TPMDC Jeb Hensarling
Barney Frank
Barney Frank Gets Benched After House Floor Spat With GOP (VIDEO)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
It's not unusual for Barney Frank to take Republicans to the mattresses on the House floor. But he usually doesn't get benched for doing so.
The back story's pretty straightforward.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barney Frank, Ben Quayle, David Schweikert, House of Representatives, Jeb Hensarling, Jim Himes, Jobs
Super Committee
Republican Acknowledges GOP Pushed Ryan Plan In Super Committee Negotiations
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
If you're having a hard time buying that one party was more reasonable than another in the Super Committee negotiations, read Republican co-chair Jeb Hensarling's obituary for the panel in the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, check out this part about the GOP's big ask:
Democrats on the committee made it clear that the new spending called for in the president's health law was off the table. Still, committee Republicans offered to negotiate a plan on the other two health-care entitlements--Medicare and Medicaid--based upon the reforms included in the budget the House passed earlier this year....PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Republicans on the committee also offered to negotiate a plan based on the bipartisan "Protect Medicare Act" authored by Alice Rivlin, one of President Bill Clinton's budget directors, and Pete Domenici, a former Republican senator from New Mexico. Rivlin-Domenici offered financial support to seniors to purchase quality, affordable health coverage in Medicare-approved plans. These seniors would be able to choose from a list of Medicare-guaranteed coverage options, similar to the House budget's approach--except that Rivlin-Domenici would continue to include a traditional Medicare fee-for-service plan among the options.
Topics: Alice Rivlin, Bill Clinton, Bush Tax Cuts, George W. Bush, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Medicare Privatization, Paul Ryan, Privatization, Super Committee, Taxes
Super Committee
FAIL: Super Committee Comes Up Empty
Shutterstock/ Kajano
A whirl of last minute meetings and shuttle diplomacy weren't enough to help the 12-member deficit Super Committee reach agreement on anything. Late on Monday, co-chairs Jeb Hensarling and Patty Murray put the panel to bed in an official statement.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bush Tax Cuts, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Patty Murray, Payroll Tax Cut, Super Committee, Taxes, Unemployment
Super Committee
Super Committee Chairs Prepare To Announce Failure
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Capitol Hill sources say that barring a highly unexpected, last minute development, Super Committee co-chairs Jeb Hensarling and Patty Murray will issue a statement on Monday acknowledging the panel's failure.
The development comes one day before the panel's drop dead date to submit a plan, and three days before the debt limit law requires them to report legislation to the full Congress. Failure will lock into place deep, across the board cuts to defense and security programs, a two percent cut to Medicare providers, and cuts to other domestic programs. Those spending reductions will kick in on January 1, 2013, unless Congress acts to change the law, or passes more targeted budget cuts and thus agrees to eliminate the automatic penalty.
Those cuts, along with the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, promise to be major flashpoints for the 2012 campaign, and lock in a tough legislative food fight over cutting spending and raising taxes.
Topics: Defense Spending, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Patty Murray, Super Committee, Taxes
Bush Tax Cuts
Pelosi To Hensarling On Medicare: You've Got To Be Kidding Me!
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
With just six days left until the Super Committee deadline, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) acknowledged Thursday that the panel is unlikely to agree on the sort of broad deficit-cutting bargain she and other Democratic leaders have pushed for. And she made a strong case that the GOP's allergy to taxes is the reason her expectations have diminished.
Specifically, she responded to Republican Super Committee co-chair Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) who on Wednesday said Democrats would have to agree to dramatic steps -- such as partially privatizing Medicare -- before Republicans would agree to substantial new tax revenues.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bush Tax Cuts, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Nancy Pelosi, Super Committee, Tax Cuts, Taxes
Jeb Hensarling
Hensarling To Dems: Want Higher Taxes? Agree To Partially Privatize Medicare
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Shortly after catching heat from Democrats, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) addressed reporters in the Cannon House Office Building to revise and extend controversial Tuesday comments, which threw the Super Committee's prospects into doubt. But he indicated that the two parties are stuck in a standoff -- one they don't really have time for. And Republicans won't budge, he insisted, unless Democrats take agree to far-reaching plan to change Medicare.
