More Evidence the GOP is Not Serious About Spending

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | June 14th, 2012 at 04:46 AM |

RESIZE: AAA

I have repeatedly bemoaned the Republicans (and Democrats) for not doing enough to cut spending. Sixteen trillion dollars in debt and rising. Trillion dollar deficits. Billions of dollars spent every day.

Well, the incredibly resourceful Club for Growth is out with another look at the GOP and Democrats’ commitment to cutting spending this morning, and it isn’t pretty.

The Club has compiled a mini-scorecard of clean spending cut amendments from appropriations bills recently considered in the House. What they have found is, yet again, depressing.

Only 20 members of the House have voted for every amendment to cut spending. All are Republicans.
50 members of the House have voted against every amendment to cut spending. 49 are Democrats. One is a Republican (Bonner).
The average Republican voted for spending cuts 59% of the time. (Republican Freshman are only slightly better at 60%.)
The average Democrat voted for spending cuts 6% of the time.
The nine Republicans, including four freshmen, who have least often voted to cut spending are: Bonner 0%, Meehan 4%, LaTourette 4%, Bass 4%, Simpson 4%, Lucas 4%, King, P. 4%, Grimm 4%, and Dold 4%
The eight Democrats who have most often voted to cut spending are: Matheson 32%, Rush 31%, Kucinich 30%, Polis 28%, Cooper 20%, McIntyre 17%, Velazquez 17%, and Honda 17%

We expect the Democrats to vote against spending cuts. Shame on the Republicans who joined them.

View the scorecard by clicking here – the Club tells me they will continue to update it as appropriations bills are passed, so all of us should take a look at it periodically to check up on how both parties are doing:http://www.ClubForGrowth.org/spendingcutscorecard

Tags: Club for Growth, Congress, spending

COMMENTS

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http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

My Congressman who ran as a Tea Party conservative:
OH 16 R Renacci 16% 4/25

compared to:

OH 10 D Kucinich 30% 3/10

Did the Ohio Republican Party redistrict the wrong guy out? Sheesh!
edintexas

Thank you for the report and link. I just sent my Congresscritter (Jeb Hensarling – TX-5) a thank you.
edintexas

In my message to my Congresscritter I pointed out that Kucinich scored better than a number of “alleged Republicans”. This underscores that there are Republicans and far too infrequently there are Conservative Republicans. Those who aren’t Conservatives rely on us knowing that they are still better than party line toeing Democrats.
Darin_H

I complain about my Congresscritter often (he’s a porker, head of the Trans committee), but nice to see him at 18/25 (72%) here. I thought it would be much lower. I’m going to send him a note of encouragement – and to see him step it up to at least 90%
fpete13527

This list is disheartening to say the least, and it shows the Republicans have NOT been serious about cutting spending.

Mica, however is among the biggest Progressive spenders in the House though, especially through the progressive transportation RAIL lobby, as you stated.

Other than for possibly the ultra Progressive Republican Balart, in Miami, Mica is absolutely the top Florida Republican who needs to be expurgated…yesterday.
wlcjr

Voted to cut spending every time.
cwfoster

I live in the Peoples Republik of Maryland, most of our congresscritters are rabid (especially mine, since I’m in Baltimore County). We have a Republican or two, but not from this urban cesspit. Our Governor refers to illegals as ‘New Americans’ , and this is probably a bluer state than Jersey or Massachusetts. Before the Supercommittee cost me my job (Is being on public assistance shirking your civic responsibility if government interferrence and shirking of respoinsibility by Congress the cause of your unemployment?) I was being taxed (income tax, not just property tax) by the Feds, State and County governments. I feel like I should walk around holding my pocket open asking if anyone else feels entitled to help themselves. The Demonrats think people like me will vote for them because I want my public assistance extended, but it’s going to backfire on them bad, I don’t want unlimited unemployment, foodstamps and medical assistance, I WANT MY $30/HR JOB BACK!
http://itsaboutliberty.com/index.php kralizec

Everyone should hold their’s rep’s aaccountable, and weeding out the moderates from the GOP has never been more necessary. If the weak links are broken, better traction could be gained in reducing the size and scope of government. That and new leadership at the top that understands what the stakes are.
tnfriendofcoal101368

on the Club’s RePork Card. Ahhh, that Ron Paul votes against spending cuts and then lards the bill with some nice pork. How about that 8 million for the marketing of wild American Shrimp or the 2.3 million for research in shrimp farming. That wacky Ron Paul, the friend of shrimp everywhere.
bobguzzardi

With the exception of Sen. Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Delegation to US House cannot be thought of as The Forgotten Taxpayer’s BFF.

