Your Sunday meme with Bert & Ernie

 

Posted in observance of the suspension of any Debt Ceiling

# # #

Now we know where Jim Jordan stands

 

The Freedom Caucus can now re-brand as the RINO Caucus.  Politico reports:

Jim Jordan and other key conservative firebrands have caused a fair share of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy‘s biggest headaches. But instead of leading the rebellion this time, they helped him quash it.

As the House Freedom Caucus was preparing to discuss whether to officially oppose the speaker’s bipartisan debt deal — a move that would potentially galvanize conservative opposition — Jordan (R-Ohio) phoned several fellow members with a request, according to a person familiar with the calls. The former chair of the group urged them to hold back, effectively giving conservatives who wanted to vote with McCarthy license to do so.

Jordan, a longtime McCarthy antagonist turned ally, almost got his wish. The group took no official position until hours before the vote, when most members had already made up their minds.

The beloved House Freedom Caucus co-founder — who gravitated toward McCarthy after the now-speaker tapped him for a senior spot on the Oversight Committee — helped out in other ways. The Ohio lawmaker spoke up in favor of the deal in private calls and meetings, including taking the mic at a closed-door huddle on Tuesday night, just hours after many of his fellow conservatives had spent the day trashing the deal.

This report concludes with this:

If most Republicans get on board, it means threats against his speakership won’t gain real traction. And with two-thirds of the GOP conference backing the deal Wednesday, it seemed to be working.

“We didn’t do it by taking the easy route,” McCarthy said in a celebratory post-vote press conference. “It wasn’t an easy fight, I had people on both sides upset.”

But he added: “I think we did pretty damn good for the American people.”

No debt ceiling.  No serious budget process.  J D Rucker considers this bill an existential threat.  His take is here.

# # #

Debt Ceiling: bad news

 

JD Rucker at The Discern Report saw it coming:

The debt ceiling battle may be over. We’ll know for sure Wednesday when the vote is scheduled, but it seems Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy may have come together. Considering the most basic and obvious elimination of fruitless spending — 87,000 IRS agents — was NOT addressed, this seems like a huge loss for patriots.

McCarthy will herald spending cuts, but they won’t be in the same ballpark as the absolute overhaul that is necessary to give this nation any hope for the future. Instead, we will continue down our path to unavoidable Modern Monetary Theory crushing the country into oblivion. . . .

McCarthy caved.  Another win for the Uniparty.

Read the rest of the report here. 

# # #

Debt ceilings & runaway spending

 

Betsy McCaughey often updates her readers on healthcare matters.  Yesterday, at Townhall, she analyzed the consequences of Congress members who want to keep raising the debt ceiling.  Her premise:

"If America wants to spend like Europe, it must tax like Europe -- and that means large payroll and value-added taxes on the middle class," says [Manhattan Institute economist Brian] Riedl.

Ms. McCaughey concludes:

Over the last 25 years, Congress has hammered out eight laws to control spending. All eight were tied to debt ceiling hikes.

At stake in this current debt ceiling struggle is preserving what sets the United States apart from Europe.

In the United States, working people get to keep most of what they earn and decide how to spend it.

Don't let the Washington pols treat your paycheck as if it belongs to them.

The full column is here.  This might be one issue that might get better results in any upcoming vote --  with a call to your House representative; click here. 

# # #

Why Trust any Budget Deal after 2011's $2.1 Trillion Debt Hike Ripoff?

From former Congressman Ernest Istook via Washington Times -- 

WASHINGTON—October 18, 201 – This is Obama’s Nirvana!

The new budget deal passed by the government this week breaks an enormous promise to the public, destroys long-time safeguards over spending, and grants the President almost total control over the full faith and credit of the United States.

It breaches the trillion-dollar promises to control spending made only two years ago.

Why should anybody trust today’s promises when those 2011 promises had such a short shelf life? The issues and threats were the same as they were this year, namely prospects of a government shutdown and of defaulting on the federal debt.

Agreement came sooner that time, as President Obama and Congress raised the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion. They also promised to match the increase dollar-for-dollar by reducing spending by $2.1 trillion.

This week’s budget deal becomes the means to dissolve that spending restraint. President Obama and Democrats are openly pushing and succeeding they say in ending the limits from the 2011 agreement. And too few Republicans are resisting.

