All 6 Democrats on Deficit-Reduction Panel Earned 'F's From Taxpayers’ Union

[Stephanie]

Here's how SERIOUS the Democrats are about cutting spending...WHAT a Friggen JOKE

Thursday, August 11, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey




(CNSNews.com) - All six Democrats that have been assigned to the special joint congressional committee that will recommend means for cutting the nation’s anticipated spending by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years compiled voting records last year that earned them grades of “F” from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) announced today that she has assigned Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn (S.C.), Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.) and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (Md.) to serve on the panel. Previously, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had named Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.) to serve on the committee.

None of these Democrats had voting records that scored even as high as 10 percent in the NTU’s annual rating of Congress for last year. Among the six, Rep. Clyburn earned the lowest score of 2 percent and Sen. Baucus earned the highest score of 9 percent. Rep. Van Hollen earned a score of 4 percent and Rep. Becerra and Senators Murray and Kerry earned scores of 6 percent.

In NTU's rating system, all members of Congress who score below 20 percent for their voting record are given a grade of “F” and named a “Big Spender.”

Members who score 90 percent or higher are given a grade of “A” and named a Taxpayers’ Friend.

Of the 3 Republicans named to the special joint committee by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), two—Senators Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Rob Portman (Ohio)—were not in Congress last year so they did not get an NTU rating for 2010. The third McConnell appointee, Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), earned an “A” with a score of 97 percent and was named a “Taxpayers’ Friend.”

Of the 3 Republicans named to the committee by House Speaker John Boehner, one was a taxpayer friend: House Republican Conference Chair Jeb Hensarling (Texas) earned an “A” with a score of 94 percent. The other two Boehner appointees--Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (Mich.) and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.)-- were not named “Taxpayers’s Friends.” Camp earned a score of 88 percent and a grade of “B+.” Upton earned a score of 86 percent and a grade of “B.”

The NTU, a nonpartisan organization, grades all members of Congress each year on the stands they take on “every vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers.” In 2010, the group scored 165 votes in the House and 145 in the Senate.


read the rest..
Internships | CNSnews.com

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - ever'thin' goin' to hell inna handbasket...

73 percent of Americans say country headed in wrong direction
8/10/11 - Almost three-quarters of Americans say the United States is on the wrong track, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found Wednesday.

The 73 percent figure is the highest measured since Reuters/Ipsos started the survey of American public opinion in Feb. 2009. Just 21 percent said the United States is going in the right direction, according to the poll’s findings, the poll showed. And almost half of respondents said they don’t think it is going to get better — 47 percent believe that “the worst is yet to come” in the country’s economy. Reuters reported that number marks the highest measure since March 2009, when it hit 57 percent in the midst of the recession.

Similar levels of pessimism were found in a Washington Post poll released Wednesday evening. Only 26 percent of respondents to that survey said they were confident that leaders in Washington could actually solve the economic problems facing the country. Fifty-two percent of respondents to the Post poll said they believe Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade its rating on the U.S. debt was a fair assessment, with 71 percent saying they thought S&P’s assessment of the American political system as “less stable, less effective and less predictable” was fair.

Just 18 percent of registered voters surveyed by the Post said they plan to vote to reelect their own member of Congress next year. As for President Obama’s hopes for reelection, 46 percent of registered voters said they plan to vote against him next year, versus 21 percent who said they will definitely vote for the president and 33 percent who said they will consider giving him another term. The Washington Post poll surveyed 601 adults on Aug. 9; the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. The Reuters/Ipsos poll, which surveyed 1,055 adults, was conducted Aug. 4-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Of the adults polled, 885 were registered voters.

Read more: Poll: 73 percent of Americans say country headed in wrong direction - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com

See also:

82% of Americans Want Congress to Take a Pay Cut Until Budget is Balanced
Thursday, August 11, 2011 - Americans overwhelmingly believe that members of Congress should take pay cuts until there is a balanced federal budget, according to a new Rasmussen Poll. A slight plurality also thinks that the president should take a 50 percent pay cut -- and the survey found that voters believe that neither the president nor Congress should receive federal pensions after leaving office.

