So what's on the Repug agenda for Congress and red states?

[boutons_deux]

My guess is that Obamacare will be gutted by the SCOTUS5 by insisting on the literal ERRONEOUS wording about federal subsidies NOT for state exchanges MUST be respected.

Any veto by Obama will bring on impeachment talk, but probably a veto isn't necessary. Racist Repugs want the n!gg@ lynched.

The Repugs will continue to gut government at all levels, eg Ryan's austerity, which will put the Repug-stalled recovery into full recession.

iow, since Repug criminal Nixon, NOTHING positive from the Repugs for the 99%, for the country. Just protecting, enriching the 1% and BigCorps.

[boutons_deux]

House Repugs already polluted their science committees with science deniers, now it's the Senate's turn

Congratulations, Voters. You Just Made This Climate Denier the Most Powerful Senator on the Environment.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120134/climate-change-denier-james-inhofe-lead-environment-committee

[boutons_deux]

What’s in store for new Senate? Much of the same gridlock and grind.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2014/11/04/313e831a-5337-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html?hpid=z4

Anybody have any different predictions?

[DarrinS]

Lol, another echo chamber for bouts

[angrydude]

What's that? I can't hear you. Speak up a little louder please.

[Axl Rose]

1) close the border
2) deport the illegals
3) boost domestic birth rates
4) reform education both k-12 and college to make it more affordable

[boutons_deux]

Victory Assured, G.O.P. to Act Fast in Promoting Agenda in Congress

Energy

Approving the Keystone XL (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/k/keystone_pipeline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) oil (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/oil-petroleum-and-gasoline/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) pipeline from Canada could be fertile ground for agreement with Democrats who have differed with the White House on the issue. Combining the pipeline with new energy exports, expanded exploration and added efficiency could build a bipartisan consensus on energy policy.


Budget and Spending

Republican leaders in the House and Senate say that reaching a deal on a budget will be crucial not only to prove they can do it, but to allow conservatives to put their imprint on a nonbinding fiscal plan.

Senator Jeff Sessions, the conservative Alabama Republican who will lead the Budget Committee, has had his staff looking at federal spending for months in hopes of proposing a budget that would be balanced in as little as a decade. But despite wide sentiment among Republicans for cuts, a divide exists within the party.
Some Republicans would like to reverse a series of Pentagon spending constraints

In March, for the first time since Mr. Obama took office, Republicans will also have to find a way to pass an increase in the debt limit (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) as the majority party — a difficult task given that the debt limit has become such a lightning rod for conservatives who object to any increase in federal borrowing power. Another test will come in May, when a temporary fix to the federal highway program expires, leaving Republicans to find a solution to a program that has been the subject of funding disputes.

Taxes

A sweeping overhaul of the entire tax code is another top priority for the new majority, one that at least in theory has some Democratic support.

Health Care

It is a delicate topic, but top Republicans acknowledge they cannot repeal the health care law, particularly with Mr. Obama in office to veto any such effort. They will no doubt take some repeal votes, but their initial focus could be on smaller changes.

For instance, a medical device tax used to pay for the law has met bipartisan opposition from lawmakers who represent manufacturers, and a repeal of the tax could pass Congress. At the same time, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has also called for returning the health law’s definition of full-time work to 40 hours from 30,

Trade

This is one area where the Obama administration and Republicans should be able to find common ground. Republicans are enthusiastic advocates of increased trade, and the president is eager to get the added authority to negotiate new trade deals and win approval of a trade agreement with nations on the Pacific Rim.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/us/politics/victory-assured-gop-to-act-fast-in-promoting-agenda-in-congress.html?_r=0

[boutons_deux]

I've seen that Repugs want to gut CFPB and remove restrictions on the finance sector, so finance is even more free to screw us all again.

I suppose that would include letting payday lenders and used car dealers to continue screw the poor.

Repugs will probably kill any investigation into for-profit colleges for lying to students while getting taxpayer funded loans.

Repugs will also block any attempt to re-finance $1T+ of student debt.

All very nasty, unsurprising Repug stuff.

[boutons_deux]

Freshmen wingnut Repugs!

Five Of The Craziest Conspiracy Theories That The Freshman Republican Class Will Bring To Congress

Here are five conspiracy theories that newly elected members of the United States Congress will be bringing with them to Washington next year:

1) Agenda 21 is Coming!

Agenda 21, a two-decade-old non-binding treaty on sustainable development methods, recently emerged as the (http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/06/17/beck-conspiracy-theory-uns-agenda-21-will-resul/180690) latest (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/far-right%E2%80%99s-newest-boogeyman-environmentalism) source (http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/09/01/fox-business-segment-stokes-anti-un-paranoia-pr/183278) of (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cathie-adams-un-climate-change-treaty-new-world-order) right-wing (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/agenda-21-gun-control-conspiracy-youve-all-been-waiting) anxiety (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ultimate-obama-muslim-sharia-agenda21-immigration-debt-conspiracy).

Ted Cruz predicted that Agenda 21 will bring an end to paved roads and golf courses (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/16/446352/tx-sen-candidate-ted-cruz-spouts-paranoid-fantasy-about-united-nationsgeorge-soros-conspiracy-to-eliminate-golf/)and Glenn Beck wrote a dystopian thriller about its dire consequences (http://www.salon.com/2012/11/19/i_got_duped_by_glenn_beck/?utm_source=huffpost_politics&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article).

Senator-elect Joni Ernst, :lol a Republican of Iowa, shares their fears. Last year, Ernst predicted (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/paranoia-rama-straights-forced-closet-las-vegas-false-flag-agenda-21-destroying-iowa) that Agenda 21 agents may start “moving people off of their agricultural land and consolidating them into city centers and then telling them that you don’t have property rights anymore. These are all things that the UN is behind and it’s bad for the United States, bad for families here in the state of Iowa.”

She later warned (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTjX99OfSrk) that Agenda 21 will compel people to move into designated “urban centers” and “take away our individual liberties, our freedoms as United States citizens.”

2) Just Making Stuff Up About ISIS

Never mind the fact that there have been exactly zero (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeland-security-says-terrorists-havent-crossed-us-mexico-border/) official (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/sep/17/trent-franks/isis-mexico-and-planning-cross-border/) reports (http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/10/08/categorically-false-dhs-debunks-right-wing-fict/201082) of ISIS members coming to the U.S. via the southern border, “closing the border” has emerged as a leading Republican talking point when describing how they plan to fight the terrorist group.

Tom Cotton, the Arkansas congressman who won his race for U.S. Senate :lol yesterday, said during his campaign that his opponent and President Obama are “refusing to secure our border” and as a result,

ISIS is now at the gates (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/10/08/congressman-claims-isis-fighters-caught-crossing-border-through-mexico-dhs/): “Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they’re willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking and potentially even terrorism. They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas.”

The conspiracy theory about ISIS infiltrating the U.S. through the border with Mexico first emerged on the conspiracy theory outlet WorldNetDaily (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/10/09/tom-cottons-bogus-claim-that-islamic-state-colloborates-with-mexican-drug-cartels/)and, as these things typically go, was then picked up by pundits on Fox News (http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/10/08/categorically-false-dhs-debunks-right-wing-fict/201082). Eventually, the fallacious claim became a great way for Republican candidates like David Perdue (https://perduesenate.com/2014/09/17/perdue-campaign-releases-new-tv-ad-secure-border/) and Thom Tillis (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/07/Tillis-Attempts-to-Tie-Hagan-to-Obama-in-2nd-Debate) to attack their opponents on both foreign policy and immigration reform in one talking point.

3) Beware Blood Moons

While conservative politicians have denounced the science behind climate change as a big lie, some are very interested in the “science” behind “blood moons,” with more Religious (http://www.christianbook.com/four-blood-moons-something-about-change/john-hagee/9781617952142/pd/952142?dv=c&en=google-pla&event=SHOP&kw=books-0-20&p=1179710&gclid=CJnP-o3648ECFTRn7AodOHYAeg)Right (http://www.wnd.com/2014/03/6-times-on-tv-blood-moons-author-explains-heavenly-signs/) activists (http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/the-harbinger-meets-blood-moons/) arguing that lunar eclipses are actually signs of God’s impending judgment against America for policies such as abortion rights and LGBT equality.

Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican who just won a seat in the U.S. House, for example, told listeners on his talk radio show that the appearance of blood moons “have preceded world-changing, shaking-type events (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/7-outrageous-rants-gop-house-candidate-jody-hice-blood-moons-sandy-hook-women-and-judicial-t).”

“I certainly am aware of the fact that every time there have been blood moons like this, there have been major events that have followed,” he said.

Perhaps Congress should move to study blood moons rather than climate change!

4) Gay Recruitment in the Classroom

Are sex-ed classes just a secret plot to turn kids gay? Yes, according to Wisconsin state senator and soon-to-be U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, who once warned (http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_f0ca35e4-1737-11df-b146-001cc4c03286.html) that some school classes are the result of an “agenda which is left unsaid is that some of those who throw it out as an option would like it if more kids became homosexuals.”

Grothman instead proposed that schools enact their own “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policies, lest growing support for gay rights in the U.S. lead to divine punishment (http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-grothman-says-john-kerry-upset-god-condemning-ugandas-anti-gay-crackdown).

Hice, as it happens, shares Grothman concerns about gay recruitment, once citing a satirical 1987 essay (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/jody-hice-georgia-sodomy) to claim that gay people want to “sodomize your sons” and “seduce them in your schools.”

5) Identity of the Antichrist Revealed!

At least one Republican candidate knows the true identity of the Antichrist, and it’s Hillary Clinton.

Ryan Zinke, the successful Montana GOP U.S. House candidate who helped launch the Super PAC Special Operations for America, (http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/ryan-zinke-hillary-clinton-antichrist) told a Republican group (http://www.flatheadnewsgroup.com/bigforkeagle/article_14a08878-89e0-11e3-8e50-001a4bcf887a.html) that Clinton is Satan’s bride, and he knows this to be so because he speaks the truth:

“It’s time to stop the lies. Let’s talk about the truth,” Zinke said. “Who trusts the U.S. government?” he asked rhetorically. “No one in this room. I’ve served in 25 nations. I’ve seen where people don’t trust their government.

We’re there. In the military, the last option is to send in the SEALs.”...

Zinke said he wants to restore truth, grace, honor and decency, which he called “our moral compass. It’s always been Judeo-Christian,” he said. With the present administration, “It’s whatever you can get away with. I will never bow to pressure. I will do what’s right,” he said.
...
“We need to focus on the real enemy,” he said, referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he called the “anti-Christ.”



- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/five-conspiracy-theories-freshman-republican-class-will-bring-congress#sthash.bUCsEiqR.dpuf

[The Reckoning]

boutons is excited! good to have you back ol pal.

[boutons_deux]

McConnell, Boehner in WSJ: Repeal Obamacare (http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/GOP-Congress-Middle-Class-jobs/2014/11/06/id/605624)

http://www.newsmax.com/



Ted Cruz says Republicans will repeal Obamacare

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/11/03/ted-cruz-says-republicans-will-repeal-obamacare-good-luck-with-that/

At the Abbot's victory party (he RAN a great campaign), both Cruz and Cornyn said they will repeal ACA and/or destroy it piece by piece.

[boutons_deux]

Boner Says Congress May Not Act On Immigration Reform, No Matter What Obama Does (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/11/06/3589803/boehner-wont-pass-immigration-reform-even-if-obama-held-back-on-executive-action/)

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eFtoD4q1AyM) reporters Thursday that he wouldn’t guarantee a House floor vote on immigration reform, even if President Obama held back on taking executive action. Boehner added that the “flood of kids” from Central America who came across the border in increasing numbers this year ruined the immigration debate entirely.