Those spending cuts, known as the sequester, were already gimmicky.

In the first place, while the $2.1 trillion was borrowed and spent right away, the spending reductions were to be spread out over 10 years. That’s not a genuine one-to-one; it’s one-to-ten.

In the second place, the sequester was not spending cuts as everyday people define them. It’s actually spending increases, but at a lower rate than was planned. It’s like only driving 20 mph over the speed limit rather than 30 mph over.

There’s even a third place: The sequester was back-loaded. It presumed that elected officials of the future would be more disciplined at controlling spending than today’s politicians. The first year of the 10-year sequester plan—last year—didn’t produce 10% of the savings, namely $210-billion. Instead, it produced only $85-billion in “savings,” which is only 4%.

Even though the sequester concept originated with his White House, President Obama now routinely denounces it, as do most Democrats. Republicans are mixed in their approach to the sequester, although House leaders have mostly come to embrace it as the only thing that helps hold spending in check even though it doesn’t reduce spending.

Once they cashed in and spent that $2.1 trillion increase in debt, President Obama and a host of Senators and Congressmen developed amnesia. They got what they wanted so now they don’t even remember promising any fiscal restraint. They spent the money and want no part of the discipline.

We can expect a repeat performance once they spend this year’s increase in the debt limit. All promises of future restraint will evaporate. That’s why it’s so dangerous to give Obama expanded authority to borrow money without needing approval from Congress. Checks and balance require that Congress must have the ability to negotiate and extract concessions as a condition to that approval. But they won’t have it under the new plan.

National debt has risen more than $6 trillion so far during Barack Obama’s Presidency, even before he gets unchecked borrowing power.

This 2013 agreement allows unlimited borrowing for the next few months. That will include money for the Treasury Department to pay back the money it’s taken out of federal retirement funds since May—probably over $250 billion—because it couldn’t go out and borrow it.

Obama gets his wish of not having to negotiate conditions in order to borrow. The historic safeguard requires Congress to approve a credit limit in advance. The new protocol lets a President borrow unless Congress passes legislation to disapprove. Simply by vetoing that legislation, a President can borrow whatever he wants unless two-thirds of Congress then votes to stop him.

These details are only now coming to light. The details of the 2011 agreement have been known, but amazingly there’s been little public talk about whether it would be thrown overboard. That’s because a great many politicians want to escape any tough decisions of holding the line on spending.

Only in Washington, DC can a $2 trillion promise be treated as something that’s easy to ignore.

There were 269 House members who voted for that $2.1 trillion package in 2011: 174 Republicans and 95 Democrats. In the Senate it received 74 votes: 45 Democrats and 28 Republicans. Most of them are still in Congress. And of course President Obama is still around.

We should ask them, press them and demand of them that they keep their commitments. They already got the money and they already spent the $2.1 trillion. Why should we trust them with any more borrowed money? Especially since it’s borrowed from our children!

Political promises evaporate quickly. It’s borrow and spend now—or tax and spend now—and we promise to make spending cuts starting tomorrow. That tomorrow never comes, but the tomorrow when the bills arrive will get here eventually.

House Starts Talks on Debt Ceiling & 2014 Budget

From Tea Party Patriots --

Next week, the House Committee on Ways & Means is having two important hearings. Below are some basic details to be aware of:

First, on Wednesday, the Subcommittee on Oversight will hold a hearing for Members of Congress who have submitted or cosponsored bills in the 112^th and 113^th Congress that address spending prioritization if the debt ceiling is breached. From the Committee’s website:

Congressman Charles W. Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced the Subcommittee will hold a hearing examining the government’s ability to prioritize its obligations and continue operations should the U.S. Treasury reach its statutory debt limit. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, in Room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 A.M.

Oral testimony at this hearing will be limited to Members of Congress who have introduced or co-sponsored legislation related to the government’s ability to continue operating when the debt limit has been reached during the 112^th or 113^th Congresses. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

While it is unlikely the debt ceiling will be breached, this could be a very informative hearing to see which Members of Congress have various ideas to prioritize spending.

