Mitt Romney announced Friday he will not run for president in 2016, after briefly flirting with a third White House run — a decision that only slightly narrows the crowded field of potential Republican candidates.

“After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it’s best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” Romney told donors on a conference call Friday morning.

The announcement comes after the 2012 GOP nominee, who repeatedly denied interest in another campaign, surprised donors earlier this month by telling them he was considering it.

Since then, the former Massachusetts governor spent three weeks calling donors and strategists and giving a handful of addresses, including to a Republican National Committee summit. But while some from his former campaign team were willing to wait for his decision, others were already gravitating toward the budding campaign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

The two heavyweights were seen as competing for many of the same donors, supporters and strategists. And some doubted whether Romney, who lost to President Obama in 2012 after a campaign in which Democrats cast him as out-of-touch, would be able to connect on a third run — even as early polls showed him leading the GOP field.

Romney, in a written statement which he also read from on his conference call, said he believes that he could win the nomination, and that he would have enough funding and support.

“The reaction of Republican voters across the country was both surprising and heartening,” he said in the statement. At the same time, Romney said it would have been a “difficult test and a hard fight,” and it’s time for a new voice.

“I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee,” Romney said. “In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.”

He said he will not hire a campaign team, will not take donations and will not organize a political action committee.

Romney recently spoke with Bush in a private meeting in Utah. It’s unclear whether that meeting set the stage for Friday’s announcement.

Bush, in a written statement on Friday, praised Romney as a party leader and a patriot. “There are few people who have worked harder to elect Republicans across the country than he has,” he said. “Though I’m sure today’s decision was not easy, I know that Mitt Romney will never stop advocating for renewing America’s promise through upward mobility, encouraging free enterprise and strengthening our national defense.”

A day earlier, it emerged that a key former Romney adviser was joining up with Bush’s team.

Bush recruited Romney’s former senior Iowa adviser, David Kochel, as a senior strategist for his newly launched Right to Rise PAC. If Bush formally pursues a White House bid, Kochel could take on a bigger role.

Former Romney donors also told The Associated Press they were moving toward Bush. The donors, in interviews with The Associated Press, said they see in Bush what they liked about Romney in 2012, the capacity to serve successfully as president, but also something Romney could not muster over two campaigns: the personality and senior staff needed to win the White House.

Bush was hardly the only impediment to a Romney run. A slew of other high-profile Republicans are considering a campaign including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Romney just wasn’t the “giant” of the field that he was in 2012. “You’ve got a herd of people running for the Republican nomination for president,” he told Fox News.

For a brief spell, though, Romney was back in his role as chief target of national Democrats, some of whom relished the potential chance to hammer him in 2016.

Speaking to Democrats in Philadelphia on Thursday, President Obama said, “We’ve got a former presidential candidate on the other side who suddenly is just deeply concerned about poverty. That’s great. Let’s go. Come on.”

He added: “Let’s do something about it. I am glad that their rhetoric at least has shifted. But let’s now make sure that the policies match up with the rhetoric.”

Romney responded on Twitter. “Mr. Obama, wonder why my concern about poverty? The record number of poor in your term, and your record of failure to remedy,” he wrote.

Fox News’ Serafin Gomez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TOKYO –  Japanese officials said Saturday they were investigating a purported message from the extremist Islamic State group about the two Japanese hostages it holds.

The purported message claims one hostage has been killed and demands a prisoner exchange for the other.

The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the message, which varied greatly from previous videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Cabinet ministers were holding an emergency meeting about the new message.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters as he rushed into his office that the release of the new message was “an outrageous and unforgivable act. We demand their immediate release.”

Kyodo News agency said the same video has been emailed to the wife of one of the hostages.

The Islamic State group had threatened on Tuesday to behead the hostages within 72 hours unless it received a $200 million ransom.

Japan has scrambled for a way to secure the release of 47-year-old Kenji Goto, a journalist, and Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer fascinated by war. Japanese diplomats had left Syria as the civil war there escalated, adding to the difficulty of contacting the militants holding the hostages.

Goto’s mother made an appeal for his rescue.

“Time is running out. Please, Japanese government, save my son’s life,” said Junko Ishido. “My son is not an enemy of the Islamic State.”

Ishido said she was astonished and angered to learn from her daughter-in-law that Goto had left for Syria less than two weeks after his child was born in October to try to rescue Yukawa.

