Have House Republicans Tossed Transparency Under the Bus?

Looks like there is little transparency in the Republican Party today -- it left with this election when the Wall Street and wealthy donors took over the Republican Party for their own special interests with Romney and his millions heading the ticket.  Guess they like paying less than 15% taxes, no problem if they want to keep millions offshore, donate to a Super PACs and have your identity hidden, and now this.

No public disclosure who is behind these campaign ads on TV thanks to Republicans in the House is a total lack of transparency.  The dumbest comment I saw at The Hill said the Obama thugs will target big donors to Republicans.  The demonization of Obama and his supporters is continuing with the Romney paid hacks posting all over the net.

Don't agree with Obama's agenda or his liberal views but he has as much right to them as I do to mine which are more conservative.  This idea we have to all think alike is ludicrous.  That is what I am seeing out of Romney supporters today on-line and in my community.  If you haven't signed on to Romney you are attacked and called names like RINO -- Republican in Name Only and a lot worse in some cases.  I have been a Republican and a conservative a lot longer than Mitt Romney who was an independent from 1976 until 1994 when he decided it was easier to take on Kennedy in the general election then the primary. I voted Republican for Richard Nixon in 1968 my first time to vote for President and have voted for a Republican every time since then for President.  This will be my first time to vote for someone other than a Republican.  Although if you stop to think about it, Former NM Republican Governor Gary Johnson who is running as a Libertarian has been a Republican longer then Romney as well but the RNC didn't think he was worthy of being in debates.  Might damage the Romney brand if he, Perry, and Huntsman all Governors with conservative records were on stage at the same time with the flip flopper?

Romney has his little minions in the House doing his bidding now like he has the RNC.  The lack of transparency and taking full advantage of the Citizens United ruling which did not say you could hide donors names has become the way of life for Romney and his pals at Wall/K Streets.  These are the people who tanked our economy that are best buds with Romney now after helping give us Obama in 2008 when they tanked McCain.  Yet Republicans yell foul that Obama is collecting donations from Hollywood and the Gay Community.  Guess in the Romney Republican Party no Democrat is allowed to raise money -- only Romney Republicans.

Why are Republicans trying to hide who is paying for the ads on the TV?  I say we have a right to full disclosure on who is behind every ad that appears on my TV, and I should not have to visit my local station to find that information.  Also have a right to full disclosure for everyone who gives even one penny to a candidate or Super PAC.  We also have a right to know when a candidates loans himself money or when he takes contributions that are not allowed to show that he has a better fundraising month even if he has to return them.

Now we have a Republican House subcommittee who doesn't believe in transparency with lame excuses?  What has happened to the Republican Party as it has morphed into the Romney Republican Party?

This article from The Hill has the details of what is happening in the House and paints a picture of Republican members of the House being in the hip pocket of special interest.  Are they trying to catch up with their Democrat counterparts in one election?

House Republicans move to block FCC’s political ad rule
By Erik Wasson and Brendan Sasso - 06/06/12 12:47 PM ET  

House appropriators voted Wednesday along party lines to block a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation that would require television stations to disclose political ad buyers online. 

Republicans included a provision to spike the FCC rule in the 2013 Financial Services spending bill that passed out of subcommittee Wednesday. GOP appropriators voted down an attempt from Democrats to remove it from the bill. 

Democrats accused Republicans on the House Appropriations Financial Services subcommittee of acting to keep the names and spending of outside “fat cats” secret in an attempt to hide their influence on elections.

It's obvious what this is all about and it is embarrassing, frankly,” said Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. “It looks like you are trying to cover up the fact that these fat cats are coming into these elections and they don’t want their names known.” 

The FCC in April voted to require major network affiliates in the top 50 TV markets to post information about their political ads online. The rule would apply to all broadcast stations after the first two years.

The files about political ad purchases are currently available to anyone who travels to the television stations to view physical copies of the documents. The new rule requires the information to be posted online as well. 

Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment to strip out the language blocking the ad rule. He said the FCC decision is important because it brings more transparency to spending on issue ads, and for ads in state and local races that is not easy to track under Federal Election Commission requirements. 

Serrano’s amendment was defeated in a party-line vote of 4 to 8. 

Republicans offered a variety of reasons for imposing the restrictions on the FCC.
Subcommittee Chairwoman Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) said that the requirement was burdensome to local television stations. She cited a station manager who told her he would have to hire a new staff member to post the information to the Internet. 

Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said it was an instance of the federal government interfering with the private sector. 