“What held us back last year was a flood of kids coming to the border because of the actions that the President had already taken,”

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/11/06/3589803/boehner-wont-pass-immigration-reform-even-if-obama-held-back-on-executive-action/

Boner also threatened Obama if Obama takes ANY executive action on immigration. I expect House scrotum suckers will impeach Obama for ANY executive orders.

Repugs had 2001 - 2008 for immigration reform, did nothing.

Repugs had 2010 - 2014 for immigration reform, did nothing, while not even voting on bi-partisan immigration bill passed in the Senate.

Repugs LOVE illegal immigrants and want to keep the immigration broken because it's such an effective Repug campaign topic that really inflames their racist/xenophobic base.

[Uriel]

I consider myself a diehard liberal, but next to boutons_deux, I feel like a moderate by comparison. :lol

[boutons_deux]

I consider myself a diehard liberal, but next to boutons_deux, I feel like a moderate by comparison. :lol

ya got me wrong, like most assholes here. Being anti-Repug is anti-American terrist/communist ACCORDING TO REPUG PROPAGANDA, which is of course a Repug LIE.

Being anti-Repug is the most patriotic position, so I'm a UNARMED Super-Patriot. :lol

I'm more VEHEMENTLY anti-Repug/conservative/teabagger/libertarian (and what fun that is!) than I am librul.

And how can any one be pro-Dem when the Dems just got their butts beat in wimpy campaign by NOT pointing out all the good stuff Obama and Dems have done IN SPITE of Repug 100% obstruction, and NOT pointing out all the shit the Repugs have visited on USA.

[boutons_deux]

got a email back from Krazy Kruz

"Dear Len,Thank you for sharing your thoughts regarding the federal budget and government spending. Input from constituents significantly informs my decision-making and empowers me to better represent the state.

Washington is addicted to spending. For the first time in our history, we have seen trillion dollar deficits. Our national debt has surpassed $17 trillion, and the federal debt limit continues to be raised without any serious attempt to roll it back. Politicians from both parties are responsible, and our economy suffers as a result. Washington's out of control spending crowds out private investment, slows economic growth, and burdens future generations with the bill.

My wife and I have two little girls. When my oldest was born in 2008, our national debt was $10 trillion. In her short life, the national debt increased more than 60 percent. Our children should not be held responsible for our reckless spending, and what we are doing to our kids and grandkids is fundamentally immoral. Families and businesses all across America have to balance their budgets, and it is past time for our government to do the same.

Congress should pass real reforms that limit government spending and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution that will force Washington to live within its means. In the meantime, sequester remains the law of the land until Congress either develops a new and improved solution or enacts reforms that truly limit the overall size of government.

I will continue opposing debt limit increases that do nothing but feed Washington's addiction, and I will continue working with willing partners to fundamentally reduce the size of the federal government.

Thank you again for sharing your views with me. Please feel free to contact me in the future about any issue important to your family. It is an honor to serve you and the people of Texas.
For Liberty,
http://sm62.ms1.hctc.net:7080/surgeweb?cmd=msgpart&sid=122219214&ident=1&fld_id=INBOX&msg_id=712982860&part_id=2.2&static=private&rcid=b797e7e5506fe1fbe854e17cdaea5bc3
Senator Ted Cruz"

So nobody be surprised if Krazy Kruz gets the tea bagger senators and reps together to shut down govt again.

[CosmicCowboy]

I see a corporate tax amnesty to allow multiinationals to repatriate funds currently being held overseas for tax reasons.

[CosmicCowboy]

It's hard to argue that repatriating 2 trillion+ wouldn't help the US economy

[G-Nob]

Liberal economic policy has proven not to work time and time again. Moderates know this and all witnessed the carnage on Tues.

[G-Nob]

I see a corporate tax amnesty to allow multiinationals to repatriate funds currently being held overseas for tax reasons.

This and more than this. Lower the corporate tax and capital gains tax. Allow businesses to expand, create jobs and keep investment money in America. Good gosh, this isn't rocket science. Economics 101.

[boutons_deux]

It's hard to argue that repatriating 2 trillion+ wouldn't help the US economy

pure bullshit

Repugs allowed BigPharma et al to repatriate $300B almost tax free in the mid-2000s with BigPharma promising to hire. BigPharma got their $300B and immediately laid off 10Ks.

Companies have already been flush for $2T+ cash a few years now (tax evasion, tax avoidance are wonderful!), using it for stock buybacks, pushing up their stock prices to benefit of their mgmt and wealthy stockholders, not for investments, jobs, anything useful to Human-Americans.

[boutons_deux]

Mitch McConnell Says His Top Priority Is To ‘Get The EPA Reined In’ (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/07/3590277/mcconnell-priority-rein-epa/)


http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/AP438713790047-638x417.jpg

On Thursday, incoming Senate Majority Leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell said (http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/06/3525224_mcconnell-reflects-after-reaching.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&rh=1) that when it comes to serving his home state, his top priority is “to try to do whatever I can to get the EPA reined in.”

As it stands, McConnell said the only good tool with which to stifle the EPA “is through the spending process, and if (President Barack Obama) feels strongly enough about it, he can veto the bill.”

What this means is that McConnell will have a hard time killing the EPA’s carbon pollution regulations without shutting down the government, a thing he has already pledged not to do.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/07/3590277/mcconnell-priority-rein-epa/

This old, senile bastard thinks he has a mandate for more polluted water, land,air, more sick, dead people. Ever him talking about rampant black lung and deaths among his constituents, or toxic coal ash pollution, or methyl mercury everywhere?

[boutons_deux]

Bernie Sanders Delivers A Gut Punch To the Republican Agenda To Screw Ordinary Americans

Here’s the interesting point. You talk about Republican principles.

The Republicans forgot to tell the American people what their principles are, so let me make a prediction. Let me make a prediction, and a year from now invite me back and we’ll see if I am right or wrong.

This is exactly what they will do:

The American people want to expand Social Security. What the Republicans will do is attempt to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and give huge tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporation.

They will do exactly what the American people don’t want them to do.

You talked about raising the minimum wage. They don’t believe in that. They want to do away with the concept of the minimum wage, so people will work for five bucks or four bucks an hour.….

They will make the effort, and you talk about the Republican principles are to make the very richest people in this country richer at the expense of working families.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/11/08/bernie-sanders-delivers-gut-punch-republican-agenda-screw-ordinary-americans.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

If Repugs pass TPP, Obama will sign, and the entire planet will be fucked for decades.

[MultiTroll]

Mitch McConnell Says His Top Priority Is To ‘Get The EPA Reined In’ (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/07/3590277/mcconnell-priority-rein-epa/)


http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/AP438713790047-638x417.jpg

On Thursday, incoming Senate Majority Leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell said (http://www.kentucky.com/2014/11/06/3525224_mcconnell-reflects-after-reaching.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&rh=1) that when it comes to serving his home state, his top priority is “to try to do whatever I can to get the EPA reined in.”

As it stands, McConnell said the only good tool with which to stifle the EPA “is through the spending process, and if (President Barack Obama) feels strongly enough about it, he can veto the bill.”

What this means is that McConnell will have a hard time killing the EPA’s carbon pollution regulations without shutting down the government, a thing he has already pledged not to do.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/07/3590277/mcconnell-priority-rein-epa/

This old, senile bastard thinks he has a mandate for more polluted water, land,air, more sick, dead people. Ever him talking about rampant black lung and deaths among his constituents, or toxic coal ash pollution, or methyl mercury everywhere?

Man i wish Larry Flynt would run another of his Million or so Dollars for dirt on these hypocrits.
McConnel with farm animals and who knows what else.

[boutons_deux]

GOP Majority Will Try To Dismantle Carbon Emissions Rules (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/09/3590628/gop-senate-epa-rule-shutdown/)

Just days after the midterm elections, Republicans are picking the big targets at which to aim their new majorities, and the federal effort to cut carbon emissions is one of them.

on Sunday morning, newly-minted Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) told Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace that she will be “extremely aggressive” in her attempts to roll back the EPA rules.

“The president’s policies are disenfranchising my part of the country,” Capito continued. “We’ve been picked as a loser, and I’m not going to stand for it. Rolling back the EPA regulations is the way to do it.”

the Republicans’ ambitions also extend well beyond EPA’s power plant regulations. “Republican lawmakers are planning an all-out assault on Obama’s environmental agenda, including rules on mercury and other air toxics from power plants, limits on ground-level ozone that causes smog, mountaintop mining restrictions and the EPA’s attempt to redefine its jurisdiction over streams and ponds,” the outlet reported. The Interior Department is also in the crosshairs, with rules due to come soon on hydraulic fracturing on public land and protecting streams from mining waste.”

“It’ll be a combined effort of using the appropriations process and the legislative process and the oversight process to put pressure on the administration prior to finalization,” a senior GOP aide told The Hill. “And then, once they’re final, if they’re still onerous and job-killing and harmful to the economy, then we’ll fight them there as well.”

The Republicans will have several options for going after the regulations. The first is the Congressional Review Act which, as the Center for American Progress noted (https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/general/report/2014/10/24/99598/10-things-to-expect-next-year-if-republicans-win-the-senate/), gives Congress the tools to shutdown major rulemakings in the interim time period between their announcement and finalization. This would require a majority vote of disapproval in both chambers of Congress, and in the Senate the Democrats would not be able to use the filibuster. Thanks to Tuesday’s midterm election, the Republicans now have the numbers to do this, and the rule for existing power plants won’t be finalized (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-will-propose-a-rule-to-cut-emissions-from-existing-coal-plants-by-up-to-30-percent/2014/06/02/f37f0a10-e81d-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html) until mid-2015.

The second, which wouldn’t stop the rules but could slow them down, would be for Republicans to use their new command of various Senate committees to launch (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/31/3586676/senate-gop-climate-preview/) a new round of investigations into EPA’s regulations.

The final option, as the GOP aide mentioned, is to attach laws defunding EPA’s power plant rules to the next bill Congress puts together to fund the federal government.

These appropriations bills have to be passed at regular intervals to keep the government operating, but they must also make it past President Obama’s veto power. So this would essentially set up a game of chicken between the President and the Republicans, with the EPA regulation as the stakes and a government shutdown as the consequence if neither side caves.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/09/3590628/gop-senate-epa-rule-shutdown/

It doesn't take a genius like me to know the Repugs will ALWAYS fuck up the country, fuck up Human-Americans, fuck up the environment, because that's the 1%/VRWC/BigCorp pay them to do.

[boutons_deux]

Cruz, Lee Already Prepping To Delay AG Nominee Over 'Executive Amnesty'

The same day that President Obama nominated Loretta Lynch to be the next attorney general (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/obama-picks-loretta-lynch-attorney-general?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+(TPMNews)), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) signaled that it won't be an easy process.

"President Obama’s Attorney General nominee deserves fair and full consideration of the United States Senate, which is precisely why she should not be confirmed in the lame duck session of Congress by senators who just lost their seats and are no longer accountable to the voters," the senators said in a Saturday statement (http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1893).

Cruz and Lee also said they would question Lynch over immigration.

"The Attorney General is the President's chief law enforcement officer. As such, the nominee must demonstrate full and complete commitment to the law. Loretta Lynch deserves the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities, beginning with a statement whether or not she believes the President’s executive amnesty plans are constitutional and legal,"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cruz-immigration-attorney-general?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

So there absolutely won't be any Kumbaya between Congress and WH.

Repugs will go 100% scorched earth obstruction, and destruction of the little that Obama/Dems hasn't already been obstructed, destroyed.

Thanks, all you mofo right-wingers who elect these mofos.

