#TXSen: David Dewhurst Signs Coalition to Reduce Spending's Pledge to 'Reject the Debt'

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Texas Senate candidate joins fellow Senate candidate Ted Cruz and House candidates Wes Riddle (TX-25) and Jessica Puente Bradshaw (TX-34) in pledging to “never vote for an unbalanced budget.”

 

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Amid campaigning before a pivotal July 31 runoff, Texas Senate candidates David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz have signed the “Reject the Debt” spending pledge put out by the nonpartisan Coalition to Reduce Spending.

David Dewhurst released the following statement to coincide with his signature:

“Washington is driving this country into bankruptcy …. and we are putting the American Dream at risk. We need to balance our budget, slash spending and put all programs on the table in order to get our fiscal house in order, just like we’ve done in Texas. As a result of our state’s commitment to conservative principles, Texas has created the best business climate in America. I want to take that successful model to Washington.”

David Dewhurst joins Ted Cruz in his commitment to spending reduction. Wes Riddle, candidate for Congress in Texas’s 25th congressional district, and Jessica Puente Bradshaw, candidate in Texas’s 34th district, who are also facing runoff elections, have signed the spending pledge as well.

Regarding his commitment to the ‘Reject the Debt’ pledge and balanced budgets, Ted Cruz stated:

“America’s debt is the single greatest threat to our nation’s long term security. Right now, we’re on the same road that Greece is on, but there are countries that can bail out Greece. There is no one who can bail out America. I emphatically support a Balanced Budget Amendment, have publicly fought for it, and in the Senate will do everything humanly possible to help pass it.”

Jonathan Bydlak, head of the Coalition to Reduce Spending and former Director of Fundraising for Ron Paul’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, offered the following comment:

“The Texas Senate race has become a bellwether in ushering in a new era of fiscal responsibility, and the Coalition to Reduce Spending is leading the way in crafting this new paradigm. Dewhurst, Cruz, Riddle, and Bradshaw are taking the lead nationally with their commitment to cut spending in order to balance the budget.”

Corie Whalen, a Houston based Political Consultant and member of the Coalition to Reduce Spending’s Board of Directors said:

“It’s heartening to see Texas candidates, particularly in a race as crucial as our Republican US Senate runoff, leading in an effort to truly reform Washington. Too few politicians currently in DC are willing to address reducing the size of a federal government that has grown too large for Texans.

The ‘Reject the Debt’ pledge, the signature program of the Coalition to Reduce Spending, secures three commitments from candidates:

(1) to vote only for balanced budgets; (2) to vote only for new spending programs whose costs are offset elsewhere in the budget; and (3) to not vote to increase federal borrowing. The full text of the pledge can be read at: http://www.ReduceSpending.org/Reject-the-Debt.

The Coalition to Reduce Spending is the only national organization to advocate exclusively for reduced federal spending to balance the budget and is led by a team of professionals in their mid to late-20s who are concerned about how the rising federal debt will affect their future.

More information about the Coalition to Reduce Spending and the Reject the Debt spending pledge can be found online at http://www.ReduceSpending.org.

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About the Coalition to Reduce Spending: The Coalition is the only national organization that advocates exclusively for reducing federal spending to balance the budget. We believe that our country’s national debt is the challenge of our generation, and that we must reduce government spending to make future prosperity possible.

About Reject the Debt:  The Reject the Debt pledge asks candidates for public office to go on the record with a commitment to reduce federal spending. The Coalition to Reduce Spending believes it is important that elected officials promise to never vote for unbalanced budgets or unnecessary increases in off-budget spending.

The Company They Keep

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Originally posted at Center for Security Policy By Frank Gaffney, Jr.

The truism that you know someone by the company they keep has rarely been more true than with respect to the Obama administration and its burgeoning ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists. Just this weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the latest member of Team Obama to consort with sworn enemies of the United States when she sat down with the newly installed Brotherhood president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi.

Despite official, media and academic efforts to portray Morsi – and, for that matter, the Muslim Brotherhood more generally – as the kind of people with whom the United States can safely deal in the evolving Middle East and here, the determination of such Islamists to impose their supremacist Islamic doctrine of shariah worldwide could not be more palpable. Their hostility to America, Israel, Western civilization and other infidels goes back to the founding of the organization in 1928 and is rooted in its guiding program – shariah – and it is absolute and unwavering. Anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves or deliberately deceiving others.

