AFP-NJ plans rally at Capitol for lame-duck session

examiner.com ^ | November 9, 2010 | Terry Hurlbut

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The last session of the 111th Congress will begin on Monday, November 15, and the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity intends to be there in force.

Mike Proto, spokesman for Americans for Prosperity/New Jersey, announced this morning that AFP-NJ will participate in a nationwide rally on November 15, at 12:00 noon EST, on the West Lawn of the Capitol. The theme of the rally will be, "November Speaks."

AFP-NJ Director Steve Lonegan said that the message of the rally would be simple:

The people have spoken and we will not tolerate ramming through your liberal agenda in the wake of last week’s historic defeat at the polls.

Pronto, in his press release, cited this article by Connie Hair at Human Events, describing a number of items rumored to be on the agenda in this session, projected to end at Thanksgiving. They include: 1. Bailouts of certain multi-employer union pension plans, 2. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, 3. Repeal of the military's policies on open homosexuals serving in the ranks ("Don't Ask; Don't Tell"), and 4. Federal funding of embryonic stem-cell (ESC) research.

In addition, Congress is supposed to take up the continuance of current individual and corporate income-tax rates. If Congress does not act, tax rates for all Americans will revert to status quo ante 2001. That includes the estate tax, which will return with its top marginal rate of 55 percent and its exemption threshold of $1 million.

The AFP press release also warned that the Waxman-Markey/Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade act, and the so-called Employer Free Choice Act ("card check"), will come up in Congress. But Hair indicated that the chances for passage of these last two measures were extremely slim.

Lonegan added,

This Congress has governed with complete disregard for the

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Community organizing, New Jersey style.