"Something has to be at the Congressional Budget Office by Monday," Hensarling said.
Hensarling hinted that his hard line on new taxes might not be so hard ... but only if Democrats are willing to fundamentally overhaul Medicare.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Medicare Privatization, Privatization, Super Committee, Taxes
Super Committee
Dems Rip GOP Super Committee Co-Chair For Negotiating In Public
'Super Committee' members Sen. Patt Murray (D-WA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), September 7, 2011.
Another sign that the Super Committee's about to implode: Panel Democrats just scolded Republican co-chair Jeb Hensarling for taking his bright lines public on Tuesday, contrary to the spirit of the negotiations, which have been mostly leak-free.
"We've been really working hard not to negotiate in public and not to negotiate through you folks but to talk to each other in good faith and try to work through a compromise," said Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) after a closed door meeting.. "I think when people go public and say what they're willing and not willing to do, it isn't as helpful as sitting at a table and trying to work through these things. "
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, John Kerry, Patty Murray, Super Committee
Super Committee
Dems: Looks Like Republicans Are Declaring 'Game Over' For Super Committee
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Democratic aides were paying close attention to Super Committee co-chair Jeb Hensraling's appearance on CNBC Tuesday night. For them, the most worrying thing was this part:
"We have gone as far as we feel we can go," Hensarling said. "We put $250 billion of what is known as static revenue on the table, but only if we can bring down rates. We believe we can bring the top individual rate down to 28, 29, maybe at most 30 percent, bring the corporate rate down to the median of the EU, 25 percent. And on balance, we think that would be pro growth. But, listen, any penny of increased static revenue is a step in the wrong direction."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, Super Committee, Taxes
Super Committee
FLASHBACK: Boehner Says He's 'Bound' By Defense Cuts In Super Committee Penalty
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Republicans on the Super Committee are openly toying with the idea of reneging on the debt limit deal, which created a penalty designed to get panel members of both parties to compromise on cutting the deficit. If they actually try, though, they'll be rebuking House Speaker John Boehner, who only two weeks ago said he's obligated to follow through on his commitment.
The penalty, which will be triggered if the Committee fails, would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from both defense programs and Medicare providers. The former was designed to bring Republicans to the table, the latter, Democrats. Now even the committee's GOP co-chair is saying that if there's no agreement, he and congressional Republicans will fight to change the defense cuts -- in other words, he and others in the Republican will go back on their commitment.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Defense Spending, Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, Medicare, Super Committee, Veto
Jeb Hensarling
Top GOPer On Super Committee Says No New Revenue, Games Out Strategy If Panel Fails
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
It's hard to see how the Super Committee can possibly reach a consensus by this time next week after Republican co-chair Jeb Hensarling's appearance on CNBC Tuesday night. The short version is that he left the ball in Democrats court, and hinted that if the committee fails, Congress will spend the next year or so trying to change the terms of an automatic penalty to make sure that hundreds of billions of cuts to defense programs never take effect.
Hensarling claimed that if the committee recommended even a dollar of new net tax revenue -- the kind of revenue Dems are demanding -- it would constitute a step in the wrong direction. He said a GOP plan put forward by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) -- one which Republicans claim would raise revenues by nearly $300 billion over 10 years, but would also make the Bush tax cuts permanent -- is as far as Republicans are willing to go on revenues. But that's an offer Democrats flatly rejected as unserious. And unless one of the parties breaks cleanly with its publicly stated position, the committee will either fall well short of reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years as required by law, or will fail altogether.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Debt, Defense Spending, Deficit, Department of Defense, Jeb Hensarling, Leon Panetta, Super Committee, Taxes
Super Committee
Liberals Slam Super Committee Dems For Caving On Taxes -- But Did They?
Super Committee Members John Kerry and Patty Murray
Liberals and progressive groups are livid at a Sunday New York Times report, which reads as if Super Committee Democrats are about to capitulate to the GOP: spending cuts now in exchange for the promise of higher revenues later. But Democratic aides privy to the negotiations say the angry reaction misreads the Dems' position. And indeed the most recent Democratic offer to Super Committee Republicans would have squared this issue by automatically nullifying entitlement cuts if future tax legislation didn't raise revenues.
The Times story is based on a comment Republican co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) made on CNN's Sunday show State of the Union.