Japanese officials have not directly said whether they are considering paying any ransom. Japan has joined other major industrial nations in the Group of Seven in opposing ransom payments. U.S. and British officials said they advised against paying.

Associated Press

Lockhart family members enter the public memorial service for former Speaker of the House Rebecca Lockhart in the Capitol Rotunda in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. Lockhart died at her home in Provo on Jan. 17, 2015, from a rare brain disease.

From the U.S. Senate to the Utah State Capitol, tributes honoring the late House Speaker Becky Lockhart have flowed freely in the week since her passing. But those tributes have focused on her personal and family successes, not just political ones.
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Former Utah Speaker of the House Becky Lockhart dies from rare brain disease
Becky Lockhart remembered in Capitol memorial service

Since Becky Lockhart’s passing at age 46 a week ago, well-deserved tributes have since flowed in the forms of memorials and services, texts and tweets and media coverage and commentary, including in the pages of this newspaper.

Much of the public praise has come from public figures, primarily the political leaders best acquainted with the two-time speaker of Utah’s House of Representatives, Utah’s first female to serve in that esteemed leadership position.

But to a person, the tributes didn’t linger long on highlights of Lockhart’s 16-year political career, which started when the then-29-year-old stepped in to fill a sudden vacancy in the House’s District 64. Rather, individuals were quick to talk about impressionable personal interactions and memorable one-on-one conversations with Lockhart outside of the limelight as well as to remember her attention to and joy in her family, with husband Stan and their three children.

Wednesday, Utah Sen. Mike Lee paid respects to Lockhart in comments made from the floor of the U.S. Senate. Thursday, more than a thousand people — friends, family, leaders and politicians — gathered at the State Capitol for a memorial service in Lockhart’s honor. Thursday and Friday, flags throughout Utah were ordered by the governor to be flown at half-staff. Friday, her funeral was conducted in a Provo LDS Church meetinghouse.

Lockhart died after a brief battle with Crentzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative brain disease, which afflicts just one in a million people worldwide, with 300 cases reported annually in the United States. There’s no known treatment for the disease, which usually comes later in life, typically after age 60.

CJD’s traumatic symptoms normally last about seven months — sometimes as long as a year or two; in Lockhart’s case, her passing mercifully came only weeks after initial diagnosis. Family and friends have said they hope to use Lockhart’s legacy to help draw more attention and funding for CJD research.

Stan Lockhart recalled his wife’s multiple acknowledgements of “promptings” to prepare to retire as House speaker as her second term concluded at the end of last year. Those promptings were confirmed — even after she was turned down for consideration of state school superintendent. As she retired as speaker at the end of 2014, symptoms came on, followed by diagnosis, hospitalization, hospice care and then the passing — all within just a few short weeks.

In her shortened lifetime, Becky Lockhart took what might be seen as conflicting qualities, attributes and titles and turned them into an exemplary blend. Toughness and tenderness. Political and personal. Confidence and compassion. Lawmaker and homemaker. Leader and listener.

Exemplary not just for a noteworthy female political leader. Exemplary for either gender, for any role or responsibility and for any person.

Deseret News editorial

The Obama administration reportedly is fuming over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to address Congress in March regarding the Iranian threat, with one unnamed official telling an Israeli newspaper he will pay “a price” for the snub.

House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu — and the Israeli leader accepted – without any involvement from the White House.

In public, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest politely describes this as a “departure” from protocol. He also says the president will not meet with Netanyahu when he visits in early March, but has attributed that decision only to a desire not to influence Israel’s upcoming elections.

But in private, Obama’s team is livid with the Israeli leader, according to Haaretz.

“We thought we’ve seen everything,” a source identified as a senior American official was quoted as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise even us. There are things you simply don’t do.

“He spat in our face publicly and that’s no way to behave. Netanyahu ought to remember that President Obama has a year and a half left to his presidency, and that there will be a price.”

The anonymous quote was a throwback to when, last year, Atlantic magazine quoted another unnamed senior administration official calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit.”

Administration officials, including Earnest, did not deny the quote at the time, though the White House stressed the criticism did not reflect how the rest of the administration views Netanyahu.

On Friday, Earnest once again was asked about tensions with the Israeli government. Asked if the decision to speak to Congress was a slap at the Obama administration, he said, “I certainly didn’t interpret it that way.”

As for the decision for Obama not to meet with his Israeli counterpart, he stood by the earlier explanation.

“This administration goes to great lengths to ensure that we don’t give even the appearance of interfering or attempting to influence the outcome” of democratic elections abroad, he said.

Meanwhile, Haaretz also reported that Obama had directly warned Netanyahu to stop urging U.S. lawmakers to back legislation teeing up new sanctions against Iran.

Obama has threatened to veto such a bill, saying it could derail delicate talks over Iran’s nuclear program – and Netanyahu’s visit to Washington could give him an opportunity to further encourage sanctions legislation.

Haaretz reported that Israel’s ambassador already has been urging members of Congress to support the measures. The newspaper reported that Obama told Netanyahu to stop during a Jan. 12 phone call.

On Friday, Earnest acknowledged that Obama and Netanyahu have a “fundamental disagreement” about the diplomatic talks with Iran.

“He doesn’t share [the administration’s] view,” he said. But Earnest also said the “differences of opinion” do not undermine America’s commitment to Israel’s security.

As Obama officials often do, he described that commitment as “unshakable.”

FoxNews.com

SALT LAKE CITY — Becky Lockhart, the first woman to serve as Utah House speaker, was honored Thursday as a role model, a wife and mother, and a caring colleague who loved lawmaking.

“Utah is a better place because Becky Lockhart served here and contributed so much to all of us,” Gov. Gary Herbert said during a memorial service at the state Capitol, where more than 1,000 people, including many state officials, gathered to remember her.

Lockhart, 46, died at home Saturday after a brief battle with a fatal and extremely rare neurodegenerative brain disease known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or CJD.

Her daughter, Emily Britton, spoke of how Lockhart brought her three children “along on her dream,” letting them spend a day with her at the Legislature throughout her 16 years in office.

“My mom understood the best way to teach her children how to love their state and love their country was to involve us,” Britton said, describing their shared days during legislative sessions as “just as exciting as our birthdays.”

Britton, who met her future husband when both were legislative interns, recalled “girl talk” with her mother about the romance at the speaker’s dais. Britton said she, her sister Hannah and her brother Stephen, now on an LDS Church mission, “are children of the Utah House.”

Lockhart’s successor, House Speaker-elect Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said while he learned much from her, “of all the things she has taught me, she left me unprepared for a day like this. She’s still our speaker.”

Legislative leaders had planned to pay tribute to Lockhart, who did not run for re-election, on the opening day of the 2015 Legislature on Monday and present her with a painting of the state Capitol.

Lockhart wouldn’t want lawmakers to dwell on her passing, he said.

“She didn’t have a lot of time for a lot of moping and a lot of feeling sorry, maybe for her, for ourselves,” Hughes said. “She would tell us to get to work, tell us to get going. That’s what I want to remember.”

Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said “there’s no question Becky Lockhart’s life was one of depth and accomplishment,” both politically and personally.

“She’s a wonderful example of the civic engagement that is the lifeblood of democracy and of a life well lived in the service of others,” Elder Christofferson said, describing the loss of someone so young as seeming “to come from a particularly bitter measure of sorrow.”

The Most Rev. John C. Wester of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City offered the invocation, citing Lockhart’s “example of strength in leadership, selflessness in public service, devotion to family, trust in God’s providence, inspiration to women and gratitude for a life fully lived.”

Those who worked closely with Lockhart on Capitol Hill recalled both her toughness and her tenderness.

Catherine Dupont, associate general counsel to the Legislature, said Lockhart could be tough on those who crossed her politically but also compassionate, shedding tears and giving hugs.

“She loved her fellow legislators, and she took time out for that human touch,” Dupont said.

One of Lockhart’s lasting legacies, she said, should be the realization that “woman can have a family, can be intelligent and can step forward and run for office and serve her community.”

Former House Minority Leader David Litvack, who retired from the Legislature several years ago, said Lockhart made him feel valued as a Democrat and as a member of the Jewish faith.

Litvack thanked her on behalf of his own daughter, “and so many daughters out there, for leading the way.”

House Majority Whip-elect Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, called Lockhart a “master of making you feel you were all that mattered at that very moment,” whether as a political mentor or a parent or wife to Stan Lockhart, the former Utah GOP chairman.

“She had the courage and a strong resolve to do what was right. When opposition arose, she would stand tall,” knowing she was on solid ground, Gibson said. “The word ‘no’ was a word she saw only as a temporary setback.”

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, one of Lockhart’s closest friends, said a participant at a women’s legislative leadership conference she spoke at called her a “beacon of light” who took pride in women political leaders regardless of their political affiliation.

Herbert said it is “too simple” to describe Lockhart as only an example to women. “She was an example to all of us,” the governor said, praising her willingness to engage rather than “sit on the sidelines and complain.”

Lockhart’s funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the LDS stake center at 300 N. 900 East in Provo and is expected to be attended by members of Utah’s congressional delegation.

On Wednesday, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, paid tribute to Lockhart from the floor of the U.S. Senate. Lee said he “affectionately and admiringly referred to Speaker Lockhart as the Iron Lady of Utah” for possessing many of the same qualities as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The woman whose story of economic recovery was showcased by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address is a former Democratic campaign staffer and has been used by Obama for political events in the past.

Rebekah Erler has been presented by the White House as a woman who was discovered by the president after she wrote to him last March about her economic hardships. She was showcased in the speech as proof that middle class Americans are coming forward to say that Obama’s policies are working.

Unmentioned in the White House bio of Erler is that she is a former Democratic campaign operative, working as a field organizer for Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.).

This also wasn’t the first time the White House used the former Democratic campaign staffer as a political prop. Obama spent a “day in the life” of Erler in June so that he could have “an opportunity to communicate directly with the people he’s working for every day.”

Reuters revealed Erler’s Democratic affiliations following that June event, and the Minnesota Republican Party attacked Obama for being “so out of touch with reality that he thinks a former Democrat campaign staffer speaks for every Minnesotan.”

Obama used Erler as an example that the economy is getting better. Here is the part of Obama’s speech regarding Erler. Her political work goes unmentioned:

Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds. She waited tables. He worked construction. Their first child, Jack, was on the way.

They were young and in love in America, and it doesn’t get much better than that.

“If only we had known,” Rebekah wrote to me last spring, “what was about to happen to the housing and construction market.”

As the crisis worsened, Ben’s business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time. Rebekah took out student loans, enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career. They sacrificed for each other. And slowly, it paid off. They bought their first home. They had a second son, Henry. Rebekah got a better job, and then a raise. Ben is back in construction – and home for dinner every night.

“It is amazing,” Rebekah wrote, “what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

America, Rebekah and Ben’s story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard, and scrimped, and sacrificed, and retooled. You are the reason I ran for this office. You’re the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it’s been your effort and resilience that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.

House Speaker John Boehner announced Wednesday he is inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress next month to discuss the threat from Iran, in a sharp rebuke to President Obama.

Such invitations typically are coordinated with the White House and State Department, but this one was not.

The House speaker’s office said Wednesday that Netanyahu is being invited to speak Feb. 11 before a joint session of Congress. The invitation follows President Obama’s vow Tuesday during his State of the Union address that he would veto bipartisan legislation to tee up more sanctions on Iran in case negotiations fail to get the rogue nation to curtail its nuclear enrichment program. A related bill also is being considered in a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.

Boehner wants the Israeli leader to speak to the concerns regarding Iran.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is a great friend of our country, and this invitation carries with it our unwavering commitment to the security and well-being of his people,” Boehner said in a statement. “In this time of challenge, I am asking the prime minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life.”

Critics of Obama and his foreign policy say the president has failed to keep close ties to Israel, a long-time U.S. ally and a key country in providing Middle East stability. Among their concerns is that the Obama administration has not done enough to curb Iran’s suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Boehner told members of the GOP House Conference on Wednesday morning: “The president warned us not to move ahead with sanctions on Iran, a state sponsor of terror. His exact message to us was: ‘Hold your fire.’ He expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran. Two words: ‘Hell no’.”

He said: “Let’s send a clear message to the White House – and the world – about our commitment to Israel and our allies.”

The United States and five other world powers have reached a tentative deal with Iran. The countries are trying to reach a final deal by June 15.

If Netanyahu accepts the invitation, it would be his third appearance before a joint session of Congress and his second during Boehner’s speakership.

His previous addresses were in July 1996 and May 2011. Other Israeli prime ministers to address Congress include Ehud Olmert, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, according to Boehner’s office.

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.

A defiant President Obama sketched a populist agenda for his final two years in office centered on free higher education, new worker protections and a sweeping tax plan that hikes rates on top earners to fund credits for the middle class – using his State of the Union address to set what could be a combative tone with the new, Republican-led Congress.

In the wake of big GOP gains in the midterm elections, Obama vowed Tuesday to defend signature accomplishments from his first six years in office. And he hammered the message that the economy, and the country, are bouncing back after the recession and two protracted wars.

“Tonight, we turn the page,” Obama declared, claiming: “The shadow of crisis has passed.”

The address reflected a president disinclined to cede ground in the wake of his party’s midterm losses. His speech was sprinkled with jabs at the “super-rich” and even the Keystone XL pipeline.

The president issued a broad veto threat aimed at Republican bills that would chip away at ObamaCare, financial regulations and his recent immigration actions.

“If a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, I will veto it,” Obama said.

In his address, Obama repeatedly touted what he called “middle-class economics” as the engine for growth, and used that argument to push his controversial new tax plan.

“Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don’t get in the way,” Obama said.

Obama, in his address, was promoting a series of programs he previewed in the weeks leading up to it.

Most controversial is a plan unveiled over the weekend imposing more than $300 billion in tax hikes over 10 years – including on investment and inheritance taxes for top earners – to fund tax credit expansions for the middle class. The funding also would pay for an initiative providing free community college for two years for students who keep up their grades.

While Republicans have questioned the mechanics of the college plan, they have declared his tax proposal a “non-starter” in the new GOP-led Congress.

Indeed, the president delivers his second-to-last State of the Union with a weakened political hand, after Republicans took control of the Senate and built a historic majority in the House in November.

Yet Obama has made clear he plans to play “offense” in his final two years, and his speech Tuesday sets the stage for that political and legislative battle. Already, the White House has issued a string of veto threats, some aimed at preserving legislation and executive actions he pushed in his first six years.

Both Republicans and Democrats are appealing to middle-class voters as they begin the new Congress. But Obama’s State of the Union address, thematically, promotes federal government protections and programs as key to their security, where Republicans are making a flat pitch for private-sector job creation.

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged the president to look beyond “more tired tax hikes,” and instead strive for “responsible reforms that aim to balance the budget.”

He also sounded a middle-class message, but urged the president to boost workers with bipartisan jobs bills, including by backing efforts to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who was elected in November to an open Iowa seat, plans to deliver the official Republican response to Obama Tuesday night. In excerpts of her prepared remarks, the senator presents a markedly different picture of the economy, where Americans “agonize over stagnant wages and lost jobs.”

On the tax front, Ernst calls for simplifying America’s “outdated and loophole-ridden tax code” – not to finance more spending but improve the economy.

“So let’s iron out loopholes to lower rates — and create jobs, not pay for more government spending,” she plans to say. “The president has already expressed some support for these kinds of ideas. We’re calling on him now to cooperate to pass them.”

Congressional Republicans on Sunday pummeled President Obama’s plan to increase taxes on America’s highest wage earners, dismissing the proposal as not serious and a “non-starter.”

The plan was released late Saturday by the White House and attempts to increase taxes on the top earners and others to pay for cuts for the middle class.

The president is scheduled to further explain the plan on Tuesday night in his State of the Union address.

“The notion … that in order for some people to do better, someone has to do worse is just not true,” Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Raising taxes on people that are successful is not going to make people that are struggling more successful. … It would also be counter-productive.”

Among the other Obama proposals are increasing the investment tax rate, eliminating a tax break on inheritances, giving a tax credit to working families and expanding the child care tax credit — in total roughly $320 billion in tax hikes over the next 10 years.

The president also wants to impose a financial fee on some of the country’s largest financial firms. His full fiscal 2016 budget is scheduled to be released to the GOP-led Congress next month.

However, the centerpiece of the proposal is to increase to 28 percent the capital gains and dividends rate on couples making more than $500,000 a year. The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama’s presidency.

Rubio on Sunday also criticized Obama’s recent proposal to offer some Americans free community college tuition.

“I’m all for reforming our higher education system,” said Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate. “In the 21st century, to have the skills you need for a middle-class job, you need higher education of some form or fashion. It may not be a four-year degree. The problem is he just wants to pour that additional money into the broken, existing system.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, called the plan “a non-starter.”

“We’re not just one good tax increase away from prosperity in this nation,” Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He also argued that elected officials need to “quit spending this money that we don’t have.”

