You would think that the Republicans who talk so much of cutting spending would try to get a plan that cuts spending 3 to 1 over tax increases at least. Instead, they go for a plan that raises taxes 41 to 1 over spending cuts. The government is spending 42% of our GDP while in socialist Europe most countries are at 48%. Soon we will be where they are and probably will looking at the same fate as Greece. Our problem is spending. Over and over you hear Republicans say that but they do nothing about it. At least Rick Crawford and Tim Griffin from Arkansas voted against the plan Obama laid out. The only good thing about this deal is that it did not raise the debt ceiling. We will soon another fight over that.

During the month of December I contacted our three Republican Congressman and our one Republican Senator several times concerning this fiscal cliff deal that was coming down the pike and the debt ceiling debate. I also contacted over 40 Tea Party Republican Representatives around 1/2 dozen times concerning these same issues. I am happy to report that according to my records all 40 voted against this latest deal. I have some more verifying to do on that but it appears now that is the case.

Below is an earlier post of mine concerning Rick Crawford:

 

I recently wrote an open letter to Congressman Rick Crawford and I put it on his facebook page. I personally do not have a facebook page so I used my son Wilson’s facebook page and here is what Congressman Crawford said:

Wilson- I agree with you that we have a spending problem and not a revenue problem in this country. As you might know I have been a strong advocate for permanent spending controls, like a Balanced Budget Amendment, that will ensure we do not continue spending money that we do not have. Thank you for your thoughts and know that I am fighting everyday to rein in federal spending and to pay down our crushing national debt.

I am very impressed that Congressman Crawford got back to me so soon. I am hopeful that he will join the 66 brave Tea Party Republicans who voted against the debt ceiling increase back in August of 2011,  Tea Party heroes like Rep. Todd Rokita,  Ben Quayle (R-AZ), Jeff Landry (R, LA-03),  Raúl R. Labrador , Tim Huelskamp,  Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI),  , Brooks, Mo (AL – 5), Buerkle, Ann Marie (NY – 25),Chabot, Steven (OH – 1),Duncan, Jeff (SC – 3), Fleischmann, Chuck (TN – 3) ,Gowdy, Trey (SC – 4) ,Griffith, H. Morgan (VA – 9) , Harris, Andy (MD – 1) ,Huizenga, Bill (MI – 2) , Mulvaney, Mick (SC – 5) , Pompeo, Mike (KS – 4) , Ribble, Reid (WI – 8), Rigell, E. Scott (VA – 2) , Ross, Dennis (FL – 12) ,Schweikert, David (AZ – 5), Scott, Austin (GA – 8) , Scott, Tim (SC – 1) , Southerland, Steve (FL – 2) , Stutzman, Marlin (IN – 3) , Walberg, Timothy (MI – 7) , Walsh, Joe (IL – 8),and Woodall, Rob (GA – 7) .

I have written about these Tea Party heroes over and over and over. They are the only hope that we have to stopping this federal government spending problem that we have. I like John Boehner a lot but if he keeps trying to give in to the Democratic demands to raise taxes and raise the debt limit then we need to do something about getting more conservative representation in the speaker chair. Newt didn’t put up with this kind of thing in the 1990’s when he worked with Clinton. As a result we had 4 balanced budgets in a row. DO YOU THINK THAT CLINTON WOULD HAVE DONE THAT WITHOUT NEWT STANDING UP TO HIM?

I was sad to read that the Speaker John Boehner has been involved in punishing tea  party republicans. Actually I have written letters to several of these same tea party heroes telling them that I have emailed Boehner encouraging him to listen to them. Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ),Justin Amash (R-MI), and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS). have been contacted by me before and I have posted things about them too.

With Purge, House GOP Leadership Reaches New Low

Posted by Tad DeHaven

In December 2010, I wrote that “An indicator of the incoming House Republican majority’s seriousness about cutting spending will be which members the party selects to head the various committees.” The final roster ended up leaving a lot to be desired from a limited government perspective. For example, the House Republican leadership and its allies went with Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), aka “The Prince of Pork,” to head up the Appropriations Committee.

Two years later, the committee situation is about to get even worse now that the House Republican leadership has decided to send a message that casting a vote according to one’s beliefs instead of one’s instructions is a punishable offense. On Monday, four congressmen were booted from “plum” committee assignments for failing to sufficiently toe the leadership line. I suspect that the purge was motivated, at least in part, by Team Boehner’s desire to have the rest of the rank and file think twice before casting a “no” vote on whatever lousy deal is struck with the White House to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”

Three of the purged Republicans are returning members of the 2010 freshmen “Tea Party Class”: Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Justin Amash (R-MI), and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS). Over the past year, I have been keeping a loose record of how the freshmen voted on opportunities to eliminate programs and prevent spending increases. On seven particularly telling votes*, Schweikert and Amash voted in favor of limited government every time. Out of 87 freshmen, only Schweikert, Amash, and five others had a perfect record. Huelskamp was six for seven. He also was one of only four Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee to vote against the bloated farm bill that passed out of the committee in July. The fourth outcast, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), had become an irritant to the Republican establishment after turning against the Iraq War and associating himself with more libertarian Republicans like Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).

The best that can be said for Team Boehner thus far is that it isn’t Team Pelosi. A common excuse is that House Republicans have been constrained by Democratic control of the Senate and White House. While there is an element of truth to that claim, we’re talking about a House Republican majority that wouldn’t even vote to get rid of the loan guarantee program that led to the Solyndra debacle. The reality is that most Republicans were only ever interested in using Solyndra to score political points against the White House. Ditto pretty much every other White House spending endeavor that House Republicans claim to oppose.

*Votes were to terminate the Economic Development Administration, Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia, Essential Air Service program, Title 17 Energy Loan Guarantees, Community Block Development Grant program, against reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, and against the Continuing Appropriations Act in September.

Related posts: