Even early on, I was not in favor of the bill.
In those intervening days the bill has been bastardized and bloated to the point that it resembles an Obaka Porkulus submission. If one would object to that, why is it that so many Republicans seem to be interested in voting for the BTC “deal”?
Let us speak and me write plainly: the Demorats have, as we well know, hijacked much of our current political language. The so-called “Bush Tax Cuts” are NOT cuts at all. These are nothing more than our current tax rates. There are NO “cuts” involved. A failure to extend the current tax rates means a massive tax hike. Those are the facts.
Labeling the current rate as “Bush Tax Cuts” is akin to the Demorats — traditionally — calling a failure to increase a given federal department’s yearly budget a “cut.”
First, in re “the deal” — who has actually read the thing?
Second, the cost: $1.1 TRILLION and over 1,900 pages.
As Politico writes:
In a scene reminiscent of the movie “Casablanca,” top Republicans expressed shock, shock that there was gambling still in Rick’s Cafe even after their own members have been quietly working to write the bill and gather GOP votes for passage.
Third, there are 6,488 earmarks within.
You read that correctly. And here are but a few:
$277,000 for potato pest management in Wisconsin
$246,000 for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
$349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina
$413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
$247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
$208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
$94,000 for blackbird management in Louisiana
$165,000 for maple syrup research in Vermont
$235,000 for noxious weed management in Nevada
$100,000 for the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage Visitor’s Center in New York
$300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii
$400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas
$246,000 for bovine tuberculosis in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 for cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 for oyster safety in Florida
$349,000 for swine waste management in North Carolina
$413,000 for peanut research in Alabama
$247,000 for virus free wine grapes in Washington
$208,000 beaver management in North Carolina
$94,000 for blackbird management in Louisiana
$165,000 for maple syrup research in Vermont
$235,000 for noxious weed management in Nevada
$100,000 for the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage Visitor’s Center in New York
$300,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii
$400,000 for solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit this as nothing more than clear proof that DC politicians on BOTH sides of the aisle did NOT receive the recent transmission from the American People, broadcast in the clear, this past November during the mid-terms:
STOP SPENDING.
These bastards simply cannot contain themselves. Your money isn’t really yours; it belongs to them. You are simply a Money Factory with a limitless production line and the temporary holder of cash that must be funneled to DC.
Yet, some Republican senators are actually thinking about supporting it (Bennett of Utah, Bond of Missouri, Voinovich of Ohio and Collins of Maine).
Luckily, John Thune (R, South Dakota) speaks the obvious:
The attempt by Democrat leadership to rush through a nearly 2,000-page spending bill in the final days of the lame-duck session ignores the clear will expressed by the voters this past election,” Thune said in a statement. “This bill is loaded up with pork projects and should not get a vote. Congress should listen to the American people and stop this reckless spending.”
This is the time to take a stand, Republicans, right out of the gate following the November mid-terms.
But are you more interested in “going along to get along”?
Just another day in “Political Exclusionary Paradise”?
So, dearest readers: how would YOU vote?
Because, after all, if you vote this bill down then you allow the current tax rates to expire. And they won’t go down; oh no no no. Tax rates will go up come January 1st.
What’s your strategy then?
BZ
I would…IF it was strictly about tax cuts…
This thing is so pork laden it’s ridiculous, it bears no resemblance of a TAX CUT bill…
But if you like ham and bacon, well, then it’s a marvelous bill..
I would vote NO on this compromise POS. I would be screaming from the roof tops and I would be doing as Bernie Sanders did, on the floor until Jan 4th if it took that to kill this crap.
YES I know my taxes will go up. YES it would cost me about 200 more dollars on my first Jan paycheck. YES I would still vote to kill this sucker.
As far as that Omnibus Reid money grab last feast before he has to work with Republicans. KILL THAT SUCKER TOO!
I don’t want another thing passed by this current corrupt congress and if it were up to me that entire body of asshats would be hung for treason!
Does that clearly spell out my view on this topic?
BZ –
I’m not sure if it’s me or not, but you’re talking about two different bills, right?
The first is the tax rate extension (tax cut as the MSM incorrectly calls it) and the second is the Omnibus Spending bill that will keep the government running after Saturday. That’s the one that has all the earmarks…
The way I feel, if there is a single earmark in that pathetic piece of crap that was put there by a Republican, that person should be recalled. Immediately.
It’s ridiculous. All of it.
cjh
You guys are such lemmings. Nooo…let’s not give anything to anybody who might help average Americans. Let’s just give to the rich-they deserve it-we don’t.
How much of this is GOP pork-is the real question.
I would vote no. People need to stay angry and a hit in the wallet will accomplish that.
As a young man, I heard a county sheriff telling a group that the best way to get rid of a bad law was to vigorously enforce it.
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Last week there was a photo at Drudge of a HUGE black woman lying in bed with the caption, “Diet or die”, and the accompanying article said she’d have to go through some serious suffering in order to survive.
The U.S. economy is now that morbidly obese black woman…
If we don’t suffer some serious pain soon, as a country we’ll die.
(And I now question if we have the discipline to go on that crash diet.)
HR 1 next Congress needs to be: rescind all earmarks.
The bill, itself, is a horror side-show and I thought that the Senate didn’t get to start spending bills of any sort. So even if passed a lefty could take it to court and get it struck down. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Now that Omniporkulus is a dead letter, and it goes to a continuing resolution, that will allow the NEXT Congress to write the budget for the CURRENT fiscal year… now what should or should not be funded this fiscal year? We are weeks away from finding out just what the next Congress will do.
Job #1: stop the spending.