President Obama's plan to let Bush-era tax cuts expire for wealthier Americans -- many of whom own small businesses that economists say are the No. 1 producer of new U.S. jobs -- is in jeopardy following the release of a letter signed by 31 House Democrats who are calling on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to extend them.
The letter warns Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer that "raising any taxes right now could negatively impact economic growth," adding "our economy is still recovering and decisive action needs to be taken to assist the recovery moving forward."
The 31 Democratic members of Congress who signed the letter are:
1. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa.
Altmire, a Blue Dog Democrat, is being challenged by Republican nominee Keith Rothfus.
On November 7, 2009, Altmire voted Nay on HR 3962, the Health Care Reform Bill.
Bean will face Republican Joe Walsh in the general election. They say Walsh lied when he failed to disclose a home foreclosure in 2009 and he didn't submit a U.S. House financial statement after announcing his candidacy.
She is the youngest female member of the House, and the first woman elected to the House of Representatives from South Dakota. She won the at-large seat in a special election on June 1, 2004.
A Republican Senator from South Carolina, Jim DeMint authored and article titled "Washinton can hear you now." Senator DeMint snarls at the idea that a candidate needs to be electable. Republicans have a slate of candidates who believe in free-enterprise economics, limited government, and individual liberty. DeMint said we will balance the budget, repeal the unconstitutional health-care takeover, create a predictable tax and regulatory environment in which businesses can create jobs, and restore a sense of fairness to the economy. He did not point out how he was going to do this. Instead he rallies the Tea Party, "I knew in my heart that the Republican Party could save this country if it could recruit more members to stand up for the priciples of freedom. DeMint gave the Tea Party their talking points; out of control government spending, creating entitlement programs, and taking over car companies, mortgage companies, the health-care system and financial reform . Now, how are these principles going to help the economy? Based on past exhibits, Republicans have no plan.
DeMint further states that after Barack Obama was elected president, Washington's economic policies went from bad to worse, and none of his so-called legislative achievements (health care and financial reform) lives up to its label. In a short time, the Obama White House and Pelosi-Reid Congress have made clear that they intend to push America to the left of Europe. In other words, all of the economists are wrong. Other than being slanderous and attacking, DeMint has created campaign slogans and sound bites that have no validity.
IF they would just take a look at the FACTS instead of continuing to play American Idol with our political system! It would be nice if voters would stop blindly trusting the r...hetoric and simply returned to the practice of seeing what our representatives have actually DONE:
I think it's one of the best of its kind that I've seen so far, because it speaks in the same language that (apparently) most American voters seem to use when thinking about candidates. It also shines a pretty bright light on just how giant the partisan divide in our culture has become; as the author said, it wasn't until the facts were presented without the party clearly attached to them that his friends were able to seriously consider them. Sad really.
Even though the 111th Congress has enacted the most laws since the '60s, voters are not impressed. Read more
Clinton offers advice to Obama: go sell your plans
President Bill Clintonurged President Obama to take his 'story' to American voters and make a more rigorous case for what his administration has accomplished and what they plan to do to spur economic recovery and job growth. President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have fought to repair a decade of damage and grow an economy that strengthens our country and middle-class families, not just today but over the long run.
Working with the President, Democrats in Congress helped prevent a second Great Depression and put our economy on the road back to recovery. They stabilized the financial system, and by standing up to insurance companies, big banks and credit card companies established the strongest consumer protections ever. And with the help of grassroots supporters across the country, they were finally able to make real the ideas that every American should have access to affordable health care, no one should be denied coverage because they get sick or have a pre-existing medical condition, and no one should go bankrupt just because they get sick.
DEMOCRATS: MOVING AMERICA FORWARD
Democrats invested to rebuild America's roads, bridges, rails, and ports to build private-sector jobs in communities across the country.
Democrats made college affordable for millions of students by eliminating subsidies to banks.
Democrats fought for the middle class by ending taxpayer funded bailouts, cutting taxes, and protecting credit card users from excessive hidden fees and abusive practices.
Democrats ended insurance company abuses, including the practice of denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. It's already helping millions of Americans get better, more affordable care and is helping make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.
Democrats provided new tax credits and loans to create clean-energy jobs right here in America and proposed tough reforms that would ensure oil companies are responsible for their actions.
Democrats have fought to change the ways of Washington —pushing for ethics reform that would keep our elections fair and limit the influence of big corporations.
The more the Republicans hold hostage this plan for tax relief for millionaires, the more voters appreciate whose side they are really on. Voters unhappy with the recession are inclined to vote against the incumbent candidate, but so many of the Republicans are so crazy that voters may think twice about voting for them. The Tea Party is no longer that different from the mainstream Republican Party, and it doesn't speak for most Americans.
