Morning Briefing
For December 13, 2013
1. Boehner’s Crocodile Tears for Amnesty
It is an
odd fight. Such a weird little battle over meaningless and known
outcomes. Conservatives, aware from press reports and congressional
leaks, knew what would be in the Paul Ryan drafted budget plan. The
conservative groups released statements in opposition to the plan based
on what they had been told. But there was never any doubt about the Ryan
plan passing.
After
the plan was publicly unveiled by the Republicans at six o’clock on a
Tuesday night, conservative fears were realized. Those things they knew
would be in the plan were, in fact, in the plan. The plan funded
Obamacare. The plan raised taxes. The plan broke the sequestration
spending limits that only a month before Republican leaders had said
would never be broken.
Speaker
Boehner then did something curious. He held two press conferences
wherein he lashed out at conservative groups. He denounced them for
making up their minds before the plan was publicly unveiled. Never mind
that everyone knew what would be in the plan. Never mind that he only
gave the public thirty-six hours to explore the text of the plan — a
violation of a campaign promise to give at least seventy-two hours of
examination. Speaker Boehner’s statement sounded like former Speaker
Pelosi claiming we had to pass the Ryan plan to find out what was in the
Ryan plan.
Superficially,
it is a very odd fight. But Speaker Boehner’s crocodile tears in his
attacks and cries against the conservative movement are really about the
next fight. Speaker Boehner intends to pursue immigration reform, with
an amnesty component. Before he gets there, he needs to shape battle
lines. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2. The Broken GOP House
We’ve
noted many times that the GOP Senate Conference is rotten to the core,
as Harry Reid can count on a supermajority at any given time to pass
liberal legislation. Many of us thought that the House was significantly better, although far from perfect. Sadly, the GOP-controlled House adjourned the 2013 session with a bust.
Ever
since the details of the budget detail were released, I thought that
the House would surely pass the bill only over the objection of a
majority of the GOP Conference, thereby violating the Hastert Rule once
again. Astoundingly, only 62 members voted against it, just 26% of membership. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. GOP Aided by Democrats Attack Conservatives
You will
be forgiven if you don’t recognize the fat, hairy guy standing next to
House Speaker John Boehner. That is former Ohio representative Steve
LaTourette. He is important because he is a critical part of the attack
on conservatives being carried out by the House leadership, including
Speaker Boehner.
LaTourette
was a close ally of Boehner in the House. Like so many of his ilk, he
was willing to run for office in a high tide year, in this case 1994,
but once in Congress he found having values required actual work and
that was too tough for him so he decamped last year. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. Cruz Responds To Coloring Book Controversy
Recently
a story made the rounds concerning a coloring book about Senator Ted
Cruz published by the Really Big Coloring Book company. While
the company didn’t work with Senator Cruz or his staff on the project,
and have previously printed political comic books, that didn’t stop
political adversaries of Cruz from associating him with the book.
Today, Senator Cruz’s office chose to respond to the “controversy” by issuing the following statement:
“We hope all who enjoy the book color it in bright bold colors, and not pale pastels, just as Ronald Reagan would have wanted.”
Interestingly, the coloring book is on it’s third printing in six days and is selling very well. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5. The forgotten war
On
Wednesday, three of what the Wall Street Journal describes as “the
Obama Administration’s top Afghanistan specialists” trudged into the
House Foreign Affairs Committee chambers, where they were flummoxed by a
question from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). What
super-complicated query from the Congressman stumped these highly
trained and knowledgeable representatives of the most wise and wonky
Administration in history – better able to run every industry than any
private citizen, as anyone who’s had contact with ObamaCare can testify?
. . . please click here for the rest of the post →
6. Welcome to Washington’s Fantasy Land
If you
want to know how out of touch Washington politicians on both sides of
the aisle are with hardworking Americans just take a look at the latest
bipartisan budget deal.
Every
responsible American family understands the simple facts of balancing
their checkbooks. When times are tough, they cut back to make ends meet.
They don’t max out their credit cards and then apply for more credit
cards. They make sacrifices and work hard. It makes perfect sense that
the American people expect Washington politicians to make the same kind
of responsible budget decisions.
But if you look at Washington, you have to wonder if our representatives live in a fantasy world. This
week, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray
agreed to a budget deal for 2014 that increases federal discretionary
spending to over a trillion dollars from the $967 billion spent in 2013
and obliterates the modest budget cuts agreed to under sequestration. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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Morning Briefing
For December 13, 2013
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