Dems Ignore Nov. Message, Rally Lobbyists To Defend Their Massive Spending Against GOP Cuts
Yesterday, the Senate voted 55-42 to kill an amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that would have restricted funding for projects subject to the Davis-Bacon Act. The Senate also voted 96-1 to make it a federal offense to point laser pointers at aircraft. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he wants to the FAA Reauthorization bill, S. 223, the week of Feb. 14th.
Over the course of this week, Democrats in have made it quite clear that they still have not heard the message Americans sent Washington in November to reduce spending, debt, and the size of government. In contrast to Republicans, who have been working to find ways to reduce spending, lower the deficit, and repeal the bloated, unpopular health care takeover, Democrats have instead looked for every way to dig in to protect the massive spending increases they instituted over the last two years.
ABC News reports today, “As Congress prepares to make deep spending cuts, an army of lobbyists is gearing up to fight back. In an e-mail obtained by ABC News, a top staffer for the key Senate Appropriations subcommittee called for a meeting of lobbyists and interest groups that would be affected by expected cuts to the Labor and Heath and Human Services budget. The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by approximately 400 people, sources told ABC, and served as a ‘call to arms’ for those determined to fight Republican budget cuts.
“‘One thing everyone should be able to agree on now is that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a higher [Labor, Health & Human Services] allocation improves the chances for every stakeholder group to receive more funding,’ the committee staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wrote in an e-mail inviting people to the meeting. The meeting is in contrast to the rampant calls all over Capitol Hill to cut federal spending.”
According to ABC, “Another source familiar with the meeting said Democrats used the meeting as ‘an attack on House Republicans.’ ‘They said these evil House Republicans are here and they're going to kill all these programs that support little kids, senior citizens, and health care,’ the source said. ‘They're trying to instill the fear of God that Republicans are basically going to blow up all these programs, kill these programs, defund them.’”
In other words, before Republicans even presented any proposal to cut spending, Democrats have already called on their lobbyist friends to coordinate protecting their piece of the special interest spending pie.
Democrats have also launched a messaging war against spending cuts. According to a Politico report yesterday, “The plan, conceived in meetings between top White House officials and key senators, is already on display with Senate Democrats playing the role of attack dog, going after House Republicans for what they call draconian policies that would kill jobs, add to the budget deficit, lead to privatization of Social Security and Medicare and shut down the government.” And The New York Times added, “Through statements, news conferences and summoning expert testimony, Democrats are raising red flags about the threat to the economic recovery posed by the possibility of even a temporary interruption in government services or a federal default.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) didn’t have a lot of patience for Democrats’ posturing and told the NYT, “If they spent as much time on the policy of getting together and solving the problems as they do on the politics, I think we would all be much better off.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on Laura Ingraham’s radio show today to discuss the Democrats’ attempts to rally lobbyists to fend off Republican spending cuts. McConnell told her, “Sure, there are interest groups all across America who are represented here in this town, which they have a constitutional right to do, of course, who are here to defend this outrageous level of spending and that’s what we’re up against here. But I would remind everybody, you’ve got a lot more listeners than the democrats have lobbyists, and the American people are expecting us to do this. We are going to give it our best shot.”
But, Leader McConnell emphasized, “The American people here are lobbying for us to reduce spending and the various interest groups who are vested in this high spending level that we’ve engaged in the last couple of years are certainly going to be heard from. They’ll make their best arguments. And I think the important thing is for us to resist all of these special interest groups who don’t want us to reduce spending.”
Tags: Washington, D.C., US House, US Senate, Dems, Lobbyists, Massive Spending, GOP Cuts To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Over the course of this week, Democrats in have made it quite clear that they still have not heard the message Americans sent Washington in November to reduce spending, debt, and the size of government. In contrast to Republicans, who have been working to find ways to reduce spending, lower the deficit, and repeal the bloated, unpopular health care takeover, Democrats have instead looked for every way to dig in to protect the massive spending increases they instituted over the last two years.
ABC News reports today, “As Congress prepares to make deep spending cuts, an army of lobbyists is gearing up to fight back. In an e-mail obtained by ABC News, a top staffer for the key Senate Appropriations subcommittee called for a meeting of lobbyists and interest groups that would be affected by expected cuts to the Labor and Heath and Human Services budget. The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by approximately 400 people, sources told ABC, and served as a ‘call to arms’ for those determined to fight Republican budget cuts.
“‘One thing everyone should be able to agree on now is that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a higher [Labor, Health & Human Services] allocation improves the chances for every stakeholder group to receive more funding,’ the committee staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wrote in an e-mail inviting people to the meeting. The meeting is in contrast to the rampant calls all over Capitol Hill to cut federal spending.”
According to ABC, “Another source familiar with the meeting said Democrats used the meeting as ‘an attack on House Republicans.’ ‘They said these evil House Republicans are here and they're going to kill all these programs that support little kids, senior citizens, and health care,’ the source said. ‘They're trying to instill the fear of God that Republicans are basically going to blow up all these programs, kill these programs, defund them.’”
In other words, before Republicans even presented any proposal to cut spending, Democrats have already called on their lobbyist friends to coordinate protecting their piece of the special interest spending pie.
Democrats have also launched a messaging war against spending cuts. According to a Politico report yesterday, “The plan, conceived in meetings between top White House officials and key senators, is already on display with Senate Democrats playing the role of attack dog, going after House Republicans for what they call draconian policies that would kill jobs, add to the budget deficit, lead to privatization of Social Security and Medicare and shut down the government.” And The New York Times added, “Through statements, news conferences and summoning expert testimony, Democrats are raising red flags about the threat to the economic recovery posed by the possibility of even a temporary interruption in government services or a federal default.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) didn’t have a lot of patience for Democrats’ posturing and told the NYT, “If they spent as much time on the policy of getting together and solving the problems as they do on the politics, I think we would all be much better off.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on Laura Ingraham’s radio show today to discuss the Democrats’ attempts to rally lobbyists to fend off Republican spending cuts. McConnell told her, “Sure, there are interest groups all across America who are represented here in this town, which they have a constitutional right to do, of course, who are here to defend this outrageous level of spending and that’s what we’re up against here. But I would remind everybody, you’ve got a lot more listeners than the democrats have lobbyists, and the American people are expecting us to do this. We are going to give it our best shot.”
But, Leader McConnell emphasized, “The American people here are lobbying for us to reduce spending and the various interest groups who are vested in this high spending level that we’ve engaged in the last couple of years are certainly going to be heard from. They’ll make their best arguments. And I think the important thing is for us to resist all of these special interest groups who don’t want us to reduce spending.”
Tags: Washington, D.C., US House, US Senate, Dems, Lobbyists, Massive Spending, GOP Cuts To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 4:28 PM - Post Link
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