Back on January 7 of this year, I posed the question regarding what it was that we might expect to see from the 112th Congress and what impact a massive influx of Tea Party Supported candidates might have. And in fairly short order I think we have come to have that question answered. Sadly, I think what we have seen thus far has been more than just a little disappointing. We are at place that is very far away from all of the grandiose rhetoric that we heard in November after the voters had decided that they would take a chance and return control of the House of Representatives back to the Republicans. I can only imagine how many may now be questioning the wisdom of their decision. This continuing display by Speaker Boehner, as well as the entire Republican leadership team, of always going squishy and at critical times whenever there is the slightest sign of resistance by the Democrats is not really conducive to being able win the day. All long as these scumbag Democrats sense any amount of weakness from those on our side, they'll be able to maintain control of the debate. Any hesitation coming from those on our side will only result in causing the Democrats to dig in further. Democrats still remain capable of running roughshod over Congress, with our spineless cadre of wimpy Republicans apparently being content to do nothing more than what they're told. This is not what we voted for, not by any stretch. Where is the "LEADERSHIP" that we all thought we were voting for? The country is rapidly headed full speed ahead right down the old crapper, and there seems to be no real sense of urgency in trying to prevent that event from occurring. WHY IS THAT? The performance of our leadership team of Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy, up to this point in time anyway, has been quite underwhelming to say the least.
Let's face it, the national debt jumped by $72 Billion, that's BILLION, on Tuesday even as our stalwart Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed yet another continuing resolution to fund the government for just three weeks that will cut a whopping $6 Billion from government spending. And this how Mr. Boehner defines leadership? Somehow this is just not what I was expecting. The plan fact of the matter is that Congress can cut $6 billion every three weeks for the next 36 weeks, and only manage to save between now and late November as much money as the Treasury added to the nation’s net debt during just the business hours of Tuesday, March 15. Our team is going to need to exhibit a courage on this issue if there is to be any hope whatsoever of preventing that which most of see as being a forgone conclusion. The entire financial collapse of our country. At the close of business on Monday, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt, the total national debt stood at $14.166 trillion ($14,166,030,787,779.80). At the close of business Tuesday, the debt stood at $14.237 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69), an increase of $71.9 billion ($71,921,489,118.89). Since the beginning of fiscal year 2011--which began on Oct. 1, 2010--the national debt has climbed from $13.5616 trillion ($13,561,623,030,891.79) to $14.2379 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69) an increase of $676.3 billion ($676,329,246,006.90). Congress would need to cut spending by $6 billion every three weeks for approximately the next six and a half years (338 weeks) just to equal the $676.3 billion the debt has increased thus far this fiscal year.
There was a significant number of defections among the House Republicans when it came to vote on the latest short-term U.S. spending bill. The mere fact that members felt they could oppose their leadership, exposed some potentially significant divisions that may in fact complicate negotiations with Democrats on a much broader budget plan. In Tuesday's House vote, 54 Republicans opposed a measure to fund the government until April 8, forcing their leaders to rely on support from Democrats to pass the bill, 271-158. The legislation aims to give lawmakers more time to break their stalemate over funding the government through Sept. 30. The stopgap measure goes to the Senate, where Democrats who control that chamber expect it to pass and be sent to Barry. Why shouldn't it pass, it was nothing more than what Democrats said they would be willing to support. Joining 186 House Republicans in backing the bill were 85 Democrats. Republicans opposing it included tea party-backed freshmen, other fiscal conservatives who wanted more spending cuts and social conservatives seeking to include policy directives in the measure on issues like abortion. If our leadership is of the opinion that they can revert to the old ways of being nothing more than Democrat-lites and still command the respect of those who voted them into office, then I'm afraid that they're in for a rather rude awakening and their time in the majority will be rather short lived.
The vote underscored the challenge for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, as he works to reach agreement with Democrats on the longer-term 2011 budget. “We have no idea what Mr. Boehner can agree to” in the talks, said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the second-ranking House Democrat. “You can’t come to an agreement on any kind of compromise with 54 people who can’t compromise with their own leadership.” Other Democrats said the vote shows that Boehner will have to compromise with their party to enact a spending plan that avoids a government shutdown. Mr. Boehner should tread very lightly in his attempts to "compromise" with those on the sleazy left. Either he wants to seriously address the issues at hand, or he wishes to return to the minority "leader," and only he can make that decision. “Speaker Boehner wouldn’t have been able to pass this short-term measure without Democratic votes, and he won’t be able to pass a long-term one without Democratic votes either,” Sen. Chuckie Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “It’s time for him to abandon the Tea Party and forge a bipartisan compromise.” Now there's some good advice coming from Chuckie. What Boehner needs to be doing is the abandoning of his persistent willingness to bend over and spread 'em in front of the Democrats. If it anyone who should be put in the position of bending over, it should be guys like Chuckie.
The House passed a measure on February 18 that would cover funding the rest of this fiscal year and that would have cut $61 billion from 2010 spending levels. The bill also would make policy changes, including defunding of the Barry's supposed healthcare "reform," Planned Parenthood, and of course public broadcasting. The Senate waste very little time in promptly defeating it last week. So what was Mr. Boehner's answer to that dilemma? Why, it was to simply reduce to $61 Billion to the $6 Billion that that Democrats had been saying all along was the amount that they were willing to pass. There's a word for that where I come from, it's known as nothing more than blatant cowardice. Throughout this fiscal year, which began back on October 1, lawmakers have relied on stopgap measures to avoid a shutdown of non-essential government services. The current spending authority, enacted earlier this month and opposed by only six House Republicans, expires March 18. This disturbing trend cannot be allowed to continue. At some point a rather deep line in the sand is going to need to be drawn. And the longer we put just such a scenario off, the more difficult it is going to become to do just that. Time is one thing we do not have. The urgency with which our present situation needs to be addressed, is increasing by the minute and we have those who are our supposed leaders doing nothing more than sitting on their hands.
Republicans who opposed yesterday’s bill to fund the government for three more weeks said passing another short-term measure only postpones the debate over spending cuts and the policy provisions. And with that I would wholeheartedly agree. The bill that was passed will cut $6 billion in spending and omits policy items. “The American people sent us here to be bold and I don’t think this a bold step,” said Rep. Joe Walsh, a freshman Republican from Illinois who was among those opposing the measure. Again, I agree with the freshman. Judson Phillips of the Tennessee-based Tea Party Nation called on the group’s members to phone, e-mail, and use social networking tools to lobby lawmakers against the measure because it didn’t include the policy provisions. “I had three families come up to my office yesterday and ask me to vote against” the bill, said Rep. Allen West, a Republican freshman from Florida who opposed it. Personally, I think this guy West is GREAT! I wish we could clone him. Also urging lawmakers to vote against the measure were the anti-abortion Family Research Council, the Club for Growth, which seeks limited government, and Heritage Action for America, whose website says it advocates “conservative policy.”
After the vote, the defectors' position was one of them saying that by taking their stand they had actually strengthened the Republican position in budget negotiations. “I think we gain leverage” because Boehner “can say, ‘We’ve taken this thing as far as we can go, and we can’t do anything more unless you give us something,’” said Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican pressing to kill any spending measure that doesn’t defund the healthcare law. House Republican leaders spent the early part of this week working to shore up support for the short-term measure among their most fiscally conservative members. Boehner posted a video on his website March 14 saying the House would use other legislation to press ahead on its effort to stop funding for the health-care law. I'm sorry but I just don not trust any of these folks enough to put any amount of faith in promises now being made regarding any future attempts at killing "obamacare." The Republican-led House will “do everything we can to stop this gravy train and ensure this job-crushing healthcare law is never fully implemented,” the speaker said in the video. Blah, blah, blah. I don't believe him. Representative Scott Garrett of New Jersey, a Republican who voted “no” after supporting the previous stopgap spending measure, said party leaders “worked it hard” to get backers for the bill. He also said he didn’t believe there was any dispute within the party about the overall goal of cutting spending. “We had a difference on strategy — how to get there,” Garrett said.
Also opposing the bill was Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who made the argument that continuing with these stopgap measures does nothing more than to play into Democrats’ hands because by only postponing any kind of a decision on the entire 2011 budget does nothing but to make it all the more likely the fight will merge with an upcoming battle over increasing the federal debt limit. He said that debate should focus on bigger changes to government spending, such as cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare. “The longer we kick this can down the road, the more difficult it is to get to the big stuff,” said Flake. “This is small ball.” The Treasury Department estimates the government will reach the current limit on government borrowing between April 15 and May 31. White House spokesman Jay "Not much better that Bob" Carney said the latest stopgap spending bill will provide some breathing room for lawmakers to work out an agreement on funding through September 30. Yup, that's what's needed, some breathing room. He urged quick action. “The president has been clear: with the wide range of issues facing our nation, we cannot keep funding the government in two- or three-week increments,” Carney said. “It is time for us to come together, find common ground and resolve this issue.” That's rich, Barry talking about finding some common ground. To common ground is for everybody to come over to his point of view or he throws one of his typical little temper tantrums. He's really quite pathetic!
I think what most of us are wanting to see from the Speaker and his entire leadership team is for them to exhibit at least some measure of backbone. Frankly, I'm getting just a little tired of being steamrolled by the power hungry, Constitution stomping Democrats. This sleigh ride to Hell that we're on courtesy of these twisted sleazy Democrats is not going to end well if we're not able to get things under control, and soon. And any squabbling that is taking part in the Republican ranks does little to get us to where it is that we need to end up. The folks on our team are going to have to lead, follow or simply get out of the way. If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem. It’s time to get serious, in fact it’s well past time. Now LET'S ROLL!
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