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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
U.S. Senate Budget Republican Recap 9/23/11
“When you’re in a crisis you must deal honestly with the American people. You must present the facts along with a credible solution. Americans are good, decent, hardworking people who will accept a difficult course of action on honest terms. But the White House is trying to be clever at the expense of being credible – Ranking Member Sessions, addressing the discovery that the President’s fiscal plan contains less than half of the promised deficit reduction and not one cent of the promised spending reduction
Compiled by Stephen Miller, Communications Director, US Senate Budget Committee: “Astounding” Inaccuracies In President’s Plan
[The Senate Budget Committee Republican staff analysis of the plan — which explains in detail how the phony cuts are achieved — can be read here.]
Ranking Member Sessions, addressed the ‘astounding’ inaccuracies before the Budget Committee earlier this week:
“[On Monday, President Obama] made his fourth attempt this year to offer a credible fiscal vision. But I was disappointed to see that the president again failed to present the honest budget plan America deserves and our economy needs.
“The White House says that the president’s plan achieves $3.2 trillion in deficit reduction. The actual deficit reduction is only $1.4 trillion—less than half of what the White House states. Of note: this is $1.4 trillion in deficit reduction, not spending reduction.
“This has become the pattern: the president understates the depth of our fiscal danger, then overstates the scope of his fiscal plans.
“Consider the astounding disparity between the levels of taxation claimed versus those actually contained in the proposal. The White House asserts $2 in cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. The true figure is nowhere close. President Obama’s plan is comprised of tax hikes alone. There is not a single penny of net spending that is cut. Yesterday, the president said: ‘I’m proposing real serious cuts in spending. When you include the $1 trillion in cuts that I’ve already signed into law, these would be among the biggest cuts in spending in our history.’
“In reality, under the president’s plan, the net change in spending is an increase. In fact, the president’s plan is to keep spending more…”
What Did Sebelius Know About Health Program’s Unsustainable Cost?
On Thursday, a bicameral group of lawmakers sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, about the CLASS Act, a long-term care program created as part of the president’s healthcare bill. The letter calls on Sebelius
to answer questions about when she first became aware of internal HHS concerns over the program’s fiscal unsustainability that were not made public or shared with Congress when the program was being pushed by the administration.
Upon release of the CLASS working group letter, Ranking Member Sessions issued the following statement:
“Recently obtained emails show that throughout the healthcare debate there was substantial concern expressed by HHS and CMS officials over the CLASS program’s unsustainability. This raises a very serious question as to whether a deliberate effort was made by administration officials to conceal CLASS’ true cost in order to advance the president’s agenda. Accountability goes to the top. Lawmakers and the American people deserve to know when internal concerns over CLASS were first communicated to Secretary Sebelius and what, if any, actions she took to address them. Out of control government spending is threatening our nation’s future, making a prompt and thorough explanation all the more imperative. Accountability requires that top government officials be open, candid, and honest in their representations about these important issues. Serious questions have arisen that reflect poorly on our leaders.”
Senate Democrats Skip Budget, Appropriations, And Offsets
Today, Majority Leader Reid succeeded in tabling the House-passed short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government running past September 30th, the end of the fiscal year. Rather than allow the Senate to begin immediate consideration of his alternative CR, Majority Leader Reid has opted to delay consideration of his measure until Monday. Reid’s alternative strips offsets for more than $1 billion of disaster relief funding. Senate Democrats oppose efforts to pay for the spending, including the House GOP’s $100 million rescission to the scandalized Solyndra account [Section 1705 to the Energy Policy Act of 2005].
Ranking Member Sessions on Friday released a statement to put things in a wider perspective: “The current debate over yet another stopgap funding measure should be understood in one fundamental context: Senate Democrats have shunned their basic governing responsibility. They failed to follow regular order, produce appropriations bills, or pass a budget in 875 days.”
By The Numbers: Phony Cuts And Bogus Savings In President’s New Fiscal Plan
“I’m proposing real, serious cuts in spending… All told, this plan cuts $2 in spending for every dollar in new revenues.” – President Obama, announcing his latest fiscal vision
$1.4 trillion ................................. Actual deficit reduction through 10 years under the president’s plan, less than half the amount promised
Zero ........................................... Percent of deficit reduction that comes from spending cuts
$1.6 trillion ................................. Net tax increase over 10 years
$146 billion ................................. Spending increase over 10 years above current law levels
$9.7 trillion ................................. Additional gross debt that would accumulate over 10 years
$1.3 trillion ................................. Projected deficit in 2012, a $300 billion increase over OMB’s last projection
$293 billion ................................. Medicare “Doc Fix” cost that is assumed but not paid for
$565 billion ................................. Projected deficit in 2021
24 .............................................. Federal spending as a percent of GDP in 2021, a stunning 18 percent increase in the size of government relative to the historical average>
$47 trillion .................................. Total projected federal spending over 10 years
9.1 ............................................. Percent of workforce currently unemployed
24.9 ........................................... Millions of Americans unemployed and underemployed
25 .............................................. Months during Obama presidency that the unemployment rate has been above 9 percent
A Culture Of Federal Waste In A Time of Fiscal Crisis
This week, a Justice Department auditor found that the department spent $121 million over 2 years for event planning services—including muffins catered at a cost of more than $16 each—at law enforcement conferences across the country. As the Post noted, “Justice officials did not dispute most of the findings.” Among the auditor’s other findings:
Nearly $3,000 spent for 300 cookies and brownies
A $76-per-person lunch at a conference at in San Francisco
$8.24 spent for each cup of coffee
EPA Abuse - Trampling on Property Owners Rights - Case Going To The Supreme Court
Mike and Chantell Sackett
The following situation has to be of concern to all landowners. Especially, if you own property near lakes, rivers, stream or the Oceans.
YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
EPA to property owner: 'Your land is our land'
$40 million in fines pending over plan to build new home
By Bob Unruh, World Net Daily: Just imagine. You want to build a home, so you buy a $23,000 piece of land in a residential subdivision in your hometown and get started. The government then tells you to stop, threatens you with $40 million in fines and is not kidding.
That's the case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with briefs being filed today by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Priest Lake, Idaho, family, Chantell and Mike Sackett.
Attorney Damien Schiff, who will be arguing before the high court in the case, said it's simply a case of a government run amok, and it poses a potential threat to perhaps not every landowner across the nation, but untold millions.
The Sacketts, Schiff said, "bought property, and the government in effect has ordered them to treat the property like a public park."
"The EPA has not paid them a dime for that privilege," he said. "The regime we have operating now allows the EPA to take property without having to pay for it, or giving the owners the right to their day in court.""
Mike and Chantell Sackett are being treated as criminals by EPA regulators who contend their vacant lot in northern Idaho is a "jurisdictional wetland," and the gravel fill they placed on the lot to prepare for construction of a new home is a violation of the Clean Water Act. There's no standing water on the property, or anything that resembles a wetland. Given no choice by the EPA or lower courts to directly appeal the wetland determination, the Sacketts, represented by PLF attorneys, are fighting back. This winter, their lawsuit will be heard in the United States Supreme Court. pacificlegal.org/Sackett
The case developed when the Sacketts bought a .63-acre parcel of land for $23,000 in a subdivision in their hometown of Priest Lake, Idaho. The land is 500 feet from a lake, had a city water and sewer tap assigned, had no running or standing water and was in the middle of other developed properties.
The couple obtained all of the needed permits for their project and started work. Suddenly, the Environmental Protection Agency showed up on the building site, demanded that the work stop and issued a "compliance order" that the couple remove the fill they had brought in, restore the land to its native condition, plant trees every 10 feet, fence it off and let it sit for three years.
Then they would, for costs estimated at roughly a quarter of a million dollars, be allowed to "request" permission from the government to build on their own land. Or else, warned the agency, there is the possibility of fines of $37,500 per day – with the total now surpassing $40 million.
Chantell reported she was told by the EPA that if "you're buying a piece of property you should know if it's in wetlands. I started to do research. I said, 'So how do I find this piece of property in the wetlands [registry]'? And she said, 'Here's the coordinates.' When I actually pulled up the coordinates, it's not there." No matter, said the government. Do what we want.
So the Sacketts went to court, only to be told the courts can't address a decision like this, as it's an administrative decision. The couple would have to meet the demands of the "compliance order" and pay the $250,000 to apply for a building permit, then challenge the eventual decision.
Or they could expose themselves to $37,500 per day in fines by refusing to cooperate. . . . Further, the "compliance order" also demands that the private property owners give the EPA full access not only to the lands but to their private records about what is done to the land.
"Given that the order is not based on probable cause, it withdraws the Sacketts' constitutional right to be free of unreasonable searches by requiring them to grant access to 'all records and documentation related to the conditions at the site and th restoration activities conducted pursuant to this order.'"
The EPA ordered the planting of specific trees and shrubs and then demanded that the land "be fenced for the first three growing seasons. Monitoring of vegetation on the restored site for survival and ground coverage shall be performed in October 2008, June 2009, October 2009, and October 2010," . . . .
The district court rejected their case, as did the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. . . .
Schiff told WND earlier that there is "no question that the power the EPA is claiming it has under the Clean Water Act is significant." "Even if you have a good basis to think the EPA is wrong, the EPA won't let you get into the courthouse," he said. "They are able to shut the courthouse door by issuing compliance orders that are not judicially reviewable."
That puts a landowner in the impossible situation of either complying with the order with its potential cost of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars or facing that same penalty in fines. And it's not just the Sacketts' land that could be subject to such orders. The foundation arguments suggest that private property across the nation could be at risk.
EPA officials have declined WND requests for comment. They referred WND to a Department of Justice office, which did not respond.
The legal team noted that between 1980 and 2001, the EPA issued up to 3,000 compliance orders every year across the nation.
"The reality of the Sacketts' situation is that they have been unambiguously commanded by their government not to complete their home-building project, to take expensive measures to undo the improvements that they have made to their land, and to maintain their land essentially as a public park until the property is 'restored' to the satisfaction of the EPA. They have been threatened with frightening penalties if they do not immediately obey; but they have been refused the prompt hearing they should have received as a matter of right in any court," Pacific Legal argued. . . . Read Full Story Tags:EPA, government abuse, property owner, property rights, Supreme CourtTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
America's Best Choice -(Orlando, FL)- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain swept the Republican Party of Florida's "Presidency 5" straw poll today in Orlando, capping off his strongest fundraising and grassroots week since the establishment of his campaign in May 2011.
* Herman Cain: 37.11 percent.
* Governor Rick Perry: 15.43 percent.
* Governor Mitt Romney: 14 percent.
* Senator Rick Santorum: 10.88 percent.
* Congressman Ron Paul: 10.39 percent.
* Speaker Newt Gingrich: 8.43 percent.
* Governor Jon Huntsman: 2.26 percent.
* Congresswoman Michele Bachmann: 1.51 percent.
This week, Governor Rick Scott pointed out that the winner of the Presidency 5 straw poll would go on to win the nomination. He explained that former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, plus 1995 GOP nominee Bob Dole all won Florida straw polls.
"Thank you to the Republican voters for this incredible honor of being named the winner of the Presidency 5 straw poll in Florida today," Cain said. "This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored. I will continue to share my message of 'common sense solutions' across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election."
On Friday evening, Scott Plakon, the Americans for Prosperity- Florida Legislator of the Year who represents the state's 37th district, endorsed Herman Cain in front of more than 1,000 cheering supporters at the Rosen Center in Orlando, Fla. Scott is best known as the sponsor of the Florida Health Care Freedom Act, slated to be Amendment 1 on Florida's 2012 general election ballot.
"I'm proud to support Herman Cain. Our country is suffering right now from bad ideas, bad policies and bad leadership. Herman Cain has the right ideas, the right policies and is a proven business and conservative leader," Scott explained. "Over the last few days at the Orange County Convention Center, I've seen him connect with Florida voters like few candidates I've ever seen. I look forward to working with Herman Cain to see him win Florida and to become the next President of the United States."
In addition to being named the victor of Thursday night's FOX News/ Google/ RPOF Republican presidential candidate debate and the straw poll, Cain spent the entire week in Florida, touring the Sunshine State on his nationwide "Common Sense Solutions Bus Tour," addressing CPAC Florida and speaking at the Presidency 5 festivities. Tags:Florida, Orlando, Straw Poll, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Michele BachmannTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gary Johnson " My next Door Neighbor's two Dogs..."
The "Best" Joke in yesterday's Florida Republican Presidential Campaign Debate was by Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson: "My neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this current administration." This was the first time Johnson has been allowed in the Republican Presidential Candidates Debates. Knowing that he would be allowed minimum time in the debate, his comments were strident and targeted on the issues he felt wee important. However, he planned and pulled off this successful one liner. Today, he gave credit to his campaign team. TheGuardianPost2:
Tags:humor, Florida, Republican Candidates, debate, governor, Gary Johnson, New MexicoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Dems Block Disaster Aid To Protect Green Energy Loan Programs Like Solyndra
Update 2PM: Allegedly, Senate majority Leader Reid Flips: Now Says FEMA Doesn't Have A Funding Problem. If so, Reid just doesn't want cuts to his green buddies. like Solyndra. Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept. 23, 2010:
The House stayed until after midnight and early this morning, the House approved by a 219-203 vote a GOP-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep the government running through Nov. 18. The vote was very close with 213 Republicans and 6 Democrats supported the plan and 179 Democrats and 24 Republicans opposing the bill. The bill would have funded the federal agencies funded through Nov. 18th. The primary controversy was that Democrats opposed cutting funding from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loans program that provides government-subsidized financing to automakers in order to offset needed disaster relief funding that was being provided to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill. This morning, the Senate is voted 59-36 to table a motion to concur with the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government through Nov. 18th. The current fiscal year, FY 2011, ends September 30th.
Senate Democrats have objected to House Republicans paying for billions in critical disaster relief funds by cutting green energy loan programs, including $100 million from the program that approved the Solyndra loan. Remember the Obama Administration - Solundra scandal!
After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) offered an amendment to the House bill, stripping the offsets for disaster funding. In-otehr-words, he offered no offsetting reductions in spending and supported more funding of scandal ridden programs. He filed cloture and set a vote for Monday evening. More abuse of Americans by Senator Harry Reid.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 70-27 to pass H.R. 2832, the Generalized System of Preferences Act, a trade promotion bill that was amended to reauthorize the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. A substitute amendment from Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) containing the TAA reauthorization language was approved by a vote of 69-28.
Prior to the vote on the Casey amendment, the Senate rejected 3 GOP amendments to the bill. The first, from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), would have narrowed TAA eligibility only to workers impacted by free trade agreements. The second, from Sen. John Thune (R-SD), would have required a report on the economic impact of trade deals that have been agreed to but not approved by Congress. And the third, from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), would have directed the president to sell F-16C & D fighters to Taiwan to support that nation.
As even more troubling reports surface about failed solar panel maker Solyndra, Politicoreports today, “Solyndra executives repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment this morning as House lawmakers pressed them to answer questions about the company’s financial collapse and any hopes of repaying their $535 million federal loan guarantee. ‘While I hope to have an opportunity to assist this committee in the future, on the advice of my attorney, I must respectfully decline to answer any questions,’ Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison told Energy and Commerce oversight subpanel Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), who opened the questioning. CFO Brian Stover gave a similar response.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times writes today, “The government’s backing of Solyndra, which could cost taxpayers more than a half-billion dollars, came as the politically well-connected business began an extensive lobbying campaign that appears to have blinded government officials to the company’s financial condition and the risks of the investment, according to a review of government documents and interviews with administration officials and industry analysts. . . . Its lobbyists corresponded frequently and met at least three times with an aide to a top White House official, Valerie B. Jarrett, to push for loans, tax breaks and other government assistance. . . . Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill question whether the firm’s executives may have engaged in a cover-up of their precarious financial condition, allegations the company denies. But industry analysts and government auditors fault the Obama administration for failing to properly evaluate the business proposals or take note of troubling signs already evident in the solar energy marketplace. . . . The Energy Department’s senior staff has acknowledged in interviews the intense pressure from top Obama administration officials to rush stimulus spending out the door.”
