Tag: United States Congress

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Barack Obama Politics United States

For Congressional Approval, It’s How Low Can You Go

You couldn’t get this low of an approval even if you tried.

Hammered by bipartisan discontent with its partisan rancor, the U.S. Congress reconvenes Tuesday with its lowest approval rating on record in polls dating back nearly 40 years –ideal fodder not just for late-night comedians, but also for President Obama in the election year ahead.

Just 13 percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of the way Congress is handling its job, while 84 percent disapprove – its worst rating in poll results since 1974. Sixty-five percent disapprove “strongly,” a vast level of high-intensity criticism.

Congress’ rating is a broad 35 points below Obama’s 48 percent approval, the biggest gap between approval of the president and Congress since 1990

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Barack Obama Featured Republican

Fox News Calls President A “Vigilante” For Making Recess Appointment

If you listen to the fake news people at the fake news network called Fox News, you will believe that recess appointments started when President Obama became president. The fake news channel has been busy over the last few days criticizing the President for appointing Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Protection Agency. What got the fake news people upset is not only the recess appointment, but the way the President did the appointment.

You see, Republicans are on vacation. However, before they went on vacation, they did something to make sure that the President’s hands were tied. They wanted to make sure that nothing got accomplished in their absence, for it is in the absence or recess of this particular congress that the President is able to get his appointments through.

So what did Republicans do?

They employed an old trick to make it seem as though Congress was still in session. They had someone show up every day in the Congressional building and pretend that congressional business was being done. This person or persons would begin a session, discuss nothing, then close the session in order to continue their vacation for the rest of the day.

President Obama used this time to install Mr. Cordray as the head of the Consumer Protection Agency and this recess appointment was called a “vigilante” act by the “Fair and Falanced” brainiacs at Fox News.

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Barack Obama Politics Republican washington

Lie Of The Day – Eric Cantor, “I Respect The Man. I Like The President.”

The world watches, as Eric Cantor and Republicans do everything they legally can to defeat this president. They especially fight against things that economists from both sides of the political fence agree will benefit the economy, simply because allowing the economy to flourish means President Obama’s presidency will be a bigger success than what it is now.

A question was posed to Eric Cantor – one of the biggest Republican threats to a healthy American economy.

Appearing on CBS, Cantor was asked by Lesley Stahl to explain why Congressional Republicans are so against the President. Why they exhibit a need for “brinkmanship, gamesmanship, one-upsmanship.”

He answered by spewing the same Republican nonsense, claiming that this is how things are done in Washington.”Ultimately this is part of the legislative process… I know it’s frustrating. I live it,” Cantor said. An obvious lie as both sides have always come together in the past to get things done.

He then went into his main lie – referring to the fact that Republicans want the President to fail as “just political rhetoric.” And then this, “You know, he is my commander in chief. I respect the man. I like the president.”

It’s just January 2nd, but already, this lie should qualify as PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year” for 2012.

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money Politics United States

While Congress Got Richer, Average Americans Got Poorer

The New York Times is once again, shedding some light on the selfish, mine mine mine mentality that is now elected Congressional members. Apparently, Congress is the place to go if you want to be a millionaire, while the rest of your constituents suffer!

While the median net worth of members of Congress jumped 15 percent from 2004 to 2010, the net worth of the richest 10 percent of Americans remained essentially flat. For all Americans, median net worth dropped 8 percent, based on inflation-adjusted data from Moody’s Analytics.

Going back further, the median wealth of House members grew some two and a half times between 1984 and 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars, while the wealth of the average American family has actually declined slightly in that same time period, according to data cited by The Washington Post in an article published Monday on its Web site.

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Domestic Policies Payroll tax Republican Tax Tax cut United States

President Obama Calls Boehner’s Caving “Good News”

In a statement, the President praised the “good news” that Boehner and House Republicans caved on extending the Payroll tax cuts for the middle class.

“For the past several weeks, I’ve stated consistently that it was critical that Congress not go home without preventing a tax increase on 160 million working Americans. Today, I congratulate members of Congress for ending the partisan stalemate by reaching an agreement that meets that test.

Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut – about $1,000 for the average family. That’s about $40 in every paycheck. Vital unemployment insurance will continue for millions of Americans who are looking for work. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay.

This is good news, just in time for the holidays. This is the right thing to do to strengthen our families, grow our economy, and create new jobs. This is real money that will make a real difference in people’s lives. And I want to thank every American who raised your voice to remind folks in this town what this debate was all about. It was about you. And today, your voices made all the difference.”

Indeed.

