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Today House Republicans Are Set To Approve Barack Obama’s Latest Stimulus Plan
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/02/14/today-house-republicans-are-set-to-approve-barack-obamas-la ^ | 2/14/2012 | Erick Erickson

Posted on 02/14/2012 5:48:04 AM PST by IbJensen

It is sad that we have gotten here, but House Republicans, including conservative stalwarts like Jim Jordan of Ohio, are set to pass Barack Obama’s latest stimulus plan. Except they are calling it John Boehner’s “Highway Bill.” Consider, however that Barack Obama’s budget, unveiled yesterday, calls for much of the same infrastructure spending the House Republicans want.

There is a reason the Heritage Action for America, Club for Growth, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and other conservative organizations are opposed to this spending spree. It is not conservative. It should not be Republican. It is Barack Obama style spending. Call your Congressman today at 202-224-3121 and tell him to oppose H.R. 7, the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act.

Last week, when I pointed this out, I handed the front page over to Brendan Buck, Speaker Boehner’s Press Secretary, to rebut my claims. I would say he more than proved that this is, in fact, Barack Obama’s latest stimulus scheme hiding behind John Boehner’s name.

Consider first that this highway bill “expands domestic energy production and puts in place a long-term plan for America’s infrastructure that is controlled by the states and completely paid for –without raising the gas tax.” Why would a highway bill focus on energy production? Well, first because it is called a sweetener designed to woo conservatives to vote for it. Second because “the gas tax does not generate enough revenue to meet all the infrastructure needs in America.”

There you have it. Instead of opening up American land to energy production and using that energy production to pay down the national debt, we will instead jack up highway spending, bankrupt the highway trust fund as a result, and then use the energy taxes to offset the project funding. Oh, and even better, the House GOP has an accounting “score” that claims they won’t bankrupt the Highway Trust Fund. How’s that? Well, just like how Democrats took all the major budget busting provisions out of Obamacare and put them in separate legislation so it looked like Obamacare actually decreased the deficit, House Republicans have decided to take mass transit funding and pay for it out of the general fund of taxpayer dollars instead of paying for it out of the Highway Trust Fund. So it makes it look like the Highway Trust Fund won’t go bankrupt!

Accounting gimmicks — they’re not just for socializing the American healthcare industry any more.

This is the key. As noted in the rebuttal to my original claims, “the gas tax does not generate enough revenue to meet all the infrastructure needs in America.” But rewind the clock to just last July when Congressman John Mica (R-FL HAFA Score 66%) passed a highway spending bill out of his committee that spent no more than what the gas tax raised. In other words, House Republicans have taken us from being able to spend as much as the gas tax raised to bankrupting the Highway Trust Fund and requiring domestic energy production fees to offset the spending binge.

This is what smaller government looks like to House Republicans.

Even worse, in the rebuttal we learn “Currently, only about two-thirds of federal highway dollars go back to the states for them to control. Under this bill, it will be 93%. What’s more, for the first time in three decades, ALL of the gas tax revenue – the user fee paid by every motorist on the highways – will go to core highway programs.”

The first question is if we can get to 93%, why not 100% and get Congress out of the business of dictating local and state highway projects? But more so, note that all of the gas tax revenue will go to core highway programs. All of it. And Congress will keep spending beyond all the gas tax revenue.

This is madness. This is Barack Obama style stimuli and Barack Obama style accounting. It reminds me of the unemployment chart showing where unemployment would be with and without Barack Obama’s stimulus plan. After the plan passed, unemployment was even higher than Obama said it would get without his stimulus plan.

The House Republicans are relying on five year estimates of revenues generated from energy production to hide just how bankrupt they will leave the Highway Trust Fund with this spending binge. And in five years, none of us will be surprised when reality comes in less than the estimates.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Government
KEYWORDS: obozo; republicrats; sourcetitlenoturl; stupidparty; timeforthirdparty
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To: yoe
Obama Seeks New Taxes on Rich A1
Front page of WSJ today.

No, you don't get it. If nothing is done, in TWO WEEKS, the Social Security Income Taxes will go up and the Republicans will be blamed by the ObamaMedia.

21 posted on 02/14/2012 8:02:49 AM PST by sr4402
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To: IbJensen; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; stephenjohnbanker; DoughtyOne; calcowgirl; Gilbo_3; NFHale; ..

Geeze, remember these guys were going to repeal Obama-care, reform medicare and generally cut spending?
Now they are running scared, dancing to Obama’s tune.

It seems that if Pelosi was still Speaker much could be still blocked in the Senate now and Obama and Dems would be getting the blame instead of Republicans, who could vote NO instead of going along with Obama like they are now. What did we get?


22 posted on 02/14/2012 8:06:40 AM PST by sickoflibs (You MUST support the lesser of two RINOs or we all die!)
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To: silverleaf

“WTF is going on with Boehner?”

He is a holdover from the last Big Spending GOP Era.

I raised a ruckus about him after the midterm wins...we needed new blood and some Teaparty tannin in the House Leadership.

We need to boot the fake TP people like Haley out and start fresh. That includes new leadership.

Boehner is in the same crew that betrayed Gingrich...I don’t know what people expected.


23 posted on 02/14/2012 8:15:11 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Conservative Economic and National Security Commentary: econus.blogspot.com)
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To: sickoflibs
What did we get?

screwed...

more kabuki ???

SSDD...

leviathon...

another opportunity to realize that the mask is off, and that the founder anticipated everything we see today, and Jefferson urged us to force the servants to actually serve, rather than rule???