While it cannot be confirmed at this writing, presumably Mrs. Clinton was accompanied on her travels as usual – particularly in the Middle East – by her Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin. That would be all the more probable given that Ms. Abedin has myriad family ties to the Brotherhood. For example, her mother, Saleha Abedin, is a leader of the organization’s secretive women’s auxiliary, the Muslim Sisterhood, in which she serves along with Mohammed Morsi’s wife, Naglaa Ali Mahmoud.

The presence of an individual with such associations in the seniormost ranks of the State Department at a moment when the Obama administration is assiduously “engaging” with the Muslim Brotherhood has raised concerns on Capitol Hill. To their credit, five legislators, led by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, have asked for a formal inquiry into the role Ms. Abedin and perhaps others have played in the adoption of problematic policies favorable to the Islamists.

For her troubles, Rep. Bachmann has recently been assailed by one of her colleagues – the self-styled “first Muslim congressman,” Keith Ellison. The congresswoman responded Friday with a detailed – and devastating – 16-page, 59-footnote letter (http://bachmann.house.gov/uploadedfiles/letter_to_rep._ellison.pdf) to Mr. Ellison’s rash charge that there was no basis for concerns about Ms. Abedin.

The documentation provided also lays bare the established connections between several Muslim-American organizations and the Muslim Brotherhood. The upshot of Rep. Ellison’s foray is that he has inadvertently called attention to the bad company he keeps – namely, with various known Brotherhood front groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Meanwhile, as Secretary Clinton headed off to Jerusalem, reportedly to assure Israeli leaders that Mr. Morsi means no harm to the Jewish State, a very different message is conveyed in a document (http://www.memri.org/clip_transcript/en/3431.htm) currently making the rounds. It is the transcript of an endorsement given at the kick-off rally of the Morsi campaign by one of his supporters, Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi. As the candidate looked on beaming, Higazi declared: “…The dream of the Islamic Caliphate is being realized, Allah willing, by Dr. Muhammad Mursi and his brothers, his supporters, and his political party – that of the United States of the Arabs….The capital of the Caliphate – the capital of the United States of the Arabs – will be Jerusalem, Allah willing.”
Rep. Bachmann and her colleagues also asked for investigations into the role being played in shaping U.S. policy by the president of ISNA, Imam Mohamed Magid. As documented at www.MuslimBrotherhoodinAmerica.com, that senior Brotherhood operative has been an advisor to President Obama, feted at the White House, State and Treasury Departments, literally embraced by the Justice Department and used as the vehicle for serial apologies by the Pentagon. Counterterrorism expert Patrick Poole has dubbed Magid Team Obama’s “Diversity Czar.”
The fact that the Obama administration is keeping such company is made all the more appalling by the kind of company Czar Magid keeps. For example, as Mr. Poole observed, at a recent ISNA “Diversity Forum” in Dearborn, Mohamed Magid presented CAIR-Michigan executive director Dawud Walid with a “diversity award.” It speaks volumes about Walid’s actual “sensitivity” to others that he is on record (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDS-BWqWORw&feature=share) justifying the destruction of Jews. The Investigative Project on Terror’s Daniel Rogell reported last month that, in an anti-semitic rant, Walid asked rhetorically “Did Muhammad order the killing of Jews?” He subsequently answered, “Muhammad didn’t order it. Sa’ad ibn Mu’aadh [one of his followers] ordered that punishment. It was a correct one. (Emphasis added.)
Another award handed out by Mohamed Magid’s organization recognizes “community service” and is named for one of ISNA’s founders, Mahboub Khan. It happens that Mr. Khan is the father of someone else who has long been keeping company with Magid and his fellow Islamists – a controversial member of the Board of Directors of the American Conservative Union (ACU) named Suhail Khan. The younger Khan once declared at an ISNA conference, “What are our oppressors going to do with people like us? We are prepared to give our lives for the cause of Islam….I have pledged my life’s work…to work for the umma [Muslim nation.]”
Not only can you gain insights into people by the company they keep. When it comes to the Muslim Brotherhood and like-minded Islamists, it is downright dangerous to do otherwise.