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer appeared on Sunday talk shows to support the plan, which he argues is an effort to further stimulate economic recovery.

“Now that the economy’s in a stronger place than it’s been in a very long time, we need to double down on our efforts to deal with wage stagnation and declining economic mobility,” Pfeiffer told CBS.

He also said the “simple proposition,” or solution, is to ask the wealthy to pay a little more and invest more in the middle class.

Obama also got support from leading House Democrats, including Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland, and Sander Levin, Michigan.

“It’s clear that President Obama and Democrats are focused on reducing the economic squeeze being felt by the middle class,” said Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “I’m pleased that pieces of this proposal overlap with the plan I recently outlined.”

Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the president’s proposals “focus right where we need to — creating opportunity for middle-class families and those struggling to join the middle class.”

The offices of GOP congressional leaders also criticized the plan.

A spokesman for Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the chamber’s Ways and Means Committee, which writes federal tax law, said the proposal was “not a serious plan.”

“We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington spending,” said spokesman Brendan Buck.

Ryan said last week that he was focused on broader tax code reform and that his committee would not pass a tax increase to fund transportation infrastructure projects, amid talk Congress will pursue such an increase.

“It’s not surprising to see the president call for tax hikes, but now he’s asking Congress to reverse bipartisan tax relief that he signed into law,” a top staffer for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told The Hill newspaper.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Obama told Senate Democrats in a private meeting that he plans to “play offense” against the new GOP-controlled Congress, showing little hesitation about clashing with Republicans for the next two years.

Congressional sources confirmed the comments, made Thursday during a summit in Baltimore, as Republican lawmakers held their own summit in Hershey, Pa.

The president, who already has issued a string of veto threats in the opening days of the 114th Congress, indicated he’s prepared to keep opposing legislation he finds objectionable.

This includes legislation with bipartisan support. Not only has Obama threatened to veto bipartisan legislation authorizing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, he reportedly threatened to veto legislation imposing additional Iran sanctions.

That bill is being written by Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, of New Jersey, and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, of Illinois. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., also indicated Thursday, at the GOP retreat, that Congress would seek to have a vote on any nuclear deal the U.S. and its allies strike with Iran.

Politico reported that Obama told Democrats in Baltimore he would oppose the Iran sanctions legislation. According to The New York Times, Menendez and Obama also traded “sharp words” over the issue at Thursday’s meeting. The Democratic senator reportedly warned the president that, if nuclear talks failed, sanctions could not be imposed quickly without additional congressional action.

Further, the president reportedly vowed Thursday to press ahead with more executive actions, despite a veritable uprising from congressional Republicans over that strategy.

Earlier this week, House Republicans voted to reverse his directives from last November sparing millions of illegal immigrants from deportation and offering them work permits.

Though Obama met with congressional leaders of both parties at the White House earlier this week, offering a brief show of bipartisanship, the first two weeks of the congressional session point to a turbulent two years ahead — particularly as the session runs into the start of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Obama has threatened to veto the immigration legislation and the Keystone legislation, in addition to a bill easing financial regulations and more.

Asked Thursday about the White House meeting with the president, House Speaker John Boehner said they had a “nice” and “polite” conversation.

“But I don’t know that we learned a whole lot,” he said.

Boehner said it’s “too early to tell” whether the dynamic has changed.

“I’m the guy born with the glass half-full. And I believe hope springs eternal,” he said. “The American people want us to find a way to address their concerns. That was the big message out of the elections. You hear it from our members on both sides of the Capitol. I’m hoping the president heard the same message.”

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday that five Yemeni terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have been released. But despite concerns from lawmakers about the risks of sending anybody back to Yemen, four were released to Oman — which is right next door.

Yemen is back in the spotlight in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. One of the suspects traveled there in 2011 and met with the radical American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in the region, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Though the administration technically has lifted a ban on sending Guantanamo detainees to Yemen, the U.S. traditionally has balked at repatriating prisoners back to the country, where the government is battling the Al Qaeda insurgency.

Still, four of the five prisoners — Al Khadr Abdallah Muhammad Al Yafi, Fadel Hussein Saleh Hentif, Abd Al-Rahman Abdullah Au Shabati, and Mohammed Ahmed Salam — are being sent to neighboring Oman.

The fifth, Akhmed Abdul Qadir, was transferred to Estonia. This marks the first time either country has accepted former Guantanamo prisoners for resettlement.

