GOP House Republicans are Fully Responsible for Government Shutdown - Overnight Polling Agrees

GOP Members giddy over shutdown possibility Saturday night and now trying to blame Senate Democrats and the President. They won't even take responsibility for their own actions.

The GOP rhetoric is not selling well with the American people no matter how the GOP and their hard right allies try to spin:

From Business Insider:

Six hours after the federal government shut down for the first time in 17 years, a new Quinnipiac poll delivered the first warning sign for a Republican Party that stands to take the brunt of the blame.  

According to the poll, American voters oppose shutting down the federal government to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act by a significant, 72-22 margin. And on another upcoming fight — raising the debt ceiling — Americans oppose using it to stop the health-care law's implementation by a 64-27 margin.  

And in general, 58% of Americans oppose cutting off funding for Obamacare to tinker with its implementation.  

All of these should be significant red flags for the Republican Party, which polls have shown will take the bulk of the public's blame for the shutdown. 

According to the Quinnipiac poll, Democrats now hold a 9-point advantage in the general Congressional ballot — that is, Americans said they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their district over the Republican candidate by a 43-34 margin. That's the highest it's been all year. 

And approval of Congressional Republicans is at its lowest point in the poll's history. Only 17% of respondents said approve of the job Congressional Republicans are doing, compared with 74% who disapprove. That compares to a 32/60 approval-to-disapproval rating for Congressional Democrats and a 45/49 score for President Barack Obama.
55% of voters think gridlock is occurring in Washington because Republicans are "determined to block any Obama initiative," while only 33% said it's because of Obama's lack of skill to convince Congress to work together. 

"Americans are certainly not in love with Obamacare, but they reject decisively the claim by Congressional Republicans that it is so bad that it's worth closing down the government to stop it," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.  

"President Barack Obama enters this standoff over the budget with an edge over Congressional Republicans in the voters' eyes." 

Now we know that Speaker Boehner and his leadership team were pressuring Representatives not to stand with Rep King.  It is absolutely despicable.  

Peter King: I Did My Best to Fight the Cruz Craziesby Michael Daly Oct 1, 2013 6:23 AM EDT 

Peter King attempted to lead a moderate coup against the Republican leadership. He tells Michael Daly why he could no longer stand by and watch the crazies in his party damage the country. 

But every time he spoke to a fellow Republican representative who seemed ready to join him in averting a government shutdown, House Speaker John Boehner would have a quiet word with the waverer. 

“I did my bit, and then I saw Boehner talking to them,” King says. 

King was by one of the 20 locations where a member can vote. He saw a possible supporter who was standing nearby instead go to a more distant voting station. 

“When you see a guy walk away to vote someplace else, you know how he’s going,” King says. 

King felt sure that if Boehner had just told everybody to vote their conscience, then the measure that threatened to trigger a government shutdown would have been resoundingly defeated. But Boehner apparently did not want to risk a revolt by the extremists who are ideologically aligned with Sen. Ted Cruz, the ones who King says live in “echo chambers” where they hear only their own voices. Boehner would rather risk this challenge by King, who was not an imminent threat to the speaker’s rule and had been consistently loyal in all the big recent votes. 

At the same time, the “Ted Cruz Republicans,” as King called them, had been consistently disloyal. The present crisis had only come about because the Cruz crazies had refused to go along with Boehner’s original plan. Boehner had figured on sending legislation to the Senate that would allow it to fund the government even as it refused to pass an essentially symbolic measure defunding Obamacare.   

Excerpt:  Read More at The Daily Beast

Speaker Boehner seems to be out of it most of the time he speaks including his attacks on the President on the floor of the House.  All the Speaker has  to do is bring up a clean CR bill, it will pass, and the Government goes back to work which the House GOP refuses to pass.  Why won't Boehner bring up a clean CR bill?

The fault for the shutdown lies at the feet of John Boehner, his Leadership Team, and the Cruz Tea Party Caucus in the House who have been acting on Cruz's recommendations.  Last week Cruz on video told the House if they shutdown Government then they should start passing piece meal funding bills which is exactly what they are doing today.  Shows Cruz is running the House and the Speaker. When is the last time you have seen a Senator run the House?  I never have.

