Boehner Makes Bill Banning Federally-Funded Abortions A Priority

In the spirit of making even more spending cuts, Speaker Boehner announced that he will put forth a bill written by Rep. Smith (R-NJ) that will cut all federal funding of abortions:

Calling it a top priority of the Republican agenda, House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday gave a top designation to a bill introduced by New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith that would ban the use of any federal funds from being used for abortions.

The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," given the numerical designation H.R. 3 to emphasize its prominence, would make permanent in existing law any language that bans abortion. It also would provide medical workers with "conscientious protections" that allow them to refuse to participate in abortion procedures against their will.

The legislation will "ensure that the taxpayers -- through huge majorities clearly show do not want their money being used to pay for abortions -- no longer are coerced into using taxpayer funding to subsidize the killing of an unborn child and the warping of his or her mother," Smith said in a press conference with Boehner on Capitol Hill

"Our members feel very strongly about the sanctity of human life. We listened to the American people. We made a commitment to the American people under the Pledge to America and we're continuing to fulfill our commitment," Boehner said.

Separately, Reps. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., and Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., are introducing a bill to prohibit any money from the new health care law from going to fund abortions.

Again, this is appealing to the base. Even some that are pro-choice are against federal taxpayer money going to the procedure. So, this would be easily palatable by the majority of Americans. Democrats will, of course, ferverently oppose the bill, but given the current political climate and the winds of change blowing towads reducing the deficits, they’ll have a hard time defending it.

However, with the Democrats in the Senate and Obama in the White House, the chance of this passing is minimal, unless it is included in some sort of compromise down the line. Abortion is one of the main tenents of the Democratic party, and they’ll be hard-pressed to do anything that would upset the pro-choice lobby.

Palin: People Would Not Take It Easy On Me If I Cried As Much As Boehner Because I’m a Woman

Sarah Palin took a swipe at incoming Speaker John Boehner for crying and said that people wouldn’t be so kind to her for crying because she a woman:

Sarah Palin says there's a double standard when it comes to politicians who cry in public.

The former Alaska governor and possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate says she would be "knocked a little bit" if she cried while giving a speech. But Palin tells ABC's "Good Morning America" that House speaker-in-waiting John Boehner gets a "pass" when he cries in public.

Palin says that's OK, but that it makes women in politics work harder and "be that much tougher."

I don’t think that he has really gotten a pass. The media, especially the left-wing media, has ridiculed him for his overly-emotional nature. For example, some have said that it might be a sign that he’s an alcoholic. In reality, I think that most of the media doesn’t really know what to think of it.

She is somewhat right, though. If she cried as much as Boehner does, people would say that she cries too much and couldn’t handle the stress of the office of the presidency because of how much she cries. However, I think that people might say the same thing of Boehner, if he ever ran for president. Palin is considered one of the lead-runners for the GOP nomination next cycle, and presidential contenders will be held to a different standard than those in the Speakership. So, it not exactly an even comparison.

Boehner Pledges That Repeal of ObamaCare Will Be One of First Votes of New House

The future Speaker of the House John Boehner made a pledge in a tweet in response to the combination of the factors: the "individual mandate" provision being declared uncontitutional in a Virginia court and a new poll from ABC that shows an all-time low of support for ObamaCare and that 60% of those polled favored repealing, at least, part of the bill:

Republicans will fight to repeal this job-killing health care law, will be one of the first votes of new majority #pledge #hcrcostsjobs

He, later on, elaborated on that in a released statement:

“Today’s decision is an encouraging sign for families and small business owners who have revolted against President Obama’s job-killing health care law and called for its repeal.  Instead of appealing this decision, the Obama Administration should work with Congress to repeal this job-killing health care law so we can replace it with reforms that lower costs and protect jobs.  This would be the easiest way to keep ObamaCare from costing our economy more jobs.  Republicans have made a pledge to America to repeal this job-killing health care law, and that’s what we’re going to do.

“The individual mandate at the heart of ObamaCare puts the federal government in the business of forcing you to buy health insurance and taxing you if you don’t.  This is unwise, unaffordable, and as we have argued all along, unconstitutional.  If Washington thinks it can get away with this kind of power grab, it will think it can do anything.  Cash-strapped states should carefully weigh the benefits of investing time and resources in ObamaCare’s implementation now that its central mandate has been ruled unconstitutional.”

This would have some chance in the House with the new majority, but the Senate would be much tougher with the Democrats still being in control. However, it is all moot because there is no way that Obama would admit failure and repeal his most significant legislative victory to date. So, this would, ultimately, be an exercise in futility. He's just doing this to restate their official stance on the bill. What is more likely is that they'll focus more on defunding the bill rather than repealing it, for now.

House Passes "Chicken Crap" Tax Bill That Will Likely Die in Senate, Update :Max Baucus St to Introduce His Own "Chicken Crap" Bill in Senate

Here's John Boehner expressing his displeasure with the bill that Pelosi introduced and was passed by the House. The vote was split largely on partisan lines:



This "chicken crap" bill was just a form of posturing and a drawing a line in the sand by outgoing Speaker Pelosi. The Republicans in the Senate and maybe some moderate Democrats will no doubt filibuster this to death in the Senate, and Pelosi knows it and did anyway:

This bill is as dead in the Senate as the Democrats’ chances are of taking back Congress in 2012, but Madam Speaker wants to remind her base that she’ll be fightin’ for the cause next year after having led the party to utter ruin last month, so here she is forcing a meaningless vote to give Democrats a few days of “party of the rich” talking points. I wonder if, when the inevitable deal is struck extending all the cuts temporarily, she’ll be willing to bring that new bill to the floor or if she’ll refuse out of spite and force Boehner to do it himself when he takes the gavel next year. That’ll be a bureaucratic hassle for taxpayers and the IRS, but Nancy’s got to prove her worth somehow.

Basically, Pelosi just wasted everyone's time, today, so she can get some good talking points for 2012. What she needed to do is focus on a bill that she knows will pass both the House AND Senate.

Update:

I just saw this, right after I hit post. It looks like Sen Max Baucus is set to introduce a similar bill in the Senate, but as I said before, it has very little chance of passing.

Government Inefficiency At Its Finest: Women Finally Get Restroom in Congress

emale representatives in Congress a bathroom that they don't have to walk a mile (not literally) to go potty:

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner is tearing down the Parliamentarian's office to build female members of Congress a restroom.

Currently, only male lawmakers are afforded the ability to walk steps from the House floor to use the restroom. Women must walk across Statuary Hall to the Lindy Claiborne Boggs room, but the 71 women who will serve in the 112th Congress will be able to walk out the Democratic side of the chamber straight to the bathroom.

Why didn't Pelosi do this? It took her over three years just to pass the Potty Parity Act, which was supposed to ensure that this was done back in March. Now, it is getting close to a year since then, and it still she still hadn't done anything to get it built. This type of inefficiency is exactly why the people don't want to see DC in charge of anything.

Boehner: More Government, Less Jobs Equals Epitome of Failure For Obama

The Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio blasted Obama's economic policy in an editorial in Detroit News:

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, welcomes President Obama to Michigan Thursday with a scathing critique of his economic policies.

“When President Barack Obama speaks in Holland today, I hope that instead of trying to convince the people of a city suffering from 11.8 percent unemployment that our economy is ‘moving forward,’ he will listen closely when they ask, ‘Where are the jobs?,’ Boehner wrote in an editorial that appears in Thursday’s edition of The Detroit News.

In the op-ed, Boehner said that since February 2009 the economy has lost three million private sector jobs while the federal government has added more than 400,000 jobs.

“More government, fewer jobs: This isn’t the picture of recovery; it’s the epitome of failure,” the top House Republican wrote.

Exactly!

GOP Split: Rep. Ryan Courts Blue Dogs' Support, Rep. Boehner Says Who Needs Them

GOP Split on Whether to Reach Out to Moderate Democrats in Budget Battle

While Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., held out an olive branch to moderate Democrats known as "Blue Dogs" Wednesday, calling on his "friends" to join the GOP in opposing the budget, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, slammed the group as "lap dogs."

By Mosheh Oinounou FOXNews.com Thursday, March 26, 2009

House Republican leaders appear to be split on whether to reach out to their moderate colleagues on the other side of the aisle to fight the Democratic agenda.

While Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., held out an olive branch to moderate Democrats known as "Blue Dogs" Wednesday, calling on his "friends" to join the GOP in opposing the budget, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, slammed the group as "lap dogs."

The split underscores the difficulty the Republican Party is having finding a way to fight President Obama's budget blueprint, endorsed Wednesday by the House Budget Committee.

Ryan made a blunt appeal for Democratic allies this week.

"I want to make a plea to a special select audience. I want to ask my friends, the Blue Dog Democrats, do you really want all this government? Do you want your fingerprints on this massive and unprecedented growth in our national debt? You hold the cards. You hold the votes that can make a difference in this," said Ryan, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, during a hearing on the 2010 budget Wednesday.

Ryan's office went so far as to post his remarks to YouTube. And the Wisconsin congressman promoted the comments on his Twitter page.

Meanwhile, Boehner, who has said multiple times at recent press conferences that he had no plans to reach out to moderate Democrats, has teased the coalition.

"We'd love to have conservative Democrats join us. But every time they get a chance to do that, they always end up voting with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the left," he told FOX News Thursday, ahead of a planned unveiling of the GOP alternative budget plan.

He called the group "lap dogs" who refuse "to get off people's laps and actually do something," during a speech Wednesday, according to Politico.com.

"They're not the force they used to be in terms of moving the Democrats to do something," Boehner reportedly told the Yale Club and Federal Policy group.

The Blue Dogs, a coalition of 51 moderate House Democrats, include legislators from conservative districts who often cross the aisle to vote with Republicans on spending, gun control and social issues. A number of caucus members have been quoted in recent weeks expressing concerns about the size of Obama's budget.

The mixed GOP message comes weeks after House Republicans declared that they had found their "voice" as the 187 members voted unanimously to oppose Obama's stimulus plan.

However, the split message is the second example in a week of strife within the conference. Nearly half of House Republicans voted for a bill last week taxing the bonuses of AIG executives, with Ryan joining GOP Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., in supporting the legislation. Boehner and the rest of the Republicans voted no.

Ryan made his plea Wednesday directly to Blue Dogs Co-Chairman Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., during the budget markup hearing calling on the group of centrists to "join us to stop this fiscal train wreck." 

"We're asking our friends on the other side of the aisle ... to help us defeat this unprecedented taxing, borrowing and spending spree, and let's get back together and fix these fiscal problems in this country, which this budget exacerbates and makes much, much worse," Ryan added. 

GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind., also told reporters recently that he was hearing some "very interesting rumblings" coming from Blue Dogs on spending and envisioned a coalition with like-minded Democrats.

For their part, Blue Dog leaders said Boehner should look in the mirror before accusing another caucus of being "lap dogs."

"These statements come from the same individuals who wrote the president a blank check for eight years, driving spending to the highest levels in our country's history," Melancon said.

"Rather than just saying 'no,' the Blue Dogs will continue working in a productive manner to moderate legislation and offer commonsense policy alternatives. We do not subscribe to the extreme philosophies of the far right or the far left, and we certainly do not take serious issues and use them for political gain," he added.

A Blue Dog aide said that members of the caucus are still willing to work with GOP legislators but that Republicans have so far failed to make any effort to reach out to the group.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/26/gop-split-reach-moderate-democrats-budget-battle/
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My Thoughts

I am going to agree with Paul Ryan on this one. We need to get moderate Democrats to join us to stop Obama, Pelosi, and Reid from bankrupting this country. The GOP is at a distinct disadvantage by being outnumbered. In the Senate is extremely important for us to pull a couple of "blue dogs" to our side.

Republicans barely hold filibuster capability in the Senate, and that is by a thin thread because of the Turncoat RINO Caucus' tendency to vote with the Democrats.

Boehner's approach of flipping the blue dogs the bird isn't going to help. It is too partisan, and the people are tired of hearing of partisan bickering just for the sake of partisan bickering.

Why wouldn't we want their support? We shouldn't compromise our principles for it, but we should try to convince them that our proposals are better than Pelosi's.

Perhaps Boehner's right in his criticism of the blue dogs not standing up to Pelosi, Reid, and Obama so far, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop from working to join us in the opposition to the Democrats' spending orgy.

House GOP Finally Develops Backbone Over Dems Stimulus Package

The GOP Wises Up Strategically attacking Obama's $825 billion stimulus bill.
January 19, 2009 - by Jennifer Rubin

House Democrats have come up with an $825 billion stimulus bill. Republican Minority Leader John Boehner’s initial reaction — “Oh, my God!” — expressed the abject disgust that many will feel once they learn what is in it. Boehner’s office put out a handy guide to some of the “lowlights”:

1. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

2. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

3. President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save three million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year.