He has begun smoking out Republican inconsistency and hypocrisy on issues like regulation of banks, where the GOP tries to be anti-Wall Street but also anti-regulation. And how can the right be in favor of both fiscal discipline and tax cuts for the rich?
The Republicans have already effectively nationalized the 2010 mid-term election, portraying it as a referendum on Obama. But the president, even with popularity ratings of around 45 percent, is more popular than most politicians. And if he can smoke out Republican ideas, most voters will notice that they agree with Obama more than they agree with John Boehner and the GOP. .
Most voters begin to pay attention to mid-term elections only after Labor Day. It took Obama too long, and he still is not quite in high gear, but he is beginning to sound like the guy a lot of us voted for. More, please.
We’ve already seen headlines clamoring, “Poverty Goes Up on Obama’s Watch.” In reality, though, these trends would have been significantly worse without the administration’s leadership. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a bold step, saving or creating 1.4 million to 3.3 million jobs, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The Recovery Act also focused on combating poverty: An analysis examining just seven targeted provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act found that they kept more than 6 million additional people from falling into poverty last year. And initiatives President Barack Obama championed such as health care reform and the recently passed consumer financial protection agency will ultimately help millions more families achieve economic security and expand the middle class.
They vow to "hold President Obama responsible" for any one-time Guantanamo Bay detainees who engage in terrorism or other acts against the United States after their release.
To cut spending, Republicans say they are committed to canceling remaining expenditures from the 2009 stimulus law, return domestic appropriations to 2008 levels, impose "hard" budget caps on discretionary spending accounts, reduce spending for congressional operations, have weekly floor votes on winners of the "YouCut" program that allows citizens to vote online for programs that should be slashed, end the Troubled Asset Relief Program (You'll recall that TARP was a Republican program.), end government control of the secondary home-mortgage lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, freeze federal hiring for non-security jobs, sunset programs after a certain number of years, and use more straightforward budgeting for entitlement programs.
The jobs section includes pledges to stop all planned 2011 tax increases -- including the expiration of the 2001 Bush tax cuts for individuals and the re-establishment of the estate tax. It also calls for a small business tax deduction that allows owners to take a 20 percent deduction, roll back the so-called 1099 requirement that businesses report certain spending to the IRS and establish a requirement that new federal regulations that cost more than $100 million get congressional approval.
Republicans believe that the debate over Obama's health care overhaul has helped position them to take over the House, and they devote a substantial portion of their agenda to repealing that law and replacing it with a scaled-back version.
The line items include well-known Republican priorities like enacting medical liability reform and allowing for the purchase of insurance policies across state lines. But it also calls for keeping the prohibition on denial of insurance because of pre-existing conditions and expanding health savings accounts -- all provisions they pushed during the health care debate earlier in this Congress. In a bow to social conservatives, Republicans vow to prohibit the taxpayer funding of abortions -- although in a way that tracks with the existing Hyde Amendment.
Only one other social issue, protecting "traditional marriage," is mentioned in the document -- and it is relegated to the preamble rather than the portion addressing legislative proposals.
Republicans say they want to alter the way Congress does business by encouraging lawmakers to read bills before they get a vote and ensuring legislation adheres to the Constitution -- a role generally reserved to the courts.
On national security, Republicans stuck to some of their most popular messages of the past year. They promise to offer "clean" troop funding bills -- a nod to their opposition to Democrats attaching extemporaneous items onto supplemental war appropriations legislation. And they are pledging, somewhat broadly, to keep individuals suspected of committing terrorist acts off American soil. They say they will not offer them Miranda rights or try them in civilian courts. Read more:
If Republicans win the Senate and the House, some of them say they should consider threatening to shut down government to get what they want.
House Republicans are expected to unveil policy agenda Thursday, Sept 23rd. GOP leaders are expected to combine ideas that the party has proposed over the past 20 months with concepts pushed by the tea party movement. One tea party proposal under consideration for the Republican agenda calls for a requirement that before a bill is passed, Congress cite what provision in the Constitution specifically gives it the power to enact laws on that issue. "We want to show the American people we are listening and we believe Washington has run roughshod over the American people," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).” Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, who has been involved with the development of the agenda as part of an informal six-member steering committee, said he was confident that social issues would be addressed thanks to the party’s “America Speaking Out” initiative. “If it had been left solely to politicians, it would probably have been just focused on the hot-button fiscal issues,” he said in an interview with The New York Times. But, “there is also a strong sense in the Republican Congress that we don’t want traditional allies to think we’ve abandoned them.” Keenly aware of Democrats’ intent to paint the G.O.P. as co-opted by the Tea Party, Mr. Cole emphasized that the Tea Party had become a catchall name for disgruntled voters on the right.
