Posts Tagged ‘Senate’
September 26th, 2011 by John Feehery
Ping-Pong is a wonderful game, requiring skill, finesse, great hand-eye coordination, and at times, power.
Ping-Pong is a different game in the Congressional sense.
When one legislative body ping-pongs back a piece of legislation to another legislative body (like the House jamming the Senate) it can be both exhilarating and frustrating at the same time.
Last week, the House served up a continuing resolution plus some additional disaster assistance money to the Senate before leaving for its break for the Jewish holidays.
The Senate, which hoped to also break for the week, is not at all happy with what the House served up.
But to be successful in jamming back the House, the Senate has to act as one. The rules of the Senate make it awfully hard for that body to act quickly on anything if there is a disagreement between the political parties.
And on this package, there is intense disagreement.
The Republicans want to pay for disaster assistance. The Democrats don’t like how the Republicans paid for it, especially their efforts to isolate a particularly bad political scandal that is currently afflicting the Obama Administration. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Obama Administration, Ping-Pong, Politics, President, Republican, Republicans, Senate, Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Senate Majority Leader, White House
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Politics, spending | No Comments »
September 13th, 2011 by John Feehery
Here are some questions that I would like to be asked at the next debate: Read more...
Tags: Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chief of Staff, China and Brazil, CIA, debate, DNI, England, France, House, Israel, Jimmy Carter, management style, Medicaid, Office of Presidential Personnel, President, Ronald Reagan, Senate, Surgeon General, The American people, U.N., United Nations, Vice President, welfare reform, White House
Posted in Economy, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, election, national security, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »
August 8th, 2011 by John Feehery
Democratic spinmeisters have concocted a nice little phrase to describe the actions of the Standard and Poor’s Ratings Agency, which was used to little effect over the weekend: The Tea Party Downgrade.
Nice try. That is kind of like blaming the fire department for not putting out the fire fast enough.
The S&P believes that we spend too much as a nation and that we don’t have the political will to stop spending. The Tea Party was formed primarily to send a message to Washington that America needs to stop spending money we don’t have.
The Tea Party won’t get the blame for the debt rating downgrade. President Obama will get the blame and it will hurt him with the American people in the next election.
This 30-second ad takes less than 30 seconds to create. A picture of the President hanging out with his Democratic colleagues fades in and fades out. A screen shot fades in: “The first President to ever lose America’s AAA credit rating. Had enough?”
The President’s men know this is a bad hit. That is why Tim Geithner is attacking the S&P so harshly. That is why the spinners are trying to pin the blame on conservative Republicans. But it won’t work. Read more...
Tags: AAA rating, America, American people, Barack Obama, Bush administration, Congress, Congressional leaders, Conservatives, debt limit, Democrats, election, FDR, George Bush, George W Bush, GOP, health care law, impson-Bowles deficit commission, JFK, Media, medicare, Politics, President Obama, Presidential election, recession, reform, Republicans, Senate, spending, Standard and Poor’s Ratings Agency, tax increases, taxes, Tea Party, Tim Geithner
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, bad news, election, health care, medicare, national security, spending, taxes, war | No Comments »
August 2nd, 2011 by John Feehery
John Boehner won a complete and total victory in the House with an overwhelming vote to extend the debt limit.
His victory was so complete, many of his closest allies in the House could safely vote no to avoid primary fights next year.
House Democrats divided almost exactly in half, and their left wing is livid at the deal cut by the President.
The Tea Party, the rambunctious group of mostly second and third term members (and more than a few freshman) could only look on in anger and despair. They looked liked fools, their demands unrealistic, their rhetoric unnecessarily heated, their performance disappointing not only to their base, but also to Republican establishmentarians like me.
They demanded that the Senate pass a balanced budget amendment, but had to settle merely for a vote, a request that Harry Reid, the Senate Majority leader was more than happy to grant, over the grimace of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Imagine how hard it has been for McConnell to explain to Jim DeMint how he is trying to take back the Senate and that giving Reid a chance to give his moderates cover to vote yes on the balanced budget amendment only hurts the cause. Read more...
Tags: Bush tax cuts, Conservatives, debt limit, Democratic Caucus, Democrats, extend the debt limit, Harry Reid, House Democrats, Jim DeMint, John Boehner, liberals, Michele Bachmann, Mitch McConnell, Politics, Republican, Republican Conference, Senate, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Tea Party
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Promises, election, spending, taxes, terrorism | 1 Comment »
July 19th, 2011 by John Feehery
I learned to drink coffee in 1990.
I worked for House Minority Leader Bob Michel as a junior-level staffer, and I spent many a late night and quite a few weekends at the Capitol building, doing junior-level stuff as Republicans and Democrats wrangled over the budget. I learned to drink coffee so that I could stay awake.
Back then, there was plenty of talk about how America was going broke, because, well, we were going broke. The bond markets were nervous about the costs incurred over the Reagan years. President George H.W. Bush had taken tax increases off the table with his famous pledge: “Read my lips: No new taxes.”
Democrats, who had sizable majorities in both the House and the Senate, were hell-bent on sticking that pledge right down the throat of the Republican president, who had already promised to be a kinder, gentler president, a promise that made many on the right more than a little nervous.
The negotiators met day and night, weekend after weekend, many times at Andrews Air Force Base, away from the din of noisy constituents and angry colleagues. Eventually, they came up with an agreement that raised taxes slightly, but also included some real spending cuts. Read more...
Tags: 1990, America, Andrews Air Force base, Capitol, coffee, Democrats, John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Obama, Politics, President Clinton, President George H.W. Bush, Reagan years, Republicans, Senate, tax increase
Posted in Economy, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Promises, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 18th, 2011 by John Feehery
The media loves to spend time speculating about how John Boehner and Eric Cantor are going to round up the votes to pass President Obama’s debt limit legislation.
But they haven’t asked one of the most important questions out there? Where’s Nancy?
The former Speaker and now House Minority Leader has been mostly kept out of the negotiations, and when she is included, it is mostly because they need a picture of the joint leadership.
Pelosi, though, has taken a position even more radical than those crazy Tea-Partiers, who refuse to vote on the debt limit without some spending caps put in place. She not only wants higher taxes, but she wants to make certain that there are no changes included in any entitlement spending.
It is customary that on a Presidential priority, the President’s party in the Congress works with the President to achieve a goal.
It used to be that on something controversial, like an increase in the debt ceiling (or a Congressional pay raise), that the President desperately wanted and that the President’s opposition did not really want, that the President’s party, even if it were in the minority, would provide enough votes for passage. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, debt limit, Democrats, dollar, Economy, election, GOP, Government, House Minority Leader, House Republicans, John Boehner, Michelle Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi, Politics, President Obama, Republican, Republicans, Senate, spending, taxes, Tea Party
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 14th, 2011 by John Feehery
It is altogether reasonable to have grave concerns about our national debt. It is unreasonable to have grave concerns about our debt, and then refuse to do anything about it.
It is reasonable to vote against an increase in the debt ceiling. It is unreasonable to complain, though, when a debt ceiling increase passes and include things that you don’t like.
It is reasonable for conservatives to demand spending cuts to be included as part of the debt ceiling increase. It is unreasonable for them to hold hostage the debt ceiling increase unless the House and Senate both pass a Constitutional amendment to the Constitution.
It is reasonable for the President to ask Republicans to pass a debt limit increase. It is unreasonable for the President to demand that Republicans include a tax increase as part of the debt limit increase.
It is reasonable for the President to make the case for tax increases. It is unreasonable for the President to make that case merely seven months after he signed into law a huge tax cut. Read more...
Tags: Constitution, Constitutional amendment, debt ceiling, Democratic Party, Eric Cantor, House, John Boehner, McConnell plan, Nancy Pelosi, republican party, Senate, tax increase, transportation
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Media, Politics, Promises, Theory, bad news, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 13th, 2011 by John Feehery
Mitch McConnell
So what exactly is Mitch McConnell up to?
McConnell offered a solution to the debt limit imbroglio that has been described as cynical, stupid, worthless, traitorous and worse.
It may be all of those things. But it is also brilliant.
Mitch McConnell is perhaps the most gifted political infighter in Washington today.
He knows when to inject himself into a debate and he knows when to keep his mouth shut.
He lets off little bombs every once in a while to let the Tea Party understand that he is really with them in his opinions of Mr. Obama, but most of the time, he protects the prerogatives of the Senate as he promotes the political aspirations of his compatriots.
McConnell’s plan to increase the debt limit puts the entire burden on the President.
He is essentially saying to Mr. Obama: If you want to put more money on the credit card, you can do it, but you also have to shoulder all of the blame.
McConnell’s plan gives Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) the ability to vote against increasing the limit, while at the same time avoiding the economic catastrophe that will come if we don’t increase the limit. Read more...
Tags: America, balanced budget amendment, Balanced Budget Constitution Amendment, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, debt limit, Democrats, Economy, extending the debt limit, GOP, Government, House GOP, House Republicans, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Politics, President Obama, Republicans, Senate, spending, taxes, Tea Party, Washington
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Laws, Politics, Promises, Theory, bad news, spending, taxes | No Comments »
July 13th, 2011 by John Feehery
It was Karl Marx who first wrote about class warfare in The Communist Manifesto. Marx believed that the exploited proletariat would eventually rise up against bourgeoisie, overthrow them and then seize their property. In the Marxist view, only communal ownership would eliminate class conflict.
Marx clearly believed that class warfare would be directed upward, from the masses against the rich.
Conservatives and other commentators have been on the look-out for class warfare warriors ever since.
In an interesting twist, Democrats are now accusing Republicans of class warfare because they have resisted the urge to raise taxes on rich people.
In other words, Democrats are accusing Republicans of class warfare precisely because they won’t go along with the Democratic efforts to foist class warfare on rich people. Read more...
Tags: America, Bill Clinton, class warfare, clinton, Congress, Conservatives, Cultural Revolution, Dee Dee Myers, Democrats, Economy, GOP, Government, Karl Marx, luxury tax, raising taxes, Russian Revolution, Senate, taxes, The Communist Manifesto
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Promises, Theory, taxes | No Comments »
May 24th, 2011 by John Feehery
“Après vous, Monsieur Senate.”
John Boehner should say that to his friends in the upper chamber when it comes to raising the debt limit.
I know the parliamentarians in the crowd will say that because the debt limit is at heart a revenue issue, the House, constitutionally, should go first, but there are plenty of ways to avoid a blue slip on this issue.
It used to be that the House always went first in raising the debt limit, and it usually did that by using the so-called Gephardt rule, a parliamentary device that allowed the lower body to bury an increase in the budget resolution.
Republicans did away with that rule in the beginning of this Congress in the name of transparency, and now they are stuck with the result.
Any debt-limit increase is extraordinarily unpopular with the voters. That is not a new phenomenon. Like a congressional pay raise, an increase in the debt limit is pretty hard to explain to constituents. Members can talk all they want about the need to pay the troops and send out Social Security checks, but if they are talking about this issue as they campaign for reelection, they are in big trouble. Read more...
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, Gephardt rule, Government, Harry Reid, health care, John Boehner, medicare, Mitch McConnell, Politics, raising the debt limit, Republicans, Senate, Social Security, spending, Steny Hoyer
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Laws, Politics, Promises, Theory, election, spending, taxes | No Comments »
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