On Thursday, another hearing is scheduled – the annual Ways & Means hearing with the Secretary of the Treasury. With the President’s budget scheduled to arrive on April 10, the hearing is being held the next day:

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) today announced that the Committee on Ways and Means will hold a hearing on President Obama’s budget proposals for fiscal year 2014.  The hearing will take place on Thursday, April 11, 2013, in 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 A.M.

BACKGROUND:

On April 10, 2013, the President is expected to submit his fiscal year 2014 budget proposal to Congress.  The proposed budget will detail his tax proposals for the coming year as well as provide an overview of the budget for the Treasury Department and other activities of the Federal government.  The Treasury plays a key role in many areas of the Committee’s jurisdiction.

In announcing this hearing, Chairman Camp said, “The Ways and Means Committee is committed to comprehensive tax reform that eliminates tax loopholes, simplifies the code, and lowers rates.  Tax reform that accomplishes these goals can strengthen our economy, create more jobs and allow American workers to start seeing an increase in their paychecks again.  This hearing will provide both the Committee an opportunity to review the President’s tax proposals and Treasury Secretary Lew the opportunity to describe how the Administration intends to work with the Committee and Congress to pass and enact comprehensive tax reform.”

While the President’s budget is mostly a formality in general, and especially since it’s over two months late, the hearing should be very informative as to whether or not we’ll actually have normal order for the budget process in Fiscal Year 2014. (I think it’s highly unlikely, given the major differences between the House and Senate budget resolutions, but it’s always possible.)

The function of these hearings is mostly to give Members the ability to create soundbytes for constituents and the media.  However, occasionally, good things come out of these hearings – Senator Cruz’s recent hammering of Attorney General Eric Holder is one example of this. Hopefully, the two hearings will be more like the latter, and less like the former.

President Obama Jeopardizes Extension of Pay Roll Tax Deduction with Raises for Federal Workers

In another campaign year move to buy votes at the expense of hard working Americans, President Obama, while also wanting to again raise the debt ceiling, feels pay raises for federal employees running our over-bloated government are in order...

From The Hill --

President Obama is on track to propose a modest increase in federal civilian workers’ pay as part of his 2013 budget due in early February, an administration official confirmed Friday.

The 0.5 percent pay increase comes after two years during which civilian pay was frozen to save billions. The 2013 pay increase is far less than the current rate of inflation, which stood at 3.4 percent in November compared to a year earlier.

Republicans have proposed keeping the civilian pay freeze in place for at least one more year.

By keeping the increase modest, the White House expects to free up $2 billion for other uses in 2013, and $28 billion over 10 years compared to the budget baseline.

Even though he has yet to complete his 2010 budget and the Republicans continually fail to point out this fact, President Obama is actually thinking about putting forth a budget for 2012. Well bless his heart - what a splendid idea!

But if you look at the costs and the projected savings, we see they are again using magic government math to showed a proposed savings to pay for these raises.  Yes, by using magic government math (budget baseline) over real math you are able to spend more and make it look like less. Yep, just like that - Abracadabra... and "Poof" - imaginary cuts and savings.

For a quick video to explain how magic government math works click here.

Republicans in the House have proposed continuing a pay freeze for federal employees as a way of paying for the temporary and any further extension of the pay roll-tax deduction benefiting scores of hard working Americans and business owners across the states.

Putting their checking accounts before what's best for our country and in donning the "woe is me" cape of victimhood, Federal workers are more than willing to accept President Obama's campaign year payoff....

“Federal employees are working with severely limited resources,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley wrote in a letter to the 20 lawmakers on the conference committee earlier this week. “They have faced government shutdowns four times this year, yet they have worked diligently to deliver services to the public. To ask them to bear such a disproportionate additional burden is unfair and unacceptable.”


"The good news is that the pay freeze is ending, but I am disappointed at the size of the proposed 2013 increase,” she said.


But, “a permanent pay freeze is not an acceptable policy,” one of the senior administration officials said Friday, according to a Washington Post report.

First, the ONLY REASON we faced four government shutdowns the past year is because President Obama and the Democrats failed to do their job and never put forth or passed a budget. 

Simply put, the threat of government shut downs were over the need to pass Continuing Resolutions in order to pay for running our already over blown federal government through the year.  These Continuing Resolutions would not have been needed, thus no threats of government shut downs, had President Obama and the Democrats put forth a budget that was passed.

