robert Spuhler and many others from the Roaring Fork Valley.

Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame inductee Sue Anschutz-Rodgers, who manages Crystal River Ranch in Carbondale, is also helping bankroll Tipton’s reelection bid. She has already contributed $5,000.

Tipton, as it turns out, is a sexy name in Colorado’s conservative circles.

He even landed $1,300 from Deborah Matthews, owner of the Glendale strip club Shotgun Willies.

Another name to highlight in the congressman’s latest financial disclosures is Fred Malek, a Virginia power broker who was implicated in Nixon’s crusade against Jews and resigned from the Republican National Committee in 1988 because of it. Malek has so far contributed $2,500 to Tipton’s reelection.

But while physicians, lawyers, ranchers, businessmen and retirees are all filling the congressman’s coffers, the one industry that is hard to ignore when reviewing Tipton’s contributors is oil and gas.

Other contributors to the congressman’s campaign who work in the extraction industry include Bentek Energy CEO Porter Bennet of Evergreen who has given him $5,000 so far in the 2012 election cycle; Smith Interests owner Stuart Smith of Houston ($2,500); Smith Interests’ Michelle Hendry of Houston ($2,500); Smith Management Co. owner Lester Smith of Houston ($2,500); Kiva Energy Co. President Albert Haertlein of Houston ($2,500); Laramie Energy CEO Bruce Payne of Denver ($2,500); Cimarex Energy executive Thomas Jorden of Centennial ($2,500); Pel-Tex Oil Company President Wynne M. Snoots of Houston ($2,500); Alexco Resource Corp. Vice President Joseph Harrington of Denver ($1,500); Anschutz Exploration’s Marguerite Timbel of Denver ($1,500); Alpine Gas geologist Gilman Hill of Centennial; Gilbert Stewart Operating’s Scott Stewart of Denver ($1,000); Arch Coal engineer Eugene Diclaudio ($450); Great Northern Gas Company executive Tom DiGrappa ($250); Williams Companies regional manager Shane Henry of Lakewood ($250); Power Company of Wyoming Vice President Roxanne Perruso of Denver ($250); Energy Strategies President Scott Gutting of Salt Lake City ($250); Anschutz Exploration’s William Miller of Littleton ($250); Western Fuels mine manager Robert Wade of Nucla ($100); and Berry Petroleum manager Thomas Hogelin of Parachute ($25).

Reporter Dan Hirschhorn writes that the race between Boswell (D-Des Moines) and Latham (R-Ames) could be one of the most expensive in 2012.

“In one of the most closely watched member vs. member races, Latham and Boswell both need to have loads of cash at the ready. Advertising rates in Iowa will go sky-high late next year because of the competitive presidential race.

Both are strong campaigners and fundraisers. Latham, in particular, can count on backup from his colleagues — he’s a top Appropriations Committee member and close ally of House Speaker John Boehner.

And he’s already filling up the coffers. He raised $337,000 in the third quarter and has $1.7 million in the bank.

Boswell had a weaker quarter, raising $142,000 and finishing with about $376,000 on hand.”

“For me, the right to life has never been political,” Boehner said.

Boehner, the first political leader to take the stage at the three-day conservative Christian conference, began speaking about jobs and the economy, telling the room of flag-T-shirt-wearers that it is time to “liberate our economy from the shackles of this government.”

But he switched gears to abortion politics soon after, eliciting strong reactions from the crowd when he accused the administration of using taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions, a policy that is prohibited by the longstanding Hyde Amendment. Still Boehner called for the end of publicly funding abortions and said the House GOP was working on a bill to make permanent the Hyde Amendment.

“Beyond the life issue, we must defend the Defense of Marriage Act,” Boehner said, censuring the president for ignoring the “law of the land” and promising to take money away from the Department of Justice for refusing to defend DOMA.

This week, Boehner’s office announced it is raising a $750,000 spending cap to $1.5 million to former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who is defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Senate Minority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) speech followed the same blueprint as Boehner’s – jobs, abortion, same-sex marriage. He announced that a bill would be introduced next week to Congress that would “ensure no taxpayer dollars to abortion” and that would broaden so-called “conscience rights” to health care workers and pharmacists, to allow them to refuse abortion services and emergency contraception to women based on religious objections.

But what ultimately won Cantor a standing ovation was a proposal to “eliminate government funding for any and all organizations that perform abortions.” This effort – largely aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood, which receives more than $300 million annually for its family planning and reproductive health services – has already begun with the House’s recent introduction of a controversial Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (PDF).

Abortion has already proved to be a star in this year’s summit, with every speaker addressing it in some form. Members of Susan B Anthony List are stationed throughout the Omni Shoreham Hotel handing out a joint voter guide introduced Friday by the SBA List and the National Organization for Marriage that list the anti-abortion/anti-same-sex marriage rights of the presidential hopefuls based on pledges they have signed.

