Yesterday there was a vote in the House on another short-term (3-week) Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government. Much has been written about Republican Freshman and hills to die on. One thing upon which we all agree is that spending has gotten completely out of control, and something must be done about it.

Colorado’s fourth congressional district has a new Republican representative after two years of Blue Dog Betsy Markey. So far, Cory Gardner has been a breath of fresh air with his voting record. I contacted a staff member to see if I could determine how he would vote on the 3-week CR. I was told that he would put something out later in the day. When it finally came out, I saw that he had decided to vote in favor of the bill. He gave his reasoning in his message,

Like many of my colleagues in Congress I am frustrated that we have not been able to make more progress on spending cuts in a CR for the full year, but in my mind, a vote in favor of this CR is a vote for spending cuts of a magnitude many in this House have never seen. I could not vote against cutting wasteful government spending. It’s as simple—and as important—as that. I cannot pass up the opportunity to support good reforms that will work to better our country and cut spending.

Gardner gave a longer explanation to the Greeley Gazette. Now I know that much has been made about how insignificant the cuts were in the CR. I get that. I want to see Obamacare and Planned Parenthood (PP) defunded as much as the next guy. But a cut’s a cut. That’s a different direction we’ve been going for a long time, even if it is for only three weeks. It’s six billion dollars I don’t have to pay, and six billion dollars my children and grandchildren don’t have to pay.

Four months ago I was elected to Congress as part of a statement by the American people that they were tired of the way Washington operated. The people indicated that they wanted a change in the way that business was conducted. They gave us a message: stop the reckless spending, stop Washington from mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s futures, stop kicking the can down the road and make the tough decisions that need to be made.

Since the vote, there has also been some infighting going on, some infighting going on with one group attacking the other. As far as I can tell, not all congressional Republicans that voted for the CR are going this route. There are some, like Gardner and Mike Coffman voted for it simply because it cut spending. I’m not so naive to think that there aren’t some personal attacks going on within the party in Washington. But let’s not paint all of those that voted for the CR with the same brush.

Now, I’m also not so naive that I don’t worry that the House will eventually cave in and give up on long-term spending cuts. We’ve all seen it happen before, and the longer this thing drags out, the more opportunities exist for that to happen. Sooner or later Obamacare and PP funding will have to be addressed, as well as a large number of other government programs that have no reason to exist. But I also understand that Republicans only have control over one half of Congress, so options are limited.

Will a government shutdown be necessary in the future? That hill to die on is still out there. Will Cory Gardner stand up with us at that time, when there are no other options? I have no reason to believe he won’t. This budget war is, like any other war, is full of individual battles. So far, we’ve won the small battles. So long as we don’t quit before it’s over, we will continue to win.

The first time I heard Cory Gardner speak I was impressed with how much time he took to talk about his family. It was clear to me that he’s a family man first. That he cared so much about his own family led me to believe that he’d also care about mine. So far he’s done nothing to show me I was wrong with that assessment. He’s been a consistent vote for cutting spending since he arrived.

As the 4th District of Colorado’s Representative, I will continue to rein in the overbearing hand of the federal government, and I will cut wasteful spending as I was sent here to do. I will be relentless in fulfilling these promises. The time has come to craft a government that exists to serve its people, and not to burden them with a crushing debt that prevents their progress and harms their prosperity.

In the end, an opportunity presented itself to cut spending, however little that might be. The people of the fourth congressional district of Colorado voted to send someone to Washington to reign in out-of-control spending. Cory Gardner stood up and voted for that cut. I stand with him.

Night Twister

On Sunday, Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the Senate Republicans’ point man on deficit reduction, went on Fox News Sunday and told Chris Wallace that Senate Republicans will consider tax increases to cut the deficit.

Chambliss’s partner in crime is Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia who added that they’ll tinker with the social security retirement age without any other substantive entitlement reforms.

Democrats are already salivating that they can merge the continuing resolution debate with the debt-ceiling debate. Republicans, scared of a government shutdown and refusing to even consider it, are happy to merge the two knowing it will be hard for conservatives to stand for what leadership aides are spinning as both a shutdown and defaulting on loans.

Conservatives are, therefore, getting played by Republicans leaders in the House. Compounding that, House Republicans are making insignificant spending cuts and refusing to pick a fight over Obamacare. They do not, under any stretch of the imagination, want a government shut down. House Leaders know the only way to shut down Obamacare is to shut down the government and negotiate Obamacare out of existence.

So they’d rather keep Obamacare.

That brings us to the three week continuing resolution. To quote Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap.” House Leaders and Senate Leaders want to drag out the continuing resolution so it can be wrapped into the debt ceiling debate. They think doing so would shut up conservatives and stop all the silly nonsense about cutting spending in a meaningful way.