[Spurminator]

This and more than this. Lower the corporate tax and capital gains tax. Allow businesses to expand, create jobs and keep investment money in America. Good gosh, this isn't rocket science. Economics 101.

And if we lower those taxes and businesses don't create jobs, choosing instead to funnel those savings to their top executives and investors as they typically do, can we take that money back?

[G-Nob]

And if we lower those taxes and businesses don't create jobs, choosing instead to funnel those savings to their top executives and investors as they typically do, can we take that money back?

Who's we? The government? Because govt can do better than the free market? This country was built and became a world leader as a free market. If you're referring to Big Business, yes, funds are funneled to execs and investors because that's the structure of a publicly owned company. Businesses want to grow, not become stagnant. They also funnel cash to smaller subsidiary companies who hire workers, thereby growing the economy.

[boutons_deux]

"This country was built and became a world leader as a free market."

:lol you guys are SO DELUDED! Govt spending has always been a huge part of GDP, even more during/after WWII.

[Spurminator]

Who's we? The government? Because govt can do better than the free market?

At what, creating jobs? Probably not. But if those tax breaks aren't used to create jobs in the private sector, I'm not sure what the point of the tax break is. To fall further into debt?

[G-Nob]

"This country was built and became a world leader as a free market."

:lol you guys are SO DELUDED! Govt spending has always been a huge part of GDP, even more during/after WWII.

Govt spending is reallocating tax revenue, not creating new wealth. Personal goods and services is the number one contributor, representing more than half of our GDP. Business investment is #2 but doesn't represent a fifth of what personal spending does.

[baseline bum]

Who's we? The government? Because govt can do better than the free market? This country was built and became a world leader as a free market. If you're referring to Big Business, yes, funds are funneled to execs and investors because that's the structure of a publicly owned company. Businesses want to grow, not become stagnant. They also funnel cash to smaller subsidiary companies who hire workers, thereby growing the economy.

LOL, this country became a world leader because their factories weren't being bombed to shit in WWII.

[angrydude]

LOL, this country became a world leader because their factories weren't being bombed to shit in WWII.

WWII was so great for the US economy there was a massive steel shortage domestically.

And sending soldiers off to die in foreign wars is a great way to reduce unemployment (reduce the surplus population!!!)

But that GDP number was never higher! So there's that!

[ElNono]

LOL, this country became a world leader because their factories weren't being bombed to shit in WWII.

It was really Star Wars, tbh... when Ronnie said he was building the real thing, everybody else threw their arms in the air and just gave up

[boutons_deux]

It was really Star Wars, tbh... when Ronnie said he was building the real thing, everybody else threw their arms in the air and just gave up

bullshit. the price of oil collapsed, Russia lost a huge source of hard currency while getting bled in Afghanistan, and Russians were getting fed up with losing so many men in Afghanistan. Russia collapsed from within, not from St Ronnie doing or saying anything.

[ElNono]

:lol

[boutons_deux]

In Control, Republicans See Budget as Way to Push Agenda

Next year, House Republicans will try again

to transform Medicare (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) and Medicaid (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicaid/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), (iow, privatize, higher costs to users for less, shittier health care)

repeal the Affordable Care Act,

shrink domestic spending and

substantially cut the highest tax rates through the budget process.

Then they will leave it to the new Senate Republican majority to decide how far to press the party’s small-government vision,

“They’re firing with real budget bullets,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “Real people will get hurt.”

Congressional Republicans intend to present a plan to overhaul Medicare, calling for voucherlike “premium supports” to steer seniors into buying commercial health insurance, and to transform Medicaid, which would be cut and turned into block grants to state governments.

They also intend to set up a new commission to study options on Social Security (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/social_security_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), (privatize it to Wall St crooks to steal $100Bs of pension funds)

while relying on what one House Republican aide called

“the solid foundation” of the Ryan budget plan. :lol

be largely used to cut taxes for the rich. :lol

In 2012, the House budget ordered six committees to produce policy changes that would save $261 billion over 10 years to avert automatic spending cuts at the Pentagon. :lol

The results (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/us/house-bill-offers-aid-cuts-to-save-military-spending.html?_r=0) would have pushed 1.8 million people off food stamps and cost 280,000 children their school lunch subsidies and 300,000 children their health insurance coverage.

Elimination of the social services block grant to state and local governments would hit child abuse prevention programs, Meals on Wheels and child care.

A quarter of the cuts in the bill would come from programs for the poor. Cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and subsidized insurance premiums under the health care law (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) made up more than a third of the package’s savings.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/us/politics/in-control-republicans-see-budget-as-way-to-push-agenda.html

yawn, same old Repug/VRWC/1% strategy of protect/enable/enrich the 1%/BigCorps, screw the 99% and fuck the environment.

[boutons_deux]

10 Things the GOP Doesn't Want You to Know About the Debt (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/23/988055/-10-Things-the-GOP-Doesn-t-Want-You-to-Know-About-the-Debt)

Just two weeks after he seconded Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's dire warnings (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002202.htm) about the August 2 deadline to raise the U.S debt ceiling, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403522729881988.html) walked out of the budget talks aimed at reaching a bipartisan compromise over deficit reduction. Like Arizona GOP Senator Jon Kyl (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/06/senator-kyl-drops-out-of-the-debt-talks-leaving-zero-republicans-at-the-table.html), Cantor shifted the burden to Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Mitch McConnell and President Obama to "get over this impasse on taxes."

For his part, McConnell promised that no deal to end the GOP's hostage taking of the U.S. economy will include tax hikes. But while McConnell boasted that "If they couldn't raise taxes when they owned the government, you know they can't get it done now," left unsaid was the inconvenient truth that the nation's mounting debt is largely attributable to wars, a recession and tax policies put in place under his party's watch.

Here, then, are 10 things the GOP doesn't want you to know about the debt:


Republican Leaders Agree U.S. Default Would Be a "Financial Disaster" (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#one)
Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#two)
George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#three)
Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#four)
Federal Taxes Are Now at a 60 Year Low (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#five)
Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Pay for Themselves or Spur "Job Creators" (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#six)
Ryan Budget Delivers Another Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#seven)
Ryan Budget Will Require Raising Debt Ceiling - Repeatedly (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#eight)
Tax Cuts Drive the Next Decade of Debt (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#nine)
$3 Trillion Tab for Unfunded Wars Remains Unpaid (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm#ten)


1. Republican Leaders Agree U.S. Default Would Be a "Financial Disaster"

Senator Pat Toomey (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/04/22/the_truth_about_the_debt_ceiling_and_default_10963 3.html) (R-PA), Rep. Michele Bachmann (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the_scariest_thing_ive_ever_heard_on_television/2011/04/13/AFRzRPCE_blog.html?wprss=ezra-klein) (R-MN) and White House hopeful Tim Pawlenty (http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0511/Pawlenty_still_against_raising_debt_ceiling.html) are among the GOP luminaries who have joined the ranks of what Dana Milbank called the "default deniers (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/default-deniers-say-its-all-a-hoax/2011/05/18/AFFlPk6G_story.html)." But you don't have to take Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's word for it "that if Congress doesn't agree to an increase in the debt limit by August 2, the United States will be forced to default on its debt, potentially spreading panic and collapse across the globe." As it turns out, Republican leaders (and their big business backers (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002161.htm)) have said the same thing.

In their few moments of candor, Republican leaders expressed agreement with Tim Geithner's assessment (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/15/john-boehner-debt-limit_n_862125.html) that default by the U.S. "would have a catastrophic economic impact that would be felt by every American." The specter of a global financial cataclysm has been described as resulting in "severe harm" (McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi (http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/moodys022811.pdf)), "financial collapse and calamity throughout the world" (Senator Lindsey Graham (http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/06/graham-debt-ceiling/)) and "you can't not raise the debt ceiling" (House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/01/06/ryan-hostage/)). In January, even Speaker John Boehner (http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/30/boehner-debt-disaste/) acknowledged as much:

"That would be a financial disaster, not only for our country but for the worldwide economy. Remember, the American people on election day said, 'we want to cut spending and we want to create jobs.' And you can't create jobs if you default on the federal debt."

2. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt

Among the Republicans who prophesied the default doomsday scenario was none other than conservative patron saint, Ronald Reagan (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/wwrd_what_would_reagan_do_on_t029607.php). As he warned Congress in November 1983:

"The full consequences of a default -- or even the serious prospect of default -- by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the value of the dollar."

Reagan knew what he was talking about. After all, the hemorrhage of red ink at the U.S. Treasury was his doing.

As most analysts predicted, Reagan's massive $749 billion supply-side tax cuts in 1981 (http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/politics/30REAG.html) quickly produced even more massive annual budget deficits. Combined with his rapid increase in defense spending, Reagan delivered not the balanced budgets he promised, but record-setting debt. Even his OMB alchemist David Stockman (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE6DA173BF932A25756C0A9609482 60&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all) could not obscure the disaster with his famous "rosy scenarios."

Forced to raise taxes eleven times (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002094.htm#two) to avert financial catastrophe, the Gipper nonetheless presided over a tripling of the American national debt (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1D6143EF937A35756C0A9619482 60&sec=&spon=) to nearly $3 trillion. By the time he left office in 1989, Ronald Reagan more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by the previous 200 years of American history. It's no wonder Stockman lamented (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01stockman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss) last year:

"[The] debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts."

It's no wonder the Gipper cited the skyrocketing deficits he bequeathed to America as his greatest regret (http://townhall.com/columnists/terryjeffrey/2011/02/11/reagans_farewell_regret_deficit_hed_put_nation_on_ track_to_eliminate).

3. George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt

Following in Reagan's footsteps, George W. Bush buried the myth of Republican fiscal discipline (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001395.htm).

Inheriting a federal budget in the black and CBO forecast for a $5.6 trillion surplus over 10 years, President George W. Bush quickly set about dismantling the progress made under Bill Clinton. Bush's $1.4 trillion tax cut in 2001 (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001380.htm), followed by a $550 billion second round in 2003, accounted for the bulk (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000907.htm) of the yawning budget deficits he produced. (It is more than a little ironic that Paul Ryan ten years ago (http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/86893/remembering-when-paul-ryan-worried-the-debt-was-too-small) called the tax cuts "too small" because he believed the estimated surplus Bush eviscerated would be even larger.)

http://www.perrspectives.com/images/CBPP-deficit_factors_2007_sm.JPG (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=692)

Like Reagan and Stockman before him, Bush resorted to the rosy scenario (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000922.htm) to claim he would halve the budget deficit by 2009. Before the financial system meltdown last fall, Bush's deficit (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001174.htm) already reached $490 billion. (And even before the passage of the Wall Street bailout, Bush had presided over (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/29/couricandco/entry4486228.shtml) a $4 trillion increase in the national debt, a staggering 71% jump.) By January 2009 (http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN0643708720090107?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews), the mind-numbing deficit figure reached $1.2 trillion, forcing President Bush to raise the debt ceiling (http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1253877420090212) to $11.3 trillion.

4. Republicans Voted Seven Times to Raise Debt Ceiling for President Bush

"Reagan," Vice President Dick Cheney famously declared in 2002, "proved deficits don't matter." Not, that is, unless a Democrat is in the White House.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5041/5320633295_898c5d5c45.jpg (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002018.htm)
As Donny Shaw documented in January 2010, Republican intransigence on the debt ceiling only began in earnest when Bush left the White House for good (http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1500-The-Republicans-Haven-t-Always-Been-Against-Raising-the-Debt-Ceiling).

The Republicans haven't always been against increasing the federal debt ceiling. This is the first time in recent history (the past decade or so) that no Republican has voted for the increase. In fact, on most of the ten other votes to increase the federal debt limit that the Senate has taken since 1997, the Republicans provided the majority of the votes in favor.