The hard, empirical facts:
The tax cuts did not spur investment. Job growth in the George W. Bush years was one-seventh that of the Clinton years. Nixon and Ford did better than Bush on jobs. Wages fell during the last administration. Average incomes fell. The number of Americans in poverty, as officially measured, hit a 16-year high last year of 43.6 million, though a National Academy of Sciences study says that the real poverty figure is closer to 51 million. Food banks are swamped. Foreclosure signs are everywhere. Americans and their governments are drowning in debt. And at the nexus of tax and healthcare, Republican ideas perpetuate a cruel and immoral system that rations healthcare -- while consuming every sixth dollar in the economy and making businesses, especially small businesses, less efficient and less profitable.
This is economic madness. It is policy divorced from empirical evidence. It is insanity because the policies are illusory and delusional. The evidence is in, and it shows beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts failed to achieve the promised goals. Read More.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine released a statement condemning GOP talk of a government shutdown: "We know they plan to use the exact same partisan strategies they pursued in the 1990s to cut off government services people rely upon and prevent our government from remedying the damage they caused. .... If Republicans get their way and shut down our government, millions of American seniors, veterans, and families will be denied access to programs, benefits, and services they rely on every day. We can't -- and won't -- let that happen."
Armey (head of Tea Party group known as Freedom Works) was House Majority Leader in 1995, when President Clinton and the GOP had such a showdown. Armey may be reluctant to talk about a possible government shutdown because in the past, he has said that Republicans touting such a strategy months in advance was a major reason why it turned out so badly for the party in 1995: "You're heard saying rather boldly in June that you're going to shut the government in the fall. You've set the stage for the press to report that the Republicans are now doing in October what they said they'd do in June. Even if, in fact, they thought it was the right strategy to shut down the government, they should have kept their mouths shut about it."
• Democrats invested to rebuild America's roads, bridges, rails, and ports to build private-sector jobs in communities across the country.
• Democrats made college affordable for millions of students by eliminating subsidies to banks.
• Democrats fought for the middle class by ending taxpayer funded bailouts, cutting taxes, and protecting credit card users from excessive hidden fees and abusive practices.
• Democrats ended insurance company abuses, including the practice of denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. It's already helping millions of Americans get better, more affordable care and is helping make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors.
• To help reduce the deficit, Democrats plan to keep taxes low for the middle class, so they can pay bills and stimulate the economy.
• Democrats provided new tax credits and loans to create clean-energy jobs right here in America and proposed tough reforms that would ensure oil companies are responsible for their actions.
• Democrats have fought to change the ways of Washington —pushing for ethics reform that would keep our elections fair and limit the influence of big corporations.
Voters have a choice, and it couldn't be clearer. President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress have fought to repair a decade of damage and grow an economy that strengthens our country and middle-class families, not just today but over the long run.
By definition a terrorist is 1. a person, usually a member of a group, who uses or advocates terrorism. 2. a person who terrorizes or frightens others.
Notice Gingrich comments:
1. Gingrich said, “this is not a war on terrorism ... this is a struggle with radical Islamists.” The problem, he said, is that too many leaders are “sleepwalking” and won’t face the threat. Ask yourself: If you wanted to infiltrate a country, wouldn’t a grand strategy be to rapidly build mosques from Ground Zero in New York, to Temecula, Calif., and establish beachheads so fanatics could plan and advance their strategies under the cover of religious freedom and that great American virtue known as “tolerance,” which is being used against us? The best people to consult on such matters are those with the life experiences and knowledge to credibly comment on the subject. After all, we can’t expect those who wish to destroy us to tell the truth, can we? Except that they do tell it by their words and deeds throughout much of the world. The problem isn’t that they’re not telling. The problem is that too many are imprisoned in denial.
2. In a radio interview, he said he wants the national government to step in and stop the developers from building the Islamic community center by whatever means necessary. "I think the Congress has the ability to declare the area a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site; this is a war," he said, apparently thinking that if Ground Zero was a national park, Park51 would be restricted from building near it. And if that fails, he said, the state government should step in and use its considerable power to stymie the development. Funny, isn't it, how the anti-government Gingrich wants the government to step in and tell a private religious organization what to do? I suppose it's okay for the government to be heavy-handedly oppressive when it comes to Muslims but not when it comes to Christians or the "free" market. Gingrich certainly wouldn't want the government interfering in his world, telling him what to do, and yet government control is a fine weapon to wield against undesirables.
