House Republicans [DON'T] Know How to Play The Game [UPDATED] [UPDATED and Bumped.]
By Erick Posted in Republicans — Comments (42) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
[UPDATED by Jeff: The House GOP is indeed challenging the Democrats to put their money where their collective mouth is. Below the fold is a copy of the letter House Republican leaders sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tonight. Well done, Congressmen!]
Compare and contrast House Republicans and Senate Republicans.
Senate Republicans have agreed to bipartisan cooperation with the Democrats and an embrace of their minority status. They have announced that squishiness will be an official policy.
Well placed sources at the House Republican Retreat tell me that House Republicans are prepared to announce a one year moratorium on earmarks. Here's the catch — they want the Democrats to put up or shut up. Either the Democrats, who have been bashing the GOP over earmarks, will agree or not.
But at least the House GOP is seeking to divide the Democrats, unlike the lapdogs in the Senate.
At the very last minute, pulling a tactic from the Senate Republicans, House GOP leadership CAVED and backed out of their planned moratorium on earmarks.
What a bunch of female body parts.
The letter is below the fold.
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
H-132, the Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515Dear Speaker Pelosi:
The earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington. Wasteful pork-barrel spending has outraged American families and eroded public confidence in our institution. Both of our parties bear responsibility for this failure.
We write tonight to notify you that House Republicans believe that the earmark system should be brought to an immediate halt, and a bipartisan select committee should immediately be established for the purpose of identifying ways to bring fundamental change to the way in which Washington spends taxpayers’ money.
In the spirit of bipartisan cooperation fostered by our recent cooperation on a short-term economic growth package, we offer our hope that you and the members of the House Democratic Caucus will join House Republicans in supporting these steps, which are urgently needed to begin the process of fixing Washington’s broken spending practices and restoring trust between the American people and their elected leaders. We respectfully ask that you and your Caucus consider these urgently-needed actions and join us in supporting them by the conclusion of your Caucus retreat next week.
In the interim, until a complete earmark moratorium is in place and a bipartisan panel is formed to identify ways to fix Washington’s wasteful pork-barrel spending habits, House Republicans will proceed with the adoption of a series of earmark reform standards we will insist that all House Republican members honor. These earmark reform standards include:
*No more “monuments to me.” Lawmakers should not use taxpayer money to fund projects named after themselves.
*No more “airdrops.” The process by which Congress spends the American people's money should be completely transparent. Members of Congress should not circumvent transparency by airdropping earmarks into bills in conference at the last minute.
*No more “fronts” or “pass-through” entities. Taxpayer funds should not be laundered through “front” operations that mask their true recipients.
*Members of Congress who request earmarks should put forth a plan detailing exactly how the money will be spent and why they believe the use of taxpayer funding is justified. Members of Congress who “secure” earmarks should place these plans in the Congressional Record well in advance of floor votes on those earmarks.
*To improve accountability, Members of Congress should require outside earmark recipients to put up “matching funds” where applicable so that American taxpayers do not bear all the risk for such expenditures.
*The Executive Branch should be held accountable for its own earmark practices. The Executive Branch asks for earmarks, too, and has done so under administrations Democratic and Republican alike. Members of Congress should hold present and future Administrations accountable for the way in which taxpayer-funded earmarks are used.
It is our hope that you and your members will discuss and move quickly to adopt similar standards during your Caucus retreat.
The American people believe Washington is broken. Bold action must be taken to show them we can fix it. We believe the actions House Republicans are taking today can be a starting point for this kind of change. We hope that by the end of your own Caucus retreat next week, you and all House Democrats will join us in supporting an immediate moratorium on all earmarks and the immediate formation of a bipartisan panel for the purpose of identifying ways to end wasteful pork-barrel spending in Washington and bring needed change to the way in which Congress spends taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
Sincerely,
John A. Boehner
Republican LeaderRoy Blunt
Republican WhipAdam Putnam
Chairman, Republican ConferenceThaddeus McCotter
Chairman, Republican Policy CommitteeKay Granger
Vice-Chair, Republican ConferenceJohn Carter
Secretary, Republican ConferenceTom Cole
Chairman, National Republican Congressional CommitteeEric Cantor
Chief Deputy Whip
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House Republicans [DON'T] Know How to Play The Game [UPDATED] [UPDATED and Bumped.] 42 Comments (0 topical, 42 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Way to go, House GOP leaders :-)
Position that letter next to Pelosi's "drain the swamp" quote and we could have some real reform.
Smart politics and sound policy. Imagine that, Republicans being Republicans!
Paging Mitch...what will you and your colleagues do?
There's a rather distinct difference between House and Senate minorities. Senate minorities can block stuff, cause endless delays, and jam up the works. Therefore Senators learn to at least listen to everybody since nothing really gets done without 60 votes. Pissing off everyone from the other side is not an effective strategy unless you're willing to go scorched earth. Thus nearly the entire minority (so the other side can't peel off enough to get to 60) must be willing to roll the dice and hope the media portrays them favorably or else it's a bad idea.
Minorities in the House are entirely about portraying the majority as morons and bad for the country. Therefore even 20-30 members can make good arguments, but most of the time the media ignores it and it's more theater than effectively changing the course of legislation.
Just remember. It was House Republicans who produced the spending bills with all the pork in them until 2006 and had the Democrats not won I'm sure they would have kept on doing so.
Politically this is a good move for House Democrats, and if the D's win the Presidency they will have endless fun arguing for fiscal sanity again. At the worst, they'll get used to arguing for it so when they get back in charge maybe they won't jump on the pork bandwagon immediately themselves.
Note the most important bit though: "a ONE YEAR moratorium". If they were really serious they wouldn't need to qualify it with a time limit and they could claim the high ground before the elections by doing it even if the Democrats didn't agree just to claim the high ground.
Note the most important bit though: "a ONE YEAR moratorium".
Yeah, there was no time limit included in the letter -- it was an open-ended moratorium until such time as the process could be reformed.
The post had been updated by the time you left the above comment; try to read a little more carefully next time, please.
I'm not the fastest typist/writer. Not exactly fair to criticize me for responding to a post you changed :)
When I wrote that the post hadn't been updated yet. I don't see any reference to a one year timeframe in the actual letter so that's progress right there... I'll keep my fingers crossed this works out.
I'll believe it when I see it. This is the same group that added trillions to the national debt.
We can only hope it will take congress awhile to come up with a new way to misuse taxpayer funds.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
The American people believe Washington is broken. Bold action must be taken to show them we can fix it.
Sounded like they plagiarized one of Mitt Romney's stump speeches.
that Washington is broken? If they can't fix it, maybe we ought to nuke it from orbit.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
There are two three-word phrases I hope to never hear again:
"Washington is broken"
"bridge to nowhere"
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Your wit knows no end, Moe.
There it no longer means what you think it does.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Gingrich has been preaching this (literally word for word) long before Romney incorporated it into his campaign. Lets give the credit to the correct party.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
Thompson said that earmarks are a drop in the ocean compared to entitlements. I think the focus of the GOP from here on out should be on entitlement reform. I concede, however, that the kind of entitlement reform that we conservatives support would require a Republican president and a Republican Congress and more convervative versions of the ones we had recently.
Without it they wont accomplish anything on entitlements.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
This blog should draw up a list of Every single GOP Congressman and Senator who is up for reelection in the coming years and has caved on conservative policies. Take that list and encourage any and all donations to fund their opposition candidates in the primaries so we can throw them off the ballot in the general elections.
I know these crusty old politicians won't take kindly to this but it's time they get thrown out on their rears and go get a real job, McDonald's is Always hiring!
Big tent. Remember the "we all can't be conservative" speech?
--roxer
A pox on them all.
Speaking of leadership...when is Senator McCain coming out to tell those of us in the Republican Party that this sort of acquiescence is not acceptable now, and won't be tolerated when he becomes President either?
McCain is Mr Bipatisan, he will acquiesce to the Dems demands each and every time the media slams him on something. Might as well get used to it if he wins.
McCain has many faults, but this is not one of them. He is stubborn on the issues he believes in, and he is a proven deficit hawk. He was against tax cuts that weren’t paid for, and he is paying the political price now. He was roasted alive in the media early into the surge when he said it was working. His presidential campaign was dead, but he would not quit. I don't expect to convince anyone here to change their opinion of McCain. But the words McCain and acquiesce do not belong in the same sentence.
getting rid of the careerist politicians and electing Republicans with a backbone.
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison
From the "Hill" article
"The letter also takes a bit of a shot at the Bush administration, noting that that the executive branch "asks for earmarks, too....Members of Congress should hold present and future Administrations accountable for the way in which taxpayer-funded earmarks are used."
Why do they even pass a budget? Why not just issue everyone a debit card?
I just can't see Mitt standing up to this kind of entrenched corruption. McCain would.
He keeps telling us "he got the message" about immigration and amnesty yet he hires one of the biggest open borders pro amnesty people you can find to be his person in charge of hispanic outreach. Vincente Fox's bestest buddy ever, Juan Hernandez.
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/01/25/dr-juan-hernandez-has-joined-the-m...
because I haven't seen him back down yet. If you disagree with him on immigration, that’s fine. If you want to vote against him, feel free. My main concern, and the focus of this discussion, is runaway spending. I think he will stand firm against mortgaging our future. Why? Because I have seen him under fire, I’ve seen him loose fights, I’ve seen him make mistakes, but I have yet to see him bow to pressure. I think his record and character are ample evidence for my hope that he would halt runaway spending as president.
We know he'll do that. What I'd love to see him do is stand up to what the senate leaders are planning to do, by telling them they're wrong. I don't see him doing that.
more than offset by many of his other policies.
As much as I find innumerable McCain stances with which to disagree, I readily admit that he and Tom Coburn have fought a lonely battle against earmarks. I truly appreciate that.
Unfortunately, the government regulations which will accompany AGW and the cost of social services for the illegal immigrants will far offset whatever money we save through earmark reform.
Thus, I predict that total govenment spending and regulation in a McCain administration would be up even more than in the Bush administration (which ain't easy to do). Sorry, the totality of his record doesn't allow me to see him as a fiscal conservative.
"All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
is one gigantic earmark. His little greenie program will be an even bigger one.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Please educate yourself about what earmarks are and aren't to save yourself from another inane comment like that.
Its demonstrated whats really important to our elected officials . The right to waste taxpayer money is truly sacrosanct.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777