Cutting Oil Deals That Won't Help Americans

Speaker Boehner Challenges President Obama on Support for New Energy Production – In Brazil

March 21, 2011 by Don Seymour

In an interview with RedCounty.com, Speaker Boehner called it “breathtaking” that the Obama Administration would back more job-creating energy production in Brazil while continuing to threaten job growth and drive up gas prices at home by blocking new American energy production.

You see, instead of lifting the de facto moratorium on American offshore energy production, the House Natural Resources Committee caught President Obama promising “to help with technology and support to develop” Brazilian oil reserves so that America could become one of Brazil’s “best customers.”

The new House majority is taking a different approach. With rising gas prices causing “big pains” at the pump for American families and small businesses, and American energy production in decline, Speaker Boehner said, “Americans are wondering, ‘well why aren’t we developing our own resources?’”

That’s why House Republicans recently launched the American Energy Initiative -- an ongoing effort to help address rising gas prices and create jobs by increasing American energy production. Here is how Speaker Boehner explained the initiative to Red County:

“One, it’s our all-of-the-above energy policy. Let’s have more oil and gas exploration, let’s use most of the royalties to help develop alternative sources of energy, but it’s clean coal technology, it’s nuclear energy. In addition to that, let’s look at what the Administration is doing that’s stopping the development of our natural resources. And if you look at the EPA, you look at the rest of these government agencies, they’re doing everything they can to put a moratorium in the Gulf, to make sure that we can’t drill in Alaska, to make sure there’s no development in the intermountain west. There are policies coming out of this Administration that are causing the price of energy to skyrocket. We need to expose this and hold them accountable for what they’re doing.”

Meanwhile, we're bombing another Muslim country and have no clue who will be in charge when we're done.

Effects of BambiCare On Jobs

House Majority Releases Report Documenting ObamaCare’s Devastating Impact on American Jobs
New Report Finds ObamaCare Will “Eliminate Jobs” & “Exacerbate the Nation’s Dire Fiscal Condition”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today joined Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and several House committee chairmen in releasing a report entitled ObamaCare: A Budget-Busting, Job-Killing Health Care Law.

The report, which can be found online here, provides a compelling case for taking immediate action to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with reforms that will lower costs and protect jobs. Boehner released the following statement:

“The evidence is clear: by raising taxes, imposing new mandates, and increasing uncertainty for employers and entrepreneurs, ObamaCare is already destroying jobs in this country. And it will continue to destroy jobs unless we do something about it.

The report released today shows how the health care law is making it harder to end the job-killing spending binge that threatens our children’s future. When you look at it dollar by dollar, the numbers just don’t add up. This report presents a very sobering picture, and every lawmaker and taxpayer – no matter where you stand on this critical issue – should take a look at it.

“With nearly 10 percent unemployment and massive debt, the American people want us to focus on cutting spending and growing our economy. That’s why tomorrow the House will take the first steps towards repealing this job-killing health care law and replacing it with reforms that will bring down costs and protect jobs.”

NOTE: Joining Boehner and Cantor on the report are Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Ways & Means; Rep. John Kline (R-MN), Chairman of the Committee on Education & the Workforce; Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the Committee on the Budget; and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy & Commerce.

When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?

Byron York - Evidence points to left-wing activist as source of Boehner affair rumor
Onlookers were startled last Thursday when a man with a video camera approached House Minority Leader John Boehner after the event in Sterling, Virginia at which GOP lawmakers outlined their "Pledge to America" for this November's elections. The event had been open only to credentialed press, but as Boehner left, he saw a group of Tea Partiers standing across the street and went to speak with them. That's when the man with the camera moved in. "Speaker Boehner [sic], have you been cheating with Lisbeth Lyons, the lobbyist for the American Printing Association?" the man asked. "Have you been sleeping with Lisbeth Lyons?" Boehner walked silently past the man and never acknowledged his presence.