And earlier this week, The Washington Post reported, “Former employees of Solyndra, the shuttered solar company that exhausted half a billion dollars of taxpayer money, said they saw questionable spending by management almost as soon as a federal agency approved a $535 million government-backed loan for the start-up. A new factory built with public money boasted a gleaming conference room with glass walls that, with the flip of a switch, turned a smoky gray to conceal the room’s occupants. Hastily purchased state-of-the-art equipment ended up being sold for pennies on the dollar, still in its plastic wrap, employees said. As the $344 million factory went up just down the road from the company’s leased plant in Fremont, Calif., workers watched as pallets of unsold solar panels stacked up in storage. Many wondered: Was the factory needed? ‘After we got the loan guarantee, they were just spending money left and right,’ said former Solyndra engineer Lindsey Eastburn. ‘Because we were doing well, nobody cared. Because of that infusion of money, it made people sloppy.’”
Given all these revelations about Solyndra, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would be eager to continue funding the federal loan program that gave money to the now-bankrupt company without some serious deliberation. Yet Democrats today voted down a House-passed bill to fund the government and provide critical disaster relief money for FEMA because they didn’t want money taken from this green energy loan program to pay for disaster funds.
So after a week of demanding action on disaster aid through repeated press conferences and floor speeches, Democrats today delayed that aid because they didn’t want it paid for and preferred to protect wasteful green energy loans.
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained, “Here’s the holdup: because of some of the horrible weather we’ve had over the past several weeks, we’ve all agreed to add emergency funds that we didn’t originally plan in this bill, and Republicans identified a couple of cuts to make sure we don’t make the deficit any bigger than it already is, including an offset that Leader Pelosi has used in the past. The rest is from a cut to a loan guarantee program that gave us the Solyndra scandal. Now I think we can all agree that this program should be put on hold until we get more answers, but our friends on the other side don’t like the idea; they’d rather just add these funds to the deficit.”
Note this story:ABC: Obama Officials Sat In On Solyndra Meetings Tags:US House, US Senate, Washington, D.C., Continuing Resolution, disaster relief, green energy scandals, auto companies, Solyndra, Solyndra scandal, Democrats, deficit spendingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Can Arkansas's Legislators Stop Obamacare in Arkansas?
Obamacare May Have a Fatal Flaw Curtis Coleman, Contributing Author: In a curious and perhaps fortuitous alignment of events for the almost 75% of Arkansans who are opposed to Obamacare, Arkansas’s legislators may have an opportunity to shut down Obamacare in the State.
EVENT ONE
The first half of the equation comes from the Cato institute in Washington, D.C. In his podcast, “ObamaCare Glitch Could Unravel Law,” The Institute’s Michael Cannon discloses his discovery in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that allows a critical part of the Act to function only through state-run health-care exchanges.
Investors Business Dailyreports on the latest glitch found in ObamaCare‘s 2,000-plus pages: Because of a quirk in ObamaCare, people who buy health insurance through a federally run exchange may not be eligible for premium subsidies. Government-created exchanges are places for individuals to shop and purchase health insurance. ObamaCare will require individuals and families to buy insurance, starting in 2014. Those with incomes at 100% to 400% of the federal poverty level will be eligible for taxpayer funded subsidies — a tax credit to help pay for the premium.It turns out that the legislation isn’t so clear, the latest example of what analysts predicted would be a stream of surprises from the mammoth health law. Section 1311 of ObamaCare instructs state governments to set up an exchange. If a state refuses, Section 1321 lets the federal government establish an exchange in the state. Yet ObamaCare states that the tax credit is available to people who are enrolled in an “an exchange established by the state under (Section) 1311.” It makes no mention of people enrolled in federal exchanges being eligible for the tax credit. “There is this technical problem in the law,” said James Blumstein, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School. “I don’t see how you get around that.”
I guess the folks who chanted, “Read the bill!” seem a little less crazy now.
Regrettably, the IRS has tried to “get around” the clear meaning of the law. In a proposed rule, the IRS writes that taxpayers will be eligible for ObamaCare’s “tax credits” — which are more government spending than – if they are enrolled in a health plan “established under section 1311 or 1321” [emphasis added]. But that’s not what the law says. As I told IBD: “Congress did not delegate this discretion to the IRS,” Cannon said. “Congress created a tax credit for A, and the IRS is saying it applies to A and B. If the IRS offers this tax credit to federally run exchanges, the IRS will be assuming powers the Constitution vests only in Congress to alter the tax code and spend money.”
Citizens have until October 31 to share with the IRS their thoughts about the agency’s overly broad interpretation of its powers (see here).
More broadly, this bug feature means that states can block ObamaCare’s new entitlement spending, and possibly the entire law, just by refusing to create an Exchange: “The whole structure of the law collapses without a state-run exchange,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. “That forces Congress to either repeal ObamaCare or significantly alter it.”
Yesterday, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) helpfully suggested that the so-called “Super Committee” should meet its target of $1.5 trillion in spending reductions by cutting ObamaCare’s new entitlement spending: The Select Committee is getting to work, and I encourage both parties, all 12 members, to put the Affordable Care Act on the table, alongside other entitlements in need of reform…The easiest money to save is money you haven’t yet spent…This new select committee could easily achieve almost their entire target of reducing the nation’s deficit, and…almost every dollar would come from benefits that do not yet exist.
