After trying to claim that the President and his party were feeling no effects of the plethora of scandals that have engulfed them, there’s been a breach in the Democratic security wall.

The Washington Post’s Morning Fix reports that “Libya is shaping up as a real political problem for President Obama, with concern extending well beyond the conservative base. More than half of Americans say his administration is trying to cover up the facts of the attack, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.” Read the poll here.

• 55% say the Obama administration is trying to hide the facts compared to  just 33% that say it has been honest.
• Six in 10 independents and nearly three in 10 Democrats say the administration is not being forthright.

But it doesn’t stop there. The poll shows that most Americans think the IRS scandal was “a deliberate effort to harass the groups, rather than a administrative mistake.” More respondents believe that the Obama administration is trying to cover up the facts in the scandal than believe it’s being honest.

According to political analyst Stu Rothenberg, “it is undeniable that recent events have altered, at least for now, the trajectory of the 2014 elections. …The new focus on the Obama administration puts it on the defensive and should boost enthusiasm on the political right throughout this year…. the new political narrative increases the risk for Democratic candidates in red states, where Democrats must win independent and, in many cases, Republican voters to be successful.”  

As a result of the sea-change, Rothenberg shifts the following 2014 Senate seats to an even more favorable outlook for Republicans: West Virginia (open), South Dakota (open), Arkansas (Mark Pryor), Louisiana (Mary Landrieu), Alaska (Begich), and North Carolina (Kay Hagan).

That doesn’t take into consideration how this undeniable change in the political atmosphere is affecting first time Red State Democratic candidates considering running like Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky, or Michelle Nunn in Georgia, or Nick Preservati in West Virginia. All must be wondering whether they’d be better off running in a cycle and environment in which they could actually win. Right now, it doesn’t exist.

Seize the day,

Brad Dayspring
@BDayspring

Brook Hougesen
@Brook_H

2014 BATTLEGROUND SONAR

(BATTLEGROUNDS) VIA POLITICO’S HUDDLE: FIRST LOOK: THE NRSC is trying to hang the IRS scandal around the necks of 2014 Democrats: It’s blasting news releases today targeting a dozen senators — most who received campaign money from the IRS union – and asking a series of tough questions. Here’s an example: Does Senator Mary Landrieu think an independent special counsel is needed to investigate the IRS efforts? Why didn’t Mary Landrieu speak out when her Senate Democratic friends and colleagues publicly pressured the IRS to target conservative groups? Will Mary Landrieu return the $23,000 in campaign contributions from IRS union? Does Mary Landrieu believe that President Obama should apologize to citizens and groups that were unfairly targeted? Does Mary Landrieu believe that President Obama and other senior White House staffers were wrong to publicly suggest that conservative groups were breaking the law? Landrieu Release.

• Here are others: Pryor, Shaheen, Hagan, Franken, Durbin, Begich.

(MASSACHUSETTS) Gomez’s goal — sensible centrism
In sum, with five weeks left in this campaign, a ploddingly predictable Markey is relying on the state’s Democratic default dynamic. It’s the higher-energy Gomez who is making this an interesting race — and winning attention and consideration as he does.

• New Gabriel Gomez TV ad attacks Ed Markey for negative ads in Massachusetts U.S. Senate campaign

(MASSACHUSETTS) Ed Markey Falls Short on National Security
Democratic Congressman Ed Markey is feeling the heat over his weak record on national security in the tight race to fill the vacant Senate seat in Massachusetts…Gomez condemned two votes by Markey in the House against resolutions honoring the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 206 of whom lived in Massachusetts. Gomez said Markey’s vote against a 9/11 resolution was “unconscionable.”

(LOUISIANA) Landrieu attacking  tea party member for trying to legislate responsibly
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., scolded Tea Party Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for acting like a “dictator” by demanding that Senate Democrats promise not to raise the debt limit during conference meetings with House Republicans. “We don’t have kings anymore,” Landrieu said in response to Lee on the Senate floor this afternoon. “We don’t have dictators anymore. We don’t have people with special powers . . . not anyone in this chamber is entitled to write the budget exactly the way they want it.”

• Landrieu calls Lee a “dictator” for asking that a simple and honest process be followed.

(ARKANSAS) Pryor Politicizes Oklahoma Tornado Tragedy
Normally politicians are quick to put aside politics when a tragedy strikes, but Sen. Mark Pryor took the opportunity to try score some points.  His seemingly tame statement is a thinly-veiled attempt to take a shot as his potential 2014 Republican opponent Congressman Tom Cotton.
ON THE TWITTERS

@HotlineJosh - This prediction, just 5 days ago, isn’t looking too good http://ow.ly/lhntV 

@djrothkopf - Chuck Todd on Morning Joe re: Obama and Holder:”They are trying to criminalize journalism.” If GOP were doing it,all hell would break loose.

@BeltwayConfid - Senate Dem tells Tea Partier that he’s acting like a ‘dictator’: Joel Gehrke Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., scolde… http://bit.ly/14v1YKj

@woodhouseb - .@bdayspring you are a funny guy. Thanks for the book – I’ll put it to good use. Be well. http://ow.ly/lhsXc

@Brendan_Buck - Happy birthday, @PressSec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skdwrdVSjjo …
NATIONAL RADAR

(WESH ORLANDO) Orlando man killed by FBI had ties to Boston Marathon bombing suspect, NBC News confirms
An FBI agent shot and killed a man overnight in Orlando who had ties to one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, NBC News has confirmed.  According to NBC News, a special agent was interviewing the suspect regarding his connections to bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and other extremists. The suspect, who was not immediately identified by officials, was originally cooperative, but he was shot after attacking the agent, NBC News reported.

(WASHINGTON POST) With more clarity, White House adds to confusion on IRS
There are still many unknowns about internal White House transactions over the past three weeks. No one has said just how explicit Ruemmler was with McDonough or others about the nature of what she was told. Did she play down the implications of the report to the point that others did not regard it as a potential problem? Maybe it didn’t seem worrisome enough to tell the president. And, had he been told, would he have responded more quickly when the news broke, rather than waiting three days to express his disapproval?

(FOX NEWS) Poll: Obama ratings dip, voters say government ‘out of control’
After a week of revelations about government spying on reporters and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives, most voters feel “like the federal government has gotten out of control and is threatening the basic civil liberties of Americans.”  At the same time, a new Fox News poll finds disapproval of President Obama’s job performance is above 50 percent for the first time in a year, his honesty rating is at a new low and half of voters already think he’s a lame-duck. More than two-thirds of voters — 68 percent — feel the government is out of control and threatening their civil liberties. Nearly half of Democrats (47 percent), as well as large numbers of independents (76 percent) and Republicans (87 percent) feel Uncle Sam is taking liberties with their liberties. Those who identify with the Tea Party movement, one of the groups targeted by the IRS, are among those most likely to say things are out of control and civil liberties are being threatened:  92 percent of Tea Partiers feel that way.

(JONAH GOLDBERG) Obama’s ‘Idiot’ Defense
But, suddenly, when the administration finds itself ensnared by errors of its own making, the curtain is drawn back on the cult of expertise and the fantasy of statist redemption. Early on in the IRS scandal, before the agency’s initial lies were exposed, David Axelrod defended the administration on the grounds that the “government is so vast” the president “can’t know” what’s going on “underneath” him. Of course, it was Obama who once said, “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors.” That is, when things are going relatively well. When scandal hits the fan, he goes from the “government is us” to talking of his own agencies the way a czar might dismiss an injustice in some Siberian backwater. The hubris of omnicompetence gives way to “lighten up, we’re idiots.”

(POLITICO) FIRST LOOK: THE NRSC is trying to hang the IRS scandal around the necks of 2014 Democrats.
It’s blasting news releases today targeting a dozen senators — most who received campaign money from the IRS union – and asking a series of tough questions. Here’s an example:
Does Senator Mary Landrieu think an independent special counsel is needed to investigate the IRS efforts?
Why didn’t Mary Landrieu speak out when her Senate Democratic friends and colleagues publicly pressured the IRS to target conservative groups?
Will Mary Landrieu return the $23,000 in campaign contributions from IRS union?
Does Mary Landrieu believe that President Obama should apologize to citizens and groups that were unfairly targeted?
Does Mary Landrieu believe that President Obama and other senior White House staffers were wrong to publicly suggest that conservative groups were breaking the law?  http://bit.ly/10kL0hF

Imagine that your neighbor spent two years telling you to cut the tree on the shared property line between your homes. To avoid upsetting your neighbor and complicating your lives, you decide to cut down the tree. You’d be pretty shocked if the same neighbor became outraged, called the police, and accused you of breaking the law, wouldn’t you?

That’s exactly what Senate Democrats did to the IRS. Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Carl Levin, Max Baucus, Al Franken and Jeanne Shaheen pressured the IRS to target many of the conservative groups that the embattled agency now stands accused of doing. In fact, the Senate Democrat majority even threatened to take legislative action against the agency if it failed to target the groups. Perhaps that’s why so many of those same Senators (looking at you, Jeanne Shaheen) are today feigning outrage.

Consider:

1. The same Democratic Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus - who this week is calling for hearings into IRS activities - specifically called on the IRS to engage in that very conduct back in 2010.
2. Majority Leader (Sr.) Chuck Schumer and Jeanne Shaheen led the charge, calling on the IRS to investigate many of these conservative groups.
3. Harry Reid spent weeks of the Presidential campaign discussing the fact that he had insider knowledge of Mitt Romney’s tax records. Did the IRS give Romney’s tax returns to Harry Reid or whomever his source was?

This story has been well known for YEARS. President Obama surely reads the New York Times, which reported back in 2010: “With growing scrutiny of the role of tax-exempt groups in political campaigns, Congressional Republicans are pushing back against Democrats by warning about the possible misuse of the Internal Revenue Service to audit conservative groups….And the Republicans are also upset about an I.R.S. review requested by Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee, into the political activities of tax-exempt groups. Such a review threatens to “chill the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights,” wrote two Republican senators, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona, in a letter sent to the I.R.S. … Democrats dismissed the Republicans’ complaints as groundless.”

Two years ago, Democrats dismissed concerns as groundless.  Today, they pretend to be outraged.

The pressure grew so immense that the New York Times reported on it. “The Internal Revenue Service is caught in an election-year struggle between Democratic lawmakers pressing for a crackdown on nonprofit political groups and conservative organizations accusing the tax agency of conducting a politically charged witch hunt.”

Why did the IRS target conservative groups?  According to the New York Times, because Senate Democrats directed and pressured them to.

Seize the day,

Brad Dayspring
@BDayspring

Brook Hougesen
@Brook_H

2014 BATTLEGROUND SONAR

(MASSACHUSETTS) Ben Jones: ‘Cooter’ and ‘Fast Eddie’
It seems to me, Eddie, that in this Internet world you and Al Gore invented, things are being simplified to the point of idiocy. So rather than having a serious discussion about the use of symbols, and the context of symbols, and the meaning of symbols, the argument has been boiled down to something like this: “Rebel flag bad. Racist! Me good. Not racist!”

• The NRSC sent a press release Wednesday morning joking, “Apparently Markey is the only person over the age of 40 who doesn’t know Cooter from the Dukes of Hazzard supports the Confederate flag. And Markey knows him personally.”
• Gomez continues gaining independent voters

(NEW HAMPSHIRE) Shaheen faces scrutiny over IRS letters
Republicans are accusing Shaheen and other Senate Democrats of exerting pressure on the IRS to crack down on political groups seeking nonprofit status.The critique comes amid new revelations this week that the IRS improperly targeted conservative groups for scrutiny over a period of more than 18 months, between 2010 and 2012.

(KENTUCKY) MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: Mitch McConnell ‘Will Not Have a Serious Opponent’ Due to IRS Scandal
Speaking on Morning Joe, Matthews says the scandal will haunt President Obama and the Democratic Party in the 2014 elections, adding it will likely save McConnell from a serious challenge. “The Republican Party, I’m telling you, this is worth five or ten points to everybody out there who was ready to lose an election next year,” he say.s “And I’ll tell you, this is Mitch McConnell’s ticket to ride. He will not have a serious opponent.”

(SOUTH DAKOTA) Democrats May Give Up On SD Senate Seat
Democrats, at least on the national level, are preparing to give up on the Senate seat in South Dakota. That’s the view of James Hohman, a writer for Politico dot com, a Washington based web site.

• Recruiting Failure: Weiland Is Democrats’ Best Hope in S.D.

(NEW JERSEY) Cory Booker is quite popular in Hollywood
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported his week that guests at a recent Los Angeles fundraiser for the Newark Mayor included Steven Spielberg and Bruce Willis. He previously has received contributions from directors Ron Howard and Rob Reiner. But Booker’s big-name supporters don’t only come from the movie-making business: He’s also a hit with athletes.

ON THE TWITTERS

@HotlineReid- Ben “Cooter” Jones not happy about being disinvited to Ed Markey fundraiser (h/t @HotlineSteve) — http://ow.ly/l5Hsx

@DailyHMblog - Kay Hagan thinks the IRS needs more power & stuff to do http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=5400

@scottwongDC - Thursday’s POLITICO Huddle: NRSC pressures Braley, Peters over repeal vote, Conservatives view Rubio MORE favorably http://politi.co/146UyNb

@chuckwoolery- All of the sudden, the smartest President and the smartest administration has no information about anything of importance. Very interesting?

@PolitixDavid- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) under fire for 2012 letter sent to the IRS. http://shar.es/ZrSb8  via @sharethis

@OhSchnitt- IRS may have wrongly seized medical records of 10 million Americans, @C_MayDC reports http://bit.ly/10tyv2D  These guys will implement #hcr?

NATIONAL RADAR

(THE HILL) NRSC looks to pin IRS political targeting on Senate Democrats
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on Wednesday sought to highlight past calls from Democrats for the IRS to investigate the political activities of tax-exempt groups, arguing that set the stage for the recent scandal.

(WASHINGTON POST) NRSC hits Democrats on IRS scandal The National Republican Senatorial Committee is targeting eight Democratic senators or Senate candidates who the committee says were “silent” about or supportive of previous efforts to push for more scrutiny of certain nonprofit groups. All of them have condemned the IRS’s decision to target conservative groups, which was revealed last week.

(POLITICO) FIRST LOOK II: NRSC PUTS PRESSURE ON PETERS, BRALEY AHEAD OF OBAMACARE REPEAL VOTE The National Republican Senatorial Committee will blast news releases today asking whether Reps. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), both Senate candidates, will defend Obamacare or vote with House Republicans today for repeal. Here’s an excerpt: “Democrat Gary Peters followed Nancy Pelosi’s marching orders and told Michigan voters that he ‘proudly worked to pass’ ObamaCare. And when Americans objected, Peters and Pelosi forced it through anyway. ‘Over the next year, ObamaCare will go from being an ‘abstract’ discussion to a real life pain for too many Michigan families and workers,’ said NRSC Communications Director Brad Dayspring. ‘Very few issues are as personal to voters as the health and well-being of their families. If Peters again votes to keep ObamaCare in place, he will take ownership of the tax hikes, mandates, fees, penalties, and general confusion that implementation of law will cause Michiganders over the next eight months.’ Gary Peters has an opportunity before him: Will Peters see the writing on the wall and vote to repeal this costly, disastrous health care mandate on behalf of Michigan families and businesses? Or will he continue to vote in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi?” Peters release is here: http://tinyurl.com/b9v6mgx Braley: http://tinyurl.com/adpp7uh

(WASHINGTON POST) Obama struggles to get beyond a scandal trifecta
The most corrosive political scandals are the ones that feed a pre­existing story line — which is why the White House could have difficulty putting the current ones behind it any time soon.

(POWERLINE) Multiple Facets of the IRS Scandal
Yesterday another credible claim of an IRS leak emerged, when the National Organization for Marriage alleged that the IRS leaked confidential NOM data in order to injure Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign… We also know that in 2010, Austin Goolsbee, who directed Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and later chaired his Council of Economic Advisers, smeared Koch Industrieson the basis of IRS data which, if Goolsbee had accurately reported it, could only have been obtained illegally.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s two-paragraph statement on allegations that the IRS targeted tea party organizations for extra review could have come from any concerned lawmaker Monday.

But a single sentence tying the IRS’ alleged misconduct with a controversial Supreme Court decision signaled that Democratic leaders see an opening to restart the debate over the nation’s campaign finance system.

“We must overturn Citizens United, which has exacerbated the challenges posed by some of these so-called ‘social welfare’ organizations,” the California Democrat said.

One of many outcomes of the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling is that partisan groups have in huge numbers taken advantage of new opportunities to register as tax-exempt “social welfare” organizations to, albeit indirectly, raise money for their political candidates and causes.

As always, consistency and facts have never been the former speakers strong suit… why start now?

Washington, D.C. - Last night during the South Carolina 1st Congressional District debate, Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch joined the chorus of Democrats who are running for office and running from ObamaCare.

As BuzzFeed notes Colbert Busch “was troubled by [ObamaCare's] cost and the burden it could put on employers”: “Obamacare is extremely problematic, it is expensive, it is a $500 billion cost than we originally anticipated, it’s cutting into Medicare benefits and it’s having companies lay off their employees because they are worried about the cost of it. That is extremely problematic, it needs an enormous fix,” she said during a debate Monday night.

Colbert Busch’s concerns echo fellow Democrats’ disdain for the health care overhaul including Democrat Senator Max Baucus, the architect of ObamaCare, who recently called it a “train wreck” as well as Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller who said the Affordable Care Act is “beyond comprehension.”

Democratic pollster Mark Mellman reinforced the internal uneasiness among Democrats over ObamaCare: “We already know that, left to its own devices, this doesn’t end up in a good place,” said Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster. “Anyone who thinks this issue is done is fooling themselves.”

“Few issues are as personal and as tangible as health care,” said NRSC Communications Director Brad Dayspring. “As costs continue to increase,  ObamaCare’s taxes, mandates, and red tape will shock millions of Americans as the painful parts of the law are implemented over the next year. President Obama can rest easy after 2012, but  voters will remember that every incumbent Senate Democrat has their fingerprints all over this train wreck.  They’re not alone. Members of Congress interested in being promoted to the Senate like Bruce Braley and Gary Peters have a $1 Trillion weight holding them down, and that’s ObamaCare.”

ObamaCare has gone from being an “abstract” discussion to a real life pain for families and businesses which has Democrats who supported this costly agenda like Bruce Braley, Mark Pryor, Mark Begich, Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Jeanne Shaheen, John Barrow, Mark Udall, Gary Peters, Al Franken, Mark Warner, Tom Udall, Dick Durbin and Jeff Merkley in a tailspin. Vulnerable Democrats will be forced to face voters just as ObamaCare’s tax hikes, mandates, fees, penalties, and red tape bureaucracy take shape over the next eight months.

“Gary Peters already lost a statewide campaign and that was before supporting a cap and trade energy tax policy that would effectively put Michigan out of business and ObamaCare which will raise health care costs. It takes a special kind of guy like Peters to ask for a promotion from the very same people that his policies would put out of work.

“If Gary Peters is indeed the Democratic candidate in Michigan, Republicans have a great opportunity to pick up this seat and move closer to the taking majority in 2014.”

]]> http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/04/29/nrsc-statement-on-gary-peters-entering-2014-michigan-senate-race-misen/feed/ 5 http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/04/29/spending-daily-april-29-2013-the-democrats-have-lost-on-sequestration/ http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2013/04/29/spending-daily-april-29-2013-the-democrats-have-lost-on-sequestration/#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:00:36 +0000 Steve Foley http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/?p=59256 “Democrats ask: What debt crisis?”

POLITICO reports, “Call them the debt crisis dissenters. The two parties are miles apart on how to cut the deficit and national debt: Republicans want to slash spending even more. Democrats want to raise revenue. And then there are the other Democrats — the ones who reject the entire premise of the current high-stakes fiscal fight. There’s no short-term deficit problem, they say, and there isn’t even an urgent debt crisis that requires immediate attention. This group could make it even harder for President Barack Obama to strike a grand bargain because they increasingly see no immediate need for either new spending cuts or significantly more revenue, both of which they say could further slow the economy.”

“The Democrats Have Lost On Sequestration”

The Washington Post reports, “That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future. Recall the Democrats’ original theory of the case: Sequestration was supposed to be so threatening that Republicans would agree to a budget deal that included tax increases rather than permit it to happen. That theory was wrong. The follow-up theory was that the actual pain caused by sequestration would be so great that it would, in a matter of months, push the two sides to agree to a deal. Democrats just proved that theory wrong, too. In effect, what Democrats said Friday was that in any case where the political pain caused by sequestration becomes unbearable, they will agree to cancel that particular piece of the bill while leaving the rest of the law untouched. The result is that sequestration is no longer particularly politically threatening, but it’s even more unbalanced: Cuts to programs used by the politically powerful will be addressed, but cuts to programs that affects the politically powerless will persist. It’s worth saying this clearly: The pain of sequestration will be concentrated on those who lack political power.”

Sequester: Another Agency Able to Make Smarter Cuts, Avoid Furloughs

Bloomberg reports, “The automatic federal spending cuts known as sequestration won’t force the State Department to furlough any employees this year. The State Department is notifying its staff today that new projections show ‘furloughs are not required’ during the year that ends Sept. 30 ‘due to cost-cutting measures implemented early in the fiscal year and a reduction in the sequester cut’ identified by the Office of Management and Budget, the department said today in response to an inquiry.”

FAA Flexibility Shows Administration’s Push For Tax Increases Has Failed

The Hill reports, “Opponents of sequestration are losing hope that the across-the-board cuts to federal spending will be reversed this year. The defense industry, health and education advocates and federal worker unions say that the ‘piecemeal’ approach that Congress adopted this week to ease furloughs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not bode well for their cause. ‘All of this is rearranging the deck chairs. I’m not overly hopeful,’ said Joel Packer of the Committee for Education Funding. ‘We are really putting our concentration on fiscal 2014 and beyond.’ … Conservatives said Obama’s decision to accept the FAA fix — which transfers money from airport improvements to pay for air traffic controllers — shows his attempt to pressure Republicans into accepting tax increases has failed.”

“Experts: Debt-ceiling increase might not be needed until October”

The Hill reports, “Congress could have until as late as mid-October to haggle over raising the debt limit, according to new expert analysis. The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), which has been closely tracking the flow of the nation’s finances as policymakers prepare to spar over its $16.4 trillion borrowing cap, now believes the government could avoid a default on its obligations as late as mid-October once its borrowing cap is reinstated in May. In January, the BPC said it believed Washington would have to hike the limit to avoid default most likely in August, but there was a ‘realistic chance’ it could be later. Now, with fresh information about the nation’s fiscal picture, the BPC believes the deadline for a debt-limit deal will be roughly a month later, and possibly more. … They caution, however, that there is still ‘substantial uncertainty’ in the debt-limit timeline. The BPC believes the debt-limit deadline could come anytime between mid-August and mid-October.”

Congress Exempt from Obamacare?

The Wall Street Journal editorializes, “The Politico website broke the story Thursday morning that Congressional leaders were in hush-hush talks to exempt themselves and their staff from the wonders of ObamaCare. The story succeeded in blowing up the talks, but there’s a bigger story here about Congressional intentions that is worth telling. House Speaker John Boehner quickly took to Twitter after the Politico story appeared, saying that he’s not ‘sneaking any language into bills to solve’ a problem for Democrats. He added that full repeal of the law is ‘the solution to this & other ObamaCare nightmares.’ We’re told that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer initiated the discussions. Mr. Reid now says he’s not trying to exempt anyone from the law. Mr. Hoyer’s spokesman says only that the Maryland Democrat wants the law to be ‘workable for everyone.’”

“Editorial: Driving toward bankruptcy”

The Washington Times editorializes, “There aren’t many winners in the current economic climate. Most companies are struggling against the burdens of higher taxes, red tape and uncertainty, and there’s no opportunity to expand and prosper. Some companies, however, have found a shortcut through deep political connections to the Obama administration. This became apparent last week at a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee examining the collapse of Fisker Automotive. The Energy Department gave hundreds of millions of dollars to this maker of electric luxury automobiles designed to appeal to liberals who can pay $100,000 for a car. Fisker was backed by the investment firm Kleiner Perkins (where Al Gore is a partner) and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who scouts for left-wing causes.”

Stimulus-Funded EPA Project Violated Mandate to Purchase U.S.-Made Products

The Washington Guardian reports, “While helping to clean up America, the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t always buy American. Investigators for the EPA inspector general found foreign-made steel pipes in a stimulus-funded project in President Obama’s home state of Illinois that violated federal regulations, and now they want taxpayers’ money back. But the agency is resisting demanding a refund. … Money handed out under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus, comes with a provision requiring projects to purchase U.S.-made items, another step designed to help bolster the economy.”

Senate GOP Grills Labor Department on Labor Union Payments

Fox News reports, “Senate Republicans say the Labor Department appears to be spending millions in taxpayer dollars to establish labor unions and promote collective bargaining in foreign countries and are asking top Obama administration officials for a full audit. The request was sent by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the leading Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. ‘At a time when our federal budget is deteriorating rapidly … it is troubling to us that the department appears to be spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds to establish labor unions and promote collective bargaining in foreign countries,’ they said in a letter to acting Labor Secretary Seth Harris. The purported activities were conducted by the agency’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs.”

Republicans Divided on Internet Sales Tax

The New York Times reports, “Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing. For years, conservative Republican lawmakers have been influenced heavily by the antitax activists in Washington, who have dictated outcomes and become the arbiters of what is and is not a tax increase. But on the question of Internet taxation, their voices have begun to be drowned out by the pleas of struggling retailers back home who complain that their online competitors enjoy an unfair price advantage. … The Heritage Foundation and its more overt political arm, Heritage Action, have made no such equivocations. It is making a yes vote a black mark for a lawmaker on Heritage’s conservative scorecard, urging its members to call their representatives and senators, ‘pretty much everything we can,’ said Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action. Many Republicans have just shrugged. Supporters of the bill include Tea Party conservatives like Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, and Republican leaders like Senator John Thune of South Dakota.”

Obama’s Social Security Pledge At Risk

The Associated Press reports, “As the population gets older, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are eating up more and more of the federal budget, squeezing the ability of the government to pay for other programs. Today, the three massive benefit programs account for 44 percent of federal spending. Left unchanged, they will account for more than 60 percent in 25 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Unless Congress acts, the trust fund that supports Social Security is projected to run out of money in 2033. At that point, the retirement and disability program would collect only enough in payroll taxes to pay about 75 percent of benefits. … In 2008, Obama said he wanted to strengthen Social Security by increasing payroll taxes on workers who make more than $250,000 a year in wages. He also laid down this marker, in a Sept. 6, 2008, speech to AARP: ‘John McCain’s campaign has suggested that the best answer for the growing pressures on Social Security might be to cut cost-of-living adjustments or raise the retirement age. Let me be clear: I will not do either.’ … Obama has already offered to break part of his 2008 pledge on Social Security. Twice in negotiations with GOP leaders, he agreed to adopt a new measure of inflation that would result in smaller cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for Social Security recipients. Both deals fell apart. But now Obama has put forward the idea in his own proposed federal budget. If adopted, it would gradually trim benefit increases in Social Security, Medicare and other programs while raising taxes.”