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Barack Obama Politics Republican Senate United States

Boehner Surrenders – Bad Politics Caused House Republicans To Cave On Payroll Tax Cuts

Chalk this one up as a win for the hard-working middle class families. Earlier today, John Boehner, under excruciating pressure from members of his own party, caved and agreed to the payroll tax cut bill the Senate passed last week – a move that would save  American families $1000.00 a year.

It was the kind of pressure that could make one appear red in the face!

Under a deal reached between House and Senate leaders — which Speaker John A. Boehner was presenting to the rank and file in an evening conference call — House members would accept the two-month extension of a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits approved by the Senate last Saturday, while the Senate would appoint members of a House-Senate conference committee to negotiate legislation to extend both benefits through 2012.

House Republicans — who rejected an almost identical deal on Tuesday on the House floor — caved in under the political rubble that accumulated over the week, much of it from members of their own party, who worried the blockade would do serious damage to the party brand heading into an election year. The new deal makes minor adjustments to make it easier for small businesses with temporary new caps on the wages that are subject to the tax relief.

On news of Boehner’s reversal, President Obama issued a statement, saying “Because of this agreement, every working American will keep his or her tax cut – about $1,000 for the average family. That’s about $40 in every paycheck. And when Congress returns, I urge them to keep working to reach an agreement that will extend this tax cut and unemployment insurance for all of 2012 without drama or delay.”

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Barack Obama Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

Mitch McConnell Raised The White Flag On The Debt Ceiling…Or Did He?

When President Obama earlier stated that “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon”, no one really understood where the President was going in terms of the negotiations concerning raising the debt ceiling. Later when he put forth his plan for a massive $4 trillion dollars in spending cuts – if Republicans agreed to ending the tax loopholes for the wealthy – the connection between his statement and his plan still wasn’t realized.

However, when the Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday told the press, that he is willing to “authorize” the President to submit a request to congress to raise the debt ceiling, a light bulb went off in the Host of MSNBC’s The Last Word – Lawrence O’ Donnell‘s head. The President’s statement on a $4 trillion spending cut proposal finally began making sense.

The way O’Donnell explains the connection is like this: President Obama is winning the debt ceiling argument with Republicans. By making the statement, “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon,” the President put Republicans on notice, that to have a deal, both parties would have to agree to major sacrifices. He then announced a huge spending cut proposal, with the knowledge that Republicans were too much against imposing any taxes or ending the loopholes on the wealthy. With this in mind, the President essentially called the Republican’s bluff. If they were really serious about deficit reduction, they would have jumped on the opportunity to cut spending by ending the tax loopholes.

Then yesterday, Mitch McConnell came out and basically handed the President the win. What Mitch wants is a resolution to allow the President to raise the debt ceiling all by himself. The President would request congress to raise the debt ceiling. Congress would then vote to “disapprove” the request, which the President would then veto. With that veto, the debt ceiling would automatically be raised on the President’s terms.

This move by McConnell, basically giving up the fight and allowing President Obama to make the decision, brought it all home for Lawrence.

Of course, we are talking about Mitch McConnell – the same Republican who said his primary goal is to see Obama fail. It is therefore wise to look at this “plan” by McConnell from that perspective and realize the politics behind it. McConnell realizes that the Republicans have taken a dangerous position. Any default by the United States government by not raising the debt ceiling would be political assassination for the GOP. With this move, McConnell removes the Republicans from the decision-making process, that way, the President makes the decision and avoids America going into default.  McConnell can tell his Teaparty constituents that he voted against raising the debt ceiling.

The punk’s way out if you ask me.

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Democrat Democratic hypocrites Politics Republican washington

Bill Clinton Blames Republicans For Present Economic Woes

Former President Bill Clinton blamed Republicans in Congress for the state of the economy. Mr. Clinton called out the  GOP as hypocrites for implementing massive tax cuts and increased spending during the Bush administration, policies that directly contributed to the present recession.

Speaking to a group of liberal group activists in Washington, Clinton said, “”Partly because the Republicans who control the House and have a lot of pull in the Senate have now decided, having quadrupled the debt in 12 years before I took office and doubled it after I left, that it’s all of a sudden the biggest problem in the world.”

The former President, who opposes spending cuts in a downward economy, again expressed his concerns with the present budget talks, and he referenced the United Kingdom and their mistake of cutting spending at a time when spending should have been increased. Clinton continued;

“In the current budget debate, there’s all this discussion about how much will come from spending cuts, how much will come from tax increases, and almost nobody is talking about one of the central points – that everyone who’s analyzed the situation makes, including the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission, which said you shouldn’t do any of this until the economy is clearly recovering.