After the Continuing Resolution battle, the Debt Ceiling is up next this month.  Look at the demands above from the Republican Tea Party House and ask yourself who is responsible for the shutdown of Government. President and Senate request two clean bills and all they get is garbage add ons by House Tea Party Republicans who refuse to acknowledge that Obamacare is the law not a bill and the American people spoke in reelecting President by a large margin.

House GOP has now become totally delusional and are in the process of destroying the GOP to do what the Koch Bros want.  Why?  Where are GOP backbones?  Why people would support the GOP today is beyond me.  Send them to the unemployment line in November 2014.

House GOP "Stop Government Abuse" Week was a Bad Joke!

This is a round-up from NARFE of what the Republican House did in the last days before a five-week recess.  Most worthless House ever IMHO as Republicans refuse to vote on bills they know might pass instead voting again to defund Obamacare knowing it is going no where.  The House Republicans need to refund some of their salary to the taxpayers.

Still haven't recovered from the biggest abusers in DC, Republican House, having e a "Stop Government Abuse Week" which is an insult to anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence.  That took nerve but one thing we have learned out of the Republicans in Congress is that nerve is their middle name as they push an agenda that is bogus and adds not one thing to help the 98% of American people. When a Party wants to cut food stamps by over $30B, it says it all - they could care less about those less fortunate because they don't fund their campaigns.  Republicans play to their new hard right base along with wealthy donors led by the Koch Bros and expect others to go along.  More and more long time Republicans are telling the GOP Goodbye!

NARFE Legislative Hotline – August 2, 2013

Message from NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin
“As lawmakers depart Washington for five weeks starting today, the stakes are high. The ball is in your court. Use the congressional summer recess to meet with your representative and both senators. Defend the benefits you earned and were promised during your career of service to the American people.”

#1 ‘Stop Government Abuse’ Votes Held
This week, the House of Representatives unveiled and voted on a series of bills targeting the federal government and federal employees as part of “Stop Government Abuse” week. In total, the House had planned to vote on 10 bills denigrating, one way or another, civil service and, in one case, even usurping state law as it relates to taping phone conversations. Most of the bills were on the House calendar under “suspension,” which means debate was limited and passage required two-thirds approval of the voting body. While some of the bills passed by voice vote, the House majority quickly learned it could not pass three of the bills by the required supermajority. It pulled the three bills from consideration and rolled them into one – Stop Government Abuse Act, H.R. 2879 – and voted on the bill yesterday, requiring only a simple majority. The bill passed by a vote of 239-176. To see how your representative voted, please visit: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll436.xml.

Even though passed as a package, these bills were exposed as material for campaign ads and not legislation deserving enactment. The federal community expressed satisfaction in forcing the bills off the suspension calendar. NARFE sent two strongly worded letters to the Hill in advance of the bills, one when the bills were scheduled to be voted on individually and one when the packaged was revealed. NARFE also signed a Federal-Postal Coalition letter opposing the bills. All three letters can be found here.

The bills have little chance of Senate consideration and are likely to die at this point. The attacks on the federal community, however, are unlikely to slow.

#2 Chained CPI Coupon Collection Goal Reached! The NARFE National Officers and Legislative team thank you for your tremendous generosity in sending grocery coupons for a planned September media campaign around the Chained CPI. We have exceeded our goal of $48,000 worth of coupons, and we are working to use the additional coupons in the media campaign. If you have coupons ready to be mailed or if your chapter has a coupon-cutting event planned, please go ahead and submit those coupons.  After the campaign, we will be sending all of the coupons to organizations across the country that provide coupons to our military and their families. Thank you again for your enthusiasm and generosity.
 #3 Take Advantage of ‘NARFE Grass-Roots Advocacy Month’ NARFE has 1,319 chapters and 54 federations, and each has a president listed on our website. These leaders should be in the process of planning meetings with representatives and senators during the congressional summer recess, August 3 through September 8. These five weeks are designated as “NARFE Grass-Roots Advocacy Month,” when NARFE leaders will need the help of every member. This is our opportunity to inform the many new members of Congress, remind many second-termers and re-educate long-time incumbents on the issues important to NARFE members. In the August issue of narfe magazine, President Beaudoin’s column, “Silence Is Not Golden” (page 4), and Sarah Weissmann’s article, “Grass-Roots Advocacy Month” (page 6), call on each NARFE member to defend their earned benefits. Take action now to do just that, and report your activity to the NARFE Legislative Department at leg@narfe.org.

The GOP House is using the bogus 'Groundswell' talking point papers back in their districts and states to try and blame Obama for the mess in DC.  There is only one group to blame -- Republicans with their trek to the hard right.

House Republican leaders have armed their members with their August recess talking point. If you hate government, it is all Obama’s fault. 

The AP reports, “House Republicans will take a carefully orchestrated, staunchly anti-Washington campaign to voters this month, blaming President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats for Americans’ unhappiness with government.” The AP story goes on to mention that it might be difficult for House Republicans to blame Democrats and Obama for everything being that they control the House of Representatives, but John Boehner’s spokesperson Michael Steel already had an answer for that, “We have control of only one-half of one-third of the federal government.” 

The House Republican argument is that you hate the government because Republicans don’t control enough of it. This argument ignores the fact that most Americans are upset with Washington because there is no cooperation, and it is House Republicans who are behind the vast majority of the gridlock. Then there is the problem of the policies that House Republicans are advocating. John Boehner’s Circus of Dysfunction can only seem to agree on doing one thing, voting repeatedly to repeal Obamacare. That’s it. The House has wasted 15% of their time in session trying to repeal Obamacare.

(snip) 

House Republicans have embraced a plan that only an idiot could love. They are going to insult the majority of the country by pretending like we are all stupid and don’t know what is really going on. It isn’t just insulting. It is should be offensive to anyone with one functioning brain cell, and it is destroying the Republican Party. 

Republicans are going to be in for a shock in their gerrymandered districts when all those Republicans they are counting on who they tossed under the bus in favor of the hard right social conservatives, religious right, Tea Party, John Birchers, Libertarians, and militia, decide to vote Democrat and tell the GOP to shove it.  The Republican Party doesn't seem to have a clue about how mad former Republicans are at what has happened to the GOP and how the new base has treated long time Republicans.    GOP may have the big donors but those don't equate to votes.

Republicans don't deserve to be in charge of anything with their obstructionism, wasting tax dollars, and voting on bills they know will never be law.  Yet bills like the jobs bills including for veterans, immigration bill, and appropriations bills just sit there while they work 126 days this year doing nothing except appeasing their new base and wealthy donors.  That they do well.  Being honest with integrity and doing what is best for the American people earns them an F!

Speaker Boehner Threatens Democrats on Debt Ceiling from a Position of Weakness

Only three of the 12 annual spending bills have even been debated — by far the worst record since the GOP took over the House.   

Now the worthless Republican House with its inept and weak Speaker is trying to threaten the White House that they will not pass a budget ceiling increase without spending cuts.  What does Boehner think the Sequestration is which BTW is hurting our military readiness which the GOP House doesn't seem to care about.  Their austerity plan which includes sequestration is not working and hasn't worked from Day One.  Raise taxes a little and see how fast everything turns around.  Republicans in Congress voted for every debt ceiling of Bush, but now with a Democrat, black President they want to threaten what they are going to do instead of what is best for the Country.

Are Republicans prepared to shut down the Government?  After the debacle in the 90's you would think they would have learned, but today's Republicans are as stubborn as you can get and will cut off their nose to spite their face.   Obama's words "Please Proceed" to Romney during the debate keep resonating when I think of the GOP House.  House Republicans are truly are on a path of destruction that is going to leave them asking what they did wrong because they don't seem to be able to take responsibility for anything.

Rebranding is an abject failure in the Republican Party and no where is there a better example then the Republicans in the House of Representatives with their threats and attacks almost on a daily basis.  The hypocrites must have gotten their talking points from the Koch Bros and their various organizations to give them a backbone to stand up against the debt ceiling.

Believe the Koch's and other wealthy GOP donors are on the losing side when it is all said and done because the vast majority of the American people are on to their trying to tank this Country,  We are determined to defeat them and their wealthy friends who put greed ahead of what is best for the Country.  A good start will be throwing out the Republican obstructionist who keep threatening the President's agenda and what is good for the Country.  

If Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker again in January 2015, will Boehner if re-elected quit?  I don't think he can handle Pelosi as Speaker and frankly the Tea Party group he has played up to in the House will take him out as Minority Leader in a nano second.  Time for Boehner to retire like yesterday.  The Country deserves better then a Speaker who keeps making threats:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that the House would not vote to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts, setting up a potential fight with President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. 

"We're not going to raise the debt ceiling without real cuts in spending. It's as simple as that," he said at a press conference. 

"I believe the so-called Boehner Rule is the right formula for getting that done," he said, referring to the notion that any increase in the statutory debt limit should be accompanied by an equivalent amount of spending cuts. 

The White House has insisted that President Barack Obama will not negotiate over the debt limit, which until 2011 both parties in Congress had raised without linking it to spending cuts. In 2011, House Republicans used the threat of the looming debt limit to negotiate the package of spending cuts known as sequestration. In January, the House voted to suspend the debt limit until May without concessions. 

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that the United States government has enough room to borrow through Labor Day. 

UPDATE: 4:00 p.m. -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) rejected the idea on Tuesday. "We are not negotiating on the debt ceiling," he said. "I don't know how many more times we need to say that."

Beginning to really like this new version of Harry Reid who is not afraid to stand up and be counted.  When he negotiated the filibuster deal with Senator McCain, it showed the wrong Republican was in charge of the Senate.  McConnell who cannot keep his word should be ousted from his Senate seat in Kentucky.  Been in the Senate so long he forgets what it is like to be a Senator of all constituents just not hard right Republicans and the wealthy GOP donors.

Speaker Boehner left himself wide open when he said on Sunday that Congress “should not be judged on how many laws we create” but “on how many laws we repeal.”  That was an idiotic statement to make which I have never heard in all my years around politics.

Challenged about Congress' low productivity, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the measure of success for Republicans should be how many laws they've repealed. "We've got more laws than the administration could ever enforce," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. But so far this session, the House has also been notably unsuccessful in passing repeal bills that become law.

One thing Republicans in Congress are good at is wasting tax dollars.  Spending $3M of taxpayer dollars to defend DOMA before the Supreme Court or $40M+ to repeal Obamacare is a waste of tax dollars which could be put to good use.  Having to pass a Farm Bill without SNAP is more waste of our tax dollars as the House Farm Bill is doomed in the Senate without SNAP.  Never saw a House who passed more bills knowing they are going nowhere but the trash can then the Boehner/Cantor GOP House.  Republicans are not fit to lead in the House the way they act.

Knew it was only a matter of time before Major Leader Reid had a field day with the Boehner comments on Sunday.  I was not disappointed with his response above.

The House of Representatives is failing at its own goal to roll back laws and is “doing nothing” legislatively, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday morning. 

Responding to Speaker John Boehner’s comment on Sunday that Congress “should not be judged on how many laws we create” but “on how many laws we repeal,” Reid said Boehner and his leadership team aren’t even making headway on repealing laws, despite taking dozens of votes to roll back President Barack Obama’s health care law. 

“House Republicans are failing even by their own metric. They’ve replaced virtually nothing. So by the speaker’s own admission, they’re not getting anything passed and by his own analysis, they’re getting nothing repealed,” Reid said. “So they’re doing nothing.”

The latest from the media is that the Republican budget strategy in Congress is starting to unravel which should not be a shock to anyone as the head of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan is all talk and little substance.  Because he talks a good game, the media swallowed what he said hook, line, and sinker when he was running for Vice President, but now are taking a closer look to find that just maybe Ryan and the truth are not friends as we are seeing with the budget.  Maybe the budget guru of the Republican House isn't such a guru after all.

Like an army that’s outrun its supply line, the Republican budget strategy in Congress shows almost daily signs of coming apart. 

The central premise, as sold by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, was that Washington could wipe out deficits in 10 years and protect defense spending, all while embracing the lower appropriations caps dictated by sequestration. 

Four months later, it’s proving to be a bridge too far. 

Only three of the 12 annual spending bills have even been debated — by far the worst record since the GOP took over the House.     (my bold)

Against their better judgment, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee have been required to cut important investments in science, community development and foreign aid. Senate Republicans are peeling off in protest — setting up a crucial procedural vote at noon Tuesday on the transportation and housing budget. 

Time is running short. 

