Jason Tolbert reported that Rep. Uvalde Lindsey (D-Fayetteville) prefers the map know as the Luker Amendment and does not mix words regarding his opposition to moving Fayetteville into AR4. Here is a clip of an interview Jason did with Rep. Lindsey below.
Pat Lynch suggested today in his article “The political bog,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 11, 2011, that the Democrats in the State Legislature could have quietly pushed through the Fayetteville Finger without much attention if they had been united. He states:
Two super-sized and ominous ongoing news events dominate the attention of those who keep up with such distasteful things. One is the General Assembly’s stumbling attempt at congressional redistricting and the second item concerns whether the national government will keep running.
Both of these little dramas demonstrate the consequences of getting bogged down in a political mess. Many Arkansas lawmakers would surely like to take a mulligan on redrawing the congressional districts. For our reps in Washington, there is no escape from the budget showdown…
Had legislative Democrats enjoyed any semblance of party discipline, the “Fayetteville finger” might have been pushed through with minimal opposition and swiftly enacted. Nobody would have noticed-except a few Fayetteville malcontents.
It is one of the deeper mysteries of these confusing times as to why Fayetteville folks, good and reasonable people, would so detest the possibility of being represented in Congress by a Democrat. If that is what they want, let it be.
The situation is so unsettled that it seems almost every lawmaker has developed a personal redistricting map. This is what representative government is all about, these occasional fits of total chaos.
Challengers in the 2012 election will be able to use that “Fayetteville finger” against any incumbent Democrat, and potential voters will have some sort of foggy idea of what it means. All they need to know is that the finger is bad. Democrats proposed it, so all Democrats are bad.
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I think that Pat Lynch misses the boat on this one. It has been shown before that 82% of the people polled in Fayetteville opposed the move to the fourth. That is hardly a “a few Fayetteville malcontents.”
It was completely ruled out of the question by Max Brantley and considered a joke when it first came to his ears. Liberal John Brummett is the columnist who gave it the name of the “Fayetteville Finger.”
I just don’t see how it could have been shoved through without causing a stink.
Another day of redistricting and of course another map to look at. Here is what the newest map that is still being hammered up might look like… maybe (blogger’s render – subject to change.)
Meetings are currently taken place and by all appearances some of the them in Gov. Beebe’s office primarily with Democratic legislative leaders to hammer out the details. I spoke to several Republicans that have still not seen the map. (HERE IS THE NEW MAP BELOW)
In my series of famous Arkansas entertainers I come to someone that people may not recognize his name, but behind the scenes he has written some of the top hits. He grew up in Little Rock and graduated from Arkansas Baptist High School. He now lives in California and Linda Caillouet has written about him on several occasions in her Paper Trails articles in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Today she did again in her article “Arkansans abound on TV, Music,” April 11, 2011. She noted:
MUSIC MAN: Little Rock native David Hodges continues making music long after he left the locally rooted Grammy-winning rock band Evanescence.
One of his most recent projects? Collaborating with country star Carrie Underwood on the lead single off the soundtrack for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, released on DVD last Friday. The single “There’s a Place for Us” was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Original Song category.
The cut, available exclusively on iTunes, has sold more than 80,000 since its release last November. To view a video of the song, go to tinyurl.com/4yu7s8k.
Other artists with whom Hodges has worked as a songwriter and producer include Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire, Daughtry, Celine Dion and Adam Lambert.
Many Kings and important people in the Bible are also verified by secular documents.
From time to time you will read articles in the Arkansas press by such writers as John Brummett, Max Brantley and Gene Lyons that poke fun at those that actually believe the Bible is historically accurate when in fact the Bible is backed up by many archaeological facts. The Book of Mormon is blindly accepted even though archaeology has disproven many of the facts that are claimed by it. For instance, silk did not exist in North America when they said they did.
The Book of Mormon mentions the use of silk six times.[65] “Silk” is commonly understood to mean the material that is created from the cocoon of the Asian moth Bombyx mori. It is a foregone conclusion that this material was unknown to the Americas before their discovery.
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Pilate Inscription Does this stone contain an inscription from Pontius Pilate?
In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Frova were excavating an ancient Roman theater near Caesarea Maritima and uncovered this interesting limestone block.
On the face is an inscription which is part of a larger dedication to Tiberius Caesar which clearly says that it was from “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.”
It reads like this:
Line One: TIBERIEUM,
Line Two: (PON) TIUS
Line Three: (PRAEF) ECTUS IUDA (EAE)
The Pilate Inscription is the only known occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient inscription. Visitors to the Caesarea theater today see a replica, the original is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. There have been a few bronze coins found that were struck form 29-32 AD by Pontius Pilate.
The Pontius Pilate Inscription is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology and confirms the Scriptures found in the Bible as historical.
Caesarea, Israel
New Testament Period
Pontius Pilate, (26-37 AD)
Limestone, inscribed
82.0 cm H, 65.0 cm W
Building Dedication
4 Lines of Writing (Latin)
Date of Discovery: 1961
Israel Museum (Jerusalem)
AE 1963 no. 104
Matthew 27:1-2 “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led [him] away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”
Luke 3:1-2 “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”
The Roman historian Tacitus mentions Pontius Pilate only in passing when noting “the execution of Christus, author of that sect, by the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius.”
A video image taken from NHK shows a tsunami caused by an earthquake sweeping across land in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Xinhua/ Gamma-Rapho
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My sons Wilson and Hunter got to go to Grace Community Church and hear John MacArthur speak. Actually our friend Sherwood Haisty Jr. bought Wilson a MacArthur study Bible and Wilson got Dr. MacArthur to sign it.
Here below is John MacArthur on “Larry King Live Show.”
I first heard John MacArthur first preach in person at Bellevue Bapt in 1990 when his good friend Adrian Rogers asked him to come also to speak on a panel discussion. Below is a short clip about Adrian Rogers.
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Below is another profile of a state lawmaker. Gary Deffenbaugh State Representative District 66 from Van Buren.
Posted: Sunday, May 9, 2010 9:00 am | Updated: 11:37 am, Fri May 7, 2010.
Gary Deffenbaugh, 61, graduated from Van Buren High School in 1967 and holds a degree from Ouachita Baptist University.
A political newcomer, Deffenbaugh has worked in public schools for 39 years at Fort Smith, Booneville, Paris and mostly at Van Buren.
He has been married to Carolyn (Yeager) for 39 years. They have two grown children.
Holmes, 31, is a 1997 graduate of Van Buren High School, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a juris doctorate from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
Holmes, an attorney, is a partner at Hopkins & Holmes, Attorneys at Law. He is a former deputy prosecutor for the cities of Van Buren and Kibler. What are the top three local/state issues facing the people of District 66?
Deffenbaugh: Probably the biggest three issues that we must address is more jobs, less taxes and less government control. I’d say that another set of three closely follow is education, health care and gun rights. It is certainly trying times for most of us. I’m sure that many other important issues will surface over the next two legislative years. If elected, how do you plan to address those issues?
Deffenbaugh: My way of handling these issues is first , vote conservative and morally. I will also vote the pulse of the people that I represent. There is no way that I could possible know now how to handle each issue at this point in time, but I will research them, ask questions to experts in that area, and pray.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 8:15 am CST on April 11, 2011.
This may be our one moment in history for greatness. And I sincerely hope that we rise to the challenge because I believe the future of the republic depends on it.
I do agree that we must “rise to the challenge” because “the future of the republic depends on it.” However, just cutting less than 2% is not rising to the challenge.
Last year when the Democrats had overwhelming majorities, they decided to skip putting in a budget. Actually 1974 was the last time that had happened. Why were they not rising to the occasion last year? I believe it was because they were busy trying to shove all their liberal agenda down our throat before they lost control once they realized in January of 2010 (with Scott Brown’s victory) that the people were against their policies. They knew that in November they would lose control and they spent every waking moment shoving their bills through and never once took time to pass a budget.
There’s much more, a confusing and wasteful mix of other departments, independent agencies, and commissions. In the main they are unnecessary, duplicative, bloated, or all three. They are nothing that a legislative buzz-saw would not solve. Along with them should go excessive congressional staff. Legislators need resources to oversee the government. But if Congress was no longer attempting to run America and the world, legislators would need far fewer employees. .
Rather than view a government shutdown as an unfortunate necessity to wring spending concessions, closure should be seen as good policy. Not every department and bureau should stay shuttered, but many agencies should be permanently shut. It is necessary to think the unthinkable in Washington. With Uncle Sam facing his largest deficit ever, we must begin eliminating programs now.