In a statement, the Defense Department said the transfers were “unanimously approved” by all agencies responsible for reviewing them.

“The United States coordinated with the Government of Oman to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures,” the DOD said.

But earlier this week, in the wake of the Paris terror attack, several Republican senators introduced legislation to clamp down on President Obama’s ability to transfer terror suspects out of the detention facility. These senators called for a “time out” on releasing more detainees after the Paris terror attacks.

The bill would prohibit transfers of terror suspects to foreign countries if there has been a confirmed case where an individual was transferred from Guantanamo and engaged in any terrorist activity. Any transfers to Yemen would be shut down for two years.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., called Yemen the “Wild West” for terrorists.

“It’s clear that we need a time out,” she said.

The newly transferred prisoners had been held for more than a dozen years. The men had been cleared for release since at least 2009.

All five were captured in Pakistan and detained by the U.S. as suspected Al Qaeda fighters. U.S. officials later determined it was no longer necessary to detain them but have struggled to find other countries willing to take them in. The men are all in their 30s and 40s, including one who was 17 when he was sent to Guantanamo.

The release of the five brings the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay down to 122.

Obama has pushed to close the detention facility since his inauguration in 2009. However, opponents say that Guantanamo is the best location for terror suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“Now is not the time to be emptying Guantanamo,” Ayotte said at a news conference hours before the latest transfers were announced, during which she warned of fresh terrorist threats.

The administration has been steadily transferring detainees cleared for movement to other countries. Five men who were held for a dozen years without charge at Guantanamo were sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement in late December.

Nearly 30 prisoners were resettled in third countries last year as part of Obama’s renewed push to close the detention center.

“We are committed to closing the detention facility. That’s our goal and we are working toward that goal,” said Ian Moss, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department on Guantanamo issues.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A sympathizer of the Islamic State terror group ISIS was arrested in Ohio on Wednesday after authorities learned that he was plotting a shooting and bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, considered members of Congress as “enemies,” and planned to travel to Washington to kill employees and officers working in and around the U.S. Capitol, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities said he had two semi-automatic rifles and about 600 rounds of ammunition, and planned to build and detonate pipe bombs at and near the U.S. Capitol.

A Justice Department official, however, told Fox News that Cornell was “aspirational and not operational,” adding that the public was never in danger.

The investigation relied heavily on the use of a source, who the criminal complaint said began cooperating with authorities last fall to gain favorable treatment for his prosecution on an unrelated case.

The complaint adds that Cornell said he thought he was fulfilling the directives of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, or ISIL.

“I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything,” Cornell told the source, according to the papers. “I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State and plan operations ourselves.”

Cornell was charged with the attempted killing of a U.S. government officer and possession of a firearm in furtherance of attempted crime of violence.

Along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Green Township Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police were involved in the investigation.

Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.

Feds order random searches at airports, after Al Qaeda publishes new bomb recipe on Internet

A terrorist group’s call for new attacks on U.S. airliners, an online “recipe” for detection-proof bombs and recent events in France and elsewhere have prompted federal authorities to order random searches of travelers and carry-on bags at U.S. airports.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met with airline security officials to brief them about the elevated threat, which came in the latest issue of Al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine. The online publication provided a guide to making the explosives, getting through security and even instructed suicide bombers on where to sit on the plane.

“We have no specific, credible intelligence of an attack of the kind in Paris last week being planned by terrorist organizations in this country,” Johnson said in a statement. “But, the reasons for these measures should be self-evident to the public: the recent attacks in Paris, Ottawa, Sydney, and elsewhere, along with the recent public calls by terrorist organizations for attacks on Western objectives, including aircraft, military personnel, and government installations and civilian personnel.”

“[T]he reasons for these measures should be self-evident to the public: the recent attacks in Paris, Ottawa, Sydney, and elsewhere … ” – Jeh Johnson, DHS secretary

The Transportation Security Administration has already stepped up random searches of travelers and carry-on luggage in addition to the enhanced screening that was ordered this summer at key airports.

The bomb-making recipe, published last month in the most recent edition of Inspire, the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) English-language magazine, sent a chilling message to the West.