“Army: Thanks But No Tanks”

POLITICO reports, “Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army’s hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle. Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams. But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, ‘No thanks.’ It’s the inverse of the federal budget world these days, in which automatic spending cuts are leaving sought-after pet programs struggling or unpaid altogether. Republicans and Democrats for years have fought so bitterly that lawmaking in Washington ground to a near-halt. Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there’s a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.”

Good morning folks,

Imagine walking into a restaurant. After perusing the menu, you settle on a nice pasta dish, but the owner comes over and explains that the fish is to die for.  Not being a fish fan, you intend to stick with the pasta, but the owner comes over again… and again… and again.  He makes promises about how delicious and healthy the fish is, guarantees about its affordable price. The servers nearby all rave about it.  You really are left with no choice; they’ve all but forced you to try the fish.

So despite some hesitation, you go with the fish and start getting excited about it -  you’re really hungry after all.  Now imagine, moments before the meal is to be served, the chef comes out of the kitchen looking panicked. “Have some bad news for you. The fish didn’t turn out as we hoped. It’s not fresh, it’s rather fatty, the sauce is way too complicated, the portion is really small, and oh, by the way, it’s going to cost you more than the owner promised. It’s a trainwreck, actually!” Would you be upset? Would you complain? Would you refuse to pay the costly price tag after the owner’s misleading claims?

This is essentially what the architect (or chef) of ObamaCare,  Montana Senator Max Baucus did yesterday.  As the Associated Press reports, “The senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama’s health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it’s headed for a train wreck. “I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., told Obama’s health care chief during a routine budget hearing that suddenly turned tense.  ”"The administration’s public information campaign on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act deserves a failing grade,” he told Sebelius. “You need to fix this.”  YOU NEED TO FIX THIS – from the architect of ObamaCare.  Baucus’ ‘British are Coming’ moment shows just how panicked 2014 Democrats are becoming over the ObamaCare trainwreck.  Might be time to put this owner, his chef, and all the servers who forced customers to order something they didn’t want – and still don’t – out of business.

In other news, yesterday a temperamental President Obama took to the podium and basically accused elected Senators (not to mention members of his own party) of not wanting to save lives. David Axelrod took to Twitter to announce that any Senator who voted against the Toomey/Manchin bill is no longer permitted to be mournful or sad about gun violence.  As Reason points out, “According to the president, no one honestly questioned the merits of his proposals; the opposition all “came down to politics,” meaning a desperate desire to retain power. His opponents not only failed to make a convincing case, he says; they offered “no coherent arguments” at all.”    

Good people can disagree about the causes of problems, issues, crimes and on the solutions to them, something that President Obama, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi don’t seem to accept. Cutting through the partisan back and forth, what will matter politically are the Senators who voted against the views of the people in their home state or those who’ve flipped so many times on the issue that they are no longer credible or trusted.

Seize the day,

Brad Dayspring

Senate Passes Democratic Budget. Paul Ryan Says Obama ‘Charm Offensive’ Was ‘Helpful,’ But It’s Still Knives Out For Obamacare. Senate Backs Repeal Of Health Law’s Medical Device Tax. States And Exchanges: Mich. Senate Rejects Plan To Partner With Feds

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the first time in four years, Senate Democrats have produced a budget, yet unfortunately their spending blueprint grows the government, not the economy, according to U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) in the Weekly Republican Address. By contrast, the budget Republicans passed in the House of Representatives this week reduces spending and debt and balances in 10 years. “Budgets are economic documents, but they’re much more than that. Budgets reflect the moral choices we make as a nation and shape the kind of society we will build for the future,” Lee says. “We want dollars and decisions in your hands and not in the hands of bureaucrats. We know that if you can keep more of your hard-earned money, you’ll use it to help your community, to save for your child’s college tuition, and to deploy it in ways that will create jobs and grow your local economy.” The Senate Democratic budget, by contrast, raises taxes, increases spending and debt and never balances. “They think you don’t send enough of your money to Washington,” Lee says.

“Hi, I’m Senator Mike Lee from Utah.

