Steve King

The Delicate Dance Of Disassociating Oneself From 'White Nationalist' Groups At CPAC

Ryan J. Reilly | February 11, 2012, 8:45AM

Steve King speaks during a CPAC panel on "The Failure of Multiculturalism."

Although much of the attention is on the main stage at each year's Conservative Political Action Conference, it's the side events where the real kookiness occurs. These events can give CPAC organizers and attendees a headache as they try to walk the line between accepting certain groups under the umbrella of the conservative movement, but also trying to make it clear they don't want to associate themselves with some of those groups' more questionable qualities.

Take for instance a session on the dangers of multiculturalism, that included participants from the website VDARE, which has been labeled as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Rep. Steve King was one of those who had to walk the fine line. When questioned about the Southern Poverty Law Center's description of his fellow panelists he first reacted by going on the offensive. "I wouldn't be sitting up on a panel with anyone from the Southern Poverty Law Center," King told reporters. "I'm not in a position to judge people in the fashion they seem to be so free to do."

However, King then danced a delicate series of mental pirouettes. He explained his respect for VDARE's top dog, Peter Brimelow, while holding back from a full-on embrace. Brimelow, he said, was not someone he'd met before the panel, though he had read his books.

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Steve King

Steve King Says Obama's 'Drunken Uncle Omar' Should Be Called Before Congress (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | September 13, 2011, 11:56AM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) wants to bring President Obama's uncle, Onyango Obama, before Congress to testify on whether he received preferential treatment after he was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

"We have to bring drunken 'Uncle Omar' in front of the House Judiciary Committee, drill down into this, and tell America what's going on," King told Fox News, referring to Obama's uncle, who is in the country illegally.

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Elton Gallegly

Meet Elton Gallegly, The Chair Of The Immigration Committee

Rachel Slajda | January 12, 2011, 11:52AM

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

We told you last week that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was passed over as chair of the House immigration subcommittee. King is prone to outrageous statements about immigration and a range of other subjects, and it seemed like a signal that the new Republican leadership wanted to take a more moderate tack -- at least on immigration.

But the person assigned to the subcommittee, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA), is just about as far-right as King -- he's just quieter about it.

Gallegly has been trying to strip birthright citizenship from the children of illegal immigrants since 1991, when he introduced his first bill to do so. His proposals to change the 14th Amendment have failed repeatedly for 20 years. But now, as changing the birthright citizenship laws becomes increasingly mainstream, it looks as if Gallegly may finally have a chance.

Gallegly -- whose southern California district, like King's, is about 15% Hispanic -- supports amending the Constitution itself to change who counts as a citizen.

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Immigration

Judiciary Chair Passes Over Far-Right King For Immigration Subcommittee

Rachel Slajda | January 7, 2011, 2:38PM

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

The new chair of the House Judiciary Committee has passed over Rep. Steve King (R-IA), the super-conservative hard-line immigration foe, for chairman of the immigration subcommittee.

King was the ranking member of the subcommittee and was expected to take the chair. But the committee chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chose Rep. Elton Gallegly of California instead.

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Health Care Reform

King: Babies In Garbage Cans Prove Health Reform Is Unconstitutional (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | January 6, 2011, 3:34PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), master of the pithy C-SPAN clip, made an original argument today for why health care reform is unconstitutional during an emergency House rules meeting about the GOP's upcoming vote to repeal it.

After Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) said that health insurance counts as interstate commerce and therefore falls under the Congress's constitutional powers, King argued that there are people who never even use health care -- and therefore a law requiring them to buy insurance is unconstitutional.

"There have always been and likely will always be, babies that were born, lived and died within the jurisdictions of the individual states," he said, "who never cross a state line, access no health care and therefore do not impact interstate commerce. Therefore, to compel someone who fits that category to buy an insurance policy" does not fit under the interstate commerce clause.

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Steve King

Steve King Digs In: Congress Will Investigate 'Reparations' Settlement For Black Farmers

Eric Kleefeld | December 30, 2010, 9:56AM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is continuing to blast the government's recent discrimination settlement with African-American farmers as "reparations" -- and even predicting that the new Republican-led House will investigate it.

In an interview with local western Iowa radio station KCIM, King discussed the oversight efforts that the new GOP House would undertake. First and foremost, he said, would be his pet cause of investigating ACORN -- which no longer exists as a national organization, but whose activists at the state level could be targeted.

"And there'll be other investigations looking into the Pigford farms issue," King added, "which I think is full of fraud, that's -- what it amounts to is paying reparations to black farmers in America. We don't do reparations in America."

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Pigford settlement

The Other Racist Thing Rep. King Said About Pigford (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | December 2, 2010, 12:11PM

Rep Steve King and John Boyd

A few days ago we told you about some of the things that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) had said on the House floor in opposition to a settlement that will benefit black farmers discriminated against by the USDA. Those things included that the claims amount to "slavery reparations" orchestrated by a "very, very urban president."

Well, we missed something, which MSNBC's Ed Schultz played last night:

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Pigford settlement

Funding For Black Farmers' Settlement Passes House

Rachel Slajda | November 30, 2010, 4:44PM

John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, who advocated for the passing of the Pigford II settlement

The House today passed a bill authorizing the funding of two massive settlements, one for black farmers discriminated against by the USDA and another for American Indians whose oil, gas and water rights were mismanaged by the U.S. government. The vote was 256 to 152.

The funding will now go to the President's desk for his signature.

The $1.25 billion Pigford II settlement, for black farmers who were denied loans and other assistance in the 1980s and 90s, was settled in court in February. The $3.4 billion Cobell settlement for American Indians was settled last December. They've been attached to numerous bills since and repeatedly failed, largely due to objections from Republicans.

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Pigford settlement

Steve King: Black Farmers' Settlement Is 'Slavery Reparations' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | November 30, 2010, 1:43PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

The Senate last week finally approved the multi-billion-dollar funding for the Pigford II and Cobell settlements, which will allow the government to pay out claims to African-American farmers and American Indians who were discriminated against in recent decades by government agencies. Now, the House -- which has passed the funding several times over -- will have to approve it, probably this week. The House, in fact, was voting on procedural motions surrounding the bill as this post was written.

That means the opponents are coming out of the woodwork.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who's been one of the most vocal opponents of the Pigford settlement for black farmers, has taken to cable news and the floor of the House to speak against the settlement. King's argument is that the bulk of the Pigford II claims are fraudulent because there are fewer black farmers than claimants -- a flimsy argument when you consider that many African-Americans lost their farms over the past few decades due, in part, to USDA discrimination that denied them loans -- which is the point of the settlement program.

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Tea Parties

GOP To Tea Partiers: So, Come Here Often?

Zachary Roth | February 16, 2010, 10:40AM

RNC chairman Michael Steele

The Republican Party appears to be stepping up its efforts to capitalize on the grassroots energy of the Tea Party movement, with two of the GOP's most prominent Washington leaders announcing plans to work with the Tea Partiers. But some Tea Party activists are less than happy about the news.

Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, will meet today with a group of Tea Party leaders from around the country. And John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, will speak at a Tax Day event in April organized by the Orlando Tea Party, that group announced yesterday.

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Steve King

Patriot Games: GOP Reps Pick Tea Party Rally Over National-Security Votes

Zachary Roth | November 6, 2009, 12:29PM

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) at the Capitol Hill tea party.

When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess...

Several Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation of the post 9/11 era to attend Michele Bachmann's Tea Party rally against health-care reform.

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