We must fight this. Below the fold are the names and direct phone numbers of key Republican congressmen in the House. Call each of them. Demand they oppose the three week continuing resolution.

Report back here in the comments with their position.

Read More →

On Sunday, Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the Senate Republicans’ point man on deficit reduction, went on Fox News Sunday and told Chris Wallace that Senate Republicans will consider tax increases to cut the deficit.

Chambliss’s partner in crime is Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia who added that they’ll tinker with the social security retirement age without any other substantive entitlement reforms.

Democrats are already salivating that they can merge the continuing resolution debate with the debt-ceiling debate. Republicans, scared of a government shutdown and refusing to even consider it, are happy to merge the two knowing it will be hard for conservatives to stand for what leadership aides are spinning as both a shutdown and defaulting on loans.

Conservatives are, therefore, getting played by Republicans leaders in the House. Compounding that, House Republicans are making insignificant spending cuts and refusing to pick a fight over Obamacare. They do not, under any stretch of the imagination, want a government shut down. House Leaders know the only way to shut down Obamacare is to shut down the government and negotiate Obamacare out of existence.

So they’d rather keep Obamacare.

That brings us to the three week continuing resolution. To quote Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap.” House Leaders and Senate Leaders want to drag out the continuing resolution so it can be wrapped into the debt ceiling debate. They think doing so would shut up conservatives and stop all the silly nonsense about cutting spending in a meaningful way.

We must fight this. Below the fold are the names and direct phone numbers of key Republican congressmen in the House. Call each of them. Demand they oppose the three week continuing resolution.

Report back here in the comments with their position.

Read More →

House Republicans are unveiling their next short-term continuing resolution today to keep the government from shutting down on March 18.  It is a three week-extension, $6 billion in cuts with no new policy riders.

Sound good?  It’s not.  Realize what is going on here.  House Leadership unfortunately continues to be gripped by fear of a government shutdown.   It is why these short-term extensions do not include any new policy riders, such as the one to deny federal funding to Planned Parenthood or to defund Obamacare.  These extensions are carefully calibrated to not prompt a veto threat from the White House.

By fearing a fight that could lead to a shutdown, House Leadership is letting the White House play rope-a-dope with them.  The House has spoken.  It passed a long-term bill that includes $61 billion in cuts and various aforementioned riders to defund objectionable activities of the federal government.  This bill was based on a promise to the American people that Republicans would make a down-payment in the face of a staggering $1.5 trillion deficit, and when the Speaker said, “Read my lips,” he was promising a real fight.  Not this.

Read More →

House Republicans are unveiling their next short-term continuing resolution today to keep the government from shutting down on March 18.  It is a three week-extension, $6 billion in cuts with no new policy riders.

Sound good?  It’s not.  Realize what is going on here.  House Leadership unfortunately continues to be gripped by fear of a government shutdown.   It is why these short-term extensions do not include any new policy riders, such as the one to deny federal funding to Planned Parenthood or to defund Obamacare.  These extensions are carefully calibrated to not prompt a veto threat from the White House.

By fearing a fight that could lead to a shutdown, House Leadership is letting the White House play rope-a-dope with them.  The House has spoken.  It passed a long-term bill that includes $61 billion in cuts and various aforementioned riders to defund objectionable activities of the federal government.  This bill was based on a promise to the American people that Republicans would make a down-payment in the face of a staggering $1.5 trillion deficit, and when the Speaker said, “Read my lips,” he was promising a real fight.  Not this.

Read More →

I’d like to echo Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, Heritage Action for America, Jim DeMint, and a growing group of conservatives: we don’t need anymore short term continuing resolutions.

Heritage Action for America has a great post up on this very point.

If the President and Senate Democrats are genuine in their desire to fund the government, cut non-security spending and avoid a shutdown, H.R.1 should be their starting point. Anything less and they will demonstrate a fundamentally unserious approach to our looming fiscal crisis.

Congresswoman Bachmann and former Congressman Ernest Istook were in Minnesota the other day making a solid point on these continuing resolutions and Obamacare.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) says it’s not enough for House Republicans to stop the flow of new funds to ObamaCare. Bachmann is pointing out that the healthcare measure signed into law last year by President Obama included $105 billion in advance appropriations. $5 billion will go toward ObamaCare this year and another $100 billion will be spent over the next eight years. That money was already appropriated in the Obama-Reid-Pelosi legislation and now it must be clawed back. Bachmann credits former Congressman Ernest Istook with revealing the appropriations.

See, each time the House GOP does a continuing resolution for a couple of weeks, they are able to avoid a fight on funding Obamacare — both the long term funding and the short term funding.

