Tag: Republicans

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democrats Immigration Reform immigration reform Politics

Democrats And Republicans, Yes Republicans Agree On Immigration Reform Plan

si-se-puede

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has agreed on an immigration reform plan that would provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States but only after borders are better secured.

The plan, unveiled a day before President Barack Obama is to give a policy speech on immigration in Nevada, tackles the most explosive issue – how to deal with the millions of foreigners living in the United States illegally.

Under the group’s proposal, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to register with the government, pay a fine, and then be given probationary legal status allowing them to work.

Ultimately, they would have to “go to the end of the line” and apply for permanent status, according to the document by eight Senators including Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

The White House praised the group’s efforts but warned that Obama would not be satisfied until there was meaningful reform. The president “will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved,” a White House spokesman said.

r/t Reuters

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Barack Obama Democratic Politics presidential Republican United States

I WAS HERE

 

I was here
I lived, I loved
I was here
I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here

1 / 60

 

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Benghazi Benghazi Politics

Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton Scheduled To Testify On Benghazi

This is what the Republicans have been waiting for. With this news, they can now feel that their work in Congress is complete.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will testify Jan. 23 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the deadly Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. mission in Libya.

That’s the word from Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the panel. He said in a statement late Monday that Clinton will answer questions about the raid that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi.

Clinton had been scheduled to testify last month but she suffered a concussion when she fell during an illness. She was later hospitalized with a blood clot in her head.

She’s also expected to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee around the same time as her House testimony. That date has not been announced by the committee.

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Politics

President Obama – Not Raising The Debt Ceiling Is “Irresponsible” And “Absurd”

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday warned Republicans against refusing to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, calling such talk “irresponsible” and “absurd” and saying it would set off an economic crisis and financial hardship.

“They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy,” Mr. Obama said during his final news conference of his first term in office. “The full faith and credit of the United States of America is not a bargaining chip.”

The president repeated his vow to seek what he called a “balanced” approach to reduce the nation’s deficit during the months ahead. But he said he would not negotiate on the debt ceiling, and he said Republicans in Congress would be responsible for the effects of a refusal to raise it.

“It would be a self-inflicted wound on the economy,” Mr. Obama said. “It would slow down our growth and tip us into recession. To even entertain the idea of this happening is irresponsible. It’s absurd.”

He added: “America cannot afford another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they’ve already racked up.”

h/t New York Times

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Tid Bits

Today, I Called Bank Of America, And…

If Congressional Republicans could do it, why can’t I?

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Politics

Chris Christie And The GOP: The End Of A Love Affair

If Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was ever the darling of the Republican Party… he can now and forever kiss that romance good-bye. Christie let the GOP have it as only a  woman scorned could (tantamount to keying an ex’s new, shiny red Corvette) after the House voted to shelve a bill that would have immediately begun dispersing federal aid to states such as the Governor’s that suffered irreparable damage at the hands of Superstorm Sandy last October. Last week Congress finally did approve $9.7 billion in immediate assistance to Sandy’s victims.

“We have waited 72 days, seven times longer than victims of Hurricane Katrina waited,” Christie said in his annual State of the State address before a joint legislative session in Trenton. “New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display,” adding that this was “why the American people hate Congress.”

“Some things are above politics… Sandy was and is one of those things.” he said.

And the New Jersey Governor didn’t mince words either, when he put the blame for the delay in aid squarely on the sensitive shoulders of House Speaker Boehner and the House Majority.

Christie has, for quite some time now, shown that there’s no real love lost between him and the Grand ‘Ole Party. But his constituents in New Jersey still have “a thing” for the pudgy politician. Christie has garnered a 73%  approval rating from registered voters of his state, according to a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey.

 

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Featured

House Republicans Begged For Aid For Their Counties, But Refused Aid To Victims Of Sandy

It’s mind-boggling that some Congressional Republicans would beg and plead with the Obama administration for emergency relief for their districts when those districts were hit with a natural disaster like a hurricane or flooding. But when they had an opportunity to help Americans in other parts of the country, like those affected by Hurricane Sandy, these same Republicans voted ‘no’ to providing this help.

