Tag: Harry Reid

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Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

McConnell Signals President Will Give Up More For A Deal

We’ll hope not, but hearing McConnell’s statement today, and seeing his jubilant mannerism is telling. The message I gather from his and Boehner’s press conference is that the President and Democratic Congressional members are beginning to give up even more to the Republican minority.

The press conference happened about 3:45PM today, and it featured Boehner and McConnell making a brief statement about their commitment on ‘no compromise’. But when McConnell took the podium, he broke the news that he’d been talking to President Obama “within the past hour.”

Of course, that could be a  good thing, but when McConnell, in the midst of telling reporters how strongly he feels about holding his ground and criticizing the plan the Democrats have brought forward, then says he has spoken to the President and is “optimistic” that a deal is going to happen real soon, it is hard not to think the President is again, going to yield to the minority demands.

Meanwhile, news broke that the President summoned Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to the White House for a private meeting.

With 3 days left before a deal is reached, we will find out exactly what McConnell knows about this “deal” that’s making him so happy.

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Barack Obama Politics washington weekly address

President Obama To Congress – Get Your House In Order

With the August 2nd deadline quickly approaching, President Obama used his weekly address to urge Washington to “get your house in order.” In conveying this message, the President quoted a letter from Kelly Smith, a concerned individual who wrote to congress, saying;

I keep my home clean. I work hard at a full time job, give my parents any money as I can so that they could afford their medications, I pay my bills and by all appearances, I’m a responsible person. All I’m asking is that you be responsible. I have my house in order, and all I’m asking is that you get yours the same way.

The President ended his message by calling for both parties to compromise and get the debt ceiling raised, saying;

All of us, including Republicans in the House of Representatives, need to demonstrate the same kind of responsibility that the American people show everyday. The time for putting party first is over. The time for compromise on behalf of the American people is now.

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Medicare Politics

Final Debt Ceiling Plan – Democrats Cave To Republicans

In what will likely be the final plan offered to raise the nation’s debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion, Harry Reid offered the unofficial-official surrender for Democrats – a plan that cut spending by $2.7 trillion dollars, with zero, nada, zilch revenue increase – just what Republicans have asked for all along.

Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader revealed the plan late Sunday, and asked the Republicans to join in what he called a “compromise.”

“We hope Speaker Boehner will abandon his ‘my way or the highway’ approach, and join us in forging a bipartisan compromise along these lines,” Reid said

And if you think House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is objecting, think again. Mrs. Pelosi released a statement congratulating Reid for the new plan, saying;

“I applaud Senator Reid for putting forward an approach to reduce the deficit that protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.”

Democrats and President Obama have pushed Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, with a “balanced approach” to attacking the nation’s debt. That “balanced approach” was an original plan requiring around $3 trillion is spending cuts, but also asked Republicans to close some of the tax loopholes that the rich have profited from for decades.

Republicans held their ground and demanded more spending cuts with no revenue increase and this white flag from Harry Reid and the Democrats give the Republicans their win.

And although Nancy Pelosi indicates that the Big 3 will be left in tact, in time we will know if Republicans will celebrate another victory with spending cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

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Paul Ryan Planned Parenthood Politics Republican United States Wisconsin

The So-Called Media Only Covers Right Wing Issues

We’ve been saying it forever. Despite what the Conservatives and Republicans want you to believe, there is no such thing as  “left winged media.”

The truth is, there is a right winged media, and just about all it covers is everything the Right does. Remember the town hall meetings of 2009? Remember the Teaparty rallies and marches on Washington? And remember the handful of individuals – 5 people to be exact – who gathered in front of Harry Reid’s office to protest Planned Parenthood and to call for a government shutdown? Yes, even those 5 people got massive media coverage.

Now, remember the hundreds of thousands that showed up in Wisconsin – on a daily basis? No? You can’t recall because the media totally drowned out those marches and protests. How about the time when constituents began questioning the Republican’s votes on the Paul Ryan’s budget plan? Right, you can’t recall those town halls because the main stream media is not covering it.

Rachel Maddow has more in the video below;

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Democratic democrats Planned Parenthood Politics Republican right winged United States United States Environmental Protection Agency

Republicans Are Masters of The Game

It is an obvious game of chicken and well-played by the Republicans. The object of the game is to establish your position in a metaphoric staring contest, wait to see who blinks first, then take all you can and run!

Think about it. Every single policy that involves negotiations, Republicans take the most extreme right winged position available. They then go on the so-called “main-stream media” and repeat their extreme arguments over and over and over again, in essence brainwashing otherwise rational Americans into thinking these far-fetched positions are normal.

After a constant barrage of talking points from every congressional Republican who gets  in front of a microphone or camera, these extreme positions take on a life of their own, as everyday folks begin to consider the possibilities of enacting these policies. People take up positions, usually along party lines, and the pros and cons are measured.

Democrats too, hear these arguments, for they are repeated by every single congressional Republican verbatim. So when the time comes to negotiate, Democrats, who tend to start in the middle, move more and more to the right, a move seen by Republicans as progress in the negotiations, and the end result is a piece of legislation that is somewhere between center and far right.

Look at the most recent negotiations between Democrats and Republicans – the 2011 budget. Weeks before the deadline arrived, Republicans gathered all their talking points, memorized them and spewed them out on every cable and radio network. The most extreme positions were demanding a $100 billion budget cut, defunding Education, defunding Planned Parenthood and stopping abortions, with no regards to women’s health or how she conceived – whether it be through rape or incest –  and with no regards to the health or survivability of the fetus. They also got bombarded with news from across the nation that Republican governors were enacting some of the most extreme policies this country has seen in decades regarding union collective bargaining capabilities. All this was done in unison, as the full effort to modify America’s thinking had begun.

As the deadline to agree on a budget approached, Republicans dug in even further. They were relentless in getting their message out, everyone reciting the same scripts, some even protesting outside of Harry Reid’s office demanding that Planned Parenthood be abolished. Democrats were not immune to the Republican’s efforts, and instead of taking up what many considered to be  traditional liberal positions on the issues, found themselves being more centrist in order to avoid looking as left-winged extremists.

Starting from this centrist position was an automatic win for the Republicans, but they continued digging in until the eleventh hour – literally! Democrats gave a little more, and the total outcome was an agreement to continue funding the government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, but considerable cuts to programs geared towards saving lives, like the EPA and local police enforcement, as well as some cuts to Education among others. Cuts totaling $38.5 billion.

Republicans are masters of the art of negotiation. Take the most extreme positions, and stay there until the other side flinches.

The same strategy will be seen in the next big fight – raising the debt ceiling. And the Paul Ryan Plan, which will ultimately transfer $4.2 trillion from the middle class to the wealthy, is the extreme right winged position they will be using to get more centrist-right cuts. And their position now is, if Ryan’s plan doesn’t go into effect, then the debt ceiling will not be raised. Turn on your cable news station, and you are almost guaranteed to see  Republicans preaching that “we don’t have a tax problem, we have a spending problem,” and “Ryan’s proposed budget is the only responsible plan to tackle America’s long-term debt,” or that they only “intend to vote for Ryan’s budget cuts.”

They are a well oiled machine. But this game is not solitaire, so  it requires an opponent. Democrats must stand up for the middle class, like they’ve done for decades.

Democrats know the game being played by the Republicans, and they must play accordingly. In the words of GI-Joe, a favorite American hero: “… knowing is half the battle!”

 

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Barack Obama Politics White House

As They Agree To Cut $38.5 Billion From Budget, Debt Grew By $54.1 Billion

CS News picked up on this.

On March 30th, before any agreement on budget cutting was reached, the federal debt stood at $14.2101 trillion, according to the Bureau of Public Debt. During the next 8 days, which culminated with The White House and John Boehner agreeing to $38.5 billion in budget cuts, the federal debt increased by $54.1 billion dollars.

Ultimately, budget affect the deficit. Maybe if these two governing bodies had spent more time concentrating  on coming up with solutions to the country’s problems, instead of wasting time and money butting heads at every corner, we will have some actual debt reductions taking place.

But after all, these are politicians, and to them, party means much more than country.

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Barack Obama Politics Republican

Shutting Down The Government For Teaparty Bragging Rights

John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives had this to say at a news conference last week;

“Let’s all be honest, if you shut the government down, it’ll end up costing more than you save because you interrupt contracts. There are a lot of problems with the idea of shutting the government down. It is not the goal. The goal is to cut spending.”

His Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Leader Harry Reid chimed in with this;

“I’m happy to say that negotiations toward a compromise are moving forward. Not as fast as I would like, but they are moving forward.”

And even the President himself, Barack Obama made his opinion known, when he said;

“We know that a compromise is within reach. And we also know that if these budget negotiations break down, it could shut down the government and jeopardize our economic recovery.”

So if everyone is saying the same thing and the need to continue funding the government is evident, why are we facing a potential government shutdown on Friday of this week? The answer is simple… The Teaparty.

One of the self-appointed leaders of the Teaparty, Congressman Mike Pence had this to say;

“If liberals in the Senate want to play games and shut down government rather than make a down payment on fiscal discipline, I say shut it down.”

The problem is one of compromise, or lack thereof. When campaigning for the 2011 mid-term election, Republicans promised the Teaparty the moon, the stars, and even a small section of the galaxy they can rename Teabaggers-ville. Another promise was to cut the federal budget by $100 billion – another far-fetched promise, but one that fell within the teaparty’s requirement to reign in federal spending at all cost. Given these promises from Congressional Republicans, the teaparty voted in masses, putting the Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives, and gaining seats in the Senate.

Now, four months after Republicans have gained power, the teaparty is looking for Teabaggers-ville. They want what was promised to them and thus far, the Republicans haven’t paid up. Not because they don’t want to, but because they simply can’t.

When President Obama came out with his budget, it included additional spending of $41 billion. John Boehner and his fellow Republicans in congress cried foul, demanding that the president review his proposal. He did, and came back with $33 billion in cuts. But this wasn’t enough for the Boehner and the Teaparty, who voted for, and approved a House budget with at lease $61 billion in cuts.

The adults in the room couldn’t agree on a final budget, so two separate CRs (continued resolutions – temporary spending agreements) were put into place. We are now just five days before the second CR expires, and everyone involved is saying the right thing. Everyone, that is, except the Teaparty.

What happens in the event of a government shutdown? Slate reports;

Certain necessary activities would continue—anything related to defense, inpatient or emergency medical care, air traffic control, securing prisoners, or disaster assistance, for instance. But legally, federal agencies would have to wind down nonessential business. That means hundreds of thousands of employees would go on furloughs, from the Treasury to Health and Human Services to the Department of Education, to be paid whenever a continuing resolution passes. Thousands more contractors would just lose their gigs. Parks would shut down. Offices would clear out. Phones would go unanswered.

Nobody knows exactly how it would shake out, not just yet. The president has broad discretion to decide what counts as necessary and what does not, says Stan Collender, a longtime budget expert and a partner at Qorvis, a D.C. communications firm.

But everyone dreads the prospect. The last time the government shut down was during the Clinton administration. For five days in November 1995 and 21 days between December 1995 and January 1996, the lights went off. In the first shutdown, 800,000 workers stopped heading into the office. In the second, about 284,000 stayed at home, with an additional 475,000 working on “non-pay status.” These were not just pencil-pushers either. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave up on monitoring the outbreak of diseases. Workers at 609 Superfund toxic-waste sites stopped cleaning up.

Another promise the Congressional Republicans made to Americans was job creation. Based on the information presented above, it seems that shutting down the government is not the best way to create these jobs. If the Teaparty is truly for fiscal responsibility like they would haver us believe, they will ask their congressional representatives to do what’s right for the economic longevity of this nation, not shutting down the government to fulfill some empty campaign promise.

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Barack Obama Michelle Obama Nancy Pelosi Politics Republican Sarah Palin

Poll Finds Michelle Obama is Hot, While Sarah Palin is Not!

In a new Quinnipiac University poll released on March 7th, Michelle Obama tops the list of the hottest political figures in America, coming in at 60.1 degrees. Sarah Palin on the other hand, registered among the lowest on the thermometer with her temperature at 38.2 degrees.

The poll surveyed 1,887 registered voters and asked them to rate their answers on a scale of 0-100, with the highest number being the warmest or hottest as it is in the First Lady’s case. Coming in second on the thermometer with a temperature of 57 degrees is the Republican governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, followed closely by President Obama with a score of 56.5 degrees.

The coldest among the group appear to be mainly due to the direct outcome of a smear campaign by Republicans during last November’s mid-term elections. Participants in the poll found Democratic representative Nancy Pelosi with the coldest temperature of 32.9 degrees, followed by another Democratic senator, Senate Leader Harry Reid. His temperature, according to the participants in the poll is 34.8 degrees.

See the full Poll Results Here.

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Politics Republican

Boehner Plays Hardball–Government Shutdown Looms Ahead

The Boehner has spoken!

“We are going to cut spending!” And with those words, the House Speaker exited the podium to the left. But in his haste to cut spending, what will happen to the funding of everyday government operations after the March 4th deadline?

The Republican controlled House is determined to cut $100 billion in spending from the new budget, and the Democratic controlled Senate is poised to refuse such “draconian” cuts. Can the two governing bodies come to a compromise before the deadline?

To make matters worse, both the House and the Senate will be off the entire week for President’s day. When they return to work after their much needed vacation – because we know how hard they’ve worked over the last month, a total of 10 days in January – they will have only five days to come to an agreement on the new budget.

Boehner is not budging on his $100 billion cuts he promised the Teaparty, saying;

“We are hopeful that the Senate will take up the House‑passed bill that comes out of here today, tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever it is, and we hope that they will move it. But I am not going to move any kind of short‑term CR at current levels. When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips:  We are going to cut spending.”

And what is the Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid saying about this?

“I am disappointed that Speaker Boehner doesn’t believe he has the votes to avoid a government shutdown, unless his members get their way on all of their demands. It is unproductive to resort to threats of a shutdown without any negotiations.”

Meanwhile, the clock ticks on til March 4th.

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Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

Is The Teaparty Turning On Scott Brown?

He seemed to be just another ordinary man, driving a pick-up truck, cruising around Massachusetts shaking hands and kissing babies. He was endorsed by the Teaparty and was poised to go down in defeat in a state that was often referred to as a liberal county – and after all, he was running a campaign to replace one of the most liberal members of Congress, the late Ted Kennedy.  At a time when Republicans only controlled 40 seats in the Senate and embraced the label “the party of NO,” Brown was seen as the automatic 41st vote against a Democratic controlled majority. The Teaparty powered his campaign with what seemed to be an unlimited amount of cash, and with the lack-luster effort of his Democratic rival Martha Coakley, Scott Brown won the Senate seat controlled by Democrats for almost 50 years.

The Teaparty rejoiced. Their 41st “NO” vote was in place and this was supposed to be the beginning of the revolution to “take their country back!” But something was different about Brown. He seemed to be putting the people of his state before the wishes of his party. He was not the rubber-stamp they expected and he even sided with Democrats on some very important pieces of legislations, like the New START Treaty, repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Financial Reform and the Jobs bill in 2010 – bills geared to increase America’s security and economic standing, but vastly different from the Teaparty’s ideas on where they wanted America to be.

Now, because of his stance on these and other issues, the Teaparty is trying to unseat Brown.

Scott Wheeler, a Republican activist whose Political Action Committee invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in Brown’s election campaign is livid! In a recent article Wheeler wrote called, “Why Scott Brown Must Be Defeated,” Mr. Wheeler said;

An organization I run, The National Republican Trust PAC, raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Scott Brown win the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat vacated upon the death of Ted Kennedy. That organization will now do everything possible to see that Brown is defeated by a primary opponent when he faces reelection in 2012. Why? Because there is no difference between him and a Democrat.

Brown is caught between a rock and a hard place. His party is turning against him, his Teaparty supporters are turning against him, and with his re-election coming up in 2012, Democrats will prefer seeing one of their own reclaim the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. Mr. Brown is feeling the uprising from all sides.

In a meeting with his constituents, Newsweek describes Brown’s opening statement to the audience as he explains the dilemma he faces;

The strain of walking such a fine line must be getting to Brown, because as soon as he finishes his initial round of pleasantries, he launches into a peevish rant about how unfair conservatives are being when they criticize him. “The Democrats are in charge!” he shouts, his voice reaching the high, strained register that teenagers typically use when they don’t want to take out the trash. “Does that mean I’m supposed to do nothing? That I’m supposed to vote with my party every single second of every single day? Why? I haven’t done it for 15 years in the state legislature. All of a sudden I’m supposed to be an ideologue? I’m not quite sure what the mystery is, folks. When I hear some of the comments…I don’t know what the mystery is. I said I was going down there to be a Scott Brown Republican, not someone who works for Harry Reid—or Mitch McConnell!” It’s as if Brown is no longer addressing the people in the room—again, they’re mostly Democrats. Instead, he seems to be fending off foes in Washington, real or otherwise. Unsure of how to react, the crowd quietly pokes at its meatloaf.

This dilemma is real, and Scott Brown knows it. If he fights for the people and does what he believe is right, then the Teaparty and the Republicans in Congress will continue to do all they can to take away his GOP membership card. If he becomes a Republican rubber-stamp, then it is very likely the citizens of Massachusetts will make their voices heard in 2012 and reward the seat to someone who puts them first. And if he aligns himself more with the Democrats, then Democrats accuse him of playing politics, just to get re-elected.

Scott Brown doesn’t need any advise from me, a simple blogger, but if I were to advise him, I would tell him to continue doing what is right for his constituents. Let the Teaparty, Republicans and Democrats fight among themselves. But knowing how the Republicans demand their caucus stick together in opposition to President Obama’s initiatives, its only a matter of time before they make Brown fall into line.

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Healthcare Mitch McConnell Repeal Republican Senate United States vote

Senate Votes on Health Care Repeal

After the Republican controlled House of Representatives approved a measure to repeal the Health Care Reform passed by President Obama and the Democratic controlled congress in 2010, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Leader promised a vote will be held in the Senate as well.

