House Cloakroom Analysis: A recent Gallup poll shows the mounting debt tops American fears and yet Congress continues to pursue legislation that would deepen the debt crisis. This week the House will move to consider legislation intended to increase the availability of credit to small businesses but with a price tag of $33 billion with no offsets made to pay for the program it will only grow the level of our unsustainable debt. Additionally, one should question the necessity of this measure when it clearly duplicates efforts made in the …
United States Senators went on record this afternoon and the result was unfortunate. 53 Senators voted against a resolution offered by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) that would have disapproved of the Environmental Protection Agency’s backdoor global warming regulations. Today’s outcome was a victory for anti-growth environmentalists, but a devastating loss for the American people. The EPA’s regulations will marginalize any potential economic recovery by making investment and job creation more expensive. Why? Because the costs of regulation are staggering. The EPA estimates the average permit will cost applicants $125,000 and …
House Cloakroom: May 17 – 21 House Analysis: The House potentially has a full plate this week as Leadership tries to clear it’s plate before leaving for Memorial Day recess. For a second week in a row the House failed to pass the Competes Act, which would authorize $48 billion over three years (originally $85.6 billion over five years) for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and research programs at the Department of Energy. Despite many Republican concerns that the bill spends too much, creates …
House Cloakroom: May 10 – 14 House Analysis: Last week the House passed a bill to authorize $6.6 billion for its cash for caulkers program reminiscent of last years cash for clunkers program. This week they are taking the spending to a whole new level with an $82.5 billion authorization bill for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and research programs at the Department of Energy. On top of the spending there are also other concerns including how this duplicates efforts already going on in the …
House Cloakroom: April 26-30 Once again the major issues for the week will be on the Senate side with possible consideration of a financial regulation overhaul bill and the possible introduction of a climate change bill by Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman. The House will be taking up three smaller measures this week focusing on misspent federal funds, defense acquisition, and Puerto Rico. Though the defense acquisition bill received complete bi-partisan support out of the House Armed Services Committee and is lauded as a bill that would save taxpayers billions …
Speaking to Politico, John Kerry told them it was up to Harry Reid to pass Cap-and-Trade In the end, it will be Sen. Reid’s responsibility, as majority leader, to put the pieces together as he did on health care and to decide how the Senate is going to proceed. In other words, the Senate plans to force sweeping, expensive, job-destroying changes to America’s energy policy in much the same way they forced ObamaCare upon unwilling Americans. Next week, Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) plan …
Americans always deserve a fully transparent and deliberative legislative process. The current Congress has thoroughly abused Senate and House rules. Furthermore, Congress breached the trust of the American people by passing Obamacare, which the American people vigorously opposed. Let us all hope that the ratification of the new START treaty follows a different path. Americans ought to have an opportunity to participate in the ratification debate, including open Congressional hearings, amendments and extended debate. Many Americans are rightly concerned the new START treaty will undermine our national security and, in …
House Cloakroom: April 12 – 16 Analysis: After a two week recess the House eases its way back into work with a light week full of suspension bills. However, if the Senate is able to finish up its work extending provisions such as unemployment insurance, COBRA, and the Doc Fix those items could possibly, though not likely, be seen on the floor this week as well. Additionally, the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stevens could possibly put many of the legislative priorities for Congress and the administration in flux over …
House Cloakroom: March 15 – 21, 2010 Analysis: It’s crunch time on health care. The Budget Committee will meet Monday to start marking up a shell of a Reconciliation Bill. The Rules Committee will then meet as early as Wednesday to hollow out whatever the Budget Committee passed and then insert a new bill from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office. The Majority is still planning to use the “Slaughter Rule” that would allow the House to pass the Senate health care bill without voting on it. Final votes are expected …
Kudos to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) for recognizing that current “rhetoric and legislation [which] are focused primarily at climate change” are out of step with the concerns of most Americans. A January poll by Pew Research Center found “dealing with global warming ranks at the bottom of the public’s list of priorities; just 28% consider this a top priority.” The Senator frames his new approach in this way:
