Budget

Three House GOPers Switched Their Budget Votes After Dem Trick

Susan Crabtree | April 15, 2011, 4:04PM

A Democratic trick on the House floor today forced exactly three Republicans to bow to pressure from their leadership and switch their vote in a last-ditch attempt to save the preordained, less conservative GOP budget plan.

In a stroke of parliamentary genius, Democrats decided to jam a more conservative budget plan through the House in order to hang it around Republicans' necks.

The vote, if successful, would have forced Republicans to formally endorse the more conservative option-- a GOP plan on steroids -- providing deeper cuts for the wealthy and more severe entitlement rollbacks. Democratic campaign ads slamming Republicans for voting for extreme, draconian cuts would have inevitably followed.

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Topics: Budget, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Club For Growth, Connie Mack, David Dreier, Grover Norquist, House Democrats, House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, Mary Bono Mack, Medicare, Paul Ryan, Tax Cuts

Eric Cantor

Again, Republicans Claim Credit For Coming Economic Recovery

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2011, 10:46AM

In Republicans' telling, they are responsible for a looming economic recovery from a recession caused by Democrats.

Close to the opposite is true, but you'd never guess that by listening to the GOP.

Citing a Dow Jones story reporting that U.S. companies plan to increase hiring, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's press shop fired off a morning roundup including this sub headline: "THERE ARE THE JOBS: Republicans Prevent Massive Tax Increase, Economy Begins to Improve."

The Dow Jones story does not credit Republicans for the recovery.

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Topics: David Dreier, Economy, Eric Cantor, Jobs, Jon Kyl

Economy

Republicans: Job, Economic Growth The Result Of GOP Victories (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | January 18, 2011, 3:58PM

Top Republicans are claiming credit for a variety of metrics showing that the economy is improving. Expect this meme to snowball, particularly as Democrats have done little, so far, to stop it. On Fox News today, House Rules Committee Chair David Dreier (R-CA) contended the GOP deserves all the credit for recent economic growth.

"[W]e can get our economy growing. And we've gotten some positive numbers. I think it's in large part because we won our majority and we're pursuing pro-growth policies," he said.

In December, the Department of Labor announced that unemployment had fallen from 9.7 percent to 9.4 percent. Its data suggests private sector job growth has been increasing since the fall. The GOP has controlled the House for just over two weeks, but has yet to enact any major economic legislation -- and economists agree that even enacted fiscal policy will not be immediately reflected in economic growth.

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Topics: David Dreier, Economy, Jobs, Jon Kyl, Republicans

Demon Pass

GOP Plans To Implement The 'Demon Pass' They Once Decried

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2011, 10:11AM

This week, House Republicans will resurrect an arcane tool that will give its Budget Chairman temporary, but unilateral authority to set federal spending levels for part of this year.

Welcome back to the so-called "Demon Pass", which is scheduled to make its return to the Capitol Hill on January 5.

Because Democrats didn't pass a budget, and because spending authority expires in early March, there's a strong chance that the government will run out of money before the House and Senate agree to new spending levels. When that happens, under the new House rules, spending will continue -- but at levels no higher than those chosen by the House Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan.

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Topics: Budget, David Dreier, Deeming, Demon Pass, Eric Cantor, Louise Slaughter, Paul Ryan, Self-Executing Rule, Slaughter Solution, Spending

Health Care

GOP Says Dems Turning 'Democracy On Its Head'

Christina Bellantoni | March 15, 2010, 3:21PM

Rep. David Dreier and Republican leaders are accusing House Democrats of trying to "seriously bend the rules" to pass health care reform this week. The GOP is charging that the Democrats will try to pass a "fix" to a health care bill that they haven't voted on.

It's a bit complicated, but Republicans are using the scary label "The Slaughter Solution" keying off of Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter's name. They say the Democrats can use a procedural tactic to send the Senate-passed health care bill straight to the president for a signature. Or they could "deem" the Senate bill as passed only after the House passes the fix measure through budget reconciliation. Finally they could write a rule putting a condition that the Senate bill would only pass if the reconciliation bill passes.

Those options are indeed within the rules, and just might ease the heartburn House Democrats are feeling, since many of them don't like the Senate bill without the fixes carefully negotiated by leadership from both chambers and the White House. Republicans say any of those options are fundamentally unfair, and would skip important steps in the process. But Democrats say Dreier and the rest of the Republicans are full of it, and leadership is telling rank-and-file members to ignore complaints about procedure and avoid debates about legislative process.

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Topics: 2010 elections, Budget Reconciliation, David Dreier, Health Care, Louise Slaughter, Parliamentarian, Reconciliation