After the August recess just nine legislative days remain on the House calendar before the next shutdown crisis Oct. 1. Already there are discussions of retreating into a stopgap continuing resolution calibrated to the post-sequester appropriations level of $988 billion. 

But this begs the question: Is the CR a bridge to a larger deal or just another ramp down to the “new normal” of sequestration that President Barack Obama, for one, will find hard to accept?

The month of August the Congress goes on recess and only has nine days remaining before the end of the fiscal year when they return.  The House Budget Guru Ryan only has three annual spending bills that have been debated so far out of 12 spending bills that encompass government agencies.  It is a travesty that the do nothing, 3-day work week Republicans have only debated three spending bills and one of them, the Farm Bill, had to have SNAP removed in order to pass.  This 3-day work week is an affront to the US Taxpayers.  I think that they should only get 3/5ths of their salary since they only work three days.  Nine days left in the fiscal year in September to pass the budget bills?  Not happening.

Years ago the date of the fiscal year was moved from 1 July to 1 October with a three-month transition period the first year.  It was done so Congress could get a budget passed and appropriated in an efficient manner.  Since the Republicans have been mostly in charge since 1994, it has been a joke as the House gets farther behind each year and we have more continuing resolutions.  Still cannot get over the GOP House passes bills without Democrat support knowing full well they are going nowhere.  What kind of leadership is that?  Pretty bad and way below the standards of what the American taxpayers deserve.

Now the GOP is sending their House Members back to their districts for August with their blueprint of what they are to say to their constituents.  Instead of being honest they are now all going to be talking from the same talking points paper.  Republicans think that is going to get them support from the middle of the road constituents - not happening.  Only the hard right Tea Party types will be happy with their obstructionists tactics.  GOP should have learned in the Presidential election when Romney lost big that going hard right was not a prescription for winning.  Obvious they still don't get it that they have a lot of disgruntled Republicans and former Republicans who will do everything they can to defeat them.

The 31-page document from the House Republican Conference, first reported by Roll Call, offers instructions to members for meeting with constituents, promoting the House GOP's agenda and garnering media attention. The document suggests many ways to gain visibility, including placing an op-ed (sample provided) in a local paper, running a health care forum for millennials and touring gas stations, grocery stores, hospitals and senior centers.

"We know that Washington is broken," writes Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Republican Conference, in the guide. "It spends too much, borrows too much, and takes too much. It targets people for what they believe. It chokes out jobs with more red tape, blocks new energy resources and makes our health care crisis worse. Our government is out of control." 

The guide suggests that Republicans hold private "meetups" with "women, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and milennials [sic]." (African Americans are not mentioned.) "A meetup event should be closed [to] press so everyone feels comfortable to candidly speak about the issues," it says. Before and after, however, the document encourages promoting the event to the media.

The nerve of the House GOP to talk about Washington being broken when they are one of the primary causes with their obstructionists tactics and refusing to work with Democrats for the good of the Country.  Today's House Republicans seem bent on destroying this Country with their 'my way or no way' hard right attitude.  We need to keep reminding voters that today's Republicans cannot be trusted as they will say or do anything to get re-elected.

How many women want to meet with a Republican today after how they treat women with their being against Equal Pay for Women, Violence Against Women Act,  Against Paid Birth Control, and for horrendous anti-abortion bills which get between a woman and her doctor.  My guess is not many.  Wonder if you have to check your cell phones at the door of these meet-ups since they are closed to the media.  It is duly noted that McMorrisRogers didn't bother to include blacks in these meet-up instructions which show the hard right Republican Party is about rhetoric not real change.

New polling is starting to show how Republican voters have doubts about the GOP progress on issues. That is probably the understatement of the year.  A lot of longtime Republicans don't trust the new hard right Republican Party and are pledged to helping Democrats win in 2014.  We are the problem the GOP wanted to go away since we wouldn't march in lockstep with the hard right and raised questions about going too hard right.  Now we are a bigger problem for them by supporting Democrats with all of our background and knowledge of how the GOP works in campaigns.  The GOP needs to be defeated soundly in 2014 for their obstructionists tactics and some of the laws passed in the states that are draconian which has driven the old base father from the GOP.

More than eight months removed from a 2012 presidential election loss, a new poll finds that GOP voters are still having doubts about their party's progress. 