24 posted on 02/14/2012 8:28:43 AM PST by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)
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To: Jim Noble
After 2009 and the run up to 2010...yes I do believe it.

We can, and really simply must double down on 2010 in 2012.

If we do not, it will ultimately take us to a financial melt down, civil unrest, a resulting tyrnical government...and ultimately CW2, with all the hell and misery, death, destrruction, chaos, and risk that goes with it.

25 posted on 02/14/2012 8:32:33 AM PST by Jeff Head (Liberty is not free. Never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Gilbo_3; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; DoughtyOne; calcowgirl; Impy; Pan_Yans Wife; BufordP; ...

The mazing thing is that in 2009 and 2010 we had Republicans pretty much holding firm and opposing Obama, even the NE RINOs Collins, Snow and Brown voted no for much of Obama’s agenda.

But Republicans (most here) couldnt wait for congressional Republicans to score a big electoral win, a new day would dawn and Obama’s bill would all be repealed. So now instead of the almost universal opposition to Obama the ‘conservative’ Republican congress is being whipped into serving him over and over.


26 posted on 02/14/2012 8:41:33 AM PST by sickoflibs (You MUST support the lesser of two RINOs or we all die!)
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To: Gilbo_3; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; DoughtyOne; calcowgirl; Impy; Pan_Yans Wife; BufordP; ...

Look Gilb, maybe winning the house didnt work out as promised with House Republican majority now doing Obama’s bidding , compared to 2010 as minority when they opposed mostly everything, but just git a Republican POTUS in the WH and everything will get fixed, this time, not kidding, they are serious this time...it wont be another GWB either, they learned their lesson..


27 posted on 02/14/2012 8:49:00 AM PST by sickoflibs (You MUST support the lesser of two RINOs or we all die!)
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To: sickoflibs; All

Some of us have addressed the issue of the Republican Party coming to an end. When we have, others have scoffed and ridiculed. What they are addressing, and reasonably so, is the physical party itself. They can’t see the entity coming to an end. I do think that is coming unless drastic course corrects are made, but lets look at this a different way.

In real terms the Republican Party is not functioning today, in any real sense. Oh yes, it gets people elected to office, but it DOES NOT oppose Leftist policy and strike down Leftist legislation. It is not blunting Obama’s goals. It is rolling over on issue after issue.

You’re quite right, has the Republican House taken measures to strike down ObamaCare? No. Has it taken measures to strike down major tenets, to cripple the worst parts of it? Perhaps on an isolated point or two, but overall, not really. ObamaCare is lumbering towards implementation.

States, Insurance companies, the private sector business community, everyone is preparing for, and bracing for ObamaCare to be fully implemented.

The Unemployment extension is not opposed on the merits of it. At this point it is a fate accompli. They’re going to haggle over the exact details, but it’s going to be extended.

It’s gotten so bad that Obama has now openly stolen the issue of payroll tax reductions, and is berating and belittling Congress for not passing it already.

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news folks, but for all intents and purposes, the Republican Party no longer functions. We may accidentally back into the Oval Office this year, but tell me we had a staunch Republican Conservative that was well polished and I’ll join others to laugh at you.

Look at the field of candidates we were presented with in a year when we had the best chance in fifty years to set up a situation where we could roll back Leftist legislation for the good of the nation.

We have very few leaders representing our views in Washington, D. C. The only entity in the nation that doesn’t know this, is the RNC.

We must have an alternative to the two Leftist political parties in Washington, D. C.

I am not advocating a third party bid for the White House here. It’s not time for that. It is time we woke up and faced what we need to do.


28 posted on 02/14/2012 8:53:45 AM PST by DoughtyOne (Abortion? No. Gov't heath care? No. Gore on warming? No. McCain on immigration? No.)
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To: IbJensen
My suggestion for a new symbol for the current Republican Party....

A tortured, twisted path to a total cave


29 posted on 02/14/2012 8:55:33 AM PST by sjmjax (Politicans are like bananas - they start out green, turn yellow, then rot.)
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To: DoughtyOne

“”Look at the field of candidates we were presented with in a year when we had the best chance in fifty years to set up a situation where we could roll back Leftist legislation for the good of the nation.

We have very few leaders representing our views in Washington, D. C. The only entity in the nation that doesn’t know this, is the RNC.””

Exactly!


30 posted on 02/14/2012 11:00:04 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: sickoflibs

A proper right-wing party could conceivably wipe both of these enemy parties out!


31 posted on 02/14/2012 3:13:24 PM PST by IbJensen ("The heart of the wise inclines to the right")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks sickoflibs.


32 posted on 02/14/2012 7:28:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: IbJensen; ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas; DoughtyOne; Gilbo_3; Impy; calcowgirl; org.whodat; dforest; ..
RE :”A proper right-wing party could conceivably wipe both of these enemy parties out!

That sounds like something I heard Rush say.

Decades ago I was a huge Rush fan but I sometimes really wonder what he is up to. Like most conservative cult heroes he benefits the most when Dems are in power, as long as he is not seen as helping them.

Late last year Rush was beating the drums for House Republicans to fight this FICA tax battle, saying that it must be paid for with spending cuts. Yet a year earlier during the fight to extend the Bush tax cuts he told listeners that Republicans should NEVER accept the idea that tax cuts must be paid for with spending cuts, because tax cuts they always pay for themselves.

This is exactly why Republicans trapped themselves on this issue. If all tax cuts really pay for themselves, then it makes perfect sense to take the SS money from general revenue, but that is coming from increasing the national debt anyway.

33 posted on 02/14/2012 8:18:00 PM PST by sickoflibs (You MUST support the lesser of two RINOs or we all die!)
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