Will Stupak Hold Up Under the Intense Pressure? Or Will He Compromise?

On the one hand...This is an excerpt from the New York Post.

   "President Obama's attempts to ram health- care reform through an increasingly reluctant Congress are starting to resemble a really eventful episode of "The Sopranos."
   Those who oppose the president can expect the political equivalent of a horse head between their sheets.
Some of this is just traditional electioneering: On-the-fence Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln is getting a primary challenger with some backing from the national Democratic machine.
   But some of it is much nastier. For instance, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), whose opposition to abortion funding has become one of the bill's biggest hurdles, is now seeing attacks on his ethics.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow recently questioned the legality of the low rent that a conservative Christian group charges Stupak for his DC apartment. She even noted ominously that disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford stayed at the same building. The liberal blog Daily Kos has picked up on the charges and suggested that both the IRS and the House Ethics Committee investigate.
   "Politics ain't beanbag," as Mr. Dooley noted. Presidents have always twisted arms and made deals. And when two-thirds of voters are opposed to your plans, you may have no choice but to play hardball.
   But when Obama promised to change the way Washington does business, we didn't think he meant making it a "family" business."

On the other hand...here is an excerpt from the Huffington Post.

   "Everyone's going around saying there's a compromise--there's no such thing," Stupak said. Though the Michigan representative did admit meeting with both House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) this week to talk about potential fixes to the bill, such discussions have not yet produced results.
   "I'm more optimistic than I was a week ago," Stupak said about reaching an acceptable compromise on abortion wording in the bill. Any such a compromise must fix the wording before the bill goes up for a vote, Stupak continued.
Maybe you should send a note to his office and encourage him to stand firm. 

Only 16 Republicans (Two from Michigan) Got on This Bus

If there is one common frustration with Congress that is shared by most Americans it's the spending and deficits. Congressmen can swear off taxes, but at the federal level, they can still spend without raising taxes, they just print money and borrow.  Congress is now passing budgets with deficits over $1 trillion per year!

The House Republicans in Washington have a website: www.gop.gov. On February 25, 2009, they published a summary of HR 1105, "The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009". The purpose of the site is to inform voters of what is going on in Congress and the GOP's position on various bill in Congress. Without question, the message from gop.gov is, "this bill costs too much money."

Regarding HR 1105, gop.gov said: "The $32 billion increase represents the largest one-year hike in annual appropriated spending percentage since the Carter administration, with the exception of funding immediately after September 11th.  And since many of these programs and agencies received funding in the recent "stimulus," the combined increase is $301 billion or 80% over Fiscal Year 2008."

The website lists numerous "concerns" about the legislation, such as: 

• $545 million that will be funneled to International abortion providers
• $1.45 billion for Amtrak (because they keep losing money)
• $181 million for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, a suspected shell organization of ACORN
• $155 million in additional funding for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $80 million for Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery
• $1.9 billion for the Dept. of Energy for "energy efficiency initiatives"
• $300,000 to National Fish and Wildlife Service for "Loon Research"
• $1.1 billion for "Cattle Studies"
• $347 million to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, in part to pay for trophies and certificates for mine rescues and first-aid work

The list goes on, and on, and on...you can read all the inglorious details here.

The website expresses serious concerns with the Omnibus Bill and its wasteful spending. The GOP was mostly successful in convincing Republican members of Congress to NOT support the bill. Of the 178 Republicans serving, only 16 voted for the Omnibus. (Two are from Michigan.) Find them all here.

Only 36,000 people lost their jobs today, and that is good!

Harry Reid speaks.

I Signed the Mt. Vernon Statement

The Mount Vernon Statement

Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century

We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.

See the entire statement here

I hope you will join me in signing this important document.

A Great Essay About Waste in Government on Transportation

This essay was submitted to me by David Wisz of Birmingham, Michigan. I edited it only slightly.

Next to National Health Care, no liberal dream has lingered longer than forcing people out of cars and into mass transit – even in Michigan.  Like health care, the justifications shift with the political winds; the current rational is “jobs”.  However, unlike real jobs created by the private sector, taxpayers are forced to subsidize these public sector union “jobs.”

The 2010 SMART bus operating budget is $122 Million to support 900 union employees.  About one-third of the total bus operating expenses are siphoned from Michigan’s Comprehensive Transportation Fund (CTF) - a mass transit subsidy carved from Michigan’s annual road budget.  Nearly all CTF funds come from federal fuel taxes (18.4 centers per gallon), state fuel taxes, and state vehicle registration fees.

CTF is a redistribution of wealth from the Michigan’s car and truck drivers to public sector union-controlled mass transit agencies like SMART bus. Car and truck drivers actually pay substantially more for bus trips they never take than do the bus riders themselves as less than 10% of SMART bus revenue comes from ridership. 

Even now, MI House Bills 5768, 5769 and 5770 have introduced a TAX HIKE of 8 cents on gasoline (currently 19 cents per gallon) and 12 cents on diesel (currently 15 cents per gallon).

Yet even this is not enough…

MI House Bills HB 5731-33 have been introduced to form a Regional Mass Transit Authority which will have the power to levy taxes to subsidize Michigan mass transit projects similar to those in France, Spain and Japan which cost an average of  $51 million per mile.

We have also seen attempts at the County level by “Republican” Oakland County Commissioner Dave Potts who was the only “Republican” to vote with ALL the Democrats for a $17 million county-wide bus TAX HIKE – despite a veto threat by Oakland County Executive, L. Brooks Patterson - in his attempt to subsidize the public sector bus unions.