(b. 1947) – Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, this Grammy award winner is considered to be one of the best adult contemporary music songwriters and producers. Goodrum has penned hits in all areas of music-pop, rock, a/c, r&b and country. Some of his best-known hits include “You Needed Me” recorded by Anne Murray, “Foolish Heart,” “Oh Sherrie,” and “Bluer Than Blue.” He has had songs recorded by such stars as Ray Charles, Phoebe Snow, Judy Collins, Helen Reddy, The Commodores, Kenny Rogers and Dottie West, Jefferson Starship, England Dan and John Ford Coley who made a hit of Goodrum’s “It’s Sad to Belong (to Someone Else) When the Right One Comes Along,” and Tricia Yearwood among others. He has produced for the likes of Michael Bolton, Chet Atkins, and Olivia Newton-John. www.randygoodrum.com
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I have another state lawmaker below:
Jon Eubanks State Representative District 84.
Jon and his values
Jon and his wife, Janet, bought their poultry and cattle farm near Paris, Ark., in the fall of 1976 and still live on and operate that farm, having bought additional acreage over the years. They have raised four children – Chris, Nick, Stacy and Andrew. They also have three grandchildren. In the mid-’80s, while running the farm, he went back to college at Arkansas Tech and completed his accounting degree, graduating with honors in 1990 and passing the CPA exam. Jon has eight years experience working as a certified public accountant. However, farming is his career preference.
Jon has been actively involved in education, youth groups and agriculture throughout his life. He is a former school board member in the Paris School District. While serving on the Paris School Board he was able to secure the donation of used computers from IBM to set up a computer lab for the school. He has been actively involved as a volunteer for local Boy Scout Troops and as a coach for youth baseball teams. He is a past president and board member of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Paris. Jon currently serves on the board of directors of the North Logan County Farm Bureau and served a three- year term as its president.
Jon and Janet’s emphasis on hard work, education and conservative values can be seen in their children. Chris graduated from the University of Arkansas and is a Southeast U.S. forage agronomist and sales manager for Land O’Lakes. Nick attended Texas Tech University before taking a job for a landscape contractor and now manages a landscaping crew and also owns a lawn care company in Texas. Stacy recently graduated with a master’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas and works in New York. Andrew will begin his junior year at the United States Naval Academy this fall.
Jon is a strong supporter of the following issues: traditional marriage, pro-life, gun rights, tax relief for working families, improving education, fiscal responsibility, and reducing the size and spending of government.
Over the past few years, Jon has maintained a cattle herd of about 200-250 cows.
John Burris on Redistricting (from Tolbert Report):
I watched “Arkansas Week” and I saw Rob Moritz of the Arkansas News Bureau suggest that it was very realistic that if the state legislators don’t get together soon that this could end up in court.
More than a week past a scheduled April 1 recess, the Legislature’s inability to agree on a map for setting new district boundaries based on the 2010 U.S…
Both the House and Senate are scheduled to convene at 1 p.m.
Each chamber has approved a redistricting plan, but neither proposal has come to a vote in the other chamber. The Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs rejected the House plan once and the panel’s House counterpart rejected the Senate plan.
If either proposal is rejected a second time in committee, it dies.
Lawmakers took Friday off to regroup. New proposals could be introduced today…
Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, said a compromise is possible — and preferable to a federal alternative.
In 2001, after the Texas Legislature failed to adopt a redistricting plan, a three-judge federal court panel drew that state’s congressional district boundaries.
Gov. Mike Beebe could call a special session at some point if the Legislature does not meet its state constitutional obligation to redraw congressional districts before lawmakers adjourn the regular session April 27. But Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said Friday the governor would not do so unless there is a clear consensus for a redistricting plan.
A week ago, the Senate state agencies committee rejected a House-approved HB1322, a plan dubbed the “Fayetteville finger” because it would extend the 4th District of southern Arkansas narrowly up into the northwest part of the state to claim Fayetteville from the 3rd District…
“I think the goal (of the House Democrats) is to have only one option, and that is the ‘Fayetteville finger,’” said Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, the House minority leader. “I think that’s not a good option.”
Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, said several new maps were being circulated by lawmakers late last week and some could be on the Senate state agencies committee agenda today.
One map Baker has drawn up attempts to address concerns by some southeastern Arkansas lawmakers who want to keep Ashley County in the 4th District and some in Northwest Arkansas who want to keep Madison County out of the southern Arkansas district.
“The good thing about this is, we are starting to get a really good feel for where everybody’s point of contention is,” Baker said. “So, once you know where the problems are you can dive back in and try to mitigate those problems.”
Lawmakers and political analysts note that while partisan differences may be playing a role in the state Legislature’s redistricting stalemate, other states face far deeper divides.