Pennsylvania could be a RedState is the Republican Establishment Elite would get out of the way.
red_oakster

Many of these folks with bad records:
1) represent conservative districts
2) faced no challenge during the primaries.

While it’s satisfying to see a squishy senator like Bennett or Lugar put out to pasture, the House is where the greatest impact could be had. A sustained focus on the House could produce a net of 25 or 30 more conservatives. A sustained focus on the Senate perhaps produces 2-4 additional conservative senators. Unfortunately, conservatives have had very little impact in an area where the opportunity is greater.
Locked and Loaded

only 3 passed, for a paltry cut of 1.62 million, and 1.2 million of that was to the Botanic Garden. So just ponder how miniscule were the cuts to Congressional Reserarch Service and NOAA.
funwithknives

Redistricting set-up same, as a given, for The Formerly Great Thad McCotter.
His petioning was so godawful, that he got bounced,& he isn’t even gonna try writing-in.
So even though we have someone on the ballot,{See: Kerry Bentivolio} he just is not palatable to Local GOP MainLiners.
They’ve persuaded a real squish, Nancy Cassis, Former State Senator, to run as a write-in. Her political history is all over the map.

Progressives are running an Asian-Indian immigrant (Muslim) Doctor and a Closet Larouchie in the upcoming primary.
It woulda been a slam-dunk, but now we got a little bit-a mayhem.

Possible point: Never expect any blessed thing. Allow them to Surprise you, and That is what you’ll often get.
tnguy

voting for liberal republicans. That strategy is paying dividends, as evidenced by this thread.
napensnake

is the Enumerated Powers Act. This would require every act of Congress to reference article and section of the Constitution that authorizes the national government to do what the bill states.
Many of these “cost cutters” run from the Enumerated Powers Act because it will reduce the national government to Constitutional limits and a lot of their perks will disappear.
paco12348

Why can’t both Parties leave PARTY outside the door when they enter the chamber to vote and then cast their vote for the good of America. We no longer have Statesmen that work for America. We have ideological idiots there for life with half of them not knowing what the Constitution says and the other half not caring. They care about Party and Money in their pocket for the next election.
I can count one Statesmen and that’s Tom Coburn. He promised he would only serve two terms and is now in his last term. He also works to show the humongous list of duplicative programs that do the same thing and usually all of them waste money.
I honestly believe Congress is so stacked with career Socialist we’ll never get anywhere until we have term limits. They are turning America into a Welfare Nation and shredding the Constitution. That is why the Democrats support Obama regardless of the mindless idiocy he utters and tries to foist on America.
Darin_H

And he (at least his staff) hears it from me… *often*. So I gave him a mild bit of praise, hoping that they/he gets the hint, until we can primary him. I was just surprised that he was even decent on this.
tnguy

I seriously doubt half of congress know much about the constitution at all, much less have a working knowledge of it. I’d bet the Guam capsize guy knows no more about it than my 4 yr old daughter.
pm270x

Roosevelt/Rockefeller Republicans or Tea Party Libertarians are the options within the modern Republican Party. The GOP are closet Progressives left of center, but right of communists. We’re basically a socialist nation but don’t acknowledge it because we just don’t want to believe it; our denial has lead to 40+% of Americans on government subsidies.

US mortgages of 2009 totaled 41.1% underwritten by FHA, not to include VA, or HUD housing assistance. FHA loans totaled 34.3% of all new home purchases 2011-Q4 and 6.6% of refinances.

