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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
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The Democrats’ are continuing their push for government-run health care, despite the strong opposition of most Americans and Republican legislators. Their stubborn push for this horrible legislation exposes the lengths to which Democrats will go in order to bypass bipartisanship in the negotiation processes.
But don’t worry; Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi informed us that the Obama administration has the public’s best interests at heart. She also stated that Senate and House Democrats are not embroiled in the health care reform debate to “self-perpetuate” their services, but to do a job for the American people – a job that, in this case, the American people have begged Democrats to abandon over the course of nearly a year.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi also likened peddling health care reform to Americans to selling pies at a bake sale—“When we have a bill, you can bake the pie, you can sell the pie. But we have to have a pie to sell.” Despite Speaker Pelosi’s assertions otherwise, the public has made it clear that they are capable of comprehending the complexities of the health care reform debate without the Speaker of the House likening one of our country’s most pressing domestic issues to a bake sale. They are also capable of determining whether or not they want to buy the pie, regardless of how Congress and the administration decide to package it.
But despite the bill’s chronic unpopularity and the public’s increasing frustration, Democrats have continued to blindly push ahead with their plans. They refuse to give up the President’s number one priority on his domestic agenda, and are reluctant to do the right thing and start anew.
The Democratic Party has shown an unwillingness to compromise and openly accept any of the Republicans suggestions for real health care reform. Our elected officials are supposed to speak with the voice of their constituents. What good is your voice, if the Democrats ultimately decide to ignore your opinion and stubbornly force legislation they think is best for you and your family?
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Friday, February 26, 2010
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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Monday, February 22, 2010
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The White House kicked off the week by unveiling Obama’s 11-page revision of the healthcare reform plan on its Web site at 10 a.m. this morning. Fondly referred to by Democrats as “The President’s Proposal”, the newly outlined plan builds on the existing Senate offering—and by build, I mean tack on about $200 billion dollars to a healthcare reform plan that is already budgeted for $871 billion.
“The President’s Proposal” has been released in preparation for the health care summit scheduled to take place on Thursday between the President and lawmakers at Blair House. In response to overwhelming criticism over his decision to employ backroom meetings and late night votes as a means of getting government-run health care around the American people, the Obama Administration will finally be taking part in a televised session on the President’s top domestic issue.
While the President has stated that he has all intentions of attending the Thursday meeting with an open mind and welcomes input from Republicans on the current and failing health care proposals, he has refused to scrap the existing Senate and House bills that the American public to openly abhors, and start fresh. It should be noted that this action is in direct contradiction of the fact that the President has stated that he both expects and believes that the American public should have an up or down vote on health care reform. But instead of putting his rhetoric into action, the President has chosen to begin anew by using the two existing plans which have been ill-received by the American public. However that too seems to be failing him post-election 2008 and many lawmakers and strategists suggest that Thursday’s meeting is nothing but political theater, an attempt to salvage credibility and establish that the President is not only capable of “talking the talk” but “walking the walk.”
Not surprisingly, Republicans are rightly skeptical about the President’s willingness to accept input from the opposite side of the aisle just as members of his own Party are starting to lose faith in him. At the National Governor’s Association last week, Governor Rendell stated that the Democrats (and, more specifically, the White House) have lost the communication war with the public due to disorganization and ineffectiveness. U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has also stated that the image the President has established is unbelievable.
Unbelievable is a great way to sum up the current health care reform proposals in a nutshell. It’s a $200 billion dollar increase proposed by the President himself that is an exercise in blatant fiscally irresponsibility. The bill provides for a Health Insurance Rate Authority Board that would make the health care system too reliant on government. And the Democrats’ current plan to potentially tack this health care bill onto the federal budget would mean that they would only need 51 votes instead of the filibuster-proof 60 to get it passed and avoid a Republican filibuster and bypass public discontent.
The only believable thing about the current state of healthcare reform and the President’s supposed “bipartisan” approach to it is that its deepening the partisan divide in Washington and Americans’ distaste for it.