Under this approach, the panel would decide on the amount of new revenue to be raised but would leave it to the tax-writing committees of Congress to fill in details next year, well beyond the Nov. 23 deadline for the panel itself to reach an agreement. That would put off painful political decisions but ensure that the debate over deficit reduction stretched into the election year."There could be a two-step process that would hopefully give us pro-growth tax reform," Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the top Republican on the panel.
Progressives took this to imply surrender.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, Medicaid, Medicare, MoveOn, Paul Krugman, Social Security, Super Committee, Taxes
Deficit
Super Committee Pressed To Raise Medicare Eligibility Age
The Democratic co-chair of President Obama's fiscal commission now says Democrats should entertain an increase in the Medicare eligibility age -- thanks in part to Obama's own health care law.
At a hearing before the deficit Super Committee, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles argued that the Affordable Care Act should allow Democrats to accept raising the Medicare eligibility age, because it creates a system of subsidized, guaranteed private health insurance for people who don't qualify for government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And he outlined a plan -- framed as a pitch to Democrats -- that would total nearly $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, including a higher Medicare retirement age.
"As I have thought about it...under the Affordable Health Care Act we provide subsidies for people who have really chronic illnesses and people who have limited incomes so they can afford health care insurance in the private sector," Bowles told the panel during an exchange with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). "And that didn't exist before the Affordable Health Care Act. That means that people 65, 66, 67 will still be able to get health care insurance. So as I think about it I could support raising the health care age for Medicare since we have other coverage available under the Affordable Health Care Act."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Deficit, Erskine Bowles, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare/Medicaid, Super Committee
Federal Reserve
House Republicans Join Fed-Bashing Counterparts On Campaign Trail
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Politicians hectoring the Federal Reserve is nothing new. Members of both parties have done it based on disagreements over myriad financial and economic issue over the years. In that way Tuesday's letter from GOP leadership to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, warning him against pursuing more monetary stimulus, was part of a storied American tradition.
In other ways it was extraordinary. This came from leaders speaking for an entire party, and more-than-plausibly represents an effort to prevent the Fed from improving the economy for political reasons.
In the end, the effort proved ineffective -- the Fed announced a new round of monetary stimulus as expected. But it exposed a widening rift between the GOP and the Fed, which until now had been limited to posturing GOP primary candidates and fringe members of the GOP caucus.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve, Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, Stimulus
Super Committee
Over GOP Objections, Budget Hawks Say Super Committee Should 'Go Big'
President Barack Obama President, with Erskine Bowles (left) and Sen. Alan Simpson (right.)
Democratic and Republican members of the joint deficit Super Committee will meet Tuesday for their first substantive meeting, which will examine the history and driver of the country's debt, and the risk it poses in the future.
It will be the committee's second meeting overall and its first since President Obama pushed the panel in his joint address to Congress to find significantly more than the $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction they're required to find, to finance a near-term jobs bill.
That pressure has some Republicans saying that Obama's needlessly complicated the committee's task -- finding $1.2 trillion in cuts, revenues and savings is hard enough! -- and members should keep their eyes on the more modest goal spelled out in the debt limit law.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Alan Simpson, Barack Obama, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Erskine Bowles, Health Care, Jeb Hensarling, Jobs, Medicare, Spending, Stimulus, Super Committee, Taxes
John Boehner
House GOP To Obama: Thanks For Ideas On Jobs, We'll Pick It Apart And Get Back To You
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republicans leaders officially put President Obama on notice -- in the kindest language possible -- that they don't intend to accept his marching orders on the jobs bill and take up the entire package all at once.
Instead, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and the rest of the the GOP leadership team, said they'd be much more amendable to the plan if it was offered to them in smaller, separate bites -- no doubt so they can push the tax cut provisions for small businesses and jettison the plan's costliest spending proposals like school renovation and extending unemployment insurance.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Economy, Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Jobs, John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy
Super Committee
At First Meeting, Super Committee Agrees On One Thing: Failure Is Not An Option
Super Committee Members John Kerry and Patty Murray
As the deficit super committee kicked off its long-awaited first meeting Thursday morning, Republicans and Democrats on the panel were in perfect agreement on one thing: failure is not an option.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the co-chairs of the joint House and Senate panel, in opening statements laid out the goal of achieving $1.2 trillion in additional deficit reduction over 10 years, as well as the stakes, in dire terms.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Deficit, Economy, Jeb Hensarling, Jobs, Patty Murray, Super Committee
Super Committee
Can The Super Committee Even Pass Its First -- And By Far Easiest -- Test?
