Rep. Kelly: "Our policies make Houdini look like an amateur"

Spenditol

Disapproval Rate for Congress at Record 82% After Debt Talks

by Michael Cooper and Megan Thee-Brenan

The debate over raising the debt ceiling, which brought the nation to the brink of default, has sent disapproval of Congress to its highest level on record and left most Americans saying that creating jobs should now take priority over cutting spending, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977, and even more than after another political stalemate led to a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.

More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt-ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country. Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.

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Republicans turn Congress into 'clogged toilet'

by Josiah Ryan

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Friday that House Republicans were blocking the proper functioning of the lower chamber by debating a bill instructing committees to give closer scrutiny to regulations.

“What we will be doing is ignoring the people’s business of creating jobs and frankly putting ourselves in the role of a clogged toilet,” said Lee. “That means we are doing nothing. We are stuffed up.”

Republicans, flush with election victory, however, responded that clearing unneeded regulation was one important way to kick-start the economy and create jobs.

"The labyrinth that has become this nation's regulatory scheme, has exported jobs, imported litigation, all the while eroding the very limited amount of public trust that is left in the institutions of government," said Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). "While other Congresses may have delegated and abdicated, we must reclaim the responsibility to govern and legislate.”

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Voters say Democrats are more extreme than Republicans

by Rasmussen

Voters continue to feel the Republican agenda in Congress is less extreme than that of congressional Democrats.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters now describe the agenda of Republicans in Congress as mainstream, while nearly as many (38%) view it as extreme. Twenty percent (20%) are not sure. At the same time, 38% of voters think the agenda of Democrats in Congress is mainstream, while nearly half (49%) believe it is extreme. Thirteen percent (13%) remain undecided.

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Everybody hates Congress

Lowest approval rating in the history of approval ratings

by Jeffrey M. Jones

Americans' assessment of Congress has hit a new low, with 13% saying they approve of the way Congress is handling its job. The 83% disapproval rating is also the worst Gallup has measured in more than 30 years of tracking congressional job performance.


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Rep. Fred Upton Vows to End His Own Incandescent Bulb Ban

by Amanda Carey

Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan – the man running against Texas Rep. Joe Barton to be Chairman of the Energy and Commerce committee in the next Congress – has reversed his position on CFL light bulbs. The move is significant not only because Upton wants to be chairman of one of the House’s most powerful committees, but also because he championed the incandescent bulb ban and switch to CFLs just three short years ago.

Now, Upton says that if he becomes chair of the Energy Committee, he will help undo the law he was instrumental in getting passed. He even went a step further by admitting Congress can make mistakes – a candid admission that symbolizes Upton may be trying to solidify his conservative credentials with the incoming class of “Tea Party” Republicans.

“The last thing we wanted to do was infringe upon personal liberties — and this has been a good lesson that Congress does not always know best,” Upton said in a statement.

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"This is why the People have Thrown You Out"

GOP Rep. Buyer Blasts Acting Dem Speaker

Higher Taxes Won't Reduce the Deficit

by Stephen Moore
and Richard Vedder

The draft recommendations of the president's commission on deficit reduction call for closing popular tax deductions, higher gas taxes and other revenue raisers to drive tax collections up to 21% of GDP from the historical norm of about 18.5%. Another plan, proposed last week by commission member and former Congressional Budget Office director Alice Rivlin, would impose a 6.5% national sales tax on consumers.

The claim here, echoed by endless purveyors of conventional wisdom in Washington, is that these added revenues—potentially a half-trillion dollars a year—will be used to reduce the $8 trillion to $10 trillion deficits in the coming decade. If history is any guide, however, that won't happen. Instead, Congress will simply spend the money.

In the late 1980s, one of us, Richard Vedder, and Lowell Gallaway of Ohio University co-authored a often-cited research paper for the congressional Joint Economic Committee (known as the $1.58 study) that found that every new dollar of new taxes led to more than one dollar of new spending by Congress. Subsequent revisions of the study over the next decade found similar results.

We've updated the research. Using standard statistical analyses that introduce variables to control for business-cycle fluctuations, wars and inflation, we found that over the entire post World War II era through 2009 each dollar of new tax revenue was associated with $1.17 of new spending. Politicians spend the money as fast as it comes in—and a little bit more.

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Gov Jindal: ‘Make Congressmen Part-time’

Ron Paul Responds to TSA with 'American Traveler Dignity Act'

Ron Paul: "If enhanced pat downs are good enough for the American people, they’re good enough for Congress."

Liberals Urging Obama to Ignore Voters and Congress

by Ed Morrissey

Former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff John Podesta, now the head of the Center for American Progress, called on President Obama to push forward with his agenda using federal agencies and executive branch power Tuesday, even though Democrats were dealt a blow in the recent midterm elections. Podesta said the American people want the president to move forward with his agenda.

“I think most of the conversation since the election has been about how President Obama adjusts to the new situation on Capitol Hill,” Podesta said. “While that’s an important conversation, it simply ignores the president’s ability to use all levels of his power and authority to move the country forward.”

Citing his experience in Clinton’s White House after the GOP House takeover of 1994, Podesta said Obama’s administration “can and should take” the specific measures detailed in a report released by the Center for American Progress, utilizing all the tools at its disposal to circumvent Congress in a way to keep his agenda moving forward.

“One of the best ways for the Obama administration to achieve results of that nature, in the short term, is through substantial executive authority to make and implement policy,” Podesta said. “As noted in the Constitution and the laws of the United States give the president the ability and the responsibility to act as the chief executive using authorities granted to all presidents such as executive orders, rule-makings, agency management and public-private partnerships.”

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Pelosi to throw reception to celebrate 'accomplishments'

by Christina Wilkie

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will host a reception Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill to celebrate "The accomplishments of the 111th Congress," according to an invitation sent out Monday.

The event will offer congressional Democrats, many of whom will not be returning to Congress next January, an opportunity to reflect on the party's legislative victories over the past two years. These have included the passage of major healthcare reform, financial regulatory reform, and climate and energy legislation.

Not likely to be lost on attendees, however, is that the unpopularity of many of these "accomplishments" among voters went far to contribute to a wave of Democratic losses in last week's mid-term elections, in which Democrats lost control of the House and their majority in the Senate was weakened.

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Ready For A Pay Cut?

                                                                               It's one thing when the wonks tell you to get ready for a tax hike that may or may not come. It's another when your employer tells you he's getting ready to cut your take-home pay and give it to the tax man.


That's what's happening right now, and those who still have jobs should take notice. If Congress fails to extend the Bush-era tax cuts due to expire Dec. 31, Americans at just about every income level will see their taxes rise — in some cases dramatically.
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