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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Will Freshman House Republicans Keep Their Promise?

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  March 11th, 2011 at 09:28 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

House Republicans are unveiling their next short-term continuing resolution today to keep the government from shutting down on March 18.  It is a three week-extension, $6 billion in cuts with no new policy riders.

Sound good?  It’s not.  Realize what is going on here.  House Leadership unfortunately continues to be gripped by fear of a government shutdown.   It is why these short-term extensions do not include any new policy riders, such as the one to deny federal funding to Planned Parenthood or to defund Obamacare.  These extensions are carefully calibrated to not prompt a veto threat from the White House.

By fearing a fight that could lead to a shutdown, House Leadership is letting the White House play rope-a-dope with them.  The House has spoken.  It passed a long-term bill that includes $61 billion in cuts and various aforementioned riders to defund objectionable activities of the federal government.  This bill was based on a promise to the American people that Republicans would make a down-payment in the face of a staggering $1.5 trillion deficit, and when the Speaker said, “Read my lips,” he was promising a real fight.  Not this.

Republican Leadership already threw all the riders over board by excluding them from the first extension, showing that for all their talk they are fundamentally unserious about defunding Planned Parenthood and Obamacare.  With every short-term resolution, Republicans allow Democrats to play for time.  With each dollar the Democrats agree to with these short-term compromises, they look more reasonable for the day when they will inevitably say, “No mas.”   When that day comes, Republicans will fold.  They may try to obfuscate and blur this fight with the next one on the debt limit, but Republicans will still be folding.  It will project weakness, and the Democrats will unmistakably recognize it for what it is: fear.  And if Republicans blink in the face of a government shutdown, it will set the course for the next two years of dealing with Obama, particularly with regard to the debt limit fight.

So far the freshmen class is complicit in this dead-end strategy by allowing it.  They have the votes to tell their Leadership no.  But so far, they refuse.  They have refused to fight to defund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood in these negotiations, and they are giving their Leadership far too much flexibility to avoid a fight.   In doing so, they are empowering Leadership and letting themselves be co-opted.  The freshmen need to realize that Leadership never plays to win—they play to not lose.  But we didn’t send them to Washington to play for ties.  Make no mistake.  The soul of the freshmen class is on the line in this fight.

The rope-a-dope must end.  The other side continues to block the bare minimum of what our nation needs fiscally and play for time, fresh off an election that went squarely against them.  Republicans gave them two additional weeks to compromise.  The Democrats’ chief negotiator, Vice President Biden, used that precious time to fly across the world.  They are unserious, and it’s time to call them on it.

Call your Congressmen and urge them to vote against any further short-term extensions and to stand for H.R. 1 as it passed the House.  Tell them not blink.

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  • jmimac351

    Freshman Sandy Adams (FL-24) has been told.

  • peasoup

    no glory! I pray that one day soon we’ll actually see a Republican with some backbone (and other body parts)! In our house we’re encouraging the tough stand knowing that it will lead to the gov’t. shutdown and that’s not easy b/c the breadwinner here is a 35+ year gov’t. employee. Sure it will affect our household, but we live our lives based on principles and values, not preferences! Gov’t. spending is out of control, something must be done to stop it and right now our best bet is a bunch of lily-livered Republicans? G-d help us all! In the meantime, I’m making those phone calls!

  • Wubbies World

    The GOP in the House needs to craft a series of continuing resolutions to fund the government BY DEPARTMENTS or PROGRAM.

    Pass the resolution for the military, Social Security, etc etc and then let the fight shut down the parts of government they want to cut anyway.

    Why is that so hard?

  • KC

    …..blame it on leadership.

  • alreadyexists

    As craziness continues to unfold in Washington DC, we can observe and reason based on what we see. If the Republican leadership is either unable or unwilling to tackle the tough job of reigning in federal spending, then we can deduce that a national economic trainwreck is not only inevitable but likely to occur in the near term. Today an earthquake struck Japan and the people of Hawaii are now preparing for the possibility of a Tsunami striking their island. As citizens, we have an obligation to do our part to starve the federal bureaucracy and prepare for a worst case scenario. Boehner thinks he’s playing “chicken” with Obama, but in reality, he’s playing “chicken” with an oncoming Tsunami.