'Super Committee' members Sen. Patt Murray (D-WA) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), September 7, 2011.
The deficit Super Committee will hold its first public hearing Thursday morning, to adopt its rules of self-governance. Then, in a few days it will hear testimony from CBO Director Doug Elmendorf on the origins, future, and consequences of the nation's debt.
That all sounds perfunctory, and in many ways it is. But it will also pose the panel with its first and most basic test: whether its six Democrats and six Republicans can accept a single history of the country's large public debt as a starting point for reining it in. As simple as that should be, it's anything but.
Outside of partisan politics, the backstory here is pretty uncontroversial.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Debt, Deficit, Jeb Hensarling, Medicaid, Medicare, Super Committee, Taxes
Debt Ceiling
Super Committee Schedules First Hearing On Debt Crisis GOP Has Already Blamed On Dems
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
The 12 members of the new joint deficit Super Committee will meet Thursday for its first hearing on the origins, drivers, and potential consequences of U.S. debt.
For nearly all experts, this is a matter of settled fact. Most existing U.S. debt stems from a combination of Bush administration policies (massive tax cuts, unfunded wars), automatic consequences of the great recession (unemployment benefits, reduced revenues), and President Obama's stimulus bill. The key driver of future debt is health care costs, which will soon make Medicare unaffordable, and the ramifications, should policymakers fail to control the debt in the long run, would be economically catastrophic.
But for weeks, the committee's Republican co-chair, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has been repeating a version of this talking point, from a recent official statement.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Debt, Debt Ceiling, Deficit, Jeb Hensarling, Super Committee
Super Committee
Top Republican Staffer To Serve As Staff Director For Super Committee
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
"Super Committee" co-chairs Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) have announced that the panel's top staffer will be senior Republican Senate Finance Committee aide Mark Prater.
"The know-how and experience Mark brings to this difficult task is exactly what we agreed must be the top priority for the staff serving all the members of this Committee," Murray and Hensarling said in an official statement. "Mark has a well-earned reputation for being a workhorse who members of both parties have relied on. We look forward to working with him and are confident that his approach and expertise will be valuable as we weigh the difficult but necessary choices ahead."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Entitlements, Jeb Hensarling, Patty Murray, Senate Finance Committee, Super Committee, Taxes
Super Committee
Biden: Super Committee Could Easily Gridlock
V.P. Joe Biden
The man who led the first in a series of failed Congressional debt limit negotiations says it's still quite likely that the new joint Super Committee, tasked with reducing the deficit by another $1.5 trillion over 10 years, will gridlock, triggering unpalatable penalties.
The new 12-member panel has "a shot of getting a deal that would be viewed by Wall Street, be viewed by everyone, be viewed by the international community as a significant alteration of a trajectory of long-term debt.... We still may end up with the trigger being pulled," Vice President Joe Biden told reporters traveling aboard Air Force Two in Asia. Reaching a deal will be "very difficult," he added.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Debt, Debt Ceiling, Deficit, Health Care, Jeb Hensarling, Joe Biden, Medicare, Patty Murray, Super Committee
Super Committee
GOP Leaders Pick Conservative Members To Serve On Deficit Super Committee
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have announced their selections to serve on the new so-called Super Committee -- the panel called for in the debt limit bill that's been tasked with reducing deficits by at least $1.2 trillion.
McConnell's picked his Whip, Jon Kyl (R-AZ), as well as conservative freshman Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and arch-conservative Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).
Boehner tapped Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), chair of the GOP conference, and the caucus' top message man; Dave Camp (R-MI) chair of the Ways and Means Committee, which controls tax revenue; and Fred Upton (R-MI), whose powerful Energy and Commerce Committee has broad jurisdiction over just about everything other than taxes, but particularly health care.