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Friday, February 19, 2010
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Senator Even Bayh, a Senior Democratic U.S. Senator from Indiana, sent shockwaves around the nation when he announced his retirement this week. After a full year of failed efforts and wasteful legislation aimed at increasing the size of the government, it seems that Senator Bayh finally came to the realization that the Demcorat's rigid anti-business agenda was killing our economy. He stated, "If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months."
This is the lastest sign that even Democrats are admitting that the agenda being touted by President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has failed our country.
Your Republican Pennsylvania congressional delegation in Washington D.C. could not agree more. They have been unanimous in their opposition to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s big government tax-and-spend agenda. Below you can read what are Republican Congressional Delegation is saying in this week’s Congressional Corner:
Congressman Pitts comments on Republican solutions in the face of the failed stimulus:
“The President is now advocating many of the proposals I urged then (a year ago), or similar ones. Millions of jobs have been lost in the meantime. I am less interested in saying “I told you so” than in pointing out that Republicans like me offered real and substantive solutions early on. These ideas were mostly ignored by the President and actively opposed by Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats.”
Congressman Dent comments on the Democrats attempts to mask their spending via pay-go rules:
“I fear that, coinciding with the record increase in the debt limit, pay-go will simply be a gimmick used to justify higher spending and higher taxes. I am concerned that we are being prepared for tax hikes that will crush any chance we now have for a sustainable recovery.”
Congressman Gerlach comments on the ballooning deficits resulting from the Democrats excessive spending:
“Congress cannot keep burying taxpayers and future generations under a growing mountain of debt. Speaker Pelosi’s borrowing addiction is putting Congress in the history books for all the wrong reasons. Our annual budget deficits are at the highest levels since World War II. And today, Congress approved the largest, one-time increase in the national debt.”
Congressman Murphy comments on President Obama's imposition of job killing taxes on the energy sector.
“The record-setting $3.8 trillion budget will discourage the development of America’s natural resources and hinder job creation by imposing more than $36 billion in taxes on oil and gas exploration, and more than $2 billion for the use of coal. Taxing our own energy resources is a job killer.“
Congressman Platts comments on the Democrats disdain for the private sector, the foundation of economic growth.
“Unfortunately, the approach in Washington has focused more on growing the size of the federal government than on assisting the private sector, especially small businesses which were the backbone of job creation and economic growth in the last decade.”
Congressman Shuster comments on the hypocracy of the Democrats calls for fiscal responsibility while increaseing the debt limit by historical proportions.
“You don’t increase the limit on a compulsive shopper’s credit card to teach fiscal responsibility. Why should we expect anything different from government? It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; if you enable government to spend more, it will spend more.”
Congressman Thompson comments on job killing policies of President Obama's Department of Labor while questioning Labor Secretary Solis.
“This is about American jobs. Contract decisions for the federal government should not be based on politics. True competition will provide the lowest cost, union or not. In this economic crisis, we need to maximize the job creation in this country.”
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Thursday, February 18, 2010
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Congressman Bill Shuster released a statement on the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the stimulus:
“It’s been a year since the Democrats in Congress passed President Obama’s stimulus into law and we continue to see double digit unemployment, housing foreclosures and a sluggish economy.
“The president and congressional Democrats squandered an opportunity for a targeted stimulus program that should have been focused around a mixture of tax cuts and infrastructure investments. What the American people got instead was a near trillion-dollar grab-bag of big government social spending and pet projects from the political left.
“Taxpayers at home and across the nation are tired of the excuses coming from Washington and the massive debt that has been laid at their feet by the stimulus. Unspent stimulus funds should be returned to the Treasury to pay down the debt.”
The Plum Line comments on Karl Rove’s statements regarding economic recovery and the stimulus.
With the spin war over the Recovery Act in full swing today, a Democrat points out that Karl Rove seemed to debut a new talking point today: Yes, the economy is recovering, but this is in spite of the Recovery Act, not because of it.
Rove’s assertion is interesting, because it may foreshadow an argument we may hear more often from stimulus critics, should more good economic news start rolling in:
“This in many ways is a false debate,” Rove said. “The economy is stabilized compared to where it was a year ago, but is it because the government has spent $200 billion in the stimulus program? I don’t think so.”
“If you take a look worldwide, the Federal Reserve and the central banks have injected $30 trillion into the world economy,” Rove continued, before acknowledging: “Again, the economy is going to recover, no ifs, ands, or buts.”
Politico reports on a banner year for GOP recruitment.
Former GOP Congressman Tom Davis, who heads the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership, praised the party’s recruiting classes in the House and Senate as the best in modern political history and predicted sizable Republican gains this year in both bodies.
Davis, a noted political junkie and former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, met with political reporters Wednesday morning to give his view of the 2010 political landscape. Since retiring from the House in 2008, he’s emerged as a frank voice willing to criticize elements of his own party.
“Republicans have had the best recruiting year in history, as near as I can tell, although you might argue 1946 for unique reasons. … It’s hard to think of a better recruiting year than the one we’re in,” Davis said. “This [election] is, pure and simple, a referendum on the Democrats at this point.”
Analyzing the election returns from Republican victories in the off-year gubernatorial contests and the GOP upset in last month’s Massachusetts Senate special election, Davis argued that Republicans have been making significant gains among constituencies where they lost ground in 2008 — exurban voters, blue-collar whites and Southern and Mountain West voters.
The Washington Times reports on analysis predicting substantial GOP gains across the country.
Former Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, the architect of previous Republican campaign successes, says outer-suburban voters eager to place a check on President Obama and Democrats are swinging back to the GOP and will power a Republican resurgence in New England, while aiding GOP "tsunamis" in Virginia, Colorado and Iowa.
Mr. Davis, the current president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of the party's more moderate lawmakers, told reporters Wednesday that the GOP has had its best-ever year of recruiting candidates for congressional elections, which has helped put so many seats into play.
He said Democrats are having a tough time reaching a balance of keeping regular voters happy while also appeasing the liberal voters who surged to the polls in the 2008 election.
"Those are the problems Democrats have coming in. The surge voters right now, they're asleep. And the outer suburbs, the South, the mountain states, I think you can look for Republican tsunamis," Mr. Davis said. "You're going to have big years."
CNN reports on the CPAC convention in Washington this week.
(CNN) - Conservative activists from across the country are gathering in Washington for their annual conference to rally members and try to integrate the burgeoning Tea Party movement within the fold.
The three-day CPAC conference features both rising stars and political heavyweights in the Republican Party who will voice their views on the best way forward as discontent with the government grows and the midterm election cycle gets going.
Marco Rubio, a darling of the Tea Party and candidate for Florida's Republican Senate nomination, is expected to tell attendees Thursday that as a midterms near, voters are "looking for leaders that understand what is happening, will stand up to it and in its place offer a clear alternative."
The elections will not be just a choice between Republicans or Democrats or liberals or conservative, but "it will be a referendum on our nations [sic] very identity," he plans to say, according to excerpts released by his campaign.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released a statement regarding the one year anniversary of the passage of the stimulus package.
“As we remember the passage of the nearly one trillion dollar stimulus package, we are sadly reminded of the day when Senator Arlen Specter chose the needs of President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats over the needs of the American people,” Gleason said. “Just one year ago, Senator Specter joined the Democrats in passing a nearly one trillion dollar stimulus package that has not delivered on any of the promises that were made to the American people.
“Pennsylvanians were promised $6 billion dollars in emergency aid; we’ve received less than one-sixth of those funds. Pennsylvanians were told that the stimulus package would ‘save or create’ 143,000 jobs, but Recovery.gov lists just 12,258 jobs that can be directly attributed to the stimulus package as the national unemployment rate continues to hover around double digits. It is disingenuous for Democrats to continue telling the American people to keep waiting for a stimulus package that was sold to them as a form of emergency relief.”