  • Kyle-MI

    Why roll everything into one bill? That is just playing into the Dem advantage of controlling the Senate and White House. Fund the popular stuff and fund them long term.

  • jmimac351

    why are they not to blame? I agree that Can’tor and Boehner are the leaders of the problem but they get away with what the Freshman allow. The Freshman are holding all of the cards, they are just a little apprehensive. They need to hear about the fact that their performance is not acceptable so far.

    The government is going to have to be shutdown. There will need to be a standoff. The Dems, as in Wisconsin, are not and never will be serious about attacking fiscal issues.

  • http://firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    What if they are purposefully separating things to make them distinct entities to stand or fail on their own merits?

    Consider this, the continuing resolutions are getting billions cut each time they pass. Taken alone, that is a good thing.

    If the Republicans begin submitting the individual things that were attached to the budget bill that failed then don’t we have the best of both worlds?

    To all Republicans: Do not think the submission of the budget bill that got shot down absolves you from any further responsibility/accountability to what got you elected. We expect you to posses a spine for the FULL term of your election. Do so and it will work out.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    If you’re going to bother to call, put some teeth into it.

    Will you truthfully be able to say one of the following:

    I am a conservative Republican Party precinct committeeman and I am recruiting every conservative I can to come into the Party with me as a precinct committeeman for the sole purpose of making sure you and all like you who do not uphold your oath of office will not be returned to office in the next election

    or

    I am a conservative Republican and I am taking steps to become a precinct committeeman and I am recruiting every conservative I can to come into the Party with me as a precinct committeeman for the sole purpose of making sure you and all like you who do not uphold your oath of office will not be returned to office in the next election.

    Here are some numbers:

    PatriotActionNetworl.com has 85,000+ members.

    TeamSarah.org has 78,000+ members.

    The Conservative Underground, TCUnation.com has over 16,000 members.

    NRA has over 4 million members.

    Gun Owners of America has about 500,000 members if memory serves.

    The various Tea Party and 9.12 and WeSurroundThem groups across the nation have millions of members.

    Thousands and thousands more belong to other groups like ourcaucus.com, anystreet.org, etc.

    And the Republican Party has about 400,000 precinct committeeman slots and about half of them are unfilled, on average, in every locale across the country.

    So, where are all the grass roots conservatives united? They are not united. How and where should they unite? Inside the Republican Party at their respective local Republican Party committee meetings. Do you know when and where YOURS meets?

    I guarantee the incumbents would be shocked and terrified if the leaders of all of the above-mentioned organizations, or even one of them, sent out a press release or held a press conference announcing that they would be imploring all of their members to immediately take steps to become Republican Party precinct committeemen to fill up the half of those slots that are unfilled to make sure that conservative candidates would challenge, and defeat, all incumbents who have violated their oaths of office by supporting unconstitutional legislation and spending.

    In my congressional district, 55 per cent of the precinct committeeman slots are vacant. And my congresscritter, freshman David Schweikert, has no incentive to stick his neck out unless that number changes significantly. Because if that vacancy percentage doesn’t decline dramatically, he knows that, historically, if the status quo does not change in that respect, he’ll have a 97 per cent probability of winning the primary election. Just like every other House incumbent.

    We outnumber the socialist/liberal/Commies. But we are splintered. And we don?t realize this is, in the end, about one thing and one thing only ? getting more people to vote for our candidates.

    How? By offering the dumbed-down electorate a choice, not an echo, at the general election.

    How? By making sure a conservative wins in the primary.

    How? By making sure conservatives outnumber liberals/moderates/RINOs in ?the most powerful office in the world? ? the precinct committeeman positions.

    Why? Because then PCs can vote to endorse the best conservatives in the primaries and help get out the vote for those conservative candidates. Primary elections, historically, have very low turnout. If a majority of the PCs are working hard to get the vote out in those crucial primary contests, then the conservative candidates will win.