As head of the majority party in the House of Representatives, Boehner was asked to name the committee's GOP co-chair, and for that he chose Hensarling -- an extremely conservative member who in recent weeks falsely characterized the debt limit fight as a consequence of spending policies enacted by President Obama and past Democratic congresses. By quite a ways, most existing debt is the result of GOP policies, or bipartisan initiatives like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Hensarling served on President Obama's fiscal commission, headed by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, but ultimately opposed their recommendations, because they included higher revenues.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bush Tax Cuts, Club For Growth, Dave Camp, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Deficit, Fred Upton, George W. Bush, Grover Norquist, Jeb Hensarling, Jon Kyl, Pat Toomey, Rob Portman, Super Committee, Taxes
Democrats
Democrats Explicitly Call Out GOP For Sabotaging The Economic Recovery
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)
They've made it explicit. Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to sabotage the recovery -- or at least stall it -- by blocking all short-term measures to boost the economy, even ones they previously supported.
In a Capitol press conference Wednesday, the Senate's top Democrats argued that Republicans don't want to pass measures like a temporary payroll tax holiday for employers because they'll improve President Obama's re-election chances.
"Our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate are driven by putting one man out of work: President Obama," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Chuck Schumer, Democrats, Dick Durbin, Economy, Harry Reid, Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, Lamar Alexander, Paul Ryan, Republicans, Stimulus, Tax Breaks, Tax Cuts, Taxes
Barack Obama
Top Republicans Pour Cold Water On Obama's Last-Ditch Stimulus Plan
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Two leading Republicans say they do not support President Obama's plan to broaden, deepen, and extend a payroll tax cut to stimulate the economy in the short-term.
In a briefing with reporters in the Capitol Tuesday, the House and Senate GOP conference chairs said they're through with short-term stimulus measures, even if they take the form of tax cuts.
"Well they've tried this once, and it hasn't seemed to be working," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX).
His Senate counterpart, Lamar Alexander (R-TN) echoed this view.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Jeb Hensarling, Lamar Alexander, Spending, Stimulus, Tax Breaks, Tax Cuts, Taxes
John Boehner
House Republicans Still In Standoff With Obama Over Debt Ceiling (VIDEO)
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republicans huddled with President Obama Wednesday morning and afterward cited little if any progress in reaching an agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling or reduce spiraling deficits.
The House GOP leadership said they gave Obama an earful on a number of economic issues, including unemployment, the national debt and government regulation. Without a deal to reduce spending, House Republicans say they will stand firm against an increase in the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Debt, Debt Ceiling, House Republicans, Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, White House
Republicans
Cantor Hints Republicans Won't Win Medicare Privatization Fight
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Whoops!
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is in full walkback mode after admitting the obvious: that Republicans will never, under these political circumstances, prevail in their quest to privatize and slash Medicare -- and thus well over 200 Members of his caucus just walked the political plank for nothing.
Based on an interview with Cantor, the Washington Post reports, "Senior Republicans conceded Wednesday that a deal is unlikely on a contentious plan to overhaul Medicare and offered to open budget talks with the White House by focusing on areas where both parties can agree, such as cutting farm subsidies. ... Republicans recognize they may need to look elsewhere to achieve consensus after President Obama 'excoriated us' for a proposal to privatize Medicare."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Budget, Eric Cantor, House Republicans, Jeb Hensarling, Medicare, Republicans, Social Security
Gas Prices
House GOP: Great News On OBL -- Now How About Those Gas Prices?
GOP Leaders
The two-week congressional recess that just ended was, it's fair to say, a little less than quiet. Rowdy townhalls focused on the GOP's plan to end Medicare, the release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate, capped off by the killing of Osama bin Laden. So on their first official day back to business on Capitol Hill, House Republican leaders attempted to shift the focus back to where they want it: gas prices.
Or, more succinctly, to shift the focus to the ways they say Democrats and President Obama are making Americans pay more at the pump. En masse, top leaders from the House GOP stood before the mics on Tuesday morning and tried to get the legislative session back on track by focusing on the issue they've said is a winner for them. Drilling, baby, drilling.
And after some talk about the bipartisan victory that is the death of bin Laden, the Republicans went right back to hammering Democrats over the cost of fuel.
