Posted on 02/04/2010 4:20:53 PM PST by goldstategop
Republican Scott Brown became the junior senator from Massachusetts today, a week earlier than expected, and two weeks after his upset victory in the Bay State’s January 19 special election. Brown’s swearing-in marks the official end of the Democrats’ super majority by giving the GOP 41 votes in the 100-member Senate — enough to sustain a filibuster.
At the Capitol, Brown was joined by his wife, Gail, and sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on the Senate floor, using bibles beloved by his two daughters, Ayla and Arianna, who were not able to attend the ceremony. Biden joked that he looks forward to setting up a basketball game with Brown in the near future. The veep also made a quip about Brown’s looks: ‘I hate being with good-looking guys,” he laughed.
In a brief press conference, Brown said it was a “great honor” to join the upper chamber, thanked his family, and made a special note of his appreciation for the support of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). “I can’t promise I’ll be right in every vote I make. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes from time to time,” Brown said. He also addressed why he was “sworn-in so quickly after the results had been certified.”
“It’s because I want to get to work,” Brown said. “I felt it was appropriate to come down and start working. There are a lot of votes pending that I would like to participate in.” Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats proposed a new jobs bill, and Brown said he is already wary about it. “The last stimulus bill didn’t create one new job,” he said. With his early arrival, Brown will also have the opportunity to vote on the confirmation of Craig Becker, a prominent former union lawyer, to the National Labor Relations Board.
“These are urgent times for our nation,” Brown said. “The president this week submitted a $3.8 trillion budget. We’ll have to borrow 40 percent of that amount because we don’t have the money to pay for all that spending. I’m concerned we’re living beyond our means.” The CIA director, he added, “said there will be another al-Qaeda attack in the U.S. in the next three to six months. This is frightening news, and we owe the people of America everything we can do to deter and prevent future attacks on our nation.” On the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, Brown said he wants to “speak to generals in the field” about their position, and that “with two wars on,” the “top priority is to finish the job,” not to “introduce social change.”
Pushing for “JFK-style tax cuts” and a “payroll tax reduction” will be early goals, Brown said. He also said that he will push for bipartisan negotiations on health-care reform legislation.
Brown will move into his new Hill digs — the longtime (and spacious) office of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in the Russell Senate Office Building — within weeks. The staff of Paul Kirk, a Democrat who was temporarily appointed to fill the seat, is already packing boxes. Brown will bring with him a new staff, including Steven Schrage, a former aide to Mitt Romney, as chief of staff, and Gail Gitcho, a former Republican National Committee press operative, as communications director.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
The entire Obama agenda is dead.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
>>On the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, Brown said he wants to “speak to generals in the field” about their position, and that “with two wars on,” the “top priority is to finish the job,” not to “introduce social change.”
Sounds good, 41.
The best line from his presser that no one in the media seems to be talking about was: “The Stimulus hasn’t created ONE job.”
The libmedia looked stunned?
They asked again, “not one?”
He repeated, “Not one!”
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Welcome to the House of Lords, Senator Brown!
Scott Brown’s positions on issues closely resemble mine,
with some differences. I am for annihilation of all terrorists without mercy. I am for balanced budget amendment with yearly increases limited to inflation. I am for all abortions except in case of violent rape, incest and threat to mother’s life.
So I am a bit right of senator Brown, but close enough.
Watch for the libs to start licking the Maine sisters’ shoes.
Sounds like a consummate pragmatist. It is simply. a. bad. idea.
And I would be for encouraging mothers in such situations who still choose to keep the baby despite the insult or risk, with every possible help to do so.
Which one was connected to Powell?
Schrage, I think.
Steven Schrage
LOL.
Brown names Gail Gitcho communications director
S.S.
Boston (AP) — Senator-elect Scott Brown has tapped a Romney campaign veteran to be his new communications director.
Gail Gitcho has been working most recently as national press secretary for the Republican National Committee.
Brown says Gitcho is “well known to the national and Washington press corps and has a reputation for being fair and responsive to reporters.”
Before joining the RNC last May, Gitcho was a regional press secretary for Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. She also worked for John McCain’s 2008 Republican presidential campaign as mid-Atlantic communications director.
The new job reunites her with Beth Myers, Eric Fehrnstrom and Peter Flaherty, the three Romney campaign veterans who led Brown’s upset Senate campaign over Democrat Martha Coakley.
http://www.wbz.com/topnews/Brown-names-Gail-Gitcho-communications-director/6256553
Mr. Schrage formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and acting Assistant Secretary under Colin Powell. During that time, he was selected by the White House and the State Department to lead anti-terrorism, law enforcement and homeland security efforts among America’s top allies as co-chair of the G-8’s Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group. At the State Department, he managed more than $2 billion in global assistance and worked with military and other officials on critical civilian security efforts in Iraq, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where he led efforts that trained more than 27,000 police officers and helped secure Afghanistan’s first historic presidential election.
http://redmassgroup.com/diary/7178/scott-brown-chooses-steven-schrage-to-be-chief-of-staff
I hope and pray you are correct. The US fedgov needs to do a 180 on just about everything it has proposed or enacted over the last few years.
Starve the beast!
“For those who call him a RINO, Brown is against gays in the military. Interesting position for a social moderate.”
Nothing interesting to me...he’s simply putting national defense as his highest priority. Nobody has claimed that openly gay people in the military would help morale or anything else, yet many have claimed the opposite. He’s simply putting national defense over social policy.
Only a person who has thoroughly thought out the implications of his positions would be able to do that, and that is Scott Brown.
Thanks potlatch..
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