Within 24 hours, there was a story on the Drudge Report headlined PAPER: DEMS PLAN SEX HIT ON BOEHNER? It seemed to come from nowhere, but in fact it came from that brief moment in Sterling, and the man who stepped out of the crowd.


Timothy P. Carney - GE backed regulations that killed GE jobs in U.S.
WINCHESTER, VA.-- On Thursday night -- sometime around 8 o'clock -- 130 years after Thomas Edison commercialized the incandescent light bulb, Dwayne Madigan helped make the last such bulb Edison's company, General Electric, would make in the United States.
Madigan spent the rest of his shift at the Winchester Lamp Plant emptying chemicals out of machines and helping clean up the shop. By Friday, Madigan and all 200 plant employees were out of work. Those who would talk to a reporter on Thursday all had someone to blame.


Byron York - Left-wing groups plan giant rally on Mall; will 're-commit to change'
The march, called "One Nation Working Together," is sponsored by the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, the Service Employees International Union, La Raza, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Campaign for America's Future, and several other activist groups. The event is also being promoted by Organizing for America, the permanent wing of the Obama presidential campaign, which is sending out email notices to members asking that they travel to Washington to take part.


Michael Barone - GOP battle cry: Repeal Obamacare, cut spending
Can Republicans really repeal Obamacare and roll back spending to 2008 levels? Probably not. But by taking clear stands they raise their chances of getting part way there by 2012. And maybe farther later.


Examiner Special Report - Big Green: Environmentalists aren’t really about clean air and water
More than four decades ago, Americans decided it was time to clean up the air and water, and to have a more realistic balance between economic and environmental needs. Great progress followed, thanks to laws like the Clean Air Act of 1970.
Along the way, environmentalists acquired power in politics and became entrenched in policy-making positions throughout government.
They got comfortable wielding political, regulatory and legislative power. And many found in the movement a very comfortable living. Environmentalism went from cause to business to special interest.
Thus the “Big Green” in the title. In their success, environmentalists have gone too far, destroying the once-healthy balance between economic and environmental needs. Their agenda is now about stifling economic development and ham-stringing American free enterprise and the prosperity it creates.


Mark Tapscott - Local Tea Party group may have uncovered massive vote fraud in Texas
The Examiner’s Mark Tapscott wrote about this story over a week ago, but now Fox News is reporting on Tea Party activists in Texas uncovering vote fraud:

Democrat Budget Failures

TOP 10 CONSEQUENCES OF DEMOCRATS’ BUDGET FAILURE

WHILE DEMOCRATS DITHER, REPUBLICANS PUSH COMMON-SENSE SOLUTIONS TO CUT SPENDING NOW, PUT PEOPLE BACK TO WORK

May 17, 2010 House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) Permalink

Washington Democrats remain divided and indifferent towards proposing a budget, missing a valuable opportunity to provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and grow our economy. It also sends “the worst possible signal” to the American people and the international community that the federal government has no plan to address its fiscal crisis.

Democrats refuse to listen to the American people, who want us to work together to stop the out-of-control spending spree and focus on helping small businesses create jobs. A responsible budget would be a good place to start. Here’s a look at some of the consequences of Washington Democrats’ budget failure:

1. A missed opportunity to create jobs. For families and small businesses, Democrats’ budget failure means a missed opportunity to provide the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and grow our economy.

2. Sends “the worst possible signal” that the federal government “has no plan” to address its fiscal crisis. With our national debt set to hit $13 trillion any day now, Democrats still have no credible plan to address our fiscal crisis. Bob Bixby, head of the non-partisan Concord Coalition, said recently: “Failure to adopt a budget resolution when fiscal resolution is needed most would send the worst possible signal. It would say to investors in Treasury securities, foreign and domestic, that the federal government is still in denial about its fiscal problems and has no plan to address the situation anytime soon.”