Topics: Energy, Eric Cantor, Gas Prices, Jeb Hensarling, Kevin McCarthy, Marsha Blackburn
Republicans
GOP: Obama's Speech So Partisan We'll Never Reach Budget Agreement
House Republicans recoiled Wednesday evening from President Obama's speech on America's budget woes. After spending most of the week pre-empting the address, and rejecting its expected calls for tax increases on wealthy Americans, Republicans endured a broad and severe critique of their vision for the country.
Their responses thus edged beyond substance into the realm of personal grievance. Indeed, they implied that the speech may have poisoned the well so much that working together where common ground exists might now be impossible.
"I missed lunch for this?" complained Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), chair of the House GOP conference, at a Capitol press conference shortly after the address.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Budget, Debt, Deficit, Defunding health care, Eric Cantor, Health Care, Jeb Hensarling, Medicaid, Medicare, Paul Ryan, Republicans, Rob Andrews, Spending, Tax Cuts, Taxes
Jeb Hensarling
GOP Rep: Congress Deserves To Be 'Tarred And Feathered'
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) doesn't think Congress' last-minute budget deal is enough.
Congress probably deserves "medals" for approving one of the "largest year-to-year cut in the federal budget," Hensarling said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "Relative to the size of the problem, it is not even a rounding error. In that case, we probably all deserve to be tarred and feathered."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Budget, CNN, Debt Ceiling, Dick Durbin, Jeb Hensarling
Roundup
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Ryan: Budget Deal 'Really Still A Drop In The Bucket'
Appearing on Meet The Press, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said of the budget deal: "Well, we're here because the Democrats didn't pass a budget last year. I mean, for the first time since 1974, the House didn't even bother to try passing a budget last year. So that's why we're here. Now, I feel like we had a pretty good outcome. We represented one-third of the negotiators, but we got two-thirds of the spending cuts we were asking for. This is really still a drop in the bucket. We want to move from talking about saving billions of dollars to going on to saving trillions of dollars."
Plouffe: Ryan Plan 'Not Going To Become Law'
Appearing on Meet The Press, White House senior adviser David Plouffe was asked whether Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget plan was dead on arrival. "It may pass the House. It's not going to become law," said Plouffe. "I--and I don't think the American people are going to sign up for something that puts most of the burden on the middle class, people trying to go to college, on senior citizens, while not just asking nothing of the wealthy, giving them at least a $200,000 tax cut. So that's a choice you're making."
Topics: Budget, Chuck Schumer, David Plouffe, Dick Durbin, Eric Cantor, Government Shutdown, Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Sessions, Paul Ryan, Roundup, Sunday Shows
Roundup
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Rangel: 'They Knew' I Didn't Deserve Censure
Appearing on State of the Union, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) said that his censure this past week was the product of a political environment in which members of Congress were afraid of appearing "easy on anybody in Washington." Rangel added: "I can understand that feeling back home, but I tell you, individually, whether it's Republicans or Democrats, they knew what I had done did not reach the level of a censure."
Durbin: 'Unconscionable' To Cut Top Taxes And Not Extend Unemployment
Appearing on Face The Nation, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that any tax-cut deal would also have to include an extension of unemployment benefits: "The notion that we would give tax cuts to those making over a million dollars a year, which is the Republican position, and then turn our backs on 2 million Americans who will lose unemployment benefits before Christmas ... is unconscionable."
Topics: Bush Tax Cuts, Charlie Rangel, Dick Durbin, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Jeb Hensarling, Kent Conrad, Orrin Hatch, Roundup, Sunday Shows, Tax Cuts, Taxes, Wes Clark
Bush Tax Cuts
House Republicans: Tax Cuts For Everybody -- Or No Tax Cuts For Anybody
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Incoming Republican House leaders told reporters this morning that House Democrats who are promising a vote on extending only the Bush tax cuts for middle class earners are rejecting the will of voters who cast ballots for a Republican-led House Nov. 2.
"I don't know what Speaker Pelosi didn't hear in this last election," Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), who chairs the GOP transition team, told reporters. "But she sure didn't hear the American people."
Walden accused Pelosi and other Democratic leaders of presenting their tax cut extension plan -- which would allow the Bush cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire, thus saving billions in deficit spending -- in a way that would deny Republicans a chance to amend it. Walden and other Republican leaders gathered at the press event said they represented a bipartisan majority in favor of extending all the cuts and they continued to say that they weren't interested in any plan that didn't do that.
