Posted on 12/23/2011 11:59:40 AM PST by rabscuttle385
Freshman Tea Party Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) is incensed that Republicans caved in the payroll-tax debate, and is putting the blame squarely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“I don’t think there’s a revolt with respect to Speaker Boehner,” Gowdy said Thursday night on Fox’s "Your World With Neil Cavuto." "I think the license tag of the truck that just ran over us has Kentucky license tags. For the life of me, I cannot understand when the Senate is going to find something they care enough about to stand on policy and principle.”
Last week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months to give Republicans and Democrats additional time to negotiate how to pay for a full-year extension, which both sides say they want. McConnell seemed to have an understanding with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that the bill would pass the House.
However, House Republicans, led by some freshman representatives who were voted into office on the strength of the Tea Party movement, revolted against the Senate-passed bill, saying the negotiation over a full-year tax cut should happen now.
But the conservative establishment, led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Wall Street Journal editorial board and former Bush adviser Karl Rove, turned strongly against House Republicans and said they were botching the politics by picking the wrong fight.
On Thursday, McConnell dropped a lifeline to Boehner, saying publicly that the House should pass the bill if Democrats agreed to name conferees to negotiate the full-year extension early next year.
The bill passed the House Friday morning by unaninimous consent.
“We can blame Speaker Boehner if we want to, but we were fighting an uphill battle,” Gowdy continued. “To have the Senate pass a two-month extension with the number of Republican votes that they got — I’ve taken naps that lasted longer than two months.”
Some have speculated that the payroll tax debate has irreparably harmed Boehner’s Speakership, and that he has lost control of his caucus to a Tea Party faction.
Gowdy did not dispute that notion, and he paused for a few seconds before answering Cavuto’s question as to whether Boehner should maintain his Speakership.
“We didn’t have a comment section to our conference call,” Gowdy said, referring to a Thursday conference call in which Boehner informed Republicans they should concede to the Senate-passed bill. “We typically do, where we can ask questions and register complaints. That wasn’t an option this afternoon. It probably means we’d still be on the phone call, if he’d opened it up to questions.”
Trey Gowdy ping!
The gay mafia shake hands.
McConnell needs to go. He is a darn wimp!
Thanks for posting this. I love to bash Boehner at every opportunity, but the Senate and the Wall Street Journal and Fox News left Boehner on an island - and we all know he doesn’t have the stones to man an island all by himself.
I take everything any politician says with a grain of salt. Mr. Gowdy says McConnell and the GOP senators should stand on principle. I ask Mr. Gowdy “Why didn’t you object yesterday and force a full vote?” He should have stood on “principle”.
Mark Levin plays the audio sometimes of McConnell saying, “I don’t want to be in a regional party,” after Obama was sworn in in 2009. McConnell was pushing to have the party not be as right wing.
Mitch McConnell he played the aliens in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and with no makeup
I do not follow your logic at all — splain please.
and said they were botching the politics by picking the wrong fight threatening the establishment's future by doing what they were elected to do: be fiscally responsible and stop the bleeding.
It will be a very cold day in Cowboy Hell before I vote for another RINO again. That includes Mitt Romney and both Georgia Senators, in fact. My Congressman is the only one I’d even consider voting for.....so, if Mitt’s there, it’s down-ticket below Senator for me....(yeah, I know the answers —— Obama will win - you have to stand somewhere)
At least the Tea Party oriented freshmen are getting it - let’s hope for a boatload more of them in both Houses. Maybe the Tea Party can make its motto “House Cleaning” - run ads like the old Avon doorbell ringing one, only display a voting touchscreen and use the motto as a reminder of the real job that needs done.
Agreed. Rep. Gowdy is my Congressman and I appretiate what his work...but he didn’t do anything to stop this bill. Still he is better than SC’s one Democrat Congress(Critter) Clyburn!
And by the way, Mr. Gowdy. Mitch and John called. They said “Sit down and shut up, boy. We run things around here and we hate you tea partiers as much as the democrats hate you.”
The tea party congress people should resign en masse from the GOP as soon as they come back from the holidays. Split the congress into three so we can have TWO parties.
Republicans continue to ignore the fact that they control only the House, but that Democrats control both the Senate and Presidency.
Do I think passing a 2 month extension is silly? Yep. Does my opinion overcome reality of democrat control of the legislative process? Nope.
I don’t even think that “payroll taxes” are even taxes, so republicans are dumb to even agree to call them taxes. Since they are payments returned at a later date, they should be called installments or something.
The only things they’ll get passed over the objections of the democrats are laws that every single American believes is in their best interest. IOW, they need an American consensus behind their plan before they try to twist arms. The dems need to know that they are flying directly into the face of what the people want and know that they want.
So...he just did what he was told, got his a$$ in line, and agreed to unanimous consent, eh?
And where was Bachmann and Paul? Hiding somewhere?
If one congress person had objected to the unanimous consent every one of them would have had to come back to D.C. to vote. He could have stood on principle.
When you have fossilized leadership it means that possibly 2 generations will never get a chance to lead. When these coots go they will be replaced by men who are 40 years younger. 2 generations screwed.
This is funny. What is a freshman congress person capable of doing?
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