Second, and the point of this post - with the defiant and determined stance of the Administration that these federal workers will get a pay raise clearly shows President Obama, by jeopardizing any further extension of the pay roll tax deductions set to expire at the end of February, will put big government spending, political patronage and buying votes with tax dollars before the financial well being of the hard-working, middle class American people he "claims" to represent.

Credit Rating Lowered -- President Obama Owns it!

All through the debt ceiling debate we were told by the elected elite in D.C. how important it was to protect the credit rating of our country. Many did not want to hear the call of a strong few in D.C, supported by us so-called crazy & uneducated Tea Party people, that the only way to save the credit rating from being lowered was to cut spending and NOT through raising the debt ceiling.

The media, always including the latest GOP  "Tea Partier's are Hobbit's" attacks, continually hammered home the beltway blab from President Obama and his band of befuddled bureaucrat's on how we must raise the debt ceiling in order to keep us from going into default and to save our credit rating from being lowered.  

After stomping his feet,  using quotes from Ronald Reagan to beat House Speaker John Boehner into capitulation, and in the name of "saving our credit rating" by threatening to veto anything that he did not approve of, President Obama held strong and got what he thought was best for the American people to save our credit rating.

And the Credit Agencies responded...

From JS Online -- (Emphasis Added)

The U.S. had its AAA credit rating downgraded for the first time by Standard & Poor's on concern spending cuts agreed on by lawmakers to raise the nation's borrowing limit won't be enough to reduce record deficits.

S&P dropped the ranking one level to AA+, after warning on July 14 that it would reduce the rating in the absence of a "credible" plan to lower deficits even if the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit was lifted. The U.S. was awarded the top credit ranking by New York-based S&P in 1941. It kept the outlook at "negative."

"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said in a statement today.

Demand for Treasuries has surged even with the specter of a downgrade as investors saw few alternatives to the traditional refuge during times of risk as concern increased global growth is slowing and Europe's sovereign debt crisis is spreading. The action could still hurt the U.S. economy over time by increasing the cost of mortgages, auto loans and other types of lending tied to the interest rates paid on Treasuries. JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimated that a downgrade would raise the nation's borrowing costs by $100 billion a year.

"It's a reflection of the fact that we haven't done enough to get our fiscal house in the order," Anthony Valeri, market strategist in San Diego at LPL Financial, which oversees $340 billion, said in an interview before the downgrade. "Sovereign credit quality is going to remain under pressure for years to come." »Read Full Article

So it looks like, once again (Stimulus, TARP, Bailouts, etc...), the financial and fiscal wisdom of President Obama has failed to live up to what he said it would be, or should we say for what some people "hoped".

Mr. President -- you own this one!

Senator Jim DeMint calls Boehner's plan the "Boehner/Reid Plan"

The following is from Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) commenting on Speaker John Boehner's blunderous back tracking on the House passed version of Cut, Cap & Balance (CCB) for his own Budget Control Act of 2011.

DeMint goes on to note the obvious shortcoming and failures of Boehner's  proposal and how it closely (maybe not so mysteriously) resembles Senator Majority Leader Harry Reids plan.

It's almost as if Boehner only went through the motions on CCB as a show.

From Politicons --

I have troubling news. I’m very careful about criticizing my party’s leaders, but what is happening in Washington right now cannot be ignored.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has abandoned the Cut-Cap-Balance Act and is now pushing a new plan that is nearly identical to the one proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The Boehner-Reid plan gives the President an immediate increase in the debt limit and only promises to cut spending in the future. It violates all three principles of the Cut-Cap-Balance Pledge because it does not substantially cut current spending, it does not truly cap future spending, and it does not require the passage of a strong Balanced Budget Amendment before raising the debt limit.

In short, I oppose the Boehner-Reid plan because it won’t balance the budget and stop the debt that is destroying our country.

The Boehner-Reid Plan

You will hear many claims about this plan over the next few days as it is pushed through the House and Senate. Some of these claims will be true, but many will be false. Here are the facts. The Boehner-Reid plan:

• Provides two increases in the debt limit – $900 billion and $1.6 trillion — totaling $2.5 trillion. It gives the President an immediate $900 billion increase given that Congress does not vote to disapprove it. It gives the President another $1.6 trillion increase next year if a bill written by a new Super Committee passes both houses and becomes law.

• Reduces spending by only $1.2 trillion over the next ten years. This amount won’t even come close to balancing the budget, as the debt is expected to grow by as much as $10 trillion over the next decade. The plan also reduces spending by only $6 billion in 2012. Considering that our government currently spends $10 billion a day, $6 billion is far too little to cut over the first year of the plan.

• Calls for a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment but does not require its passage. Without passage of a strong Balanced Budget Amendment, Congress will never break its addiction to spending.

• Makes it virtually impossible to stop the debt limit from going up. The debt ceiling increases can only be stopped if Congress passes a resolution of disapproval and then votes to override the President’s veto with two-thirds support in the House and Senate.

• Creates a new, 12-member Super Committee to write another “grand bargain” to reduce the deficit by at least $1.6 trillion. It does not, however, prohibit the Super Committee from writing a bill to raise taxes and destroy jobs. The bill can then be fast-tracked through the House and Senate with no amendments.

Why It Should Be Rejected
After reviewing the details of Boehner-Reid plan, I cannot support it.

• It won’t balance the budget and stop the debt. Even if the cuts called for in the plan were real, the debt will still increase by $7 trillion over the next ten years.

• It won’t protect our AAA bond rating. According to financial reports, this plan will not reduce long-term spending by enough to prevent a downgrade. If we lose our AAA rating, it will create higher interest rates and cause our debt to grow even faster.

• It will likely result in higher taxes that will destroy even more jobs. The unemployment rate is over 9 percent. We cannot afford to lose more jobs when so many Americans are struggling to find work.

You can read the whole letter by clicking here.

Please note the only GOP Congressman from Ohio voting against Boehner's Budget Control Act of 2011 and making himself a target for political retribution, was Congressman Jim Jordan (OH-4). Thank you Congressman Jordan for being your own man and placing the well being of our country over poorly thought out partisan politics that would drive us deeper in debt!

Quickly forgetting they are in D.C. not because of Speaker Boehner, but because of the Tea Parties, the freshmen GOP Congressmen from OH chose to ignore the calls, emails and faxes from most of the Tea Parties in Ohio urging them to VOTE NO on Boehners Plan and voted to support the Boehner/Reid Bill.

Debt Ceiling Deal is Near - Contact Congress Now!

After passing the Budget Control Act of 2011(H.R.2693) through the use of political thuggery that would make a SEIU leader proud, it is being reported that House Speaker John Boehner, Senate President Harry Reid & Speaker John Boehner have come to a ‘deal’ over the debt ceiling debacle.

The reported deal is;

• A debt ceiling increase of up to $2.1 to $2.4 trillion (depending on the size of the spending cuts agreed to in the final deal).

• They have now agreed to spending cuts of roughly $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

• The formation of a special Congressional committee to recommend further deficit reduction of up to $1.6 trillion (whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase). This deficit reduction could take the form of spending cuts, tax increases or both.

• The special committee must make recommendations by late November (before Congress' Thanksgiving recess).

• If Congress does not approve those cuts by December 23, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare. This "trigger" is designed to force action on the deficit reduction committee's recommendations by making the alternative painful to both Democrats and Republicans.

• A vote, in both the House and Senate, on a balanced budget amendment.

This proposal falls far short of the House passed version of Cut, Cap & Balance, and the far weaker and open ended Boehner "Budget Control Act of 2011."

Votes on this deal are expected sometime today and Senator McConnell has acknowledged the debt ceiling limits are already exceeding those in the above deal.....

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says negotiators are "very close" to nailing down an agreement that would avert a default of the nation's debt obligations.

McConnell tells CNN's "State of the Union" that lawmakers are looking at a $3 trillion package that would raise the debt ceiling in two stages through the elections next year.

Action Alert

Please contact the below GOP Congressional members from Ohio, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and urge them to vote NO on this new proposed plan.

Please tell them to stop playing political games with the financial future and national security of the United States. Ask that without hesitation they act to protect the Full Faith and Credit of the United States, ensure payment of Social Security to our seniors and military.