As it turns out, Republican majorities voted to raise the U.S. debt ceiling seven times (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002063.htm) while George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office. (It should be noted, as Ezra Klein (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/a-decade-of-debt-ceiling-votes-in-one-graphic/2011/04/13/AFPFtHJE_blog.html) did, that party-line votes on debt ceiling increases tied to other legislation is not solely the province of the GOP.) As ThinkProgress pointed out, during the Bush presidency, the current GOP leadership team (http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/04/14/158424/republican-leaders-debt-limit-hypocrisy/) voted 19 times to increase debt limit. During his tenure, the U.S. national debt doubled, fueled by the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, the Medicare prescription drug plan and the unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Mitch McConnell and John Boehner voted for all of it and the debt which ensued because, as Orrin Hatch (http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/obama-has-terrorism-briefing-on-christmas-after-airline-attack.php) later explained:

"It was standard practice not to pay for things."

5. Federal Taxes Now at a 60 Year Low

Even as Vice President Biden leads bipartisan negotiations to trim at least $1 trillion from the national debt, Republican leaders faithfully regurgitate the refrain that tax increases are "off the table." In one form or another, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor and just about every other conservative mouthpiece parroted Speaker John Boehner's line that:

"Medicare, Medicaid - everything should be on the table, except raising taxes."

Which purely by the numbers (if not ideology) is an odd position to take. After all, as a percentage of the U.S. economy, the total federal tax bite hasn't been this low in 60 years.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5013/5510567483_1c49298e5e_z.jpg (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703584804576144050996875790.html#p roject%3DBUDGET1102%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive)
As the chart representing President Obama's 2012 budget proposal above reflects, the American tax burden hasn't been this low in generations. Thanks to the combination of the Bush Recession (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001979.htm) and the latest Obama tax cuts, the AP reported (http://wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=2262297), "as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way." In January, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41276533/ns/politics-capitol_hill/)) explained that "revenues would be just under 15 percent of GDP; levels that low have not been seen since 1950." That finding echoed an earlier analysis from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Last April, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3151&emailView=1) concluded, "Middle-income Americans are now paying federal taxes at or near historically low levels, according to the latest available data." As USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2010-05-10-taxes_N.htm) reported last May, the BEA data debunked yet another right-wing myth:

Federal, state and local taxes -- including income, property, sales and other taxes -- consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010."The idea that taxes are high right now is pretty much nuts," says Michael Ettlinger, head of economic policy at the liberal Center for American Progress.


Or as former Reagan Treasury official Bruce Bartlett (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/are-taxes-in-the-u-s-high-or-low/) explained it this week the New York Times:

In short, by the broadest measure of the tax rate, the current level is unusually low and has been for some time. Revenues were 14.9 percent of G.D.P. in both 2009 and 2010. Yet if one listens to Republicans, one would think that taxes have never been higher, that an excessive tax burden is the most important constraint holding back economic growth and that a big tax cut is exactly what the economy needs to get growing again.

[boutons_deux]

6. Bush Tax Cuts Didn't Pay for Themselves or Spur "Job Creators"

That Republican intransigence persists despite the complete debunking of two of the GOP's favorite myths.

The first tried and untrue Republican talking point is that "tax cuts pay for themselves (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001914.htm)." Sadly, that right-wing mythmaking is belied by the massive Bush deficits, half of which (as the CBPP chart in section 3 above shows} were the result of the Bush tax cuts themselves. As a percentage of the American economy, tax revenues peaked in 2000; that is, before the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. Despite President Bush's bogus claim (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1692027,00.html) that "You cut taxes and the tax revenues increase," Uncle Sam's cash flow from individual income taxes did not return to its pre-dot com bust level until 2006.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5295/5511193350_a42a44c85e_z.jpg (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals/)

The second GOP fairy tale, as expressed by Speaker Boehner, is that "The top one percent of wage earners in the United States...pay forty percent of the income taxes...The people he's {President Obama] is talking about taxing are the very people that we expect to reinvest in our economy."

If so, the Republican's so-called "Job Creators (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002193.htm)" failed to meet those expectations under George W. Bush. After all, the last time the top tax rate was 39.6% (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001411.htm) during the Clinton administration, the United States enjoyed rising incomes, 23 million new jobs and budget surpluses. Under Bush? Not so much.

On January 9, 2009, the Republican-friendly Wall Street Journal (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/) summed it up with an article titled simply, "Bush on Jobs: the Worst Track Record on Record (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/)." (The Journal's interactive table quantifies his staggering failure relative to every post-World War II president.) The dismal 3 million jobs created under President Bush didn't merely pale in comparison to the 23 million produced during Bill Clinton's tenure. In September 2009, theCongressional Joint Economic Committee (http://jec.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=274fac24-63da-4685-acd0-1dbd735d7363) charted Bush's job creation disaster, the worst since Hoover:


http://www.perrspectives.com/images/bush_job_growth_record.JPG (http://jec.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=274fac24-63da-4685-acd0-1dbd735d7363)

As David Leonhardt of the New York Times (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/were-the-bush-tax-cuts-good-for-growth/) aptly concluded last year:

Those tax cuts passed in 2001 amid big promises about what they would do for the economy. What followed? The decade with the slowest average annual growth since World War II. Amazingly, that statement is true even if you forget about the Great Recession and simply look at 2001-7.
7
. Ryan Budget Delivers Another Tax Cut Windfall for Wealthy

Looking at that dismal performance, Leonhardt rightly asked, "Why should we believe that extending the Bush tax cuts will provide a big lift to growth?" At a time of record income inequality (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001908.htm) which saw the incomes of therichest 400 Americans taxpayers (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001766.htm) double even as their tax rates were halved, that's a fair question to say the least.
For Paul Ryan and the Republican Party, the answer is simple: because we said so.

As Ezra Klein (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-gops-jobs-agenda-now-more-than-ever/2011/05/19/AGqX7CCH_blog.html), Paul Krugman (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/no-ideas/) and Steve Benen (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/when_a_party_declares_intellec029862.php) among others noted, the House Republicans "Plan for America's Job Creators" is simply a repackaging of years of previous proposals and GOP bromides. (As Klein pointed out, the10 page document (http://majorityleader.gov/Jobs/HRP_JOBS.pdf)"looks like the staffer in charge forgot the assignment was due on Thursday rather than Friday, and so cranked the font up to 24 and began dumping clip art to pad out the plan.") At the center of it is thesame plan from the Ryan House budget (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002156.htm) passed in April to cut the top individual and corporate tax rates to 25%.

The price tag for the Republican proposal (http://www.offthechartsblog.org/house-budget-committee-mistakes-were-made/) is a jaw-dropping $4.2 trillion. And as Matthew Yglesias (http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/will-paul-ryan-propose-a-giant-tax-hike-to-make-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-affordable/) explained, earlier analyses of similar proposals in Ryan's Roadmap reveal that working Americans would have to pick up the tab left unpaid by upper-income households:


http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ryanplan-1.png (http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/04/will-paul-ryan-propose-a-giant-tax-hike-to-make-tax-cuts-for-the-rich-affordable/)


This is an important element of Ryan's original "roadmap" plan that's never gotten the attention it deserves. But according to a Center for Tax Justice analysis (PDF), even though Ryan features large aggregate tax cuts, ninety percent of Americans would actually pay higher taxes under his plan.In other words, it wasn't just cuts in middle class benefits in order to cut taxes on the rich. It was cuts in middle class benefits and middle class tax hikes in order to cut taxes on the rich. It'll be interesting to see if the House Republicans formally introduce such a plan and if so how many people will vote for it.


We now know the answer: 235 House Republicans and 40 GOP Senators.

8. Ryan Budget Will Require Raising Debt Ceiling - Repeatedly

Largely overlooked in the media coverage of the Republican debt ceiling hostage drama is this: those 235 House Republicans and 40 GOP Senators who supported Paul Ryan's 2012 budget bill voted to add $6 trillion to the U.S. national debt (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002186.htm) over the next decade. And that means, as Speaker John Boehner acknowledged (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002184.htm), Republicans now and in the future would have to increase the debt ceiling - repeatedly.


http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5308/5783248340_f4374ea6c4.jpg (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/republicans-cant-meet-their-own-deficit-and-spending-targets/2011/04/13/AFxhhTIE_blog.html)

Of course, you'd never know that based on the incendiary rhetoric from the leading lights of the Republican Party and their right-wing echo chamber. Senator Rand Paul (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/04/obama-aide-congress-will-raise-the-debt-ceiling/1) (R-KY) said his vote to bump up the debt ceiling would come at the cost of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, "the last time we're doing it." His South Carolina colleague Jim Demint (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/156015-demint-let-debt-ceiling-vote-be-gops-waterloo) threatened to filibuster the increase, even if it meant the GOP's "Waterloo." The number two House Republican Eric Cantor (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53501.html) (R-VA) regurgitated that line, telling Democrats the GOP "will not grant their request for a debt limit increase" without major spending cuts or budget process reforms." For his part, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-17/ryan-geithner-offer-different-views-of-agreement-to-increase-debt-ceiling.html) insisted, "We won't raise, just simply raise, the debt limit," adding, "We will vote to have spending cuts and controls in conjunction with the debt limit increase." As giddy right-wing bloggers (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/22/cbs-poll-shows-americans-oppose-debt-ceiling-hike-2-1/) like Patterico (http://patterico.com/2011/04/22/republicans-hold-the-cards-in-the-debt-ceiling-fight/) described the right-wing's scorched earth strategy:

If Republicans are going to vote to raise the debt ceiling -- and not to do so will indeed cause financial chaos -- they have to extract concessions sufficient that they can credibly say: this is the last such vote we will ever have to have.

Sadly, as Ezra Klein (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/republicans-cant-meet-their-own-deficit-and-spending-targets/2011/04/13/AFxhhTIE_blog.html) of the Washington Post explained last month, "Republicans can't meet their own deficit and spending targets." The Ryan plan to privatize Medicare, slash and convert Medicaid into block grants, and deliver another tax-cut windfall for the wealthy nevertheless "blows through both their spending and debt caps":

House Republicans voted to make the Ryan budget law. But the Ryan budget includes $6 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, which means that to become law, the Ryan budget would require a substantial increase in the debt ceiling. But before the Republicans agree to increase the debt ceiling so that the budget they passed can become law, Republicans are demanding the passage of either a balanced budget amendment that would make the Ryan budget unconstitutional or a spending cap that the Ryan budget would, in certain years (and if you're using more realistic numbers, in all years), exceed.

It's no wonder Klein's Washington Post colleague Matt Miller deemed the Republican budgetary horror story "The Shining - National Debt Edition (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-shining--national-debt-edition/2011/04/20/AFnfSICE_story.html)" before concluding that Boehner's "awe-inspiring hypocrisy on the debt limit (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/boehner-takes-budget-hypocrisy-to-a-new-low/2011/05/11/AFBgW6pG_story.html)" is one of those moments of "political behavior that can only be dubbed Super-Duper Hypocrisy So Brazen They Must Really Think We're Idiots."

9. Tax Cuts Drive the Next Decade of Debt

"President Obama's agenda, ambitious as it may be, is responsible for only a sliver of the deficits, despite what many of his Republican critics are saying," the New York Times' David Leonhardt explained in 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html), adding, "The economic growth under George W. Bush did not generate nearly enough tax revenue to pay for his agenda, which included tax cuts, the Iraq war, and Medicare prescription drug coverage." That fall, former Reagan Treasury official Bruce Bartlett (http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1200/why-economy-needs-spending-not-tax-cuts) offered just that kind of honesty to the born again deficit virgins (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/001743.htm) of his Republican Party. Noting that the FY2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion was solely due to lower tax revenues and not increased spending, Bartlett concluded:

"I think there are grounds on which to criticize the Obama administration's anti-recession actions. But spending too much is not one of them. Indeed, based on this analysis, it is pretty obvious that spending - real spending on things like public works - has been grossly inadequate. The idea that Reagan-style tax cuts would have done anything is just nuts."

