GOP Vows to Get the Economy Moving

AP Pretends GOP Is Breaking Promises
From the professional propagandists at the Associated Press: PROMISES, PROMISES: GOP drops some out of the gate By Andrew Taylor And Calvin Woodward, Associated Press January 6, 2011 WASHINGTON - Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won’t be kept. As is their Fashion, the AP is parroting a New York Times article from yesterday. Which, as we noted in detail, was s...

Cantor: Repeal push is still on
A top House Republican said Thursday that the GOP is going full speed ahead to Repeal President Obama’s Health Care reform to “send a signal” to the American People, even though Senate Democrats have the votes to thwart any rollback. Speaking on several morning TV shows, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he is determined to keep Repeal of the law in the national spotlight and hold a House vote on the measure next week, particularly as new evidence shows health ca...

Can the GOP serve the two constituencies of the midterms successfully?
The Republicans scored a big success in November by forging a coalition between Independents disillusioned by Democrats and Barack Obama’s false promises of Fiscal Responsibility and moderation, and energized Conservatives looking for a massive pushback against the radical agenda of Obama and Nancy Pelosi.  The GOP succeeded mainly by keeping themselves focused on the Budget Crisis and regulatory burdens that have created lingering Unemployment at the highest levels since the Great Depr...

Here's hoping Speaker Boehner learns to speak the truth
By R.K. Barry A CNN / Opinion Research poll conducted between December 17 and 19 indicated that 56% of Americans hold either a positive view of Obama's health-care reform or are of the opinion that it is not liberal enough. More specifically, 43% like it as it is and 13% would probably have liked to see a Public Option. That leaves 37% who are opposed because the reform package is too liberal and 7% who have no opinion. Let's be clear here. Of those expressing an opinion, 56% reject the Repub...

Will symbolism be enough for the tea parties?
Kevin Drum is puzzled by the way Speaker John Boehner is handling the effort to Repeal health-care reform. "He's scheduling a quick vote with no hearings and no CBO scoring just so he can say he's done it, after which he can move on to other business he actually cares about." Why, Drum asks, does Boehner think that'll satisfy people who've been convinced that the health-care law will bankrupt their Children and snuff out their grandparents? Jon Bernstein tries to answer: I think it's an indicati...

Republicans take over House, dilute cuts
By Thomas Ferraro and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 5, 2011 12:45pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans scaled back plans for deep cuts in Government Spending as they took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, diluting a key promise that helped them to victory in November's election. A senior Republican also signaled the party could work with the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to avert a Debt crisis in the coming months. "Our spending has caught up...

House to open with reading of Constitution
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. House Republican leaders, fulfilling a pledge to make the chamber Constitution-focused, open Thursday's session by reading the document. Historians say the exercise will be the first time the Constitution has been read in chamber although it has been inserted as part of the congressional record. The man responsible, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Fox News the reading goes beyond a simple ninth-grade civics lesson. "This is a very symbolic showing to the American...

HuffPost TV: Howard Fineman Breaks Down The GOP's Ambiguous Budget Cuts (VIDEO)
If you think the GOP's 2010 campaign talking point about slicing $100 billion out of the federal Budget seems like a moving target, you aren't alone. "I was literally chasing that number all around the Hill today," HuffPost Senior Politics Editor Howard Fineman told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Wednesday night. Turns out there's a lot of "fine print" that came with the Republican goal, and that will keep the cuts far below certain expectations. "A lot of tea partiers are going to be upset by the...

Republican healthcare repealers want government healthcare for themselves
What phonies! Most of the Republicans in Congress who want to Repeal the healthcare law are now demanding that they keep government-sponsored Insurance for themselves. This includes many Tea Party members of Congress. Excuse me? They oppose what they call a government takeover of healthcare, unless they benefit from it, in their government plans, which they demand they keep. Every honest Tea Party voter and every true conservative should demand that no Republican pr

Bus pass
Theobald talks to Stephen Fincher and Scott DesJarlais, political newbies who are now Congressmen: Fincher, who won the seat held by retired Democratic Rep. John Tanner of Union City, said voters want Congress to get back to the basics.”Listen to the American People,” he said. He and DesJarlais are among numerous members of the GOP freshman class who have no previous political experience. “We need more business people (in Congress),” Fincher said.” People who know w...

CBO: Repealing Health Law Would Increase Deficit By $230 Billion Over 10 Years
CBO: Repealing Health Law Would Increase Deficit By $230 Billion Over 10 Years Moments ago, the Congressional Budget Office released its cost estimate for the GOP’s Health Care Repeal bill — H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, introduced yesterday in the House by the new Republican majority: - 32 million Americans will lose coverage compared to current law: “Under H.R. 2, about 32 million fewer nonelderly people would have Health Insurance in 2019, lea...

PROMISES, PROMISES: GOP drops some out of the gate
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio holds up the gavel during the first session of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won't be kept. And for a coming vote seeking to Repeal the Health Care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won't be allowed to propose changes to the l...

Reid: The American People Love Government
Congress has generated its lowest Approval Rating in decades. President Barack Obama is treading the 50 percent line with his approval Ratings. - or so says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On the first day of the new Congress, the Nevada Democrat lamented in his opening remarks what he referred to as obstruction from Senate Republicans over the past few years, accusing them of using stalling tactics to score political points on some Legislation. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is fo...

Republicans Drop Some Promises In Rising To Power In House
WASHINGTON — Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won't be kept. And for a coming vote seeking to Repeal the Health Care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won't be allowed to propose changes to the Legislation despite Republican promises to end such heavy-handed tactics from the days of Democratic control. Is business as usual really b...

Rep. Frank Guinta Becomes Sixth Republican To Reject Government-Sponsored Health Care For Himself
Last month, then-congressman-elect Andy Harris (R-MD) set off a firestorm when he demanded to know why his government-sponsored Health Care would not kick in until four weeks after taking office. Harris, who ran on a platform of repealing Health Care reform, was roundly criticized for decrying government playing a role in delivering Health Care to the American public, then demanding his own government-subsidized coverage once he took office. Following this episode, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) sent...

Groups target Dem 'no' votes to support repeal
Groups opposing Healthcare Reform are urging 13 House Democrats who voted against the reform law to support the Repeal bill next week.  "If you are really against ObamaCare, then you will vote yea for repeal," according to the letter from DeFundIt.org, Americans for Prosperity, Independent Women's Voice and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Five Democratic "no" votes have already told The Hill they will vote against repeal, with some dismissing the Repeal effort as a poli...

The GOP Controls The House: Now What?
Now that John Boehner is Speaker of the House, we’re about to find out just how SERIOUSLY conservative this new GOP Congress will be. It’s one thing to say you’re a constitutional conservative. It’s another thing to vote that way. The Tea Party freshman in both the House and Senate did not come to Washington to cut deals. They came to vote their conscience and stand on principle. The GOP leadership’s principles may be roughly the same as those new Tea Party members but McConnel

Tea Party message to new Speaker
(CNN) - A warning Thursday from a Tea Party movement leader to new House Speaker John Boehner. "As you get down to work, there are a few things to remember. You did not become Speaker because America suddenly fell in love with you or the Republican Party. You became Speaker because America, led by the Tea Party, repudiated Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the party of socialism," writes Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, a national Tea Party organization that's based in Tennessee. As to...

The Daley Show
This is a post about potential White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, but to understand the problem with Daley, you have to understand Mitch McConnell. Here's a bit from Josh Green's excellent profile of the Republican Senate leader: “We worked very hard to keep our fingerprints off of these proposals,” McConnell says. “Because we thought—correctly, I think—that the only way the American People would know that a great debate was going on was if the measures were no...

House GOP Already Bending its Own Rules
Politico reports: Just hours after taking control of the House, Republicans passed a sweeping set of rulespromising transparency and reform. But the new majority is already showing these promises aren’t exactly set in stone. After calling for bills to go through a regular committee process, the bill that would Repeal the Health Care law will not go through a single committee. Despite promising a more open amendment process for bills, amendments for the Health Care repeal will be all but sh

Sen. Ben Nelson: Healthcare repeal effort a GOP 'gimmick'
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another Democrat near the top of the GOP's 2012 target list, predicted that unless Republicans offer an alternative plan, the party's healthcare Repeal efforts will be "seen as a gimmick." Nelson told reporters on a Conference Call Wednesday that the law contains many positives, suggesting it was irresponsible for Republicans to be talking Repeal without offering a viable alternative.   “Where is the House plan?” asked Nelson. “Repeal means going back to th

Doctors urge GOP to improve, not repeal, reform law
A pro-reform physician group is asking leading House Republicans to strengthen - and not Repeal - last year’s healthcare overhaul. Doctors for America on Thursday morning delivered a petition, signed by more than 2,000 physicians and medical Students, to the offices of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that urged the new House majority to improve the Healthcare Reform law. The petition, delivered less than a week before the GOP is set to vote on a mea

Quite a start
QUITE A START.... The new House Republican majority isn't quite one-day old, but commitments they made before the Midterm Elections are already falling by the wayside. Even before House Republicans took control of the chamber Wednesday, there were at least three areas where they appear to be backtracking on promises made: Cutting $100 billion in the first year, allowing opportunities for the minority party to offer amendments on bills, and making public attendance records for committee hearing...

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Thursday, January 6, 2011
The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Click on the headlines for more. CNN: 'Mr. Smith' Filibuster change introduced in the Senate Senate Democrats on Wednesday introduced Legislation that would tighten rules on the use of the Filibuster in the legislative chamber. In a nod to the classic movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, reintroduced his "Mr. Smith Bill," which would r...

GOP House Leaders Set to Undo Obama's Victories
Today at 12 noon, John Boehner will become Speaker of the House of Representatives . and big banks, Insurance Companies and Wall Street Lobbyists across the country will rejoice. Boehner hasn't even taken the gavel yet and he's already laid out an extreme right-wing agenda. It starts with a vote to Repeal Health Insurance reform and includes gutting Social Security, making Tax Cuts for the rich permanent and more. John Boehner's House will empower right-wingers like Michele Bachmann and Eric Can...