“The fact of the matter is that the stimulus package was a chance for Senator Specter and Democrats to go on a spending binge under the false pretense of economic relief. By his own admission, because of Senator Arlen Specter, Americans will be spending the next few decades paying for a failed government experiment that provided zero relief to hardworking Americans struggling under the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
The USA Today reports on stimulus fund going to programs that President Obama has chosen to eliminate…
WASHINGTON — More than $3.5 billion in economic stimulus funds are going to programs that President Obama wants to eliminate or trim in his new budget.
The president's budget released this month recommends getting rid of Army Corps of Engineers' drinking-water projects, which got $200 million in stimulus funds, and a U.S. Department of Agriculture flood-prevention program, which received $290 million from the stimulus, a USA TODAY review of stimulus spending reports show.
The administration's budget plan says the corps and USDA programs are inefficient and duplicate similar, more effective work by other agencies. The proposed cuts indicate the programs shouldn't have gotten money from the $862 billion stimulus package, said Tom Schatz of the non-partisan budget watchdog Citizens Against Government Waste.
"It's certainly inconsistent, and it would have been better to have this realization a year ago," Schatz said. "But if inconsistency means they're going to cut the programs, it's OK. It's the other way around that bothers us."
Politico reports on the nationwide trend towards the support of Republican candidates.
The electoral map candidate Barack Obama remade in 2008 appears to be retreating into its familiar patterns.
Obama broke the decisive role Ohio and Florida seemed to play in presidential elections, by moving from trench warfare engagement in the two states to a broader battlefield on which Republicans were placed on the defensive in states they'd once taken for granted. And his victories in places where Democrats had fared poorly in recent elections — Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, the interior West —seemed to validate his strategists' claims that he had consigned the red state-blue state presidential dichotomy to the bookstore remainders bin.
But now some of the same unlikely states that Obama put in his party's column 15 months ago feature Senate, House and governor's races with Democratic candidates in grave danger of losing in what is quickly shaping up to be a toxic election cycle
The Wall Street Journal reports on the prospect of a GOP majority in the US Senate.
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers in both parties are contemplating for the first time the possibility that the Republicans might recapture the Senate this year, though it's an uphill climb in which the GOP would have to win states that have recently been inhospitable to the party.
Republicans' prospects are surging, driven by an electorate deeply dissatisfied with Washington, the economy and incumbents. And the surprise retirement announcement from Sen. Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) Monday on the heels of a host of other bad news for Democrats is prompting party leaders to take a fresh look at the Senate landscape.
Because Democrats hold a 59-41 voting majority in the Senate, Republicans would have to gain 10 new seats and retain all of their own to gain control.
In swing states such as Arkansas and Nevada, Democratic incumbents are facing fierce headwinds. Democratic retirements have handed the GOP unexpected opportunities in places like North Dakota and now Indiana. In Democratic strongholds such as Illinois and Delaware, Republicans are running strong campaigns.
The AP reports on the contrast between the price tag of President Obama’s health care package and the Republicans health care reform proposal.
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans see a chance for political gain in President Barack Obama's televised health care summit next week, even though the president will be running the show.
Obama and the Democrats are certain to highlight a crucial element of their health care plan — extending coverage to more than 30 million Americans — at the one-of-a-kind event. By comparison, a Republican plan would only help 3 million more. But during a time of ballooning deficits, the GOP figures reining in rising medical costs — not coverage — could resonate with voters in an election year.
The Democratic health overhaul plan is estimated at some $1 trillion over 10 years, and Republicans will contrast their financial approach with that of the Democrats. So even on Obama's turf, the GOP thinks it can score a few political points.
"I think what we have to do is keep it on the policy and really continue to describe that we have listened to the American people, and anyone listening to the American people would say scrap this bill and begin again, and let's begin again by focusing on lowering costs," Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, who will be attending the summit as the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said Tuesday.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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The DelCo Times reports on the latest polls showing Pat Toomey ahead of Specter and Sestak.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey continued to lead Democrats in a new poll this week from Rasmussen Reports.
According to a survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted Feb. 8, 47 percent would vote for Toomey over incumbent U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who trailed by nearly 10 points with 38 percent.
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Toomey likewise led U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, 43 percent to 35 percent.
