Cruz Pushes 8 Key Issues on Highway Bill

conservativereview.com ^ | 7/22/15 | Daniel Horowitz

[cotton1706]

What Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) understands about the political system is that policy initiatives are worthless if you are unwilling to harness critical moments and pivotal legislation to relentlessly push that agenda. It’s nice to oppose Obama’s amnesty, funding for abortion, Obamacare, or the Iran deal, but it’s nothing but vapid campaign rhetoric without pursuing a consequential battle over a so-called must-pass bill.

Today, Ted Cruz has introduced 8 amendments to the 1,030-page $300 billion highway bill that will address a number of the critical issues facing this country during these dark times.

Here is the list of the Cruz amendments with some of my notes:

[Gaffer]

Frankly, all eight of these amendments should be automatically added to every damned bill the US Senate considers. Especially for any bill that gives Obama money to continue destroying this country.

[nathanbedford]

Right you are but I wonder if it will be Cruz or Trump who is most criticized for the harm he is doing to the Republican "party? "

[Boonie]

I have a question completely off topic...I don’t know where to ask it...

I have just retired and have a significant IRA (for me anyway)...

I have been given advice from a financial group to let them invest in a somewhat “safe” investment plan...

Should I wait until after the elections to do this?
If the republicans prevail, is the economy gonna improve?

[alstewartfan]

It’s great to have SOMEONE fighting for America!

[Pearls Before Swine]

Nobody knows.

But if I were a betting man... and I do invest...

The market is tired, and interest rates are going to eventually go up. So, eventually, stocks and bonds will both go down.

However, many think that the government will do all it can to keep the ball in the air until after the elections. A bouyant economy is good for the party in power. And, once elected, most Presidents choose to take their recession early in their term.

So, I’d say dribble in some of your money, but take a few years to get fully invested.

I do sleep at Holiday Inns sometimes, BTW.

[Gaffer]

You should first check out income limitations and penalties for Medicare part B and even the Prescription part. If you take out too much from your IRA, they’ll hit you with a 100% penalty on the premium. Food for thought

[Boonie]

Thank you....

[reviled downesdad]

Markets like democrats.
They print more money.

[Boonie]

Thanks...

[reviled downesdad]

“However, many think that the government will do all it can to keep the ball in the air until after the elections”

That certainly wasn’t the case in 08.

I think the next shoe to drop will be the bond markets.

[Pearls Before Swine]

It wasn’t the case in 2008, but the GOP wishes it was. McCain was neck and neck with Obama until the crisis really wound up and Juan discontinued his campaign to consult in Washington about what was to be done.

The GOP got the blame for the crash, although a significant amount of the debt build-up was due to either Democratic or bipartisan meddling (liar loans, repealing Glass Stegall, bad underwriting fed into FNMA, etc). If the GOP could have postponed the problems for six months, they would have!

[LS]

Absolutely the wrong approach. This is what continues to make me have suspicions about Cruz. When you tack this on to unrelated crap, it makes it soooooo easy to override the amendment for the "purity" of the bill. This will go nowhere, and Cruz knows it. Here is specifically how you deal with all this:

Iran: NO! The place to stop this was in stopping the Corker Bill, which Cruz voted FOR. There is an easy way to stop this friggin' treaty: KILL IT IN THE SENATE, where Cruz is a member. Here's the bottom line. If Cruz doesn't have enough influence, smarts, ability to get a vote against this treaty in the Senate, then he's not going to be an effective president.

Obamacare: NO! Introduce a simple repeal Obamacare bill. I'm stunned that NO ONE in either the House or the Senate has done this yet. It's the quickest way to get everyone on record as for or against Obamacare with no other camoflage.

On and on. This is the most ineffectual ways to try to do anything because they will just override each amendment in part then pass the original bill and say, "Oh, I voted against that because it was a highway bill, not the treaty."

[nathanbedford]

Your points are well taken, they in fact echo the thrust of my reply. In other words, I agree Cruz will get nowhere with this tactic but I am not necessarily in agreement that he ought not to try. I fear your solutions will not be tried either and then we are left to decide whether it is better to try that which will not work or nothing at all.

[Gaffer]

We differ - greatly. We have tried tactical, strategic and all forms of in-between tactics and they have been for naught. Our leadership is morally and ethically compromised in every aspect of what they profess to be.

Right now, all I’m looking for during the remainder of Obama’s tenure is to keep money out of his hands that helps him to further destroy us. Frankly, the incrementalism of your suggested approach is just another form of limited bargaining that starts out with the premise the people you are dealing with are open to compromise, are trustworthy and will do what they say. They have shown they won’t. They won’t even obey current laws. No. Not in my world. Not ever. No money, no new power, no quarter.

[Oak Grove]

Cruz is the a smart, persistent and conservative.

He would be the only Republican President who would undo the evil that Obama has unlashed on the country.

[nathanbedford]

It is hardly to be expected that the same establishment Rinos who lack the moral fiber even to negotiate small victories with Obama will somehow find the courage to deny him or his government funds. In fact, that has been tried before and tried by Cruz and earned him only opprobrium from his own side.

We are in very close agreement in our assessment of the character of the Republican establishment. Make no mistake about that. We are simply arguing tactics about whether more leverage can be brought against them with Ted Cruz's ploy rather than some other approach.

Try them all.

Among the "all" to be tried includes article 5.

[Gaffer]

I don’t significantly disagree with you about try it all. I just think back about the quickest way to get to the heart of the matter in negotiations is to take the hard line right down the roster. You’ll either get to what the other side really wants and has to get out of it, or you’ll be at an impasse.

To take issues separately without the benefit of the harshest position possible, you relegate yourself to trying to figure out from each point on the list which is most important to them. It is with each of these separated issues that your side can be most exploited.

[nathanbedford]

I think Cruz has at least three objectives:

1. To accomplish what he says he is trying to accomplish i.e. the reining in of Obama, the stopping of the Iran deal etc.
2. To expose Rino Republicans and get them on record which they have been quite artful in avoiding up till now even when they no longer have Harry Reid to thank.
3. To get himself elected president.

I'm not sure whether Cruz has one or all of these motives nor can I venture which he finds the most attractive.

[Gaffer]

Personally, my number one is illegal aliens. If we do not stop this effusive influx of unknown, unchecked refuse from the third world, all other options pale in comparison to me. The implications of stress on our justice system, support system, school and medical system - virtually all walks of life are dire to the most extreme extent.

A wide open southern border is also begging not only for the refuse, but for any insane terrorists the Muslim world wants to throw at us.

Iran? This administration has had 6.5 years of allowing anything and everything, giving up everything, ceding everything as a concession to resistance it encounters. They then get on TV and say “we got this. Trust me.”

My gut feel is that the only way to fight this America-hating Muslim is to take away all his money. Every damned bit of it.