There are several bills currently sitting in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, that would enable this to be done, two of them being the Full Faith and Credit Act (H.R. 421 & S.R.226) and the PROMISES Act (H.R.2496).

Contact Info

Senator Rob Portman

D.C. Office Ph#: (202)224-3353
Website: http://portman.senate.gov/public/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robportman
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/robportman

Senator Sherrod Brown

DC Office Ph#: (202) 224-2315
DC Office Fx#: (202) 228-6321
Website: http://brown.senate.gov/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/sensherrodbrown

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepSteveChabot

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/repstevechabot

Website: http://chabot.house.gov
Email: https://chabot.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBillJohnson

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepBillJohnson

Website: http://billjohnson.house.gov

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rep-Steve-Stivers/116058275133542

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepSteveStivers

Website: http://stivers.house.gov 

Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/repjimrenacci

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repjimrenacci

Website: http://renacci.house.gov

Rep. Bob Gibbs, OH-18

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBobGibbs

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repbobgibbs

Website: http://gibbs.house.gov

House Leadership

Speaker John Boehner, OH-8

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6205

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0704
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johnboehner

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SpeakerBoehner

Website: http://www.johnboehner.house.gov

  

Rep. Eric Cantor, VA-7 / Majority Leader

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2815

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0011

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ericcantor

Website: http://cantor.house.gov

 Click here to send Congress a FREE Fax now! 

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) supports Gang of Six Plan & Debt Ceiling Increase

In a recent interview on ABC's "Top Line" Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) indicated his support for the short on fact & long on empty promises "Gang of Six" proposal. Senator Portman also supports raising the debt ceiling....

From ABC's "Top Line" --

The bipartisan “Gang of Six” proposal on the deficit continues to draw attention from rank-and-file senators, even as House leaders come out in opposition to any plan that includes new revenues as part of a deal.

“It's a step in the right direction,” Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who was budget director under President George W. Bush, told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today. “It's the one effort out there where you've got Republicans and Democrats coming together. And I think it could actually mesh well with what I think is the ultimate solution here with regard to the debt limit increase.”

Portman said he disagrees with those in his party who say it’s not critical to increase the debt ceiling.

Please contact Senator Portman and remind him he was elected to stop the spending addiction in D.C., not make deals that allow even MORE spending! Tell him we do not need another Senator George Voinovich!

Senator Rob Portman Contact Info

Website: http://portman.senate.gov/public/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robportman
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/robportman

D.C. Office Ph#: (202)224-3353

Cleveland Office Ph#: (216)522-7095

Cincinnati Office Ph#: (513)684-3265

Toledo Office Ph#: (419)259-3895

Columbus Office Ph#: (614)469-6774 / Toll-Free: 1-800-205-6446 (OHIO)

RedState's Open Letter Senators Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rob Portman, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio

Erick Erickson of RedState posted the following letter to Senators Kelly Ayotte, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and our Senator from Ohio, Senator Rob Portman.

We could not agree more!

From RedState --

Welcome to the Senate.

It ain’t easy, is it?

Here’s the thing you need to know. Right now, you are probably telling yourself you need to be reasonable. You are probably telling yourself you need to cut a deal.

I’m willing to bet you are telling yourself you should do something short term and in six more months or whenever, after everything has calmed back down, revisit the issue.

Senators, you are fooling yourselves. And I bet you know it.

We have had, in the past 30 years, 17 deficit commissions. After almost each one, taxes have gone up, but the spending cuts have never happened.

Republicans before you have been quite reasonable. So reasonable in fact that the country is on the verge of bankruptcy.

And each time, they’ve gotten to the breaking point and decided, “let’s just do something to get us some breathing room and revisit it again in a few months.”

If you don’t fight, if you decide to take deal, make a compromise, or “let cooler heads prevail” at some point in the future, you’ll be no better than those who got us to this point. You will become them.

You went to Washington because Washington is broken. Pay very careful attention to the choices you are about to make. Because I suspect many of you are about to make the same choices the people before you who broke the system made. Don’t let fear, uncertainty, and market upset govern your decision making processes.

The only way out of this mess is to think different — to actually care enough to fight.

TPP Co-Founders tell John Boehner: "Get a Backbone"

We know actions speak louder than words. So far, causing many to question his integrity, leadership skills and intestinal fortitude, Speaker John Boehner has been long on words and short on action . 