    ?We the [conservative] people? are slowly waking up. But holding a sign at a rally doesn?t really change anything. Writing a letter to a congresscritter about withholding donations isn?t going to make a difference. Only real, grass roots, in the trenches political participation does. And that happens at the monthly local GOP meetings. Are you participating in the real ball game of politics? It gets played at these monthly committee meetings.

    We need to realize the only really effective place to play in the ball game of politics is within the Republican Party as a precinct committeeman. That should be priority number one right now of every conservative.

    In my humble opinion.

    The incumbents won’t stick their necks out and fight for your liberties until you demonstrate that YOU’LL fight for your liberties.

    Until they see significant numbers of conservatives flocking into the Republican committees back home in their district the will perceive no real change in the status quo. So they?ll all ?go along to get along.? Oh, and by the way, they won?t tell conservatives to get involved in the party as voting members of it. Because it?s not in their self interest for you to get involved inside the Party. That?s why they?ll never breathe a word about it to you in their re-election campaign e-mails and letters to their Republican voters. They don?t want you in the Party ? you might organize politically to take them out in the primary.

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior

  • earlgrey

    they seem to be getting a lot of grief. the guy was pretty gruff with me. He just basically said tha they passed a bill overturining Obamacare. I told him that we know that won’t go through, but you are still funding it. He wouldn’t acknowledge my point and merely said that it was up to the Senate to pass their bill.

    I’ll try again and complain about the Continuing Resolution.

  • earlgrey

    All the did was take my information and say they would pass along the message. I did ask what their strategy was and they said it was to cut as much spending as possible.

    I am disappointed and getting tired. for every small victory there is a gaping wound in our back from our own party. What am I missing here. I am still out there supporting the party are there any other activists out there? Do we need to find more. Is there any hope of the young waking up and learning to think for themselves?

    I have taken CW’s advice, and I look forward to writing a diary about my experiences after our meeting in March.

  • Kyle-MI

    All the Dems voted against it and unfortunately they have the majority. It does not matter what the GOP wants. We need to a few Dem votes and we need a strategy that can get to that goal. Blunt force is not going to do it. H.R. 1 is dead. Time for plan B.

    As a number of people upthread have stated, a good plan B is to chop up the bill and pass the parts that everyone (including enough Dems) can agree on – for example defense spending and social security. (Do this at least for the continuing resolution and revisit entitlement cuts for the next budget.) The only way for Dems to stop this strategy is to insist on the entire budget in one bill and vote down the individual bills on the popular programs. But if the Dems do this then they show that they are holding popular programs hostage to their unpopular agenda. This also forces them to fight on our terms. They can only stop bills. They cannot force anything through. They have a choice to either defund entire programs or defund just the parts that the GOP wants.

  • http://www.800cart.com Ron Robinson

    Our house leaders need to know that we are serious.

    We should be contacting Central Committee members in the following areas and offering them our help:

    John Boehner, Speaker OH-8
    Butler, Miami, Mercer, Darke, Preble Counties’ Central Committees

    Eric Cantor, GOP Leader VA-7
    Henrico, Chesterfield, Montpelier, Page, Culpeppr, Madison, Orange, Sptosylvania, Louisa, Goochland, Hanover, Caroline Counties’ cantral committees

    Kevin McCarthy, GOP Whip CA-22
    Kern, San Louis Obispo, LA Counties’ central committees

    Congresscritters only feel even partly accountable to only two groups the donors, and the central committee members in their districts who can whisper the word ‘primary’ and make it stick.

    John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy, you should all know that we at PROCINCT,net are getting in touch with the central committees in your various districts!

  • red_oakster

    There probably isn’t anything close to a majority among House Republicans to take a hard line. That’s why the $2 billion per week strategy is being pursued. It’s a default.

    The bigger question is what can be done at Red State? One thing is to target GOP House members who undercut the cause of limited government (Hint: it’s not the leadership). While Cold Warrior has done amazing things at the precinct level, and there’s lots of attention on statewide races, the weak GOP reps who represent safe and solid conservative districts get ignored. Latourette, Mica, etc. get ignored. If you want to strengthen the resolve of the House GOP caucus, Red State needs to focus on taking on the weak link.

