Mind you, we don’t have a scorecard, but we may have to use this vote to start one. The Republicans have decided to intercept the Democrats’ political football and make a touchdown for the Democrats. The Helping Sick Americans Now Act is a great sounding law that lets the GOP contrast themselves with Barack Obama on health care. But let me explain in the simplest | Read More »
Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) is doing what needs to be done in the House. He is proposing voting against all rules for legislation that increase the size of government or have a majority of Republicans opposing the underlying legislation. “Rules” are the instructions dictating how much time will be spent on debate of legislation, how many amendments can be offered, etc. The minority party typically | Read More »
House Republican Leaders are upset that conservatives in the House “blindsided” them by voting against the CR rule. Had just 17 more Democrats showed up to vote the GOP’s rule would have failed, taking down the CR. Some of those who voted against the rule said they were going to support it when they were approached by the leadership’s whipping team. One source close to | Read More »
Bend over Republicans, here they come again. Phil Klein is out with a column that I can only assume comes from House Republican Leadership talking points. I can only assume that because House Republican leaders and those close to them have been whispering about this scenario for about a month now to as many Republican strategists, pundits, and others as would listen. They want to | Read More »
Jim Bridenstine may get a primary challenge. You may not know who he is, but Jim Bridenstine is a brand new member of Congress, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserves, a fighter pilot from the Iraq and Afghan Wars, and a strong fiscal conservative. He should be a hero to any and all Republicans. He’s a genuine bad ass. And on Day 1, he | Read More »
Many Republicans are trying ton convince themselves that they will make up ground on the spending side of the equation come the debt ceiling fight. Mr. Obama says he will not negotiate, but he is going to have to. The problem for the GOP is that its House leadership is working at cross purposes and really is in the disarray the “liberal media” keeps saying. | Read More »
Last night, without any legislative language, the Senate Republicans and Democrats voted to raise taxes. They did not just vote to raise income taxes. They voted to raise the payroll tax on all Americans. This will hurt small businesses. Ironically, this plan generates less revenue than even John Boehner’s Plan B option. But both options, as I have long maintained, were only about breaking the | Read More »
As Chad Pergram notes on twitter, Ed Henry reports the White House is calling getting the GOP to break its tax pledge, “One of the most consequential policy achievements of the last couple of decades.” See how this is already being spun. Do you really want to do this? You have a choice. Oppose this deal. It does nothing to solve our problems. It does | Read More »
Amongst the wreckage of last Tuesday’s elections, we do have one Republican leader who has managed to emerge with his reputation as a winner intact: Representative Pete Sessions (TX) of the Republican National Congressional Committee. Politico has an article up detailing his methods, and I think there’s something Republicans from the top down could learn from him. First of all, we should note how he | Read More »
Did you know that House Republicans are still defeating amendment after amendment to cut spending — even relatively small amounts? You probably didn’t realize this because, for some reason, no one is reporting it. So here are just a few of the amendments the House defeated last week. If you’re not happy with this record House Republicans are compiling this election year, let them know | Read More »
Our Republican Leadership in Washington, D.C. is extremely risk adverse. It is very clear the leadership has convinced itself, despite historic truth, that Newt Gingrich lost his job because of the government shutdown way back when. They do not want to have protracted fights. They want to appear reasonable. They crave the press’s adoration of “grown ups” and “reasonable men.” I expect Barack Obama to | Read More »
Last week, the House passed H.R. 5326, the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, by a vote of 247-163, providing $51.131 billion in discretionary appropriations for fiscal year 2013. That’s $1.61 billion or 3% below the amount of funding provided for these programs in fiscal year 2012–and $731 million or 1.4% below the amount requested by the president for fiscal year 2013. Not | Read More »
“Call your Congressman today at 202-224-3121 and tell him to oppose H.R. 7, the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act.” It is sad that we have gotten here, but House Republicans, including conservative stalwarts like Jim Jordan of Ohio, are set to pass Barack Obama’s latest stimulus plan. Except they are calling it John Boehner’s “Highway Bill.” Consider, however that Barack Obama’s budget, unveiled yesterday, | Read More »
There are many House Republicans. And most of them call themselves conservatives. In fact, what we see over time is that most of the House Republicans ultimately wind up being what I call pro-life statists. They claim they are conservative because they vote right on life issues and against Obama, but they are perfectly happy driving up the cost of government for their own purposes. | Read More »
There are two stories out today that suggest it is not just amateur hour at the White House where five days after Osama Bin Laden went to sleep with Davy Jones there are still more questions than answers. No, it is also amateur hour in the House of Representatives. Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) is declaring the fight to repeal Obamacare over. That’s right. He’s giving | Read More »
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