The wonderful thing about this newly discovered feature of ObamaCare is that states don’t have to wait for Congress to act. They can reduce federal spending simply by not creating a health insurance Exchange.
EVENT TWO
The second half of the equation is furnished by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe. The Governor is reported to have said that “he’ll require a show of support from legislators before allowing the state to apply for a second round of exchange-planning grants from the federal government.” (Let it be noted, dear reader, that a grant from the federal government is not, as some Arkansas bureaucrats would have you believe, “free money.” A “federal grant” is your tax money, dramatically shriveled by its trip through Washington.)
Arkansas Insurance Department commissioner Jay Bradford has reportedly said that “not applying for a second-round of will trigger the federal exchange because ‘we will have quit planning.’” If Arkansas’s legislators refuse to support the implementation of state-run Obamacare exchanges, Arkansas may have the unexpected opportunity to do exactly what Michael Cannon proposes – “force Congress to either repeal ObamaCare or significantly alter it.”
Arkansas State Representative Jon Hubbard (R-Jonesboro) sent an email to Republican members of the Arkansas House this week urging them to continue to oppose Obamacare’s implementation in the State:
I think that we as a Republican Caucus, both House and Senate Members, need to send the message LOUD & CLEAR to Governor Beebe and Insurance Commissioner Bradford, that the people of Arkansas DO NOT want Obama care imposed upon them against their will!!! According to Commissioner Bradford’s request to a group of Republican Legislators last week, if we as a Legislative group do not send a letter to the Governor before the September 30th deadline encouraging him to apply for the Level 2 grant to implement this unconstitutional mandate upon the people of this state, he will “bail”. What better opportunity could we wish for to derail this fiasco!!! Beebe’s and Bradford’s scare tactic has always been that “if we do not implement our own form of Obama care at the state level, then the Federal Government will step in and implement their version of this plan.” If we haven’t yet figured out how this Obama regime operates, understand that the Federal Government IS going to “step in” and implement their own plan, REGARDLESS of whether a state has implemented their version or not, plain and simple!!!
This is our chance to show the people of Arkansas that the Republican legislators of this state have the backbone to not only “STAND UP” to, but to “STOP” this Obama regime’s reckless and unconstitutional mandate toward socialism. If we fail to act against this regime and it’s State level emissaries in the destruction of America, the people of Arkansas will not forget, and they will express their anger at the ballot box!
I propose that we draft a statement to this effect, and everyone sign on as a statement of solidarity and strength, and send it to Governor Beebe and Commissioner Bradford. We cannot allow these two representatives of the Obama regime embedded within our own State Government to cram this abomination down the throats of our people!
If Arkansas’s legislators continue to stand with the majority of Arkansans in rejecting Obamacare and its exchanges, and if Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute is right in his assessment of the Act, and if Gov. Beebe stands by his reported statement to not pursue additional federal taxpayer-money grants, then Arkansas might just have the perfect opportunity to stop Obamacare in Arkansas – or at least dramatically reduce federal spending for this unconstitutional and unaffordable new federal overreach.
--------------- Curtis Coleman is the President of The Curtis Coleman Institute for Constitutional Policy and contributing author to the ARRA News Service. Tags:Arkansas, Cato Institute, healthcare exchanges, Investor Business Daily, Jon Hubbard, Michael F. Cannon, Mike Beebe, Obamacare, PPACA, Debt and Deficit, Health Care Reform, Curtis Coleman, The New South ConservativeTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “‘I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet with the president's jobs bill’… Reid told reporters, saying merely that he had introduced the bill Tuesday. A number of Democrats have previously opposed some of the ideas in the bill.” (“Reid Not Sure if Obama's Jobs Bill Can Pass,” Fox News, 9/13/11)
QUESTION: “After the recess, so next month? Or when will it actually begin to act on?“ SENATOR DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “I think that’s more realistic it would be next month.”(Sen. Durbin, CNN’s State Of The Union, 9/18/11)
Senate Dems Call It ‘Terrible,’ ‘Frustrating,’ Say It’s ‘Not Going To Fly’
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “None of us agree with every part of it.”(Sen. Reid, Press Briefing, 9/20/11)
SEN. JIM WEBB (D-VA): “Terrible” Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) told POLITICO when asked about the president’s ideas for how to pay for the $450 billion price tag. ‘We shouldn’t increase taxes on ordinary income. … There are other ways to get there.’” (“Hill Dems Pick Apart Obama Jobs Plan,” Politico, 9/14/11)
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D-MD): “I disagree with the president.” “Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat whose state includes some of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., said she didn't support the health-care tax. ‘I disagree with the president,’ she said.” (“Obama Plan To Tax Health Benefits Stirs Democratic Opposition,” Bloomberg, 9/14/11)
SEN. MARK BEGICH (D-AK): “Frustrating … There’s an unfairness to it.” “Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, from the oil-rich state of Alaska, said it was ‘frustrating’ to see the president single out the oil industry after calling on the congressional supercommittee in last week’s address to Congress to find savings. ‘When you start singling out certain industries, there’s an unfairness to it,’ he said in an interview. ‘On the pay-fors, I have a problem.’” (“Hill Dems Pick Apart Obama Jobs Plan,” Politico, 9/14/11)
SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA): “…not going to fly.” “‘That offset is not going to fly, and he should know that,’ said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu from the energy-producing Louisiana, referring to Obama’s elimination of oil and gas subsidies. ‘Maybe it’s just for his election, which I hope isn’t the case.’” (“Hill Dems Pick Apart Obama Jobs Plan,” Politico, 9/14/11)
“‘If spending money solved our crises, we would be okay,’ Manchin said. ‘When the President first spoke to Congress, I had some serious reservations. After we did a breakdown on the numbers, I was even more skeptical. At $450 billion, it is a tremendous cost, with a doubtful return on investment.’ Manchin said he worries that the bill includes ideas that have been tried before and failed, at tremendous cost to taxpayers.” (“Manchin Has Reservations On Obama's Jobs Bill,” Williamson Daily News [WV] 9/18/11)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): “I don’t think anybody expects it to pass en bloc.” “‘I don’t think anybody expects it to pass en bloc,’ Kerry told reporters Tuesday afternoon after the Senate Democrats’ weekly policy luncheon. ‘So, the issue is going to be what, if any, parts of it might be cherry-picked. And really that depends a lot on the overall mix of the negotiation.’” (“Obama Jobs Proposal Won’t Pass In One Piece, Kerry Says,” Washington Post, 9/13/11)
SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (ID-CT): “I wouldn't do anything to raise taxes in the foreseeable future because that'll stifle the recovery.”(Sean Hannity Radio Show, 9/20/11)
Guess we will have to wait to see if the Senators represent their constituents or yield to the President request for If You Love Me actions that promote both his failed and failing policies.