Tax loopholes are so extreme that mega-corporations can practically operate as fascists institutions; meanwhile mom & pop shops are forced to play by rules that require more overhead and greater tax burdens.
Darin_H

he will be my congressman anyways. I’m in the newly 6th and he’s running in the 7th (and I hope Sandy Adams beats him like a rented mule, 92% scorecard btw…). Being in the 6th, I’m leaning towards Bev Slough.
Kyle-MI

He didn’t vote at all.
bclare

My representative pledged to only stay in Congress for 12 years… That was 1994. At 16% he is getting very, very comfortable.

He is a congresscritter!
northplatte38

I hardly ever see anything in the mainstream media about our continuing wars as being a major cause of our economic tragedy. I rarely read anything about the disaster of sending our manufacturing overseas to the biggest Communist Dictatorship in the World, China.

We have now been in Afghanistan closing in on three times as long as we were involved in World War Two. All our involvement there has produced is thousands of maimed Americans (physically and mentally) with no real victory in sight, and yet we remain there. It cost millions every day to maintain our presence there, not to mention all of the other places we still maintain forces.

All this must be in my rich imagination. Right?
commonsenseobserver

Even as we begin to draw down troop levels, we must provide an effective deterrent in the region. We should renegotiate with the Afghans so that a well-equipped task force remains to train Afghan troops and assist our allies in countering terrorism.
notpropagandized

OK, now we’re closing just a little bit on the effect of electing “Tea Party” candidates, some of whom were imposters of course. What we’re looking for are candidates who boldly, loudly claim to do the right thing and could care less about getting re-elected. Mark Meckler spoke of a 40 year plan and not a one-election-cycle plan to repossess the United States from wanton socialists and apologetic socialists. The electorate MUST continue to be aggressive and BOLD to keep putting in the most promising change/movement agents with complete recognition that they may need to be replaced in 2/6 years. Tea Party is doing a good jobs in consideration of the withering, dishonest, slanderous smearing by media.

Never, never give up. Remember, defeating Dimocrats is like pest control, they keep coming back and so should YOU.
northplatte38

This is always my question for those who talk about our military presence anywhere being “justified”. These same people usually just make a statement with no qualifications whatsoever. They comment as if to say: I said it therefore it is true.

I am a 23 year military veteran and I have a different opinions, which is that the United States was stupid to send forces to either Iraq or Afghanistan. The best response to 9/11 was, and remains HOMELAND SECURITY. All wars like Iraq and Afghanistan is suck us into a maw where we sacrifice our people and treasury in guerrilla warfare.
Viet71

n/t
streiff

that followed him on a dozen campaigns. In the end, it was still an ass.

Military service gives no insights into geopolitics. Service in the military isn’t necessary for citizenship or for having a perfectly reasonable view that disagrees with yours.
Seedyrom

media morons like Paul Krugman fear monger the Austerity will cause further decline and he quickly references Europe then shifts to state and country layoffs……which have little to do with the Fed cutting. These media clowns are influencing the GOP which by now should be comfortable taking the lead if for no other reason than to embarrass Obama and Reid.

Isn’t it odd how one day they say austerity is bad but the next dems and lib media buffoons talk up the Simpson Bowles Commission report? If austerity is bad and Simp/Bowl is good then they are hoodwinking the GOP and enough citizens who scare people away from voting. Sounds like marxist tactics coupled with the uneducated media types ranting about something they know nothing about while the economy declines. Sounds like a marxist wet dream, crash while blaming the other side. Governor Chis Christy cut as did Gov.Mitch Daniels and things are better and Ohio is rebounding while the stupid people fear the evil people.

Ehhh, it can wait till November, if Romney wins I hope the GOP takes the Senate. Regardless we must cut and reduce spending too while growing jobs and increasing exports. We must lower corporate taxes too!
Bill S

“Please meet your fan boy at the customer service desk. Thank you”
barleycorn

Oh stop it! You’re killing me here!
Joshua Persons

Putting the “justified war” question in the hands of a civilian.
http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

IF someone questions our many overseas commitments, then you want to paint them with a broad brush, and call them a Paul follower.

But the question still remains, we have been involved in shooting wars now in four middle eastern nations for over a decade, and what do we have to show for it?