“We spared no effort in simplifying the idea in such we made it ‘another meal prepared in the kitchen’ so that every determined Muslim can prepare,” states the magazine article, titled, “How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”

Experts have said the bomb-making instructions are highly sophisticated and could pose a problem, especially in smaller airports that don’t employ high-tech body-imaging security devices. The terror network is constantly seeking new ways to get explosives onto planes, according to Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst at Clarion Project, a New York-based research institute that monitors the threat of terrorism.

“The chief Al-Qaeda bombmaker Ibrahim Al-Asiri is innovative in his designs and isn’t to be underestimated,” Mauro told FoxNews.com. “For Al Qaeda, it is still somewhat of a victory if they can get an explosive on an airliner or even just inside an airport, regardless of whether the device ignites properly.

“Counter-terrorism personnel mention him to me even more than they mention Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri,” he added.

AQAP was behind the failed “underwear bomb” attack on Christmas Day, 2009. In that case, Farouk Abdulmuttalab tried to take down a Michigan-bound plane in U.S. airspace, but the bomb did not detonate.

Last week the State Department updated its Worldwide Caution travel alert to all Americans abroad.

“Recent terrorist attacks, whether by those affiliated with terrorist entities, copycats, or individual perpetrators, serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness,” the alert said.

Inspire magazine has previously published several “how-to” articles, including one on making bombs out of pressure cookers. That article ran prior to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, in which two radicalized immigrants used two of the modified kitchen devices to kill three people and injure more than 200.

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Muhammad will be back on the cover of the next edition of Charlie Hebdo, along with a message of forgiveness from surviving staffers at the French satirical magazine where 12 people were killed last week by a pair of Islamist brothers angered over the publication’s penchant for showing images of the prophet.

The decimated, but uncowed magazine upped its usual print run of 60,000 copies to 3 million for the magazine, due out Wednesday but released to the French newspaper Liberation. Fierce bidding on eBay had editions commanding as much as $500 following the outpouring of support for Charlie Hebdo, whose four top cartoonists were among the dozen killed. Editor-in-chief Gérard Biard said in a Tuesday radio interview the decision to run a cartoon if Muhammad holding a a “Je Suis Charlie” sign with the caption “Tout est pardonne,” or “All is forgiven,” and said the message was not that Muhammad was offering forgiveness, as some initially assumed.

“It is we who forgive, not Muhammad,” he told France Info.

“It is we who forgive, not Muhammad.” – Gérard Biard, editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo

Eight Charlie Hebdo staffers were killed in the attack, including the magazine’s editorial director, Stephane Charbonnier, who drew under the name “Charb.”

Biard said tomorrow’s issue is meant as both a memorial to fallen co-workers and proof that the magazine’s mission of irreverence has not been compromised.

“We needed to figure out how to continue laughing and making others laugh,” he said. “We wanted to analyze, say something about the events. This drawing made us laugh.

He continued: “We did not want masked men on the cover. We didn’t want more of that. That’s not us. We didn’t want to add to the gravity. It helps to be able to breathe a little.”

The cover was created by cartoonist Renald Luzier, who draws under the name “Luz,” and created what Biard called a “moving but not sad” work.

“Seen by Luz, Mohammed is much more sympathetic than even the Muslims see him. He’s a ‘nice little guy’ as Luz, puts it. Those assassins killed people who draw nice little guys. We wanted to show the ludicrousness of it.”

The New York Times reported late Monday that when Luz showed the drawing to staffers, he was greeted with laughter, applause and ironic shouts of “Allahu akbar!”

But one of Egypt’s top Islamic authorities has warned Charlie Hebdo against publishing the cartoon.

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, which is in charge of issuing religious edicts, on Tuesday called the planned cover an “unjustified provocation” for millions of Muslims who respect and love their prophet.

The statement said the cartoon is likely to cause a new wave of hatred in French and Western societies and called on the French government and others to reject “the racist act” by Charlie Hebdo.

Charlie Hebdo’s past caricatures of the Muslim prophet appear to have prompted last week’s attacks, part of the worst terrorist rampage in France in decades. A total of 12 people were killed at the newspaper’s offices by Said and Cherif Kouachi, French-born brothers who had trained with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Some witnesses reported that the attackers at the paper’s offices shouted “We have avenged the prophet.” Many Muslims believe all images of Muhammad are blasphemous.

French police said Monday that as many as six members of a terrorist cell involved in the attacks may still be at large.

France saw its biggest demonstrations in history Sunday as millions turned out to show unity and defend freedom of expression.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.