Posted on 07/23/2005 11:26:57 PM PDT by RWR8189
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who has been publicly vague about whether he will give up the reins at the end of this Congress, told a group of supporters last week that he plans to run again and serve as speaker for the rest of President Bush's second term.
Republican officials said they are relieved by the development because it postpones what is likely to be a brutal succession fight that would be a distraction from next year's midterm elections, which are historically tough for the party in power, and from Bush's domestic agenda, which is already having a tough time on Capitol Hill.
Hastert, 63, is criticized for sometimes failing to force tough decisions but is credited with having the patience and moral authority to push members of an occasionally fractious caucus to reach pragmatic consensus. Hastert was first elected in 1986 and is serving his ninth term in the House. He has recently embarked on several high-profile fundraising swings, including an appearance for Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), a moderate who sometimes bucks the conservative leadership.
Most politicians make such an announcement with fanfare. But Hastert revealed his plans at a fundraiser that was closed to the media.
Ron Bonjean, Hastert's communications director, said the speaker told an audience of about 80 at the Chicago Club on Monday that he will run again "at the urging of his constituents and the president." The audience responded with a standing ovation, according to an attendee.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hastert should not do this. His ACU ratings are fine, but he allows the whole House to spend like a drunken sailor!
Somebody should challenge him BIG TIME!
Very good news.
"at the urging of his constituents and the president."
Why? For bringing the pork home! I wonder what percentage of the Highway funding bill goes to Chicago.
Republicans should not be porkers!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed that the whole of the GOP has gone on a spending binge.
But I don't think it matters who we elect anymore.
They are all depending on a SCOTUS which will stop them, not doing jack to stop the spending. Even Bush. And the electorate certainly isn't stopping them, either. Everyone seems to be eager for SOMEONE to do the heavy lifting for them, someone to pin the blame on and get them out of trouble for making the cuts required to get the federal govenrment back to reality.
That's why this SCOTUS appointment is so important. And why I'm so unhappy we don't know for sure where Roberts stands on the proper limitations of constitutional federal government.
Wait a sec..isn't Pelosi guaranteeing that the dems will win the House..?
as a conservative republican I have absolutely no confidence in either Hastert nor Frist.
What have they done?
Spend like crazy and get rolled by dims.
Good news. He has kept the House in line.
As far as spending goes, there are exceptions, but they were Bush's programs (like education and prescription drugs) which the House and Senate passed. By in large, the House has kept spending down, except for defense. If you take the defense buildup out of the equation, they are doing well. Just the normal pork which we all ask for, BTW.
Remember, the budget was "balanced" on the body of the Defense Department. We are paying for that mistake now.
Umm I don't think it's the House that has the spending problem so much. And people, before you kneejerk accuse perfectly decent Republicans of porking, think about it. Chicago isn't even near Hastert's district silly. I live about 3 miles away from the edge of his district and visit places there often, and trust me when I say, if their is a lot of pork spending going there, you certainly don't see it!
Been a while since you've done anything Denny. Put on your game face.
All...I repeat...All spending is controlled and originates in the House of Representatives. Check your Constitutional separations of powers.
Congressman Hastert has presided over a huge increase in federal spending, even after taking into account the War on Terror, Prescription Drug Bill, etc. We, the Republicans in Washington, are spending money in many areas Bill Clinton would have only dreamed of, and lots he would be proud of.
What happened to all the money we were going to save through Welfare reform? I would like to see proof of reduction in the HEW bureaucracy.
Only research can tell us whether $$$ of undue need have gone to his district. I would bet some of the orgs like Americans for Tax Reform would know where to look. What about all the leads uncovered by the Grace Commission and ignored by the Democrats?
Here is a URL by the Heritage Foundation on budget cuts:
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed022305a.cfm
Lots of wasted funds out there...Multi Billions...and the House and Senate Republicans have lost steam on its pursuit.
It is old fashioned club politics to always want the Top Dog leader from your town, city or at least state.
That is why he got a standing ovation. Come on, everyone knows Chicago is a good ole boy city with a tremendous history of dirty politics and buying and selling of votes.
How does one think Durbin and Obama got in? Republicans, conservatives and libertarians have lots of work to do out there!
Agreed...glad to see him interested in stayin in the thick of it. Seems like he's got the usual solid support from his team...Maj Whip Blunt is backing him up...that's def a power player team in DC. I love it!
I ask you now about the highway bill...
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-highway-projects,0,6603638,print.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
Text below:
Highway Bill Full of Special Projects
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
August 2, 2005, 11:14 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- When President Eisenhower proposed the first national highway bill, there were two projects singled out for funding. The latest version has, by one estimate, 6,371 of these special projects, a record that some say politicians should be ashamed of.
The projects in the six-year, $286.4 billion highway and mass transit bill passed by Congress last week range from $200,000 for a deer avoidance system in Weedsport, N.Y., to $330 million for a highway in Bakersfield., Calif.
For the beneficiaries -- almost every member of Congress -- they bring jobs and better quality lives to their communities and states. To critics, they are pork barrel spending at its worst.
