THE repiglican / tea-bagger obstructionist remind me of Egypt's muslim brotherhood. Full of deceptive rhetoric, once in office they are unable to govern, leaving their constituents no better off, and generally worse off than they were before. The only ones to profit from their election are the rich and powerful. This from the Washington Post is on the total failure of the repiglicans and tea-baggers to move their fanatical regressive agenda through Congress. The question is how long those who were duped into electing them are going to tolerate their unproductive antics in Congress?
Question of the day: Who said this?
“Thus I believe that the
House has made its choice: sequestration -- and its unrealistic and
ill-conceived discretionary cuts -- must be brought to an end."
Nancy Pelosi? Steny Hoyer? Chris Van Hollen?
Wrong. That was Hal Rogers, the Kentucky Republican who leads the House Appropriations
Committee, after the aptly named THUD bill failed on the House floor (notice how I didn’t say it “landed with a thud”, or something similar? You can thank me later.)
“THUD,”
in this case, stood for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
It’s the bill to fund those parts of the government through the next
year. The cuts needed to be deep to hit the Ryan budget’s
target. Too deep, as it turned out. The bill was pulled off the floor as
support collapsed around it.
This is what it looks like when the Republican budget strategy collapses.
THUD’s
fall comes days after House Republicans were supposed to release the
Labor, Health and Human Services bill, which required cuts 19 percent
beneath sequestration’s levels. The bill didn’t materialize.
It comes after House Republicans passed defense and veteran’s
appropriations at higher levels than sequestration permitted — necessitating deeper cuts elsewhere.
Meanwhile,
in the Senate, Republicans are breaking with Mitch McConnell to back
appropriations bills that reach pre-sequestration levels — bills that
House Republicans have already dismissed.
Budget politics have an
odd rhythm. The budget proposal comes early in the year, and its cuts
are vague. It mostly just sets broad targets for different categories of
spending. The
appropriations bills come later in the year, and that’s where cuts need
to get specific.
Republicans endorsed the vague outlines of
Ryan’s budget early in the year. But now they’re realizing they can’t
pass the documents that make those cuts specific — they’re simply too
deep. But they can’t back out of the Ryan budget, either. The result is a
mess — although one that may make at least a few Republicans, including
Hal Rogers, more eager for
a face-saving budget deal in the fall.
They
would repeal Obamacare, which would immediately kick about 17 million
low-income earners and their family members off of Medicaid.
Former
Wisconsin Gov. and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson
(R) has long been out of step with today’s conservative Republican
orthodoxy. He’s 
Mitt
Romney has picked as his running mate 42 year-old Republican
Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the architect of the GOP budget, which the
New York Times has described as “
Enlarge M. Spencer Green/AP House
Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. introduces Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney on April 3, 2012.
We're following the story now over at It's All Politics — Romney Picks Wisconsin's Ryan To Be His Running Mate On GOP Ticket.
Update at 1:30 a.m. ET:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, to be his running mate, the Associated Press and other media organizations are reporting.
The Romney campaign said in press release that he will officially announce his choice Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va., at the Nauticus Museum following a tour of the USS Wisconsin.
Last month, NPR's Andrea Seabrook reported on what would make Ryan a strong pick for Romney, among them his budget plan and conservative pedigree. Seabrook, however, also reported on some potential backlash:
Last year, fresh from the House vote that passed his budget, Ryan met angry constituents outside a town hall meeting in Kenosha, Wis. Inside the meeting, Ryan tried to explain his budget's cuts to future Medicare benefits and its lower corporate tax rates, but was interrupted by protesters.The New York Times reports that both Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio received phone calls thanking them for their cooperation in the vetting process and their help with his campaign effort, but that they were not Romney's pick. The Times goes on to also speculate about a Ryan pick:
This is the real danger for Romney if he were to pick Ryan — igniting the anger of voters who favor a stronger safety net, including seniors and many independents.
Ryan's plan would slash social spending — from Head Start to health care — while cutting taxes on businesses and the wealthy. The Obama campaign has seized on this, calling the plan the "Romney-Ryan budget."
There's some evidence that narrative could work for Democrats.
"Three senior Republicans said that the location of the announcement at the U.S.S. Wisconsin on Saturday was a clever hint by the Romney campaign that Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the Budget Committee, has emerged as a leading contender for the position.The official announcement is scheduled for 9 a.m. EDT, and will kick off a four-day bus tour through several swing states: Virginia, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina.
Two top advisers to Mr. Romney declined to provide more details late Friday, saying that Mr. Romney valued the secretive process that has been carried out throughout the four-month search for a running mate.
...
If Mr. Romney chooses Mr. Ryan, one of the leading figures of the fiscal conservative movement, the pair would present a Republican ticket that offers a sharp distinction for voters to decide which party has the better answer to tackle the country's deep financial burdens."
NPR will carry live coverage of the announcement with analysis to follow on Weekend Edition Saturday and on NPR.org.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/10/158606908/mitt-romney-to-announce-running-mate-saturday?sc=nl&cc=brk-20120811-0148
Catholic Leaders to Rep. Paul Ryan: Stop Distorting Church Teaching to Justify Immoral Budget & Catholic theologians denounce Paul Ryan's budget 13APR12
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/13/1083166/-Catholic-theologians-denounce-Paul-Ryan-s-budget?detail=hide
It seems there are at least some prominent Catholics that aren't willing to put up with the hokum of Paul Ryan claiming that his screw-the-poor budget proposals are based on his "Catholic faith":
“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and healthcare away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a Tea Partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said Gehring. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.” Indeed, 59 Catholic leaders and theologians took issue with Ryan’s claims, signing a scathing letter that slammed the Ryan budget plan.Ryan had previously said that the "social magisterium" of the church governed his own ideas, and proceeded to roundly butcher the whole notion, claiming that being Catholic meant, well, believing that crap Paul Ryan says. This has not been going over well. Here's the statement in full. No word yet on whether Congress will be calling these Catholic leaders and theologians to hearings about the Ryan plan. I can only presume that since the Republicans are now best buddies with my old church, they'll get right on that. Or, and I suppose this is more likely, we're about to hear why Paul Ryan knows more about Catholic teachings than the people who actually teach them.
If you would like to fax Mr. Ryan a copy of the letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denouncing his budget, which makes for a fine little read itself, you can do so here.
Catholic Leaders to Rep. Paul Ryan: Stop Distorting Church Teaching to Justify Immoral Budget
Nearly 60 prominent theologians, priests, nuns and national Catholic social justice leaders released a statement today refuting Rep. Paul Ryan’s claim that his GOP budget proposal reflects Catholic teaching on care for the poor, which he made in an interview earlier this week with the Christian Broadcasting Network. The group of Catholic leaders — including a former high-ranking U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops official, a priest in Rep. Ryan’s district and the leadership team of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas — called on Ryan to “reconsider his radical budget proposal and refrain from distorting Church teaching.”“If Rep. Ryan thinks a budget that takes food and healthcare away from millions of vulnerable people upholds Catholic values, then he also probably believes Jesus was a Tea Partier who lectured the poor to stop being so lazy and work harder,” said John Gehring, Catholic Outreach Coordinator at Faith in Public Life. “This budget turns centuries of Catholic social teaching on its head. These Catholic leaders and many Catholics in the pews are tired of faith being misused to bless an immoral agenda.”
The leaders wrote: “Simply put, this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms.”
Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, released an analysis last month that found the Ryan budget would “likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history and likely increase poverty and inequality more than any other budget in recent times (and possibly in the nation’s history).” Mr. Greenstein described the budget proposal as making “extraordinary cuts in programs that serve as a lifeline for our nation’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling on Congress to protect food stamps, affordable housing and other programs that help the poor from harmful budget cuts. Ryan’s plan did not heed the bishops’ request.
The full statement with signatories is below.
As Catholic social justice leaders, women religious, priests, theologians and other concerned Catholics, we are deeply troubled that Rep. Paul Ryan – chairman of the House Budget Committee – is defending a budget proposal that makes dangerous cuts to food stamps and other vital protections for the most vulnerable as compatible with the teachings of his Catholic faith. Simply put, this budget is morally indefensible and betrays Catholic principles of solidarity, just taxation and a commitment to the common good. A budget that turns its back on the hungry, the elderly and the sick while giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest few can’t be justified in Christian terms.
In a letter to the House of Representatives last month, Catholic bishops wrote that “a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons; it requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary military and other spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly.” Bishops also called for repealing “cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” and asked Congress to consider the “human and moral dimensions” of budget choices. Rep. Ryan has ignored this vision. Instead, he proposes to dismantle Medicare as we know it, slash food assistance for struggling families and turn Medicaid into inadequate state block grants at a time when most states are struggling to pay their bills. The dramatic growth in military spending is untouched. Addressing our national debt is essential, but balancing budgets on the backs of the poor and working families is flawed public policy and morally bankrupt.
Rep. Ryan claims his budget reflects the Catholic principle of “subsidiarity.” But he profoundly distorts this teaching to fit a narrow political ideology guided by anti-government fervor and libertarian faith in radical individualism. This is anathema to the Catholic social tradition. In fact, ever since Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, Catholic social teaching has recognized a positive role for government and our collective responsibility to care for our neighbors. It was another Ryan — Msgr. John Ryan — who in 1919 worked with Catholic bishops on a visionary plan that called for minimum wages, insurance for the elderly and unemployed, labor rights and housing for workers. The “Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction” recognized that free markets and self-reliance alone were not enough. These proposals eventually helped inform historic New Deal programs that for the first time sought to buffer families from the cruel vagaries of profit-driven markets that had little concern for human dignity. Subsidiarity recognizes that those social institutions closest to the human person — families, communities, churches — can effectively respond to human needs. But subsidiarity, according to Church teaching, also insists that government has a responsibility to serve the common good when these institutions are unable to address the more systemic issues of poverty, inadequate health care, environmental degradation and other societal challenges.
We urge Rep. Ryan to reconsider his radical budget proposal and refrain from distorting Church teaching to give moral cover to a budget that fails to live up to our nation’s best values and highest ideals.
Click the link below to go to "Faith in Public Life" to see the signatories of this statement
http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/newsroom/press/catholic-leaders-to-rep-paul-ryan-stop-distorting-church-teaching-to-justify-immoral-budget/
"GREET" MITT ROMNEY IN MANASSAS, VA SATURDAY 11AUG12
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This Saturday in Manassas, you can help expose Mitt Romney's disastrous economic plan. In short, he wants
to raise taxes up to $2,000 on the average American family in order to give millionaires like Romney an$87,000 tax
cut.1
Mitt's launching a four-day swing state tour dubbed "Mitt Romney's Plan for a Stronger Middle Class," and MoveOn
members are mobilizing at each stop on the tour to make sure voters know the truth: He's running for president of the 1%.
This election is just too critical to let Romney mislead swing state voters—so at the same time we're organizing massive
protests, we're also hitting the airwaves with a hilarious new ad titled "Pickpocket." It features
Mitt reaching into the pockets of average Americans to give the rich another handout—like Robin Hood in reverse.
For our on-the-ground and airwave plan to work, we need a big presence at Romney's stop in Manassas. With a big protest,
we can get the attention of the media and spread our message further. Every last person makes a difference at these events.
The event is Saturday, August 11, at 2:45 p.m. in Manassas. Can you make it?
Since the news about Mitt's missing tax returns first broke, MoveOn members have organized over 100 protests at Romney offices
and have been showing up at his campaign events nationwide to demand that he release his tax returns. MoveOn members like
you have helped get a TON of media attention at these events, generating hundreds of press hits exposing Romney as the candidate
for the 1%—including a story on the home page of The New York Times.2
We can't compete dollar-for-dollar with the millions that Romney and his Super PACs are throwing at the election. But
we are 7 million strong—and when MoveOn members organize smart and strategic protests, we can get the word out to swing
state voters.
Can you join us in Manassas on Saturday, August 11, at 2:45 p.m.?
Thanks for all you do.
–Lenore, Susan, Tim, Elena, and the
rest of the team
Sources:
1. "New Analysis Shows Romney Tax Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class Families By More Than $2,000," ThinkProgress.org,
August 1, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=
2. "Romney Mines the Hamptons for Campaign Cash," The New York Times, July 8, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=
http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/greet-mitt-romney-in-manassas-va.htmlhttp://www.moveon.org/r?r=