Posted on 09/28/2015 5:05:58 AM PDT by 1010RD
September 16, 2015
Congressman Jim Jordan Chairman, House Freedom Caucus 1524 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515
HAND DELIVERED
Dear Jim:
When the House Freedom Caucus formed in January, I fervently hoped that it would provide responsible and effective leadership to advance conservative principles in the House of Representatives.
I know that every member of the HFC sincerely supports these principles, but as I have expressed on many occasions during our meetings, I believe the tactics the HFC has employed have repeatedly undermined the House’s ability to advance them. Allow me to review a few examples.
On February 27th, we faced the imminent shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security over the funding of Obama’s unlawful amnesty orders for illegal immigrants. Although the American people overwhelmingly opposed these orders, they also overwhelmingly opposed shutting down DHS. House Republicans attempted to pass a three-week stop gap bill so we could avoid a catastrophic shutdown of our security agencies while continuing to bring public opinion to bear to de-fund the orders. At the behest of its board, most HFC members combined with House Democrats to defeat this effort, resulting in the full funding of these illegal orders for the fiscal year.
In May, the House had the opportunity to adopt the most important free trade bill in nearly two decades, restoring the long-standing and essential process that has made it possible for our nation to negotiate free trade agreements with other nations. At the behest of its board, most HFC members combined with the vast majority of House Democrats in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat this legislation.
Last week, the House was scheduled to adopt the Resolution of Disapproval of the disastrous Iran nuclear agreement – the only legally binding action available to Congress under the Corker Act. Once again, the House Freedom Caucus leadership threatened to combine with House Democrats to defeat the Resolution, forcing the House leadership to abandon it in favor of a symbolic and legally meaningless vote. Ironically, while Harry Reid and Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the Resolution of Disapproval in the Senate, the House Freedom Caucus leadership was instrumental in blocking its consideration in the House.
For several months, Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have threatened to shut down the government on October 1st unless Congress unleashes another unsustainable cycle of tax increases and borrowing. Last week, the House Freedom Caucus formally vowed to shut down the government over funding Planned Parenthood.
I have strongly opposed the public funding of abortions throughout my 29 years in public office, but this tactic promises only to shield Senate Democrats from their responsibility for a government shutdown and to alienate the public from the pro-life cause at precisely the time when undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s barbaric practices are turning public opinion in our favor. I suspect this is why the leading pro-life organizations have been conspicuously unwilling to endorse the HFC position.
A common theme through each of these incidents is a willingness – indeed, an eagerness – to strip the House Republican majority of its ability to set the House agenda by combining with House Democrats on procedural motions. As a result, it has thwarted vital conservative policy objectives and unwittingly become Nancy Pelosi’s tactical ally.
I feel honored to know and work with every member of the House Freedom Caucus. I have never served with a group of patriots more devoted to our country and dedicated to restoring American founding principles. However, I feel that the HFC’s many missteps have made it counterproductive to its stated goals and I no longer wish to be associated with it.
Accordingly, I resign.
Name any major concession that Obama has been forced into (and that he didn’t get around with Executive Orders, regulations, agreements).
Obamacare - STILL THERE
TTP - STILL THERE
ILLEGAL ALIENS FLOODING ACROSS THE BORDERS - STILL THERE
ISIS - STILL THERE
ASSAD - STILL THERE
UKRAINE - PART STILL LEFT FREE BUT LOTS IN RUSSIAN HANDS
THREATS TO ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA BY RUSSIA - STILL THERE
THREATS TO POLAND - STILL THERE
HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH - STILL THERE
AL QAEDA - STILL THERE
A FREE IRAQ - NOT THERE
SUPPORT FOR THE KURDS - NOT THERE
FATAH/PLO’S ANTI-SEMITISM AND GENOCIDE AIMED AT ISRAEL - STILL THERE
HARRY REID - STILL THERE
PELOSI, WASSERMAN-PUTZ - STILL THERE
A DEMOCRAT MINORITY RUNNING RINGS AROUND THE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY AND MCCONNELL, IN THE SENATE - STILL THERE
THE FREEING OF TERRORISTS FROM GITMO - STILL GOING ON
CASTRO BROTHERS - STILL THERE
A FREE CUBA - NOT!
HILLARY CLINTON’S EMAILS - NOT THERE; COMPUTER - NOT THERE
HUMA ABEDIN - STILL THERE
SAMANTHA POWERS AND SUSAN RICE - STILL THERE
Yeah, McConnell and Boehner were really effective leaders, but not on this planet
GOOD LIST
http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4552876/senator-ted-cruz-floor-remarks-republican-leadership-cr
Great speech by Cruz today on the non-vote on his planned parenthood amendment.
Bohenor is/was in cahoots with the Democrats.