Which is exactly right. Thanks to the steep recession, as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and others have documented time and again, the overall federal tax burden (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002120.htm) as a percentage of GDP is now down to levels not seen since Harry Truman was in the White House. (The two-year tax cut compromise in December (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002049.htm) didn't help any, adding $400 billion to the deficit this year and next.) But is the Bush tax cuts themselves, which Republicans want to make permanent and then (as the Ryan budget mandates) lower further, which account for much of the revenue drain into the future.

As a recent analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (http://www.cbpp.org/files/5-10-11bud.pdf) showed, over the next decade the Bush tax cuts account for more of the nation's debt than Iraq, Afghanistan, TARP, the stimulus, and revenue lost to the recession combined:


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/5782830315_3582ecab4e.jpg (http://www.cbpp.org/files/5-10-11bud.pdf)

10. $3 Trillion Tab for Unfunded Wars Remains Unpaid

Over the next ten years, the costs of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will decline as the U.S. commitments there come to an end. But almost ten years, 6,000 U.S. dead and over a trillion dollars after the attacks of September 11, it's time to pay for our wars.

In May, the National Journal (http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/the-cost-of-bin-laden-3-trillion-over-15-years-20110505?page=1) estimated that the total cost to the U.S. economy of the war against Al Qaeda will reach $3 trillion. In 2008, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702846.html) put the price of the Iraq conflict alone at $3 trillion.

But by 2020 and beyond, the direct cost to U.S. taxpayers could reach $3 trillion. In March, the Congressional Research Service (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf) put the total cost of the wars at $1.28 trillion, including $806 billion for Iraq and $444 billion for Afghanistan. For the 2012 fiscal year which begins on October 1, President Obama asked for $117 billion more (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-20/pentagon-fiscal-2012-war-request-to-be-lowest-since-fiscal-2005.html). (That war-fighting funding is over and above Secretary Gates' $553 billion Pentagon budget request (http://www.freep.com/article/20110213/NEWS07/102130575/Pentagon-seeks-553-billion) for next year.)
But in addition to the roughly $1.5 trillion tally for both conflicts through the theoretical 2014 American draw down date in Afghanistan, the U.S. faces staggering bills for veterans' health care and disability benefits. Last May,an analysis by the Center for American Progress (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/iraq_war_ledger.html) estimated the total projected total cost of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' health care and disability could reach between $422 billion to $717 billion. Reconstruction aid and other development assistance represent tens of billions more, as does the additional interest on the national debt. And none of the above counts the expanded funding for the new Department of Homeland Security.

But that two-plus trillion dollar tab doesn't account for the expansion of the United States military since the start of the "global war on terror." As a percentage of the American economy (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/iraq_war_ledger.html), defense spending jumped from 3.1% in 2001 to 4.8% last year. While ThinkProgress noted that the Pentagon's FY 2012 ask is "the largest request ever since World War II," McClatchy explained (http://www.freep.com/article/20110213/NEWS07/102130575/Pentagon-seeks-553-billion):

Such a boost would mark the 14th year in a row that Pentagon spending has increased, despite the waning U.S. presence in Iraq. In dollars, Pentagon spending has more than doubled in 10 years. Even adjusted for inflation, the Defense Department budget has risen 65% in the past decade.

Even as the World Trade Center site was still smoldering, Republicans insisted Al Qaeda represented an existential threat to the United States. President Bush repeatedly compared (http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/000291.htm) 9/11 to Pearl Harbor and his war on terror to World War II. But he never asked Americans to join the military or sacrifice at home. Instead, Bush told us to go shopping and "get down to Disney World (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301977.html)."

http://www.perrspectives.com/blog/archives/002215.htm

[boutons_deux]

Uncertainty in Washington Poses Long List of Economic Perils

On March 28, unless lawmakers act, physician reimbursements from Medicare (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) drop off a cliff.

On May 31, the highway trust fund runs out of money.

In June, the Export-Import Bank, which helps finance overseas purchases of American exports, might shut in the face of conservative opposition to its mission.

Then on Sept. 30, the entire Children’s Health Insurance Program (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/state_childrens_health_insurance_program_schip/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) faces its expiration.

A few days later, across-the-board spending cuts loom once again.

(http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/business/economy/uncertainty-in-washington-poses-long-list-of-economic-perils.html?_r=0#modal-lightbox)“I see a lot of potential for Republicans to use all these fiscal speed bumps as leverage points,” said Joel Prakken, a co-founder of Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm that calculated that previous fiscal fights, combined with tighter budgets, shaved as much as 1 percentage point off economic growth, a big sum considering that growth has averaged an annual rate of 2.15 percent since Republicans took control of the House in 2011.

“From a businessman’s standpoint, uncertainty in general just has a huge impact in how you think of the future, how you plan for capital investment and how you plan for hiring,” said Randall L. Stephenson, chairman of AT&T and of the Business Roundtable. “Just go down the long list. There’s a wide range of possible outcomes on policy, so you have to come to a more conservative approach to planning.”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/business/economy/uncertainty-in-washington-poses-long-list-of-economic-perils.html?_r=0

Repugs claim they want to show The American People that Repugs can govern! :lol

and one of y'alls Repug ASSHOLES wants to defund, ground Air Force One! Repugs can govern! :lol

[boutons_deux]

Boehner And Republicans Plan To Reverse Growth Numbers and Kill Jobs

now that Republicans will have control of both houses of Congress, they will start, immediately, passing legislation to revert back to Bush-era economics and undo the economic progress of the past six years.Republicans campaigned on, and have lied perpetually about their storied “40 bills” on job creation such as opening up our world leading oil production for American jobs, building Canadian corporation TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline, reducing tax rates for the rich and corporations, balancing the budget, and abolishing environmental regulations. Boehner and Paul Ryan have complained bitterly “that all 40 jobs bills are dying over there in the United States Senate.”

The problem for Americans is that beginning in January the 40 jobs bills, all gifts to corporations, will be brought to life and instead of creating jobs, will create more wealth for the one-percent at the expense of the poor, the middle class, Americans’ health, and of course jobs; typical Republican economics.None of the House jobs bills were designed to create even one job. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine any American believes that abolishing overtime pay, giving tax breaks and credits to corporations outsourcing Americans’ jobs, or providing tax incentives for the rich and corporations to conceal their wealth offshore will create jobs; but many are stupid enough to believe lying Republicans and probably think they did pass 46 jobs bills.

But for any American capable of a 6-year old’s cognitive ability, or noted economic experts, the GOP’s jobs bills are a joke.

According to five noted economists who reviewed the storied jobs bills, three decades of trickle-down economics, current economic disasters in Republican states, and current economic successes in blue Democratic states, not one of the Republicans’ so-called “jobs bills” will have any measurable impact on job growth.

In fact, as history proves, and Republicans intend, the bills serve to kill jobs and economic growth while promoting the Koch, Wall Street, and Republicans’ agenda; enrich the oil industry and corporations at the middle class and poor’s expense.

Some of the more absurd “jobs bills” are worth noting including four of Boehner’s so-called education bills purported to be monumental job creators. According to Cecilia Rouse, the dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, “not one of them would affect job growth like Republicans claim.” Two of the bills require colleges to offer loan counseling and push the Department of Education to provide information for potential college attendees.

Rouse said all colleges already have dedicated loan or financial aid counselors, and like the second bill, will not create any jobs.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/06/boehner-republicans-plan-reverse-job-growth-numbers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29 (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/12/06/boehner-republicans-plan-reverse-job-growth-numbers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29)

[boutons_deux]

Arizona And Florida Declare War On The Sun

Why on earth would Arizona and Florida, a couple of states with near-constant sunshine, take steps to actively discourage people from making use of all that abundant solar energy?

If you guessed that lobbying from energy companies — and of course, the Koch brothers — might have something to do with it, you win Will Shortz’s voice on your answering machine.

In fact, just before Thanksgiving, Florida regulators quietly gutted requirements for utilities to conserve energy, and also to eliminate solar rebates for homeowners at the end of 2015 in a deal that the Tampa Bay Times (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/florida-regulators-meet-to-decide-future-of-energy-efficiency-and-solar/2207845) says “[gave] the investor-owned utilities virtually everything they wanted.”

As of now, two of the sunniest states in the country are officially against solar energy.

Read more at http://wonkette.com/567979/morning-maddow-arizona-and-florida-declare-war-on-the-sun-video#u6ISqhzswhjvxOqB.99

Repugs fuck up everything they touch, to the benefit of their paymasters.

[boutons_deux]

Rich People Cheer As Republicans Cut IRS Budget (AGAIN!)


At domestic agencies, the EPA’s budget would be cut by $60 million, and the IRS would lose $345.6 million. The nation’s tax agency also would be banned from targeting organizations seeking tax-exempt status based on their ideological beliefs.

http://www.motherjones.com/files/blog_irs_audit_coverage.jpg

It's simple: If the IRS budget gets cut, it means fewer audits of corporations and rich people. Any other questions?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/12/rich-people-cheer-republicans-cut-irs-budget

[boutons_deux]

Provision Tucked In Spending Bill Blows Up Campaign Finance Limits


http://a2.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/f9mju4qn43hrrdkxvzwu.jpg


http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/12/rich-people-cheer-republicans-cut-irs-budget

[boutons_deux]

Another Repug poison pill is gutting financial reform, allowing banks to gamble with taxpayer-insured $Bs.

[boutons_deux]

voodoo economics (which is Repug smoke screen for "cut taxes on the wealthy and BigCorp)

Republicans weigh big changes at U.S. budget referee agency

possibly naming a new head and changing the rules used to assess the cost of legislation.

Conservative groups have been calling for the replacement of CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, who was appointed by Democrats in 2009 and whose term expires next month. They argue that a Republican-leaning economist would more readily adopt a cost analysis known as "dynamic scoring" that incorporates expectations of higher economic growth associated with legislation.

Analyses by the CBO, a non-partisan office, show how much a bill would increase or decrease the federal budget deficit over a 10-year period.

The budget math used under dynamic scoring has long been a goal for Republican lawmakers, including the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee, Representative Tom Price, and the current chairman, Paul Ryan, who next month will take over the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Under current congressional analysis rules, if a bill cuts tax rates, government revenues fall. Dynamic scoring assumes that lower tax rates would boost growth and income, helping to offset at least some of the lost revenues.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/22/us-usa-congress-elmendorf-idUSKBN0K009I20141222?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

iow, "ALL tax cuts (on the wealthy and BigCorp) pay for themselves"

Repugs gonna REALLY fuck up the country and inflate the deficit AND national debt, as all Repugs have done since 1980.

[boutons_deux]

of course, it doesn't

Robert Reich: The GOP's Economic Plan Has No Basis In Reality


According to reports (http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-22/cbo-chief-elmendorf-said-not-to-win-reappointment-by-republicans), one of the first acts of the Republican congress will be to fire Doug Elmendorf, current director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, because he won’t use “dynamic scoring” for his economic projections.

Dynamic scoring is the magical-mystery math Republicans have been pushing since they came up with supply-side “trickle-down” economics.

It’s based on the belief that cutting taxes unleashes economic growth and thereby produces additional government revenue. Supposedly the added revenue more than makes up for what’s lost when Congress hands out the tax cuts.