“Television station fiscal matters are private and should be kept private,” he said. 

He also said he does not want his political opponent knowing his reelection strategy. 

Emerson and Democrats, however, said campaign media buyers are already given access to the cost and sponsors of opponent ads. 

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said that the information was already available, that putting it online did not change things, and that Democratic regulations were “destroying” the economy.
The political ad rule has been strongly opposed by the broadcasting industry. 

The National Association of Broadcasters has sued the FCC over the rule, arguing it is “arbitrary and capricious.” The group argues it is unfair to impose requirements on broadcast television that don't apply to competitors in cable and satellite. 

But Free Press, a public advocacy group that supports the FCC's rule, accused House lawmakers of catering to the broadcasting industry at the expense of political transparency. 

"Some members of Congress, working at the behest of the broadcast industry, want to keep the public in the dark," said Corie Wright, senior policy counsel of the Free Press Action Fund, in a statement. 

The Financial Services bill heads now to the full House Appropriations panel and then to the floor. It is based on a lower overall budget allocation than a similar bill in the Senate, and will not become law without extensive negotiation.

While looking for details on this bill on line, I was flipping through channels on my TV looking for something to watch and found Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, was covering this item.  Never watch her, but the discussion was the topic I was researching.  Decided to listen and that is when I discovered there is a group of college students visiting television stations to get the information along with a group dedicated to full disclosure on campaign ads from both sides putting details on-line from the college students.  This is grassroots as its finest.

June 7, 2012 

Justin Elliot, reporter for ProPublica, talks with Rachel Maddow about ProPublica's crowdsourcing project to scan information about local TV station political ad buys to publish on the internet (while a new FCC rule requiring stations do it themselves languishes due to Republican opposition in Congress). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aCuWKtFfGlI  

Full disclosure of every penny spent in political campaigns should be required along with every penny that is taken in by a candidate and the Super PACs, 527's, or any other group doing advertising or supporting a candidate or issue in any way.  Anything less is not transparent and is threatening our elections.

All this money in this campaign is obscene as Romney tries to buy the election.  He is absolutely for sale because to become an advisor to him, just give almost a million dollars.

Another article I found while looking for the info on college students has to do with the billionaire oilman Harold Hamm from Oklahoma who gave almost $1M to Romney's Super PAC after becoming head of his Energy advisors.  BTW Romney has not released any more names for energy advisors -- guess other oil/gas people didn't agree to donate enough money.  Excerpt from the article:

Michael Isikoff recently reported, there's a little more to the connection between the two wealthy conservatives.

Just one month after he was named Mitt Romney's top energy adviser, Oklahoma billionaire Harold Hamm contributed $985,000 to the top pro-Romney Super PAC -- a donation that was the second largest the group collected in April, according to a new campaign disclosure filing today.

The cash infusion from Hamm, the chairman and CEO of Continental Resources -- a firm that touts itself as "America's Oil Champion" -- is a new example of how big Super PAC donors can make their policy views heard by the campaigns they are supporting.

Just a few months ago, the Republican nominee announced that Hamm would serve as the chairman of the Romney campaign's "Energy Policy Advisory Group," putting Hamm in a position to shape a new "pro-jobs, pro-market, pro-American" energy agenda, which Romney would presumably pursue if elected. 

And wouldn't you know it, soon after Romney gave Hamm the influential post, the oilman contributed nearly $1 million to Romney's super-PAC, on top of the money he'd already contributed to the Romney campaign itself.

Know over the years Republicans have done our fair share of gaming the system, but nothing compared to this Romney group who IMHO is most like Richard Nixon and his corrupt people he surrounded himself with who believed in win at any cost.  Ethics and integrity did not matter which we learned in his second term.  I for one don't want to have to learn how unethical and dishonest the Romney camp is after he is elected so he will never get my vote!

Government Shutdown Looms

The following comments on Hot Air were in response to an article in Politico outlining the risks to Obama with his strategy.  We don't see how the media like Politico can spin this 11th hour intervention by Obama in favor of Obama and the Democrats when the Democrats had full control of the Congress and the White House on September 30, 2010, which was the last day for the FY10 budget.  As we have stated before, the fault for an FY11 budget not being passed lies completely with the Democrats period.

UPDATE from Hot Air:

There are a couple of problems for Obama in selling this. First, he’s been AWOL on the budget for months. He could have pressed Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to produce a budget in 2010 when Democrats had full control of Congress. Where was his outrage then? It’s not exactly leadership to wait seven months past a budget deadline to finally get personally involved. For that matter, as I mentioned in my last post, this sudden burst of leadership has done nothing to produce a budget in the Senate, where his own party has a majority.