I am tempted to say that Gingrich and those with him on this issue are with the terrorists -- and I will say that, because they are. Gingrich passes himself off as an intellectual, but he's really just a partisan thug who's read a few books and can speak coherently. He basks in bigotry and ignorance on this issue, as on so many others, and, no, Americans should not stand for it.
3. America is facing a mortal threat....If we don't act now, our great nation will no longer exist. What is putting America as we know it in such peril? The Secular-Socialist Machine—a corrupt bureaucracy which uses manipulation, bribery, and dishonesty to steamroll the will of the people and destroy America's core values. To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine by Newt Gingrich - Gingrich has been an outspoken critic of Barack Obama, whom he described as “the most radical president in American history.” Gingrich has argued that it is necessary to “save America” and stop Obama's "secular socialist machine.” He has characterized Obama's universal health care reform as leading America towards authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and the end of democracy.
Last year, the President proved they had a machine. When I used the term "secular socialist machine," I mean that. And he proved they had a machine when they got $787 billion with no elected Member having read the bill. Now, "no taxation without representation," a term Obama might remember from history, which was used by the Americans to explain why the British monarchy was unacceptable, actually means that representation has to know what they are taking your money for. So, if you have spending with no representative knowing what it is, you don't have representative self-government. You have a machine. And that was the first signal that this is very different. This is the most radical administration in American history. And I began to realize after a year of watching them that if you think about the group that meets together in the White House, their experience is the machine politics of Chicago, the corruption of Springfield, and the radicalism of Alinsky. And it comes together in a format and then they meet with their two colleagues, Pelosi and Reid, and you have a perfect unrepresentative left-wing machine dedicated to a secular socialist future.
4. Gingrich attempted to break down Obama's political behavior by pointing to a recent article published in Forbes magazine. "What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" Gingrich asked. "That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior." He later tweeted out the link again and asked his followers to tell him what they thought about the piece's conclusion. Forbes article: How Obama Thinks . The Columbia Journalism Review called D'Souza's article "the worst kind of smear journalism – a singularly disgusting work." When an otherwise respected publication such as Forbes allows an otherwise respected author like D’Souza to pile so many innuendoes and half-truths into a cover story, it says either one or two things. It says that this magazine believes a black president doesn’t merit the same respect as others when it comes to presenting the truth, or that the public is more inclined to succumb to fears and stereotypes about Obama – so much so that when it comes to him, they don’t have to let the truth get in the way of telling a story. Read more.
5. "I think the American people are prepared to say don't burn the Koran just as they wouldn't want to burn the bible or any other religious document," Gingrich said on ABC News's "Good Morning America." "But they are also prepared to say [to Obama] 'Why don't you be pretty blunt, be at least as blunt with Imam Rauf as you are with the pastor in Florida and tell him don't do it.'"
"As Americans we are not — and never will be — at war with Islam," the president said. "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day — it was al-Qaida, a sorry band of men which perverts religion." "The highest honor we can pay those we lost, indeed our greatest weapon in this ongoing war, is to do what our adversaries fear the most," the president said. "To stay true to who we are, as Americans; to renew our sense of common purpose; to say that we define the character of our country, and we will not let the acts of some small band of murderers who slaughter the innocent and cower in caves distort who we are."
Bloomberg said "Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan. Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.
For that reason, I believe that this is an important test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetimes, as important a test. And it is critically important that we get it right."
Taliban officials say they’re looking forward to a new wave of terrorist trainees from the West like this year’s Times Square car bomber. “I expect we will soon be receiving more American Muslims like Faisal Shahzad who are looking for help in how to express their rage,” says a Taliban official who was a senior minister when the group ruled Afghanistan and who remains active in the insurgency. As an indication of the anger that is growing among some Muslims in the West, this official, who requested anonymity for security reasons, mentions the arrest of three Canadian Muslims in Ontario last week on charges of plotting to build and detonate improvised explosive devices. (A fourth individual was arrested in Ottawa last Friday in connection with the case.) The Ground Zero furor will likely add to that anger. “The more mosques you stop, the more jihadis we will get,” Zabihullah predicts.
This Week’s Attack Dawg Bite Award Goes To Newt Leroy Gingrich
Newt, you get sleazier with age. You said President Obama is dishonest? The word “dishonest” should never cross the lips on your well-fed face! Your outrageous, reprehensible comments show how desperate, dishonest and ...
