Posted on 01/29/2009 5:31:08 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants
Thank you for contacting me about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
President Obama gets high marks for trying to bring change to Washington, but Congress isn't living up to its end of the bargain. In the face of millions of lost jobs and an economy that continues to shut down, the House passed a bill loaded with pet projects that won't provide the jobs Americans need.
Let me be clear: our economy needs immediate stimulus. That's why I called for Congress to pass President Obama's plan to cut regressive payroll taxes, invest in the nation's infrastructure and extend social insurance for Americans going through hard times. That plan would provide an immediate, much-needed jolt to our economy.
Unfortunately, some longtime House members saw the recovery plan as an opportunity to advance parochial political agendas. Some of these may have been good ideas, some may have been bad ideas-but we didn't get a chance to discuss them, and they weren't designed to help our economy recover in the short term. (Many of them contained new, long-term commitments.) President Obama delivered a bipartisan, win-win proposal, and Congress turned it into the rare lose-lose: a plan that may fail to stimulate the economy while saddling our children and grandchildren with unprecedented debt.
The Senate takes up this bill next, and already its price tag is growing. It will be a mistake to add more ornaments to this Christmas tree. Instead, we should pass the timely, targeted bill President Obama proposed: one that helps America start recovering from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Sincerely,
Jim Cooper Member of Congress
I hope you contacted him. Perhaps he’ll change parties.
That’s how I got the letter I posted. I also thanked him for voting against it.
You and I must be neighbors because Cooper’s my Congressman, too. I need to drop him an e-mail tomorrow giving him his due on this. Thanks.
I was raised up knowing the phrase “Yellow Dog” democrat meaning they
would vote for even a yellow dog if he was the democrat candidate.
But I keep hearing this “blue dog” democrat phrase
and I am not sure what it means.
I dunno... The way I read it, he seems to be in favor of zero’s “original” proposal, and charges that his colleagues in the House changed the content. I’m not sure how much the ‘original’ and the later versions differ.
I’m not sure where it came from, but it is a term for a moderate to conservative Democrat.
I was proud of my congressman, Parker Griffith. His “Blue Blood” is showing.
I’m going to contact Kohl and feingold, don’t hold your breath. They send canned letters constantly. It won’t hurt.
My “blue dog” voted for the monster. He is rated more liberal than Massa Obama.
What a damned liar he is.
From Wikipedia:
Origin of name “Blue Dog”
“Blue Dog Democrat” is playfully derived from the original term Yellow Dog Democrat. It was former Texas Democratic Rep. Pete Geren who said that the members had been “choked blue” by those “extreme” Democrats, from the left.[2] Thus, he is credited for coining the term Blue Dog Democrat.
The term is also a reference to the “Blue Dog” paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana. The original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom had Rodrigue’s paintings on their walls (and both of whom later switched to the Republican Party).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition
I took great enjoyment using the contact info here:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
to send two of our Congressmen thanks for not voting for “The Looters & Pillagers ‘Stimulus’ Bill,” and sending two more to our Senators urging them to have nothing to do with this abomination when it wends its way to their house.
Haven’t had so much fun since Impeachment...
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