Second, a failure here runs the real risk of his previous lack of leadership getting a lot more attention. Presidents don’t usually make grandstanding efforts unless (a) they already have a victory in hand, or (b) a failure will suit their political purposes. The latter was true for Bill Clinton in 1995-6 because it was the Republicans who had full responsibility for producing a budget. That’s not true now, when Obama has been an absentee executive on budgets for seven months and couldn’t even lead his own team to do their jobs.

Obama could have closed the deal in September. Instead, Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue ran away from their responsibilities out of fear of voter backlash if they revealed their true agenda, and in the Senate and the White House, they’re still running away. That may be many things, but leadership it is not.

*******
Flashback to 2010 when the House Democrats deemed the budget passed -- get that 'deemed' a budget passed.  That means the House Democrats didn't pass the budget through Committee, take a House vote on the budget, or appropriate the money for FY11.  What did they do all of last year as they also didn't read all of Obamacare before it was passed?  This was gross negligence on the part of then Speaker Pelosi and her leadership.  Instead of kicking her out, the Democrats rewarded her with electing her as Minority Leader to lead the Democrats in a Republican controlled House.

Article One, Section 7 of the United States Constitution:

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

With that short statement in the Constitution, the House of Representatives is given the authority to write the budget and appropriate the money neither of which the House Democrats did last year.  For over 200 years, the President submits a budget to Congess at which time the House writes the budget bill which is sent to various committees for hearings before coming to the floor for a vote.  After the budget bill is passed in the House, it goes to the Senate and the President.  That all came to an end in 2010 thanks to Pelosi and her lack of leadership.

What a lot of people, especially the media, don't seem to understand is that even with passage of the budget that is  signed by the President, the money still has to be appropriated for each item of the budget.   Those appropriation hearings can get very heated in the House.  Each  portion of the budget, e.g., the Defense, State Department, Commerce, is passed separately by the House, forwarded to the Senate for a vote and then to the President for signature before any money can be sent to the various agencies for their fiscal year budget which starts 1 October every year.  Most of the time the appropriations bills end up in a joint committee to iron out the differences between the House and Senate.  After the compromise in the Joint Committee, the bills are voted on again by both Houses before sending to the President.  If the President vetoes an appropriations bill, it takes 2/3 vote to override which means in most cases going back committees to try and get a bill a President will sign.  Note once again that the 2010 Democrats led by Pelosi held no hearings on the budget or appropriations.

Now Obama and the Democrats want to blame Republicans because horror of horrors, the Republicans want to get the financial health of this Country back on track and quit overspending on 'nice to have' items or to pay back groups for their financial support of Obama in 2008.  The Obama budget broke the bank and looked like it was just thrown together in order to have a budget with no serious thought to the deficit for FY11 or the current budget submission for FY12.

It is hard to believe that the House during all of 2010 held no budget hearings or took votes to pass a budget.  What did their committees do?  They certainly did not all work on Obamacare as very few members of Congress were involved in that boondoggle.  We paid the Democrat House Members their salary and benefits all the time they were ignoring their primary duty in the Constitution -- pass a budget and appropriate the money to fund the Government.  They did neither and now today we face a Government shutdown for a budget that should have been passed in 2010.  Why wasn't Obama involved in getting his Democrat leaders to pass the FY11 budget in 2010?  There was no way the Republicans could have stopped the budget.

Obama has threatened to withhold the pay of troops in combat which would be a first but he is using every tactic in the books with the help of his adoring media to try and paint the Republicans as the ones responsible when it was the Democrats who didn't pass the budget and then appropriation bills for FY11 when they had complete domination of the Congress in 2010. 

Are the American people going to fall for the Obama copying of Bill Clinton?  We doubt it as most Americans are well aware that the Democrats are the ones responsible for no budget for FY11.  Will Obama actually withhold the pay of our combat troops or any military or is it an idle threat?.  He has vowed to veto the one week continuing resolution.  We have our doubts if he has the nerve to do that, but if he does it is for political purposes only to blame Republicans just like Libya was a political decision where he wanted to show he was the Commander in Chief.

It looks like this is all about Obama getting reelected in 2012 following the Clinton example -- he could care less about what this is going to do to the American people who are going to be without pay or jobs.  There is one huge miscalculation -- we have the Internet for new and don't have to depend on the Obama media for our news.  With his actions, Obama has signaled to the American people he could care less about us or the budget would have been passed in 2010 because the Democrats had full control. 