Mr. McConnell attached the repeal bill to another legislation for aviation as an amendment, and the vote was held yesterday needing 60 votes to pass. It failed along party lines, with all 47 Republicans voting for repeal, and all 51 Democrats voting against it.

McConnell however, promised to continue his efforts to deny Americans the very same health coverage he and the rest of Congress has, saying;

“This fight isn’t over, we intend to continue to fight to repeal and replace Obamacare with sensible reforms that would lower the cost of American healthcare…

This issue is still ahead of us and we will be going back at it in a variety of ways”

The Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, pleaded with Republicans to work with Democrats on finding “common sense” ways to improve the bill;

“It’s time for Republicans to set aside the battles of the past. It’s time to move on from extreme, ideological plans to repeal a health care law that is lowering prices, expanding access to care and lowering our deficit.”

There was one area of bipartisanship where both Democrats and Republicans agreed overwhelmingly. One provision of the Health Reform Law was repealed through an amendment, and received a vote of 81-17. The provision required businesses to file a 1099 form for every purchase they made over $600.00. That provision has been under heavy attack, and criticized as unnecessary and burdensome additional paperwork. Both parties voted, and the amendment was adopted.

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Barack Obama Chuck Schumer Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Repeal Senate vote

Republican Minority Tries To Control Democratic Majority In Senate

Republican Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell

Over the last two years of the Obama administration, Republicans went on a rampage, setting a record for the most filibusters – the process of debating an issue with the eventual outcome of slowing down or stopping the policy from being voted on – in one year since the practice began back in the mid 19th century. That record, set by the 111th congress is 132 filibusters. Now that the Republicans are the majority in the House of Representatives, they are demanding that the Democratic controlled Senate vote on all the bills the House votes on.

The particular bill that Republicans are demanding the Senate to vote on is their measure to repeal the Health Care Reform bill, the single most important piece of legislation instituted by Democrats. The House of Representatives voted last week to repeal the bill by a vote of 245 to 189, and now Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader is promising “No”, insisting that the Democratic Senate vote on the issue and do the same. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated he has no interest in bringing this repeal issue to the Senate.

In a television appearance on Fox News yesterday, Mr. McConnell assured the viewers that he will make sure the Senate votes to take away their health care. When asked how he intends to override Harry Reid’s decision not to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, Mitch said;

“I’m not going to discuss how we’ll do it from a parliamentary point of view here. If that does not pass, and I don’t think anyone is optimistic that it will, we intend to go after this health care bill in every way that we can.”

As minority leader, Mitch McConnell cannot set the agenda for the Senate, but the belief among other congressional leaders is that the Republicans in the  could offer the repeal bill as an amendment to another bill, thus, forcing the Senate to have the vote. Democratic Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin discussed this possibility;

“If some Republican senator wants to offer it as an amendment at some point, it’s possible they will. It’s possible we’ll face that vote. But having spoken to my members in the Democratic caucus, with Sen. Reid, we feel there’s still strong support for health care reform.”

The lies and scare tactics used by Republicans in the Health Care debate of 2009 have caused a split among the American people. In early polls, taken when the bill was being debated in congress, as much as 60% of the public believed the Republican propaganda  against health care reform. But recent polls have shown a change in the public’s perception of the law. According to a recent Associated Press-GFK poll, only 1 out of 4 (25%) Americans are now asking for Republicans to repeal the bill. With poll numbers like these, Democrats are feeling optimistic that the bill will stand up against any amendment trick brought on by  the senate. Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senator from New York appeared on CBS, and expressed his optimism;

“If the Republicans offer an amendment on the floor, then we will require them to vote on the individual protections in the bill that are very popular and that even some of the new Republicans House members have said they support. So in the end, their repeal bill is going to be so full of holes it looks like Swiss cheese.”

Individual parts of the bill that have shown strong support among the American people include: allowing young adults to remain on parent’s policy until the age of 26; ending pre-existing conditions for children that went into effect in 2010; ending pre-existing condition for adults that will go into effect in 2014; helping to close the “donut hole” for seniors needing prescription drugs; providing preventative care screenings among others.

The individual mandate in the bill, which requires everyone to obtain health care insurance, is the major contention with the American people. Democrats argue that this mandate is necessary to ensure the improved level of care required in the bill.

If Republicans succeed in getting Senate Democrats to vote on an amended bill with health care repeal as an attachment, the bill will need 60 votes to pass. Democrats control the Senate with 53 votes, with Republicans in the minority with 47. If 13 Democrats crossed party lines and voted with Republicans to achieve the needed 60, the repeal bill then goes to President Obama’s desk for a signature. The President, however, has promised to veto any repeal bill that makes its way to the White House.

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