Spending Daily

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Bankrupting America square logo

Spending Daily |  July 18, 2012

 

Who built that?
In response to the President’s remarks, Gretchen Hamel, executive director of the Public Notice, writes for Red Alert Politics, “Government does not create business, and in fact, hinders many of them through excessive regulation, taxes and politics. But, in a world where politics trumps reality, the only way to make sense of more government spending is to take credit from the only thing that is working, our small businesses and hard working Americans. Hopefully, instead of taking the credit, the government can instead get out of the way of businesses that strengthen our economy, create American jobs, and care more about creating great products than taking the credit.”
The Wall Street Journal also writes in an editorial,”The Presidential election has a long way to go, but the line of the year so far is President Obama’s on Friday: ‘You didn’t build that.’ Rarely do politicians so clearly reveal their core beliefs…The President who says he wants to be transformational may be succeeding—and subordinating to government the individual enterprise and risk-taking that underlies prosperity. The question is whether this is the America that most Americans want to build.”
Cronyism Built That
The Washington Free Beacon reports on, “President Obama’s record of rewarding political donors with taxpayer dollars and plum administration posts…The most publicized instance of so-called ‘crony capitalism’—investing taxpayer dollars in firms tied to political donors—is the failed solar panel company Solyndra.” George Kaiser, “a major stakeholder in Solyndra through his Kaiser Family Foundation,” said at a Tulsa Rotary Club meeting, “‘There’s never been more money shoved out of the government’s door in world history, and probably never will be again, than in the last few months and in the next 18 months. And our selfish parochial goal is to get as much as it for Tulsa and Oklahoma as we possibly can.’…Taxpayers, meanwhile, are unlikely to recover much of the money invested on their behalf.”
Democrats’ Tax Cut Loophole
The New York Times reports, “Senate Democrats — holding firm against extending tax cuts for the rich — are proposing a novel way to circumvent the Republican pledge not to vote for any tax increase: Allow all the tax cuts to expire Jan. 1, then vote on a tax cut for the middle class shortly thereafter…Virtually every Republican in Congress has taken the pledge, pushed by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, never to vote for a tax increase — a pledge both parties see as a serious impediment to a tax compromise. But if tax rates snap back to the levels of the Clinton presidency on Jan. 1, any legislation to reinstate some of those tax cuts — but not all of them — would be considered a tax cut.”
Tax Hikes Could Hit 2.1 Million Business Owners, Cost 710,000 Jobs
The Washington Post reports, “Should Congress allow the tax rates for the nation’s highest earners to expire at the end of the year, millions of small businesses could be forced to cut jobs and wages, placing an enormous strain on the already sluggish economic recovery, according to a new study….Ernst & Young conducted this latest study in an effort to predict the long-term economic impact of letting the top rates increase at year’s end — and the findings stand in stark contrast to the repeated assurances from Democrats that their proposal would have minimal effect on small business owners.”  The study found,”the plan would actually subject 2.1 million business owners to higher rates; specifically, those who pay pass-through taxes, like most partnerships, LLCs and S-Corporations. The result, less capital in the hands of business owners and diminished labor supply, would cost the United States an estimated $200 billion in economic output and 710,000 jobs. Moreover, business owners and the unemployed won’t be the only ones adversely affected, according to the study, which predicts that employers would also be forced to trim their workers’ wages by 1.8 percent.”
Fed’s “bleak new assessment of the U.S. Economy”
The Wall Street Journalreports, “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a bleak new assessment of the U.S. economy to lawmakers on Tuesday but remained guarded about what, if anything, the Fed would do about it. Policymakers at the central bank lowered their growth projections in June and seem to be preparing for additional moves to spur the economy in the weeks or months ahead…’We are looking very carefully at the economy, trying to judge whether or not the loss of momentum we’ve seen recently is enduring and whether or not the economy is likely to continue to make progress towards lower unemployment,’ Mr. Bernanke said.”
Fiscal Cliff Now Greater Worry Than European Crisis
The Washington Post reports, “The main threat to the economy is shifting from what others may do to us to what we are doing to ourselves. For much of the year, economists worried about the impact of the slowdown in Europe on the U.S. economy. Now, analysts say anxiety about the impact of the fast-approaching fiscal cliff — the series of federal spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect at the beginning of 2013 if Congress and the Obama administration do not act — is displacing Europe as the primary threat to the nation’s sputtering economy…’While our analysts are somewhat less worried about the impact of European bank strains,’ a Morgan Stanley report said Monday, ‘the negative impact of fiscal cliff uncertainty is becoming more widespread.’”