"No tax increases for nobody," Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), incoming chair of the House Republican caucus, told reporters. "It's poor grammar, but it's great economics."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bush Tax Cuts, Greg Walden, Jeb Hensarling
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann Drops Out Of GOP Conference Chair Race
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who had attempted to leverage her superstar status among Tea Party activists into a role in the House Republican leadership as GOP Conference Chair, instead ended her bid tonight and endorsed the leadership's favored candidate, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas.
Bachmann had argued that her role in mobilizing Tea Party activists for the Republican Party: "I have been able to bring a voice and motivate people to, in effect, put that gavel in John Boehner's hands, so that Republicans can lead going forward."
However, she only picked up the public support of five other House members: Her close ally Steve King of Iowa, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and her fellow Minnesotans John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Chip Cravaack.
As such, this was one insurgent bid that didn't quite take off.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: GOP Conference Chair, Jeb Hensarling, Michele Bachmann, Tea Party
Pete Sessions
Pete Sessions Declines Run For Whip, Will Stay Head Of NRCC
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions announced this morning that he will not make a run for Majority Whip and will instead remain head of the NRCC for another term. The announcement means the GOP will avoid a tough leadership fight with Rep. Kevin McCarthy, according to ABC News.
That was soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner's preference, and, as GOP sources predicted just before the election, the GOP leadership is transitioning fairly smoothly into the majority.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, Michele Bachmann, NRCC, Pete Sessions
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Obama Heading For India To Open Asia Trip
The Associated Press reports: "President Barack Obama is leaving the fallout from the Democrats' election drubbing behind as he heads for India and what's likely to be a friendlier reception in the world's largest democracy. The president was to depart Friday morning on Air Force One for Mumbai, India, where he was to arrive around noon local time Saturday after refueling in Germany. It's the first stop on a 10-day tour through India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, the longest foreign outing of Obama's presidency."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will deliver a statement to the press on the monthly jobs numbers at 9:25 a.m. ET. The President and First Lady will depart the White House at 9:45 a.m. ET, and depart from Andrews Air Force Base at 10 a.m. ET, arriving for refueling in Ramstein, Germany, at 5:10 p.m. ET (10:10 p.m. local time).
Topics: 2010 elections, Barack Obama, Jeb Hensarling, Michele Bachmann, Nancy Pelosi, Roundup
Michele Bachmann
Infighting! Bachmann To Run For House Leadership
Michele Bachmann
Conservative Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) -- founder of the Tea Party Caucus -- will make a bid to be part of House leadership next Congress, likely touching off a tough intra-GOP battle for influence over the new majority.
In a message to her supporters on Facebook, Bachmann writes, "I am pleased to announce that I am running for Chairman of the House Republican Conference! Constitutional Conservatives deserve a loud and clear voice in leadership!"
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Eric Cantor, GOP, Jeb Hensarling, Michele Bachmann, Mike Pence, Republicans, Tea Party, Tea Party Caucus
Mike Pence
Pence To Step Down From GOP Leadership -- Hints At Run For Governor
Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) with GOP leaders
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) will step down from his position as the number three Republican in the House.
In a letter to colleagues this morning, Pence informed his colleagues that he won't seek re-election to his leadership post next Congress, hinting that he may soon be unable to fulfill his leadership duties as he prepares a run for Indiana governor.
"As we consider new opportunities to serve Indiana and our nation in the years ahead, I have come to realize that it may not be possible to complete an entire term as Conference Chairman," Pence wrote. "As such, I think it would be more appropriate for me to step aside now, especially since there are other talented men and women in our Conference who could do the job just as well or better."
Pence's ambitions outside of Congress are well known. He's believed to be considering a run for governor of Indiana, and possibly the presidency. As I reported last week, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is a top candidate to replace Pence as conference chair. You can read the entire letter below the fold.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Congress, GOP, House of Representatives, Jeb Hensarling, Mike Pence, Republicans
Social Security
Meet The 18 People Who Could Determine The Fate Of Social Security
President Obama meets with the leaders of his bipartisan debt commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles, on left, and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, on right.
