HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

No Room For Compromise on “Card Check”

Democrats and their union bosses have been pushing hard for Congress to pass “card check” legislation that would deprive workers of their long-held right to a secret ballot.  But the Democrats’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by the American people, and they are making their opposition to this job-killing bill known to their representatives in Washington.  As a result, unions are doubling down on their push to pass “card check.”

Politico has a special section in today’s paper on “Labor’s Future,” in which the authors note that “[d]espite a setback on Capitol Hill, union leaders vow to press ahead for a law to provide new organizing tools.”  Another Politico story states that “[t]he bill hinges on the Senate votes of a few key moderates from both parties,” where unions may push for a “compromise” bill that achieves union bosses’ aims under another name.

Today, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has an op-ed in the Politico entitled “GOP Won’t Compromise Secret Ballots,” which makes it plain and clear that House Republicans aren’t about to sell workers rights down the river.  In the op-ed, Leader Boehner states:

Let me be clear: There will be no compromise on eliminating the rights of workers to vote by secret ballot in union organizing elections. Republicans will oppose any effort to deprive American workers of the basic right to vote in a secret ballot election without fear of intimidation or recrimination. There will be no compromise on the issue of mandatory binding arbitration in contract negotiations. Republicans will oppose any effort to allow government to unilaterally impose contracts and set wages, benefits and work rules.

Last week, Fox News ran a story which highlighted the danger that implementing “card check” would bring to workers’ rights:

House Republicans believe that the secret ballot is a sacred right which should never be abandoned.  Accordingly, Reps. John Kline (R-MN), Buck McKeon (R-CA), and Tom Price (R-GA) have introduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act to guarantee workers’ right to a secret ballot in the workplace.

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Gimmicks and Tripling of Debt are the Hallmarks of Democrats’ Budget

The House and Senate Budget Committees marked up the President’s Budget last week, leaving the massive tax, spending, and borrowing proposals largely intact, while adopting gimmicks to hide the budget’s true cost.  The House is expected to vote on the “Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY 2010″ sometime this week.

Budget gimmicks are alive and well, as The New York Times reported on Friday: “lawmakers shifted from 10-year fiscal blueprints to 5-year plans, effectively hiding the projections of a staggering increase in federal debt from 2014 to 2019.”  And despite widespread grumbling even among some Democrats that the President’s budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much, Democrats will most likely all fall in line behind the budget this week, according to articles published today in Roll Call and The Washington Post.

The President’s budget is titled, “A New Era of Fiscal Responsibility,” even though it proposes to add more to the national debt in ten years than the previous 43 presidents have added in 232 years.  In fact, the President’s budget doubles the national debt in five years and triples it in ten years.

The House Budget Committee Republican Staff has compiled some troubling information on the President’s Budget:

The only part of the budget that has received the axe from the Democrats is the President’s “tax cut” for middle class families, which appears to be in jeopardy, as The Wall Street Journal wrote on Friday: “Both the House and Senate budgets are silent on the long-term fate of the president’s costly two-year ‘Make Work Pay’ credit, enacted in the stimulus package.”  Ironically, the tax cut is the only part of the President’s budget that has overwhelming support among the American people, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

Surviving the budget markup process were plans to implement a national energy tax through “cap and trade,” which would cost the average American family $3,000 a year; nearly $650 billion to begin the nationalization and socialization of American health care; and a nine percent increase in non-defense, discretionary spending for fiscal year 2010, cumulatively increasing government spending by twenty percent in just two years.  (Source: Senate Budget Committee, Republican Staff)

House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said in his opening statement that, “With this budget, the President and the Democratic Majority are attempting - very quickly, and rather openly - nothing less than the third and final great wave of government expansion: building on the New Deal and the Great Society.”

We can do better.  House Republicans will do better.

This week, House Republicans will offer a detailed budged proposal that will highlight our “better solutions.”  Stay tuned for details.

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“Here it is, Mr. President.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner Challenges President Obama’s Assertion That GOP Has Not Offered a Better Solution.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives today unveiled “The Republican Road to Recovery,” a document that outlines Republican solutions on the budget and other major issues facing the American people.  The GOP Road to Recovery plan was unveiled this morning on Capitol Hill just hours after Democrats rammed President Obama’s bloated FY 2010 budget through the House Budget Committee, building on the six budget principles that were outlined for President Obama last week by House Republican leaders.

For further information, go to http://gopleader.gov.

Full text of the “Republican Road to Prosperity” document.

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Boehner Discusses Republican’s Better Budget Blueprint

In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” this morning, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) previewed House Republicans’ better budget solution that will be outlined at a press conference later today. Leader Boehner also discussed President Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal that spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much from our kids and grandkids.

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Budget Battle Begins: President’s Budget Spends Too Much, Taxes Too Much, and Borrows Too Much

 

11:45 PM - Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Massive FY 2010 Democratic Budget

Late this evening the House Budget Committee concluded its debate over President Obama’s massive FY 2010 Budget – a budget that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much.  The budget was adopted without a single Republican vote.

Throughout the day, House Republicans offered “better solutions” to the President’s budget in the form of dozens of amendments during committee debate.  Democrats chose to reject every substantive GOP proposal. 

Tomorrow, under Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) leadership, House Republicans will unveil their own budget blueprint.  House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recently outlined the Republican budget’s principles in a video response sent to the White House.  Leader Boehner said:

First, our budget alternative will help create and protect jobs by letting families and small businesses keep more of what they earn.

Second, our budget will make sure the federal budget doesn’t grow faster than family budgets.  Americans are making tough spending decisions every day.  It’s time for Washington to do the same.

Third, our budget will aim to expand access to affordable health care for every American, while preserving Social Security and Medicare for future generations.

Fourth, our budget will end the bailouts to protect taxpayers and reform the financial system so this crisis never repeats itself.  Instead of raising energy costs through a “cap and trade” energy tax that will cost every family up to $3,100 a year, our budget will encourage an “all of the above” energy strategy that harnesses new technologies, encourages greater conservation and efficiency, and increases American energy production in an environmentally-safe manner.

And last but not least, our budget will fight inflation so the prices of goods and services Americans depend on every day remain stable during and after this economic crisis.

Thanks for tuning in to the Budget Buzz.  Stay tuned to http://gopleader.gov/ for more information about how Republicans are offering “better solutions.”

10:55 PM - Democrats Reject Plan to Restrain Soaring Health Care Costs

During his primetime news conference last night, President Obama asserted that “the biggest driver of long-term deficits are the huge health care costs.”  Republicans agree that we must expand access to quality health care for all Americans, and that’s why they are fighting so hard to restrain rising health care costs through medical liability reform.  With that in mind, Rep. Michael Simpson (R-ID) offered an amendment insisting on medical liability reform as part of the health care reserve fund in the Democrats’ budget proposal.  The amendment, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says will save $4.6 billion over the next 10 years, failed by a voice vote.

American doctors pay as much as $126 billion annually to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.  As these costs soar, many doctors relocate or retire prematurely, thereby reducing patients’ access to care – and raising their costs as well.  If reducing what President Obama called “huge health care costs” is a goal of this budget, shouldn’t Democrats join Republicans in pursuing medical liability reform to restrain health care costs for all Americans?

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Newspaper Editorials Agree: President Obama’s Budget Spends Too Much, Taxes Too Much & Borrows Too Much

Over the last several days, a growing chorus of newspaper editorials has questioned the wisdom of President Obama’s budget in light of a recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that the budget is actually $2.3 trillion more costly than the White House initially claimed.  The President’s budget piles deficit upon deficit, increasing our national debt to 82% of our nation’s GDP by 2019 - levels that are unsustainable and may well devalue the dollar and bankrupt our country.

Chart from Investor’s Business Daily.

Reaction from newspapers across America:

 Philadelphia Inquirer, “Where’s the Discipline?“

It’s still early in the budget process, but so far Obama hasn’t indicated where he is willing to make hard choices.  He apparently has no intention of scaling back his health-care plan, his energy ‘cap and trade’ proposal or other big priorities.  Among the few cost savings outlined so far is a reduction of military forces in Iraq.

The Washington Post, “Red Ink Red Alert“

Mr. Obama should treat the CBO report as an incentive to fulfill his repeated promises, during and after the campaign, to make hard choices on the budget.  Until now he has offered a host of new spending — on health care, middle-class tax cuts, education and alternative energy — without calling for much sacrifice from anyone except the top 5 percent of the income scale.

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House Republicans Offer Better Solutions While White House Offers Distortions

At the start of the 111th Congress, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) pledged that Republicans wouldn’t be simply the party of opposition but would offer “better solutions.”  And since then, Republicans have repeatedly followed through on Boehner’s pledge, offering better solutions whenever Republicans have had to disagree publicly with the direction being taken by President Obama and the liberal Democratic majority in Congress.  In the case of the so-called “stimulus” bill and the federal budget, House Republican leaders have directly presented alternatives to the White House.

It seems the White House wants to mislead the American people into believing otherwise, however.  Yesterday, in an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal, the President reportedly “chided Republican lawmakers. . .for opposing his initiatives without offering alternatives.”  The President complained that Republicans have criticized proposals without offering alternatives: “I do think that the Republican Party right now hasn’t sort of figured out what it’s for…And so, as a proxy, they’ve just decided we’re going to be against whatever the other side is for.”

Mr. President, with all due respect, that’s simply not true.

Since the start of this Congress, Democrats have advanced an agenda that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much.  At every step of the way, House Republicans have offered alternatives - better solutions - to the Democrats’ agenda.

Democrats passed a $1 trillion “stimulus” bill; House Republicans not only objected, but proposed an alternative plan that would create twice the jobs at half the cost using the same methodology as the President’s own senior economic advisor, Dr. Christina Romer.  Democrats passed a $410 omnibus spending bill with more than 8,000 earmarks and the highest increase in non-emergency spending since the Carter years; House Republicans proposed a spending freeze for the rest of this year that would hold spending on government programs to current levels.  Democrats are writing a record-shattering $3.6 trillion budget; House Republicans are proposing an alternative budget that includes spending restraint, tax cuts, expanded health care coverage, an end to taxpayer bailouts, and an “all of the above” energy strategy.