Thirty-eight percent found Specter “very unfavorable,” compared to 13 percent for Sestak and 10 percent for Toomey, and only five percent said they didn’t know enough about Specter to give an opinion. Twenty-five percent said the same of Sestak and 16 percent said they didn’t know Toomey well enough.
Real Clear Politics comments on the possibility of the end of a Democratic majority in the Senate after 2010.
Bayh's announcement obviously has a signifcant impact on the larger Senate landscape as well. Republicans already have an edge in all of their vulnerable Senate seats this November. Six Democratic Senate seats already lean toward the Republicans - and Blanche Lincoln's and Harry Reid's positions have probably deteriorated further since we looked at them in late January. Picking up these six seats plus Bayh's would put the Republicans at 48 seats, needing only two more seats to split power with the Democrats starting in 2011.
At the same time, Democratic prospects for holding President Obama's former Senate seat in Illinois have deteriorated somewhat. Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias limped out of the Democratic primary with 36% of the vote. He begins the general election trailing Republican Mark Kirk by six points in a Rasmussen Reports survey taken after the February 2nd primary, and unable to get above 42% of the vote in any recent trial heat (not a good sign for a statewide officeholder). While I wouldn't put this in the "Leans Republican" category by any stretch, right now the edge has moved slightly to Kirk.
That leaves Republicans needing to pick up one more seat. The most likely targets are New York (Gillibrand), California (Boxer), Wisconsin (Feingold) and Washington State (Murray). In California, Boxer continues to struggle against her opponents. The most recent polling shows her with leads of between four and eight points against her various opponents. Boxer still has an edge, especially given the demographics of the state, but any three term Senator with an upside-down approval rating and a 48% cap in head-to-head polling is in trouble.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review comments on the retirement of Senator Bayh and how that reflects on the Democrats in Washington.
Evan Bayh's decision not to seek re-election to a seat Democrats considered somewhat "safe" in the Senate is a clear indication that something is wrong with the Democratic Party, some experts said Monday.
Bayh, 54, a former Indiana governor in his second six-year term as a senator, said he decided not to run because he is disillusioned by partisanship in Congress, which "is not operating as it should." He cited narrow ideology and not enough practical problem-solving.
His decision means Democrats must scramble to find a candidate who can help them retain control of the Senate. Bayh is the third Democratic senator to announce he will not seek re-election this year, following Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.
"This is a warning sign on so many levels, when people like Evan Bayh walk way rather than serve their country," said Steve McMahon, a former senior Senate staffer for the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. "The moderate Democrat is a vanishing breed," said McMahon, a Democratic strategist on Capitol Hill. "It is the moderates that make the difference between being in the majority and being in the minority, a problem for the Democrats."
Politico comments on Senator Bayh’s retirement and how that impacts the Senate races in 2010.
Sen. Evan Bayh's stunning decision Monday to pass on a reelection campaign in Indiana is the latest blow to a Senate Democratic majority that is suddenly within striking distance for the GOP.
While the retirements of Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) had a clear political logic to them—both involved vulnerable incumbents badly trailing their prospective opponents, according to publicly released polling—Bayh’s calculus was less obvious since he had a comfortable double-digit cushion and a nearly $13 million head start.
Either way, the two-term senator’s departure now places 10 Democratic-held Senate seats at risk—if all are swept under by a November GOP wave, Republicans are back in control of the Senate.
The Washington Times reports on President Obama’s plans to campaign for his former colleagues in the US Senate and how local GOP reps actually look forward to his visit.
President Obama kicks off what might be called his "Save the Senate" tour this week, heading west to campaign for two embattled Democrats trailing badly against Republican challengers - including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
With high-profile Democrats already bailing out of re-election campaigns - Sen. Evan Bayh's decision on Monday to drop out of the race in Indiana brings the number of retirees to five - Mr. Obama is putting his popularity and fundraising prowess on the line as he tries to help his party hold the majority in the Senate.
Local Republicans are salivating at the prospect of Mr. Obama dropping into town to campaign for their opponents.
"The hardworking families in Nevada see right through any type of political dog-and-pony shows taking place this week in Las Vegas," said former state Sen. Sue Lowden, a Republican running for Mr. Reid's seat. "No amount of campaign cash will buy back the trust of voters and convince them that he deserves another six years."
Even Democratic strategists say a visit by the president - whose poll numbers have plummeted since taking office - carries risks for his fellow Democrats.
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Monday, February 15, 2010
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1) PA GOP Endorses Candidates For Governor, Lieutenant Governor And United States Senate
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania met in Harrisburg on Saturday at their annual Winter Meeting and voted to endorse Pat Toomey for United States Senate, Tom Corbett for Pennsylvania Governor and Jim Cawley for Lieutenant Governor.
“At such a critical juncture in the history of our Commonwealth and our country, it’s important that our Party puts forth highly qualified candidates who will promote and implement the Republican principles of limited government and personal responsibility within our government,” Gleason said. “We are excited to have found these highly qualified candidates in United States Senate candidate Pat Toomey, gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett and lieutenant governor candidate Jim Cawley.”
…“With a strong and energized grassroots network, we are excited to get to work electing Tom Corbett for Governor, Jim Cawley for Lieutenant Governor, and Pat Toomey for the United States Senate.”
The Morning Call reports on the endorsement of Pat Toomey, Tom Corbett and Jim Cawley by the PA GOP.
--Attorney General Tom Corbett and former Lehigh Valley Congressman Pat Toomey grabbed the Republican endorsements for governor and U.S. Senate on Saturday, in an expected, yet telling, show of unity among the state GOP ranks.
Both men had come into the weekend as the odds-on favorites to secure the prized endorsements. Despite that, they will both face spring primaries. Corbett, who is running for governor, will face state Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, and Toomey, who is running for the Senate, will go against Johnstown activist Peg Luksik.
In his acceptance speech, Corbett, who has made headlines with his prosecution of the Bonusgate public corruption case, called for a change in the way Harrisburg does business.
''As long as Harrisburg keeps asking what's in it for me, Pennsylvania is doomed,'' he said. ''Harrisburg needs leadership that will ask what's in it for Pennsylvania, what's in it for our children, what's in it for taxpayers of Pennsylvania.''
The Morning Call reports on PA GOP’s newly endorsed candidates drive to restore fiscal discipline to government.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett vowed Friday that when he takes office he will send state lawmakers ''a bold but necessary'' plan to reform state government.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey promised to restore fiscally conservative principles to Washington.
The occasion was the opening night of the Republican State Committee's winter endorsement meeting.
Corbett said his reform plan ''will clearly signal to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania that we mean business.''
He didn't offer many specifics, but did say he wants to eliminate the state legislative grants popularly known as WAMs, or ''walking around money,'' that are often offered in exchange for votes on key issues.
Real Clear Politics publishes a piece on Pennsylvania’s 2010 Congressional races.
…Republican campaign committees plan on targeting Pennsylvania's 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th districts, while Democrats see opportunity in the 6th and 15th districts.
Having more than 25 percent of the congressional districts (the 7th, 12th, 11th, 6th and 15th) highly competitive (rated "toss-ups" or "leaning" by CQPolitics) and 20 percent (the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 10th) seriously contested (rated "likely" by CQPolitics) means Pennsylvania is likely to see more action than any other state.
When you look at the partisan split of these nine seats, seven are held by Democrats and only two by Republicans - meaning that the GOP will view this as the key state for picking up seats, which could help them get to the 40 needed to take the majority in November.
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review comments on President Obama’s second stimulus package.
The only real jobs that a government stimulus stimulates are government jobs. A year after President Obama signed his first almost trillion-dollar economic-stimulus package into law, the federal work force is at an all-time high. The nation's unemployment rate has swelled to 9.7 percent, but Washington's economy is thriving.
USA Today reports that 14 federal agencies have hired 3,000 workers to oversee stimulus spending and have spent nearly $190 million so far on salaries and overhead.