  • KC

    …when the rookies have to come in and teach the seasoned veterans how to play ball.

    Would anybody expect the privates to lead their platoon into battle while the captains and lieutenants are staying back sucking their thumbs?

    The media are already reporting rumblings of dissention in the ranks of House Republicans over the budget.

    That tells me the freshment aren’t rolling over and staying quiet.

  • liandro

    and he was discussing this point. He talked about how cutting $2 billion a week (last CR was $4B for two weeks iirc, this one is $6B for three weeks) was cutting on track with their overall budget (technically higher, I think, since their total budget is $61B in cuts, and the CR’s at $2B a week would add up to $104B). He also emphasized that these are *actual* cuts, not cuts to *proposed increases* in spending (which is the liberals standard for cuts). He also emphasized that they want to avoid a shutdown while this discussion rages on. He explicitly said that he is fine with doing CR’s this way for now as it gets guaranteed cuts.

    What are your thoughts on this? He is the Chief Deputy Majority Whip, so you could argue he is pushing the leadership line on it, but he raised some very valid points. They want to get those riders in…and whether we defund public money from Planned Parenthood now or in three weeks isn’t nearly as important as making sure we actually get it done. We are forcing the Senate to concede cuts and keeping the battle on our turf, as well as keeping the Democrat-held Senate in the lonely position of refusing to get a budget done. We are also illuminated Obama’s leadership failure on the budget.

    For that reason alone I think you are wrong that the rope-a-dope tactic is hurting us. I don’t think that the House Republicans are going to cave in the end. Or rather, I think you are wrong that the CR’s weaken our hand and push them towards doing so. I don’t like that the CR’s are happening, but given that the Senate and Presidency is held by the other side we have to have a strategy here, and as Rep. Roskam said, ours is working. We’re pushing them back on their heels and moving our line forward all while getting real spending cuts at the same (or higher) rate we would under the House Republican’s budget.

    Rep. Roskam also spent a good deal of time talking about the 2012 budget (the next budget, after they get last year’s finally pushed through). He addressed Health Care head-on, and talked about how they are planning on dealing with it. He said sometime soon the House leadership is plan on rolling out entitlement reform positions as part of that 2012 budget, and he mentioned how Obama has refused to deal with entitlements in his 2012 budget offering. He also specifically mentioned President Obama’s rope-a-dope politics on the budget, and almost in those words.

    As I said above, I don’t like the CR’s, and I don’t think the $61B in cuts the Republicans offered is enough (although Rep. Roskam mentioned that the 2012 budget will get into much bigger numbers due to tackling the entitlement issues). That being said, I recognize that we only hold one piece of government, and that as such we can’t do battle the same way we could if we had taken the Senate over. Which we will next cycle!

    I’ve gone back and forth on the CR’s myself, although ultimately my opinion doesn’t matter. I thought I’d share simply because Rep. Roskam’s input might interest some here. My Rep (Hultgren) has pushed for harder cuts, and I am more in favor of something like Sen. Paul’s bigger cuts (which still wouldn’t get us halfway to a balanced budget!), and I don’t oppose a government shutdown if it comes to that. We should, however, tread carefully so that when the public opinion battle gets waged we can rightfully demonstrate that we were doing our part to avoid the mess while still fighting to cut spending as was mandated to us in the last election.

  • Donald Ayotte

    We elected these freshmen congressmen and we must remind them that their power to govern is derived from the people they represent. It’s the way our government works in Washington.
    New congressmen and women should be reminded and it’s our duty as Americans to do so.

  • KC

    All 241 one of them including John “Read My Lips” Boehner.

    The freshmen have a hard enough time fighting the President and the Democrats – and should not have to be fighting their own leadership to accomplish that which was promised by them all.

    Don’t give up on the freshmen yet. They are making noise behind the scenes.

  • frankm64

    So smart aren’t we.

