Conservative Groups Unite to Stop GOP Push for Weak Immigration Laws

Seeing there are GOP leaders like, Speaker Boehner, Rep Eric Cantor, Rep. Paul Ryan, and Senator Rubio, along with some so-called conservative groups like the Koch Brothers (AFP) and National Federation of Republican Women, that are actually joining with the Democrats in pushing for weaker immigration laws, many Tea Party, liberty and conservative grassroots groups are gearing up for the soon to come fight over illegal immigration.

From The Daily Caller --

Tea party groups and small-government activists are applying grassroots pressure to stop the House from approving the Senate immigration bill, which would triple immigration to roughly 33 million people over 10 years.

An Oct. 17 letter from more than 100 conservative leaders and tea party activists to the Republican Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner, says the Senate bill is so flawed that it would create a “disaster” for Americans, even if it is merged with a perfect House immigration bill.

“We ask you to make a public commitment that the House of Representatives will not conference any House immigration bill with any version of the Senate immigration, or engage in any informal negotiations to do so,” reads the one-page letter, which is accompanied by three pages of signatures from conservatives, tea party leaders and immigration reform groups.

“In the absence of such a commitment, we, and the millions of Americans our organizations represent, will have no choice but to oppose all efforts to bring any immigration legislation before the House of Representatives,” the letter concludes.

The signers include Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots, Mike Needham from Heritage Action, and Phyllis Schlafly from the Eagle Forum. The immigration groups who signed the letter include NumbersUSA and the Federation for American Immigration Reform. (Read More....)

To read the letter click here.

The groups from Ohio signing onto this letter are as follows;

Cleveland Tea Party Patriots - Co-Founder Ralph King
Grassroots Rally Team of Ohio - Coordinator Arzella Melnyk
Greater Buckeye Lake Patriots - Coordinator Chuck Nichols
Knox County 9-12 Project - Coordinator Robert Lloyd
Mansfield Tea Party - Coordinator Marianne Gasiecki
Medina Tea Party Patriots - Co-Founder Amy Brighton
New American Patriots - Blogger Diane Greenwood
Totally Engaged Americans - Organizer Kirsten Hill
Zainesville Patriots - Coordinator Kay Clymer

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.

Tune into 60 Minutes tonight on CBS at 7:30

From Breitbart:

CONGRESS ON RED ALERT FOR 60 MINUTES 

EXPOSÉ OF D.C. CORRUPTION

Members of Congress and their staffs are on red alert tonight for a CBS 60 Minutes investigation by veteran CBS reporter Steve Kroft and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer exposing how lawmakers convert campaign donations into lavish lifestyle upgrades for themselves and their family members.

Sources say top CBS executives thought the report was so explosive that they made it the show’s lead story and delayed airing it for another week in order to capture tonight’s much larger NFL-viewing audience. The report features selected revelations from Schweizer’s forthcoming book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets. 

“I’m under a publisher embargo right now and can’t say much,” Schweizer told Breitbart News. “But suffice it to say, President Obama and some members of Washington’s Permanent Political Class are not going to like what we uncovered and the kinds of personal enrichment and self-dealing exposed in Extortion.”

If you read Schweizer's Throw Them All Out, you will know that he exposes corrupt politicians of all stripes. Speaker John Boehner included. (If the episode is available on video or other feed, we'll post an updated link for any who miss it on Sunday evening.)

UPDATE Oct-21: Go here for access to video.

# # #

Obamacare: the last step before single-payer socialized "healthcare"

Gov. Sarah Palin has an excellent piece on Obamacare, the related corrupt ruling class, and the administration's end game, on Breitbart today. There are talking points of interest to Tea Party Patriots who are still trying to convince a brother-in-law or former classmate:

 Americans, if you’re faced with a 300% increase (or even a 65% increase like my family) in your health care premiums for crappier coverage, doesn’t “free” socialized medicine all of a sudden sound appealing? 

And that’s how Americans will be led down the primrose path to a single-payer system. People will be frustrated, worn out, and broke under this new government burden. Many will end up concluding they’ll settle for – then demand – full socialized medicine because they’ll see how the unworkable Obamacare will break our health care system (where, presently, no one is turned away from emergency rooms and we have many public and private safety nets for people in need), along with busting our personal bank accounts. 

The cry will go out, “Can’t you just put us all in a sort of Medicaid-like system? It’ll be much less confusing than these awful exchange websites and a lot less expensive!” As things stand, many who are getting slammed by Obamacare will inevitably settle for less out of necessity. And that’s the left’s declared plan: a single-payer system. They said it. I didn't.

. . . 

The broken websites and botched Obamacare rollout help push things to that inevitable conclusion by causing frustration and confusion that only the government can “fix.” In fact, these unusable Obamacare websites make a reasonable person wonder how this administration could have made such a colossal bungle of the rollout when they are, after all, the same savvy experts who had the most sophisticated and precise campaign websites ever built. They could pinpoint voters down to a city block, but they messed up a website that cost the government over $200 million more than it cost Apple to develop the first iPhone. Purposeful?

Lots more here. 