Now too, on the local level, Troy is pushing a 29% TAX increase, the largest property TAX HIKE in city history and Bloomfield Township is pushing a similar TAX HIKE with the encouragement of Mr. Potts. We already pay for bus trips we never take and may soon subsidize the Troy-Birmingham Transit center Bus Station we will never use. 

Citizens and Business owners are fed up with high taxes and wild government spending on such inefficient mass transit ploys which are primarily designed to TRANSFER WEALTH from taxpayers to public sector unions. Rather than spending more, we should follow the lead of New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie and cut millions from these mass transit boondoggles.

As President Reagan said: “Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets.”

Candice Miller Responds

A few days ago, I reported on an article from the Mackinac Center based on a report by the Club for Growth. You can read my article here:

I received an email recently from Eric Ventimiglia of Candice Miller's office. He copied me on a communication from Congresswoman Miller and asked me to share it with my readers: I am happy to oblige.

“It is interesting that over half of Michigan's Republican Congressional delegation was graded as failing on some cherry-picked arbitrary grading system in regards to being fiscally conservative.   Members of Congress take thousands of votes, so obviously if you want to, you can always find some you don't agree with.  I would respectfully point out that on what I consider to be the marquis votes on demonstrating true fiscal conservationism,   I believe I have reflected the will of the majority of my constituents. Some examples include:

• I voted against the TARP Wall Street bailout twice
• I voted against the $787 billion stimulus bill
• I voted against raising the debt limit by 1.9 billion
• I voted against the Cap and Trade Energy tax bill
• I voted against the government takeover of the health care system
• I voted against Obama's budget
• I voted many, many times for amendments that would have cut almost $100 billion from the overall budget… 

One other item of note:  I have made a conscious effort not to abuse the process-- my requests have been for hospitals, domestic violence abuse shelters, local first responders, military construction projects at Selfridge, etc.  However, this year I will not be requesting any earmarks, as I hope we can fix a now broken system. 

Additionally I would point out that I am a co-sponsor of legislation that requires the Federal Reserve to be audited, as well as a balanced budget constitutional amendment.  Anyway, my point is, there will always be some votes that reasonable folks will disagree on-- I appreciate that--but I sincerely feel that I represent the values of the majority of the hard-working men and women that have given me the honor of representing them in the U.S. House of Representatives, not only on issues of fiscal conservatism but other core value issues like the sanctity of life and constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms.”

RePORK Card for Michigan

"The Myrtle Beach International Trade and Conference Center", "The Institute for Seafood Studies", "The Commercial Kitchen Business Incubator Project", "potato research in Idaho, Oregon and Washington." Would your Congressman vote on earmarks to spend your tax dollars on such projects as these? Apparently so.

Club for Growth has issued their annual RePORK card. The scorecard consists of 68 earmark-killing amendments introduced by U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, and two of his budget-cutting allies in Congress. These legislators launched a similar assault on earmarks during the 2008 federal budget battle. Support from Michigan politicians for five of the targeted spending projects were examined in the September/October 2009 Michigan Capitol Confidential. Read their full report here.

Of the fifteen Congressman from Michigan, only four received a passing grade. Here are the rankings:
Pete Hoekstra.................................97% (A)
Thad McCotter................................85% (B+)
Vern Ehlers.....................................78% (B-)
Mike Rogers....................................66% (D+)
Fred Upton......................................53% (F)
Mark Schauer.................................43% (F)
Candice Miller................................31% (F)
Dave Camp.....................................24% (F)
Gary Peters.....................................1% (F)
Everyone Else (Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Cheeks-Kilpatrick, Levin, Stupak............0% (F)

Fight The Gas Tax Increase!

Town Hall meetings on the massive Ball and Byrnes gas and diesel fuel tax hikes, HB 5768 & HB 5769 will be coming to a town near you. It is an effort by big-government pols to gin up support for these huge tax increases. (8 cents per gallon on gas and 12 cents per gallon on diesel.) Democrat Speaker Pro-tem and Transportation Appropriations Chair, Pam Byrnes will be chairing these local town hall meetings.

This is your opportunity to let your voice be heard. These are public meetings. Byrnes and company will undoubtedly attempt to pack the meetings with union bosses and big-government supporters who will express their support. They were not very forthcoming with details to the public about these meetings. In fact, we received this sketchy information just today:

• Monday, February 22, 10:00 a.m. Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Texas Twp. Campus (map)
• Monday, March 8, 10:00 a.m. Northwestern Michigan College, Traverse City (map)
• Monday, March 22, 10:00 a.m. Eagle Crest Conference Center, Ypsilanti (map)

If you are a blogger in one of these communities, please get the word out. You can learn more about these bills here and here.

Home Improvement by Government Committee. Is Anyone Surprised at the Price?

"I'm from the government, and I can caulk your house for just $57,000. But, don't worry about it, the taxpayers will cover it." Read the NRO story here. Read the Los Angeles Times story here.

There is so much pork, they have to start shooting the pigs in the street!

 

2010 Senate Bill 1136 (Authorize shooting of at-large swine ) Introduced by Sen. Ron Jelinek (R) on February 11, 2010, to allow animal control officers or individuals with any hunting license to kill swine running at large on public property.

• Referred to the Senate Agriculture and Bioeconomy Committee on February 11, 2010. 

Read the text of the bill here.