In the middle of the budget crises, he flew off to Pennsylvania for what was essentially a campaign stop after launching his run for reelection on Monday.  Same thing he did by going on spring break to Brazil while launching our military into a wartime operation in the skies of Libya.  Looks like his favorite plan is to get away from the White House when something controversial is happening.  Will Obama play golf during a Government shutdown?  He does during every other crises so why not this time. 

If the Government shuts down, remember your taxes are still due on April 18th.  If you file them by paper instead of on-line, they will be piling up in the mail room.  If you owe money and send a check, who knows when the check will get cashed.  Isn't the Government wonderful?  They could be shut down but the American taxpayer some of who will be newly unemployed who worked for the Government are still expected to pay their taxes.  Why?  If the Government cannot pass a budget then why should we have to pay taxes?

What will be the outcome tonight at midnight?  Will they actually take negotiations to the end?  Time will tell today.

Get ready for another bumpy ride by Obama as the budget for FY12 written by Chairman Paul Ryan and his budget committee is about to be debated in Committees.  Already the Democrats are squealing about the budget but since they didn't even have a budget written for FY11, they need to sit down and shut up.  Leadership of the Democrats in the House should have been shown the door for not passing an actual budget and instead deemed a budget passed with FY10 figures used to get the United States even more in debt.  Irresponsibility on the part of Obama and the Democrats yet Obama wants reelected while Pelosi wants to take the House back to further bankrupt this Country by using scare tactics that are not true.

Stay tuned for more updates today!  We are waiting to see if Obama actually vetoes the week's continuing resolution?  We are betting he won't but if he does, he is the sole responsible person for shutting down the Government unless Reid comes to his rescue and the Senate rejects the continuing resolution.  Adults behaving like spoiled brats sums up Obama and the Democrat leadership as they want to play using only their rules.

Most amazing thing of all of this is my inbox for email.  The days, it has been filling up with stories about the impending shutdown of Government -- this morning -- NOTHING.

Enjoy the Weekend! House of Representative Updates.

To recap the last week after Congress returned, Nancy Pelosi was elected as Minority Leader of the House Democrats even though the more moderates went after her. She won by a large margin because Progressives think they lost so many seats because they didn't go far enough. That is an idea that they need to keep pushing into the 2012 elections.

Cong Charles Rangel (D-NY) will be censured by the House but frankly after being found guilty on 10 counts he should have been ousted from his seat. If he had any ethics, he would resign but those words 'ethics' and 'Rangel' are like oil and water.

Now to the Good News of the week!

Republicans look to be picking up another seat as Ann Marie Buerkle in NY-25 has cleared the hurdle of Onondoga County in NY and only votes left to count are absentee in a county where she has her most strength so you can safely chalk up 241 seats for the Republicans. Most of us in our wildest dreams didn't think we would be at 241 and the Democrats at 194 after the election.

On Wednesday, Nov 17, Republicans elected their new Leadership Team:

Speaker of the House: Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
Majority Leader: Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Majority Whip: Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Conference Chairman: Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
NRCC Chairman: Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Policy Committee Chairman: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
Conference Vice-Chair: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
Conference Secretary: Rep. John Carter (R-TX)
Freshman Representative: Rep.-elect Kristi Noem (R-SD)
Freshman Representative: Rep.-elect Tim Scott (R-SC)
Rules Committee Representative: Rep. David Dreier (R-CA)
Chairman of the Leadership: Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)

Congratulations to all the new members of leadership and especially to Speaker-Elect Boehner. We are so happy to see Eric Cantor as Majority Leader and Kevin McCarthy as Majority Whip because along with Paul Ryan, the budget guru, the three of them ran the Young Guns program under the leadership of the NRCC Chair Pete Sessions (R-TX) which helped bring the Republicans all the new faces for the 112th Congress. With the reelection of the NRCC Chair Pete Sessions for another term the Republicans are in the fight for more seats in 2012 with the Young Guns ready to ramp up again. These newly elected Young Guns were prolific fundraisers for their races. It is an exciting time to realize on January 3, 2011, we will have 241 seats in the House versus 194 (tentative) seats for the Democrats.

We hated to see Mike Pence resign as the Conference Chair as he did such an excellent job but he is weighing his options for running for a different office in 2012. We wish him Good Luck in what ever position he chooses to run. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the new Conference Chair, will do an excellent job as he moves to Conference Chair from Chair of Policy Committee. With two new Freshman, Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Tim Scott (R-SC) on the new Leadership, we expect a lot of new and fresh ideas coming out of this whole group.