Washington Lawmakers Regret Voting for the Worst Case Scenario

Politico reports, “The looming across-the-board budget cuts that could put scores of Americans out of work next year are all President Barack Obama’s fault. That’s according to congressional Republicans — the majority of whom voted for the deal that laid the groundwork for the cuts in the first place. But Republicans who backed the sequester arrangement then aren’t making any apologies now… It may have seemed like a fine idea at the time, but now that the reality of steep cuts to the military are coming into focus, Republican lawmakers don’t like what they see.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) laments, “I was assured by leadership that when I agreed to vote for the Budget Control Act — which I did to prevent our country from defaulting on its obligations — that sequestration would never happen, that it was such a dire remedy that it would force the supercommittee to act, and obviously that proved not to be true.”
Avoiding Another Shutdown
Politico reports, “Top congressional Republicans are plotting ways to avoid a government shutdown fight when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, believing the partisan brinkmanship that defined last year’s budget battles would be devastating to their party heading into the November elections. In early September, House Republican leaders want to pass a three-month temporary funding measure that sticks to last year’s debt-limit agreement, according to aides involved with the planning. But that could spark a fight with some House and Senate conservatives who yearn for the lower funding numbers in Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget.”
Deja Vu: Geithner Calls for “Substantial” and “Well-Designed” Program for Economic Growth
Appearing on CNBC’s Kudlow Report, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said, “What the economy needs right now is very substantial and well-designed program for support of economic growth.”  CNBC reports, “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the economy is ‘definitely slower,’ but defended the Obama administration’s actions and said Washington needs to take aggressive action to promote growth … Both sides, though, face a looming fiscal catastrophe at the end of the year when a series of tax increases and spending cuts kick in if Congress cannot reach deficit-reduction goals.”

Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty Hails 34th Senate Signature Rejecting L.O.S.T.

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Washington, D.C., July 18, 2012- The Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty applauds the announcement that opponents of Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) have secured enough votes to block ratification. The count of 34 votes rejecting the treaty was reached when Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) signed onto letter of opposition circulated by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) issued their own letter publicly expressing their opposition to the treaty.
The victory comes after a culmination of efforts by Americans across the country, Congressional leadership as well as the Coalition and other military, business and conservative leaders, to express their concerns that LOST’s ratification would prove inimical to both the national security interests and sovereignty of the United States.
On June 14th a group of senior retired U.S. military leaders – who had earned among them a total of 33 stars – released a letter through the Coalition voicing serious concerns regarding LOST. This letter was sent on the day Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, convened a hearing on LOST featuring six currently serving U.S. military commanders – what he has called his “24-star panel” – who argued in favor of ratification. Since then, several additional military leaders, including two former Chiefs of Naval Operations – for a total of three – have signed on as well.
On June 28th a group of oil and gas industry leaders also sent a letter to Committee Chairman John Kerry, to provide an alternate opinion to a business hearing for the treaty where only proponents of the treaty were allowed to testify. Their letter expressed serious concerns about the net effect this accord would have on U.S. national, as well as commercial, interests.
The 34 Senators who have expressed opposition to the treaty are as follows:
  • Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
  • Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)
  • Richard Burr (R-N.C.)
  • John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
  • John Boozman (R-Ark.)
  • Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
  • Dan Coats (R-Ind.)
  • Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
  • John Cornyn (R-Texas)
  • Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
  • Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
  • Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
  • Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
  • Dean Heller (R-Nev.)
  • John Hoeven (R-N.D.)
  • Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
  • Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
  • Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE)
  • Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)
  • Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
  • Mike Lee (R-Utah)
  • Jerry Moran (R-Kansas)
  • Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
  • Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
  • Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)
  • Jim Risch (R-Idaho)
  • Pat Roberts (R-Kansas)
  • Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)
  • Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
  • Richard Shelby (R-Ala.)
  • John Thune (R-S.D.)
  • Pat Toomey (R-Penn.)
  • David Vitter (R-La.)
  • Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. of the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty said:
“Today’s announcement that the Senate opponents of the Law of the Sea Treaty have secured sufficient commitments to block ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty is a great victory for American sovereignty. Despite Senator Kerry’s efforts to present a selective rendering of this treaty the truth about LOST emerged – due in large part to the tireless efforts of a team of legislators and their staff and public spirited citizens who aroused their countrymen to the perils associated with LOST. The country owes a debt of gratitude to these patriots. The decision clearly shows that when the public is presented with an unadulterated perspective on the issues, they will arrive at the proper conclusion.”
Military leaders who expressed their opposition to LOST through the Coalition include:
  • Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, USA (Ret.), former Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Forces Command; former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence
  • Adm. Bruce Demars USN (Ret.), former Director Naval Nuclear Propulsion
  • Adm. Thomas B. Hayward, USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations
  • Admiral Jim Holloway, USN (Ret.) former Chief of Naval Operations
  • Adm. Frank Kelso USN (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations
  • Adm. G.E.R. Kinnear II, USN (Ret.), former U.S. Member of the NATO Military Committee
  • Gen. Richard L. Lawson, USAF (Ret.), former Deputy Commander-in Chief, Headquarters U.S. European Command
  • Adm. James “Ace” Lyons, Jr., USN (Ret.), former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet
  • Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney, USAF (Ret.), former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, USAF
  • Vice Adm. Robert Monroe, USN (Ret.), former Director of Navy Research, Development Testing and Evaluation
  • Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., USMC (Ret.), former Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
  • Adm. Leighton “Snuffy” Smith, USN (Ret.), former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Navy Forces Europe and NATO Allied Forces Southern Europe
Business leaders who expressed their opposition to LOST through the Coalition include:
  • Raul Brito, President, Brito Oil Company
  • Steve Dillard, Vice President, Pickrell Drilling Company
  • Mike Dixon, Owner, Dixon Oil and Gas, Inc.
  • Hon. Dennis Hedke, Owner, Hedke Saenger Geoscience Ltd.
  • Bill Johnson, Partner, McCoy Petroleum Corporation
  • A. Scott Ritchie III, President, Ritchie Exploration, Inc.
  • Scott Stewart, Owner, Bird Dog Oil LLC

