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

[boutons_deux]

Republicans think their 80-year quest to end Social Security will finally succeed




TPM has a timely reminder 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 programthan 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. 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/2015/0...8Daily+Kos%29#

[boutons_deux]

Here's all y'all REPUGS doing governance

Hero Conservatives Will Fix Stupid Framers’ Dumb Cons ution

Through Monday, 20 Joint Resolutions proposing Amendments to the United States Cons ution 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 Cons ution.

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 Cons ution the line: “Congress shall make no law that imposes a tax on a failure to purchase goods or services.”

http://wonkette.com/572195/conservat...b-cons ution

[boutons_deux]

New Congress Begins Anti-Environment Attack With ‘No More National Parks’ Bill




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, 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 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 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 in his presidency to protect the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument 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/201...te+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]

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/opinio...cb4_story.html

[boutons_deux]

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














http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...#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.

REPUGS ALWAYS ING UP AMERICA AND AMERICANS!

Republican leaders like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul justified this change by insistingthat 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 pointed 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 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 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/28...ity-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 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.

“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 cons ution, 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 Cons ution and make sure the federal Cons ution does not run roughshod over the state Cons ution,'" reports Talking Points Memo. "'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/28...of-awful-bills

red states are so ed, will be more ed, and will be un able.

[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 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 Ins ute 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...uent.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

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 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 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 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 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/20...g-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_campaig n=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 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.

“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 cons ution, 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 Cons ution and make sure the federal Cons ution does not run roughshod over the state Cons ution,'" reports Talking Points Memo. "'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/28...of-awful-bills

red states are so ed, will be more ed, and will be un able.

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 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



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 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 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 cons utional 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 cons ute “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...tening_agenda/

[boutons_deux]

Repugs Love War (with themselves)

Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending

The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade 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,” 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 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...ance.html?_r=0

Repug "governance" ! 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?

[boutons_deux]

yes! We Repugs really can govern!

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/b...e+Raw+Story%29

ing Alabama!

ing Confederacy!

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

[boutons_deux]

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

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- John Boehner just endured the biggest revolt against a House speaker in more than 150 years

· New York Times - House Republicans Change Rules on Calculating Economic Impact of Bills

WEEK TWO:

• MSNBC- House GOP goes on the record for mass deportation

WEEK THREE:

• CBS News- ​House GOP abruptly drops plans to debate abortion bill after backlash

• Huffington Post- GOP Quietly Giving Committee Chairmen Unilateral Subpoena Power

WEEK FOUR:

• New York Times- Republicans Pretend to Care About Inequality

WEEK FIVE:

• VOX- GOP Rep. Mo Brooks says maybe you should blame immigrants for measles

• New York Times- House G.O.P. Again Votes to Repeal Health Care Law

• POLITICO- Boehner: No clear idea how McConnell will resolve DHS standoff

WEEK SIX:

• Slate- House and Senate Republicans Blame Each Other for Screwing Up GOP Legislative Greatness

WEEK SEVEN:

• Tampa Bay Editorial- House Republicans should not hold Homeland Security hostage

• NJ.com Editorial- On immigration, GOP will pay for obstruction

WEEK EIGHT:

• The Hill- The terrible, horrible, no good start for GOP

• Washington Post- No House Republican leaders are going to Selma this weekend. That’s a dumb move.

WEEK NINE:

• New York Times- Chasm Grows Within G.O.P. Over Spending

• Washington Post- Error in House budget understated spending cuts by $900 million

• Washington Post- House Republicans want to cut back grants for poor college students

WEEK TEN:

• Huffington Post- Divided House GOP Prevents Embarrassment, Passes Budget Boosting Defense Spending

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/...iticus+USA+%29

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