Just one-third of the stimulus money has been spent so far, but the White House is now hectoring the Senate to ram through yet another phony jobs boondoggle in the name of bipartisanship. As GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas reminded Americans during the Republicans' weekly radio address, Obama and the Democrats promised a year ago that the jobless rate would remain below 8 percent with their stimulus legislation. "Americans are still asking, 'Where are the jobs? Where are the jobs?' But all they are getting from Washington is more spending, more taxes, more debt and more bailouts."
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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PA GOP News Brief 2.10.2010
Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason was not surprised to learn that Congressman Paul Kanjorski could only find four donors for his re-election efforts living within the 11th Congressional District.
“It’s certainly a telling sign that the people that know Congressman Paul Kanjorski best are not willing to donate to his re-election efforts,” Gleason said. “Over the past few years, Congressman Kanjorski’s constituents have been forced to watch him waste their hard-earned taxpayer dollars, even referring to their hard-earned income as ‘free money.’
“The Congressman’s own campaign cited that the 11th Congressional District has a ‘lower income threshold than a lot of other areas,’ using that as an excuse for not raising more funds from inside his own district.
“Congressman Kanjorski may take donations from Washington special interests, but at the end of the day he’s going to be held accountable for his actions by his constituents living in the 11th Congressional District this November.”
Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released a statement regarding Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement of State Representative and Congressional candidate Bryan Lentz. Pelosi referred to Lentz as a ‘great candidate’ during a recent Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee event.
“It’s not surprising that Bryan Lentz has become the favorite candidate of big government Washington Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Gleason said. “Speaker Pelosi’s endorsement of Bryan Lentz, including her decision to provide financial support to his campaign, serves as further proof that Bryan Lentz will work for Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C. instead of the hardworking Pennsylvanians living in the 7th Congressional District.
“The truth of the matter is that, just like Speaker Pelosi, Bryan Lentz has a proven track record of supporting the type of fiscally irresponsible policies that raise taxes, kill jobs and place an undue financial burden on the thousands of families in the 7th Congressional District who are struggling to make ends’ meet.
“We look forward to working hard to hold both Bryan Lentz and his Democrat friends in Washington accountable for their tax-and-spend voting records.”
Newt Gingrich and John Goodman comment in the Wall Street Journal about practical solutions for health care reform.
'If you have a better idea, show it to me." That was President Barack Obama's challenge two weeks ago to House Republicans regarding health-care reform. He has since called for a bipartisan forum, not to start over on health reform but to "move forward" on the "best ideas that are out there."
The best ideas out there are not those that were passed by the House and Senate last year, which consist of more spending, more regulations and more bureaucracy. If the president is serious about building a system that delivers more quality choices at lower cost for every American, here's where he should start:
• Make insurance affordable.
• Make health insurance portable.
• Meet the needs of the chronically ill.
Cont…
The Washington Post comments on Rep. Paul Ryan’s plans for fiscal discipline.
The new era of Democratic bipartisanship, like cut flowers in a vase, wilted in less than a week.
During his question time at the House Republican retreat, President Obama elevated congressman and budget expert Paul Ryan as a "sincere guy" whose budget blueprint -- which, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), eventually achieves a balanced budget -- has "some ideas in there that I would agree with." Days later, Democratic legislators held a conference call to lambaste Ryan's plan as a vicious, voucherizing, privatizing assault on Social Security, Medicare and every non-millionaire American. Progressive advocacy groups and liberal bloggers joined the jeering in practiced harmony.
Reuters reports on the new filibuster breaking vote in the US Senate and how it blocked Obama’s liberal labor appointment.
Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate fell far short of the needed 60 votes, 52-33, to end debate and clear the way for a confirmation vote on Craig Becker, who the president wants to put on the National Labor Relations Board.
Republicans prevailed with the help of two Democratic senators from conservative states, Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln. Nelson, like a number of Republicans, voiced fear that the union attorney would take a "personal agenda" to the NLRB.
While Democrats still hold the Senate majority, 59-41, Republicans have a stranglehold on the chamber -- thanks to Scott Brown's win in a special Senate election in Massachusetts last month.
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