Boehner and Cantor followed Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council Action, the lead sponsor of the Values Voter Summit. In his speech, Perkins introduced a theme that is likely to pervade the conference and how presidential candidates campaign for the support of the Christian voters in attendance.

Referring to a recent speech the President Barack Obama gave about values before the LGBT lobby the Human Rights Campaign, Perkins challenged the current president in his absence.

“Mr. President, you’re right, this is a contest of values. And I tell you what, this Marine has never backed away from a contest. … This election is too important to elect a Republican. We need to elect a conservative …”

The rest of his sentence was drowned out by roaring applause.

Stay tuned for more Values Voter Summit coverage from The American Independent.

President Obama sent new free trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama to Congress on Monday, a move many Florida Republicans are praising despite reports of potential American job losses and persistent anti-labor violence in Colombia.

The Miami Herald reports today that “both Miami Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Monday said they support the free trade agreements the White House sent to Congress.”

The Herald adds:

Diaz-Balart said that the Colombia agreement alone could create more than 6,400 jobs for Florida — and increase exports by $500 million annually. “These agreements will not only get Americans back to work but also demonstrates solidarity with our democratic allies, Colombia, Panama and South Korea,” he said.

Ros-Lehtinen, who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the agreements will “level the playing field for American businesses, including many in South Florida. The billions of dollars in increased sales that will result will enable these companies to create tens of thousands of jobs for hard-pressed Americans.”

Gov. Rick Scott also weighed in on the agreements in a press release:

I am extremely pleased President Barack Obama moved these critical free trade agreements off his desk and into the hands of Congress. These agreements are vital to our state and nation, and for far too long, U.S. companies, including many in Florida, have had to pay billions in excessive tariffs to Colombia and Panama for the ability to export American goods to those nations. A successful jobs plan is dependent on immediate ratification of these agreements, and I urge Congress to quickly pass them.

The Colombian Free Trade Agreement, supported by Democrats and Republicans, grants U.S. exporters tariff-free access to the Colombian market. Supporters say this would boost U.S. competitivness and create jobs, while opponents dispute the job creation figures and say that Colombia must show it will respect organized labor and workers’ rights.

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, if the Colombian agreement is approved, “over 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia will become duty free immediately.”

Vicki Gass, senior associate for rights and development at the Washington Office on Latin America, recently told the Independent that the Economic Policy Institute issued a study that shows the Korean and Colombian free trade agreements would cost the U.S. more than 200,000 jobs. She said studies have shown that the U.S. lost more than 682,000 jobs thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement passed in the ’90s.

Free trade agreement opponents have also said human rights violations, the unresolved murders of union leaders and cheap labor in Colombia should delay the approval of the agreement.

According to Gass, concerns about labor rights led the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian government to develop a Labor Action Plan.

Gimena Sanchez, also of the Washington Office on Latin America, writes that “in late August, a delegation that included U.S. Representative James McGovern visited Colombia where we met with trade unionists, labor activists and workers from the ports, oil palm, oil and auto sectors.”

Sanchez adds that the Labor Action Plan “has so far only led to formal rather than real changes in labor conditions and protection of trade unionists. Twenty-two trade unionists have been murdered so far in 2011, with ten of them killed after the April 15 announcement of the LAP.”

Sanchez writes that a key component of the Labor Action Plan “requires Colombia to dismantle the exploitative ‘worker cooperative’ or CTA model,” which allows “companies to subcontract workers via third parties so companies can avoid their labor rights obligations.”

ABC news reports that “Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, said today the trade deals will be a ‘top priority’ in the House.”

The Washington Blade reports on the letter:

“As Members who believe that DOMA is unconstitutional and support the President’s decision to stop defending it, we believe that the law is not factually or legally justifiable and were interested in hearing what arguments might possibly be made in its defense,” the lawmakers write.

Congress picked up the tab and defense of the law, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing any marriages except those between one man and one woman, when President Barack Obama announced in February that he believed the law was unconstitutional, and therefore indefensible.

According to a press release on the event:

This project will feature live “real time” ultrasounds being performed on women in the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

For the first time ever, the voices of pre-born children will literally  be “heard” on Capitol Hill.

All 535 members of Congress and the public will be invited to the presentation.

After the showing on Capitol Hill, “Voices from the Womb” will begin a national tour performing live ultrasounds in schools, churches, state capitals and public hearings.

The Federal Food and Drug Administration has warned women against undergoing unnecessary ultrasound procedures. Because the long-term effects of repeated ultrasound exposures on a fetus is not fully known, the FDA has warned that it is best to not have one unless it is medically necessary.

The anti-abortion rights movement has pushed for requiring women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound procedure, whether it is medically necessary or not, in a effort to dissuade them from having abortions. A law of this kind went into effect in Florida this year.

“Voices from the Womb” is being sponsored by is the Stanton Project, the Christian Defense Coalition and the National Pro-life Center.