Ted Cruz Pledges to 'Reject the Debt'

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Texas Senate candidate joins House candidates Wes Riddle (TX-25) and Jessica Puente Bradshaw (TX-34) in pledging to “never vote for an unbalanced budget.”

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Taking a moment from campaigning just two weeks before his July 31 runoff, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz signed the ‘Reject the Debt’ spending pledge put out by the nonpartisan Coalition to Reduce Spending today.

Cruz joins fellow Texans Wes Riddle, candidate for Congress in Texas’s 25th congressional district, and Jessica Puente Bradshaw, candidate in Texas’s 34th district in signing the pledge.

Jonathan Bydlak, head of the Coalition to Reduce Spending and former Director of Fundraising for Ron Paul’s 2008 Presidential Campaign, offered the following comment:

“Ted Cruz, Wes Riddle, and Jessica Puente Bradshaw are taking the lead nationally by pledging to voters their commitment to cut spending in order to balance the budget.”

“Current efforts in Washington are not getting the job done when it comes to reigning in a federal government that has grown too large and too costly for the American people to support,” Bydlak said.

“Our country’s escalating national debt is the challenge of our generation, and by signing the ‘Reject the Debt’ pledge, it’s clear that Mr. Cruz, Mr. Riddle, and Mrs. Bradshaw take this issue seriously.”

“America’s focus during the current crisis must be on reducing spending, and these candidates understand how important that is,” he added.

The Coalition to Reduce Spending’s ‘Reject the Debt’ pledge secures three commitments from candidates:

(1) to vote only for balanced budgets; (2) to only vote for new spending programs whose costs are offset elsewhere in the budget; and (3) to not vote to increase federal borrowing. The full text of the pledge can be read at: http://www.ReduceSpending.org/Reject-the-Debt.

The Coalition to Reduce Spending is the only national organization to advocate exclusively for reduced federal spending to balance the budget and is led by a team of professionals in their mid to late-20s who are concerned about how the rising federal debt will affect their future.

“We believe the federal government should never spend more than it takes in via taxes. Unfortunately, too many Baby Boomer politicians don’t seem to be serious about getting our fiscal house in order,” Bydlak said.

“All spending – from the tiniest bits of waste in small agencies to the most egregious excesses in large federal departments – must be on the table,” he added.

Dave Nalle, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, recently described the Reject the Debt spending pledge as “long overdue.” “The Coalition to Reduce Spending has the right idea in going after spending as the top priority in balancing the budget. By bringing people together from all over the political spectrum, the Coalition’s work is truly invaluable,” said Nalle.

More information about the Coalition to Reduce Spending and the Reject the Debt spending pledge can be found online at www.ReduceSpending.org.

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About the Coalition to Reduce Spending: The Coalition is the only national organization that advocates exclusively for reducing federal spending to balance the budget. We believe that our country’s national debt is the challenge of our generation, and that we must reduce government spending to make future prosperity possible.

About Reject the Debt:  The Reject the Debt pledge asks candidates for public office to go on the record with a commitment to reduce federal spending. The Coalition to Reduce Spending believes it is important that elected officials promise to never vote for unbalanced budgets or unnecessary increases in off-budget spending.

McCarthy: Report Confirms Small Business Tax Hike Hurts Economy

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Washington D.C. – House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) released the following statement regarding this morning’s report on the impact President Obama’s proposed tax hike will have on jobs and the economy:

“For the last forty months, as unemployment has hovered above 8%, House Republicans have emphasized the importance of fostering a climate of economic growth by removing excessive red tape and regulations, and creating a tax system that makes America competitive internationally. Unfortunately, the White House and Congressional Democrats have focused their energies on the divisive rhetoric of class warfare. Just last week, President Obama introduced a proposal that would raise taxes on hundreds of thousands of small businesses. According to a new report by Ernst and Young, this tax hike is expected to shrink our economy by 1.3% and over 700,000 jobs would be lost.

“While President Obama continues to poll-test the best messaging for the campaign trail, House Republicans refuse to let the November elections get in the way of turning this economy around. That’s why the House will vote this month to stop the Obama tax hike and provide small businesses the certainty they need to grow their businesses and create jobs.”

Full Ernst & Young report:

EY_Study_Long-run_macroeconomic_impact_of_increasing_tax_rates_on_high_income_taxpayers_in_2013__2012_07_16_FINAL

Shelley Berkley & The Democrats Want To Make It Worse #NVSen

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Just wanted to flag a couple stories breaking on the economic front, which highlights the lengths to which Shelley Berkley and Democrats will go to raise taxes on small businesses even in the face of news saying the economy is slowing.

Yesterday the Associated Press reported that the U.S. economy appears weaker as retail sales have fallen.

  • ASSOCIATED PRESS:  “The report led some economists to downgrade their estimates for economic growth in the April-June quarter. Many now think the economy grew even less than in the first quarter of the year, when it expanded at a sluggish 1.9 percent annual rate. … ‘However hard you look, there’s just no good news in this report at all,’ said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.”  (Martin Crutsinger, US economy appears weaker as retail sales slump, Associated Press, 7/16/12)

What makes this interesting is that on the very same morning news breaks that our economy continues to struggle, national Democrats led the day with this front page story in the Washington Post:

Democrats Threaten To Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ If GOP Fails To Raise Taxes

 

  • WASHINGTON POST:  Murray’s address, set to be delivered at the Brookings Institution, is meant to influence both the Nov. 6 election and the lame-duck legislative session in November and December, when the fiscal cliff will be at hand and the fight over taxes will be in full throttle. Regardless of the election’s outcome, President Obama and the current Congress will be in office for the session.  The speech comes less than a week after Obama assured Hill Democrats during a White House meeting that he would veto any attempt to maintain the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000 a year, according to several people present. It also echoes the dismissive response by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to Republicans seeking to undo scheduled reductions in Pentagon spending that even Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has said would be “devastating” to national security.  (Lori Montgomery, Democrats threaten to go over ‘fiscal cliff’ if GOP fails to raise taxes, Washington Post, 7/16/12)

This comes on the heels of a letter that Republican leaders sent to the White House on Friday asking the President to put forward a plan to avoid defense cuts that even his own Secretary of Defense has called “devastating.”

The bottom line is this:  even in the face of more daunting economic news, Shelley Berkley and her fellow Democrats would rather hold military families, veterans’ health care, and millions of jobs hostage because of their addiction to higher taxes.