Tags:President Obama, If You Love Me, pass the bill, democrats, bad bill, no jobs, more spendingTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
"Think Obama is job-friendly? Think again. Besides not being able to get unemployment below 9 percent, his administration has been overly fond of regulations and government interference that hurt job creation. Check this chart out from GOP Labs, a project of the House Republicans."
Tags:Obama Regulations, destroying jobs, Infographics, chart, House Republicans, GOP Labs To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
A.F. "Tony Branco: Main (Lame) Stream Media ignoring the 800 pound gorillas problems like the Solyndra Scandal and the Fact and Furious Scandal. Abuses of power by the Obama administration. Remember the earlier Obama days when the Justice Dept ignored the Black Panthers Scandals threatening voters and the ACORN Scandal getting federal moneys and registering fictitious and illegal voters.
Tags:Fast and Furious, Main Stream Media, media bias, Solyndra, Obama administration, Federal Gun Running, wasting government money, scandals, Obama media filters, Tony Branco, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
“Highway officials say their bridge replacement plans not ready to hire workers till 2013 or later - so Obama jobs bill doesn't apply.”(CBS’ Mark Knoller Twitter, 9/22/11)
“…that's what the spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation told me. That this really isn't the best example of a shovel ready bridge or a shovel ready project.”(Brianna Keilar, CNN, 9/22/11)
Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept 22, 2011:
The House last night rejected 195-230 a continuing Resolution (C.R.) to fund the government through Nov. 18th. The current fiscal year, FY 2011, ends September 30th. Republicans fiscal conservative felt spent too much, and that most Democrats felt short-changed disaster relief and was paid for by cutting a program to enable U.S. automakers to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. However, The NY Times is reporting that "The House took emergency steps to clear the way for a quick vote on a new measure. It was unclear whether House leaders would attempt to win over more Republicans, many of whom want even more short-term cuts in spending than those agreed to last summer as part of a deal to lift the debt ceiling, or more Democrats, who want even higher levels of disaster aid without the spending cuts to pay for it. " Both House Speaker Boehner and Senate majority Leader Reid believe a Government shutdown can be avoided.
Yesterday, The House Judiciary Committee passed the Legal Workforce Act which mandated using E-Verify for all employers in the United States. This comprehensive bill to verify workers as being legally in the United States was introduced by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill now goes to the full House for a vote and will most likely have a tough time in the Senate. It is sure to be opposed by U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis who has signed “partnerships” agreements with other countries. Solis said during a recent signing ceremony, “No matter how you got here or how long you plan to stay, you have certain rights. You have the right to be safe and in a healthy workplace and the right to a legal wage. We gather here today to strengthen our shared commitment to protect the labor rights of migrant workers in the United States."
The House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved and sent the full House the Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force Act of 2011 which honors slain Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Jaime Zapata and directs $102 million to law enforcement to law enforcement groups to crack down on organized crime on the U.S.-Mexico border. The committee for the Act to be part of the final bill authorizing spending for the Department of Homeland Security later this year.
The Senate resumes consideration of H.R. 2832, the Generalized System of Preferences Act, a trade promotion bill that will be the vehicle for renewing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). Later today, the Senate will vote on a series of 3 amendments to the bill, followed by a vote on the Reid substitute amendment, containing the TAA reauthorization language, and a vote on final passage.
The first vote will be on an amendment from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to narrow TAA eligibility only to workers impacted by free trade agreements. The second will be on an amendment from Sen. John Thune (R-SD) requiring a report on the economic impact of trade deals that have been agreed to but not approved by Congress. The third will be on an amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) directing the president to sell F-16C & D fighters to Taiwan to support that nation.
Yesterday, the Senate rejected 4 amendments to H.R. 2832. An amendment from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to delay TAA renewal until the 3 pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama were passed failed by a vote of 44-54. An amendment from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to authorize TAA for two years, but only at reduced 2002 funding levels, failed 46-53. A second Hatch amendment to narrow the eligibility for TAA failed 40-57. And an amendment from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to terminate a TAA program for certain companies failed 43-54.
