Lugar may be in jeopardy in primary from Tea Party challenger
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) looks weak against a Tea Party challenge in the Republican primary.
2010 was a trend,not a fluke.
Tag: Congress
Montanans have launched a recall campaign against their senators for voting for unlimited military detention
Montanans have launched a recall campaign against their senators for voting for unlimited military detention.
Moving quickly on Christmas Day after the US Senate voted 86 – 14 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial, Montanans have announced the launch of recall campaigns against Senators Max Baucus and Jonathan Tester, who voted for the bill.
A country in denial about its fiscal future
The end of LightSquared
Deficit may be biggest threat to ObamaCare
Well duh! Deficit may be biggest threat to ObamaCare.
I always opposed ObamaCare because I oppose the use of government to run our lives. But putting that minor point aside, it made absolutely no sense for the government to add this entitlement to the nation’s balance sheet at a time when that balance sheet is so completely in the red. The only time these kinds of government programs can possible work (if ever) is when there is lots of spare cash in the bank, something we definitely don’t have right now.
The Great Spending Betrayal
Over Friday and Saturday, 61% of House Republicans and 34% of Senate Republicans voted for the omnibus megabus bill. In doing so, not only did they violate their pledge pertaining to bundled (1200-page) bills and the 72-hour layover rule and agree to fund Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, the PLO and the UN; they actually agreed to spend almost $9 billion more than last year. Overall, budget authority will be $33 billion higher than the House budget, while appropriations for non-defense spending will be $45 billion more. One of the members who voted in the affirmative even agreed that he had voted for a “crap sandwich.”
One reason the budget is still growing is that two-thirds of the government is still controlled by the spendthrift Democratic Party. A second reason is that there are too many wimpy Republicans willing to compromise with these spendthrifts.
Which is why we have elections. 2012 should help fix this problem.
“We Didn’t Know What The Hell Was Going On”
A Democrat explains the reasoning behind the Obama stimulus package: “We didn’t know what the hell was going on.” With video.
NASA Faces Further Cuts in Last-minute Spending Package
NASA faces a $325 million additional cut in the last-minute spending deal now before Congress.
These cuts will bring NASA’s budget back to what it had in 2008, hardly a disaster for space exploration.
Budget deal cuts EPA by three percent
Another science budget update from Nature states that the budget deal will cut EPA by three percent.
This cut reduces EPA’s budget from its 2011 numbers by about $400 million. However, the agency’s total 2012 budget of $8.4 billion is still $1 billion more than it got in 2008, hardly what I’d call a draconian cut.
Once again, the inability of Congress to seriously face the deficit issue threatens to eventually destroy the U.S.’s ability to do any science. A bankrupt nation can’t do much but feed itself, as the scientists in the Soviet Union learned back in the 1990s.
NIH and DOE in the proposed budget deal
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the science office in the Department of Energy (DOE) appear to avoid serious cuts in the proposed budget deal.
Actually, NIH’s budget remains almost identical to what it got in 2012, $30.6 billion. However, this amount is $1.4 billion more than it got in 2008, and $1.7 billion more than it got in 2007. As for DOE’s Office of Science, the $4.889 billion for 2012 is still $700 million more than the office got in 2008.
In other words, considering the budget deficits the federal government faces, these 2012 budget numbers hardly seem to be a reasonable attack on the problem. Simply bringing those budget numbers back down to 2008 numbers would hardly damage the work these government agencies are doing, and it would surely do more to reduce the deficit.
Jon Corzine Was Served Papers from one of MF Global’s customers During His Hearing Recess
Jon Corzine was served papers from one of MF Global’s customers during a recess in his testimony today before Congress.
Watch the video. It is gives you a flavor of the kind of person Corzine really is.
Another ObamaCare program goes bankrupt
Repeal it! Another ObamaCare program has gone bankrupt, spending its full budget three years earlier than expected.
The stimulus was not a one time expense, it was built into the baseline
One reason we are going bankrupt: The stimulus was not a one time expense, it was built into the baseline.
Click to see the chart most of all. It will make you sick.
Testimony at a Senate hearing about the theft of customer funds at MF Global revealed today the Jon Corzine did know of the theft, contrary to his own testimony before Congress.
Testimony today at a Senate hearing about the MF Global scandal revealed that Jon Corzine, the former Democratic New Jersey governor and a fundraiser for President Obama, was aware of the theft of customer funds, contrary to his own testimony before Congress. More here.
Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney
Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney.
Look, Gingrich is by far not a perfect candidate. He has clearly taken positions in the last few years that made my socks roll up and down in horror. And when he was Speaker there were times I thought he was too willing to agree to bad deals.
Yet, he did mastermind the first Republican takeover of Congress in forty years. Yet, when he was Speaker the federal budget was brought under control, producing surpluses for four years in a row.
Finally, unlike every other Republican candidate for President since Reagan, Gingrich can debate. He not only knows how to articulate conservative ideals, he has shown himself capable of effectively pointing out liberal foolishness. In the Presidential debates to come, the country needs that as it will give strength to the conservative candidates running for the House and Senate. And that is where we really need victories. If we get a Congress that is willing to seriously cut the federal budget, it won’t matter that much who is President.
A new poll shows a record high anti-incumbent sentiment toward Congress
Good news: A new poll shows a record high anti-incumbent sentiment toward Congress.
Electric car company shuts down
For once, the taxpayer doesn’t get screwed: The electric car company Aptera has shut down due to lack of interest from investors and the lack of a loan from the government.
The California company was counting on a federal loan – and private investments to match the loan – so that it could start producing its very first electric vehicle. Aptera said it was close to securing a $150 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, but it couldn’t line up the private dollars necessary to complete the loan application process.
Despite earmark ban, some lawmakers continue to try to give money to hundreds of pet projects
The efforts to resurrect spending on pet projects reveal the tenuous nature of current reform efforts. Two senators have publicly called out their colleagues and will introduce legislation Wednesday that would ban earmarking with the force of law. “I have heard too many appropriators say informally that they are very hopeful that we can get back to earmarking in the future with few restrictions,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who is co-authoring the bill with Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.). “That has come out of the mouths of Democrats and Republicans.”
What I glean from this article is that a good number of legislators are still trying to sneak in their earmarks, but that they are finding it increasingly difficult. Unfortunately, it also appears that too many of them are still succeeding.
“What the hell are we paying you for?”
Chris Christie to Barack Obama: “What the hell are we paying you for?”
This is so good, so honest and to the point, that it deserves to be embedded everywhere.
Senate bill would allow the military to arrest and hold US citizens at home or abroad indefinitely
Madness: A Senate bill, to be voted on today, would allow the military to arrest and hold US citizens indefinitely, both at home and abroad.
Termed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and drafted behind closed doors by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) the NDAA would:
1) Explicitly authorize the federal government to indefinitely imprison without charge or trial American citizens and others picked up inside and outside the United States;
(2) Mandate military detention of some civilians who would otherwise be outside of military control, including civilians picked up within the United States itself; and
(3) Transfer to the Department of Defense core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility now held by the Department of Justice.
For any elected official to consider this kind of legislation acceptable is only clear evidence that they should be put out of office immediately. Fire them all!