Ben Cline’s friend whom he was proud to support has been indicted by the Fulton County Grand Jury on racketeering and other charges, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft and conspiracy to defraud the state.

The New York Times reports:

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was voting on the floor of the House on the morning of June 23 when she saw her name trending on Twitter.

Ms. Greene, a high-profile, right-wing Republican who is no stranger to trending online, flicked through her feed and learned from the internet that two hours earlier, her colleagues in the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus had voted to remove her from the group. Just then, an emissary from the caucus, Representative Ben Cline, Republican of Virginia, approached Ms. Greene. He asked if she would attend a one-on-one meeting with its chairman, Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, who had been waiting to officially announce her ouster until he had spoken to her in person.

Ms. Greene balked. She couldn’t make the time, she said, because she had a meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s staff to discuss her legislation to ban transgender surgeries for children, an issue, she told Mr. Cline pointedly, “which the Freedom Caucus doesn’t care about.”

Ms. Greene and Mr. Perry never spoke.

Last week, after voting on a long series of amendments, the Republican majority in Congress (including Congressman Cline) passed— mostly along party lines– the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Taking every opportunity to fight the culture war, the Republicans approved amendments banning reimbursements to soldiers who need to travel out-of-state for abortions if they are stationed in states that outlaw the procedure; banning payments for soldiers to undergo transgender surgery or hormone replacement therapy; and gutting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the military.

The House version of the NDAA stands no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But several amendments, because they failed, flew under the radar. I want to call attention to three in particular:

• An amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to cut $300 million in funding to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Andy Ogles to cut off lend-lease authority to Ukraine.

• An amendment by Republican Matt Gaetz to prohibit security assistance to Ukraine.

On all three amendments, Cline voted YES. He voted to cut off all US military assistance to Ukraine in its fight against brutal Russian aggression. He and the other Republicans who voted this way did exactly what Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted.

Besides Republican Bob Good, Cline was the only Virginian in the House to support this effort to betray Ukraine and enable Russia to crush a free, independent and democratic country.

This isn’t the first time Cline has voted in agreement with Putin. Last year he was one of only 18 House members to vote NO on expressing support for Finland and Sweden to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

What makes this all the more disgraceful is that Cline actually bragged in an email to supporters last year that he was one of “several” House members being sanctioned by Russia.

In fact, as I noted at the time:

What Cline didn’t mention is that the “several” were in fact 398— ranging from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Republicans like Marjorie Talyor Greene.

Even North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn— who has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil”– is on the sanctions list.

In fact the only reason some House members (such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi) are missing from the list is that Russia had previously sanctioned them.

The sanctions are in apparent retaliation for the US government sanctioning more than 300 members of the Russian Duma in March.

Now that Cline is voting precisely the way that Putin wants him to vote, I doubt he’ll end up on any more Russian sanctions lists. Rather, he probably would be a most welcome guest at the Kremlin.

Congressman Cline is one of the House Republicans who has been engaged in an unsuccessful months-long effort to expose supposedly criminal business dealings by the Biden family.

Among those he has cited as a source is think tank director Gal Luft, who has repeatedly accused President Biden and his family of corruption.

Now The New York Times reports:

In an eight-count indictment, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act in brokering arms deals between Chinese companies, Iran and countries in the Middle East.

Mr. Luft, promoted by some congressional Republicans as a keystone witness in their efforts to show corruption by the Biden family, is a fugitive from justice. He was detained by law enforcement officials in Cyprus in February in connection with the indictment, but fled after being freed on bond while awaiting extradition. If convicted, he faces up to 100 years in prison.

“He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies,” said Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, adding: “He acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil, and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”

…..

Mr. Luft, prosecutors said, helped Chinese arms manufacturers sell anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers and mortar rounds to Libya (he referred to them as toys in communications obtained by the government), bombs and rockets to the United Arab Emirates and military drones to Kenya. He told an associate that the unwillingness of U.S. officials to sell weapons to Kenya provided them with an “opportunity” for profit, prosecutors said.

He also carved out a role as a middleman in transactions to broker sales of oil from Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions, ordering a business associate to refer to the products as Brazilian petroleum, the government charged. In one instance, Mr. Luft received a letter telling him explicitly that a shipment of the oil was Iranian but that it should be “be presented as U.A.E. origin without Iranian papers,” according to the filing.

Will Cline continue to praise the supposed bravery of a fugitive from justice who is credibly accused of helping China to sell arms and Iran to sell oil?

On June 27, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act took effect.

The law requires employers to provide accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions, everything from pregnancy to childbirth to postpartum recovery. 

The law also protects workers from retaliation after making those requests and from being forced into taking unpaid leave.

Examples could be giving a worker additional time to sit, rest, drink, eat or use the bathroom. It could mean relaxing some policies to allow workers a stool to sit on, allow them to wear maternity clothing or allow a water bottle in an area where it’s not typically allowed. Schedule-wise, accommodations could include time off for prenatal appointments, accommodating for morning sickness or allowing remote work if available. 

