Thread: Two Tea Party Factions Need to Chill or Risk Losing It All

Two Tea Party Factions Need to Chill or Risk Losing It All in 2012

Apr 3, 2011 by James Hyde

2 Votes


Harry Reid, the demon at the gateway who won't let anything Republicans pass.

I preface this article by pledging my undying support for the Tea Party movement (TPM). It is one of the greatest causes in contemporary political history; the manifestation of the next-generation “Silent Majorityâ€

More from Drscoundrels..

YES!!! Now THERE Are Some Freaking Budget Cuts! Didn’t We Tell You?

Apr 3, 2011 by drscoundrels

5 Votes


Let's see - this budget @ 1.65 trillion DEFICIT spending from Obama - or Ryan's?

Paul Ryan has come through with flying colors according to all the rumors already floating around about the budget that is about to release on Tuesday.

At least 4 Trillion cut over the next 10 years.

At least.

According to Douglas K. Daniel with the Associated Press:

A Republican plan for the 2012 budget would cut more than $4 trillion over the next decade, more than even the president’s debt commission proposed, with spending caps as well as changes in the Medicare and Medicaid health programs, its principal author said Sunday.

The spending blueprint from Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is to be released Tuesday. It deals with the budget year that begins Oct. 1, not the current one that is the subject of negotiations aimed at preventing a partial government shutdown on Friday.

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,â€

The shutdown battle: 10 things to watch
By Bob Cusack - 04/03/11 08:45 PM ET

The forecast on Capitol Hill this week calls for brinksmanship, heated rhetoric and a climactic ending that could have a major impact on the 2012 elections.

With less than a week to go before the April 8 government shutdown deadline, the Obama administration and House Republican leaders have indicated a deal is within reach. But details are scarce as both sides haven’t publicly agreed on how much funding should be cut for the remainder of the fiscal year. More importantly, it’s unclear which controversial policy riders will be included in a final deal.

Some lawmakers have told The Hill they expect the government to shut down on Saturday.

Here are 10 things to watch in what surely will be a frenetic and defining week of the 112th Congress:

1: The riders

Politically, the number of cuts is nothing compared to the controversial amendments attached to the House-passed bill. Clearly, they are the biggest hurdles to getting a deal. The right and the left are pressing Congress on various amendments, most notably on defunding the healthcare reform bill and Planned Parenthood. The White House and Democratic leaders have said those riders are dealbreakers.

2: Cracks in party unity

If a deal is reached, the left and the right won’t like it and the tension will test party unity. Last week, eyebrows on Capitol Hill were raised when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ruled out another short-term continuing resolution while Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) kept the option on the table.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last month voted against a two-week stop-gap spending bill while Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) backed it. That dynamic could be in play again, but the media’s attention will be on the Republican side of the aisle, specifically on: Will Tea Party lawmakers in the House and Senate break from their leaders on a grand bargain?

3: Presidential politics

A bipartisan deal will include funding for healthcare reform so GOP leaders should be expecting criticism from 2012 White House hopefuls. “They’ll all have to attack it,â€

Email from Jim DeMint




Dear Fellow Conservative:

Last week, I joined many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate at a press conference to announce the introduction of a new Constitutional Amendment to force Congress to stop the debt and balance the budget.

If passed by the House and Senate and ratified by the states, the new Balanced Budget Amendment will:

Force Congress to balance the federal budget each year;
Limit federal spending to no more than 18 percent of GDP; and
Prevent tax increases

Furthermore, the only way for Congress to get around these limitations is with a 2/3 super-majority vote in the House and Senate to waive them.

Thanks to the hard work of conservatives like Senator Mike Lee of Utah and Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the new Balanced Budget Amendment has the support of every Republican in the Senate.

As you know, getting Republicans to unite behind the right policy is a difficult thing to do. Today's announcement is a remarkable achievement that would not have been accomplished without the leadership of the new Senators you helped elect last year.

But agreeing on the right policy is not enough to save our country. Republicans also have to be willing to fight to enact that policy, even if it means sacrificing their political careers.

Republicans will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass the new Balanced Budget Amendment when President Obama and the Democrats in Congress try to raise the national debt ceiling.

If we're willing to draw a line in the sand and refuse to increase the debt limit unless the House and Senate pass the new Balanced Budget Amendment, we can win a major victory for the American people and begin the process of stopping the massive spending, takeovers and debt that are destroying our country.

DEBT LIMIT STRATEGY

Democrat Leader Harry Reid will have to find 60 votes to increase the debt limit. There are 53 Democrats in the Senate today but at least 8 of them know that voting with Reid will guarantee their defeat in the 2012 elections. That means Reid will have to find up to 15 Republicans to raise the debt limit.

Can he do it? Not if you stop him.

The immediate strategy for our nation's financial future is very simple. Republicans must hold firm and vote against the debt limit increase unless Congress passes the Balanced Budget Amendment. It's balance, or bust. No BBA, no debt limit increase.



Freedom-loving Americans across the country need to stop what they are doing and urge their Senators to "Stop the Debt and Balance the Budget." Furthermore, your elected leaders need to know that you will oppose them in their next election if they vote to increase the debt limit without first passing the Balanced Budget Amendment.

Urge Your Senators to Fight the Debt Limit

We need to make it harder for Harry Reid to find 60 votes to raise the debt limit than to find 67 votes to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment. And we must persist in our effort until Democrats are forced to support this commonsense approach.

This is very important and will require our full attention. Some of my Republican colleagues in the Senate don't want to fight the debt limit. Others are working to find a fig leaf to give themselves cover to vote for another increase. But these half-measures will not balance the budget.

I've heard some critics within my own party say we can't pass a Balanced Budget Amendment. Why not? Why, when government spending threatens to bring our country to its knees, is it easier for politicians to raise our nation's debt than to balance our budget?

Will any Democrat in Washington lose their next election because they voted to balance the budget? No. Not a single one. They just don't want to let go of the programs that increase their own power and make Americans dependent on Washington. It's time for Republicans to man up and force Harry Reid to deliver the votes to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment.

We were nine Democrats short when the Senate voted on this question last month. If Harry Reid and his party don't want to produce the votes needed to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, Republicans should make them explain that to the American people.

Enough is enough. It's time to fight for our freedoms. It's time to stop the debt and balance the budget.

Thank you for your continued encouragement and support. Together, we can take back our government and secure the future for our great country.

Respectfully,
Jim DeMint
Jim DeMint
United States Senator
Chairman, Senate Conservatives Fund

P.S. Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote a powerful column for the Wall Street Journal last week explaining why he will oppose the debt limit. Senator Rubio writes that "this may be our last chance to force Washington to tackle the central economic issue of our time." He's right. Now let's make sure Republicans don't miss this opportunity.

Urge Your Senators to Fight the Debt Limit

Senate Conservatives Fund is a political action committee dedicated to electing true conservatives to the United States Senate. SCF seeks to bring bold conservative leadership to Washington by supporting only the most rock-solid, conservative Senate candidates nationwide.

Contribute

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Kathyet

This came in a morning email from the Hill this budget things is getting interesting...




GOP freshmen face big shutdown decision: fight or fall in line
By Russell Berman - 04/04/11 05:54 AM ET

Each of the 87 House Republican freshmen faces the same choice heading into the climactic week of the 2011 budget battle — to fight or fall in line.

The freshman class, vaunted for its unprecedented size and its Tea-Party ties, has been caught between party leadership nudging it toward compromise on one end and anti-spending activists clamoring for a clash on the other.

In the coming days, fresh GOP faces will have to decide whether or not to support spending cuts likely to be a far cry from what they had demanded.

The freshmen began the spending skirmish as the instigators: their demand for deeper cuts sent Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and GOP leaders back to the drawing board, resulting in a House bill that would slash $61 billion from federal spending — nearly twice the amount leadership had initially proposed.

Six weeks later, the stalemate goes on, delivering a sobering reality check to the increasingly frustrated insurgents.

“I had hoped we would be finished with this debate by now,â€

Between the lines Joseph Farah

Why are Repubs afraid of shutdown?
Posted: April 02, 2011
1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are planning to shut down the government in a week or so in hopes of scaring Republicans into agreeing to more modest cuts in spending.

More modest?

The cuts Republicans have put on the table are far too little, far too late.

Republicans should not fear a Democrat-induced government shutdown. They should welcome it. They should welcome the opportunity to get on TV and explain what a tiny percentage of the budget is actually being cut – miniscule, meaningless.

They need to make the case directly to the American people that real budgetary reform is needed to keep America from going broke.

And, most of all, they should recognize that no amount of negotiating with Democrats is ever going to get them anywhere.

So where does that leave them?

With control of the House, Republicans have a secret weapon they need to deploy – not just as a bluff for more modest concessions from Democrats, but as an act of fiscal necessity.

That weapon is a no vote on raising the debt limit.

No bargaining is necessary. No negotiating with Democrats is necessary. All they have to do is vote no and Congress will be forced to cut the budget in draconian ways for the first time in American history.

What are they waiting for?

They're waiting for you to give them permission.

That's what the "No More Red Ink" campaign is all about.

It's working, too. The campaign has sent nearly 1 million letters to House Republicans so far urging them to vote no on raising the debt limit. Since the campaign started, more and more House Republicans are getting on board.

Two weeks ago, it was 122. Today it is 142. We need 218 votes in the next two weeks.

(Column continues below)




But it's really up to you.

I know it seems hard to believe that House Republicans hold all the cards, but they do. You won't hear about it anywhere else. This is the deep, dark secret the media establishment would like you not to comprehend. There's been virtually a media blackout on the idea that Republicans alone can stop the borrowing madness – without any help from Democrats.

Time is short, however. The vote on the debt limit will be coming up soon – possibly in the next two to three weeks.

Only the American people stand in the way of Republicans surrendering their secret weapon for good.

I honestly know of no other vehicle for rallying their support for this action than the "No More Red Ink" campaign. No one else is doing anything – not even the tea-party groups.

So let's start our own tea-party movement right here and now.

Who says we can't do it?

I am convinced that another million letters to House Republicans in the next two weeks will make all the difference in the world.

Most House Republicans want to do the right thing.

They just need encouragement from you.

Even the leadership will come along if the membership swings the right way.

Republicans control 241 votes, and it only takes 218 to stop the borrowing forever.

If you haven't yet joined the "No More Red Ink" campaign, will you do it now?

You will kick yourself later if we come up short by a few votes – and it looks awfully close right now. Even a few Democrats are pledging to vote no, but only Republican votes are necessary.

This could be historic.

Be a part of that history by joining in the "No More Red Ink" campaign today.


http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=282045



Kathyet

Shut it down, period! Quit playing the role of apologists or trying to make excuses for why the party needs to play to the "status quo" until the party wins the other branches.

Also I noticed NOT ONE word about defunding Obamacare.

Put on the big boy panties and do your job!

The dictate was given, get on with it, quit making excuses!

The word is out, YOU were not sent there to play politics as usual, it was for change we can BELIEVE in!

SHUT IT DOWN!

Roundabout wrote:

Also I noticed NOT ONE word about defunding Obamacare.

1: The riders

Politically, the number of cuts is nothing compared to the controversial amendments attached to the House-passed bill. Clearly, they are the biggest hurdles to getting a deal. The right and the left are pressing Congress on various amendments, most notably on defunding the healthcare reform bill and Planned Parenthood. The White House and Democratic leaders have said those riders are dealbreakers.

The Republicans are attempting to defund the healthcare reform bill.

Originally Posted by Mickey

Roundabout wrote:

Also I noticed NOT ONE word about defunding Obamacare.

[quote:3sbvir3h]1: The riders

Politically, the number of cuts is nothing compared to the controversial amendments attached to the House-passed bill. Clearly, they are the biggest hurdles to getting a deal. The right and the left are pressing Congress on various amendments, most notably on defunding the healthcare reform bill and Planned Parenthood. The White House and Democratic leaders have said those riders are dealbreakers.

The Republicans are attempting to defund the healthcare reform bill.[/quote:3sbvir3h]

Well guess what if they shut down the government because they can't come to a budget agreement there will be no money to fund it problem solved ....they can't come to an agreement over 2011 budget can you imagine what will be up next 2012 starts in JUNE.


Kathyet

Mickey wrote,

The Republicans are attempting to defund the healthcare reform bill.

The question is, how earnest are they?

When I look at how the health care debate went, I have no remorse for those not willing to play hardball now.

Shut it down for six months and I could care less.

There was no compromise on the dems part during the "debate?" so, play ball,....hardball.

To be perfectly honest with you Mickey, I believe both parties wanted the health care bill. It was the American people who have been shocked and awakened and now the hard choices are deal breakers and present difficulties for both parties. Perhaps as time goes on a third party will rise and enter the fray............one can always "Hope."