Nunes office seeking interns

Spring and summer internships are available in my Washington, D.C. office, and summer internships are available in my Visalia office. If you know someone who is interested in politics and public affairs, wants to gain professional experience, and can excel in a fast-paced environment, please pass along this message.

 

Interns provide critical staff support and are often called on to work at public events, conduct research, and help with special projects. The application process is now open. For spring internships, candidates must submit their applications immediately; for summer internships, applications must be submitted by April 1, 2015. I accept both part-time and full-time applicants.   

 

All interns must have a high school diploma. Additionally, they must be enrolled in or have recently graduated from an accredited college or university. Applications can be downloaded from my website here.

For answers to questions about my intern program, please call (559) 733-3861 or (202) 225-2523.

 

Crisis deepens at West Coast seaports

The labor dispute between the longshoremen’s union and ship owners at dozens of West Coast seaports has become a critical problem, with some ships being forced to wait weeks before entering terminals. The economic costs in the Central Valley are increasingly severe – as ships get stuck at the ports, commerce is being slowly strangled. Customers for our products and commodities are canceling contracts and seeking out new suppliers, causing local businesses to warn of imminent layoffs. As is typically the case in these situations, farms and small businesses are particularly hard hit.    

The livelihood of Central Valley families cannot be held hostage to a labor dispute. It’s intolerable that the food they work so hard to produce is simply rotting away on the docks.  

The Obama administration has appointed a mediator to the dispute, but more needs to be done. The situation is urgent and could become even worse if the conflict escalates into a full shutdown at the ports. President Obama needs to announce forcefully that the federal government expects a fast resolution to this dispute. He must also clarify that if a full shutdown occurs, he will not hesitate to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports, much as President Bush did in 2002 amid a similar labor dispute at the same locations.                                                 

When President Obama visited the Central Valley a year ago, he made a few brief remarks about the water crisis and then treated us to a lecture about global warming. Now that Central Valley families are suffering from a water crisis as well as a labor crisis, I urge the President to set aside his usual rhetoric, become fully engaged in the Valley’s struggles, and use the full authority of his office to help restore commerce in our communities.  

More ISIS savagery

This week has been filled with grim news, including the savage murders of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian pilot by ISIS. Amid reports of crucifixions taking place in ISIS-held territory and the organization’s systematic torture, rape, and killing of children, it’s clear that ISIS is a spreading cancer that must be eradicated. It cannot be reasoned with or moderated – the only course of action is to annihilate its leadership, destroy its support network, and discredit its ideology.    

I recently discussed the spread of ISIS with Megyn Kelly on Fox News. You can watch the interview at the link here. 

A radical new proposal for fighting terrorists

 

 

Various publications reported yesterday that one of the five Taliban prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has attempted to re-engage in terrorist activities. The reports emerged as the Obama administration is undertaking an all-out push to empty GITMO and close it down, in line with President Obama’s longstanding campaign promises. Many of these prisoners are being transferred to third countries amid dubious assurances that they will be closely monitored by other governments. Yesterday’s reports about the Taliban prisoner are hardly surprising – indeed, when the President releases scores of the world’s most dangerous terrorists from prison to fulfill a campaign promise, it would be a genuine surprise if none of them returned to their old ways.   

From its inexplicable insistence that the Taliban is not a terrorist organization, to its refusal to even name the enemy we are fighting – radical Islam – the Obama administration is showing a stunning degree of strategic incoherence. I’d suggest a new course: name the enemy, attack the enemy, imprison the enemy, defeat the enemy. It’s a much different approach than the President’s, but it just might work.   

A Brooklyn water fight?

 

In a meeting with reporters this week, California Senator Barbara Boxer lashed out at House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who had blamed the senator for killing House-Senate negotiations on a California water bill. Pronouncing herself a Brooklyn street-fighter, the senator accused Leader McCarthy of not consulting closely enough with her and some of her allies.

In previous Congresses, the House approved numerous major water bills (see here, here, and here) that the Senate refused to pass. When the Senate finally approved a weak bill last year, we thought a path had opened to negotiate a compromise bill that would at least ease the water crisis to some degree. But apparently, a water solution is not about providing relief to water-starved families or struggling farmers or devastated communities – instead, it’s all about Barbara Boxer and her demand that everyone pay her the proper respect.   

Senator Boxer also argued that any water solution was pointless that favors only one part of the state. Of course, one part of the state – the Central Valley – is suffering much worse than other parts. For example, San Francisco, a bastion of the environmental movement, enjoys a pristine water supply piped in from Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is not subject to the environmental regulations that have devastated the Valley’s water resources. Nevertheless, a solution seemingly needs to benefit everyone equally – the Central Valley and San Francisco alike – or it will not win the senator’s support.

House Republicans will continue proposing solutions to the water crisis in the new Congress, and we hope Senator Boxer, who has opposed every one of our efforts, will realize that none of us in the House really wants a Brooklyn street fight in California.  

Hot off the presses, your weekend reading

The Nunes Digest is updated for your weekend reading here.