Those bastards trying to force this bill through don't give a damn about protecting Syrian lives. They want to force a war with Russia because that is what will come from a no fly zone and they know that.
And Engel is lying his ass off as noted below

Rep. Engel said, “Four years ago I thought we should have aided the Free Syrian Army. They came to us in Washington and begged us for help. … They were simply looking for weaponry. I really believe if we had given it to them, the situation in Syria would have been different today.”

That narrative is nonsense. By late 2011, the U.S. was actively coordinating, training and supplying armed opposition groups. When Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan government was toppled in fall 2011, the CIA oversaw the diversion of Libyan weapons to the Syrian armed opposition, as documented in the Defense Intelligence Agency report of October 2012.

And when Obama drew his red line and said that Gaddafi had used sarin gas on the Syrian people he knew damned well that the Free Syrian army (Al Quada and its branches were the ones who used it. The CIA or Turkey gave it to them and he knew that. Gawd! He's has to be a sociopath to be able to do the things he's done.
Then there's this.

Hillary fucking lost.

I love that Alexa graph showing pre-election traffic at his yearly low and falling hard. I guess all the CTR drones had gotten paid. Nice election night bump!

That Alexa graph is pure gold. Made my morning.

Nice to see you, LSM.

Obtaining money by false pretenses has been a crime since before there was a USA (English common law, which the colonies adopted) and it still is. Yes, obtaining money by false pretenses is one specific type of criminal fraud or larceny or theft or whichever classification a state wants to put it under. However, regardless of the type of statute under which the crime of false pretenses is prosecuted, it's still a crime. Even if they call it something entirely different than obtaining money by false pretenses, the point is, relieving people of money (or something else of monetary value) by deceiving them is a criminal act.

I don't know what you are referring to with Reagan and Clinton; however, crimes are not defined by federal regulations, but by state and federal criminal statutes and criminal codes and Presidents do not typically interfere with state criminal codes or even federal criminal codes. Moreover, if a federal criminal code is to be changed, it's Congress that has to change it, although the President can certainly ask Congress to do that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_pretenses

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/false_pretenses

http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/white_collar_crimes/fals...

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/False+Pretenses

https://www.google.com/search?q=crime+of+false+pretenses&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Jill is a Massachusetts resident. This is the current relevant Massachusetts statute (Massachusetts General Laws, Title I, Chapter 266, Section 30). I googled for it after writing the above and, as it turns out, it illustrates the above perfectly. It even which uses the English spelling of "pretense" and "offense" in places:

Section 30. (1) Whoever steals, or with intent to defraud obtains by a false pretence, or whoever unlawfully, and with intent to steal or embezzle, converts, or secretes with intent to convert, the property of another as defined in this section, whether such property is or is not in his possession at the time of such conversion or secreting, shall be guilty of larceny, and shall, if the property stolen is a firearm, as defined in section one hundred and twenty-one of chapter one hundred and forty, or, if the value of the property stolen exceeds two hundred and fifty dollars, be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years, or by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars and imprisonment in jail for not more than two years; or, if the value of the property stolen, other than a firearm as so defined, does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars, shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars; or, if the property was stolen from the conveyance of a common carrier or of a person carrying on an express business, shall be punished for the first offence by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than six hundred dollars, or both, and for a subsequent offence, by imprisonment for not less than eighteen months nor more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not less than one hundred and fifty nor more than six hundred dollars, or both.

(2) The term ''property'', as used in the section, shall include money, personal chattels, a bank note, bond, promissory note, bill of exchange or other bill, order or certificate, a book of accounts for or concerning money or goods due or to become due or to be delivered, a deed or writing containing a conveyance of land, any valuable contract in force, a receipt, release or defeasance, a writ, process, certificate of title or duplicate certificate issued under chapter one hundred and eighty-five, a public record, anything which is of the realty or is annexed thereto, a security deposit received pursuant to section fifteen B of chapter one hundred and eighty-six, electronically processed or stored data, either tangible or intangible, data while in transit, telecommunications services, and any domesticated animal, including dogs, or a beast or bird which is ordinarily kept in confinement.

(3) The stealing of real property may be a larceny from one or more tenants, sole, joint or in common, in fee, for life or years, at will or sufferance, mortgagors or mortgagees, in possession of the same, or who may have an action of tort against the offender for trespass upon the property, but not from one having only the use or custody thereof. The larceny may be from a wife in possession, if she is authorized by law to hold such property as if sole, otherwise her occupation may be the possession of the husband. If such property which was of a person deceased is stolen, it may be a larceny from any one or more heirs, devisees, reversioners, remaindermen or others, who have a right upon such deceased to take possession, but not having entered, as it would be after entry. The larceny may be from a person whose name is unknown, if it would be such if the property stolen were personal, and may be committed by those who have only the use or custody of the property, but not by a person against whom no action of tort could be maintained for acts like those constituting the larceny.

(4) Whoever steals, or with intent to defraud obtains by a false pretense, or whoever unlawfully, and with intent to steal or embezzle, converts, secretes, unlawfully takes, carries away, conceals or copies with intent to convert any trade secret of another, regardless of value, whether such trade secret is or is not in his possession at the time of such conversion or secreting, shall be guilty of larceny, and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than five years, or by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars and imprisonment in jail for not more than two years. The term ''trade secret'' as used in this paragraph means and includes anything tangible or intangible or electronically kept or stored, which constitutes, represents, evidences or records a secret scientific, technical, merchandising, production or management information, design, process, procedure, formula, invention or improvement.

(5) Whoever steals or with intent to defraud obtains by a false pretense, or whoever unlawfully, and with intent to steal or embezzle, converts, or secretes with intent to convert, the property of another, sixty years of age or older, or of a person with a disability as defined in section thirteen K of chapter two hundred and sixty-five, whether such property is or is not in his possession at the time of such conversion or secreting, shall be guilty of larceny, and shall, if the value of the property exceeds two hundred and fifty dollars, be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years or in the house of correction for not more than two and one-half years, or by a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment; or if the value of the property does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars, shall be punished by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than two and one-half years or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment. The court may order, regardless of the value of the property, restitution to be paid to the victim commensurate with the value of the property.