Background on who gets hit with the Democrats’ proposed tax hikes:

  • Hundreds of thousands of small businesses would feel this tax hike right away.
    • According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, nearly 940,000 flow-through businesses would be subject to the President’s proposed tax rate hikes that would take effect on January 1, 2013.
  • As much as a quarter of our nation’s workforce depends on these employers for a paycheck.
  • Half of all flow-through business income would be hit by Obama’s proposed tax hike.
    • According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, 53 percent of all flow-through business income is subject to the President’s proposed tax hikes.
    • This is especially harmful to small business, because virtually all small businesses are organized as flow-through entities such as S corporations, partnerships, and LLCs. (see IRS Statistics of Income Integrated Business Data)

 

Under Democrats, The Defense Budget Faces Over $1 Trillion In Cuts

Obama’s FY 2013 Budget Cuts Defense Spending By $487 Billion Over The Next Ten Years. “An array of military programs, from fighter jets to retiree benefits, would be nicked to squeeze savings in the Pentagon’s $525 billion budget for 2013, according to officials and documents released Monday. The proposed 2013 budget represents the Pentagon’s first installment in a plan to reduce its projected spending by $487 billion over 10 years. Congress must approve the changes.” (Tom Vanden Brook “Pentagon Budget Calls For Cuts To Jets, Benefits,” USA Today, 2/13/12)

  • Sequestration Would Slash An Additional $500 Billion From The Defense Budget. “The cuts, roughly $500 billion to both defense and non-defense spending, were set in motion after the supercommittee failed to find more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction last year. The Obama administration has said it’s not yet planning for the cuts, instead arguing they were never intended to be implemented and urging Congress to find a fix.” (Jeremy Herb, “Pentagon’s No. 2 Joining Budget Director At Sequester Hearing,” The Hill‘s “DEFCON Hill” Blog, 7/11/12)

Total Defense Cuts Would Put Up To 1.5 Million Jobs At Risk. “‘Sequestration ($1 trillion in cuts) assumes across the board spending cuts with losses peaking in the 2013-2014 time period, with 1 million to 1.5 million jobs lost and that could increase the U.S. unemployment rate by nearly 1 percentage point in the near term,’ said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins, a spokeswoman of the Department of Defense.” (Sean Gorman, “Rep. Randy Forbes Says 1.53 Million Defense Jobs Are ‘At Risk,’” Politifact, 10/12/11)

  • The Pentagon Estimated That Sequestration “Could Add 1 Percent To The Nation’s Unemployment Rate.”  “Nearly $1 trillion in defense cuts that the 2011 Budget Control Act could require would devastate the military and the defense industrial base, and could add 1 percent to the nation’s unemployment rate, the Pentagon press secretary said today.” (Cheryl Pellerin, “Additional Budget Cuts Would Devastate Military, Spokesman Says,” American forces Press Service, 9/15/11)
  • Pentagon Press Secretary George Little: “We’re Not Talking About Just Military Jobs, We’re Also Talking About Jobs In The Private Sector That Support The Innovation And Creativity And Capabilities That We Need To Keep America Strong.” “At the Pentagon, internal analysis shows that sequestration also would have a profound impact on the U.S. industrial base, he added, by threatening many of the 3.8 million military and civilian jobs that the sector represents. ‘We’re not talking about just military jobs, we’re also talking about jobs in the private sector that support the innovation and creativity and capabilities that we need to keep America strong,’ he said. Moving to sequestration and the additional budget cuts it would require, department officials believe ‘would potentially add 1 percent to the national unemployment rate,’ Little said.” (Cheryl Pellerin, “Additional Budget Cuts Would Devastate Military, Spokesman Says,” American forces Press Service, 9/15/11)
  • Secretary Panetta: “That Kind Of Sequestration Cut Across The Board Would Have A Serious Impact Not Only On Men And Women In Uniform, But On Our Personnel And The Contractors Who Serve The Defense Establishment.”  SENATOR DANIEL INOUYE: “This sequestration, coupled with projected discretionary defense spendings, could add 1 percent to the national unemployment rate from job losses in government, military and private sector jobs within the defense industrial base. Does that description make sense?” SECRETARY PANETTA: “Mr. Chairman, I think that that is the estimate that we’ve seen in terms of the impact that would have. Now again, I just – I stress, look, Defense Department is not a jobs program. It’s a program to defend the nation. But clearly it would – that kind of sequestration cut across the board would have a serious impact not only on men and women in uniform, but on our personnel and the contractors who serve the defense establishment.” (Subcommittee On Defense, Committee On Appropriations, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 6/13/12)

