Tracking the Conservative Point of View of Politics in Washington that affect States Rights in the South. Promoting Tea Party Politics.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Tea Party Warns Republicans to cut the Budget or else
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., spoke with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” on January 6th, 2011,about the GOP’s agenda on Capitol Hill. On the Republicans’ planned vote to repeal the health care reform law, Cantor said it was a way to “send a signal that we’re dead serious about getting rid of this spending of money we don’t have.” http://abcn.ws/dQVMCR
On spending, Cantor predicted: “We are going to accomplish more than $100 billion in cuts over the term of this Congress.”
Stephanopoulos: “But not the first year, as you promised?”
Cantor: “George, what we promised was we are going to bring spending down to ’08 levels.”
As they prepare to take power on Wednesday, Republican leaders are scaling back that number by as much as half, aides say, because the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, will be nearly half over before spending cuts could become law.
For their part, GOP leaders pushed back on the suggestion that they were breaking a promise on that score.
“There is no retreat from House Republicans’ pledge to cut spending,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., chairman of the House Budget Committee said in a statement yesterday. “To be clear, House Republicans will vote to cut their own budgets by 5 percent this week. Next week, we will vote to cut trillions of dollars in government spending by repealing the President’s health care law. In addition to these immediate steps, we will clean up the fiscal wreckage left by House Democrats, setting spending limits for the remainder of FY2011 at pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels for non-security discretionary spending.” http://bit.ly/eYurkP
As Republicans celebrated their new power in Washington yesterday, two prominent Tea Party activists walked the halls of Capitol Hill carrying a message: we’re keeping an eye on you. Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler, the co-founders of the national group, Tea Party Patriots, aren’t taking anything for granted. They were also passing along the sentiment that the vast majority of their members across the country oppose raising the debt ceiling and support spending cuts.
Meckler expressed disgust Wednesday in response to the news that congressional Republicans plan to reduce their goal of $100 billion in budget cuts, saying the GOP needed to cut more, not less. Meckler said that the American people were no longer ignorant about government spending, so if the GOP stops at the $100 billion figure, he predicts they'll "get an earful from the American people."
Should Republicans fail to follow through, Meckler and Martin said the Tea Party Patriots won’t hesitate to bring out the “big guns” -- their term for mobilizing their considerable member base through social media, mass e-mail messages, conference calls, town hall meetings, rallies and other avenues to put pressure on lawmakers.
The tea party leader said Republicans should aim to reduce spending to the levels seen in 2000, not 2008. He suggested that Congress reach this number by putting everything, including defense spending, on the table for cuts. As CBS News pointed out, defense spending would certainly need to be addressed, as the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq, which have cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion since 2001, weren't yet on the budget in 2000.
TEA-PARTY groups are warning the GOP to cut government spending dramatically or face primary challenges, The Hill reports. Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation posted an open letter to John Boehner on his website (access for Tea Party Nation members only!) demanding "serious and meaningful cuts in the budget." http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/01/defence_cuts
Both the Republicans and The Tea Party maybe surprised and pleased that Defense Secretary,Robert Gates, just anounced Thursday to Congress the administration is seeking $78 billion in cuts to the Defense budget over the next five years on top of $100 billion in efficiencies.
Members of Congress and defense lobbyists contacted by The Hill said they are ready to oppose the cost-cutting proposal that Gates is expected to unveil on Thursday. But several sources said resisting the administration’s plans would be more difficult than in years past, partly becauseTea Party-backed lawmakers are challenging the rule of old, powerful defense committee barons. The move to ban earmarks in Congress also makes the cuts difficult to oppose, since they have traditionally been the best tool for protecting vulnerable procurement projects.
MRC.org - Media Research Center
MRC.org - Media Research Center
Appearing as a guest on Thursday’s Countdown show on MSNBC, Matt Taibbi - contributing editor of Rolling Stone magazine - ridiculously accused Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Tea Party activists of racism in the form of using "coded language" to refer to "Mexican immigrants and non-white inner city, Democratic-leaning voters" as he responded to a soundbite of Boehner talking about having a social safety net for those unable to work, but that should perhaps exclude those who refuse to help themselves.
After host Keith Olbermann played a clip of the House Speaker contending, "But do we have a responsibility to help those who won't compete? I would have serious doubts about that," Taibbi found it "amazing" that Boehner "would say it so openly," and went on to suggest that the House Speaker was showing signs of racism, tying in Tea Party activists. Taibbi:
On MSNBC, Rolling Stone's Taibbi Accuses Boehner & Tea Party of Racist 'Coded Language'
Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:56 PM EST
After host Keith Olbermann played a clip of the House Speaker contending, "But do we have a responsibility to help those who won't compete? I would have serious doubts about that," Taibbi found it "amazing" that Boehner "would say it so openly," and went on to suggest that the House Speaker was showing signs of racism, tying in Tea Party activists. Taibbi:
It's amazing that he would say it so openly, but I know when I go to cover Tea Party events, I almost inevitably end up talking to people who are on Medicare or collecting unemployment insurance or government pensions, but they're railing against government welfare. I say, "Well, do you see any contradiction there?" "No, I deserve this. I work hard. It's those other people."Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, January 6, Countdown show on MSNBC:
And we know who they mean when they say "other people." It's Mexican immigrants and non-white, inner city, Democratic-leaning voters. So that's, it's coded language when he uses that kind of language.
KEITH OLBERMANN: Mr. Boehner was also asked about his philosophy of governing, what the government should do for people. He said he believes in the social safety net, but then he gave a stunningly clear outline of who it is he thinks needs the social safety net. Despite figures showing more people are forced into bankruptcy by catastrophic medical costs than by anything else, Mr. Boehner thinks it’s people who are unable to compete in the job market, and suggested there are Americans - he didn't identify whom - who will not compete.-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
JOHN BOEHNER, HOUSE SPEAKER: I believe in the safety net. You know, we live in a competitive society. We live in a capitalist society. For those who can compete and do well, fine. Some Americans can't compete. I think we have a responsibility as a people to help those who can't compete. But do we have a responsibility to help those who won't compete? I would have serious doubts about that.
OLBERMANN: A new Rolling Stone profile of Mr. Boehner chronicles his life on the dime of rich patrons, spending almost $83,000 on golfing in 2009, renting an apartment for years from a health insurance lobbyist, running up a $67,000 tab at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. With us now, the author of that profile, Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi, the author most recently of Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America. Good to see you, Matt.
MATT TAIBBI: Good to see you, Keith.
OLBERMANN: As I said before, I’m really beginning to like this guy.
TAIBBI: He is going to be a lot of fun.
OLBERMANN: But who are the Americans that can't compete versus the ones who won't compete? Do you have any insight into that?
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's amazing that he would say it so openly, but I know when I go to cover Tea Party events, I almost inevitably end up talking to people who are on Medicare or collecting unemployment insurance or government pensions, but they're railing against government welfare. I say, "Well, do you see any contradiction there?" "No, I deserve this. I work hard. It's those other people." And we know who they mean when they say "other people." It's Mexican immigrants and non-white, inner city, Democratic-leaning voters. So that’s, it's coded language when he uses that kind of language. But in Boehner's case, what’s so funny about it, the people who can't compete, I think, in his eyes, if you go by his TARP vote, it's J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. I mean, those are the people he’s talking about when he's talks about a social safety net, I think.
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