3. A historic failure of leadership. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, the House has never failed to pass a budget resolution in the modern era. It was Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) who described passing the budget as “the most basic responsibility of governing,” and Budget Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) who said, “if you can’t budget, you can’t govern.”

4. Tax hikes on the middle class and small businesses? The Heritage Foundation has noted that “not passing a budget means not carving out budgetary priorities for any extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, even for low-income families. Thus, avoiding steep tax increases during this recession will be more legislatively difficult.”

5. Punts to President Obama’s deficit commission, which most Americans view as “a cover for Congress to raise taxes.” One of Republicans’ first objections to the President’s proposed deficit commission was that it would enable Democrats to punt on fiscal responsibility, and with their failure to propose a budget, that is exactly what is happening. Most Americans, however, view the deficit commission “as cover for Congress to raise taxes.” Indeed, the commission’s recommendations may well lead to the United States adopting a European-style value added tax (VAT).

6. Washington Democrats are looking out for themselves, not the American people. Leader Hoyer has “candidly acknowledged that politics is a factor” in Democrats’ failure to propose a budget. After all, a budget blueprint would only give the American people a fuller picture of how much damage Washington Democrats’ spending spree has done to our balance sheet. One Capitol Hill newspaper has noted that Democrats “simply don’t have any good excuses not to do a budget beyond cowardice.” Families and small businesses trying to make ends meet each month don’t have the same luxury.

7. Ignores mounting evidence that America’s debt is on track to reach Greece-like levels. A new IMF report shows that our national debt is on track to exceed the size of our entire economy: “The IMF predicts that the U.S. would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12% of GDP… Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9% of GDP, according to the IMF's analysis.” Greece’s debt is projected to reach 125 percent of GDP this year, the highest in the European Union.

8. Increases strain on national security resources. Gen. James Cartwright, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized the links between economic uncertainty and national security in a speech last week: “There is no precedent for sustaining the deficits that we are in right now and are projected in our future. And the ability to recover from them has no real precedent. We’ve got a significant problem in front of us and waging a war in that construct is something that we’re going to have to understand and think our way through.”

9. Paves the way for even more spending during the annual appropriations process. The Heritage Foundation has noted that not passing a budget “prevents Congress from capping discretionary spending for fiscal year (FY) 2011. The House and Senate may ‘deem’ spending targets for their appropriations committees, but the respective spending targets may not even match each other (which would create large problems when the spending bills reach the conference committee).”

10. Demonstrates the need for Republicans’ better solutions to cut spending now and make Washington do more with less. As the American people continue to ask 'where are the jobs?,’ what will it take for Democrats to work with Republicans on common-sense solutions that will actually help get people back to work and put our fiscal house in order?

Will the Executive Order Restrict Abortion?

Would the executive order concerning abortion change the health care overhaul?

On Sunday, a bloc of House Democrats announced they would support the health care bill as long as President Obama signed an executive order to clarify that no taxpayer dollars could be spent on abortion because of it. The executive order essentially reiterates the long-standing restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions except for cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the woman’s life. The bill already included similar restrictions, but Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and others were concerned that funding for community health centers and other programs could still end up paying for abortion services since it was not explicitly addressed in the bill.

The executive order was designed to reassure those lawmakers. However, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) noted that a future president could still overturn the executive order, and some House Democrats want to end the existing restrictions.

– Ryan Teague Beckwith, Congress.org

Slaughterhouse 216

House GOP Leaders to Force Vote Today on Measure Blocking “Slaughter Solution”

GOP Leader: “The ‘Slaughter Solution’ has sparked widespread outrage because it’s designed to protect Washington politicians when it’s American taxpayers we should be looking out for.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced that House Republicans will force a vote today on a resolution requiring a clean, up-or-down vote on the Senate-passed health care bill. If adopted by the House, the resolution would prohibit Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Leaders from implementing the “Slaughter Solution,” the controversial scheme by which the Senate health care bill would be deemed as passed by the House without an actual up-or-down vote.

“The ‘Slaughter Solution’ has sparked widespread outrage because it’s designed to protect Washington politicians when it’s American taxpayers we should be looking out for,” Boehner said. “Speaker Pelosi and Democratic Leaders, who promised to lead the ‘most open’ Congress in history, thought they could pull a fast one on the American people, but they were wrong. This vote will give Democrats an opportunity to demonstrate whether they share Republicans’ commitment to ensuring the American people get what they deserve: a clean, up-or-down vote on the Senate health care bill. The stakes are too high, and this bill is too controversial, for anything less than total accountability.”

House Republicans will offer the text of the resolution as the “PQ” (“previous question”) for the suspension authority rule that is expected to be considered on the floor today. The text of the resolution, introduced by Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL) – a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in December out of disgust with Washington Democrats’ government takeover of health care – is available here.

The Republicans Have A Plan

WASHINGTON, DC - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today released a new web video on President Obama’s health care plan that uses footage from a classic ‘80s TV ad in a humorous way to make a serious point – despite what the President and congressional Democrats say, government doesn’t know best when it comes to the very personal health care decisions that families and doctors make every day.


“Like the old joke goes, President Obama isn’t a doctor, but he plays one on TV -- giving Americans a discomforting glimpse of life under ObamaCare, with government leaders and bureaucrats dispensing medical opinions that are better left to doctors, medical professionals, and patients. This is a lighthearted video, but it underscores a serious point that Congressional Democrats are going to hear throughout August as they travel outside of Washington: Americans want lower health care costs – not a trillion-dollar government takeover of health care that increases costs and lets Washington bureaucrats make decisions that should be made by doctors and patients.”
NOTE: For information on the House GOP health care reform proposal, visit the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group website here. For more information on the Democrats’ government takeover of health care, visit http://republicanleader.house.gov/Components/Redirect/r.aspx?ID=23546-2118299.

Some Light Summer Reading: Doing the job that CERTAIN Americans won't do.

If anyone is interested, here is the Cap Your Trade bill The Pile Of Shit.
The section on Housing starts on page 297: Title II Energy Efficiency. Be the first on your block to read it!

A round up of opinions on just one horrible mandate of the bill: Mandatory energy audits because of a National building code that OVERRIDES state and local codes. Now, how did the federal government get the power to do that? States that don't bend over and comply with the big bosses in DC won't get their share of the "sugar." "Sugar" that we don't have and that the states have been able to live without until now.

From a fellow Virginian: Blake Yount at the Norfolk Examiner: (emphasis mine)

"...the bill stipulates that state codes match the national codes, or the said state codes will be nullified, and states will lose federal funding and carbon allowances. Remember, in this new world of cap and trade, the federal government has the authority to "allow" businesses within a state or community to conduct operations and emit carbon. Thus, millions of private sector jobs would be politicized under cap and trade. This type of politicization can only be found throughout history in societies governed by tyrants."

Real Estate Blog:

"The bill forces sellers to have an energy inspection prior to being able to sell their home. Windows, appliances and insulation will have to be inspected and approved by a government inspector and modifications would have to be made for compliance before you can close the sale."

A good summary of some provisions at CNSNews:

"The purpose of such a strategy – known as the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) – would be to “facilitate” the retrofitting of existing buildings nationwide."

John Boehner gives us his take on this "pile of shit."

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

I can't seem to find the authorization for these powers that Congress is seizing for themselves anywhere in my copy of the Constitution. Where in that document does it allow the Federal Government to pick and choose which industries fail and which prosper?(Yes, I know. No industries will prosper.)

DC should not be allowed to run roughshod over the rights of the states and the people. The States should not be subservient to the federal government except where that is specifically described in the Constitution.

When states stop being whores for our tax money, perhaps we might regain some freedom.

Climate Bill is a "pile of sh#t"

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a few choice words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) landmark climate-change bill after its passage Friday.

When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of shit."

Need anything more be said?

From The Hill.com