Iraq is ok for now, but Egypt, Pakistan, Libya, and soon, Syria all turned over to jihadists. This is not exactly a record that brooks no argument.
streiff

Of the countries you listed, we’ve only been in a “shooting war” in one of them… the one you say is going “ok for now.” The problem in Libya and soon Syria is that we didn’t have a shooting war but tried to do things on the cheap.
streiff

and the Constitution when you agree with them– Ron Paul.
aesthete
aesthete

Having a US boot on your neck can put a temporary damper on the whole “let’s make Islamic revolution happen” thingee.

Not to worry, now that we’re gone they’ve resumed their work on wrecking their country and turning it into another explicitly sectarian Middle Eastern hellhole, instead of just one where all of those things are barely suppressed by the US military and glossed over by “regional transformation” agitprop.
acat

when it’s occupied by a strong external force.

Roman empire? Check.

France/England? Check.

Are we next? I think that, unless there’s a “clear and present danger”, I decline.

Mew
Bill S

that the guy I responded to is a chickenhawker and I would prefer not to have such involved in discussions at all. If he’d just stopped at the original post, that would be one thing…but claiming that those who haven’t served in the military just don’t get it is going beyond the point where I need to afford him any respect.
streiff

nt
tnguy

Have you ever been a congressman, senator, president? Then you have no business posting about politics.

See how that works?
From ME to You

the definition of “what’s good for the country” differs from one side of the aisle to the other!
From ME to You

Unless I’m mistaken…we still have a presence in Europe. Just because it’s under the auspices of NATO, we’ve been there for 70+ years. Just because the fighting is over doesn’t mean you can just up and leave.

Having a stable government with and experienced police and military is very important.

Our military and civilian police forces have the benefit of 200 yrs of experience and history. The leadership in our armed forces have many years of experience as do the leaders of the police forces.The police and military in Afghanistan (and Iraq) have very little experience.

How long does it take to get 30 yrs of experience? Until the civilian and military leaders get more experience under their belts leaving now is setting them up for failure and our eventual return.
tbosco15

Surprise, Staten Island Tea Party (SITP) activists who launched Boehner’s new errand boy, Congressman Michael Grimm, to office! From his failure to fight to enforce the federal debt ceiling to his support of the Ex-Im Bank, “Go Along, Get Along” Grimm is among the biggest GOP spenders in Congress! I remember when this empty suit appeared before theTea Party at Wagner College shortly after the 2010 election to assure us that his primary goal was to rein in federal spending. Imagine that, a politician lying to his constituents!
northplatte38

Always a pleasure to receive a rebuttal from someone who can’t seem to express an opinion. I see these a lot. Someone disagrees with your opinion but never has anything to say, except a post that tells you that your opinion is worth nothing. Which apparently means that whatever their opinion is must be true and correct because they believe it to be so.
northplatte38

I served in the military for 23 years. I worked for the Army for 23 years as a civilian Congressional Liaison Officer. I have an MA in History with a minor in Political Science.

I plan to post a lot about politics, so please look for me on this website frequently expressing my opinions.

Will that work for you? You have a nice day.
http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

We did get involved in shooting in Libya.

I am not a pacifist or someone who doesn’t want to get the bad guys. My problem is that I have seen only instability in the middle east during this time period while at the same time we have spent huge amounts of time, resources, money, lives, and influence.

Could we have done things differently? The reason it is an important question to ask is because we already hear some people calling for even more involvement. This time in Syria.

But Syria has an even more tenuous link to what could be called our strategic interests. My question is When is there ever a stopping point? Or does each new commitment draw us dangerously into another.

At some point the public will reject the costs and the call for precipitous withdrawal will become a very powerful political force, That could leave us in an even worse condition. These political calculations have to be considered.
gekster

Or maybe that’s what you want to see.

To put it another way, just because you own a garage,
that doesn’t make you a mechanic.

Hope that helps.
http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

Yes, indeed we are still in Europe seventy years after WW2 which begs the question of WHY? Why are we still bearing this huge expense? What are we supposed to be protecting the Europeans from? They have already absorbed all of the former Warsaw pact nations.

The reason is that there always exists a political inertia to continue anything done by government. That is a strong incentive to be very very cautious when undertaking anything like that.
PowerToThePeople

chickenhawking, and asshat response to a mod, you will not be posting long here.