Spending Daily

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Spending Daily |  July 17, 2012

 

U.S. Economy: “from muddling to near-stagnation”
The Wall Street Journal reports, “Another disappointing retail sales report prompted some economists to cut the second-quarter U.S. GDP again. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities, now sees 0.6% growth rather than 1% previously predicted. ‘As you can see, I am running out of room with regard to being above zero. The economy has downshifted from muddling to near-stagnation.’ …The problem with an economy at stall speed is it’s very susceptible to any kind of outside shock. Between the never-ending euro crisis, the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ here in the U.S., the odds of a hard landing in China, there are far too many outside shocks lurking around for comfort’s sake.”  On top of that,

Bloomberg reports, “Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell for a third month in June as limited employment gains took a toll on consumers. The 0.5 percent drop followed a 0.2 percent decrease in May, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington…A cooling job market is sapping the household spending that makes up 70 percent of the economy, curbing sales at retailers such as Target Corp. (TGT) and Macy’s Inc. (M).”

Obama Administration MissesAnotherBudget Deadline 
The Hill reports, “The Obama administration has missed another annual budget deadline, failing to send Congress a mid-session budget review before July 16.” Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) commented on the missed deadline saying, “Combined with $5 trillion in debt accrued since 2009, and the refusal of his Senate majority to produce a budget for three years in the midst of crisis, it reveals a troubling detachment from the financial future of our Republic.”  The article also reports that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) “pointed out that the mid-session review has never been delivered on time by Obama.”
IMF Raises Concerns Over Eurozone and U.S. “fiscal cliff”
Reuters reports, “The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its forecast for global economic growth and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in the euro zone do not act with enough force and speed to quell their region’s debt crisis…It made clear, however, that Europe was not the only risk. The IMF, which trimmed its U.S. forecasts slightly, said concerns were rising over a political battle brewing in Washington over how to avoid painful automatic spending cuts and tax increases at the start of next year…If the United States failed to deal with the ‘fiscal cliff’ it could potentially be an ‘enormous shock’ to the U.S. and other advanced economies, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard told a news conference.”

Mounting Municipal Bankruptcies

Bloomberg reports the fear of limiting access to bond markets and political stigma surrounding bankruptcy seems to be fading. With focus centered on California, many are forgetting the challenges in Nebraska. “Quirks in local, state and federal law have made Nebraska home to almost one-fifth of the more than 220 Chapter 9 bankruptcies filed in the U.S. since 1981, according to a nationwide review of federal court records. California, with more than 20 times Nebraska’s population, is second, followed by Texas and Alabama.”
Sequester Showdown on Capitol Hill

Politico reports, “The showdown over the sequester is at full force on Capitol Hill this week…The House this week will vote on a defense spending bill as well as a plan ordering the Obama administration to say how it would go about implementing the $500 billion in defense cuts set to kick in on Jan. 2.” Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA) said, “’You have found over the last several months, people have started to become more and more aware of what’s going on. The unbelievable result of sequestration is starting to hit home to people and they’re starting to say, ‘My gosh, these guys can’t be serious about letting this happen.’”

Partisan stand-off over spending cuts and taxes will dominate. Senator Pat Murray summed up this stand-off saying at a speech at The Brookings Institution on Monday, “You know what? If Democrats were willing to accept a wildly imbalanced deficit-reduction plan to avoid the automatic cuts — we would have done that back in the supercommittee. But we didn’t then, and we will not now.”

 

Europe Affecting U.S. Hiring
Reuters reports, “American companies are scaling back plans to hire workers and a rising share of firms feel the European debt crisis is taking a bite out of their sales, a survey showed on Monday. Only 23 percent of the firms polled in June plan to add to staff in the next six months, the National Association for Business Economics said on Monday.”
Obama Changing Welfare Requirement
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports, “Under a new federal directive, states can apply for waivers regarding work requirements under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, commonly known as welfare. Critics question the department’s authority to allow waivers and complain that the Obama administration is trying to reverse reforms from the mid-1990s.” However, the waiver is being met with resistance.The Hill reports, “Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he plans to introduce legislation addressing President Obama’s decision to waive work requirements in the Temporary Assistant for Needy Families (TANF) law…” Hatch said, “‘In the 16 years since the creation of the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families, no administration has concluded that they have the authority to waive the TANF work requirements.’”