The Christian Defense Coalition has held over-the-top anti-abortion demonstrations on Capitol Hill in the past. One of the group’s last events featured a display of “white sheets,” a symbol of the Ku Klux Klan, in front of House Speaker John Boehner’s office in an effort to highlight a link they argue exists between anti-African-American actions and Planned Parenthood.

The bill passed the GOP-dominated House in June but has yet to receive a Senate committee assignment. Though the Senate is also dominated by Republicans, Reuters reports that passage is not imminent. Beyond the Buckeye State, anti-abortion-rights advocates nationwide are rallying for support of the “heartbeat bill,” and GOP presidential candidates Texas Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich have voiced their backing.

But in Ohio, one anti-abortion-rights activist is taking another tactic, by trying to unseat Speaker Boehner in the 8th Congressional District. David Lewis, a tea party member and full-time missionary from West Chester, Ohio, told The American Independent he is fulfilling a promise he made in February, when — standing outside Boehner’s office in political protest — he announced he would challenge the speaker in a primary if he voted for a federal budget bill that did not strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funds. That day, Lewis said he was arrested for picketing. But he’s kept his promise — last week he announced his congressional candidacy, which is based almost entirely on an anti-abortion-rights platform.

“I want to see abortion become a criminal act, from conception until birth,” Lewis told TAI, on his way to the “heartbeat bill” rally in Columbus, Ohio. He said he wants to see similar legislation introduced at the federal level. ”Abortion is the slavery of today. It is the segregation of today.”

Lewis’ campaign website features three 30-second videos that mix graphic images of aborted fetuses with pictures of Boehner. Through voiceover narration, Lewis accuses Boehner of “giving our money to Planned Parenthood, a criminal syndicate that murders babies and covers the crimes of rapists, sex-traffickers and pedophiles.”

Some in the media have suggested that Lewis is using his campaign as a way to air graphic anti-abortion commercials. The blog Addicting Info suggested that Lewis might be a plant by the anti-abortion-rights activist Randall Terry, who is running for president as a Democrat on a platform entirely based on his anti-abortion-stance. The front page of Terry’s campaign website shows graphic images of aborted fetuses. (Terry founded the anti-abortion-rights group Operation Rescue, but for the past few years, Operation Rescue has been trying to distance itself from him.)

Lewis denied the idea that he is a plant for Terry, though said that the two frequently work and lobby together. He also said though he wants the public to see his graphic anti-abortion-rights ads — he will begin airing them 40 days before the state primary, he told TAI — his main goal is to beat Boehner, which he admitted will be a “David and Goliath task.”

“But David beat Goliath,” he said.

Other than abortion and Boehner’s vote on the federal budget, Lewis’ campaign vows to eliminate entitlement programs like Social Security, which he refers to as “socialism,” “legalized theft” and “a Ponzi scheme,” borrowing Rick Perry’s line.

Before working as a missionary and anti-abortion-rights lobbyist full time, Lewis said he worked in the IT department at a bank in West Chester.

State House Minority Leader and current candidate for Scott Tipton’s seat in Congress Sal Pace held a press call on the issue last week and followed that up with a written statement:

“2.5 million Coloradans saved $1.7 billion in income taxes due to President Obama’s payroll tax holiday, and now all of a sudden Washington Republicans don’t know whether or not to support this measure again for 2012.” said Representative Pace. “I wish I could say that I’m shocked or surprised, but this is just typical Washington politics at its worst, out-of-touch, tone-deaf, and ignorant of the interests of the middle class. Extending the payroll tax holiday is a no-brainer, and I hope that Scott Tipton calls on Speaker Boehner when he’s here… to extend this important tax cut for the middle class.”

While Republicans opposed closing any tax loopholes that affect the wealthy during the recent debt ceiling negotiations and many Republican Presidential candidates have signed a pledge to “oppose any and all tax increases,” the payroll tax holiday has provided relief to 160 million middle-class families. Whether Presidential candidates stick to their pledge, and whether Republican leaders in Washington fight as hard for middle-class families as they fought for corporate jet owners, remains to be seen.

Pace is not alone in his insistence that now is the wrong time to raise the payroll tax, which is paid by almost everyone with a job, even low wage workers who often do not pay federal income tax. Colorado Democratic Pary Chair Rick Palacio also issued a statement opposing the tax increase.

“If Speaker Boehner or Congressman Tipton fought half as hard to prevent a middle class tax increase as they did to protect tax loopholes for oil companies and corporate jets, family budgets would be much safer,” said Palacio. “Instead, Republican leadership is doling out rewards to Congressman Tipton for being a loyal Tea Party foot soldier. He has marched in lockstep with Tea Party demands to end Medicare and protect tax breaks for millionaires and well-connected. But jobs and the needs of middle-class families receive no attention from the Tea Party, Republican leadership, or Congressman Tipton.”

Tipton did not return a call seeking comment. Rep. Polis’s office issued a brief statement: “Congressman Polis believes that extending the payroll tax cut makes sense for our economy and for families who are struggling to make ends meet.”

Tomorrow: Talk like a pirate day.