McCarthy: Americans Want All Tax Cuts Renewed

By Kyle LaFleur

Incoming House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and other House Republicans rallied for a total extension of the Bush era tax cuts on Tuesday minutes before President Obama met with Democrat and GOP leaders at the White House.

“This election was about jobs and spending,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy went on to add that in the 754 months since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began recording unemployment statistics that only 50 of these months held umployment above eight percent, with 21 of these months falling under the current administration.  

“The difficulty we have is, this is the wrong time to raise taxes on small business,” said McCarthy. “This is the time to end uncertainty and this is the time to think anew and get this country working again.”  

With little over a month until the January 1st deadline for the cuts, the issue still remains up in the air. 

House Republicans Urge President To Hold Off On Climate Change Negotiations

By Marianna Levyash- Talk Radio News Service

House Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and several other Republican members Tuesday touted a letter to President Barack Obama written by GOP leaders urging the president to restrain from making political agreements at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit that the administration may not be able to keep.

The letter expresses concern that such negotiations could spur “a negative impact on the American economy and specifically for small businesses and the manufacturing and agricultural sectors.”

In a statement released Monday, Pence said “the president must [...] address how reducing carbon emissions will affect our struggling small businesses, manufacturers and farmers. Further, developing countries have pledged to protect their growing economies from international carbon caps.”

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) took Tuesday's appearance to refer to a group of hacked emails in which scientists allegedly manipulated global warming data.

“The UN should step back until the ClimateGate scandal is over,” said Sensenbrenner.

The GOP’s Lenient Definition Of ‘Egregious’

By Justin Duckham-Talk Radio News Service

For what has been described in the Wall Street Journal as the “worst bill ever,” Congressional Republicans certainly seem to be padding their list of grievances over the House health care bill with things that are less scary and more, well … sensible.

The House Republican Conference has kindly given reporters a directory of provisions in the bill found to be “egregious, questionable, or potentially absurd.”

Included in this list is a reference to page 872-Section 1433, which, in the conference’s words, “requires the director of food services at nursing facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to hold ‘military, academic, or other qualifications’ as determined by federal bureaucrats.”

Sans the editorial liberty taken to invoke the specter of spooky federal bureaucrats, one is left to wonder what about this requirement is particularly egregious, questionable or potentially absurd. After all, this is a warning from the party that has portrayed seniors as sacred cows throughout the entire health care debate, from threats that Obamacare would pull the plug on grandma to suddenly realizing that Medicare isn’t as bad as it was forty years ago. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the staff that tends dear old granny’s meals be qualified? Especially through an academic or military institution?

When asked for clarification, a staffer for a high-ranking Republican representative simply responded that it is a sign of more government intrusion into the lives of Americans.

Of course, the American people whose lives are being intruded upon by this provision are seniors living in nursing homes funded by Medicare. So to summarize: Medicare is an untouchable institution, but requiring
a director that either directly or indirectly benefits from Medicare funds to be properly trained is an intrusion.

Fair enough, if you perform adequate mental gymnastics. That is, until you consider how closely this resembles a provision included in No Child Left Behind, an act proposed by a Republican President and passed through a GOP-controlled Congress.

According to Part A, Section 119, “Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this part shall ensure that all teachers hired after such day and teaching in a program supported with funds under this part are highly qualified.”

All one needs to do is add “by federal bureaucrats” to the end of this sentence and voila: government intrusion.

In the film Citizen Kane, the character Leland tells Charles Foster Kane “You don't care about anything except you… you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.”

This seems to embody the Republican mentality post-2006. So-called dithering on Afghanistan, appointing high-profile czars or, in this case, requiring recipients of government funds to fit the right
profile is fine if you’re in the right party, but try it as a Democrat and suddenly it’s egregious, questionable, or potentially absurd. It’s a double standard.

Either that, or the Republican Conference is grasping at straws.

Energy, Health Care Bills Will Kill Jobs, Hurt Economy Say House GOP'ers

By Laura Woodhead - Talk Radio News Service

The energy and health care proposals currently being debated in Congress will be disastrous for the economy, House Republicans said at a press conference Tuesday. Speaking following the weekly House Republican conference, Rep. Mike Pence (R - Ind.) said that the Democrats seem determined to try and pass their bills despite the negative impact they'll have on an already challenged economy. If it were to pass, the American Clean Energy Act and the Democrats' health care plan would be a "disaster for this economy and a disaster for working Americans" he said.

"House Republicans are determined to step forward and demand that this Congress focus on putting this country back on its feet," Pence added.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that there is a strong bi-partisan coalition opposing the current health care proposals.

"Either this bill fails or it changes dramatically," Cantor said. "If the bill fails it will be because of disagreement among the Democrats as to the proper direction to head as far as health care reform is concerned."

"This administration, this President has no one else to blame," he added. "What they ought to be doing is coming to work with us in order to reflect a much more reasoned approach to try and accomplish health care for the American people."

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said that the "President is going to begin his barnstorming" on bills that will kill jobs.

"The stimulus bill isnt working, they bring along this health care bill that will cost 5 million jobs, and they bring this cap and trade bill up last month that will cost us 2.5 million jobs each year for the next ten years. This is not what the American people want."

Boehner called on President Obama to abandon current health care proposals and negotiate with Republicans in order to achieve economically feasible health care reform.

"Mr President, it's time to scrap this bill. It's time to start working in a bi-partisan way," he said.