Something that really shouldn't come as being any great surprise, at least to those of us who have come to pretty much expect such behavior, is the fact that our illustrious Speaker has once provided to us another rather discouraging sign that he's no conservative. Those of us who were really hoping the GOP would remain true to the fiscally conservative Tea Party message that won for it, in 2010, the majority that made it possible for John Boehner to become Speaker, now have yet another reason to be disappointed. And this rather disturbing sign comes to us in the form of his having now removed several of Congress’s most outspoken fiscal hawks from committees dealing with fiscal matters, citing, of all things, their unwillingness to be "team players." By his taking such action, I think it safe to say that the priorities of the Speaker do not appear to match up very well with those of the American people. And that, folks, we simply cannot tolerate! It is inexcusable to so blatantly disregard the interests of those who put you into office.
Business Insider reports: "The House Republican Steering Committee has purged Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) from their seats on the House Budget Committee, and Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) from the Financial Services Committee. The ousted congressmen are all far right-wing deficit hawks, and have each butted heads with the Republican Establishment over government spending and the federal deficit. All three members were part of a small group of Republicans who voted against House Budget Chair Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which they said did not go far enough to bring down the national debt. The purge sends a clear warning from Boehner that the Republican leadership will not tolerate inter-GOP squabbling as the budget negotiations heat up over the fiscal cliff — but there are signs that the iron-fist approach may backfire. Conservative groups, already displeased by the GOP’s initial fiscal cliff counter-offer, slammed Boehner for the move Tuesday."
One of the especially vocal critics of the move has been Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, one of the four removed, who has slammed the Republican leadership for its seeming willingness to sacrifice fiscal conservatism on the altar of defense spending: "For a party that’s trying to expand its base and make sure it reaches out to young people and new groups, I think it’s pretty outrageous," Amash said. He called it "a slap in the face" to the growing libertarian wing of the Republican Party, noting that he voted along with leadership 95% of the time during his first term. "It’s not acceptable to have budgets that are unbalanced to the year 2040," he said. Amash also disagreed with what he described as an entrenched view among Republican leaders that defense spending is off limits for cuts. He believes that while the nation’s military must remain strong, that defense spending should be on the table for reductions and that it could serve as a way to find a bipartisan agreement with Democrats on spending cuts.
With fiscal cliff negotiations at a stark impasse, this could signal the fact that Speaker Boehner believes he will be forced to accept a deal that contradicts fiscally conservative principles, possibly to a degree that the grassroots would see as being more than just a little problematic. Personally, I think it's about time for us to now start referring to the Speaker as Mr. 'Boner', because that would be what he now appears to be in favor of doing to the American people. So now, we not only need to worry about how badly we're going to get 'boned' by Barry, now we also have to worry about getting 'boned' by those who are supposed to be on our side. We're now being asked, courtesy of Mr. 'Boner', to once again simply bend over and spread 'em, and to smile while doing it. This latest demonstration by Boehner in which he chooses to so callously ignore the wishes of those who put him into his current position, cannot be allowed to stand. And as much as it pains me to say this, we gave the Republicans their majority and we can most certainly take it away!
No comments:
Post a Comment