By the way, no one is impressed with your military or education claims especially considering the BS you have so far posted here. Not sure what you plan on gaining by constantly claiming to be a military person of 23 years.
rightlane1111

And this is why. We don’t go into war to “win” it anymore…do we. We go to occupy nations.

In case anyone is thinking I am a Paulbot…forget it. If you are going to put men and women’s lives at risk because the United States of America was attacked and take it to the enemy and do it in a way that they will NEVER, EVER SCREW around with America again.

Everyone of those tunnels in Afghanistan would have been filled with some chemical that would render them useless for over 100 years…that..northplatte would have stopped some of that garbage from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

My grandfather was career military, my father served in WWII and my husband did also.

Our country cares more about “world” opinion than it does its own soldiers. Homeland Security…Northplatte…REALLY…under Janet Napolotano:-( What have we gotten from that giant, bloated agency…the TSA!….AND UNIONIZED AT THAT.

If anyone attacks this country … there should be retribution for it and the world would know…never mess with the USA. But…no, we have to be politically correct and make some Frenchman happy in the UN!
Viet71

I’ll vote for you. But I want a declaration of war from congress. I also want a clearly defined set of goals into which the American people will buy.

If your goal is to rid Afghanistan of AQ, fine. Sell it to the people; get congress to fund it; have at it.

If your goal is eradicate the Taliban, same, same.

I can go along with war. Cannot abide irresponsibility or lying when it comes to war.
aesthete

as a tool for fighting climate change, and thinking how we were starting to meet the productive limits for our NATO policy.

There’s some utility to training with European states as equals. I’d rather not continue to subsidize their defense and enable their current status as affluent client states, however.
rightlane1111

On September 14, 2001 Congress, in a joint resolution gave the authorization to Bush to use Military Force.

Ever since the Korean War…we have been “walking it back”. Your war, I am assuming by your name and the same that my husband was is, did not allow our military to do the job it was trained to do. THE ENTIRE THING BECAME POLITICAL.

If I were running the war…my defined goals…kill the enemy at all costs and Europe be d*mned.
From ME to You

It was to stabilize the area. Contrary to popular belief it wasn’t all rainbows, and fairy dust after the war. There were still some Nazi holdouts who crated a=havoc with the reconstruction efforts for a few years after.

The MAIN purpose was to prevent the possibility of the Soviet Bloc invading Western Europe. The Soviet Bloc forces would have overwhelmed the European forces much as our forces blazed through Iraq’s forces.

Without having a substantial US force IN PLACE the Soviet forces would have rolled in without much trouble. You must remember that transporting a large number of troops from the US to Europe would take, at best, a week IF all the troops and equipment were pre-staged for that eventuality and the ships were immediately available.
http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

Given that the comment of yours that streiff was responding to was the very definition of “a post that tells you that your opinion is worth nothing.”
Joliphant

But those numbers looked much better than I expected. The 59% voting to cut spending was almost uplifting. I didn’t think we would have more than 40%.

The fact that 10% of our caucus actually voted for all the spending cuts made my heart swell like the Grinch’s .

I won’t argue the point that we should be doing better but it was awfully nice to see us doing as well as we are.
aesthete

is that we’ve taken to using the military to do things other than kill people and break stuff. In the case of Iraq, we were trying to create a stable, secular, liberal democracy out of essentially nothing, in a region which has never experienced such governance. You can break and kill your way to making an opposing government say “uncle”. You can’t break and kill your way to established liberal democracies. Realization of this fact leads to having the military limit its core competence to become a social service organization or policing organization with guns. This doesn’t work, either, for all the usual reasons.

“Walking it back” is a requirement for “nation-building”. Stop waging wars with the end goal or end state of nation-building, and “walking it back” becomes less of a problem.
Viet71

Right with you.

But that’s not how wars are won. The Viet Nam war was winnable. Not the way LBJ or William Westmoreland tried. But by putting the American Fourth Division across the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos.

Would have cut off the flow of troops and supplies to the south.

U.S. Government wouldn’t back it.