Eighty-two (82) percent of the 1,000 people polled said members of Congress should take a 25 percent pay cut until the federal budget is balanced. That is an increase from last August, when 75 percent of the respondents who were asked the same question – “Should members of Congress take a 25percent pay cut until the Federal Budget is balanced?” said, “Yes.” In the lastest poll, meanwhile, when Rasmussen asked if the president should take a 50 percent pay cut until the budget is balanced, only 48 percent of those polled said yes.

Republicans overwhelmingly agreed (64 percent) that the president should sacrifice half of his pay, as did a 49 percent plurality of independents, but 57 percent of Democrats polled said they did not think the president should take a 50 percent pay cut. In other findings, only 30 percent of those polled think that a balanced federal budget is “somewhat likely” in their lifetime, according to Rasmussen.

Fewer than half of the people polled believe the cuts in the debt compromise bill will materialize. Regardless of whether the federal budget is balanced, 59 percent of those polled believe that members of Congress should not receive federal pensions after leaving office. Fifty-two (52) percent said that former presidents shouldn’t receive a pension, which currently amount to $200,000 per year. The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted July 28-29. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 3 percentage points, with a 95 percent level of confidence.

Source

 

[auditor0007]

Here's how SERIOUS the Democrats are about cutting spending...WHAT a Friggen JOKE

Thursday, August 11, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey




(CNSNews.com) - All six Democrats that have been assigned to the special joint congressional committee that will recommend means for cutting the nation’s anticipated spending by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years compiled voting records last year that earned them grades of “F” from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) announced today that she has assigned Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn (S.C.), Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.) and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (Md.) to serve on the panel. Previously, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had named Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.) to serve on the committee.

None of these Democrats had voting records that scored even as high as 10 percent in the NTU’s annual rating of Congress for last year. Among the six, Rep. Clyburn earned the lowest score of 2 percent and Sen. Baucus earned the highest score of 9 percent. Rep. Van Hollen earned a score of 4 percent and Rep. Becerra and Senators Murray and Kerry earned scores of 6 percent.

In NTU's rating system, all members of Congress who score below 20 percent for their voting record are given a grade of “F” and named a “Big Spender.”

Members who score 90 percent or higher are given a grade of “A” and named a Taxpayers’ Friend.

Of the 3 Republicans named to the special joint committee by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), two—Senators Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Rob Portman (Ohio)—were not in Congress last year so they did not get an NTU rating for 2010. The third McConnell appointee, Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), earned an “A” with a score of 97 percent and was named a “Taxpayers’ Friend.”

Of the 3 Republicans named to the committee by House Speaker John Boehner, one was a taxpayer friend: House Republican Conference Chair Jeb Hensarling (Texas) earned an “A” with a score of 94 percent. The other two Boehner appointees--Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (Mich.) and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.)-- were not named “Taxpayers’s Friends.” Camp earned a score of 88 percent and a grade of “B+.” Upton earned a score of 86 percent and a grade of “B.”

The NTU, a nonpartisan organization, grades all members of Congress each year on the stands they take on “every vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers.” In 2010, the group scored 165 votes in the House and 145 in the Senate.


read the rest..
Internships | CNSnews.com

Damn, they're about as serious as Republicans are about raising revenue at a time when revenues are 20% below the average of the last 60 years and 30% below the levels of 2000 in Clinton's final year. But I know, spending is the only problem. Revenue is definitely not a problem. In fact, in the minds of conservatives, revenue is still too high.

 

[Claudette]

That whole panel deal is a bunch of BS.

All you will get is gridlock with the rest of the Congress standing around with their fingers up their ass.

 

[konradv]

Kind of a rigged vote, no?