  • popham

    Until the American people understand that the Republican ‘leadership’ is
    deliberately paralytic and that they care not a wit for the safety, security and
    virtual fate and destiny of this once great nation, then, I ask you, my fellow
    Americans, what in the world is going on?
    Congress, Reps. and Dems., are simply waiting for the total economic
    collapse of our economy to occur. Then they can happily resume their
    rabbid backbiting, bickering and empty rhetoric, serving no purpose other
    than to drive the American people to the 21st Century American Revolution.
    Good luck, America.

  • http://www.liberallyconservative.com Liberally Conservative

    So far the only names I’ve seen opposing the defunding of Planned Parenthood in the House are:

    There were two freshmen among the seven Republican dissidents: Reps. Robert Dold (IL) and Richard Hanna (NY). The others were Reps. Judy Biggert (IL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Charlie Dent (PA) and Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ). In his own category is Rep. Charles Bass (NH), who returned to Congress this year after a four-year hiatus.

    Collins and Murkowski in the Senate have already tipped their hand supporting the status quo for killing babies.

    If you have more names I could use them. I’m sure the list is growing. Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann are leading the charge to hold a Conservative coalition together in the House.

    McCarthy and Cantor can’t be trusted, they’ve already gone wobbly on some things that bring down their Conservative bona fides.

  • brojohn2

    is lying? He or she is speaking, I am a County chair in the Republican Party in my state and am having a really hard time filling the 50% of vacant seats myself. I am planning a Republican Party get together for April and hope to get enough folks together to actually get something accomplished.
    I am a Conservative first and a Republican second and hoping to find more like myself. We helped to put Canseco in the House thiis year and so far he seems to be doing OK. I have written him on several things I thought were needed and will write him again on this shameful backing down by the leadership.
    It is time to get these guys to understand that their time is LIMITED, and that we are really tired of cowardice.

  • http://www.voteforteri2010.com teridavisnewman

    Republicans won in 2010 because they got some credibility back with independents on fiscal matters.
    However, Republicans are on probation: If the GOP loses its distinction from Democrats on fiscal responsibility, then independents will vote on other issues in 2012, and that will set us back a decade. We have GOT to stay one the message and continue to get rid of the corrupt incumbents no matter WHAT party and replace them with conservatives who are not on the take–no mean feat. America sent a message, but we are going to have to send another one in 2012 or they will think we are not serious about 2010. The time to let things go is OVER and we will have another revolution if this continues–and it hurts me to say that but it’s true. We also cannot let the union debate re-energize the liberal base either–we don’t need a union-led Tea Party type inspiration for the 2012 elections.
    The freshmen and conservatives must constantly remind voters why their elected officials are having these debates and hold fast to their positions–hard to do with “moderate Republicans” and RINOs in the House.

  • MF

    Sorry, Kyle-MI, but the Rs have the Ds by the throat. Simply by failing to pass anything, that amounts to de facto huge cuts. This means the cuts they don’t want, along with the cuts they do want. If the Rs simply tell them they aren’t getting anything better, and stand firm with that, then the government shuts down (partially). Good! Stand true even if (when) the LSM portrays the Rs as the party of no. Simply keep repeating the same statement – this is what we’re requiring. It is not negotiable. This is merely the starting point for further future cuts. This is the line in the sand, and we’re not crossing it. You don’t meet our needs, nothing gets funded. If you fail to pass this, YOU are the ones who cause a shutdown.

  • uselogic

    Dude, you are wasting your own time on this site. Ours is even more valuable…. so just wander away.

  • uselogic

    Dude, you are wasting your own time on this site. Ours is even more valuable…. so just wander away.

  • acat

    and why is it going to get cut?

    Can’t be TSA, planes will still be flying. .. and TSA is less than 35+ years old.
    Can’t be DoD, Armed Services will still get paid.
    Can’t be Treasury, Obama will still need the Secret Service, and the printing presses…
    Can’t be the IRS…

    So, seriously, what department are you thinking won’t get paid? Post Office? They’ve claimed for decades that most of their money doesn’t come from the government ..

    Mew

  • streiff

    you should learn to hide your tracks better.

  • dsmurf

    a check on the majority that got the GOP the House majority.