Quote of the week # 1: "Do me a favor: Can you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it. Thank you." – California Senator Barbara Boxer to a US Army Brigadier General who addressed her as "Mam" in a committee hearing June 17, 2009.
Quote of the week # 2: "Reagan was all about America, and he talked about it. Obama is, we are above that now…in a way, Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He is, sort of, god…" – Evan Thomas, Editor of Newsweek Magazine on MSNBC’s Hardball June 5, 2009.
Floor Action: Last Thursday, the House made 53 recorded roll call votes. That is the most ever in one day in history. Most of those were repeat or procedural votes brought forth by the Minority as we protested the Majority’s limitation on amendments and debate for spending bills. The Majority had proposed to limit the time of debate and the number of amendments to spending bills that the Minority could bring up. This had not been done by either Republican or Democrat majorities in recent memory.
I remember one instance in the budget committee while Republicans were still in the majority, hearing a story of an exchange between the Republican Chairman of the committee and the Democrat Ranking Member:
Ranking Member: You are going to win every vote aren’t you?
Chairman: Yes.
Ranking Member: Then give us plenty of time to talk and present our alternatives because that’s all we have.
The Chairman of the committee agreed and allowed the minority party at the time the opportunity to make their case. Regardless of who is in the majority, they will win every vote they want to. It is the role of the loyal opposition to criticize the Majority when they disagree and present alternatives. It is your job as the voting public to then weigh the arguments and proposals and make a judgment about which side you would like to see in charge.
But in this Pelosi-led Congress, this point seems to be lost. The Democrats last year spent $7 billion per hour of debate on the spending bills. This year, they want to roughly double that spending rate. They want to limit our ability to present our alternatives and explain why the government should not spend so much. That’s not just unfair, it’s undemocratic, and neither Republicans nor Democrats have done that in recent years.
They also made sure that any amendments highlighting and proposing to eliminate earmarks were debated late at night (even after midnight) when the fewest number of people would notice. We used procedural rules to protest as loudly as we could. I’m not sure that the Speaker was moved. If she has not, we will keep it up.
The spending, debt, and deficits are unbelievable. The excesses of 8 years of the Bush administration in this regard have been eclipsed in just the first 5 months of the Obama presidency. More debt has been racked up this year than in almost the entire period of the Bush administration after 9/11. We’ve got to stop it, and the fight on this issue continues to be waged in D.C.
Iran: The Iranian government may be the most oppressive, dictatorial, and dangerous on earth right now, and we are seeing many courageous people in that country rise up against that regime. We should help them. I cosponsored a resolution to that effect, which passed the House overwhelmingly on Friday. But, where is the outrage from the Obama administration? Where is the support for these brave freedom fighters? Where is the condemnation of the actions being taken by a government that has called for the elimination of the State of Israel, the extermination of the Jewish people, and then the fall of the "great Satan," the United States. The silence from the White House is not just deafening, it is deeply disturbing.
Here is my one-minute speech on the floor on this subject:
Socialized Medicine: The Democratic Party’s quest for socialized medicine has run into a snag. In spite of all of the President’s misleading rhetoric about how much money he is going to save by having the government take over health care, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that his plan will COST an EXTRA $1.6 trillion over the next 10 years, and that is a best case scenario. This is a problem for them because they will have to raise lots of taxes to pay for this. Currently, they are considering (1) a new national sales tax or value added tax and/or (2) an increase in the income tax for individuals making over $100,000 per year and/or (3) an increase in the Medicare tax currently deducted from your paycheck and/or (4) a new tax on all businesses. So much for promises of no tax increases.
Oh, and it won’t even insure the uninsured. CBO projects that about 1/3 of those currently uninsured will remain uninsured. But, it also estimates that an entirely new 23 million people who currently have health insurance, will be kicked off by the socialization plan. Basically, this plan will insure some low-income people for free, and will result in 23 million middle class people who are currently paying for their insurance to become uninsured. Sounds great huh? This thing is unspeakably bad. In a couple of weeks, I will tell you about the Patient’s Choice Plan that I support to reform the health care system.
And then there’s the 30% tax for the global warming plan…
Miranda Rights: If you are as ancient as I am, you remember learning this from Sergeant Friday on Dragnet every time he cuffed someone: "you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you…"
What you don’t know is that since Obama became President, they are requiring that FBI agents (and probably others) in Afghanistan read Miranda rights to every enemy combatant they capture on the battlefield. This is nuts. They are not American citizens. They are enemy combatants. We don’t want them to remain silent. We want them to tell us where the roadside bombs are, where their leadership is, and provide valuable intelligence before they kill more American soldiers and innocent civilians.
Attempts by former FBI agent and now Republican Congressman from Michigan Mike Rogers have fallen on deaf ears within the Obama/Pelosi/Reid cabal.
Unbelievable…stupid…dangerous…frightening…and wrong.