For workers with jobs that require significant manual labor, transferring workers to light duty or temporarily transferring them to a less physically demanding job would constitute an accommodation.

As previously reported here, the “pro-life,” “pro-family” Congressman Cline vote NO when it came up for a vote in May 2021.

But mysteriously, Cline voted YES on the exact same bill in September 2020. As I wrote after his 2021 NO vote:

So why, between September and May, did Cline change his mind and decide that he didn’t want to protect the rights of pregnant workers after all?

Ask him. Please.

Please.

Last February I posted about self-styled Leninist Steve Bannon’s interview with Congressman Cline after President Biden’s latest State of the Union address.

Bannon began the interview by claiming that President Biden’s assertion that some Republicans want to cut Social Security is a “bald-faced lie.” (It’s not.)

Cline replied: “We have to put out a balanced budget that preserves and protects Social Security and Medicare and does not go after those essential programs.”

Bannon then asked: “What are your constituents telling you after they heard the State of the Union?”

Cline said: “They’re furious and so am I.”

……….

He continued: “[Biden] baits us by saying, ‘Oh you all want to cut Social Security and Medicare.’ Well, of course we’re going to object in the middle of his speech…When somebody lies to your face, you’re gonna tell them they’re lying to their face. And that’s what we did during the State of the Union.”

But Biden was not lying. Cline proved it when he helped engineer a plan to cut Social Security and weaken Medicare.

The largest bloc of House conservatives offered up a fiscal blueprint Wednesday that promises to balance the federal budget in seven years, make GOP tax cuts permanent, and slash domestic spending.

The plan offered by the 175-member Republican Study Committee would gradually raise the age at which future retirees can start claiming full Social Security benefits from 67 to 69, a politically fraught proposal that’s all but certain to appear in Democratic campaign ads.

The document also proposes a “premium support” plan that would subsidize private insurance options that compete with traditional Medicare. That would be similar to budget plans proposed by Rep. Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., during his tenure in Congress that were panned by Democrats and some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump.

……….

“The RSC budget would implement common-sense policies to prevent the impending debt disaster, tame inflation, grow the economy, protect our national security, and defund [President Joe] Biden’s woke priorities,” said Virginia Rep. Ben Cline, chairman of the group’s Budget and Spending Task Force.

……….

Cline said the group has proposed gradually raising the Social Security retirement age, but not for current retirees or those nearing retirement. He said those now aged 59 would see an increase in the retirement age of three months per year beginning in 2026. The retirement age would reach 69 for those who turn 62 in 2033.

While any financial fix will require a bipartisan compromise, Cline said, “We are taking action, whereas the White House and Democrats refuse to acknowledge that Social Security and Medicare are facing insolvency.”

Biden and congressional Democrats thus far have focused their efforts to reduce those two programs’ budget shortfalls by reining in Medicare prescription drug costs, and by raising Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes on high-income earners.

As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out, workers planning an earlier retirement will see lifetime payouts reduced if the full retirement age is raised.

The impact of all this would fall hardest on older low-income workers doing physically demanding jobs who are more likely to stop work due to health issues– in other words, a large portion of the constituents that Cline purports to represent.

Cline will claim that he only wants to cut benefits for future Social Security recipients. But he needs to be reminded by all of us: a cut is still a cut.

This book is a detailed, documented examination and refutation of everything Congressman Cline purports to believe about “big government,” taxes and regulation.

He won’t read it but you might want to.

Congressman Cline is turning into an anti-“woke” parody of himself.

(Fact check.)

Does Cline really believe that the Chinese base their military tactics on our military’s pronoun policies?

Expect a lot more of this shtick from Cline. It’s easier than dealing seriously with the real problems faced by his Sixth District constituents– including the fact that 44 percent of them are poor or otherwise struggling to make ends meet.

Gov. Youngkin’s latest partisan stunt is at the expense of Virginia’s taxpayers and the National Guard personnel who will be needlessly separated from their families, their jobs and their communities.

But that’s fine with Congressman Cline:

Much as Youngkin and Cline want us to believe otherwise, the fact is that Fentanyl is primarily smuggled into the United States through legal ports of entry by US citizens– not across unguarded borders by foreigners.

One can question how much Congressman Cline has done to “drain the Swamp” instead of plunging into it.

But now he says he cannot “in good conscience” support the debt ceiling compromise negotiated by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden.

Many of us are unhappy with the deal (for very different reasons from Cline’s) but realize that the alternative– a catastrophic default– would be vastly more damaging to tens of millions of ordinary Americans.

And for the record: Last January Cline voted FIFTEEN TIMES for the Speaker he now accuses of capitulating to the “Liberal Left.”

UPDATE: The House approved the deal by a vote of 314 to 117. According to Cline, 149 of his fellow Republicans voted to capitulate to the Liberal Left.