Jay Barth, political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway, pointed to Louisiana as an example.
Arkansas’ southern neighbor is losing a congressional district and its Legislature must redraw six districts from the current seven, balancing partisan, racial, regional and incumbent interests, he said.
Louisiana is among 18 states that are either adding or losing congressional seats. Texas is adding the most, four, while New York and Ohio each are losing two.
“Compared to what you are seeing in other states, what is going on in Arkansas is minor,” Barth said.
Jason Tolbert posted today “The two chambers seemed at an impasse last week but I hear that a conscious is building around a map. Not sure which one…”
I am hoping things get worked out so it does not have to go to the courts. We will just have to wait and see.
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Profiles of State Lawmakers. Today is State Representative Gary Stubblefield of Ft Smith District 67.
Click on people’s faces in the photo to tag them.
Article below when Gary Stubblefield announced that he was running for office.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 11:33 AM CST
Western Arkansas dairy farmer and former Razorback football player Gary Stubblefield announces intention to run on the Republican ticket for Arkansas House of Representatives, District 67.
Long time area dairy farmer and former Razorback football player, Gary Stubblefield, has announced his intentions to seek District 67 Arkansas House of Representative seat. Stubblefield, who played for the Razorbacks from 1969-1971, studied Pre-Veterninary Medicine at the University of Arkansas. Stubblefield married his wife, Kathi, in 1974. They have two children, Joshua and Amber. Stubblefield has served on the Franklin County Quorum Court, County Line School Board, and was appointed by Former Gov. Mike Huckabee to serve on the Milk Advisory Board. “I want to restore common sense back in our government, along with integrity, accountability, and economy in government while protecting the freedom that we have been blessed with,” said Stubblefield, “Our freedom should never be taken for granted.”
According to Stubblefield, a Republican, he wants to represent the citizens of District 67 and their values, and is willing to listen and learn, without being intimidated or bullied to support anything that goes against keeping taxes down, that conflicts with promoting less government intervention in Arkansans lives, or that compromises his Pro-life values. “It is important that we have a Representative who will do what is best for our community, not what others tell him is best for our community. We need someone who will vote for Western Arkansas values,” said Stubblefield.
He is also dedicated to supporting law enforcement and improving the resources and opportunities for students, teachers, administrators, and support personnel on a local level in education. “I believe that we as a nation must return to some of the old things that made this country great; values such as integrity, honor in public office, economy in government, and individual liberty. Sebastian and Franklin counties are great places to live in Western Arkansas, and I hope the people in District 67 will help me make it even better,” said Stubblefield.
Gary and his wife Kathi are members of First Baptist Church in Branch, AR where Gary teaches Sunday school. Gary is currently serving as Vice Chairman of Franklin County FSA COC.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 8:35 pm CST on April 10th.
It is our time to lead. This may be the greatest challenge of our generation, of any of us who are in this chamber who are serving either in the House or Senate right now.
We have been going done the path of expanding the federal government for over 80 years now. To be a true leader, you must change the direction of the country. We no longer need to be raising the amount of control we give the federal government in our lives. That is what the whole Tea Party uprising was about Boston so many years ago.
If you want to just continue down this same path then JUST IGNORE ALL THESE GOOD SUGGESTIONS YOU GET CONCERNING CUTTING THE FEDERAL BUDGET. You asked for them with this youtube video clip (as seen above) and now I have started giving them to you.
HUD is a piggy bank for developers. No form of residential or commercial building goes unsubsidized. Yet the epicenter of the financial crisis was the mass of federal housing subsidies. Interior also enriches interest groups. Most of the land that it manages should be sold off. Environmentally sensitive refuges could be transferred to environmental groups.
The Transportation Department is little better. There are some legitimate interstate transportation issues, but most roads and bridges should be a state and local responsibility. Transportation bills have been among the most ostentatiously wasteful pork dispensed by Congress. There’d be little harm in leaving DOT permanently closed.
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Another famous Arkansan below.
the battle of new orleans..the original version was done by this man jimmie driftwood,
(1907-1998) – Noted folk singer and songwriter who was born on a farm near Mountain View. While serving as superintendent at Snowball, he wrote his big hit “The Battle of New Orleans.” He is also known for another composition, “The Tennessee Stud.” Today, Jimmy Driftwood’s Barn in Mountain View is the setting for performances.
