Government Shutdown Day 10: I hope you enjoy getting these daily laptops…because I think they’re going to be coming to you for a while.

This whole dispute has reached a new phase. First of all, we are now past just dealing with “Shutdown/ObamaCare” and are into “Debt Limit/Entitlement Reform” territory, as well. One is unlikely to be resolved on a long-term basis without also dealing with the other. Secondly, the rhetoric has stalled. The Democrats have been repeating the same messages for days now, as have Republicans. Thirdly, Washington is settling in to this debate, and both the House and the Senate are beginning to talk about doing a few things that are not directly related to the Shutdown/Debt Limit, such as the Farm Bill. .

But, political bodies do not stay stationary for long. So, there are a number of factors that may start to move things a little here. First of all, of course, is the looming Debt Limit. As you know, I don’t think that the well-publicized October 17th date (that the federal government is “supposed” to run out cash) has much meaning. But, by November 1st, the Treasury will likely be very close to… Read More

Government Shutdown Day 9: “Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here’. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

That sounds like something I would say, doesn’t it? But, I didn’t say it. Barack Obama said it on the Senate floor on March 16, 2006 just before he voted against a “clean” debt limit increase, which barely passed the Senate by a 52-48 vote. The quote above is from the last paragraph of a roughly two page speech that you can find in its entirety linked HERE.

Now, I understand that people can change their minds. In fact, I have often said that there is no shame in a… Read More

Government Shutdown Day 8: The outrage continues over the Obama administration’s extreme actions to punish the American people through orders given to the park service. Vietnam vets were physically removed this week from viewing the Vietnam War Memorial, which I’m sure most of you know consists of a wall entirely outside in a park. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is inside a closed building, but is visible through a window. The Obama administration had the window covered up so you couldn’t even see the bell from the outside. And, the Feds barricaded the road in front of Mount Rushmore so that no one can even drive by and see this monument. Problem is, however, the road is not a federal road. It’s a state highway. So, the good people of the state of South Dakota asked the Park Service to remove the barricades from the state highway. The Feds refused to do so, citing that while it may be a state highway, it is on Federal land. But, then a heavy snow came just a few days ago. The snow plows belonging to the people of South Dakota plowed their roadway and plowed all those Obama administration barricades, signs and cones right into the ditch, where they… Read More

Government Shutdown Day 7: It wasn’t a very good weekend for my sports teams. The Kansas City Chiefs won and are 5-0. And, the Boston Bruins are 2-0. But, in car racing and baseball and college football, nothing came out as I wanted. And, my son crushed me this weekend in our NFL fantasy league, although I did win our NASCAR fantasy league this week. Ah, but there is always next weekend.

Such is not the case with the government shutdown. For, as John Boehner now quite famously quipped at a press conference on Friday in response to a question about the president saying he was “winning”, “This is not some damn game!” So, what happens next? What will break the stalemate?

It is quite clear now that this is no longer just about the shutdown and funding the government for the year, but it is also about the debt limit. The Treasury Department has been saying that by October 15th, they would have exhausted all borrowing authority and will be left with about $30 billion in cash. Independent analysts believe that the $30 billion buys them about another 7 to10 days. That gets you until October 22-26. But, those same analysts are… Read More

Government Shutdown Day 5: More factoids for your edification:

The House just passed and sent the 13th bill to the Senate over the last 10 days to fully or partially re-open the government. The president and Harry Reid have said that they will not “pick winners and losers” by passing any of these bills that only fund parts of the government and not all. But, like much of what they say, that’s not true. Last Monday, the Senate passed and the president signed a House bill that ensured that all uniformed military personnel and civilian support personnel were not furloughed. This morning, we just passed a bill that assures furloughed workers that they will be paid in full whenever the shutdown is over. The president said he will sign it. So why, Mr. President and Mr. Reid, have you chosen to sign bills for the military and largely-unionized federal employees’ pay, but not for children’s cancer research, veteran’s benefits or national parks? A common response to these writings from the left is that ObamaCare is the law of the land, upheld by the Supreme Court and therefore we must follow it and implement it. The … Read More

Government Shutdown – Day 2: Last night, we voted on three bills on the floor of the House. Each allowed one aspect of the shut down government to reopen until December 15th. The first one allowed the processing of veterans’ health claims. The money for these claims is entitlement spending and is not affected by the shutdown. But, the processing and paying of these claims stopped because of the shutdown and this bill fixed that. The second bill allowed locally derived revenues in the city of Washington, DC (revenue from things like parking meters and local taxes), which have nothing to do with the federal government, to be distributed to the city so it can continue normal operations with normal revenue. By the way, this is a quirk in the law specific only to the “federal city”. Thirdly, it would fund the U.S. Park Service in order to reopen the national parks.

All 3 of these bills were brought up under an expedited process in the House called “suspension of the rules”. This process enables quick action, but it requires a 2/3rds vote of the House to pass a bill. That means it is within the power of the minority party to… Read More

“Well, I won’t back down. No, I won’t back down. You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down.” – Tom Petty

“I have always figured that half a loaf is better than none, and I know that in the democratic process you’re not always going to get everything you want.” – President Ronald Reagan, February 9, 1983.

Government Shutdown – Day 1: Back in March of 2010, I wrote a daily “Laptop Report” during the weeks leading up to the passage of ObamaCare through the House by the slimmest of margins. I recounted all of our attempts to convince enough Democrats of the folly of this miserable law. Not a single Republican voted for it and a number of Democrats opposed it – but, not enough.

Today, I will again begin a daily “Laptop Report” series for the length of this government shutdown. I have no idea how long this will last. No one does. But, I will give you a few of my thoughts and update you as this process moves along.

The two quotes at… Read More

“What is this president thinking?” “Why is he trying to push American into a war in Syria?” “What exactly does a “red line” mean and who are we supposed to be helping?”

These are the kinds of questions I receive from all of you each day. They are the kind of questions you should be asking and, frankly, they are the questions the president has not answered. Instead, he has come to Congress asking for a blank check to entangle our precious military resources in one of the more tenuous, convoluted, and treacherous threat environments in the world without bothering to provide anything even remotely close to a plan.

I am firmly against any military intervention of any kind in Syria. Not only has the president failed to present a strategy with measurable objectives for success, his desire for authorization to use U.S. military force to intervene in the Syrian civil war represents misguided and dangerous foreign policy.

This morning, The Orange County Register published an op-ed I wrote explaining my position on U.S. intervention in Syria. I’m including it below for your review in hopes that it will help to begin to answer some of your… Read More