DeMint Urges Supercommittee To Take On Welfare Spending

By Lisa Kellman

Republican Senators revealed during a press conference Wednesday a new area to cut spending and lower the federal deficit: Welfare.

“What we need to do is to redirect these programs in a way that encourages states to promote self sufficiency, put caps on spending and to make sure what we’re doing is helping those in need,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) who authored the “Welfare Reform Act of 2011.”

This bill would require the President’s budget submission to declare all welfare expenditures, mandate work requirements to the food stamp program, give states that decrease poverty and enhance their self-sufficiency $300 million, and place an “aggregate spending cap” on all expense to return to its 2008 levels.

“The best way to kill these programs and every other federal program out there is to do nothing, allow them to continue to operate on autopilot just as our interest payments gradually cripple our ability to fund everything,” stated Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

DeMint noted that the Supercommittee has considered cutting Medicare and Medicaid, but have yet to look at welfare.

“They’re not considering modernizing and looking at the real spending that’s coming from these 77 welfare programs.  It makes no sense,” declared DeMint.

According to the South Carolina lawmaker, this new program would help the poor and develop their skills while saving America $2.4 trillion in 10 years.

To avoid concerns that it would hurt the poor during the recession, the bill would be enacted when unemployment falls below 7.5% or by 2015, whichever comes first.

Hoyer Urges GOP To Meet Dems Halfway Over Budget Proposal

By Anna Cameron

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) pressured Republicans Tuesday to “step up” and compromise with Democrats over a spending plan for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.

“They know what they’re against, but they have not provided positive alternatives for what they’re for [or] how to address the critical issues confronting our country,” Hoyer told reporters Tuesday.

Hoyer described the adamancy with which Republicans have stuck to their proposed $100 billion figure as an adherence to “political figures or sums,” rather than a commitment to thoughtful or responsible spending cuts.

Conversely, the Minority Whip noted that Democrats have increased proposed spending cuts from an initial $41 billion to a total of $51.5 billion, an effort that he touted as a “willingness to cut and compromise.”

As a potential government shutdown looms, Hoyer stressed the irresponsibility, inefficiency, and destabilizing effects of continued funding of the government based on two-week extensions.

“We are hopeful that the Republicans will respond tomorrow in a positive fashion, to move us toward what any reasonable person would think is a compromise,” Hoyer said.

Boehner Accuses White House Of Lying About Stimulus

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

During a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said President Obama and Vice President Biden have been telling lies about why the Stimulus package hasn't reversed the nation's spiraling unemployment rate.

“I found it interesting in the last couple of days, the Vice President and the President mentioned the fact they didn't realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in. Now this is the biggest fabrication I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress. I’ve sat through those meetings at the White House with the President, the Vice President, trust me there’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn't know how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.

Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wa) cautioned that the recent legislation put forth by the Democrats will do nothing but increase taxes which, in the long term, will hinder consumer spending.

“Republicans know and the American people know that what we need is fiscal discipline in Washington D.C and we need to give the American people a tax relief, working families, small businesses and family
farms need more of their hard earned money to put this economy back on its feet,” said Pence.

As for health care, McMorris-Rodgers explained that “We cannot forget that doctors are the experts, we must guard that relationship between the doctor and his patient; it is one of the most valued relationships
that we have,” adding that “We can reform health care, and we can give options to the uninsured without the federal government setting up shop as a big health insurance company or the health care gate keeper.”

“The Most Dangerous Credit Card in the History of the World”

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

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House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Photo by Michael Ruhl

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) called congressional voting cards “the most dangerous credit card in the history of the world”, because then enable Congress and the president to engage in reckless spending. This was not Boehner's first criticism of Obama, but his statement came on the 101st day of the Obama Administration, a time which Boehner has criticized as being pock marked with excessive borrowing, reckless spending and a massive growth in government.

Boehner said that Democrat’s “record on spending and debt is staggering, but our economy is growing weaker, and it’s not going to get any better by growing the size of the government here in Washington.”

Boehner believes that the Democratically controlled Congress has enabled and contributed to the recklessness, and thinks it is up to the Republicans to put a stop to it. Republicans must be “the party of better solutions” if they are going to stand up to the Democrats in Congress, Boehner said, adding that he hopes Democrats will be committed to a bipartisan policy approach..

Citing the elections of 2008, Boehner said “out brand has been tarnished”, but to help the party serve the American people, Republicans must stand up to the Obama Administration when disagreements arise, and to offer alternative solutions.

Leader Boehner applauded President Obama on his strategy towards Afghanistan and Iraq, but showed concern at Obama’s greater national security policy.

“The big question continues to be: what is the Administration’s overarching plan to fight terrorism? Judging from their recent decision to release 30 terrorist detainees with no plan on where to put them, it continues to beg the question,” referring to Obama’s closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center without knowing where the detainees will be sent.

Obama’s budget adds “$1 trillion to the national debt every year for the next ten years”

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At a House GOP leadership stakeout this morning Republican leader Congressman John Boehner (R-OH), Republican whip Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) criticized President Obama’s budget proposals prior to his press conference this evening.

Congressman Boehner said: “The President’s budget spends too much, taxes too much and it borrows too much from our kids and grandkids...if you look at the debt numbers in his budget you will see that over the next six years President Obama will create more debt than his 43 predecessors have in the last 220 years.”

Congressman Cantor added: “I believe we will have our alternatives as to how we see this country going forward. You may hear the President talking tonight about how the Republicans are going to resist because they have no ideas...it’s just not true, he knows it’s not true. The leader and I handed him our vision of a stimulus bill back a month or so ago.”

Congressman Pence accused President Obama’s budget of “bringing forward the largest tax increase in American history” and “adding more than one trillion dollars to the national debt every year, for the next ten years.” He labeled the budget “fiscally irresponsible.”