To read the rest of this cartoon and many more Attack Dawg cartoons
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher Michael Moore Clip says " why don't we start calling Newt Ginghrich and Sarah Palin - Moolah Taliban or something. They are our Taliban." http://www.billmaher.com/
Conclusion:
The cartoonish demonization of our Enemy is accomplished by mindlessly screaming inflammatory, manipulated labels at them --"Terrorists!" -- designed to rob them of their Humanness, obliterate nuances among them, and convert them into some incomprehensible Other. That's how we justify to ourselves what we do to them. But the reality is much more complex than that. As even American military leaders acknowledge, "the Taliban" is composed of many diverse factions with different motivations, including a desire to expel foreign armies (i.e., us) from their country. Many of their leaders are malicious extremists and monsters who advocate heinous policies and engage in incomprehensibly vile acts, while many of their supporters are motivated by innocuous or even reasonable fears and objectives which are easily exploited. In other words, they are quite similar in composition and drives to most other political factions which end up endorsing and perpetrating heinous acts, even when those factions are American.
The insistence that this comparison between Us and Them is inherently invalid and even "obscene" lies at the heart of so much mischief -- it's the linchpin of exceptionalism and jingoism -- and it's very disappointing to see this claim being so casually invoked in reaction to this book. The nature of tribalism is that one always thinks their side is better and the other side worse, and that comparisons between the two sides (or even equal application of standards to each) is deeply unfair and offensive ("moral relativism"). Tribalism is a powerful human drive, which is why even those who are aware of its intoxicating effects and even consciously try to avoid it -- all of us -- nonetheless sometimes succumb to its temptations.
Yet it is equally true that Christians have massacred innocents before, and they have interpreted scripture to justify among other things, terror, slavery, and the subjugation of women. Although I wasn't living during that time, I can only imagine that the remarks made by Newt Gingrich might have cause someone to be hung and burned. That's scary! Even scarier is the fact that jihadis may be recruited because they see Muslim's attacked and the Islam religion insulted. If anyone should be stopped, it's Newt Gingrich. He could never be my President!
I was surprised to hear Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say he believes the Small Business Jobs Act currently before the Senate is “a little itty-bitty small business bill that no one thinks will have much of an impact on the economy.” In fact, I would encourage him to go on the road with me to places like Saratoga Springs, where I was just yesterday meeting with several small business owners, including Larry Levita.
Larry and his son Phillip are the owners of Plum Dandy, a frozen yogurt shop in Saratoga Springs' historic downtown. A few months ago they received an SBA Recovery loan for $175,000 to open their shop, and with that they created 12 new jobs. Their loan was one of about 70,000 loans SBA has made with enhancements first provided in the Recovery Act in February 2009. Larry told me that things are going really well for them, and in fact they’re already thinking of opening a second location.
In all, SBA took about $680 million in taxpayer dollars and turned it into nearly $30 billion in small business loans across the country. And, small businesses report that these loans are helping save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs - just like the 12 Larry and Phillip Levita have created.
Demand for these Recovery loans has been so great, however, that, in May, SBA once again ran out of funds to support them. The Small Business Jobs Act before the Senate that Sen. McConnell is referring to will extend these loans again, and we have more than 1,000 small businesses on a “stand-by” list waiting for the bill to pass. That’s more than $500 million in small business loans.
Not only will the bill immediately help thousands of small business owners get access to capital, but it will also raise the limit on SBA loans from $2 million to $5 million, helping high-growth small firms who are ready to expand, franchisees who want to open a new location, and exporters who need to ramp up to meet a big order from abroad.
And on top of that, the bill has $12 billion in tax cuts for small businesses, including accelerated depreciation, eliminating capital gains on small business investments, and doubling the deduction for start-ups. It’s fully paid for and both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have praised the legislation.
In other words, this is a strong bill. It has broad support. It will give taxpayers a big bang for their buck. And, it will benefit thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners across the country, including the more than 1,000 who are right now waiting to get an SBA Recovery loan.
Small businesses employ half of all working Americans and create two out of every three new jobs each year. Now more than ever, we are counting on them to create jobs and grow the economy. And, more importantly, they are counting on us. This bill will ensure that small business owners, like Larry and Phillip Levita, have the capital and tax credits they need to grow and create jobs. That’s no "itty bitty" thing.
President Barack Obama Monday repeated his call for Senate Republicans to “drop the blockade” against the Small Business Jobs Act when the Senate returns from its August recess. the president stated that the legislation is “fully paid for” and would not add to the deficit. He said the bill would cut taxes for small businesses and make more loans available. “Holding this bill hostage is directly detrimental to our economic growth,” he said, adding some businesses are waiting for the bill to pass to hire more employees. Friday, September 10th, press conference he made the same request.
Look, the reason is because those folks, as I said over the last decade, at the time when the Republicans were in charge, didn't see a wage increase. Did not see their incomes go up at a time when their costs for health care, for college tuition, for everything else was going up. So, they are just barely keeping their heads above water. The one group that actually saw their incomes increase substantially when ... Republicans were in charge, were the top two percent of Americans. The folks who saw the biggest jump were the top one tenth of one percent of Americans.