This afternoon, Leader Boehner will outline House Republicans’ better solutions in a “pre-buttal” to the President’s prime time press conference.  Stay tuned to http://gopleader.gov for more updates.

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Far from “Meaningless,” CBO Report Illustrates the True Cost of the President’s Budget

Last Friday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a study which found that the President’s budget is $2.3 trillion more costly than the White House initially claimed.  In fact, the CBO said that the budget will produce an incredible $9.3 trillion in total deficits over the next 10 years - doubling the debt and bringing the debt as a percent of GDP to 82% by 2019.  The next two years alone will see “the largest deficits as a share of GDP since 1945.”

The level of debt-financed spending called for in the budget is reckless and simply unsustainable, providing further confirmation of what House and Senate Republicans have been warning about the President’s budget since the moment it was unveiled: it spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much, and will hurt the economy at a time when it desperately needs help.

How has the Administration responded to the CBO report?  On “Fox News Sunday,” Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, dismissed the CBO numbers as “technical issues” - while White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told Newsweek’s Howard Fineman that “Now is not the time to pull back” and said of the CBO study: “Those long-term predictions are meaningless - and usually wrong.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) couldn’t disagree more.  As Leader Boehner said Friday, on the day the report was released: “This report should serve as the wake-up call this Administration needs.  We simply cannot continue to mortgage our children and grandchildren’s future to pay for bigger and more costly government.”

Newspaper editorials weren’t prepared to throw the CBO report overboard either.  The Washington Post noted: “If the CBO’s numbers are subject to revision on account of changing circumstances, then so are the administration’s; and those were based on very rosy economic assumptions to begin with,” while The Wall Street Journal stated: “President Obama’s 2010 budget looks more astounding by the day, especially when someone other than the White House budget office is analyzing it.”

Leader Boehner has pledged that House will offer better solutions to the Democrats’ tax and spending plans.  As the President’s budget starts to move through Congress this week, House Republicans will propose an alternative budget that will restore some fiscal sanity to Washington and that recognizes, as President Ronald Reagan once said, that “we are a nation that has a government - not the other way around.”

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NPR Survey Shows Savings Loss is Americans’ Top Economic Concern

Savings and investment loss is the number-one economic issue on the minds of worried American families in today’s recession.  According to a March 2009 National Public Radio (NPR) survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner among 800 likely voters, Americans’ concern about decline in the stock market and investment losses trumps even their concerns about losing their jobs in the current economy.  (See below for more details)

Millions of Americans have watched with anxiety in the past year as the value of their 401(k)s, college savings plans and other vital savings accounts have plummeted.  Instead of taking action to help Americans rebuild their savings as quickly as possible, Democratic-controlled Washington is pursuing policies that are causing Americans’ savings to evaporate even more quickly.  Some are even proposing to wipe out 401(k)s entirely, replacing them with government-run accounts that put bureaucrats in charge of savings decisions instead of families.

Recognizing the anxieties of American families about their evaporating personal savings, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recently formed the House GOP Savings Recovery Solutions Group.  The group is founded on the belief that Congress must get to work on policies that will help Americans protect and rebuild their hard-earned savings as quickly as possible while making sure the federal government does not hinder the process.

The House GOP Savings Recovery Solutions Group met again this week and is expected to unveil its first set of proposals soon.  Watch this site for further updates.

NPR: SAVINGS LOSS IS AMERICANS’ TOP ECONOMIC CONCERN Cancel Spinner_small

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President’s Energy Tax Cost Underestimated by $1 Trillion

Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has repeatedly said that the President’s record shattering $3.6 trillion budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much.  The single largest tax increase in the budget is a “cap and trade” provision which amounts to an energy tax that will affect every American who, as Leader Boehner has said, has “the audacity to flip on a light switch.”

When the President submitted his budget to Congress, his Administration estimated the “cap and trade” proposal would cost the American people $646 billion in new taxes.  But yesterday, the American people learned that the Administration underestimated the true cost of “cap and trade”  by $1 trillion.  That’s a huge upwards revision - certainly more than a mere rounding error.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that:

A top White House economic adviser told Senate staff a proposed cap and trade system could raise “two-to-three times” the administration’s existing $646 billion revenue estimate, according to five people at the meeting.  This could mean the cap and trade system could actually generate between roughly $1.3 trillion and $1.9 trillion between fiscal years 2012 and 2019.

And the true cost of implementing an energy tax may not simply lie in calculating the cost to American businesses and families in higher energy prices, but the cost of starting a trade war with China.  The Wall Street Journal noted in story today that, “Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday advocated adjusting trade duties as a ‘weapon’ to protect U.S. manufacturing, just a day after one of China’s top climate envoys warned of a trade war if developed countries impose tariffs on carbon-intensive imports.”

Secretary Chu’s proposal would be an unmitigated disaster - for there are virtually no more certain ways to wreck an already fragile economy than engaging in protectionism.

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