Posted on 01/11/2016 6:00:54 PM PST by JSDude1
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) want the 2016 presidential pack to make some promises about bipartisanship -- and they've gotten several takers.
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The bipartisan Congressional Problem Solver Caucus was launched in 2014, and now Lieberman and Huntsman have turned their attention to the presidential race with the Problem Solver Promise Pledge.
That pledge says the candidate vows to work with both parties to arrive at solutions if elected to the highest office in the land. It also entails candidates committing to begin work on one of four No Labels agenda items within 30 days of inauguration. Those are: create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years, secure Social Security and Medicare for another 75 years, balance the federal budget by 2030, and make America energy secure by 2024.
"If elected, I will gather House and Senate leaders from both parties within my first 30 days to begin work on at least one of the four goals in the National Strategic Agenda and to commit to a bipartisan process to achieve the agreed upon goal or goals," states the text of the promise.
"During the election, it will be the voters themselves holdinpppg the candidates accountable and deciding if a candidates’ statements and positions are consistent with keeping the promise," No Labels said. "If our next president enters office having made the Problem Solver Promise, No Labels will focus all of its resources on ensuring he or she keeps that promise."
So far, six candidates have signed the pledge: Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and businessman Donald Trump.
But O'Malley has accused No Labels of "dumbing down" their brand by having Trump on the list.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
The Uniparty.
AKA The Party of Big Government.
No thanks!
I don’t want a president who “gets things done”.
I want a president who gets things undone.
Trump has already mentioned everything on the list, even months ago on some. This is nothing new to him.
O’Mally can go stuff olives. He has nothing to offer anyone.
Then you want Trump. He will get things done by destroying many of the rules and regulations stifling our economy. Voila that takes care of the jobs issue, which takes care of all the others. It is the ECONOMY that’s the problem and Donald Trump is Mr.FIX-IT!
Well, that is a big hole in Trump’s clay feet.
Go Cruz!
I want my conservative president to be a brute, who steamrolls his opposition.
And Bush isn’t on the list? As a Trump supporter, I’m not too worried about this. It’s just a pledge pin.
Donald’s middle name is John. Donald John McCain Trump, reaching across the isle.
Trump was fine with me, until I read this in the article posted above: “So far, six candidates have signed the pledge: Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and businessman Donald Trump.”
About what I’d expect from wets like Kasich and Christie; a real disappointment from Carson, Paul and Trump.
Really? You’re not worried about him siding with O’’Malley? Kasich?
The real meaning of “Bipartisanship” to the Progressive Government we now live with: “America and Americans get screwed”
What it doesnt say is what he views as working together. He knows how to put a deal together that gets him what he wants.
I wouldnt say this means the same thing to him as it does career politicians.
I don’t think it’s worth anything; it’s not even to the level of an election promise.
Based on the stuff mentioned it the OP, it does not surprise me that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specfic power to address most of the issues which the pledge addresses.
Isn’t this the DEMS way of begging to not be ignored, like they have done to the REPUBS for almost 8 years ?
Signing this idiotic list is a giant mark against a candidate. I’m really surprised Trump and Paul would sign it.
Lame group is lead by John Hunstsman and Joe Liarman
O’Malley and 5 Republicans take their pledge
Christy Creme, Gay’s Itch, Rande, Carson, and TRUMP
Epic fail. There’s no such thing as a bipartisan solution. Dems=Nazis in the Reichstag, play footsie with them at your peril. I would pledge to marginalize them as much as possible.
I’m okay with that idea:
- create 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years
Repeal Obamacare. That alone will remove a damper on job creation. Scale back the EPA - another damper gone. Revoke all Obama’s executive orders/actions/whatevers. Repeal all government regulations passed in these eight terrible years. 25 million new jobs is only 200,000 a month. Obama is the only person inept enough that that would be beyond reach. Cruz or Trump could do that easily, and I suspect even Jeb could more or less do it - it’s that easy (but he’d make all the jobs for illegals, as an act of love).
- secure Social Security and Medicare for another 75 years
First, fix the Social Security disability. I know too many people who golf daily on their disability checks. That should be for people who cannot work, not for those with a good lawyer who can coach corrupt doctors into writing the key phrases into the correct lines on the form.
Second, raise the Social Security/Medicare age for full benefits gradually to 69 or even 72, whatever it takes, but only for those currently more than 15 years from retirement. It’s math. You have to reduce the number drawing out and increase the number paying in, which means raise the age.
- balance the federal budget by 2030
Again, that is manageable.
1. Start by eliminating Obamacare.
2. Follow that with cuts in “mandatory” spending. We need to redefine “mandatory”, and it should not mean “we spent this last year so it’s non-negotiable”.
3. Start with Bill Clinton’s last budget (because that makes it bipartisan). Multiply by inflation and legal population growth as appropriate, and make that our spending baseline, for now. Any spending above that in any line item (not budget bill, line item) requires a 2/3 majority in both houses of Congress.
4. Rather than firing federal workers, change the rules so each four workers who leave the federal workforce can be replaced by one new federal worker. Except for the military, and a small number of other federal positions, make that require individual congressional approval and individual presidential signature for any failure to shrink at that rate.
- and make America energy secure by 2024
Again that is worth working on. “Drill baby, drill!” Plus other options. That’s what the free market is for.
Note: I don’t think “no labels” sees any of these problem solving paths the way I do, but if the big government liberals want to be bipartisan, they can meet me halfway. Or does “bipartisan” only mean conservatives give in to liberal demands?
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