Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 09/27/2005 7:13:55 AM PDT by kellynla
The Republican congressional leaders want Indiana’s Rep. Mike Pence to go away, or at least shut up.
They say that he’s grandstanding by talking about cutting spending and that the effort of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), which he chairs, to force them to look for offsets as they prepare to spend as much as $200 billion on hurricane relief, on top of the spending that already has conservatives rolling their eyes, is “counterproductive.”
Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), among others, took Pence to the woodshed last week and, we are told, informed him in the bluntest terms that the problem is not runaway spending or the Democrats but him and the RSC. It seems to be the leaders’ belief that, by criticizing spending, Pence and his hundred-odd followers are not the “team players” they should be because it is at least possible that whipping up popular anger on the issue could convince people that the GOP isn’t doing all it can to deliver on decades of promises to America’s voters.
DeLay went so far as to argue preemptively even before the meeting that there is no wasteful spending in the federal budget because of the effective leadership he and his buddies have provided over the years. Though he’s backed off a little from this statement in the past few days, he laid out his views in Monday’s Washington Times on how Republicans ought to “handle” this volatile issue:
“Our positioning on this issue — as a party that is strongly identified with the American people as sensible and determined protectors of the hardworking taxpayer — demands a unified and clear opposition to those whose policies and agendas are hostile to the taxpayer’s best interests:
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
W is growing the government faster than Clinton and the pubbies don't think this is a bad thing. It makes me furious and the silence from our side about it is deafening. I am to the point that I feel people on givernment entitlement programs should not be allowed to vote, because both dems and republicans have turned into a "vote for me cause I will give you more money" puppet. Flame away.
I admire Pence and Congressman Jeff Flake for having the courage to point out the failures of the leaders. The GOP leaders have become so addicted to Washington that they think they are entitled to take advantage of all the pork-barrel spending politics to keep themselves in office.
This is no way to advance the conservative cause. We need more people like Pence and Flake to remind their party what conservatism is all about--and that means ending the wasteful spending.
No flames here.
We need to pressure our congresscritters and support Mike Pence.
It's time for the third conservative revolution; the first two, 1980 and 1994 worked out pretty well.
Some formula might be made up: all districts give up 5%--up until the amount is reached. All the cost is spread on an even, proportionate basis. And the debt/deficit isn't increased.
Please.
I would rather not envision Dennis Hastert without clothing...
Does Pence really have 100 followers? If so that is good news. If 100 are already following, perhaps more will join the good fight.
"President Bush has pledged to do whatever it takes to rebuild the lives and communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This pledge comes with a price tag. To deliver this kind of aid, Congress and the President must set priorities and make sacrifices and trade-offs to pay for it. Offsetting the cost of rebuilding is all the more important because the rebuilding effort follows a 33 percent expansion of the federal government since 2001, a period that saw:
* The 2001 No Child Behind Act, the most expensive education bill in American history, which led to a 100 percent increase in education spending;
* The 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, the most expensive farm bill in American history;
* The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, the most expensive Great Society expansion in history;
* A war in and the rebuilding of Iraq that, while justified, could cost between $300 and $600 billion, in total;
* International spending leap 94 percent;
* Housing and Commerce spending surge 86 percent;
* Community and regional development spending jump 71 percent;
* Health research spending increase 61 percent;
* Veterans’ spending increase 51 percent; and
* The number of annual pork projects leap from 6,000 to 14,000. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm844.cfm
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
A lot of this has to do with CAFTA. There were many republicans who got pet projects in both the energy highway bills in return for their vote on CAFTA and they're not going to have one without the other. Now that CAFTA is law, they're not going to give up their projects. That's why the president is standing by them too. All those promises made.
That the problem with all this "you scratch my back" crap.
I hope Pence keeps it up.
I may be wrong but I understood that 60 Billion could be saved in one year by postponing the prescription drug benefit.
Please post your source for 200 Billion. As far as I know the number is 50 to 70 billion that has been allocated.
You are just repeating MSM numbers not facts.
If Bush nominates Gonzales for O'Connor's seat, the first item on the list of differnces will get knocked off.
Thanks for the info & the link.
If it hasn't already been posted you might want to post that Heritage article.
No flame here. I agree with you.
Thats why you aren't a politician. You make too much sense. LOL
Ewwwwwww! Ted Kennedy clone?
And what did all this spending get W? A bunch of moonbats following him around calling him names.
Right, but more than that will get knocked off. There won't be a Republican House and probably not a Republican Senate. The party has almost completed its suicide.
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