In the below op-ed, Tea Party Patriots co-founders, Jenny Beth Martin & Mark Meckler, challenge Speaker Boehner to grow a backbone and do the job he was elected to do...

From The Hill --

America’s debt ceiling was quietly raised 10 times over the past 10 years. Only now has it become a national debate. The elephant in this room is not the GOP. It is the millions of Tea Party activists who have shifted the national debate to government overspending — a debate that was long overdue.

But a debate is just a debate. Words are just words. We saw how worthless words can be earlier this year.

The GOP said all the right words leading up to the 2010 midterm elections, but once the new leadership was sworn in this year, their promised spending cuts dropped from $100 billion to $31 billion and eventually to nothing.

Now it is time to back up those words with backbone.

We believe in Ronald Reagan’s adage, “Trust but verify” — but with a new twist: “You go first.”

If the president wants the debt ceiling raised and the GOP wants spending cuts, you must say: “You go first. Spending cuts first, then we’ll talk.”

The same goes for the GOP leadership. Show the millions of Tea Party Patriots you are serious about putting an end to overspending, then We the People will consider trusting you.

It has been more than six months since this Congress was sworn in. That’s half a year that could have been used to stop this government overspending. Half a year that could have been spent living within our means. Politicians from both sides have found the time to debate this issue around the clock, across all media and even on the golf course. But they have still not found a single moment to find a wasteful government program to cut?

What did our leaders find time to do these past six months?

The American people know there’s waste in the government. They see it every day from their local post office to the observance of Nancy Pelosi’s taxpayer funded jet. Just recently, we found out the National Institutes of Health is spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on studies of toenails.

The Washington Post reported in February that Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) , the one in charge of the funds, has a community college student commons center, a fire training center, a water park, a boulevard, a drive and a parkway named after him in his district in gratitude for $40 million he had brought to the area.  Were those all legitimate government spending or a way to keep his 30-year career in Congress secured?

The president and his administration can’t look through their departments and find anywhere to cut. Congress can’t put a moratorium on nonessential programs until a review of the entire budget is completed? Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) seems to be the only one capable of coming up with real cuts.

Again, what have these “leaders” been doing?

Our president found time to characterize his opponents as wanting to put “a gun against the heads of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners.” This is a strange thing to hear in this new era of civility. Then Obama threatened to push Grandma off a cliff unless he got a deal to raise the debt ceiling so he can overspend even more, saying, “I cannot guarantee that those [Social Security] checks go out on Aug. 3.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) found time to commend the president for making the case to raise the debt ceiling, saying on July 11: “I would agree with the president that the national debt limit must be raised. I’m glad he made the case for it today.”

It is clear they are not serious about cutting wasteful spending or they would have found a way to do it. When a family is on the brink of bankruptcy and can’t make ends meet, what do they do? They cut back on their spending. It’s very simple.

No, we’re not sophisticated Washington power players. We’re just Tea Party Patriots. But it seems to us that, in a debate over raising the debt ceiling, perhaps the best opening position is not to commend the person across the table for wanting to raise it.

Try our “you go first” method. If the president wants the debt ceiling raised, tell him “you go first” on cuts. If the GOP wants the Tea Party Patriots to believe they have backbone, show it to us first. 

If you can’t find your backbone, you can borrow some of ours. We the People have plenty.

Meckler and Martin are the co-founders and national coordinators of America’s largest Tea Party group, the Tea Party Patriots.

Liar, Liar, Pant's on Fire! (Part II) Chief Actuary disputes Obama's Fear-Mongering Fibs on Social Security & the Debt Ceiling

Confirming President Obama's fear-mongering and fibs that he may have to hold back Social Security checks from going out next month if the debt ceiling is not raised is Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration, Stephen Goss....

Reposted from Gateway Pundit --

Yesterday Barack Obama told CBS that there simply may not be enough money in the coffers next month to pay Social Security payments.



But Obama was just playing games with seniors.

Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) pointed out that the decision to withhold checks “would be a political one” made by the President.

During this morning’s Budget Committee meeting, Congressman Huelskamp asked Stephen Goss, Chief Actuary for the Social Security Administration, to explain how the Obama administration could withhold Social Security checks to American seniors. The question was prompted by a statement by President Obama that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks would be mailed August 3, 2011, if Congress fails to increase the debt limit.