In a recent vote held in the United States House of Representatives, 67 Republicans voted against helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy. But some of these same members requested funds from the government when the people they represent needed help.

Members like Missouri Republican Sam Graves who—just two years ago—begged President Obama for an emergency declaration freeing up big time federal bucks to aid the people in his home district in their hour of need following a severe natural disaster.

And what do you imagine the money was for?

Would you believe it was for damages Graves’ constituents suffered from flooding-the very same problem in New York and New Jersey that today’s House vote was addressing?

Here is what Congressman Graves had to say when it was his neighbors who were under water:

“I urge the President to approve this assistance without delay. Many communities along the river have been stretched to the limit preparing for and fighting this unprecedented flood.”

Yes…he really said that.

And yet, today, the Congressman voted to deny similar aid to the victims of Sandy.

In 2009, Georgia Republican Paul Broun applauded the larges sums of FEMA money being spent in his Congressional district when parts of Stephens County suffered serious damage as a result of…wait for it…flooding.

Today, Congressman Broun cast a no vote on a bill created to help out those suffering from flooding in New York and New Jersey.

And then there is Republican Congressman Mo Brooks of Alabama who, in 2011, held town meetings back home to help educate constituents victimized by a devastating tornado as to how to go about getting federal assistance money that his constituents would not have to pay back. 

Here is the statement the distinguished gentleman from Alabama issued at that time as a part of his effort to bring people into his town meetings:

“I urge tornado victims to attend these meetings to better understand their federal assistance rights.  Some of it is in the form of loans, SBA long term low interest loans but there are also direct grants that you do not have to repay if you qualify, unemployment compensation, rents as you try to find a new place to live.“

Today, Congressman Brooks voted against providing the funding to pay the rightful claims to those who suffered in Sandy.

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Newt Gingrich Politics

Words Of Wisdom From Newt Gingrich – Debt Ceiling Fight is “A Dead Loser” For GOP

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Newt Gingrich had something to say about congressional Republicans’ new threat to damage this nation’s recovering economy – fighting President Obama tooth and nail on the debt ceiling fight coming in a couple of months. Congressional Republicans have indicated that they are willing to shut down the government if necessary, to force President Obama and the Democrats to see things their way. And to this idea, Gingrich said;

“But he also knows — they’ve got to find, in the house, a totally new strategy,” Gingrich began. “Confronting — for example, everybody’s now talking about, okay, now comes the debt ceiling. I think that’s, frankly, a dead loser.”

Gingrich explained that “in the end… the whole national financial system is going to come into Washington by television and say ‘Oh, my god, this will be a gigantic heart attack. The entire economy of the world will collapse. You guys can’t be responsible,’ and they’ll cave.”

The last time Republicans threatened to force a U.S. government default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling, which allows the government to pay out money that congress has already spent, the result was the first credit rating downgrade in U.S. history. Another such debacle would be disastrous, but Republicans see this threat as fair game to extract political concessions.

I’m pretty sure that will be the first and only time we use Newt Gingrich and “words of wisdom” in the same sentence.

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democrats Entertainment Political Humor

WRITING CONTEST: True Wit!

Come up with the wittiest, most outlandish repartee between our two beloved political icons and the commenter with the most “likes” will have their dialogue published into the word balloons. Both art and copy will then be re-posted with a credit line for the winner!

CONTEST RULES:

1.  No more than 80 characters (including spaces between words and sentences).

2.  Colorful, adult language allowed, but keep it G-rated please : )

3.  Indicate dialog for Democrat symbol (the donkey) and Republican symbol (the elephant)

4.  Winner will be notified via Facebook inbox mail before their entry is published.

5.  Winner’s name or tag will be used as a credit line, your choice.

Contest ends January 31, 2013 @10am. Revised art with winner’s copy and credit line will be posted February 1st,  after winner notification.

HAVE FUN!

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Politics

GOP Threat: Stop Us Before We Kill Ourselves!

Can the Republican Party possibly do more to inflict damage on itself? Is this a cry for help from a psychologically wounded group? Perhaps we should give every GOP member of Congress a gun and watch them shoot themselves in the foot. Or form a circular firing squad.

The honest truth is that we are witnessing the end of an era and the implosion of the party. The election of 2012 signaled the beginning of the end of the conservative era and like most things these days, the decline is coming swiftly and unmercifully. The fiscal cliff deal is emblematic. Denying the Northeast hurricane aid was a public-relations disaster. The worst is yet to come.

Now we get to look forward to two more rounds of economic negotiations on the debt ceiling and entitlement programs. Other writers are saying that these will be fought on more sure-footed GOP ground. I don’t buy that for one second. Having been beaten soundly by the president on the tax issue, they now have little leverage on the debt ceiling or budget cuts.

Think about it.

Most Americans already blame the Republicans for almost scuttling a New Year’s deal and then witnessed first hand the comeuppance of John Boehner at the hands of those frisky Tea Party conservatives. They saw how the party hesitated to even raise taxes on millionaires and how the House abdicated its responsibility and needed to be bailed out by Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden.

And this was the easy deal.

Most Americans, again, do not want severe cuts to their government Medicare and safety net programs, but that’s exactly what the GOP is peddling. And the sheer size of the cuts that will be necessary to achieve Paul Ryan’s aims will ultimately prove to be a disaster for them. I just know that Boehner and Cantor will overstep the mandate they think they have and will also want their pound of flesh from Obama to make up for the just-completed deal.

Likewise for the debt ceiling. The country certainly remembers that it was the right that played brinkmanship with the budget in 2011 and got us a lower credit rating. Just let them do the same thing again and see what happens.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the idea that the president keeps his cool and doesn’t give away more than he needs to in the negotiations. The left is not happy with the tax deal, but really, how much can you push tax cuts for the wealthy? The difference between what he wanted and what he got is miniscule, which is exactly the problem, budget-wise, and Obama still came out a winner. Plus he’s already offered cuts to social programs that the GOP has rejected as too little. He’s in the driver’s seat.

The GOP is still convinced that only their ideas are correct and I seriously doubt that they will come out with specific proposals on how to retire the debt responsibly or which tax loopholes they want to close (which will also be unpopular). So the way I see it, this should be a good season for the president and Democrats.

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Politics

The 112th Congress Will Be The Least Productive In History

Thanks to a Republican controlled House of Representatives of course.

With just days left in the 112th Congress, this session of legislators is set to become the least productive in modern American history, according to a review by The Huffington Post. President Barack Obama has signed just 219 bills into law since January, 2011. This Congress would need to pass another 100 bills between now and the close of this Congress’ business in order to surpass the 104th Congress which, up to now, has had the honor of being the least productive Congress since records going back to 1947 have been kept by the U.S. Clerk’s office.

Both the 104th (1995-1996) and the 112th Congress share the distinction of including a number of Republican legislators swept into office after a wave election. They also governed during a Democratic presidential administration.

h/t The Huffington Post

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Politics taxes

Republicans Released Their “Balanced” Plan – No Taxes On The Rich, Middle Class Pays More

Republicans have decided to release their list of demands.

After the president’s plan at a balanced approach to avoid the fiscal cliff was laughed at by Republican House Leader John Boehner, Americans waited with baited breath in anticipation of what Republicans would propose. Well the wait is over and to no one’s surprise, Republicans are still protecting the rich and asking the poor and middle class to pay more.

Here are the basics of the “balanced” plan proposed by Republicans today:

1. No new taxes on the rich.

2. Spending cuts on services benefiting the middle class to the tune of $600 billion

3. More spending cuts on what is being called “Health Services” to the tune of another $600 billion

4. Revenues from “tax reform” equaling $800 billion over 10 years.

In total, Republicans are looking to bring in $2.2 trillion dollars by cutting services that benefit the needy, while at the same time, protecting the greedy. After releasing their offer, House Speaker Boehner told the press that the plan was “credible.” He said,“what we are putting forward is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House.” He also requested that the White House respond as soon as possible.

The president’s plan in comparison looked to raise $1.6 trillion in new taxes, while letting the tax rate for those making more than $250,000 go back to what it was under the Clinton administration. It called for tax reforms and closing loopholes and cuts $400 billion in services.

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