 

[bitterlyclingin]

These guys are going to be as dependable, holding the line against the out of control, drunken sailor style spending that this Government has embarked on in the last few years, as a herd of hungry bovine in a freshly grown field of tall green grass. My apologies to drunken sailors, the Governments's spending habits have even made them look positively parsimonious.
Each of the Democrats is a committed "Tax and spender", yet the Republicans sent no one, no DeMint, no Rubio, no Paul, with a spine stiff enough and a skeletal structure strong enough to stand up the committed spenders, capable enough to corral, herd, guide, and shepherd these Republican herbivores through this minefield. The Party has offered up six Republicans to be converted into eunuchs by these emissaries from Pelosi/ Reid/ Obama.
As a result, going, going, gone are the Bush Tax Cuts [A tax increase for every American], the $500,000 capital gains tax exemption on the sale of the taxpayers personal residence, and the mortgage tax exemption. And God knows what else these greedy spenders will go for. Resign yourself to it. Military weakness is of itself, a provocation, and these "tax and spenders " just adore weakness. John Kerry has yet to meet a foe he wouldn't love surrendering to. Am I right Madame Binh?
When they are done, we're going to be left with six waffles that have been dipped in syrup, stored overnight for over a week, that appeal to no one, resembles nothing we've ever seen before, nauseates, repulses and revolts us all, and all the people, through their Congress will be able to do about it, is vote their dissapproval. Meanwhile, Obama will be laughing up his sleeve all the way to his re election.

 

[Full-Auto]

These guys are going to be as dependable, holding the line against the out of control, drunken sailor style spending that this Government has embarked on in the last few years, as a herd of hungry bovine in a freshly grown field of tall green grass. My apologies to drunken sailors, the Governments's spending habits have even made them look positively parsimonious.
Each of the Democrats is a committed "Tax and spender", yet the Republicans sent no one, no DeMint, no Rubio, no Paul, with a spine stiff enough and a skeletal structure strong enough to stand up the committed spenders, capable enough to corral, herd, guide, and shepherd these Republican herbivores through this minefield. The Party has offered up six Republicans to be converted into eunuchs by these emissaries from Pelosi/ Reid/ Obama.
As a result, going, going, gone are the Bush Tax Cuts [A tax increase for every American], the $500,000 capital gains tax exemption on the sale of the taxpayers personal residence, and the mortgage tax exemption. And God knows what else these greedy spenders will go for. Resign yourself to it. Military weakness is of itself, a provocation, and these "tax and spenders " just adore weakness. John Kerry has yet to meet a foe he wouldn't love surrendering to. Am I right Madame Binh?
When they are done, we're going to be left with six waffles that have been dipped in syrup, stored overnight for over a week, that appeal to no one, resembles nothing we've ever seen before, nauseates, repulses and revolts us all, and all the people, through their Congress will be able to do about it, is vote their dissapproval. Meanwhile, Obama will be laughing up his sleeve all the way to his re election.

I had to bring this clip from the media section. Special thanks to Avatar.

It is so on target.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRmZ9zH-mYM&feature=player_detailpage]Felonious Munk Presents: Stop It B! OBAMA PAY YOUR &*%$#% BILLS - YouTube[/ame]

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Steven Hayward

Did I Call It or What?

In my post here yesterday assessing the Republican members of the debt-ceiling deal “super-committee,” I noted:

Pelosi has yet to name her bench. Bet on radical nutcases (someone from the black caucus, for example) or bare-knuckled partisans like Chris Van Hollen.

Well, today Pelosi named her picks: Jim Clyburn (of the Congressional Black Caucus), Xavier Beccera, and Chris Van Hollen. Now, if only my stock market picks this week were this on target.

I hear that some lefties are already complaining that the whole 12-member committee lacks–wait for it . . . –diversity.


