Posted on 11/20/2011 3:17:23 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Lawmakers who've endorsed Rick Perry for president reacted warily to his plan for a part-time Congress and expressed concern about his proposal to cut their salaries in half.
In response to inquiries from The Hill, the lawmakers disagreed with some aspects of the plan but said they liked other parts, such as the idea of spending more time in their districts.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) vowed to continue to stand by Perry, although he wasn’t necessarily on board with all of the Texas governor's plans.
“I don’t anticipate that I’m going to agree with everything he says,” Inhofe said.
At issue was halving lawmaker pay, which according to Inhofe, could lead to an independently wealthy Congress run by “Rockefellers and people like that, many of whom don’t really have the sensitivities to the real world.”
According to Perry supporter Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), we might already be there.
“With campaign finance reform laws being the way they are now, with McCain-Feingold, you’re almost moving to that anyway because it’s so hard to raise money that you almost have moved to a situation where there is a political class that runs,” he said....
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
******************
Nov. 13, 2011: “Pelosi fires back at ‘60 Minutes’ report on ‘soft corruption’”
“Pelosi and her husband participated in an initial public offering of Visa in 2008, according to CBS. They bought 5,000 shares at the initial price of $44; two days later, shares were trading at $64, CBS said.”.......... Source
WWW.RICKPERRY.ORG
November 16, 2011
Dear Leader Pelosi,
After reading about House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s outburst over my “Overhauling Washington” plan, I wonder if his obstructionism reflects your own opposition and that of the Democratic Caucus to urgent reforms the American people so vehemently demand.
After increasing the debt by $4 trillion in less than three years, no one can believe that Americans are satisfied with business as usual, and that a permanent political class in Washington can get us out of the mess you and your colleagues have created.
A part-time Congress with half the pay would still make $38,000 a year more than the average American family. Do you truly oppose lawmakers spending more time in their districts? Is it so important for the Washington power brokers to build their fiefdoms of influence, including providing bailouts to Wall Street while businesses on Main Street are being boarded up every day?
Here is the fundamental question: do you believe Washington is broken? Before answering that question, consider these facts:
1) the Washington Metro area is now the most affluent metropolitan area in the country because lobbyists, contractors, elected officials and bureaucrats have been insulated from the economic ruin prevalent in the private sector;
2) Congressional office budgets have doubled since 2000 while employers all across America are laying off workers;
3) Our nation’s total debt is nearing the size of our nation’s economy, increasing our dependence on competitors like China;
4) The number of Americans out of work has increased by more than two million since January 2009, despite the massive stimulus package Democratic leaders promised would revive the economy, and;
5) on top of the job-killing spending policies of the previous Congress, employers are faced with a staggering $1.1 trillion in costs related to federal regulatory compliance.
Do you truly believe the answer to massive debt, over-regulation and bloated big-government policies is to continue to protect the status quo, which enriches and empowers Washington insiders at the expense of the American People?
My plan would overhaul Washington, eliminating certain agencies and reducing the size and scope of others. It will force Congress to make the tough decisions to balance the budget or require a further reduction in their pay. It would end lifetime appointments to future appointees to the federal bench. I don’t want to tinker around the edges when the American People demand a complete overhaul of Washington.
Let me conclude with an invitation: I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo. I think it would be a tremendous service to the American public to see a public airing of these differences. Let the people decide. If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.
Should you choose not to respond or engage in such a healthy discussion, I will take it to mean you will continue your obstructionist ways in the face of much needed Washington reform.
Sincerely,
Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
Uproot and Overhaul Washington
The Perry Plan: Energizing American Jobs and Security
The Perry Economic Plan: Cut, Balance and Grow
Hannity’s 3rd Freedom Concert - Perry on America heroes! 7 minute video
Nov. 11, 2011 VIDEO: Rick Perry interview Nov 11, 2011 in Columbia 25 minute video – starting around 4:00 – 12:00 Perry speaks at length about Iran, allies and national defense.
The President says Americans are Lazy [:31]
The only problem I have here is Discount Rick saying he’ll work for half the price.
That comes across with the same credibility as fringe candidates who say the same thing.
I hope you read the article. Most who were interviewed or gave a quote were supportive of the idea.
Does that make them fringe?
I like his plan. Texas does fine with a part-time legislature. Congress just meddles in our lives too much. I can understand why that upsets the politicians.
And we need terms limits on them, too.
Cutting pay is ridiculous gimmickry and doesn’t solve the real issues.
Unless you’re prepared to put term limits on staffers, you’ll end up leaving them as the power behind the throne.
I did read the article and what they support is not spending a lot of time in Washington, not the cut in pay.
The issue with the cut in pay is that, it can make people more vulnerable to corruption.
That isn’t to say that congressmen are under paid.
It isn't if they do half the damage and head home to their districts to work at least half of the year.
You can pick each thing apart but when taken as a whole, the picture is clear.
Gov Perry's 3-Part Agenda:
Perry: Uproot and Overhaul Washington
The Perry Plan: Energizing American Jobs and Security
The Perry Economic Plan: Cut, Balance and Grow
Smart, limited government works for Texas:
Right now they do a lot of damage and over-regulate every detail of our lives. Congresscritters have an overinflated sense of their own place in the grand scheme of things. They need to be brought down to size.
Perry says he'll cut his salary in half.
Leadership.
Gov. Rick Perry: ...........“I’m going to support the Republican nominee. That isn’t even a question,” said Perry. “Our country is on the precipice of a huge economic disaster and foreign policy wise none of our allies know where America is going to be on any given day. We’ve got huge issues facing this country today and [Obama’s] in Burma talking about relations with a country that — I’ll be real honest with you — I don’t know what America’s interest is there.”
He also criticized the president for delaying a decision on the 1,700-mile pipeline from Alberta to Texas until after the 2012 election so a study can be carried out with respect to its impact on an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska.
“That Canadian oil is going to go one of two ways,” said Perry. “It’s either going to go west to China or it’s going to go south to the United States. That’s not even a question about where that ought to be going. Our national security is in jeopardy with this president.”.......... Perry Pledges to Take Only Half Salary
I want to know who intends to limit the power of an increasingly dictatorial office of president.
So now you want us to believe congress critters? Yea, right. That will go over like a fart in a diving bell.
Right now I believe four of the Republicans, the four that voted against that awful “balanced on our backs” budget amendment. They stripped out all of the points like cap and balance that would have kept them from just raising taxes to cover their spending. It was tailor made for the Democrats and they were not smart enough to have taken it. Thank God most of them only read the title before voting for it.
The “congress critters” didn’t bring this up, Gov. Rick Perry did and some stepped up to agree with Perry that Congress is in D.C. WAY too much.
Hard to say those aren’t correct sentiments. But you called them farts in a diving bell. Why should they bother then? You get the government you deserve.
What Perry wants to do is reduce the need to go to Washington. What this means, in practical terms, is downloading more responsibility to the states, where it should have always been.
It may also mean, in practical terms, is that while Washington shrinks, state legislatures grow. But, because states are closer to the people, it’s less likely that they would become as corrupt as Washington.
I think Perry is your best bet, in that regard.
His record indicates an honest interest in reducing government and making it abide by its constitutional limits.
We know Romney won’t and Newt has had plenty of opportunity to put pressure on the House and Senate to do that and Cain, I think, is too inexperienced to know necessarily how to do that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.