Dems Reveal Priority: Tax Hikes; Obama Continues To Propose Tax Increases & More Wars?

Obama Brings Left and Right Together!

Both Join To Sue Obama Over Libya!

Update 5;15 PM CDT: Late today, the United States House of Representatives passed the Patient Reform Bill (304-117) H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act. This bill differs from the Senate version of patent reform, S. 23, so reconciliation between the House and Senate is required.. There are important differences between the two bills, primarily is the handling of funding for the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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Today in Washington, D.C. - June 24, 2011:
The House today rejected a measure to cut funding for offensive operations by U.S. forces in Libya, pulling back from an effort to confront President Obama over the three month-old conflict. The resolution failed by a vote of 180 to 238.  The Washington Post reports that this resolution "would not have ended the U.S. mission in Libya, but it would have cut off funding for American forces that are not engaged in support missions within the NATO-led coalition, like aerial refueling, reconnaissance, and planning. That would have meant an end to strikes on Libyan targets by unmanned U.S. drones."

However, the House also on an earlier vote rejected (123-295) a resolution that would have authorized the military operation in Libya. The Washington Post also revealed that "dozens of Democrats joining Republicans in voting against the resolution. The proposal, modeled on one proposed in the Senate by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and John F. Kerry (D-MA), would have given permission for a “limited” operation for one year. It would not have allowed for U.S. ground troops in Libya."

So a mixed message as far as funding for operations in Libya. The House rejected the resolution to authorize operations but also rejected a resolution to cut funding for offensive operations. The confusion has been created by President Obama not complying with The Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act. Obama has said that law does not apply since U.S. forces are involved mainly in support roles, and face little danger from Gaddafi’s forces. For those reasons, Obama has declared, what’s happening in Libya should not count as “hostilities” for the purpose of that law. I guess he believes dropping bombs on Libya is not an Act of War.

From the left side of the House, even Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), has declared, “What? We don’t have enough wars going on? We need one more war?" He wants to strip all funding for the entire operation in Libya.

From the right side of the House, Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR), said, that "While I understand the concerns about whether a “no” vote would encourage Gaddafi, those are not legal arguments. Those don’t change the question of whether the action in Libya is constitutional or legal.” Griffin who is a Major and a JAG officer in the US Army Reserves and a former U.S. Attorney, said, "President Obama should have sought authorization. What’s so hard about coming to the House and consulting with the Congress. What’s so hard about that?”

Today, the Senate is not in session. It will reconvene on Monday and on Tuesday, take up and vote on the nominations of James Cole to be Deputy Attorney General, Virginia Seitz to be Assistant Attorney General, and Lisa Monaco to be Assistant Attorney General.

Yesterday, the Senate rejected two amendments to S. 679, the nominations reform bill. First, every Democrat senator save two voted down an amendment from Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) prohibiting funds for presidential czars. Later in the day, the Senate voted 41-57 against an amendment from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) which would have removed the director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics from the list of positions being affected by the bill.

As reported yesterday, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) pulled out the "alleged" bipartisan negotiations to raise the nation's debt limit. The effort was led by Vice President Joe Biden. As detailed previously, the Democrats are advocating 1) more spending and 2) higher taxes verses cutting spending and eliminating government programs.

The Democrats have revealed that their overriding priority is tax hikes, as opposed to the necessary spending cuts to begin to put our fiscal house in order. According to liberal news outlet Talking Points Memo, “[Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max] Baucus [D-MT] made clear that the talks frayed over Democrats' insistence that tax increases of some sort be part of the final deal.” Politico noted Vice President Joe Biden saying earlier, “If we could agree on the pieces most important to us Democrats, revenue, we’re prepared to agree on some of the things that you (Republicans) want in discretionary spending.” Last week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said on PBS’ NewsHour that “it can't be done without revenue enhancement” and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said, “[M]ore importantly, there have to be revenues.” [He means MORE Taxes!]

Today, after both Leader McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner called on President Obama to finally show some leadership on the debt reduction talks, USA Today reports, “President Obama is getting directly involved in bipartisan talks about increasing the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, agreeing to meet next week with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet Monday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.”

In a statement, Leader McConnell explained that "The President needs to decide between his goal of massive tax hikes, and a bipartisan plan to address our deficit. But he can’t have both. What Republicans want is simple: We want to cut spending now, we want to cap runaway spending in the future and we want to save our entitlements and our country from bankruptcy. We want to finally get our economy growing again. Sadly, the Democrats’ response has been a mystifying call for more stimulus spending and huge tax hikes on American job creators..”

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