Senator Kent Conrad has finally made it clear that he has no intentions of passing a budget resolution. He will offer the “Simpson-Bowles plan” without allowing any amendments or even a committee vote, much less a floor vote. That’s some budget resolution. Without a budget resolution to guide the topline spending numbers, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already begun markups on the 12 appropriations bills at the subcommittee level. It goes without saying that Senate Republicans wouldn’t reward this behavior by voting for their approps bills – spending bills that fail to eliminate a single wasteful program or agency within the burgeoning government bureaucracy. There is no way they would help grant Harry Reid superior leverage over their allies in the House like they did last year, right? Wrong. Of the 14 Republicans on the full committee , which includes Mitch McConnell, there is only one conservative. That would be the most junior senator, Ron Johnson. As CQ reports , Ron Johnson was the only no vote against the Transportation-HUD ( subcommittee roster ) and Commerce-Justice Science ( subcommittee roster ) approps bills – the first two spending bills considered yesterday. Those bills are typically approved by voice vote, but Johnson forced a roll call recorded vote on the spending bills. Republicans who are too scared to declare which department they would be willing to cut usually opt for individual expenditures like Amtrak, when pressed to offer specific cuts. These bills continue to fund numerous wasteful and unconstitutional programs, including failed entities like Amtrak. If there are any more leaks about Ron Johnson, we’ll know where they’re coming from. Cross-posted from The Madison Project
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Ron Johnson: The Lone Ranger
Over the past few weeks, Obama has exhibited the intensity of a Navy SEAL in his execution of class warfare. He is trying to convince everyone that those who earn 17% of Adjusted Gross Income, yet pay 36.7% of federal income taxes don’t pay anything, while those who pay little or no taxes shoulder the entire tax burden. Obama will continue to toss out misinformation throughout the campaign about all these billionaires that supposedly pay little in taxes. While he is prosecuting his class jihad, we should remind him of these facts and figures: Obama has accrued more debt in 3 ½ years than Bush did in 8 years – and Bush was a big spender. When President Bush was sworn in on January 20, 2001, the total federal debt stood at $5.728 trillion. On January 20, 2009, the day he left office, the debt had increased to $10.629 trillion, a jump of $4.9 trillion. Just 38 months later, the debt has increased another $4.992 trillion to a grand total of $15.621 trillion (as of April 9)! Amazingly, $4.577 trillion, or 91% of Obama’s debt increase comes from the public share of the debt, which now stands at $10.88 trillion. We are on pace to breach the $16.394 trillion debt limit before the November elections. That means that he will have amassed almost (or more than) $6 trillion in debt by the time he, God willing, leaves office next January. It took from our country’s founding until 2002 to amass $6 trillion in debt. The debt has increased $1.327 trillion in the past 9 months since we “solved” the debt crisis with the Budget Control Act. That’s about as much as the top 1% of income earners make in 12 months. When Obama took office, the gross federal debt was 76.5% of GDP, while the public share of the debt stood at 45% of GDP. Now, those numbers stand at 102% and 71% respectively. The debt per taxpayer stands at $137,751, up from $89,330 just 4 years ago. The monthly deficit for this past February was a record $232 billion. We didn’t start accruing annual deficits of $230 billion until this past decade. In February, we spent $335 billion in 29 days. It comes out to $11.5 billion per day; $480 million per hour. Remember that none of this even begins to account for the $70 trillion+ unfunded entitlement liability and Obama’s new proposed spending that he wants to pay for with the “Buffett Rule.” Even Obama claims that he understands how massive tax increases would be counterproductive and that he only wants the rich to pay “a little more” to fulfill their “fair share.” The fact is there is no way the Buffett Rule, which would raise $46.7 billion in revenue over 10 years, will ever solve the debt crisis, even if you subscribe to the notion that we can and should raise some taxes. Now that Mitt Romney has all but secured the nomination, he has an opportunity to combat Obama’s Buffett Rule with the Romney Rule. Government spending should not grow faster than the private economy. That is the only way to solve the debt crisis. Period. Cross-posted from The Madison Project
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The Buffett Rule Obfuscates the Real Debt Crisis
A 1% Spending Cut Is Six Times As Effective as the ‘Buffett Rule’
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A 1% Spending Cut Is Six Times As Effective as the ‘Buffett Rule’
As we noted yesterday , a number of Republicans who inherently oppose the RSC budget, yet wanted to go on record as voting for it, switched their votes from no to aye when they realized that Democrats wouldn’t vote present and let it pass. This stratagem was orchestrated by the GOP Whip team. Here is a list of the vote switchers (from the Congressional Record ) who supported the RSC budget, but only after it was clear that it would never pass: Messrs. RIVERA, HARPER, THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mrs. ELLMERS, Messrs. SHIMKUS, HUNTER, HULTGREN, MICA, FINCHER, COFFMAN of Colorado, TIPTON, Ms. FOXX, Messrs. OLSON, MURPHY of Pennsylvania, SHUSTER, and BUCSHON changed their vote from “no” to “aye.” In addition, four members switched from aye to no; Messrs. DREIER, WALZ, BILIRAKIS, and YOUNG of Florida. I was curious to see which members voted for the budget this year but not last year , and vice versa: The New Yes’s (30) (asterisks next to those who played the vote switching game) Adams Amodei Black Boustany Buschon* DesJarlais Ellmers* Farenthold Fincher* Gardner Gohmert Graves (MO) Griffin Hultgren* Jenkins McCotter McMorris Rodgers Murphy (PA)* Pearce Pitts Rivera* Rooney Scott (SC) Sensenbrenner Shuster* Simpson Thompson (PA)* Tipton* Upton Yoder It is always good to have new additions, but note that some of these members, like Boustany, Ellmers, Simpson, Murphy, Rivera, Upton, have primary challengers. The New No’s (13) Bachus Calvert Carter Denham Duncan (TN) Gallegly Granger Kelly Miller (FL) Smith (NE) Southerland (He is very conservative. I can’t imagine that he opposed the spending cuts. He presumably voted no because of the provision that would open up drilling along the Florida coast) Terry Turner (NY) (new member)
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RSC Budget Vote Flippers
The RSC budget was defeated earlier today, but the good news is that it garnered the support of 136 Republicans , 56% of the conference. Or did it? Take a look at this summation from The Hill of the roll call vote and ask yourselves what we are supposed to think about the leadership within the conference: Members rejected the RSC proposal in a 136-285 vote in which 136 Republicans supported it and 104 Republicans opposed it. That’s more support than the RSC budget received last year, when 119 Republicans favored it and 120 opposed it. The increase was due mostly to the decision by Democrats to vote against it rather than to vote “present,” as they did last year. In 2011, most Democrats voted “present” at the last minute, causing a chaotic scene in which many Republicans were forced to oppose the proposal lest it pass over Ryan’s budget, which was preferred by leadership.House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) appeared to thwart the “vote present” strategy this year by holding down the GOP vote totals until after the electronic vote had closed. Once the clock had ticked down, at least ten GOP members voting against the amendment switched to “yes.” At the very least, it shows that our efforts to educate Republican voters about their members’ voting records is working. At the very worst, it means that we need to find more innovative ways to expose them as frauds. P.S. FYI.. Adam Kinzinger voted no, while Manzullo voted yes – and he wasn’t one of the vote switchers. Just sayin’
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An Illustration of What is Wrong With House GOP Conference