# # #

More media sleights-of-hand on Obamacare

If you thought the mainstream media was finally waking up and smelling the coffee -- after all, they are reporting on the "glitches" (read: epic failure) in the Obamacare rollout and expressing their displeasure -- well, think again. From Ben Shapiro at Breitbart [emphasis added]: 

Even Jay Carney said on Thursday that Obama was “not happy” with the rollout. “The accountability the president seeks today is the accountability that comes from those who are working on implementation,” Carney explained.Then he added the punchline: “Although the glitches are unacceptable, so is the idea of leaving millions of Americans on their own, including families across the country who now have access to health care that they did not have.” 

And this, it turns out, is the unspoken undertone to all the media coverage of the Healthcare.gov glitches: the notion that the biggest problem with Obamacare will be web implementation, not the systematic attempt at bankrupting the entire insurance and healthcare industry. The premise seems to be that if Healthcare.gov is fixed, all will be well. That’s why from October 1 through October 16, the Washington Post ran literally dozens of stories on the glitches, but virtually none on victims of Obamacare – in the view of the left media, there are no such victims. It’s why the networks spent several minutes nearly every night featuring the glitches, all while suggesting that Americans were growing closer every day to the glories of Obamacare’s promises. 

And we can thank Sen. Mitch McConnell and Speaker Boehner for, once again, caving and not voting conservative values.

# # #

Clowns to the Left, Jokers to the Right

PRESS RELEASE

October 17, 2013

For Immediate Release 
Contact: Bob Connors, Local coordinator - We the People Ohio Valley

(740) 579-1173

Clowns to the Left, 

Jokers to the Right

The Taxpaying Citizen Stuck in the Middle 

Ohio - October 17, 2013 - While the clowns in DC continue their three-ring circus of elitist crony capitalism, shutting down national monuments, and threatening phantom debt defaults, we have our own dog and pony show to deal with right here in Ohio.

Although the majority of Americans want the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) delayed, if not defunded, Governor Kasich continues his obsession with expanding Medicaid, through the use of Obamacare appropriated funds.  

Governor Kasich is attempting to usurp his legislature, and thereby the citizens of Ohio, by requesting that the Ohio Controlling Board appropriate Obamacare funds to expand Medicaid with billions in federal funding.  The Controlling Board has never, in its entire history, come close to spending such a huge amount of money. 

"What's really disgusting is the manner it which the Governor is pursuing this obsession to expand Medicaid," stated Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founder of Tea Party Patriots. "Governor Kasich campaigned as a fiscal conservative and was therefore supported by fiscal conservatives. We urge Governor Kasich to listen to the people who elected him and respect the legislative process".  

According to the October 15th Gongwer Report, "sources say Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina) plans to alter his chamber's membership on the panel prior to next Monday's meeting and will seat at least one member that will give the go-ahead to the governor's plan."  It appears the Governor has found the vote he needs in Senator Widener (R-Springfield), making a board shuffle unnecessary.

"It's nearly impossible for a group of people to ever agree 100% on any legislative action, but we do believe that the process should be pure and unmanipulated, "Stated Bob Connors, Local coordinator of We the People Ohio Valley.  " By playing musical chairs with the members of the Controlling Board, Governor Kasich is pulling the same trick that was used when trying to jam SB 5 down everyone's throat."

In using the Controlling Board to expand Medicaid, Governor Kasich is displaying a complete disrespect for the separation of powers and the legislative process.  The people of Ohio elected their Representatives, not the Controlling Board.

The Tea Party Patriots' mission is to restore America's founding principles of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.

# # #

Governor Kasich's strategy for Medicaid Expansion

Oct-15, 6pm -- Ohio Tea Party Patriot co-coordinator, Marianne G. reports that she just received a call stating that State Senator Chris Widener (R) is the "YES" vote on the Controlling Board.

As you are aware, Governor Kasich is using the Controlling Board as a means to further his obsession for Medicaid expansion, and needed to sway just one Republican on the Board to do his bidding.

According to the website of the Office of Budget and Management the Controlling Board " is a mechanism for handling certain limited day-to-day adjustments needed in the state budget" and, according to the O.R.C.  "shall take no action which does not carry out the legislative intent of the general assembly regarding program goals and levels of support of state agencies as expressed in the prevailing appropriation acts of the general assembly."

So, even though the State Legislature has accurately reflected the will of their constituents by repeatedly rejecting Medicaid expansion, it appears the Controlling Board may decide differently.

Time to Melt the Phone Lines

The Legislature is Representing Us, NOT the Controlling Board

The Board should uphold the action of the state legislature, and thereby the taxpaying citizens of Ohio, by rejecting Medicaid expansion.

Call Senator Widener NOW   (614) 466-3780 

Are we sure the rest are with us?  Call the rest of the Board.

• Senator Bill Coley  (R) - (614) 466-8072 
• Representative Ron Amstutz (R) - (614) 466-1474
• Representative Cliff Rosenberger (R) - (614) 466-3506 
• Senator Tom Sawyer (D) - (614) 466-7041 
• Representative Chris Redfern (D) - (614) 644-6011