An ABC-Washington Post poll released Tuesday finds that 52 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents see the right going in the wrong direction. 

That marks a 20-percent jump from August 2012, and a majority for the first time among six polls conducted since 1994, according to ABC News.

If you are not registered to vote, please register as soon as possible as we need as many votes as possible to throw out the obstructionist GOP from Congress and get the Country back on track.  

In Violation of their Oath, Are House Republicans Holding the Debt Celling Hostage for Cong Ryan Budget?

After a week away, some things don't change as the GOP House is still the same bunch of obstructionists now wanting to hold the debt ceiling hostage to pass Paul Ryan's austere budget while cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

House Republicans will hold the national debt ceiling increase hostage until President Obama agrees to mandatory spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the National Journalreports, and will seek to use the leverage of default to force Democrats to enact the policies in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget. 

Since slashing discretionary spending to historic lows — the discretionary side of the ledger has grown at a slower rate than inflation since 2007 and now makes up a smaller share of the economy than it did before the Great Recession — the GOP has shifted from demanding dollar-for-dollar immediate spending cuts and is now focusing on drafting a range of options to significantly restructure mandatory benefit programs.

What happened to the Oath of Office Republican House members took when they were seated as members of the House?  Looks like in their small minds it was just words that mean nothing to them as they obstruct and hurt the economy following the lead of their wealthy donors:

That Republicans are even considering holding the debt ceiling hostage again is in violation of the oath of office they swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. So help me God.” The 14^th Amendment of the Constitution that every Republican swore to defend and support against domestic enemies like corporate CEOs and Wall Street executives says, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…shall not be questioned,” and yet holding the public debt that Republicans created as a hostage to reward the rich, punish the people, and enrich the private insurance industry is questioning the validity of the debt, and by any stretch of the imagination approaches criminal abrogation of their oath of office.

Have this group of House Republicans forgotten what it was like when they took the oath and it meant something? Are they so corrupted by the wealthy donors like the Koch's that they have forgotten what it was like to be proud to be a member of Congress who actually would work for their constituents and the American people.  Now the House GOP has no empathy for those less fortunate and only care about doing what the Koch's and other wealthy donors demand.

The very nerve of them wanting to put the debt on the backs of those who can least afford it, is a 'sin' since they throw the Bible at us like it is their guiding principle which it is not.  Not even close.  Jesus fed the poor -- this group of Republicans wants to make the poor go without food and necessities because they believe they are on a free ride.  The free ride belongs to the House Republicans with their 3-day work week, numerous recesses, and lack of passing anything but social issues.  Heaven forbid if they passed a jobs bill to actually help people.  Not this group who want to cut the SNAP program for families which includes babies.  Those same babies that the GOP in states demand must be born.  The problem is after they are born they want to cut off food and medical care.  Bunch of heartless people are in the GOP Caucus in the House and elected around the Country.

President Obama has stated openly that he will not agree to the cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid the heartless Republicans want in exchange for a 'yes' vote on the debt ceiling:

President Obama warned Republicans he is not going to negotiate (read pay a ransom) over raising the debt limit and cautioned Republicans against threatening the credit-worthiness of the United States by “bartering over the borrowing limit.”  Republicans are certain the President will concede defeat and pay whatever ransom criminal Republicans demand, but without an election looming, it is doubtful he is bluffing. Apparently their worst fear is that the President will wait until the last minute and make a bipartisan deal with the Senate and dare House Republicans to accept an unfavorable agreement or take responsibility for a credit default and another downgrade on the U.S. credit rating, but even making a deal is paying a ransom for a constitutionally mandated action Republicans followed without deviation during the Bush administration.

The GOP House wants to make sure that their spending spree from 2001-2008 is paid for on the backs of the elderly and poor while their wealthy donors like the Koch's get to keep their tax breaks and loopholes.

Republicans Expect the Elderly, Poor and Unemployed to Pay Off Their DebtBy: RmuseJul. 8th, 2013
more from Rmuse

Most Americans fail to recall when the elderly, poor, and unemployed Americans blew up the nation’s debt and deficit with two unfunded and unnecessary wars, huge tax cuts for the rich, and Wall Street greed that contributed to crashing the economy, killing millions of Americans’ jobs, and ushering in the Great Recession of 2008. For some curious reason, only Republicans remember that it was the poor, public sector workforce, and retirees who created the country’s economic malaise, and subsequently they are duty-bound to make them pay restitution with Draconian measures to enrich the insurance industry, satisfy Wall Street’s lust for the Social Security Trust, as well as provide the wealthy with a new round of tax cuts. To see their punitive measures through to fruition, Republicans are preparing a laundry list of their most coveted programs to eliminate for President Obama to choose from in exchange for raising the nation’s debt limit to repay the GOP’s debt and deficit they put on the nation’s credit card from 2001-2009 (the 2009 budget was George Bush’s). 

As Republicans anticipate holding the nation’s creditworthiness hostage again in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, they fundamentally picked the most Draconian measures in Paul Ryan’s Heritage Foundation budget and will demand the President choose which demographic is going to suffer the most or force the nation into its first credit default in history. Republicans are big on historical firsts, and it was in 2011 that after 50 years of automatically raising the debt limit that they first demanded offsetting spending cuts for every dollar the debt limit was increased creating America’s first credit downgrade. For historical perspective, and to demonstrate the GOP’s criminal, and unconstitutional, economic hostage taking, Republicans raised the debt limit for George W. Bush seven times without slashing one penny from the budget. They did, however, specifically raise the debt limit in May 2003 to pay for $350 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and it is that type of debt Republicans are now insisting the elderly, poor, and infirm repay through loss of benefits they paid for during their working lives.

Read More about America Held Hostage by the GOP House at Politicususa.com 

You realize how much the House Republicans have sold out to wealthy donors and Wall Street when you see the percentage of Americans who oppose the cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and yet the GOP House is still pushing forward with the cuts.  Being bought and paid for by wealthy donors screams out  In fact more then 50% think the retirement income from Social Security is too low when you retire at 62.

In a survey by the National Academy of Social Insurance: 

• 82% believe it is critical to preserve Social Security regardless it means increasing Social Security taxes 
• 87% insist that Social Security is preserved for future generations even if it means raising taxes paid by the rich 
• 84% believe current Social Security benefits do not provide enough income for retirees 
• 89% said Social Security benefits are more important than ever
• 75% said increase benefits so Americans can retire at age 62 and not be poor.

How much money have wealthy donors spent on these House Republicans that is not reported for them to continue down this path?  How many houses have been paid for or money put in the bank by the likes of the Koch Bros, wealthy donors, CEOs, and Wall Street to sell out the elderly and poor?   There is something very wrong here as you can smell the odor of corruption from today's GOP office holders.  They have taken their oaths and turned them upside down in order to follow the whims of the wealthy by signing pledges like from the Koch's anti-climate pledge agreeing to obstruct any new action.  It is out in the open they are bought and paid for and could care less about the Country and all of us who are not part of the Top 2%.

Seems to me that when a member of Congress who has taken an oath signs a pledge to obstruct they are breaking their oath and should be removed from office.  As we have witnessed since the GOP took over the House in 2011, their word to the American people is worth zero, zip, nada but their word to their wealthy donors like the Koch's is golden.  The Republicans are attempting to sell the American Middle Class and poor down the river so that the wealthy can control everything we do.  We must follow the lead of State Senator Wendy Davis of Texas who was willing to stand up to the Texas GOP thugs in the Senate, Lt Governor, and Governor's office who put their agenda over the health of the women of Texas.  Another case of where they want to pass a draconian abortion bill while already having cut health benefits for the poor.

Time for action is now - roll up the sleeves to go register new voters and make sure that every voter has the ID required to vote.  Start now rounding up monitors for elections and have lawyers standing by to challenge voter suppression since the SCOTUS said no need for the Voting Rights Act.  Would say in a normal world that it is time for Congress to act on ensuring that all Americans have equal access to vote but that would mean the House Republicans would have to get on board and that's not happening.

GOP already gerrymandered districts to keep their seats but what they didn't count on were Republican rank and file getting so mad at them for playing to the hard right 'new' base of the party who only care about social issues that we would support Democrats in elections.  The GOP office holders and social conservatives are a perfect match with telling everyone else how to live to meet their version of  'Christian' standards which is playing up to the 'money changers' and ignoring those less fortunate.  Maybe they should start following the New Testament before preaching at the rest of us.