Last week former Republican Senator Alan Simpson, who co-chairs the White House's fiscal commission, drew a storm of criticism for comparing Social Security to a "cow with 310 million tits." But Titgate isn't really about language. It's about both Simpson himself -- who has long viewed Social Security as a bloated program for spoiled old people -- and about the commission as a whole. Comprised of nine tax-averse Republicans and nine Democrats, many of whom have expressed support for Social Security changes in the past, the commission will almost certainly be biased toward benefit cuts, and away from raising taxes, when it presents its report on December 1. Below, the cast of characters who will be making the calls.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Alan Simpson, Andy Stern, Barack Obama, David Camp, Debt, Debt Commission, Dick Durbin, Erskine Bowles, Fiscal Commission, Jan Schakowsky, Jeb Hensarling, John Spratt, Judd Gregg, Kent Conrad, Max Baucus, Medicare, Mike Crapo, Paul Ryan, Social Security, Tom Coburn, Xavier Becerra
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama: McConnell Making 'Cynical And Deceptive Assertion' About Financial Reform
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama put forward his case for the proposed new financial regulations. And he went after Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for working with Wall Street firms to block the proposals.
"Now, unsurprisingly, these reforms have not exactly been welcomed by the people who profit from the status quo - as well their allies in Washington. This is probably why the special interests have spent a lot of time and money lobbying to kill or weaken the bill. Just the other day, in fact, the Leader of the Senate Republicans and the Chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue," said Obama. "Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican Leader came out against the common-sense reforms we've proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts - when he knows that it would do just the opposite."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2010 elections, Barack Obama, Census, Diane Wood, Elena Kagan, Eric Cantor, Financial Reform, Fiscal Commission, Harry Reid, Jeb Hensarling, Mitch McConnell, Roundup, Supreme Court
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann: 'Wean Everybody Off' Social Security And Medicare
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is putting forward a very daring proposal for how to fix Social Security and Medicare, Think Progress reports: Get rid of them.
Bachmann spoke this past weekend at the right-wing Constitutional Coalition in St. Louis, Missouri, and put forth her plan. "So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don't have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off," said Bachmann. "And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, we can't do it. So we just have to be straight with people. So basically, whoever our nominee is, is going to have to have a Glenn Beck chalkboard and explain to everybody this is the way it is."
It certainly is interesting to see a Republican not talk in any euphemistic terms about personal accounts, or about saving the system, etc., but to openly admit that the goal is to no longer provide the social benefits themselves, and to transition away from them.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Jeb Hensarling, Marsha Blackburn, Medicaid, Medicare, Michele Bachmann, Social Security
Roundup
TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama Calls For Measures To Help Small Business
In this weekend's YouTube address, President Obama laid out proposals that he said would help small businesses, including the use of money left over from the TARP bailout:
"Because financing remains difficult for good, credit-worthy small businesses across the country, I've proposed that we take $30 billion from the TARP fund originally used for Wall Street and create a new Small Business Lending Fund that will provide capital for community banks on Main Street," said Obama. "These are the small, local banks that will be able to give our small business owners more of the credit they need to stay afloat. We should also continue to waive fees, increase guarantees, and expand the size of SBA-backed loans for small businesses. And yesterday, I proposed making it easier for small business owners to refinance their mortgages during these tough times."
Hensarling: I Agree With What Obama Says -- But Not What He Does
This week's Republican YouTube address was delivered by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), one of the Congressmen who debated with President Obama at the "Question Time" event a week ago. In this video, Hensarling criticizes Obama and the Democrats on spending issues, and opposes the creation of a special commission that would recommend fiscal changes:
"Now, when it comes to budget matters, I usually find myself agreeing with about 80% of what the President says, but I disagree with 80% of what he does," said Hensarling. "While the President's budget rhetoric gives a nod to reducing the deficit, he punts the problem to a 'commission' that does not yet exist, and whose recommendations may never see the light of day. We have to do better." As Christina Bellantoni notes, Hensarling makes no mention of the plan offered by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), to privatize Social Security and Medicare.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Health Care, Iran, Jeb Hensarling, National Tea Party Convention, Robert Gates, Roundup, Sarah Palin, Tea Party
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