As Mike Hammond noted yesterday, Eric Cantor has gone on record saying, “we’re trying to demonstrate right now that we don’t want to see a [government] shutdown.”

Well, if the Republicans are preemptively saying they want to demonstrate they don’t want a government shutdown, they are going to keep nibbling at the edges and do no real cuts. They will not defund Planned Parenthood. They will not defund Obamacare.

Why?

To do either would potentially lead to a government shutdown. But Eric Cantor says they want to demonstrate that they don’t “want to see a [government] shutdown.”

Continuing to push through short term continuing resolutions puts off the inevitable and the necessary. Either the House Republicans are willing to defund Obamacare or they are not.

A short term continuing resolution just allows the GOP to dodge the public longer.

It’s time for them to put up or shut up.

I’d like to echo Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, Heritage Action for America, Jim DeMint, and a growing group of conservatives: we don’t need anymore short term continuing resolutions.

Heritage Action for America has a great post up on this very point.

If the President and Senate Democrats are genuine in their desire to fund the government, cut non-security spending and avoid a shutdown, H.R.1 should be their starting point. Anything less and they will demonstrate a fundamentally unserious approach to our looming fiscal crisis.

Congresswoman Bachmann and former Congressman Ernest Istook were in Minnesota the other day making a solid point on these continuing resolutions and Obamacare.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) says it’s not enough for House Republicans to stop the flow of new funds to ObamaCare. Bachmann is pointing out that the healthcare measure signed into law last year by President Obama included $105 billion in advance appropriations. $5 billion will go toward ObamaCare this year and another $100 billion will be spent over the next eight years. That money was already appropriated in the Obama-Reid-Pelosi legislation and now it must be clawed back. Bachmann credits former Congressman Ernest Istook with revealing the appropriations.

See, each time the House GOP does a continuing resolution for a couple of weeks, they are able to avoid a fight on funding Obamacare — both the long term funding and the short term funding.

As Mike Hammond noted yesterday, Eric Cantor has gone on record saying, “we’re trying to demonstrate right now that we don’t want to see a [government] shutdown.”

Well, if the Republicans are preemptively saying they want to demonstrate they don’t want a government shutdown, they are going to keep nibbling at the edges and do no real cuts. They will not defund Planned Parenthood. They will not defund Obamacare.

Why?

To do either would potentially lead to a government shutdown. But Eric Cantor says they want to demonstrate that they don’t “want to see a [government] shutdown.”

Continuing to push through short term continuing resolutions puts off the inevitable and the necessary. Either the House Republicans are willing to defund Obamacare or they are not.

A short term continuing resolution just allows the GOP to dodge the public longer.

It’s time for them to put up or shut up.

If the continuing resolution is not passed by this Friday, the government will shut down — not that this is a bad thing.

Everyone in Washington is claiming they don’t want a shutdown, but Harry Reid’s actions suggest he does. Instead of dealing with the continuing resolution when the Senate gets back for business this week, he will take up patent reform instead.

The patent legislation is rather controversial, changing the patent granting standard from “first to invent” to “first to file”, meaning that you may invent something, but unless you file your patent before someone else does, the other person gets the patent.

Yes, the patent office needs to be reformed as does the patent process. Companies now have to spend large sums on patent fights. Software is now treated as a patent issue instead of a copyright issue, expanding litigation efforts and stifling innovation.

But listening to Democrats and Republicans in Washington, there is no more pressing issue than preventing a government shutdown.

So why then is Harry Reid putting off consideration of the continuing resolution? Either he wants a government shutdown, or he is admitting the GOP has won.

If the continuing resolution is not passed by this Friday, the government will shut down — not that this is a bad thing.

Everyone in Washington is claiming they don’t want a shutdown, but Harry Reid’s actions suggest he does. Instead of dealing with the continuing resolution when the Senate gets back for business this week, he will take up patent reform instead.

The patent legislation is rather controversial, changing the patent granting standard from “first to invent” to “first to file”, meaning that you may invent something, but unless you file your patent before someone else does, the other person gets the patent.

Yes, the patent office needs to be reformed as does the patent process. Companies now have to spend large sums on patent fights. Software is now treated as a patent issue instead of a copyright issue, expanding litigation efforts and stifling innovation.

But listening to Democrats and Republicans in Washington, there is no more pressing issue than preventing a government shutdown.

So why then is Harry Reid putting off consideration of the continuing resolution? Either he wants a government shutdown, or he is admitting the GOP has won.

While the Continuing Resolution recently passed in the House of Representatives was extremely disappointing, it still included budget cuts Democrats oppose and amendments by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and others to defund Obamacare. My guess is that Democrats will opt for a shutdown and hope it hurts Republicans like it did in 1995. What every Republican, every patriot, every person conceivably affected needs to understand is how this will impact average Americans.