Posted on 11/08/2010 3:02:49 AM PST by Scanian
House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner of Ohio is making critically important decisions this week that will go far toward determining whether his tenure as Nancy Pelosi's successor is marked by reform and progress or rebellion and lost opportunities. None of those decisions is more critical than who he backs as the new Republican committee chairmen in the House of Representatives. If he opts for a conventional approach that allows seniority to determine chairmanships, Boehner will seriously damage his credibility with voters who made crystal clear their demand for a new approach in Congress. Following tradition will also severely limit Boehner's ability to lead the freshman class, the group likely to have the greatest influence on the direction of the House in 2011. No chairmanship is more important than that of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls federal outlays. More than anything else, voters want Washington to stop irresponsible federal spending and rein in spiraling national debt, but returning sanity to the federal budget cannot be achieved without a new Appropriations panel head. As former Reader's Digest Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Y. Tomlinson writes elsewhere in Monday's Examiner, Boehner's choice is stark and simple. It would be a horrible mistake to give the nod to either Rep. Jerry Lewis of California or Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky. Lewis and Rogers are both Old Bull Republicans who love earmarks and pork barrel politics. Appointing either would split the House GOP caucus and spark a revolt among conservatives who have been fighting earmarks for years. Most if not all of the freshmen would join the revolt, with dire consequences for the GOP.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Agreed... its not the time for business as usual. The GOP must not return to the old ways.
The people have spoken: they demand - and expect change in Washington.
“Get things undone”.
lost opportunities = socialism
“Cows may come, and cows may go - but the Bull goes on forever”......
Senior citizen House committee members is what got us into this mess in the first place! Disinfect and sanitized John!
Isn’t there someone better for Speaker of the House than Mr. “TARP is a crap sandwich but we’re gonna have to eat it” Boehner? That would be a good start right there.
Congress is the worst “union” we have in America.
Good post and I agree. Time for emails to Boehner suggesting exactly this:
http://gopleader.gov/Contact/default.aspx
Mike
The # 1 legislative issue should be voter fraud.
Make any attempt to steal votes, buy votes, vote more than once or vote using someone else’s identity a federal crime, punishable by ten years in Leavenworth.
They are as deluded as the dems if they think they have now got a "permanent majority"
The election was not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning.
The suggestion is unreal.
The power over appropriations will be invested in one who knows best how to obtain the maximum political bangs for the buck. To even think otherwise is to not understand politics.
That is the rule established so far back in human history that the date of establishment is no longer remembered. It will not be changed.
Defund National Education Agcy, NPR, PBS, EPA, Dept. of Energy, and two or three dozen others - For a START!
>> The power over appropriations will be invested in one who knows best how to obtain the maximum political bangs for the buck.
That may be a truism, but keep in mind: the definition of what constitutes “maximum political bang for the buck” can change — and IMHO it just DID change.
A good symbolic gesture would be for the Congress to cancel and stop paying for subscriptions to the putrid Washington Post that are delivered to every federal office. That would drop the circulation 75% and drive that propaganda rag out of business.
Understand please that I write about what I perceive rather than what I would like. Having said that, I see the sign above my desk.....
Slash the hell out of entitlement programs.
Why is it this paper is against "Old Bulls" in appropriations committees and not "Old Queens" in banking committees?
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