Reuters reports today, “A dilapidated bridge over the Ohio River becomes the latest prop in President Barack Obama's push for jobs on Thursday as he takes a campaign for more spending into the backyard of his political foes. The Brent Spence Bridge, connecting the home states of the two top Republicans in Congress, is a vital traffic route between northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Republicans have mocked Obama's trip as political theater. But the 830-foot bridge has been officially designated as ‘functionally obsolete’ and Obama hopes it will help him illustrate why Congress should back billions of dollars in job-creating infrastructure investment.”
Fox 19 in Ohio published a story titled, “Reality Check: Someone needs to tell the President the Brent Spence Bridge is not shovel ready.” The story points out, “Even if 100 percent of the funding was in place, meaning the Feds picked up the tab for the entire project, the Brent Spence project is still, at minimum, 4 years away from breaking ground. That is because federal environmental studies are still not complete. . . . Remember when the President referred to the last stimulus projects saying they ‘weren't as shovel ready as he had hoped?’ Well, this may be another example of the same problem. A bridge that needs replacement but has more than just a funding problem.” Even former Democrat Ohio Governor Ted Strickland agreed on Fox and Friends this morning when Gretchen Carlson noted that people say “that bridge does not even qualify as a shovel ready project.”
“First, I find it hard to take the President’s message all that seriously when his own Communications Director is over at the White House telling people he’s no longer interested in legislative compromise; and when the leaders of the President’s own party in Congress are treating this bill like an afterthought. . . .
"Second, . . . the people of Kentucky and Ohio have heard this kind of thing before. Don’t forget: the President made the same promises when he was selling his first stimulus. . . . [T]wo and a half years later, what do we have to show for it: politically-connected companies like Solyndra ended up with hundreds of millions in taxpayer-backed money, and bridges like the one the President’s at today still need to be fixed.
“Mr. President, . . . think about ways to actually help the people of Kentucky and Ohio, instead of how you can use their roads and bridges as a backdrop for making a political point.” Tags:Barack Obama, Stimulus tour, Bridge, Not shovel ready, US House, e-verify, border security, continuing resolution, US Senate, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Washington, D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Cincinnati Isn’t Convinced, Mr. President - Bridge Is ‘Not Shovel Ready’
Local Paper Argues ‘Obama Visit Won’t Build New Bridge,’ White House Admits ‘The Bridge Itself Isn’t Actually Named In The President’s Bill’ Locals Say: Bridge Being Used As ‘A Prop,’ ‘Photo-Op In A Presidential Election’
“‘No, I don't see (the president's visit) getting funding for the bridge,’ transportation expert [Joshua]Schank said. ‘Where they do the photo-op in a presidential election season usually doesn't have much value in terms of directing the money.’”(“Experts Say Obama's Visit Won't Help Bridge,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/21/11)
“A presidential visit is a big deal, but will it actually guarantee funding for the aged and overused Brent Spence Bridge? Not really, say transportation experts and highway officials.”Ibid
“First, there's the president's jobs bill, which is the reason for his trip. … The bill itself contains no mention of the Brent Spence bridge, or any other specific projects.” Ibid
“…White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told the Enquirer, acknowledging that the bridge itself isn't actually named in the president's bill. ‘No, no, no. It doesn't name (the bridge)…’”Ibid
Former Ohio Gov. Strickland Agrees, Bridge ‘Not Shovel Ready’
QUESTION: “What do you make of the fact that some people are saying that maybe that bridge does not even qualify as a shovel ready project in his jobs plan?”Former Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH): “Well, that may be true...” (Fox and Friends, 9/22/11)
“[T]he Brent Spence Bridge may make a nice backdrop for a speech, but it's not the best example of a shovel-ready project.” “Even if the bill is passed, it's not clear funding included in the bill for stimulus or the creation of a national infrastructure bank would ever reach the bridge. That's because if the point of the jobs bill is to create jobs now, then the Brent Spence Bridge may make a nice backdrop for a speech, but it's not the best example of a shovel-ready project.” (“Experts Say Obama's Visit Won't Help Bridge,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 9/21/11)
“[T]he Brent Spence project is still, at minimum, 4 years away from breaking ground. That is because federal environmental studies are still not complete.” “Listening to the President it sounds as if, if the funding was just there, construction workers could start on the Brent Spence right away. But, they couldn't. Even if 100 percent of the funding was in place, meaning the Feds picked up the tab for the entire project, the Brent Spence project is still, at minimum, 4 years away from breaking ground. That is because federal environmental studies are still not complete.” (“Reality Check: Someone Needs To Tell The President the Brent Spence Bridge Is Not Shovel Ready,” Fox News Ohio, 9/21/11) Tags:Cincinnati, Ohio, President Obama, jobs bill, bridges, bridge, not shovel ready, shovel ready, Brent Spence Bridge, newsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Tags:Buffet Tax, Warren Buffett, Barack Obama, A.F. Branco, political cartoonTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Susan B. Anthony List: President Obama likes to talk a lot about compromise. But when it comes to taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, America's abortion giant, Obama's loyalty is unyielding.
After all, Planned Parenthood is one of President Obama's top political allies.
In a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood Action Fund, then-candidate Obama told the audience, "On this fundamental issue, I will not yield, and Planned Parenthood will not yield."