Did I Call It or What? | Power Line

 

[Meister]

This whole panel is going to end up with partisan bickering. Nothing will get resolved through them. At the end of the day it will be lobbyists and special inerest group that win

 

[Stephanie]

Boehner needs to lose his job over agreeing to this joke. A gawdam SUPER COMMITTEE.

and as someone said, not ONE conservative on the panel from the Republicans.

come on people, we need to let these asses know what we think FIRST and SECOND, VOTE their asses out.

As for the Democrats, we all should of known they NEVER had any intentions of cutting anything, unless it our DEFENSE. That is their baby, they'd rather leave us DEFENSENSLESS than cut any other of their pet Government agencies.

 

[Meister]

Boehner needs to lose his job over agreeing to this joke. A gawdam SUPER COMMITTEE.

and as someone said, not ONE conservative on the panel from the Republicans.

come on people, we need to let these asses know what we think FIRST and SECOND, VOTE their asses out.

I think this is going to end up in the courts. I don't see how this could be legal

 

[uscitizen]

All 6 Democrats on Deficit-Reduction Panel Earned 'F's From Taxpayers’ Union

Did you really expect the dems to put people on there with 'A's from the taxpayers union?

Sheesh.

 

[rightwinger]

The panel is doomed to fail anyway

Who gives a shit? They obviously don't

 

[Stephanie]

The panel is doomed to fail anyway

Who gives a shit? They obviously don't

That's the problem with Democrat voters, you don't GIVE A SHIT when Democrat politicians TAKE YOU ALL FOR FOOL. then you just run right out and VOTE them all back in.

To you people the only thing IMPORTANT is winning at Election time.

 

[Mad Scientist]

The Commission will float a tax bill that can only be voted up or down by the House and Senate, no amendments, no filibustering. If the bill is voted down then the Commission can pass whatever they want! Sen. Reid says it doesn't just apply to spending bills either. That means Gun Control and Illegal Alien Amnesty.

The Commission is unconstitutional and whoever participates in it should be arrested for treason, the President included.

Congratulations America, you now live under a Dictarship.

 

[konradv]

The Commission will float a tax bill that can only be voted up or down by the House and Senate, no amendments, no filibustering. If the bill is voted down then the Commission can pass whatever they want! Sen. Reid says it doesn't just apply to spending bills either. That means Gun Control and Illegal Alien Amnesty.

The Commission is unconstitutional and whoever participates in it should be arrested for treason, the President included.

Congratulations America, you now live under a Dictarship.

The rigged vote I'm talking about is the "F" rating they were given. You obviously thanked me for no reason, because your analysis of the situation seems way off base. Please give us a link that shows "If the bill is voted down then the Commission can pass whatever they want!".

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Everything that’s wrong with the so-called debt “super-committee” can be summed up in the person, partisan hackery and policy ignorance of Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named Murray co-chair of the dog-and-pony deficit-reduction panel tasked with identifying $1.5 trillion in spending cuts by late November. Murray, an unrepentant Nanny State cheerleader and patron saint of the Washington lobbyist, is a double-exclamation point on the debt deal’s rotten joke.

Charlie Brown had Peppermint Patty. America has U.S. Mint Patty. This is a career politician who has never met a special interest that shouldn’t be supported by taxpayers. Derided for her earmark addiction by both conservative and liberal civic groups, she has cemented her position as the Senate Queen of Pork over 18 gluttonous years in office.

Murray takes perverse pride in increasing debt limits on pet projects in her home state. Her solution to our fiscal crisis: Spend, borrow, spend and borrow some more! In 2009, she stuffed the Obama porkulus with a $3.25 billion provision benefiting the federal Bonneville Power Administration by massively expanding its spending authority. Murray then claimed to have spurred immediate job creation. But the left-leaning Seattle Times countered that “even without the new stimulus package, BPA was expected to begin construction of some new transmission lines this year. And, despite claims the added spending power will quickly create jobs, construction of many of the new power lines wouldn’t start for several years.”


Michelle Malkin » The Debt Panel’s Profligate Pork Patty Murray Problem