“This week the United States Senate finally took up its annual budget. This shouldn’t be news, but Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget in four years.  The President has again failed to follow the law requiring him to submit his budget by the first Monday in February. In what clearly falls into the category of ‘a day late and a dollar short,’ he announced he wouldn’t submit his budget until the second week of April.

“To Republicans, the budget isn’t just about dollars; it’s about sense: common sense.  A budget is the only way to end the nonsense of Washington’s out of control spending.  Reckless government spending has laid nearly $17 trillion of debt onto the backs of hardworking Americans.

“Budgets are economic documents, but they’re much more than that.  Budgets reflect the moral choices we make as a nation and shape the kind of society we will build for the future.

“That’s why the budget Republicans proposed in the House of Representatives puts its trust in the American people.  We want dollars and decisions in your hands and not in the hands of bureaucrats. We know that if you can keep more of your hard-earned money, you’ll use it to help your community, to save for your child’s college tuition, and to deploy it in ways that will create jobs and grow your local economy.

“Democrats disagree.  They think you don’t send enough of your money to Washington.  The Democratic budget increases taxes by one and a half trillion dollars, on top of the hundreds of billions they already added to your tax bills at the beginning of the year.

“They also have no plan to save our entitlement programs, even though everyone—even the President—knows that doing nothing to address the exploding costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security isn’t an option.  Doing nothing makes no sense and it threatens the most vulnerable among us.

“Budgets are about setting priorities.  Republicans realize that we have a moral obligation to spend your hard-earned tax dollars wisely.  We should spend only what we need to cover the constitutionally authorized functions of government and not a dollar more. That’s why we support reforms to fix the programs Washington should be funding, to eliminate the programs it shouldn’t, and balance the budget.

“You and I know that the federal government wastes hundreds of billions of dollars each year.  We believe the President should work with Congress to identify and remove wasteful areas in the budget.

“Unfortunately, the President’s strategy is instead to cut spending on important services, like border security, first responders, veterans, and law enforcement.

“For example, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently testified before a House subcommittee that for quote ‘budgetary reasons’ more than 2,200 illegal immigrants who were scheduled for deportation, including 10 high level offenders, were released back on to our streets.

“At the same time, news outlets reported that the Transportation Security Administration signed a new deal to purchase $50 million worth of new uniforms.

“Mr. President, how is it that we have tens of millions of dollars for new uniforms, but not even enough to keep dangerous criminals behind bars?

“We could have prevented this kind of nonsense if Washington had a budget. Rather than having a budget battle between Republican and Democratic priorities, we should be having a dialogue about American priorities.  So, what are those priorities?

“Well, 75 percent of Americans support a balanced budget.  Three out of five believe we should cut spending in a targeted way.  And more than any other issue, Americans say the economy and jobs are the most important challenges facing the country today.

“We have a moral obligation to future generations to make the people’s priorities, our priorities. Again, this budget debate isn’t about dollars—it’s about common sense.

“Republicans recognize that keeping dollars, decisions, priorities and power in the hands of the people is what has made America the greatest civilization the world has ever known.  Now is the time to return to that model.  Working together we can, we must and we will restore the greatness and prosperity of our nation.

“Thank you and may God bless America.”

Last night the Senate voted on a simple amendment to try to balance the Murray budget in 10 years. There were no caveats on how to do it, meaning Senators voted to accept or reject the simple concept of balancing the federal budget within 10 years. One Democrat supported it. One. That’s all they got? 

Politico reported earlier this week that a recent poll “showed that 45 percent of Democratic voters think ‘balancing … the federal budget would significantly increase economic growth and create millions of American jobs.’ A sky-high 61 percent of independents and 76 percent of Republicans agree.”  Amazingly, 1% of the Senate Democrat caucus supports balancing the budget.  Talk about outside the mainstream.   Included in the 99% who refuse to even TRY to balance the budget?  Mary Landrieu, Kay Hagan, Mark Pryor, Mark Begich, Max Baucus, and Tim Johnson.

Over the next 24 hours, the Vote-o-Rama and final passage will weigh on 2014 Democrats.  As David Hawkings writes in Roll Call, “…the pressure will be especially intense on the staffers advising the senators whose one false step could hobble their chances for re-election next year. Five are Democrats who have committed to running again in states that voted for Mitt Romney: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.”

Hawkings concludes, “The political class will spend much of the next two weeks’ recess poring over results from Friday’s vote-a-rama…plumbing for the best examples of senators stepping unwittingly into the frame of a future attack ad.”   Whistle… Whistle.

From Brad Dayspring Communications Director of the NRSC