"Egregious and remarkable," exclaimed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., about the estimated $24 billion in the bill set aside for highways, bus stops, parking lots and bike trails requested by lawmakers.
McCain, one of only four senators to oppose the bill, listed several dozen "interesting" projects, including $480,000 to rehabilitate a historic warehouse on the Erie Canal and $3 million for dust control mitigation on Arkansas rural roads.
His favorite, he said, was $2.3 million for landscaping on the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California. "I wonder what Ronald Reagan would say."
Reagan, in fact, vetoed a highway bill over what he said were spending excesses, only to be overridden by Congress. Meanwhile, according to a Cato Institute analysis, special projects or "earmarks" numbered 10 in 1982, 152 in 1987, 538 in 1991 and 1,850 in 1998. The 1998 highway act set aside some $9 billion for earmarks, well under half the newest plan.
"This bill will be known as the most earmarked transportation bill in the history of our nation," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy for Taxpayers for Common Sense, which tracks such projects in congressional legislation.
President Bush also threatened to veto the measure over spending issues, and it took nearly two years for Congress to reach a compromise that the White House would accept.
Deciding how much will go to earmarks, however, is very much up to Congress, and few lawmakers are willing to turn down a new road or bridge in their district.
"Nothing beats a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a new piece of pavement," said Peter Sepp, spokesman for National Taxpayers Union. "Road projects are regarded as a kind of government jobs program that Republicans can safely embrace."
Lawmakers were sending out press releases bragging of their accomplishments even before the bill was passed, said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. "It's a symbol of why everything else is out of control, not just highways."
The biggest beneficiaries tend to be the lawmakers with the biggest clout.
Alaska, the third-least populated state, got the fourth most in earmarks, $941 million, thanks largely to the work of its lone representative, Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young. That included $231 million for a bridge near Anchorage to be named "Don Young's Way" in honor of the Republican.
Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., nailed down $630 million, including $330 million for the Centennial Corridor Loop in Bakersfield, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The highway bill is one area where the minority Democrats aren't forgotten. Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, top Democrat on the Transportation Committee, listed 57 projects totaling $121 million he won for his district, from $8 million for a highway project to $560,000 for the Paul Bunyon State Trail.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said in a press release that he had "used his seniority" on the Transportation Committee to gain $16 million for the eponymous Nick J. Rahall II Appalachian Transportation Institute at Marshall University.
Not every lawmaker came seeking gifts. Two conservative Republicans from Arizona, Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, wrote Young asking that the $14 million the committee was allotting to each House member for earmarks be sent instead to the state transportation department.
Flake's office said that in the end he didn't take any projects, and Flake and Shadegg were two of only eight House members to vote against the bill.
* __
The bill is H.R. 3
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/
Taxpayers for Common Sense: http://www.taxpayer.net/
Citizens Against Government Waste: http://www.cagw.org/
National Taxpayers Union: http://www.ntu.org/
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
I ask you?
Quotable
"Here in Illinois, as the speaker mentioned, one of the key projects that he's been talking to me about for quite a while is what they call the 'Prairie Parkway.' I thought that might be in Texas. But, no, it's right here in Illinois."
-- President Bush, appearing last week with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) at the signing of a highway bill laden with projects for the districts of key lawmakers.
and so we see others saying...about the Highway bill that Hastert guided through...
Conservative icon Richard Viguerie has come out with all guns blazing against Washington Republicans, saying they've abandoned their conservative principles and risk defeat in the 2006 elections.
In an open letter addressed to "Conservative Leaders," Viguerie writes: "It has become increasingly clear that Republicans in Washington care little or nothing about grassroots conservatives and the values they hold dear.
"After we spent decades defeating the Rockefeller wing of the Party, it seems we have a new enemy - the Washington wing of the GOP. They're not just wasting money; they're actually massively growing government in direct contravention of everything Republicans purport to stand for."
Viguerie, a consultant and direct-mail specialist who helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1980, said Republicans are betraying conservatives who believe in limited government, lower taxes and modest spending.
"The highway bill just passed by our Republican Congress (with the president's blessing), at $286.4 BILLION is the most expensive public works legislation ever passed," he writes.
"The National Taxpayers Union put it best when describing one of the more offensive projects in the bill: ?$220 million for a 5.9-mile bridge connecting Gravina Island (population 50) to the Alaskan mainland. The cost of the bridge alone would be enough to buy every island resident his own personal Lear jet.'
"One can only be reminded of 1998 when the Republican Congress, just four years after taking power, went on a similar spending spree - only to watch grassroots activists desert them in November. The GOP lost House seats in the second midterm election of a Democratic president, a failure almost unheard of in American politics."
Viguerie urges conservatives to speak out about how Republicans have "betrayed" them, and "make clear that our interests, as conservatives, are being seriously undermined by this new political class: long-serving Republicans in Washington more interested in keeping power than doing right by the Constitution and the American people."
He asks: "When will the GOP learn that the party's success is directly tied to the level of commitment from its core base of conservative voters and activists?"
And he warns: "If these Washington Republicans continue to prove to conservatives that there really is no difference between them and Democrats ... they are headed for a disappointing election night in 2006."
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