“Because if you do things that dampen economic growth, and the U.K. is finding this out now, they adopted this big austerity budget, and there’s a good chance that economic activity will go down so much that tax revenues will be reduced even more than spending is cut, and their deficit will increase.”

President Obama meets today with both Republican and Democratic leaders to discuss the debt ceiling. Democrats have offered about $3 trillion in defense and other spending cuts and they have asked Republicans to agree on closing some tax loopholes that benefits millionaires and billionaires. Republicans have so far, dismissed this proposal and have demanded Democrats leave these loopholes alone.

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Politics South Carolina United States

Republican Suggests Impeaching President Obama For Maybe Invoking The 14th Amendment

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution says:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

Because of this amendment, many suggests that Congressional authorization to raise the debt ceiling is not necessary, as not doing so would mean that America defaults on its obligation to pay its debt, thus, going against the 14th amendment of the constitution.

Republicans – who have stood their ground in insisting that raising the debt ceiling is not going to happen – are now scrambling to find a way to defeat section 4 of the 14th amendment. Some have suggested an amendment to the 14th amendment and others like Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, went even further. He wants to impeach President Obama if the President even thinks about trying to raise the debt ceiling without congress. The South Carolina representative recently told a teaparty audience;

“This president is looking to usurp congressional oversight to find a way to get it done without us. My position is that is an impeachable act from my perspective.”

There are a lot of things people say, ‘Are you going to impeach the president over that?’ — No. But this? This is catastrophic. This jeopardizes the credibility of our nation if one man can usurp the entire system set up by our founding fathers over something this significant.”

It should be noted that President Obama has never mentioned an intent to “usurp the entire system.” As a matter of fact, this president has gone the extra mile trying to bring both Republicans and Democrats to the table, in an effort to get the Congressional authorization necessary for allowing America to pay her bills.

But then again, Republicans like Tim Scott would like to impeach President Obama just for being president.

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Barack Obama MSNBC Pat Buchanan Politics Republican United States

Pat Buchanan Predicts That Obama Will “Fold” On Debt Ceiling

Politics were on full display on MSNBC’s Morning Joe with Pat Buchanan demanding that Republicans do nothing on the upcoming vote to raise the debt ceiling. Buchanan’s reasoning to his Republican friends in Congress? – Don’t raise the debt ceiling because “Obama will fold!”

In his call for the Republicans to do nothing, Pat Buchanan went as far as to suggest that if Republicans do what’s best for the country and raise the debt ceiling, Boehner and the rest of the  Republicans will not be able to go home and face their constituents. When it was explained to Buchanan that it is simply impossible to balance the budget on spending cuts alone without bringing in revenues from taxes at the same time, Buchanan replied;

If you take a look at John Boehner, he can’t go home again if he signs on to taxes. He’s dead if he signs on to higher taxes.

It should be noted that the “higher taxes” Buchanan and Republicans in general are talking about, is a 3% raise in the tax rate of millionaires and billionaires – essentially going back to the rate as they existed under Bill Clinton.

Apparently, the politics of doing nothing and further tanking the economy, will be better for Republicans and their constituents, notwithstanding the fact that this political decision will cause severe consequences to the nation’s economy.

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Anthony Weiner Democratic Politics twitter

Weiner Will Forever Be Remembered As Sending His Covered Weener On Twitter

The unfortunate part of this whole Weiner episode is that now, he will forever be remembered as the man who sent a picture of his covered weener on Twitter, instead of being remembered as the great Democratic voice in Congress.

Will Anthony Weiner survive this? No. We expect another press conference where Weiner will announce his resignation.

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Anthony Weiner New York twitter Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Weiner Pulls Out… of Scheduled Wisconsin Event

Democratic congressman from New York, Anthony Weiner has had enough, so instead of going to a scheduled event in Wisconsin this weekend and being faced with more questions about the picture of a man’s bulging private parts, sent from his twitter account to a 21-year-old, Weiner has decided that spending time “with his family” is the best thing to do.

The report from the Milwaukee Journal states,

Graeme Zielinski, party spokesman, confirmed the cancellation and said the decision was Weiner’s, and that the party’s invitation to him was still good.

“It’s understandable, considering what’s going on,” Zielinski added.

Weiner, an outspoken liberal voice in Congress, has been in the midst of a controversy over a photo of a male crotch in underpants sent to a female Twitter follower of his.

Weiner has denied sending the photo and says his Twitter account was hacked, but he has not denied  the photo might be of him. The story has occupied much of the political world for the past few days.

Weiner was to be one of the main speakers at the convention, which starts today at the Frontier Airlines Center. Another main speaker: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Zielinski said Weiner “opted to stay in New York . .. with his family,” and added, “We’re looking forward to a visit in the future” from Weiner.

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