Senator John Boehner answers questions about the plane that Pelosi has been using and the direction of the 112th Congress in the latest of his mail bag YouTube videos where he replies to people from his district who have submitted suggestions:




Enjoy your weekend with football or being outdoors in areas where the weather is still fairly warm before the colder temperatures take over.

For those traveling this weekend for the Thanksgiving Holidays next week, have a safe trip!

Boehner: Jobs are Top Issue

We can guarantee one thing -- John Boehner, the current Republican Leader, will be reelected to Congress in huge numbers from the Congressional District we once called home. This area of Ohio like many others have been hard hit with loss of jobs. Some of those jobs went away because of the unions and their neverending demands that helped kill the Ohio economy. Manufacturing has been moving to states with Right to Work and a better tax advantage for a long time.

Ohioians have an opportunity to get the State back on the right track with sending Obama buddy Gov Strickland to the unemployment line and electing former Rep John Kasich to be Governor. We predict they will also be sending Rob Portman to the Senate and more Republicans as part of their House delegation like Steve Chabot to help Republican Leader John Boehner become Speaker of the House John Boehner.

When Boehner took over from Denny Hastert who left early, he was left with Hastert's governing team for the 2008 election who believed in incumbent protection. Now with Boehner's own team in place, we have seen a huge difference with the number of seats the House has targeted plus the quality of candidates they have been able to recruit. The NRCC led by Pete Sessions is on the offense -- incumbents are for the most part on their own as they target seats with Democrats.

Boehner's leadership team is second to none with Mike Pence who is the best spokesman for the House Republican Conference we have seen and with Eric Cantor as Whip. With Pete Sessions heading NRCC with Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy who put together Young Guns for this election along with help from other members of the House they have built the foundation for victory in November.

Against all odds and being completely out numbered, the Republicans members of the House have continued to fight -- Steve King gives some of the best one minute speeches we have seen in the House. Team him and Pence up and you have no better team that can say more in a short period of time then Democrats can say in an hour. The hard work of House Republicans will pay off on November 2nd.

Boehner: Jobs are top issue
BY DAN SEWELL • Associated Press • October 9, 2010

The November election will be all about jobs, House Republican leader John Boehner said Friday.

Speaking in his southwest Ohio home district hours after a bleak federal report on employment was released, Boehner said that it looked a lot like the reports every month under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan.

He said Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi should call the House back into session for a vote on Republican economic plans touted as "a pledge to America." Regardless, he said, voters get their chance Nov. 2 to cast ballots in what he called a referendum on high unemployment and "job-killing policies."

"This coming election is about one issue: jobs," he said. "It's about jobs that were promised to the American people by the current administration, and were never delivered."

Boehner fired up a rally at a West Chester family-owned manufacturing company, telling his audience an "out-of-control" government is disrespecting them. He asked rhetorically if they had to accept it, then shouted: "Hell no, you don't!"

Excerpt: Read More at Coshocton Tribune.com

A Democratic National Committee spokesman said Boehner wants a return to Bush administration policies that benefit the rich and special interests.

"John Boehner claims a different direction, but does he mean it?" asked Alec Gerlach. "Hell no, he doesn't."

Boehner, in line to become the next speaker if Republicans gain 40 seats in the House, said the Republicans' "pledge" represents a new direction for Congress and for the GOP as well.

"And I can promise you, if we are entrusted with the opportunity to govern, we are going to do things differently," Boehner said.

The Republican plans include extending tax cuts and reducing spending. Critics have called them vague, likely to worsen deficits and not new.

Boehner said Friday "there's nothing new" about the Obama administration's approach.

"Over the past two years, the governing party in Washington has been deeply committed to the tired old notion that our nation can spend and borrow its way back to prosperity," he said.

He said among congressional changes planned by Republicans are ones in legislative rules to make spending cuts easier.

Excerpt: Read More at Coshocton Tribuen.com

House Republicans Issue "A Pledge to America"

Today's Republican House Leadership led by Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), and Republican Caucus Chair Mike Pence (R-IN) along with other members of the House Republican Leadership have been listening to the concerns of Americans and put together this "A Pledge to America" to tell the American people how they plan to govern when given the gavel of the House. Many of the ideas have come from the American people via Town Halls, emails, phone calls and their website America Speaking Out where you get a chance to submit ideas.