The amendment also calls on defunding the Iran deal because it doesn’t comply with the Corker Bill. Folks give Cruz a hard time on the Corker Bill - but it is the law now. And it is a law that requires obama to disclose all the information about the Iran Deal. obama hasn’t so Cruz says “we can’t fund this illegal deal”. Of course then everyone runs because if they dump the Iran deal, obama vetos the entire the budget and the government shut downs.
CRUZ is just awesome!
I like Trump but CRUZ is more reliably conservative.
They both are absolutely fearless though and I like that!
I’m happy with either one but am ecstatic with Trump/CRUZ !
In 4 years we then COULD have CRUZ for 8 more years.
In the 1980s - early 1990s the Californian Republican Party went through an internal power struggle. The native Conservative Republicans lost the Party Leadership to the emigrant East Coast Rockefeller Republicans (RINOs). Since then the leadership traded away competitive state legislature seats for a few “safe” Republican seats. The resulting gerrymandering changed the once dependably Conservative state into a one party wacko Democrat state.
A look at a political map of California will show that except for the coastal areas and the large metro areas of LA, San Francisco, and San Diego, California is still a Republican state. Unfortunatly those aforementioned cities drag the rest of the state down.
Note that those areas also contain a large % of both legal and illegal immigrants. That demographic finds the Democrat rhetoric, with it’s dogs, ponies, and lollipops, irresistible.
Sen. Cruz: The Real Story of What Is Happening in Washington (Sep 28, 2015 – 59:47) OR “Mr Cruz Goes To Washington”Ted Cruz couldn’t get anyone in the Senate to back him tonight as he tried to get a ban on Planned Parenthood funding and a linkage of the Iran Nuclear deal in a government funding bill. He stood alone on the Senate floor:
Cruz’s amendment would place a one-year ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood. It would also ban the Obama administration from using funds from the short-term bill to implement the Iran nuclear deal or any “assessed contributions” to the United Nations until lawmakers receive the “side deals” between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).The “side deals” have been a key point of contention among opponents of the deal. Cruz and House Republicans have suggested that the 60-day congressional review period for the Iran nuclear deal hasn’t started because the administration hasn’t given lawmakers the agreements.
After the procedural back-and-forth, Cruz slammed Republican leadership, suggesting they repeatedly “surrender” to President Obama.
“You know, President Obama has negotiated a catastrophic nuclear deal with Iran. Republican leadership goes on television all the time and rightly says this is a catastrophic deal,” he added. “I would suggest that if we actually believed the words that are coming out of their mouths, then we should be willing to use any and all constitutional authorities.”
After this Cruz launched into an hour speech, one that Mark Levin just tweeted out saying it’s a MUST LISTEN.
The problem is that you still see this as GOP(e) vs. Dems. Reality has passed you by.
Agreed: Even GERMANY, with it’s Socialist gov’t, high taxes, and high labor costs, is crunching us in trade with us (tho’ not at the massive level of China, of course.)
BTW, to all, I stumbled across this great site: Tons of data - a lot more than I have time to plow through:
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade
Thanks SWL. I will listen to the speech.
Trade "balance" or deficits and surplus is not a measure of freedom or fairness in trades. It is simply a matter of exchanges of value. You run a trade deficit with the grocery store and with the gas station and with every retail establishment where you do business. Are the members of your household harmed by these trade deficits and the unwillingness of your trading partners (grocery store, gas station, etc.) to buy products from you?
For one, we could have followed the Constitution and required a 2/3 vote in the Senate to approve it rather than turning that on its head.
When China manipulates its currency or blocks US access to its market thru various ways violating international agreements, then it is unfair trade. It is not an even playing field when the other side cheats.
That’s not hyperbole
You're right, that's not hyperbole. Hyperbole is exaggeration, your statement is fabrication.
Except.
You can’t offer any proof of your assertion that the GOPe isn’t more hostile to conservatives than the left.
I on the other hand, can offer mountains of proof to support my assertion.
Thad Cochran., for one. Us conservatives see, were crazies, witches, insane, unrealistic, nativists, racists, etc. And that’s all coming from our so called allies.
There’s a fabrication going on here, all right. The lie is that the GOP, with its current leadership, is a home for conservatism. That’s a lie.
Either the leadership changes, or the party fractures. This lie, you see, has been exposed.
I need to prove the sun is shining? The people that violently oppose EVERYTHING that conservatives stand for are less hostile than Thad Cochran? Must you be reminded of the countless dies democrats have stolen or tried to steal elections?
Can I have some shrooms too?
Attack em all you want but when you say they are WORSE than the COMMUNIST POND SCUM, you are being ABSURD.
You are conflating. I didn’t say the GOPe is further left than the left, or worse ideology wise than the left.
I said they are more hostile to conservatives than the left.
In fact, the leftists in this country need not particularly oppose conservatism because conservatism gets little airplay. The GOPe is doing that job for them.
Or, they were. The result is open warfare in the GOP. It’s no longer clear that the establishment will continue to hold the upper hand.
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