Pundit Says Republicans Committing Unforced Errors

Conservative economist Peter Morici writes today that Democrats are closing the gap with Republicans in polls nationwide, a trend he attributes solely to Republican missteps.

GOP leaders are failing to address the real problems ailing the nation’s economy, which he says were created by the policies of former President George W. Bush and continued by the Obama administration.

“The Pledge to America is a rehash of the platform of President George W. Bush-less taxes and government-and does not address the fundamental problems that have left the American growth machine broken,” Morici writes.

The ‘Pledge’ Morici refers to is a 21-page document released by a group of House Republicans two weeks ago intended to explain how the party would govern if it wins back Congress this November.

Morici, who teaches business at the University of Maryland, writes that instead of making vague promises to reel in the size of the federal government, Republicans should figure out how to crack down on Wall Street banks and help businesses compete in the global marketplace.

“Banks can’t lend because President Obama’s bank reforms boosted bonuses on Wall Street but left Main Street banks to the wolves,” he says. “Businesses can’t sell, because the trade policies of Clinton, Bush and Obama have permitted China’s manufacturers a huge unfair price advantage in U.S. and global markets through currency manipulation, mega subsidies and high barriers to U.S. exports.”

Failure to address these issues, Morici writes, will cost the GOP a sweep of both Houses this fall.

Republicans Unveil New Contract

A small group of Republicans on Thursday released their “Pledge To America,” a 21-page document that outlines what the party will do if it wins back Congress this fall.

The manifesto proposes a bevy of government reforms, from slashing spending to repealing President Obama’s healthcare law. The pledge is low on specifics, but features ideas submitted by members of the public through the GOP’s “America Speaking Out” website.

“Our pledge to America is that the Republicans stand ready to get it done and beginning today,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

“The land of opportunity has become the land of shrinking prosperity,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a key architect of the document. “Americans across this country are outraged, and so are we.”

Boehner and McCarthy were among a dozen House GOP’ers who made the trek to Tart Lumber in Sterling, Va. to unveil the pledge. Republicans chose Sterling, a Washington, D.C. suburb located roughly 45 minutes outside the city, as a more modest alternative to the ceremony held in 1994 on the Capitol steps in which over 100 Republicans announced their “Contract With America.”

GOP Plans To Unveil New "Contract With America"

The Hill is reporting that the GOP, with prospects of regaining the majority in the House, is pulling a compilation of items from its “America Speaking Out” program to create an agenda before November’s elections.

Republicans plan to unveil a “Contract  with America” in Virginia Thursday as a response to Democratic criticism that the party is lacking an agenda.  

The new “contract” is said to include a two-year tax freeze and a reduction in spending to 2008 levels as hinted by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Lawmakers on the right have also pushed for the repealing of healthcare reform, replacing it with a few reforms of their own and other GOP figures have also showed signs of repealing Wall Street reform as well. 

The GOP’s new “Contract with America” is said to be an attempt at reestablishing a 1994 “contract” that helped Republicans win the House and provided them with a base to hold the House majority until 2006. 

The unveiling of the new GOP agenda comes at crucial time and has led some Democrats to question why it took so long and argue that the timing is all too convenient.

A spokesman for Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told The Hill that the GOP’s new agenda mirrors that which “caused the Great Bush Recession.”

“Washington Republicans are finally getting around to releasing an agenda for this Congress. What’s shocking is that it took them more than 20 months to repackage  a plan that is no different from the one that caused the Great Bush Recession,” he said. ” We have seen this movie before and the American people walked out on it, we don’t need a sequel.”

Sparring Over Economy Intensifies Between Obama And Boehner

During his speech on the economy yesterday in Ohio, President Barack Obama directly confronted House GOP leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) over his party’s accusations that the current administration’s fiscal policies have hurt the nation more than they have helped.

Obama spoke outside of Cleveland, a few miles from where Boehner delivered a speech two weeks ago, and referred to Boehner seven times throughout the course of his remarks, denouncing the Republican’s proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts.

It came as no surprise that the president’s impassioned speech, in which he took mulitiple shots at the GOP, coincided with the start of this year’s final campaign stretch run.

Obama accused Republicans of “rooting against the recovery,” and told the audience that a vote for the GOP this November would be a vote to take the country backwards.

“When these same Republicans, including Mr. Boehner, were in charge, the number of earmarks and pet projects went up, not down,” Obama said. “There are no new policies from Mr. Boehner. There are no new ideas.” 

Immediately after Obama finished speaking, Boehner and other GOP figures took to Twitter to instantly respond.

“Instead of focusing on me, @BarackObama should work w/GOP to cut spending & stop the tax hikes to help create jobs,” read a Tweet from Boehner.

“Guess [Obama] missed the $1.5 trillion [in spending cuts] we offered,” tweeted House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) press secretary.

Hoyer Pledges Jobs Creation Will Help Americans 'Make It In America'

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday at the Center for American Progress (CAP) that if jobs are created in America, Americans can make it in America and he believes job creation must be part of the American agenda.

“The private sector has added jobs for, as I said, six straight months,” said Hoyer. “By comparison, it took more than two years after the end of the last recession for our economy to return to six consecutive months of job growth in the private sector.”

He was critical of Republicans, accusing them of attempting to “demonize” legislation that has clearly helped the private sector and job growth.

“The House Minority Whip himself, hosted three job fairs ironically featuring employers who have benefited from such federal funds, a policy he voted against,” Hoyer said. “In fact, while all House Republican’s voted against these investments, more than half of the Republicans in Congress have taken credit for them in their districts.”

Hoyer says Republicans want to return to the same failed policies that put America in the current economic recession.

“The chairman of the Republican congressional campaign committee, whose job it is to recruit members to come to Congress to make policy said, and I quote, ‘We need to go back to the exact same agenda’,” said Hoyer.