Posted on 02/01/2006 6:09:12 AM PST by OXENinFLA
Since "Free Republic is an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We're working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America.", I and others think it's a good idea to centralize what the goes on in the Senate (or House).
So if you see something happening on the Senate/House floor and you don't want to start a new thread to ask if anyone else just heard what you heard, you can leave a short note on who said what and about what and I'll try and find it the next day in THE RECORD. Or if you see a thread that pertains to the Senate, House, or pretty much any GOV'T agency please link your thread here.
If you have any suggestions for this thread please feel free to let me know.
Here's a few helpful links.
C-SPAN what a great thing. Where you can watch or listen live to most Government happenings.
C-SPAN 1 carries the HOUSE.
C-SPAN 2 carries the SENATE.
C-SPAN 3 (most places web only) carries a variety of committee meetings live or other past programming.
OR FEDNET has online feed also.
A great thing about our Government is they make it really easy for the public to research what the Politicians are doing and saying (on the floor anyway).
THOMAS where you can see a RECORD of what Congress is doing each day. You can also search/read a verbatim text of what each Congressmen/women or Senator has said on the floor or submitted 'for the record.' [This is where the real juicy stuff can be found.]
Also found at Thomas are Monthly Calendars for the Senate Majority and Senate Minority
And Monthly Calendars for the House Majority and Roll Call Votes can be found here.
THE WAR DEPARTMENT (aka The Dept. of Defense)
BYRD ALERT!
HEAR ME!!
I am disappointed that the administration seems to have put tax reform on the back burner. Why extend tax reductions, which we are talking about now, piecemeal when we should be considering fundamental tax reform instead? The goal of any government revenue program should be to raise sufficient funds to operate public programs with the least amount of disruption to the economy. Our tax structure should be simple, fair, and honest. Our current Tax Code achieves none of these objectives.Last year, the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank, estimated that Americans spent more than 6 billion hours doing their taxes and that complying with the current Federal income tax code costs U.S. individual businesses and nonprofits $265 billion, which is 22 cents for every dollar of income tax collected. This is equivalent to the combined budgets of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and NASA.
Individuals and businesses lose money they could otherwise save, invest, spend on their kids' education, or enjoy an extra evening out with the family. But the Federal Government gains nothing from this atrocious tax system we have. It is the equivalent of stacking money in a pile and lighting a match. It doesn't do anything for anybody.
We all recognize the need for a simple, fair, and honest Tax Code. This would be a win-win goal for everyone. We will soon be considering a bill that would cut taxes by about $60 billion. Simply cutting tax compliance costs in half, from 20 percent to 10 percent, would have the impact of a much larger tax cut in the amount of $130 billion. In other words, if we could get a fair, simple, understandable Tax Code and eliminate this enormous amount of money it costs all of us to pay our taxes and reduce that by half, we could save the American people $130 billion. That is real money. This tax cut we are talking about is $60 billion. We are talking about $130 billion out there that we have in our pockets. It doesn't impact the revenues to the Federal Government one iota. However, it would be a tax cut that doesn't reduce our revenue.
We all know that fundamental tax reform is critical. I cannot understand why some of my colleagues want to make so many provisions of the Tax Code permanent or add new tax cuts when we very well may be eliminating precisely the same provisions as part of fundamental tax reform.
The problem we have is this, if you want to be practical: When I got involved in this whole business in 2003 of the $350 billion tax reduction to stimulate the economy, and we started talking with some of the high leadership in the House of Representatives, I was saying to them: When I was Governor, what we did is we looked at tax reductions that stimulate the economy, and then we looked at other areas where we could increase taxes that would have less impact on the economy. We had to be concerned about balancing our budget.
What I heard from the leadership on the other side of the Capitol was: We can't increase taxes because we all took the pledge that we can't increase taxes.
I said: Even if you could increase taxes that don't have that much impact on the economy so that you could decrease taxes that would help stimulate the economy?
No way.
Where are we going? If that is the deal, we will never get anything done around here.
It is my opinion that it is not time for piecemeal tinkering. No homeowner would remodel their kitchen and bathroom a year before tearing down the house to build a newer and better one. We need to tear down the house.
If you look at that Tax Code, consider it to be a Christmas tree. If you look at all the ornaments on that tree, you would sit back and say: Who in the devil ever decorated this tree? They must have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs. That is what it is today. We just keep adding things, one after another, another bell, another whistle, this and that. It is time for us to look at this.
LOL Hear Me Now! I enjoy watching him.
Just getting here...what was Byrd pontificating about today??
BTW...Like the Wicked Witch of the West..Boxer is BACK!
Boxer is submitting an amendment for the WH to hand over documents regarding Abramoff??
Lautenburg up to pile on about Abramoff
Babs is going on and on about President Bush's "apparent" misdeeds with Abramoff....
THEN, she starts talking about earmarks...saying that SHE doesn't need lobbyists because it is her job to know what her constituents need...BUT, that it is wrong for McCain to want to ban earmarks...(at this point, I am not understanding her)..
BUT, then....she says that YES, Senators do get $$$$ for projects in their states..for NECESSARY things like road repairs and such...
BUT, that "since the White House DIRECTS most of the money of the country,..."...she basically says that they are powerless to stop this...without more transparency about where the "White House" is spending money...
I know I am pretty ignorant about the whole way government works...but, I thought Congress directed where ALL the money in the federal coffers go...am I wrong?
LOL. No. That was the most garbled thing I ever heard. With Babs you can't tell if she is intentionally lying or is just plain too dumb to figure things out.
They do
Congress writes the bill/laws .. the President just signs them into law
Whew...I am glad I wasn't the only one that was confused by what she said...sheesh
Well..BABS sure perked these ears up when she started talking about all of the money that the POTUS directs...or what she was really saying,..(spends)
Reid is trying to stall and delay
Which Bill is this??? The bill to make tax cuts permanent?
Sorry...when babysitting, my mind goes to putty...and so forgive me if I have lost track...LOL
tax cut bill and the budge reduction deficit act
Thank you...
You're Welcome
Something with Dood just happened on the the floor .. but I don't know what it was about
I have been listening, not watching...but he was talking about his amendment...and ran out of time...but, kept talking and talking..
Good ole Sen.Allen, told him his time was up...and chaos started..and next thing I knew Dingy Harry was calling for a quorum call...
I am now going to WATCH...this could be fun.
I head Dodd yelling about his amendment versus Grasley's....according to Dodd, they are the same, but Dodd's is paid for by cutting into the capital gains tax (I think). I had to leave the room, and missed what happened. I heard Allen tell him his time was up, and heard Dodd keep talking. When I got back into the room, there was a quorum call. Dems are losing control and it shows daily. Are the pubbies finally growing a spine and not gonna let the Dems get away with the senatorial antics? I sure hope so.
Yes, and yes, I think. When Dingy shut down the senate, I think Frist and the rest finally realized they could not work with these lunatics and just had to move to get things done. I don't mind that our side has nice people on it but there is an end even to their patience.
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