Repeat: wars are winnable. But not with words alone or by politicians. Only by determination to win that the American people will buy.
http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

But the soviet union was not a realistic threat from about 1977 on, and from 1989 to present it does not even exist.
http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

In the first Gulf War, Powell was concerned not to become another Vietnam type war, so he fought it quickly and with overwhelming force.

But GHW Bush decided to quite before the job was done. since then Iraq and Afghanistan are more Vietnam-like than they should have been.
northplatte38

Sorry you don’t like my posts.

Maybe you need to complain to the Red State Management about me!!!

What military service do you have? What is your educational level?

I think I know what that is but I’m supposed to be “respectful” or else I will be banned.

So with that said, I guess all I really have to tell you is that you need to GO F[*]CK YOURSELF YOU STUPID A[*]SHOLE!!!!
gekster

I kinda knew you wouldn’t be able to contain yourself.
westcoastpatriette

yuck
http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

NT
aesthete

Our recent stock of trolls has left much to be desired.
Darin_H

This meltdown was glorious (but not nearly long enough).
From ME to You

airfields and having equipment pre positioned makes for moving people around sooooo much easier!

Moving troops and equipment from anywhere in the US to the Middle East v. moving troops and equipment from Europe makes “Rapid Deployment” a reality not just a pipe dream !
ghostship

In order to win a gorilla war one must be able to take out its civilian population base that provides support and recruits. However, we in the West have become far to civilized to attack civilians.

Look at Afghanistan where in order to win hearts and minds troops meet with local leaders securing for them money and supplies knowing that as soon as the meeting is over those monies and supplies will be heading for the jihadists. That group of Afghan children over there are helping to scout and plant IED’s that will kill or maim our troops. See that pregnant lady? That’s not a baby but a bomb under that burka.

The jihadists have got to be rolling with laughter at the US. The US has the military might to completely crush them but they’re totally hamstrung over our squeamishness over targeting civilians. It’s like watching a mighty elephant running in fear from a tiny mouse.

Rather than get over our squeamishness and admit were in a war we keep trying to limit ourselves with this notion of limited warfare. War isn’t supposed to be some sporting competition with rules and referees. The only thing that matters in war is to be the one still alive at the end.

What would happen if every terrorist group in Israel was to just drop dead overnight? Nothing! New terrorist groups would be formed from those so called innocent civilians. There would most likely be an uptick in violence as all the new groups try to outdo each other to prove they’re more committed to the cause than the others.

All the hardware and training are useless if a nation doesn’t have the will to fight.

We don’t have that and we haven’t had it for a long time. We are too civilized and too soft to win any gorilla war. This war was lost before the first boot hit the Afghan dirt. The best thing is for the U.S. to cut its losses and leave.
http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

As far as I know, no gorillas are even native to US climates.
ghostship

I should really proofread before I post.
aesthete

Make sure that those expansionistic primates stay in their sub-Saharan zone of control.
tnfriendofcoal101368

Why we know Moe hurt your feelings but that kind of language is only allowed over at DKos. tsk, tsk…Oh and when you are complaining to your basement buddies over there at DKos, please encourage them to use soap, deodorant, toothpaste and mouthwash. It really does help with the stench.
PowerToThePeople

Saying I do not like your posts is being pretty easy. I think your posts are moronic and worthy of nothing but contempt.

I never complain to the staff, I am too good at making people melt down and burn their own accounts as has been demonstrated by you.

I have quite the lengthy military service as do many here. And my education level is quite good thanks.

No need for you to follow the respect rule, you have long left that in the dust.

I will take your advice under consideration but I must tell you that since I am married, not much of a need to do anything to myself anymore since my wife is more than happy to oblige. But thanks anyways. But asshole I am, glad you saw that in me. I work very hard to be known as the site asshole.

See you around………maybe! Maybe your “extensive” military record will save you this time, but I would not hold my breath.

How about you just be honest. How old are you? See, the one thing that gives you away concerning your military lie is this tirade. One would think that after 23 years, and of course by your own proclamation a very dignified post, that you would have been taught a bit of self control. The childish post clearly demonstrates you are probably a young idiot in community college who lies about who he or she really is and believes themselves to be the end all of all know it all’s. Sound a bit closer to the truth?
Danielle Davis (ocleverone)

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