Yesterday, Congressman Huelskamp issued a statement noting that it is irresponsible for the President to use seniors on Social Security as pawns to leverage his point in the debt limit negotiations.

Mr. Goss told Congressman Huelskamp: “The responsibility of the Social Security Administration per se, my boss, Commissioner Astrue, is to in fact determine how much in the way of benefit payments people are supposed to receive. We send that information actually over to the Department of the Treasury. They are the ones who actually send out the payments, whether it’s electronic funds, transfers, or check.”

Here’s the video:

Operation Stop the Bleeding; Contact Congress NOW!

Operation Stop the Bleeding

Contact Congress NOW!

Make no mistake - this fight to cut spending is just as important as our fight against Obamacare! Budgets, spending, and debt may not feel as personal as health care, but it is! We've seen how personal it's gotten in Greece, and we know what happens when a nation crumbles under the weight of its bureaucracy.

Because we simply can't afford to be making trips to DC to rally around the Capitol, Tea Party Patriots (www.teapartypatriots.org) have been hosting a weeklong Virtual Rally. Up until the day of the Debt Ceiling vote will will continue pressuring members of Congress to vote NO on raising the debt ceiling.

Think about this: To pay for the overspending that government has already overspent, $45,000 in debt is now strapped to the back of each child born in America.  To pay for the overspending that government has committed to overspend in the future, but has yet made no provision to pay for, each American household is now on the hook for $528,000. 

Action Items

Republican Freshmen

• Call GOP freshman today. You can call just one, just the ones from Ohio or all of them. It's up to you. For a list of all the freshmen in Congress, please click here.  Ohio freshmen are listd below.  Please post on their Facebook page too.

• Fax all of the GOP freshmen at once - for free! Click here to fax them all!

• Sign our No Debt Increase petition. Click here to sign the petition.

• Forward these action items, materials, and petition to every person you know that cares about this country by sending them a link to this page.

• Post the link to this page on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. For easy instructions  on how to Tweet, click here. Bonus: Use the hashtag #stopthebleeding when you tweet about this!

Ohio Freshman

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepSteveChabot

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/repstevechabot

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012

Cincinnati Office Phone: (513)684-2723

Cincinnati Office Fax: (513)421-8722

Website: http://chabot.house.gov
Email: https://chabot.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBillJohnson

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepBillJohnson

D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907

Marietta Office Phone: (740)376-0868

Marietta Office Fax: (740)376-0886

Website: http://billjohnson.house.gov

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rep-Steve-Stivers/116058275133542

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepSteveStivers

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529

Columbus Office Phone: (614)771-4968

Columbus Office Fax: (614)771-3990

Website: http://stivers.house.gov 
E-mail: https://stivers.house.gov/contact-me/email-me Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/repjimrenacci

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repjimrenacci

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059

Canton Office Phone: (330)489-4414

Canton Office Fax: (330)493-9265

E-mail: https://renacci.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Website: http://renacci.house.gov

Rep. Bob Gibbs, OH-18

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBobGibbs

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repbobgibbs

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394

Zanesville Office PH: (740)452-2279

Zanesville Office FX: (740)452-2557

Website: http://gibbs.house.gov

E-mail: https://gibbs.house.gov/contact-me/email-me

Ohio Freshman Congressman, Rep. Jim Renacci (OH-16), who supports raising the debt ceiling, has a poll on his homepage asking if the debt ceiling should be raised. Please go to Rep Renacci's page and vote against raising the debt ceiling. (Click here to vote in poll)

House Leadership

Speaker John Boehner, OH-8

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johnboehner

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/SpeakerBoehner

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6205

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0704

West Chester Office Phone: (513)779-5400

West Chester Office Fax: (513)779-5315

Website: http://www.johnboehner.house.gov

  

Rep. Eric Cantor, VA-7 / Majority Leader

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ericcantor

D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2815

D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-0011

Richmond Office Phone: (804)747-4073

Richmond Office Fax: (804)747-5308

Website: http://cantor.house.gov

Email:  http://cantor.house.gov/contact

Tell Congress No More Debt!

Click here to send Congress a FREE Fax now!