4. The House Democrats’ bill provides enough spending — $825 billion — to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.

5. $825 billion is enough to give every person living in poverty in the U.S. $22,000.

6. $825 billion is enough to give every person in Ohio $72,000.

7. Although the House Democrats’ proposal has been billed as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, in actuality only $30 billion of the bill — or three percent — is for road and highway spending. A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office said that only 25 percent of infrastructure dollars can be spent in the first year, making the one year total less than $7 billion for infrastructure.

8. Much of the funding within the House Democrats’ proposal will go to programs that already have large, unexpended balances. For example, the bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which already have $16 billion on hand.  And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used.

9. In 1993, the unemployment rate was virtually the same as the rate today (around seven percent). Yet, then-President Clinton’s proposed stimulus legislation ONLY contained $16 billion in spending.

10. Here are just a few of the programs and projects that have been included in the House Democrats’ proposal:

• $650 million for digital TV coupons.
• $6 billion for colleges/universities — many which have billion dollar endowments.
• $166 billion in direct aid to states — many of which have failed to budget wisely.
• $50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
• $44 million for repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
• $200 million for the National Mall, including grass planting.
• $400 million for “National Treasures.”

11.  Almost one-third of the so called tax relief in the House Democrats’ bill is spending in disguise, meaning that true tax relief makes up only 24 percent of the total package — not the 40 percent that President-elect Obama had requested.

12. $825 billion is just the beginning — many Capitol Hill Democrats want to spend even more taxpayer dollars on their “stimulus” plan.

But the House Republicans are not simply saying “no.” (Or even “Hell, no!”) They are taking seriously Obama’s offer to listen to their ideas. They are holding hearings and presenting their ideas — mostly in the form of tax cuts or defense spending.

The House Republicans, not always know for finesse, seem then to be operating on a clever two-track process. On one hand, they are lambasting the existing Democratic plan, which certainly bears the Obama administration’s imprint, but for now is presented under the House Democrats’ name. The Republicans are making clear it isn’t a stimulus plan, isn’t going to do much for economic recovery, and isn’t going to get many of their votes. On the other hand, they are ignoring the Obama team’s influence in shaping that very plan and instead answering his high-minded calls for input with plenty of constructive and conservative ideas of their own.

Will it work? It depends, as Bill Clinton might say, on what the definition of “work” is. If they are aiming to refashion the Obama stimulus plan into one all conservatives could embrace the answer is almost certainly “no.” But two other outcomes are possible, and either could be termed a success of sorts.

First, the Obama might embrace their ideas — add meaningful tax rate cuts, swap domestic pork for needed defense spending, and reduce the overall level of spending. The Republicans would thereby demonstrate their relevance and influence — and deal a setback to their House counterparts who would then be characterized as to the left of Obama. Triangulation would be back.

The more likely result, however, will be that virtually none of their ideas gets into the bill. In that case they can in good conscience vote against it, making clear that “bipartisanship” is a flimsy façade and that the responsibility for the bloated deficit and useless spending bonanza rests solely with the Democrats. That “works” too.

Now all of this will take place before the bill reaches the Senate. Then it will be Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chance to perform the same task: force the new administration to give ground or corral his caucus to vote en masse against the spend-a-thon.

Republicans haven’t always played their cards well over the last couple of years. Their tone has often been off-putting and their policy muddled. And they were hampered to a large extent by the pressure to defend the Republican president. Nevertheless, they have learned to operate in the minority with limited parliamentary rights and a dwindling caucus. And they found out the hard way that it doesn’t pay to get buffaloed into support for ill-conceived rescue plans.

So for now, they are doing the best with what they have — which isn’t much. And they are posing a challenge to the new administration: does the Obama team really want to reenact the New Deal or do they want a bipartisan plan that might just work to promote growth and lift the economy out of recession? We’ll find out the answer soon enough.
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http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-gop-wises-up/
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My Thoughts

It's good to see Republicans actually acting like fiscal conservatives. After Bush and Congress inflated the deficit to monstrous proportions, the GOP needed to take a stand against the Bailoutpalooza that is running wild in Washington. The little piggies that are lining up at the stimulus trough needs to be stopped before all of our children and grandchildren are paying for our financial gluttony and stupidity into the poor house for generations to come.