Following Tuesday's Senate cloture vote that passed 67 to 33 the Senate passed the Ryan-Murray two year budget deal that passed the House last week. The Senate vote was 64 to 36. BO's signature makes it law.
So now the Republican Teams are set. The establishment Republican Team A for Aye (or Yea) consists of 164 House members & 9 senators for a total of 173 centrist moderate politicians. Looking the list over there are very few exceptions to this description based on their overall voting record.
The Tea Party Republican Team N for Nay (or Noe) consists of 62 House members & 36 senators for a total of 98. Looking over this Senate list makes me suspicious of Lamar Alexander, Kelly Ayotte, Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, & of course Mitch McConnell. Feel free to let me know of any other suspicious senators you feel should be added.
Notable disappointments who voted for the resolution include from the House – Gus Bilirakis, Marsha Blackburn, Dave Camp, Jeb Hensarling, Darrell Issa, Tom Price (GA), Joe Wilson (SC), & Rob Woodall; & from the Senate – Saxby Chambliss, Orrin Hatch, Ron Johnson, Rob Portman, & Johnny Isakson. I was disappointed with Democrat Joe Manchin's Yea vote also. I didn't include several on this list who have disappointed so many times that they can't be taken seriously – i.e., they are permanent disappointments.
The complete Senate vote is below & the complete House vote was presented in the last post.
We know we can count on the Democrats to vote for every big spending program imaginable as they mindlessly & irresponsibly follow the Death of Democracy path hoping to escape with their own standard of living intact. The Team A establishment Republicans will vote to effectively slow this destruction but following them we will end up in the same ruinous place as if we voted for Democrats - just a little later. The Tea Party Republicans will vote for financial responsibility that will result in economic growth, wealth creation, & restoring the middle class to prosperity – but this will take hard work as it always has & is unappealing to many who are use to the welfare lifestyle.
We can expect all of these groups to vote as described above on the debt ceiling confrontation that comes up in February as well as all other budget & appropriation matters. This should be accepted with no further criticism by anyone on either Team – it does not help & these people have told us with vote after vote what they believe. We just have to get through the next ten & one half months before a new Congress is elected after the American people (i.e., 21% of the electorate) decide which way they want to go.
This gives both Teams time to focus on presenting their respective plans so people have a chance to see the substance with which to judge their futures. Every senator & all but seven congressmen cast votes on this budget issue so I don't know one person in this readership who does not know where their elected representatives stand regarding which Team they are on regardless of how financially responsible they tell you they are. Don't believe them – check the vote & any perceived defections from Team A to N carefully.
By agreeing to the truce proposed in the last post @ least Teams A & N will not do more harm than good between now & the fall of 2014 & both sides will have a fair chance to prevail without self-destructive sound bites. Just from the numbers we can tell that Team A is ahead which means America is currently losing.
I would add Jeff Flake to the list of disappointments. The Heritage Scorecard gives him 58% and Numbers USA gives him a D on immigration. I was hopeful that he would vote as a Conservative, but I haven't seen any evidence of that for any votes that are really important. I totally agree with your assessment of the others, especially Joe Manchin. When I hear him speak he always manages to make me feel that he may vote with the Conservatives, but he almost always votes with his party when it really counts.
ReplyDeleteIt will be very interesting to see what happens here in New Jersey with the NJ version of the Dream Act (S2479) and the reintroduction of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). I expect them both to end up on Gov. Christie's desk and that's where it will get really interesting. Will he sign them or not? Conservatives will be watching very closely to see what Gov. Christie does.
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and healthy, happy new year.
I was so glad to have Jeff Flake on Team N that I overlooked all of the points you mentioned. He had voted for cloture the day before. When Jeff was in the House he was the most financially responsible member of Congress – a few points higher than even Jim DeMint. I use to point this out @ FairTax seminars since he was a cosponsor of HR 25 when he was in the House – he has not signed up since he came into the Senate. A few cocktail parties @ a higher level & far too many of them change for the worse. Joining the Gang of Eight immigration panel was terrible. Considering all of this Jeff Flake is the biggest overall disappointment. Rubio has come around some – but how much can you trust him either? Once the cat shows his spots you know he is a leopard who can eat you alive.
DeleteChristie has already tasted the brew. I don’t trust him a little bit.
Merry Christmas & Happy 2014.
Doug - how prophetic was this 1770 comment by a Scottish lawyer|
ReplyDelete“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy
Alexander Fraser Tytler, Scottish lawyer and writer, 1770
Democrats and "centrist" Republicans are either economic illiterates or extremely irresponsible, selfish, and basically concerned only about re-elected. These are the only 2 explanations.
How to respond? Go to their town halls and give them the heat they deserve. Also encourage true free market / limited government proponents to challenge these incompetent representatives in primaries. I was very disappointed to see my congressman Rodney Freilinghuysen vote for the budget. I thought be understood economics better. Maybe he thinks this will help him get re-elected. I hope to find a strong challenger to Rodney in the upcoming primary.
reference:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/12/19/romney-was-wrong-about-the-47-percent-the-problem-is-much-worse/
Above quote of course is part of Death Of Democracy - see top of left side of RTE. My research could not prove that Tytler was the author so I listed it as Anonymous.
DeleteInteresting that Woodall is on the list. On one hand he is fighting for tax reform yet he is okay with the status quo. Go figure.
ReplyDelete