Dynamic scoring would make it easier to enact tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, because the tax cuts wouldn’t look as if they increased the budget deficit.

Incoming House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) calls it (http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/republicans-tax-bills-113781.html#ixzz3NDAw1foJ) “reality-based scoring,” but it’s actually magical scoring – which is why Elmendorf, as well as all previous CBO directors have rejected it.

Few economic theories have been as thoroughly tested in the real world as supply-side economics, and so notoriously failed.

Ronald Reagan cut the top income tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent and ended up nearly doubling the national debt.

His first budget director, David Stockman, later confessed he dealt with embarrassing questions about future deficits with “magic asterisks” in the budgets submitted to Congress. The Congressional Budget Office didn’t buy them.

George W. Bush inherited a budget surplus from Bill Clinton but then slashed taxes, mostly on the rich. The CBO found that the Bush tax cuts reduced revenues by $3 trillion (http://www.cbo.gov/publication/41463?index=12187).

Yet Republicans don’t want to admit supply-side economics is hokum. As a result, they’ve never had much love for the truth-tellers at the Congressional Budget Office.

In 2011, when briefly leading the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich called (http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/news/economy/gingrich_cbo_socialism/index.htm) the CBO “a reactionary socialist institution which does not believe in economic growth, does not believe in innovation and does not believe in data that has not been internally generated.”

The CBO has continued to be a truth-telling thorn in the Republican’s side.

The budget plan Paul Ryan came up with in 2012 – likely to be a harbinger of what’s to come from the Republican congress – slashed Medicaid, cut taxes on the rich and on corporations, and replaced Medicare with a less well-funded voucher plan.

Ryan claimed these measures would reduce the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office disagreed.

Ryan persevered. His 2013 and 2014 budget proposals were similarly filled with magic asterisks. The CBO still wasn’t impressed.

Yet it’s one thing to cling to magical-mystery thinking when you have only one house of Congress. It’s another when you’re running the whole shebang.

Now that Elmendorf is on the way out, presumably to be replaced by someone willing to tell Ryan and other Republicans what they’d like to hear, the way has been cleared for all the magic they can muster.

In this as in other domains of public policy, Republicans have not shown a particular affinity for facts.

Climate change? It’s not happening, they say. And even if it is happening, humans aren’t responsible. (Almost all scientists studying the issue find it’s occurring and humans are the major cause.)

Widening inequality? Not occurring, they say. Even though the data show otherwise, they claim the measurements are wrong.

Voting fraud? Happening all over the country, they say, which is why voter IDs and other limits on voting are necessary. Even though there’s no evidence to back up their claim (the bestevidence (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/) shows no more than 31 credible incidents of fraud out of a billion ballots cast), they continue to assert it.

Evolution? Just a theory, they say. Even though all reputable scientists support it, many Republicans at the state level say it shouldn’t be taught without also presenting the view found in the Bible.

Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

America’s use of torture?

The George W. Bush administration and its allies in Congress weren’t overly interested in the facts.

The pattern seems to be: if you don’t like the facts, make them up.

Or have your benefactors finance “think tanks” filled with hired guns who will tell the public what you and your patrons want them to say.

If all else fails, fire your own experts who tell the truth, and replace them with people who will pronounce falsehoods.

There’s one big problem with this strategy, though. Legislation based on lies often causes the public to be harmed.

Not even “truthiness,” as Stephen Colbert once called it, is an adequate substitute for the whole truth.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/robert-reich-gops-economic-plan-has-no-basis-reality

... Repugs simply, blatantly don't GAF about harming the 99%, nor about harming the environment, just as long as their paymasters get protected and paid.

[boutons_deux]

G.O.P. Turns to the Courts to Aid Agenda

Democrats say the legal moves reflect a convenient turnabout for the Republican Party (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and a newfound willingness to seek an active role for the judiciary when it benefits conservative policy goals.

“What they cannot win in the legislative body, they now seek and hope to achieve through judicial activism,” said Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia.

“That is such delicious irony, it makes one’s head spin.”

“They decry the courts’ overruling or implementing things they don’t like,” he said, “but are eager to have the courts implement things they like.”

For years, conservatives criticized liberals who sought judicial action on civil rights or social issues.
“We’re seeing that activist judges across the country are overturning the will of the people,” Franklin Graham, a son of the Rev. Billy Graham

Mr. Connolly, whose constituents include federal workers in the Virginia suburbs outside Washington, said the Supreme Court’s decision in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case had sent a signal to conservatives to view the courts as a place for political success.

“It absolutely opened the floodgates to such judicial activism from the right,” Mr. Connolly said. “It blessed it, and it sanctioned it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/us/politics/gop-turns-to-the-courts-to-aid-agenda.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

[boutons_deux]

Four New Anti-Choice Bills Introduced in U.S. Senate
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/01/09/four-new-anti-choice-bills-introduced-u-s-senate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

[boutons_deux]

Repugs, yawn, fucking up Social Security and Disability, cutting disability payments by 19%.

"The Associated Press reports that "benefits for 11 million disabled workers, spouses and children would be automatically cut by 19 percent" under a new rule adopted by House Republicans on the VERY FIRST DAY of the new Congress."

[boutons_deux]

Republicans In Congress Begin New Effort To Water Down Dodd-Frank Law

Boosted by their November election gains, congressional Republicans have launched a new effort to weaken, bit by bit, a law that dramatically expanded federal oversight of the financial system after the Great Recession.

On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House is expected to pass a package of bills making changes to the 2010 law, known as Dodd-Frank, which also created a powerful new agency to protect consumers.

The law was enacted over nearly unanimous opposition from Republican lawmakers. Many despise Dodd-Frank almost as much as they do Obamacare because they believe it’s an overreaction to the 2008 financial crisis and an unnecessary burden on business.

Now with a Senate majority too, Republicans no longer have to worry about Democrats stopping attempts to chip away at the law’s hundreds of regulations, though President Barack Obama’s veto pen looms in the White House.

“The truth is Dodd-Frank was not chiseled in stone. Nobody brought it down to us from Mount Sinai,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), who is leading the effort to change the law.

“Congress would be negligent in its duties if we did not continually monitor and fix Dodd-Frank’s unintended consequences.”

In the last few weeks, Republicans watered down key parts of Dodd-Frank by attaching provisions to so-called must-pass bills — one funding most of the federal government and another reauthorizing an important terrorism risk insurance program that had expired. Obama signed the bills despite his opposition to their changes in Dodd-Frank.

The maneuver provided an early road map to how the new Republican-controlled Congress might try to make long-sought changes to financial regulations over Obama’s objections.

Liberal Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), are rallying to stop the effort.

They nearly derailed the government funding bill last month because it contained a provision that eased Dodd-Frank restrictions on bank trading of financial derivatives — the type of complex investments that helped trigger the financial crisis.

http://www.nationalmemo.com/republicans-congress-begin-new-effort-water-dodd-frank-law/

So, all y'all REDNECK taxpayers ready to bail out Wall St again when it INEVITABLY blows up again?

And if you're really lucky, the banks will "bail in" themselves by taking YOUR money directly from your deposit accounts. IT'S THE LAW!

[boutons_deux]

Republicans think their 80-year quest to end Social Security will finally succeed (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/14/1357784/-Republicans-think-their-80-year-quest-to-end-Social-Security-will-finally-succeed)


http://images.dailykos.com/images/44642/large/Signing_Of_The_Social_Security_Act.jpg?1376511671

TPM has a timely reminder (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/conservative-war-on-social-security-history?utm_content=buffer63a14&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer) that the destruction of Social Security has been probably the longest-standing policy goal of the Republican party, now in its eighth decade. From the time of its inception by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, Republicans have actively fought for its demise in the first few decades through repeal, and in the last several by trying to chip away at it so that it would eventually weaken enough to be easy to kill outright.

The 114th Congress has begun with a Republican party that is emboldened and as determined to cripple Social Security as they have been since President George W. Bush's disastrous 2005 effort to privatize it.

Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Price has taken over the House Budget Committee from Rep. Paul Ryan, and has even bigger ambitions to destroy the program (http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/01/12/tom-price-hopes-to-reform-social-security-in-house-budget/#__federated=1)than his predecessor, now even talking about privatization, something Ryan would only extend to Medicare.

Price told the Heritage Action for America “Conservative Policy Summit” on Monday that he wants to "begin to normalize the discussion and debate about Social Security." By "normalize, he means cut it:


"[W]hether it's means testing, whether it's increasing the age of eligibility […] whether it's providing much greater choices for individuals to voluntarily select the kind of manner in which they believe they ought to be able to invest their working dollars as they go through their lifetime."

Price and his fellow Republicans in leadership have set the stage to begin this effort, and as usual did it with some hostage taking (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/07/1356098/-House-Republicans-attack-Social-Security-on-day-nbsp-one). This time the hostages are about 11 million people who receive Social Security disability benefits. That program is expected to hit a shortfall next year, and benefits will be automatically cut unless the program gets an influx of cash. This has happened in the past, in both the retirement and the disability programs.

What has always happened in the past—with no big controversy—is that Congress has authorized the transfer of funds from one of the programs to the other. But last week the House passed a new rule that says Congress can't do that any more unless they also take some action to "fix" (read slash) the Social Security system.

Republicans are pretending that this move was a way to keep the undeserving disabled people from stealing older Americans benefits.

They're trying to pit one group against another, in hopes that they'll scare enough seniors to get the support to push it through. But what they're really doing is setting up the retirement system for the kinds of "reforms"—including privatization—Price laid out.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/14/1357784/-Republicans-think-their-80-year-quest-to-end-Social-Security-will-finally-succeed?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29#

[boutons_deux]

Here's all y'all REPUGS doing governance :lol

Hero Conservatives Will Fix Stupid Framers’ Dumb Constitution

Through Monday, 20 Joint Resolutions proposing Amendments to the United States Constitution had been officially filed. Every one was sponsored by a Republican.

Eight of them seek that old conservative standby, the balanced-budget amendment – clearly meant to protect Republicans from themselves, the party that has been primarily responsible for budget deficits.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) have each filed two versions, and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL), Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ), and Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) have also submitted proposals.

Vitter has 10 co-sponsors in the Senate (all Republicans), and one of Goodlatte’s has 41 co-sponsors in the House.

A ninth proposal, from Tom McClintock (R-CA), would take a different approach, by requiring a three-fourths super-majority to increase the debt.

None of them have proposed an actual balanced budget, mind you, which would be their prerogative under the current version of the Constitution.

Another seven proposals go for Congressional term limits – another perennially popular idea for Republicans on the campaign hustings. At least, until they reach those limits; all the sponsors are seeking to rid Washington of those who have been there longer than they have. Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) has 17 co-sponsors for his version, which would set caps at six consecutive terms in the House, and two in the Senate. Resolutions offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), and Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) would do the same. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-NJ) goes with four House terms; Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) say just three – . And Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) is noncommittal; his version would merely give Congress the authority to set term limits.

Surprisingly, only one proposal – so far – seeks to outlaw ObamaCare. That’s Palazzo, who wants to add to the Constitution the line (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c114:H.J.RES.20:): “Congress shall make no law that imposes a tax on a failure to purchase goods or services.”

http://wonkette.com/572195/conservatives-will-fix-stupid-framers-dumb-constitution

[boutons_deux]

New Congress Begins Anti-Environment Attack With ‘No More National Parks’ Bill (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/16/3612702/new-congress-no-more-national-parks-bill/)


http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/shutterstock_153874538-638x422.jpg

Earlier this week, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) introduced a bill to strip current and future presidents’ authority to designate national monuments, proposing an overhaul to a law that presidents have used for nearly a century to protect some of the country’s most iconic and treasured places.

The bill (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/330/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22don+young%22%5D%7D) , introduced Tuesday, would amend the 1906 Antiquities Act to effectively block the President from designating any new national monuments without congressional approval and an extensive environmental review. Additionally, the bill would require the President to seek approval from nearby state governments for marine monument proposals.

“Americans value our National Parks and iconic areas like Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty, but this legislation would attack the century-old law that has helped protect them,” said (http://www.lcv.org/media/press-releases/LCV-Statement-on-Rep-Don-Young-s-Anti-Parks-Bill.html) Alex Taurel, Deputy Legislative Director at the League of Conservation Voters. “By introducing this bill, Rep. Young has proven how out of step with the American people he truly is.”

Sixteen (http://wilderness.org/article/antiquities-act) presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have used the Antiquities Act to permanently protect public lands and historic sites since the Act’s passage in 1906. Some of America’s most beloved and iconic landmarks, like the Grand Tetons and Arches National Park, were originally protected as national monuments under the Act. President Obama recently used the Act for the 13th time (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/10/3578621/obamas-national-monuments/) in his presidency to protect the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/08/3577715/national-monument-southern-california/) outside of Los Angeles.

“The new Congress is already moving quickly on an agenda backed by fossil-fuel interests that would weaken protections for clean air and clean water, roll back investments in renewable energy, fast track exports of American oil, and prioritize special interest giveaways on America’s public lands,”

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/16/3612702/new-congress-no-more-national-parks-bill/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Cli mate+Progress%29

[TheSanityAnnex]

On a scale of 1-10, how sticky is your keyboard?

[Silver&Black]

Does boutons really talk to himself in every single thread?

[boutons_deux]

:lol y'all got nothin

[boutons_deux]

so far, Repugs agenda has been oil and vaginas

[boutons_deux]

Abortion got barely a mention in last year’s campaign, which led to unified Republican control of Congress.

Voters in exit polls said their top priorities were

the economy (45 percent),

health care (25 percent),

immigration (14 percent) and

foreign policy (13 percent) —

not surprising, given that these are the issues Republicans talked about.

A Gallup poll after the election found that fewer than 0.5 percent of Americans think abortion should be the top issue, placing it behind at least 33 other issues.

But instead of doing what voters wanted, House Republicans set out to make one of their first orders of business a revival of the culture wars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gop-abortion-bill-a-classic-bait-and-switch/2015/01/21/1620fdd2-a1ad-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html

[boutons_deux]

The GOP's New War on Obama: Meet the Men Doing the Dirty Work

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/article/the-gops-new-war-on-obama-meet-the-men-doing-the-dirty-work-20150203/184316/medium_rect/1422659646/720x405-GOP-Lead-Image-v2.jpg


http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/184461/_original/1422974647/1035x447-PartI_Final-1.jpg

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/184462/_original/1422974676/1035x444-PartI_Final-2.jpg


http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/184464/_original/1422974695/1035x445-PartI_Final-3.jpg


http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/184465/_original/1422974713/1035x444-PartI_Final-4.jpg

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gops-new-war-on-obama-meet-the-men-doing-the-dirty-work-20150203#ixzz3QsvtVrty

[boutons_deux]

Why Rand Paul Is Wrong About Social Security Disability


The Republican Congress decided to make overhauling the Social Security disability program one of its first orders of business.

On the first day of the new session it put in place a rule change that would make it difficult to address the shortfall the program is projected to face some time next year.

:lol REPUGS ALWAYS FUCKING UP AMERICA AND AMERICANS!

Republican leaders like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul justified this change by insisting (http://nhjournal.com/buckley-dems-say-pauls-disability-comments-sound-like-romney/)that half the people getting disability had the sort of back aches and occasional anxieties that we all face. The difference is that they get checks from the government rather than working. For this reason, Rand argued the program is in serious need of reform.
As several analysts quickly (http://www.offthechartsblog.org/the-facts-about-disability-insurance/) pointed (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2015/01/23/rand-pauls-claim-that-over-half-of-the-people-on-disability-are-either-anxious-or-their-back-hurts/) out, there is no basis for Paul’s assertion. Only a relatively small fraction of disability beneficiaries remotely fit Paul’s description of people with backaches and anxiety. As the data clearly show, it is not easy to get disability. More than three quarters of applicants are initially turned down, and even after the appeals process just over 40 percent (http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/di_asr/2013/sect04.html#chart11) of applicants get benefits.


Furthermore, we know that the vast majority of people getting disability would not be working even if they weren’t getting a check from the government. A study (http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/pdf/wp241.pdf) published by the University of Michigan a few years ago examined the work patterns of people who were denied disability. It focused on a group of marginal applicants, people who had conditions that would be approved or denied depending in large part on the administrative judge to whom their case was assigned. These were the sort of people that Rand Paul was talking about.
This group comprised roughly a quarter of all applicants. The study found that among this group, 28 percent of the people who were denied benefits were working two years after their application. Since this was a marginal group comprising less than a quarter of applicants, we can infer that somewhere near 7 percent of the people approved would be working without their disability check.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/28745-the-federal-reserve-board-and-social-security-disability

File under: Repugs ALWAYS lying when they trash poor people on public assistance as cheats, moochers, takers, frauds, lazy, criminals.

[boutons_deux]

Another Legislative Year, Another Round of Awful Bills

The last GOP dominated election brought us a legislative session filled with massive abortion restrictions, voter ID and voting restrictions, union busting and lots and lots of proposed private school vouchers. This time, things could get even worse.

In Texas, on abortion it’s pro-life, pro-child all the time. When it comes to gun control, though, it’s pro-bullets.

Texas is making it easier to shoot school kids and not be punished. Kansas, meanwhile, wants to punish a teacher for talking about sex in any way by classing it as exposing minors to harmful materials.

“Officials with the Kansas-National Education Association said in a blog post Wednesday (http://www.knea.org/assets/document/KS/UTD2_26.pdf) that the proposed bill would ‘purge literature from our schools, censor art classes, and stop field trips’ because teachers likely would self-censor to protect themselves from potential prosecution,” reports Kansas.com (http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article1135798.html).

“A teacher who takes a field trip to the state capitol and suddenly notes the bare-breasted woman in the artwork in the rotunda can be accused of recklessly exposing students to nudity,’

So teachers can’t be trusted to age-appropriately speak with children about sex, bodies and human interaction, but can be trusted to decide when to shoot them in the classroom?

Arizona is hoping to join Utah and Oklahoma in allowing precious metals to be used as legal tender in lieu of bills and coins.

“Proponents say the bill reflects a growing distrust of government-backed money. Opponents countered that it sends the wrong message that gold and silver are safer than currency,”

The theme of all of these bills is a pretty simple one – government mistrust. Texas doesn’t really want to arm teachers against their students, they just want to make sure the guns can be absolutely everywhere because the government can’t tell you they can’t be. Kansas doesn’t really want to make sure no student sees the penis on Michelangelo’s David (or most Kansans, at least), they just want to be positive the government isn’t sneaking in some sort of sex education to which parents may morally object. Even the gold for dollars is about an inherent mistrust of a federal monetary system the extreme far right believes could collapse.

Then there is Utah. There, lawmakers are considering a bill that allows them to pledge their oath to the state constitution, not to the U.S. one.

"Republican Rep. Brian Greene said the amendment 'reflects our duty as state legislators to first and foremost uphold the Constitution and make sure the federal Constitution does not run roughshod over the state Constitution,'" reports Talking Points Memo (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-utah-constitution-oath-first). "'This is a delicate balance and I certainly recognize that, but it’s also a special charge we have as state legislators,'

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/28990-another-legislative-year-another-round-of-awful-bills

red states are so fucked, will be more fucked, and will be unfuckable.

[boutons_deux]

RED States Consider Increasing Taxes for the Poor and Cutting Them for the Affluent

A number of Republican-led states are considering tax changes that in many cases would have the effect of cutting taxes on the rich and raising them on the poor.
Conservatives are known for hating taxes but particularly hate income taxes, which they say have a greater dampening effect on growth. Of the 10 or so Republican governors who have proposed tax increases, nearly all have called for increases in consumption taxes, which hit the poor and middle class harder than the rich.

A new report (http://keystoneresearch.org/taxfairness) suggests that these states could be creating financial problems down the road. The strategy of shifting from income taxes to consumption taxes has caused huge budget shortfalls in Kansas and, more recently, North Carolina, which announced a budget shortfall of nearly half a billion dollars.

While the bottom fifth of earners pay more than 10 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the top 1 percent pays closer to 5 percent, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates.

Taxing the top fifth of earners at the same rate as the middle class would bring in $200.5 billion to state and local coffers, the report says. Taxing just the top 1 percent at the same rate as the middle class would bring in $88.5 billion, 10 times the amount needed to restore five years’ worth of cuts to higher education.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/upshot/states-consider-increasing-taxes-on-poor-cutting-them-on-affluent.html?_r=0

Same old evidence-free, repeatedly proven LIE that trickle down works. The TRUTH is it floats all YACHTS.

[boutons_deux]

Georgia’s New Plan To Make Voting Even Harder (http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/02/17/3623585/georgias-new-plan-make-voting-even-harder/)

A plan to further slash the availability of early voting is rapidly advancing in Georgia.

A committee of state lawmakers voted along party lines last week to slash (http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/georgia-republicans-look-cut-early-voting-again) the state’s early voting days from 21 to 12. The full legislature could call a vote on the cuts at any time, and with Republicans holding a majority of the House seats, the measure would likely pass.

More than a third of the state’s voters cast their ballot (http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/54042/149045/en/vts.html?cid=6000) early in this past election, and demand for early voting was so high that several counties opened the polls on a Sunday for the first time in state history. In 2008, more than half (http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2009/GAvoterspdf.pdf) of participants voted early.

“People of color tend to utilize early voting, and I think at the heart of all of this is an attempt to reduce the opportunities for people to let their voice be heard,” he said. “They’re saying to working Georgians and seniors and communities of color and the young: ‘We’re not interested in your participation.”

“We could see 5 to 7 hour lines in some places of people standing and waiting to cast a ballot,” he said. “Even in this past election, the Secretary of State’s website crashed (http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/11/04/election-day-georgia-secretary-of-state-website-crashes/) on Election Day because it was overwhelmed by demand. But the worst is that it would send a chilling message to voters, especially those in vulnerable communities.”

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/02/17/3623585/georgias-new-plan-make-voting-even-harder/

[boutons_deux]

It's coat hanger time again for poor women

States Start Sessions With Rush of Anti-Abortion Measures

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/02/17/legal-wrap-states-start-sessions-rush-anti-abortion-measures/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rhrealitycheck+%28RH+Reality+ Check%29

[CosmicCowboy]

so far, Repugs agenda has been oil and vaginas

I confess to having nothing against oil and vaginas.

[RandomGuy]

Another Legislative Year, Another Round of Awful Bills

The last GOP dominated election brought us a legislative session filled with massive abortion restrictions, voter ID and voting restrictions, union busting and lots and lots of proposed private school vouchers. This time, things could get even worse.

In Texas, on abortion it’s pro-life, pro-child all the time. When it comes to gun control, though, it’s pro-bullets.

Texas is making it easier to shoot school kids and not be punished. Kansas, meanwhile, wants to punish a teacher for talking about sex in any way by classing it as exposing minors to harmful materials.

“Officials with the Kansas-National Education Association said in a blog post Wednesday (http://www.knea.org/assets/document/KS/UTD2_26.pdf) that the proposed bill would ‘purge literature from our schools, censor art classes, and stop field trips’ because teachers likely would self-censor to protect themselves from potential prosecution,” reports Kansas.com (http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article1135798.html).

“A teacher who takes a field trip to the state capitol and suddenly notes the bare-breasted woman in the artwork in the rotunda can be accused of recklessly exposing students to nudity,’

So teachers can’t be trusted to age-appropriately speak with children about sex, bodies and human interaction, but can be trusted to decide when to shoot them in the classroom?

Arizona is hoping to join Utah and Oklahoma in allowing precious metals to be used as legal tender in lieu of bills and coins.

“Proponents say the bill reflects a growing distrust of government-backed money. Opponents countered that it sends the wrong message that gold and silver are safer than currency,”

The theme of all of these bills is a pretty simple one – government mistrust. Texas doesn’t really want to arm teachers against their students, they just want to make sure the guns can be absolutely everywhere because the government can’t tell you they can’t be. Kansas doesn’t really want to make sure no student sees the penis on Michelangelo’s David (or most Kansans, at least), they just want to be positive the government isn’t sneaking in some sort of sex education to which parents may morally object. Even the gold for dollars is about an inherent mistrust of a federal monetary system the extreme far right believes could collapse.

Then there is Utah. There, lawmakers are considering a bill that allows them to pledge their oath to the state constitution, not to the U.S. one.

"Republican Rep. Brian Greene said the amendment 'reflects our duty as state legislators to first and foremost uphold the Constitution and make sure the federal Constitution does not run roughshod over the state Constitution,'" reports Talking Points Memo (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-utah-constitution-oath-first). "'This is a delicate balance and I certainly recognize that, but it’s also a special charge we have as state legislators,'

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/28990-another-legislative-year-another-round-of-awful-bills

red states are so fucked, will be more fucked, and will be unfuckable.




I must admit, that between wasting time attempting to ban yoga pants, putting up bills about guns on campuses and exempt churches from CDL requirements in states with problems with poverty, I honestly wonder about GOP priorities.

It boggles the mind that voters give these goobers the keys to state governments, then don't hold them accountable for wasting time fixing non-existent problems.

I'm sure Democrats probably do some stupid shit when given legislatures too, be happy to admit that if someone can find it, but when are the pragmatists in the GOP going to hold the jokers pushing these stupid ideas at the expense of more important things accountable?

[boutons_deux]

"I honestly wonder about GOP priorities."

?? WTF? their priorities are, have always been

god

guns

gays

abortion

immigration

voter suppression

hate-govt

bust unions

destroy/privatize education

destroy-govt

cut taxes on BigCorp and 1%

raise taxes on the 99%

block/kill renewables

[boutons_deux]

in the broad "gay" category of Repug legislative priorities:

Using the restroom is not a crime

https://aclu.global.ssl.fastly.net/sites/default/files/imce_images/aclu-action/act15-flban-500x280-v01.png

Need to use the restroom in Florida? Be sure to bring your birth certificate.

Florida state Rep. Frank Artiles just proposed a bill that would jail people for using the “wrong” restroom. This just isn't right.
This bill is designed to target transgender people but could also impact gender nonconforming people, people with disabilities, and parents.

https://www.aclu.org/secure/papers-to-pee?

[boutons_deux]

Elect a Repug 0.1%er to governor, in a blue state and ...

This is what Republican governance looks like: Bruce Rauner’s frightening agenda

Illinois’ first Republican governor in a dozen years have offered a vivid illustration of the truism that elections have consequences — consequences that will be paid disproportionately by the state’s poor, working class, and middle-income citizens.

Rauner fired the opening salvo in his war on workers earlier this month, issuing an executive order (http://www.salon.com/2015/02/10/bruce_rauners_war_on_labor_why_the_illinois_govern ors_reforms_are_so_pernicious/) that allows public employees to opt out of paying fees to unions that collectively bargain on their behalf.

he has expanded his fight against unions to include a proposal for “right-to-work zones,” in which workers would be allowed to opt out of paying union fees even if they benefitted from union-negotiated contracts.

Rauner called for an 11.5 percent cut in the state’s budget for the year beginning July 1, urging lawmakers to bring the budget down to $31.5 billion from its current level of $35.6 billion. Hardest hit would be health care for poor people, higher education, and mass transit.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the governor’s budget would slash Medicaid spending by $1.5 billion, cut higher education by $387 million, and reduce revenue-sharing with cities and towns by $600 million. Rauner also targets transportation, calling for an end to a state subsidy that helps fund reduced fares (http://rtachicago.org/fare-programs/reduced-fare-program.html) for the poor and disabled.
Moreover, Rauner would cut pensions for current state workers, moving them to the lower-benefit pension plan for recent hires, despite a state constitutional injunction against the diminishment of pension benefits. The governor’s budget would exempt police officers and firefighters from the change.

Rauner insists war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and his budget is a boon for “working families.”

In Rauner’s Illinois, the poor, the sick, students, and ordinary wage-earners constitute “the special interests.” Putting people first, meanwhile, requires gutting social services and ending hard-fought worker protections. This, in all its cruel Orwellianism, is what Republican governance looks like.

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/18/this_is_what_republican_governance_looks_like_bruc e_rauners_frightening_agenda/

[boutons_deux]

Repugs Love War (with themselves) :lol

Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending

The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade :lol is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military.

“This is a war within the Republican Party (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org),” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. “You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.”

The divisions will be laid bare Tuesday when congressional leaders unveil blueprints that hew to spending limits imposed by the budget battles of 2011.

Unlike legislation, the spending plan Republicans will be creating this week requires only a majority vote in both the House and Senate, cannot be blocked by afilibuster (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/filibusters_and_debate_curbs/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) and is not subject to presidential approval or veto.

The struggle over the next three weeks to pass the budget plans represents the most serious test of whether Republican leaders meet their pledge to govern effectively in the majority.

For Republican leaders, orderly passage of a budget is imperative. Republicans harangued Senate Democrats for their repeated failure to pass budgets when they controlled the chamber. (but it's OK when Repugs can't pass a budget IN 10 YEARS!)

And they have promised conservative voters they will make good on their promises to fundamentally remake the federal government into a smaller, more limited force — with a budget that balances in 10 years.

The budget debate is coming as falling deficits have eased fiscal pressures. This month, the Congressional Budget Office updated its deficit forecast, projecting $486 billion in red ink this fiscal year, dropping to $455 billion next year. Measured against the economy, the deficit would fall from 2.7 percent of the gross domestic product to 2.4 percent, well below modern historical averages.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/politics/budget-battle-in-gop-is-test-of-governance.html?_r=0

Repug "governance" ! :lol screw the 99%, screw the country, but protect/enrich the MIC, BigCorp, 1%. yawn

balanced budget? based on Ryan's multiply passed budgets that INCREASED the deficit by $10T? :lol

[boutons_deux]

yes! We Repugs really can govern! :lol

Boehner clashes with Senate Republicans on delay to fixing Medicare doctor payments

Conservative objections over spending are raising doubts over whether the U.S. Senate can quickly approve legislation fixing the Medicare physician payment system, in a possible setback for Republicans keen to show they can get things done.Some Senate conservatives are threatening to insist that the measure be fully paid for, after the House of Representatives passed a version of the “doc fix” bill two weeks ago that would expand the federal deficit.

Senate procedural rules confer more power on individual lawmakers, meaning their objections could result in considerable delay and amendments to the bill even if they are in a minority.

The House bill was a rare show of bipartisan accord, and had been shaping up to be the 2015-2016 Republican-controlled Congress’ first substantial achievement.
As approved by the House, the $214 billion initiative would replace a 1990s formula that linked Medicare doctors’ reimbursements to economic growth with a new one more focused on quality of care.

Republican Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi leaned across the aisle to get it passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives on March 26, just before a spring break. Senate leaders said they would take it up quickly after lawmakers return to Washington on Monday.

But Senate conservatives, such as Republican Jeff Sessions, have labeled the House bill irresponsible because it would add an estimated $141 billion to the U.S. debt over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/boehner-clashes-with-senate-republicans-on-delay-to-fixing-medicare-doctor-payments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Fucking Alabama!

Fucking Confederacy!

but Sessions had NO QUALMS about Ryan's multiple "responsible" budgets that would have increased the debt by $1T+ :lol

[boutons_deux]

Repugs hit the ground running, proving the Repugs know how to govern, and even want to govern! :lol

Democrats Mock the First 100 Days of Fail of the Boehner and McConnell Led Congress

Last week marked the first 100 days since the start of the 114th Republican Congress. What have Americans seen from Speaker Boehner and House Republicans? Let’s go through a headlines recap of the past 10 legislative weeks.

WEEK ONE:

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/01/06/boehner-could-face-biggest-speaker-defection-since-1923/)- John Boehner just endured the biggest revolt against a House speaker in more than 150 years

· New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/business/house-republicans-change-rules-on-calculating-economic-impact-of-bills.html?_r=1) - House Republicans Change Rules on Calculating Economic Impact of Bills

WEEK TWO:

MSNBC (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/business/house-republicans-change-rules-on-calculating-economic-impact-of-bills.html?_r=1)- House GOP goes on the record for mass deportation


WEEK THREE:

CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-gop-abruptly-drops-plans-to-debate-abortion-bill-after-backlash/)- ​House GOP abruptly drops plans to debate abortion bill after backlash



Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/republicans-subpoenas-obama_n_6509182.html)- GOP Quietly Giving Committee Chairmen Unilateral Subpoena Power


WEEK FOUR:

New York Times (http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/republicans-pretend-to-care-about-inequality/?_r=0)- Republicans Pretend to Care About Inequality


WEEK FIVE:

VOX (http://www.vox.com/2015/2/3/7972185/immigrants-measles)- GOP Rep. Mo Brooks says maybe you should blame immigrants for measles



New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/politics/house-gop-again-votes-to-repeal-health-care-law.html)- House G.O.P. Again Votes to Repeal Health Care Law



POLITICO (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/boehner-no-clear-idea-how-mcconnell-will-resolve-dhs-standoff-114940.html)- Boehner: No clear idea how McConnell will resolve DHS standoff


WEEK SIX:

Slate (http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/02/11/house_and_senate_republicans_differ_over_immigrati on_dhs_strategy.html)- House and Senate Republicans Blame Each Other for Screwing Up GOP Legislative Greatness


WEEK SEVEN:

Tampa Bay Editorial (http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-house-republicans-should-not-hold-homeland-security-hostage/2218934)- House Republicans should not hold Homeland Security hostage



NJ.com Editorial (http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/on_immigration_gop_will_pay_for_obstruction_editor .html)- On immigration, GOP will pay for obstruction


WEEK EIGHT:




The Hill (http://thehill.com/homenews/news/234399-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-start-for-the-gop)- The terrible, horrible, no good start for GOP



Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/03/06/no-republican-leaders-are-going-to-selma-this-weekend-thats-a-dumb-move/)- No House Republican leaders are going to Selma this weekend. That’s a dumb move.


WEEK NINE:

New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/us/politics/budget-battle-in-gop-is-test-of-governance.html?_r=0)- Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending



Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/error-in-house-budget-understated-spending-cuts-by-900-million/2015/03/19/0e8a3ef2-ce72-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1)- Error in House budget understated spending cuts by $900 million



Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/18/house-republicans-want-to-cut-back-grants-for-poor-college-students/)- House Republicans want to cut back grants for poor college students


WEEK TEN:

Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/house-gop-passes-budget_n_6942408.html)- Divided House GOP Prevents Embarrassment, Passes Budget Boosting Defense Spending





http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/19/democrats-mock-100-days-fail-114th-republican-congress.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

god / guns / gays / abortion / poor womens' vaginas / immigration / destroy-govt / make-war / screw the 99% / protect-enrich the 1%