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.

Obama Spending Slowest in Decades

After adjusting for inflation, spending under Obama is falling at a 1.4% annual pace — the first decline in real spending since the early 1970s, when Richard Nixon was retreating from the quagmire in Vietnam.

Even though last spring MarketWatch and Forbes had the story that Obama was not spending like a 'drunken sailor' during his term, it didn't seem to faze the Conservative media who repeated their narrative that he was spending more then any President in modern history.  When you look at facts which the media had at their disposal since MarketWatch is part of the Wall Street Journal, you realize that the Conservative media was touting a narrative not the facts to prop up Romney/Ryan and still doing it today.  

Here are the facts from late last spring from MarketWatch about the spending habits of President Obama and how he has cut spending in the Federal Government -- he gets zero credit as the GOP now wants 'entitlement' programs slashed and no revenue raised by keeping loopholes for the wealthy.  GOP prefers to cite how spending has risen under Obama which follows the GOP narrative not the facts:

There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear. 

Why do people think Obama has spent like a drunken sailor? It’s in part because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the federal budget. 

What people forget (or never knew) is that the first year of every presidential term starts with a budget approved by the previous administration and Congress. The president only begins to shape the budget in his second year. It takes time to develop a budget and steer it through Congress — especially in these days of congressional gridlock. 

The 2009 fiscal year, which Republicans count as part of Obama’s legacy, began four months before Obama moved into the White House. The major spending decisions in the 2009 fiscal year were made by George W. Bush and the previous Congress. 

Like a relief pitcher who comes into the game with the bases loaded, Obama came in with a budget in place that called for spending to increase by hundreds of billions of dollars in response to the worst economic and financial calamity in generations. 

(snip) 

Before Obama had even lifted a finger, the CBO was already projecting that the federal deficit would rise to $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2009. The government actually spent less money in 2009 than it was projected to, but the deficit expanded to $1.4 trillion because revenue from taxes fell much further than expected, due to the weak economy and the emergency tax cuts that were part of the stimulus bill. 

The projected deficit for the 2010-13 period has grown from an expected $1.7 trillion in January 2009 to $4.4 trillion today. Lower-than-forecast revenue accounts for 73% of the $2.7 trillion increase in the expected deficit. That’s assuming that the Bush and Obama tax cuts are repealed completely. 

When Obama took the oath of office, the $789 billion bank bailout had already been approved. Federal spending on unemployment benefits, food stamps and Medicare was already surging to meet the dire unemployment crisis that was well underway. See the CBO’s January 2009 budget outlook. 

Obama is not responsible for that increase, though he is responsible (along with the Congress) for about $140 billion in extra spending in the 2009 fiscal year from the stimulus bill, from the expansion of the children’s health-care program and from other appropriations bills passed in the spring of 2009. 

If we attribute that $140 billion in stimulus to Obama and not to Bush, we find that spending under Obama grew by about $200 billion over four years, amounting to a 1.4% annualized increase.

Many members of the media still tout President Obama as the big spender which is not true and Cong Ryan as this budget guru which makes no sense as Ryan's numbers usually don't add up. While searching for answers why Ryan was the head of the Budget Committee I discovered Ryan while attending Miami University of Ohio volunteered for the congressional campaign of John Boehner.  Dots connected as the background of Ryan on economics was never mainstream Republican but then today there is no mainstream Republican Party as the Party went hard right.  Found this part on Ryan from his days at Miami University in Ohio extremely interesting:

Ryan majored in economics and political science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he became interested in the writings of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. He often visited the office of libertarian professor Richard Hart to discuss the theories of these economists and of Ayn Rand. Hart introduced Ryan to the National Review, and with Hart's recommendation Ryan began an internship in the D.C. office of Wisconsin Senator Bob Kasten where he worked with Kasten's foreign affairs adviser.

Having grown up in Ohio, but not living there for years, I did not realize that Miami of OH had become such a hotbed for far right conservative ideas where the most popular Club on campus is the College Republicans.  When you read Ryan's background, his budgets begin to make sense as he followed the writings of Ayn Rand which he later disavowed in 2012 saying he was not an Ayn Rand disciple which is quite common in GOP circles today - say one thing one day and next day do a 180 - sometimes GOP members flip flop in the same interview e.g. Jeb Bush on his book on Immigration.

The reason that today's GOP makes no sense and many of us say they use a narrative not facts is the Paul Ryan example on Ayn Rand:

At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand as inspiring him to get involved in public service. In a speech that same year at the Atlas Society, he said he grew up reading Rand, and that her books taught him about his value system and beliefs.^[37][38] Ryan required staffers and interns in his congressional office to read Rand and gave copies of her novel Atlas Shrugged as gifts to his staff for Christmas. In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system".  

Looks like Ryan turned on Rand philosophy in April 2012, after receiving criticism from Georgetown University faculty members on his budget plan, Ryan rejected Rand's philosophy as an atheistic one, saying it "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts."

This is the same Paul Ryan as part of Romney/Ryan that accused President Obama of being the biggest spender of any President which was flat out wrong but that didn't keep the lapdog media from reporting what they said.  It wasn't only the conservative media but the mainstream media didn't do any better in their reporting.  The only three I remember pounding it home that Obama was not this big spender was Ed Schultz, Rachael Maddow, and Rev Al Sharpton of MSNBC but their voices were drowned out by so many others.  

Next time a Republican says that Obama spends like a 'drunken sailor' to grow Government, throw these facts in their face:

Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics: 

• In the 2009 fiscal year — the last of George W. Bush’s presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget.
• In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.
• In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion.
• In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August.
• Finally in fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama’s term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion. Read the CBO’s latest budget outlook. 

Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%. 

There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

Facts are on the side of President Obama not Republicans!

Senator Rubio: "We Must Save Medicare"

Senator Rubio is not afraid to speak the truth while Obama and the Democrats continue with their well known scare tactics to senior citizens.