So many people have asked me about the full clip. Here it is!! The late and great Jimmy Driftwood home on his ranch in Timbo, Arkansas playing on his famous guitar! This is a tune that he called “Guitar Medley”. Although Jimmy had a bad accident a couple of months before this was taped he could still play the guitar in a very uniquely way!!
I feel strongly about getting the 364 million of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding removed since they are the #1 provider of abortions in the USA. I thought the Republicans were going to stick to their guns on getting Planned Parenthood’s funding removed but it did not happen.
Yesterday Mike Huckabee on the Huckabee Show on Fox News made this statement:
The Democrats originally wanted no cuts, then they put 4 billion on the table then 6 billion, then 33 billion before settling on 38 1/2 billion… Now to get more than first offered (by the Democrats) seems a victory to me, but not to some who want it all or nothing. Let me give you a dose of reality. Democrats control 2 of the 3 moving parts of this deal, the Senate and the White House. The Republicans only control the House. You don’t have to be a math major to understand that Republicans will not all they want. We got far more that the President and Harry Reid wanted them to have. Personally I want Planned Parenthood off the federal dole, and I challenge anyone to find a more pro-life person than me, but fight that battle in the spotlight and not attached to a bill that is not really about Planned Parenthood. The more important battle is going to be about the more bold and ambitious plan crafted by Congressman Paul Ryan which doesn’t trim a few billion, but trillions of dollars of federal spending and then balances the budget in a decade.
Mike Huckabee had Todd Young Representative from Indiana on his show and interviewed him about this bold new program he spoke about in the statement above. Here is the clip from YouTube about this subject:
On April 5, 2011, Rep. Todd Young joined House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and other Republicans in rolling out our 2012 budget proposal. Rep. Young introduced the House plan to reform Medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance and job training. The plan would save money, give states more flexibility and increase assistance to the neediest Americans.
Also on the Huckabee Show there was an exchange that really points out why Planned Parenthood should be removed completely from any public funding.
Liberal Caroline Heldman, Asst Professor at Occidental College, commented on the last-minute compromise:
I will give the Republicans the grade of an F because they made this about cultural issues and tried to do this back door assault on women under the guise of the budgetary process. I find that to be really unconscionable. Planned Parenthood it is illegal for them to spend any of their funding on abortion. They have a firewall between the 97% of their services that are family planning STI and the 3% that are abortion services.
Greg Gutfeld, host of the Fox News Show “Red Eye,” responded:
It is interesting that no ever brings up abortion. It is like saying that you are for the movie theater but not for showing movies.What do you do at Planned Parenthood. That is what you do. That is the movie that is running at the theater. That is where people go. (To get an abortion) that is the place to go.
(Updated: If you want something really confusing then try to figure out where to go with this now after the show “This Week” with Christiane Amapour on ABC April 10th came out. On that show Mike Pence says that he will PROBABLY NOT VOTE FOR THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION this week.)
Mike Pence on Feb 8 on Planned Parenthood
Mike Pence says it is time to pick a fight (in March)
Rep. Pence spoke on the House Floor April 7, 2011. (In this speech Mike Pence finishes by saying “If Democrats here in Washington would rather political games and shut the government down than support our troops and defend our treasury and respect our values then I say shut it down. These last few words upset me because it appears that even though Pence promises to vote to shut down the government if Democrats don’t “respect our values” he ultimately caved on that!!!)
I am a little confused by the vote of Mike Pence in favor of the continuing resolution passage when on American Family Radio Show “Today’s issue” with Tim Wildmon he said the Republicans would stick to their position to remove all the funding for Planned Parenthood. Then the Republicans caved on that and Pence still voted for the compromise?
Washington, D.C.— The following statement was issued by Matt Lloyd, Communications Director for U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, today regarding the Pence Amendment that would deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates: “It has been erroneously reported in the media that Congressman Pence has signaled a willingness to accept a compromise on the Pence Amendment in the negotiations over a long-term Continuing Resolution. These reports are inaccurate. Congressman Pence has made no statement concerning the ongoing negotiations and remains committed to the Pence Amendment and will continue to work with colleagues to include this measure in any final legislation.”
On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment: H R 1363 Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes
Cartograms give an equal area in an image to an equal number of votes by distorting the image. Senate vote cartograms are shown with each state stretched or shrunk so that the states each take up an equal area because each state has two votes. For House votes, it is each congressional district which is stretched or shrunk.
Congressman Steve Pearce addresses the House of Representatives on April 7, 2011, on the eve of a government shutdown. Video clip part 1
I was very disappointed to learn that the Republicans did abandon their plans to cut the 364 million that Planned Parenthood got from the federal government. I knew that Planned Parenthood was the largest provider of abortionists in America and they only had a budget of about a billion dollars.
A cut like this would cripple them in many ways. Yes, it is true that none of the 364 million goes for the actual abortions, but it goes to pay for the counselors that tell young ladies that they can solve all their problems by getting an abortion.
I am big fan of the conservative Republicans and I have included three excellent video clips from Republican Steve Pearce, Representative from New Mexico.
The story of Capitol Hill’s week on the brink — which brought Washington within an hour of a government shutdown — is a narrative of three men, each with a confining sense of his own limitations.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) entered budget negotiations at the head of a rambunctious Republican majority. Quietly, though, he worried that conservative lawmakers might desert him if the deal he struck didn’t meet their expectations.
President Obama had his own problem: He was trying to change his public image in midstream, from America’s top Democrat to a chief executive immune from partisan squabbling.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had watched his party lose its momentum. For all his power, his job had shrunk to defending Democrats’ past gains.
Last week, their first big public fight since Republicans took over in November played out in 3 a.m. meetings, angry press conferences and tense sessions at the White House — which hit their boiling point late Thursday night when Vice President Joe Biden lost his temper at Boehner. It ended with a late-night handshake at the Capitol and Republican cheers in a crowded basement.
The detailed story of that week — relayed Saturday by aides invested in portraying their man as the hero — shows that all three were trying to camouflage weaknesses with bluffing and public confidence. They settled only in the face of a shutdown — the one thing they feared more than giving in.
In the end, Boehner got the huge budget cut conservatives wanted. Obama got to take credit for bringing the sides together. And Reid got a chance — in a dispute over funding for women’s health groups — to rally a beleaguered Democratic base.
Outside the White House and Capitol, their long staredown had a serious cost.
For days, a city had been creakily, and expensively, preparing to shut itself down. And a country had watched in amazement: Was the U.S. government really fighting over whether to reauthorize itself?
Boehner’s problem
For Boehner, last week was a chance to prove his toughness, and conservative bona fides, to the fractious Republicans he leads.
His problem had been made clear a month ago. The House was set to vote on a stopgap budget to keep the country running, but 54 members of his caucus pressed the red button for “no.” The bill passed, but they sent Boehner a message: He didn’t have the unqualified support of all 241 House Republicans.
“If you don’t have 218, you’re not speaker,” one of Boehner’s close friends said, adding that they “cut his legs off.”
The roots of Boehner’s problem stretched back to last fall’s elections, which propelled him to power. On the campaign trail, Republicans promised that they would cut $100 billion from Obama’s budget proposal.
Now, there were 87 new freshmen in the Capitol, and many of them believed that would happen.
But it was a promise Boehner couldn’t keep. Democrats in the Senate rejected it out of hand.
As the last week began, Boehner was determined not to seem wobbly. In private meetings with Democrats, he repeated a mantra: “Nothing will be agreed to, until everything is agreed to.”
And so, nothing was.
‘This is it’
As the stalemate dragged on into Thursday night, President Obama summoned both Reid and Boehner to the White House. All week, Obama had sought to appear as Washington’s peacemaker, not as a partisan warrior on the Democratic side.
But there was a problem: Boehner wouldn’t give in and make peace.
With almost 24 hours to go until the government shut down, Obama gave Boehner an ultimatum on the speaker’s push to include abortion-related restrictions in the bill.
“John, I will give you D.C. abortion. I am not happy about it,” Obama said, according to a Democrat and Republican in the Oval Office. Boehner had been pushing to include both the restriction of government funding on abortions in the District of Columbia and a provision that would have placed limits on funds going to nonprofit groups that provide abortion services nationwide, including Planned Parenthood.
With the D.C. provision in hand, Boehner continued to push the president, aides said.
“Nope, zero,” Obama told Boehner. “Nope, zero. John, this is it.”
And that was it — for a little while. Later, White House aides said, Boehner returned to the issue. Evidently, he had pushed Biden too far.
If Republicans didn’t buckle on this provision, an angry Biden warned, “We’re going to have to take it to the American people.”
Nonetheless, they were close to agreeing to a dollar amount, or so the White House thought. By the next morning, though, White House aides said Boehner’s staff appeared to be asking for more cuts.
So Obama called Boehner. Where Biden had been threatening, Obama tried to appeal to Boehner’s sense of responsibility.
“I am the president of the United States and you are the speaker of the House. We are the two most consequential leaders in the U.S. government. We had a discussion last night and the staff negotiations don’t reflect that,” Obama told Boehner, according to White House staffers.
“The president believed Speaker Boehner was always there,” in understanding the gravity of the situation, a senior Obama aide explained. Boehner “did not want this to come to a shutdown.”
Reid’s voice
In the last days of negotiations, Reid suddenly found an issue — and a voice.
But as the Planned Parenthood issue emerged as a key sticking point, Reid took the spotlight.
“The numbers are extremely close,” Reid said Thursday morning. “If this government shuts down, and it looks like it is headed in that direction, it is going to be based on my friends in the House of Representatives, the leadership over there, focusing on ideological matters that have nothing to do with funding the government.”
Immediately, his own caucus rallied behind him. Democrats raced to the floor one after another denouncing the Republicans for threatening to shut down the government over abortion politics. Female Democratic senators held press conferences, and at one point Friday Democratic staff set up a podium off the Senate floor so that they could hold rolling press conferences attacking Republicans.
Reid also began trying to play hardball with Boehner, telling him that they wouldn’t compromise on the abortion issue and there were no more cuts to be made, according to a senior Democratic leadership aide.
On Friday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who largely stayed out of the talks — called Reid and asked for a final favor for Boehner.
Reid said no. But he later gave in, in exchange for Boehner’s decision to drop the Planned Parenthood demand. Reid and Obama said they would allow for an additional $500 million in spending cuts.
Across town, OMB was preparing three memos to be sent to federal workers. One announced a shutdown. Another said the government would stay open. The third, anticipating a deal that came after midnight, would allow for a continuation of a few hours.
The Capitol’s own tourist-jammed hallways emptied out, leaving just milling reporters and scurrying lawmakers. After 10 p.m., with less than two hours remaining, Boehner called his fractious group of Republicans in for a meeting.
He told them there was still no final deal. But then he began to outline, in a calm voice, what a potential deal might be.
“That was the first time in weeks that they’ve told us specifics,” said Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), one of the most conservative members of the freshman class. Pearce knew what it meant: “You never reveal things in negotiations until it’s done.”
In fact, as they talked in the basement, aides to Boehner, Obama and Reid were shaking hands in the Speaker’s ornate office two floors up.
They had finally reached a deal: Boehner dropped his demand to take Planned Parenthood’s funds. In return, he got $78 billion in spending cuts — the $38 billion in cuts from last week’s deal, plus $40 billion in increases to agency budgets proposed by Obama that were never agreed to. And he got the D.C. abortion provision Obama had offered the night before.
Later, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray expressed outrage.
“The District of Columbia’s right to govern itself has, once again, been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency,” Gray said in a statement afterward. “This is ludicrous. . . .Hypocrisy is alive and well in the United States Congress.”
Calls went out. In the basement, Boehner was handed a slip of paper.
“There’s a deal!” he said. The room cheered.
Then, they had to hustle out to vote. By arriving at his deal with only minutes remaining before a shutdown, Boehner had allowed his rebellious conservatives little time to react.
But there may be more rebellions to come.
When House members rushed in to vote for a short-term budget measure — designed to allow a few days for the final deal to be approved next week — 28 Republicans voted no.
It was another sign: They were happy that Boehner had pushed the Democrats to the brink. But some conservatives thought that maybe they could have pushed Boehner even further.
“I voted against it. But I also appreciated the fact that it got solved,” Pearce said. He said his “no” vote was a message for Boehner, “to let the speaker know that, ‘You can take a little tougher position. We’re going to be behind you.’ ”
Staff writers Ed O’Keefe, Philip Rucker and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.
Congressman Pearce addresses the House on the national debt and other pressing issues facing the US.
Senator Mark Pryor wants our ideas on how to cut federal spending. Take a look at this video clip below:
Senator Pryor has asked us to send our ideas to him at cutspending@pryor.senate.gov and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Here are a few more I just emailed to him myself at 11:07 pm CST on April 9th.
Health and Human Services, the home of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, is a spending behemoth. Yet if this bureaucracy has any legitimate role, it is a small one. The principal social services safety net should be private. If government steps in, it should primarily be at the state and local level. If there’s any cause for federal intervention, it should be very limited.
For instance, Social Security and Medicare are middle class welfare. Politicians have lied about the programs being social insurance in order to win political support: there are no real trust funds, individual accounts, or legal obligations to pay. Yet the programs are fiscal time bombs, with trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities. Individuals should save their own money for retirement; retirees should buy their own health insurance. People who are poor should be helped because they are poor.
Not much else the federal government does makes much sense. The Agriculture Department is a special interest bureaucracy par excellence, enriching people because they are farmers. Why do the rest of us owe farmers a living? They work hard, but so do most other Americans. Welfare should be for poor people, not influential people. Department buildings should be sold off for condos.
The same principle applies to the Commerce Department. While some bits of the bureaucracy perform legitimate functions (such as conducting a census for legislative apportionment), most of the department’s programs are forms of corporate welfare. American business should make money from customers, not steal money from taxpayers.
The analysis is similar for the Departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Interior. Most federal subsidies for energy have been the equivalent of flushing money down toilets at the DOE headquarters. Big Oil and little green like their respective subsidies, but taxpayers have gotten no benefits commensurate to their forced generosity.
18. 1991 Duke-UNLV
One year after losing to UNLV 103-73 in the championship game, Duke avenges that humiliating by knocking off the undefeated and defending national champion Runnin’ Rebels 79-77 as Christian Lattener hits two free throws with 12.7 seconds left.
Duke would win the national championship two nights later as they defeated Kansas 72-65 to give coach Mike Krzyzewski his first national title after five trips to the Final Four.
My brother in law Robert Parks once met Mike Krzyzewski when Mike spoke at a convention he attended for his business. His son Jeremy Parks went to high school with Elliot Williams at St Georges in Memphis and Elliot played for Coach K at Duke, but later transferred to Memphis and now is in the NBA.
1980 Presidential Debate Carter v Reagan
MR. ELLIS
Governor Reagan, Americans, through conservation, are importing much less oil today than we were even a year ago. And yet, U.S. reliance on Arab oil as a percentage of total imports is much higher today than it was during the 1973 Arab oil embargo. And the substantial loss of Arab oil could plunge the United States into depression.
The question is whether the development of alternative energy sources, in order to reduce this dependence, can be done without damaging the environment, and will it mean for American families steadily higher fuel bills?
GOVERNOR REAGAN
I’m not sure that it means steadily higher fuel costs, but I do believe that this Nation has been portrayed for too long a time to the people as being energy-poor when it is energy-rich. The coal that the President mentioned: Yes, we have it, and yet one-eighth of our total coal resources is not being utilized at all right now. The mines are closed down; there are 22,000 miners out of work. Most of this is due to regulations which either interfere with the mining of it or prevent the burning of it. With our modern technology, yes, we can burn our coal within the limits of the Clean Air Act. I think, as technology improves, we’ll be able to do even better with that.
The other thing is that we have only leased out and begun to explore 2 percent of our Outer Continental Shelf for oil, where it is believed by everyone familiar with that fuel and that source of energy that there are vast supplies yet to be found. Our Government has, in the last year or so, taken out of multiple use millions of acres of public lands that once were — well, they were public lands subject to multiple-use exploration for minerals and so forth. It is believed that probably 70 percent of the potential oil in the United States is probably hidden in those lands, and no one is allowed to even go and explore to find out if it is there. This is particularly true of the recent efforts to shut down part of Alaska.
Nuclear power: There were 36 powerplants planned in this country — and let me add the word “safety”; it must be done with the utmost of safety. But 32 of those have given up and cancelled their plans to build, and again, because Government regulations and permits and so forth make it take more than twice as long to build a nuclear plant in the United States as it does to build one in Japan or in Western Europe.
We have the sources here. We are energy-rich, and coal is one of the great potentials were have.
This photo, taken on 11 March and released on 23 March, shows waves forming in the sea after the tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
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Free-lance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities. He’s also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried. com.
1.Attend the Hope Watermelon Festival and buy cold slices of watermelon for all of your friends. (Back in 1977 I drove my grandparents from Memphis, TN to Crosy, TX to spend Thanksgiving with my cousins. My grandfather Everette Hatcher Sr. told me that he read an article in the Wall Street Journal about Hope Arkansas having the largest Watermelons in the world. I continued to drive that same path from 1977 to 1982 for my grandparents and every year we passed through Hope, my grandfather repeated that trivia fact. It is about time I get down there and check out the Watermelon festival. I am probably one of the few Arkansans that has not got around to it.)
2.Eat a watermelon from Hope and Cave City on the same afternoon before beginning a debate on which one is better.