Tax Cuts Accounts Account For Nearly Half of the Deficit
"The new CBO data show that changes in law enacted since January 2001 increased the deficit by $539 billion in 2005. In the absence of such legislation, the nation would have a surplus this year. Tax cuts account for nearly half — 48 percent — of this $539 billion in increased costs." http://www.cbpp.org/files/1-25-05bud.pdf
Some seek to portray “runaway domestic spending” or growth in the costs of entitlement programs as the primary cause of the shift in recent years from sizeable surpluses to large deficits. Such a characterization is incorrect. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=966
This afternoon the President was in Cleveland, Ohio, the city where House Republican Leader Boehner recently put forth his party’s priorities for the economy. In his remarks, the President laid out a stark contrast between policies that help the economy work for the middle class, and the policies that allowed special interests to run amok -- and to run our economy into a ditch. He spoke about the need to strengthen our recovery in both the short and long terms by investing in America’s roads, bridges and runways, by helping small businesses grow and hire, and by giving certainty to businesses through a permanent incentive to innovate and create good jobs in America in the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit.
But before all that he talked about the foundation of the values that guide his decisions:
Yes, our families believed in the American values of self-reliance and individual responsibility, and they instilled those values in their children. But they also believed in a country that rewards responsibility. A country that rewards hard work. A country built upon the promise of opportunity and upward mobility.
They believed in an America that gave my grandfather the chance to go to college because of the GI Bill. An America that gave my grandparents the chance to buy a home because of the Federal Housing Authority. An America that gave their children and grandchildren the chance to fulfill our dreams thanks to college loans and college scholarships.
It was an America where you didn’t buy things you couldn’t afford; where we didn’t just think about today – we thought about tomorrow. An America that took pride in the goods it made, not just in the things it consumed. An America where a rising tide really did lift all boats, from the company CEO to the guy on the assembly line.
That’s the America I believe in. That’s what led me to work in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant on the South Side of Chicago when I was a community organizer. It’s what led me to fight for factory workers at manufacturing plants that were closing across Illinois when I was a Senator. It’s what led me to run for President – because I don’t believe we can have a strong and growing economy without a strong and growing middle-class.
Looking back on his first 18 months in office, the President spoke about how he had “hoped for a chance to get beyond some of the old political divides – between Democrats and Republicans, Red states and Blue states – that had prevented us from making progress. Because although we are proud to be Democrats, we are prouder to be Americans – and we believed then and we believe now that no single party has a monopoly on wisdom. “ But he also explained that he ran because we needed change, and while ideas on how to do that were welcome from anywhere, simply continuing on with the broken status quo was not a contribution to moving us forward:
A few weeks ago, the Republican leader of the House came here to Cleveland and offered his party’s answer to our economic challenges. Now, it would be one thing if he had admitted his party’s mistakes during the eight years that they were in power, if they had gone off for a while and meditated, and come back and offered a credible new approach to solving our country’s problems.
But that’s not what happened. There were no new policies from Mr. Boehner. There were no new ideas. There was just the same philosophy that we had already tried during the decade that they were in power -- the same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place: Cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations.
Instead of coming together like past generations did to build a better country for our children and grandchildren, their argument is that we should let insurance companies go back to denying care for folks who are sick, or let credit card companies go back to raising rates without any reason. Instead of setting our sights higher, they’re asking us to settle for a status quo of stagnant growth and eroding competitiveness and a shrinking middle class.
Cleveland, that is not the America I know. That is not the America we believe in.
A lot has changed since I came here in those final days of the last election, but what hasn’t is the choice facing this country. It’s still fear versus hope; the past versus the future. It’s still a choice between sliding backward and moving forward.
The President’s speech was sweeping, and it is well worth reading in full, where he speaks to the misguided Republican proposal to grant permanent, budget-busting tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans as we touched on this afternoon, and elaborates on his own proposals as we touched on this morning. In closing, he took a step back:
I know that folks are worried about the future. I know there’s still a lot of hurt out here. And when times are tough, I know it can be tempting to give in to cynicism and fear and doubt and division -– and just settle our sights a little bit lower, settle for something a little bit less. But that’s not who we are, Ohio. Those are not the values that built this country.
We are here today because in the worst of times, the people who came before us brought out the best in America. Because our parents and our grandparents and our great-grandparents were willing to work and sacrifice for us. They were willing to take great risks, and face great hardship, and reach for a future that would give us the chance at a better life. They knew that this country is greater than the sum of its parts -– that America is not about the ambitions of any one individual, but the aspirations of an entire people, an entire nation.
That’s who we are. That is our legacy. And I’m convinced that if we’re willing to summon those values today, and if we’re willing to choose hope over fear, and choose the future over the past, and come together once more around the great project of national renewal, then we will restore our economy and rebuild our middle class and reclaim the American Dream for the next generation.
Rachel makes the case of Republican obstructionism.
About the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
President Obama created the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to address our nation's fiscal challenges.
The Commission is charged with identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run.
Specifically, the Commission shall propose recommendations designed to balance the budget, excluding interest payments on the debt, by 2015.
In addition, the Commission shall propose recommendations that meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook, including changes to address the growth of entitlement spending and the gap between the projected revenues and expenditures of the Federal Government.
The Commission will meet as a whole once a month while Congress is in session. The Commission will vote on a final report containing a set of recommendations to achieve its mission no later than December 1, 2010.
The final report will require the approval of at least 14 of the Commission's 18 members.
Working Groups:
The Discretionary Working Group will research and discuss issues related to discretionary spending.
Discussion Leader
Rep John Spratt – (D SC 5)
Sen Tom Coburn – (R – OK)
The Mandatory Working Group will research and discuss issues related to mandatory spending.
Discussion Leader
Alice Rivlan (D) – Former Clinton Economic Advisor(On Social Security)
Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI 1)– (on other mandatory issues)
Sen Judd Gregg (R-NH)– (On Social Security)
The Tax Reform Working Group will research and discuss issues related to tax reform.
Discussion Leader
Rep Dave Camp – (R MI 4)
Sen Kent Conrad – (D ND)
1. Alice Rivlan –Senior Fellow- Discussion Leader – Mandatory Working Group (On Social Security) - Only one economist: Alice Rivlin, former Director of the Office for Management and Budget, who co-authored a report advocating for $47 billion in cuts to programs like Social Security, raising the Social Security age, and reducing inflation adjustments.
2. Andrew Stern – President – Service Employees International Union
3. Ann Fudge – who is CEO of Kraft and former CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, and who sits on the board of Novartis, GE, and Unilever.
4. Bruce Reed (Chief Domestic Policy Adviser to President Clinton)
5. Dave Cote – Chairman and CEO, Honeywell International - a multimillionaire who is CEO of defense contractor Honeywell, a former GE executive, a board member of JPMorganChase, and a member of the CEO group, the Business Roundtable.
6. Erskine Bowles (Chief of Staff to President Clinton)
7. Joshua Odintz – joined June 7,2010 as Chief Tax Counsel
8. Rep Xavier Becerra (D-CA 31)
9. Rep Dave Camp (R-MI 4) (Discussion Leader – Tax Reform Working Group)
10. Rep Hensarling (R-TX 5)
11. Rep Paul Ryan – (R-WI 1) Discussion Leader – Mandatory Working Group (on other mandatory issues)
12. Rep John Schakowsky – (D-IL 9)
13. Rep John Spratt (D-SC 5) – Discussion Leader – Discretionary Working Group
14. Sen Alan Simpson – Co-Chairmen (Former Republican Senator from Wyoming)
15. Sen Max Baucus (D-MT)
16. Sen Tom Coburn – (R-OK) Discussion Leader – Discretionary Working Group
17. Sen Kent Conrad (D-ND) – (Discussion Leader – Tax Reform Working Group)
18. Sen Mike Crapo (R-ID)
19. Sen Richard Durbin (D-IL)
20. Sen Judd Gregg (R-NH) – Discussion Leader – Mandatory Working Group (On Social Security)
Alan Simpson, a millionaire who hates Social Security and considers millions of Americans on Social Security to be sucking on the public "tit," symbolizes how this commission lacks credibility and is not standing up for the public interest. 68 Percent of Voters Frown on ‘Phasing Out’ Social Security
Well, let me tell you. We’ve already identified $250 billion in cuts on the discretionary side of our budget. We’ve identified $300 billion worth of loopholes in our tax code that are not helping economic growth. If we just did those two things, as I’ve already proposed, that would make a huge difference. We’ve proposed to freeze discretionary spending for three years, to start whittling down some of the debt that I inherited.
The United States Representative of Minnesota's 6th congressional district. The 6th district includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities along with St. Cloud which is 65 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. Bachmann states she was called by God to run for the seat, and that she and her husband fasted for three days to be sure. She is currently running for reelection against Minnesota State Senator Tarryl Clark.
Bachmann is a member of a church that is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, whose doctrine teaches that the Roman Catholic papacy is the Antichrist identified in Scripture. Bachmann was involved in anti-abortion activism. She and her then-fiance Marcus were inspired to join the pro-life movement by Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film, How Should We Then Live?. They frequently prayed outside of clinics and served as sidewalk counselors in an attempt to dissuade women from seeking abortions.
On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. In 2004, Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for what was billed as a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally. Bachmann’s efforts to get the same-sex marriage ban on a Minnesota referendum ballot in 2004 ultimately failed. Bachmann resurrected her proposal for a same-sex marriage ban amendment in March 2005. In April 2005, the State Senate rejected Bachmann’s proposed amendment again. In November 2004, Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann as Assistant Minority Leader in charge of Policy for the Senate Republican Caucus. In July 2005, the Republican Caucus removed Bachmann from her leadership position. Bachmann cited "philosophical differences" with Day as the reason for her ouster.
On October 17, 2008, Bachmann gave an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in support of the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain that brought the Minnesota 6th Congressional District race national attention. During the interview she criticized Barack Obama for his association with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, saying "…usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us, and it seems that it calls into questions what Barack Obama's true beliefs, and values, and thoughts are...I am very concerned that he [Barack Obama] may have anti-American views." When asked by Matthews: "How many Congresspeople, members of Congress fit into that Anti-American crowd you describe", Bachmann stated "You'd have to ask them Chris, I'm focusing on Barack Obama and the people he's associated with". Matthews followed up by asking "But he's a Senator from the State of Illinois, he's one of the members of Congress you suspect of being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American. You've already suspected Barack Obama, is he alone or are there others?" Bachmann answered, "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look...I wish they would...I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out are they pro-America, or anti-America. I think people would love to see an expose like that."
Some political commentators, including Don Frederick, condemned the statements, and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar also condemned them. The five Democratic members of Minnesota's congressional delegation — Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar — issued a joint statement in which they called Bachmann's comments "embarrassing" and questioned her ability to "work in a bipartisan way to put the interests of our country first in this time of crisis." Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Minnesota Governor Republican Arne Carlson said that the comments led to their endorsing Obama for president.
Bachmann brought up the interview before business leaders and Republicans during a campaign stop in St. Cloud, Minnesota on October 21, 2008. She stated that she never intended to question Obama's patriotism. "I made a misstatement. I said a comment that I would take back. I did not, nor do I, question Barack Obama's patriotism.... I did not say that Barack Obama is anti-American nor do I believe that Barack Obama is anti-American... [But] I'm very concerned about Barack Obama's views. I don't believe that socialism is a good thing for America." However, in March 2010, Bachmann appeared to contradict herself when she stated "I said I had very serious concerns that Barack Obama had anti-American views. And now I look like Nostradamus" while speaking at a fund-raiser for the Susan B. Anthony List.
The district takes in parts of Orange County, Lake County, Marion and Osceola County. Part of Orlando is in the district, including Walt Disney World.
Alan Grayson was elected to represent the district with 52% of the vote. Barack Obama also received 52% of the vote in this district in 2008. Both capitalized on an aggressive voter registration effort in the 8th District by the Democratic Party, which emphasized registration of traditionally Democratic union workers and an increasing Hispanic (primarily Puerto Rican) demographic in the district.
Grayson is running for re-election against three opponents: Republican Daniel Webster, Independent George Metcalfe, Florida Whig Party candidate Steve Gerritzen, and Peg Dunmire of the Florida TEA Party, a group not affiliated with the Tea Party movement.
During an appearance on the progressive talk-radio “Stephanie Miller Show” on Sept. 02, 2010 — Grayson referred to people attending Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor Rally on Aug. 28, 2010 by saying “These are people who were wearing sheets over their heads 25 years ago.” He also said: “You only have three friends in life: God, your mama, and the Democratic Party.”
2009 health care
In September 2009, during the debates leading to the passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act by the House in November, Grayson quipped during a speech that, "The Republican health care plan is this: 'Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.'" His remarks were widely condemned by Republican politicians but, according to Grayson, were well received by his constituents.
He defended his comment and in a House Floor speech stated, “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America." Grayson, who is Jewish by birth, apologized to the Anti-defamation League for those offended by his generic use of "holocaust". He also maintained that Congressional Republicans have failed to offer a feasible plan. In October 2009 he launched www.NamesOfTheDead.com, a website to "memorialize Americans who die because they don’t have health insurance." He subsequently read stories of the dead submitted through the Names of the Dead site on the House floor.
He supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Grayson also voted for the FDA Oversight of Tobacco Products, which gives the FDA power to regulate tobacco products. He voted in support of Eliminating Adjustments of Medicare Rates of Payment. He also voted against Republican substitutes for the health care amendment and insurance law amendments.
On March 9, 2010, Grayson introduced the Public Option Act, a bill which would allow all citizens and permanent residents of the United States to buy into the public Medicare program. Grayson later that March voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
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