The LuLac Edition #1866, December 20th, 2011

Boy, does this say it all!!!!

GOP SCREWS US AGAIN

When January 1st comes and you find your paycheck a little lighter, thank the GOP controlled House of Representative. The GOP reneged on a deal that was already set in place to be passed by the U.S. Senate. The Senate did a 2 month deal mainly because the House GOP was fighting with itself. Now like spoiled little brats, the Republican controlled GOP holds its breath. The problem with that is the tantrum will suffocate the middle class…again. If you are unemployed and are running out of benefits, even the meager 2 month extension is now in peril.
Today on WILK I heard people make fun of a Democratic Congressman who stated that by the House defeating this measure, the economy would be in danger of collapsing. It was pointed out that the payroll tax break would only re-arrange $1,000 at its maximum out of people’s paychecks. The $1,000 most likely does not sound like a lot of money to the rich or the people without a pot to spit in who have been brainwashed by millionaires like Rush and Hannity, but the fact of the matter is that money adds up. There are more working Americans than non working ones. You are taking money out of their bi weekly check that individually is a drop in the bucket. Collectively it’s a whole ocean.
I am not crazy about Barack Obama. I think he has caved in on every single confrontation with Congressional Republicans. As a disaffected Democrat, I would like to find an alternative to vote for in 2012. I like the way that Mitt Romney conducts himself, I think he is “Presidential”. I think he would honor the country. But I can’t. Not because I’m a doctrinaire Democrat but because it would reward the Republican party for its assassination on the middle class. There are many Democrats and Independents like me who don’t like the President. I think he hasn’t gone far enough, others think he went too far. But we’ll wind up holding our noses and voting for him because only his re-election will serve as a check and balance against an unreasonable bunch of Congress people that have less honor than a den of thieves. Currently the ratings for members of the U.S. Congress stand at 9%. That means 91% disapprove. Can’t they understand that? In the meantime, if you need to blame anyone for your little dip in take home pay, it was the House GOP.

SPEAKER CASTRATED

House Speaker John Boehner essentially has gone from Mister Speaker to Madame Speaker. If sexists were unhappy with Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, they can’t be much happier with John Boehner. He has been castrated by members of his own party, specifically the Tea Party Caucus. The Tea Party people came to Washington not to solve problems but to stop and obstruct the work of government. Almost all of them have no governmental experience and have no understanding of how compromise works. There aren’t enough of them to make a majority in order to get their agenda passed but there are enough of them to stop everyone else’s plans to run a government. And the fact that their leader, John Boehner has surrendered his dignity as well as his principles is just sad. Boehner will be ranked in history as one of the most timid, ineffectual non entities that ever served as Speaker.

PRESIDENT'S COMMENTS

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Sorry to interrupt.
MR. CARNEY: All yours, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. It is no secret that there hasn’t been an abundance of partisanship in Washington this year. And that’s why what happened on Saturday was such a big deal.
Nearly the entire Senate -- including almost all of the Republicans -- voted to prevent 160 million working Americans from receiving a tax increase on January 1st. Nearly the entire Senate voted to make sure that nearly 2.5 million Americans who are out there looking for a job don’t lose their unemployment insurance in the first two months of next year. And just about everybody -- Democrats and Republicans -- committed to making sure that early next year we find a way to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance through the end of 2012.
But now, even though Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were willing to compromise for the good of the country, a faction of Republicans in the House are refusing to even vote on the Senate bill -- a bill that cuts taxes for 160 million Americans. And because of their refusal to cooperate, all those Americans could face a tax hike in just 11 days, and millions of Americans who are out there looking for work could find their unemployment insurance expired.
Now, let’s be clear: Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January 1st. It’s the only one. All of the leaders in Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- say they are committed to making sure we extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance for the entire year. And by the way, this is something I called for months ago. The issue is, is that the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate worked on a one-year deal, made good progress, but determined that they needed more time to reach an agreement. And that’s why they passed an insurance policy -- to make sure that taxes don’t go up on January 1st.
In fact, the House Republicans say they don’t dispute the need for a payroll tax cut. What they’re really trying to do, what they’re holding out for, is to wring concessions from Democrats on issues that have nothing to do with the payroll tax cut -- issues where the parties fundamentally disagree. So a one-year deal is not the issue; we can and we will come to that agreement, as long as it’s focused on the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance and not focused on extraneous issues.
The issue right now is this: The clock is ticking; time is running out. And if the House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill, or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days. I saw today that one of the House Republicans referred to what they’re doing as, “high-stakes poker.” He’s right about the stakes, but this is not poker, this is not a game -- this shouldn’t be politics as usual. Right now, the recovery is fragile, but it is moving in the right direction. Our failure to do this could have effects not just on families but on the economy as a whole. It’s not a game for the average family, who doesn’t have an extra 1,000 bucks to lose. It’s not a game for somebody who’s out there looking for work right now, and might lose his house if unemployment insurance doesn’t come through. It’s not a game for the millions of Americans who will take a hit when the entire economy grows more slowly because these proposals aren’t extended.
I just got back from a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, where we received the flag and the colors that our troops fought under in Iraq, and I met with some of the last men and women to return home from that war. And these Americans, and all Americans who serve, are the embodiment of courage and selflessness and patriotism, and when they fight together, and sometimes die together, they don’t know and they certainly don’t care who’s a Democrat and who’s a Republican and how somebody is doing in the polls and how this might play in the spin room. They work as a team, and they do their job. And they do it for something bigger than themselves.
The people in this town need to learn something from them. We have more important things to worry about than politics right now. We have more important things to worry about than saving face, or figuring out internal caucus politics. We have people who are counting on us to make their lives just a little bit easier, to build an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded. And we owe it to them to come together right now and do the right thing. That’s what the Senate did. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate said, we’re going to put our fights on other issues aside and go ahead and do what’s right on something we all agree to. Let’s go ahead and do it. We’ll have time later for the politics; we’ll have time later to have fights around a whole bunch of other issues. Right now, though, we know this is good for the economy -- and they went ahead and did the right thing.
I need the Speaker and House Republicans to do the same: Put politics aside, put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements, and come together on something we agree on. And let’s not play brinksmanship. The American people are weary of it; they’re tired of it. They expect better. I’m calling on the Speaker and the House Republican leadership to bring up the Senate bill for a vote. Give the American people the assurance they need in this holiday season.
Thank you.

LULAC POLL

We thought we’d run one of our LuLac polls regarding Congress.
Here’s the poll question.
IF YOU HAD AN AGREEMENT WITH ONE OF THE FOLLOWING, WHO WOULD BE MOST LIKELY TO KEEP IT?
a. A Congressman.
b. A Prostitute.
c. A drug dealer.
d. A hard core gang member.
Click here to take survey
One vote per LuLac read, hit done when finished with poll question, LuLac will then close out. You can re-enter LuLac but can't re-take survey.