House Republicans have a plan to govern while the House Democrats under Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team only know how to tax and spend along with growing government.  There is one clear choice for America on November 2nd -- pass the gavel to the Republican leadership who have a plan to govern and are willing to make this Pledge to every American citizen!

House Republicans Issue "A Pledge to America"

New Governing Agenda, Built by Listening, Focuses on Creating Jobs, Cutting Spending, and Reforming Congress; GOP Presses for Action Before Congress Adjourns

Sep 23, 2010

Washington- House Republicans today put forth “A Pledge to America,” a new governing agenda built by listening to the American people and focused on addressing their top priorities – including creating jobs, cutting spending, and changing the way Congress works. This new governing agenda was unveiled during a press event at Tart Lumber Company, a family-owned small business located in Sterling, VA. Republicans stressed that this governing agenda could be implemented right now if President Obama and Democratic Leaders would allow it, and called for action before Congress adjourns.

“Across America, the people see a government in Washington that isn’t listening, doesn’t get it, and doesn’t care. Today, that begins to change,” Congressman John Boehner (R-West Chester) said. “This new governing agenda, built by listening to the people, offers plans to create jobs, cut spending, and put power where it belongs: in the hands of the people. 'A Pledge to America' offers a new way forward that hasn’t been tried in Washington: an approach focused on cutting spending instead of accelerating spending, and eliminating uncertainty for the private-sector innovators and entrepreneurs who create jobs. These are the solutions the American people are demanding, and Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid should act on them before Congress adjourns for the fall.”

“A Pledge to America” – which can be downloaded in PDF format at http://pledge.gop.gov – is the byproduct of the America Speaking Out initiative, which Republicans launched in May to listen and engage the American people in the creation of a new governing agenda.

As opposed to a broad policy platform or long-term agenda, “A Pledge to America” is based on the need for urgent action to address the American people’s priorities – priorities that continue to be ignored and even openly mocked by Washington Democrats.

Prior to today’s unveiling, House Republicans held a roundtable with local small business owners to talk about the challenges they are facing in today’s tough economic climate.

NOTE: The preamble to “A Pledge to America” reaffirms Republicans’ commitment to principles of smaller, more accountable government; economic freedom; lower taxes; fiscal responsibility; protecting life, American values, and the Constitution; and providing for a strong national defense. This new governing agenda is comprised of five specific policy plans that could be implemented right now if President Obama and Democratic Leaders would allow it:

•Creating Jobs. “A Pledge to America” reflects Americans’ demand for immediate action on policies that will end uncertainty for small businesses and help our economy get back to creating jobs. This new governing agenda contains a plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America competitive – including stopping all tax hikes, reining in red tape, and repealing ObamaCare’s ‘1099 mandate.’

•Cutting Spending. “A Pledge to America” embodies Americans’ rejection of the now-thoroughly discredited notion that we can simply tax, spend, and borrow our way to prosperity. This new governing agenda contains a plan to cut spending and reduce the size of government – including cutting government spending to pre-‘stimulus’, pre-bailout levels, imposing a hard cap on future discretionary spending, and ending TARP once and for all.

•Reforming Congress. “A Pledge to America” acknowledges that we cannot get our arms around the issues of the day when we have a government that refuses to listen to the people and ignores their priorities. This new governing agenda contains a plan to reform Congress and restore trust – including implementing ‘read the bill’ reform, allowing for more open and fair debate, and requiring that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority.

•Repealing and Replacing The Job-Killing Health Care Law. “A Pledge to America” recognizes that the American people continue to squarely oppose the government takeover of health care, with its higher costs, higher taxes, job-killing mandates, and Medicare cuts to pay for a massive new entitlement. This new governing agenda contains a plan to repeal and replace the job-killing health care law with common-sense reforms focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.

•A Strong National Defense. “A Pledge to America” reinforces Congress’s responsibility to help provide for a strong national defense and fashion a coherent strategy to confront and defeat the terrorist threat. This new governing agenda contains a plan to keep our nation secure at home and abroad – including passing clean troop funding bills, keeping terrorists off American soil, and fully funding missile defense.

Click on this link to read the full version of the "A Pledge to America" from House Republicans

****

The opening statements from "A Pledge to America:"
 
America is more than a country.

America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.

America is an inspiration to those who yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine their own destiny.

Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course.

These first principles were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, enshrined in the Constitution, and have endured through hard sacrifice and commitment by generations of Americans.

In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.

An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.

Excerpt: Read More at "A Pledge to America"



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