In its 2008 endorsement of then-candidate Obama, Planned Parenthood Action Fund made just its second presidential endorsement in its history, noting his 100% voting record with Planned Parenthood dating back to his time as a state senator in Illinois. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards exclaimed, "there is no organization better positioned to reach out to women voters than the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. We will do all that we can to support Barack Obama..." During the 2008 and 2010 election cycles alone, Planned Parenthood spent over $1.7 million dollars to help elect President Obama and support his fellow pro-abortion Democrats.
And since taking over the Oval Office, President Obama has rewarded Planned Parenthood by going above and beyond to protect their hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding. During fiscal year 2009, Planned Parenthood reported receiving over $363 million dollars in government grants and contracts -- an all-time record -- boosting their annual budget to over $1 billion. In February of 2011. . . . [Read More] Tags:Barack Obama, Planned Parenthood, SBAList, Turn of the Music, stop funding abortions, abortions, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Bill Clinton, Democrats, And Job Creators Resisting Obama's Tax Hike Plan
Today in Washington, D.C. - Sept. 21, 2011:
The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 2832, the Generalized System of Preferences Act, a trade promotion bill that will be the vehicle for renewing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). They will began voting on amendments to the bill from Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John McCain (R-AZ). The Hatch amendment would keep TAA renewal from happening until the 3 pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia, and Panama are passed. The McCain amendment would authorize TAA for two years, but only at reduced 2002 funding levels.
Yesterday, the Senate voted 45-55 against an amendment from Sen. McConnell, which would have restored Trade Promotion Authority, often called “fast track,” which has allowed beneficial free trade agreements to be negotiated in the past. Democrats allowed it to lapse and with this vote have now shown they won’t even give the authority to easily negotiate new trade agreements to a president of their own party.
Also yesterday, the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Timothy Cain as a district judge for South Carolina.
Today, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will attempt to pass out of committee a mandatory workplace verification bill to finally stop illegal aliens from holding payroll jobs. The Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) is the most powerful bill ever considered by congressional committee in terms of stopping employment of illegal aliens in payroll jobs.
As The Wall Street Journal editors write today, “[T]he bigger news may be how much resistance Mr. Obama’s ideas are drawing from the Democrats who control the Senate. Senators from energy-producing states object to targeting oil and gas companies. ‘Just picking out one industry is not acceptable,’ said Alaska’s Mark Begich. Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu added: ‘That offset is not going to fly, and [Mr. Obama] should know that.’ Even New York’s Chuck Schumer, of all unlikely partisans, has objections—notably to Mr. Obama’s plan to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on taxpayers earning more than $200,000 (or $250,000 for married couples): ‘$250,000 makes you really rich in Mississippi, but it doesn’t make you rich at all in New York, and there ought to be some kind of scale based on the cost of living on how much you pay.’”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) bluntly said, “This plan isn’t the one I would have written, nor is it the one that will end up passing Congress.” Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) who will face a hotly contested election in Florida told Politico, “There’s too much discussion about raising taxes right now, not enough focus on cutting spending.”
And Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) said on Sean Hannity’s radio show, “I wouldn’t do anything to raise taxes in the foreseeable future because that’ll stifle the recovery.”
Even former President Bill Clinton agrees. According to Politico, “Former President Bill Clinton says now is not the time to hike taxes. ‘I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending, either one, until we get this economy off the ground,’ Clinton told Newsmax in an interview on Tuesday. ‘This has been a dead flat economy.’”
Meanwhile, job creators are similarly unenthusiastic about President Obama’s plans to raise taxes. The National Federation of Independent Business, a key advocate for small businesses said, “New tax increases on America’s biggest job creators are the last thing this economy needs to get back on track. . . . With small businesses still struggling to recover and grow, this plan sends a bad message to job creators.” National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons said, “President Obama’s call for tax increases on small businesses, individuals and investors is a poison pill for our economy. The bottom line is that manufacturers need policies that enable them to hire more workers, make capital investments and expand their businesses. More than 70% of manufacturers operate as S-corporations and pay income tax at the individual rate, so higher taxes on these job creators would be a devastating blow.”
Caroline Harris, chief tax counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told the The Fiscal Times, “Targeting proven job creators is not the way to drive job or economic growth….It kills the very economic growth we need to truly get out of this situation.” And John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, added, “The uncertainty created by the threat of even higher taxes helps neither job creation nor growth.”
As Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor this morning, “If we could solve our jobs crisis and revive the economy by passing around a hat at Warren Buffet’s annual shareholders meeting, then we’d have done it by now. But we can’t. The President said the other day that the tax hikes he’s proposing aren’t class warfare. They’re math. Well, we can do math too. According to the IRS, if you doubled the tax burden on everybody in America who earned more than a million dollars in 2009, you’d cover the cost of about three months of deficit spending around here. And if you confiscated every dime of taxable income from those the President refers to as millionaires and billionaires, you wouldn’t even cover a single year of deficit spending in Washington right now. Sending more money to Washington won’t solve our spending problem — it will enable it. [H]ere is the most important calculation: not a single new job will come about as a result of the tax hikes the President proposed this week. . . . What else do you need to know?” Tags:Barack Obama, taxes, increase spending, Democrats, Bill Clinton, E-verfy, illegal alines, US Senate, US House, Washington, D.C.To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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Compiled by Stephen Miller, Communications Director, US Senate Budget Committee:
