Mark Levin “Goes Nuclear” on Boehner, DeMint Criticizes Him For Wanting to Destroy Jobs

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DeMint Criticizes Boehner’s Deficit-Cut Plan

By Kathleen Hunter and Richard Rubin. House Speaker John Boehner’s proposal to generate $800 billion in new revenue “will destroy American jobs” and Republicans should oppose it, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina said today.

The comments from DeMint, co-founder of the Senate’s anti- tax Tea Party caucus, represent a strong indictment of Boehner’s plan from a fellow Republican lawmaker and highlight a divide within the party. Boehner yesterday proposed a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting proposal that seeks $800 billion in revenue in the next decade from an overhaul of the tax code that would curb some breaks.

“Speaker Boehner’s $800 billion tax hike will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more, while not reducing our $16 trillion debt by a single penny,” DeMint said in a statement. “Republicans must oppose tax increases and insist on real spending reductions that shrink the size of government and allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money.”

The remarks signify that Boehner will have to tamp down opposition from the anti-spending wing of his conference — and probably rely on some Democratic votes — to advance legislation to avert the so-called fiscal cliff through the House. Unless Congress acts, more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending reductions will begin in January.

“Is John Boehner prepared to bring this measure to a vote with the understanding that it will pass with a bipartisan majority? If he is, let’s press forward in negotiations,” the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, Richard Durbin of Illinois, said today in an interview. “But if this is just a negotiation to win over the Tea Party Republicans, I am not very hopeful.” Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Levin Goes Nuclear on Boehner

By the Right Scoop. Mark Levin has had enough, saying that Huelskamp was elected by American citizens in his district who sent him there to vote the way he pledged to them he’d vote, and now Huelskamp is being treated like crap from Speaker Boehner because he’s not falling in line? Levin asks “who the hell does Speaker Boehner think he is?” Listen to the audio HERE.

Senate Democrats Want to Take Guns Away From Returning War Vets

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photo credit: jsmjr

A major defense-spending bill hit an unexpected bump on its journey through the U.S. Senate over an amendment on veterans’ gun rights, which devolved into a heated floor debate and foreshadows a potential battle over Democrats’ vows to tweak the filibuster rules in the clubby, traditionally collegial body.

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, wants veterans who have been deemed “mentally incompetent” to have their cases adjudicated by a judge — rather than the Department of Veterans Affairs, as happens currently — and argued that veterans who simply cannot support themselves financially are needlessly given the label and, as such, cannot buy or possess firearms.

“We’re not asking for anything big,” Mr. Coburn said Thursday evening on the Senate floor. “We’re just saying that if you’re going to take away the Second Amendment rights … they ought to have it adjudicated, rather than mandated by someone who’s unqualified to state that they should lose their rights.”

The late-night tussle served to pick at the scab of the ongoing debate over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bid to reform the chamber’s filibuster rules to place limits on the minority party’s ability to hold up debate on legislation, however.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, objected to Mr. Coburn’s proposal once he found out it was part of a package of amendments to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act the body was to vote on.

Read more from this story HERE.

Palin to GOP: ‘This Won’t Be Forgotten Come 2014’

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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Tuesday that she thinks House Speaker John Boehner’s purge of conservatives from powerful committees is a sign the GOP establishment is out of touch with America.

“We send good conservatives to D.C. to fulfill the promises they made to the electorate, and yet when they stay true to their word the permanent political class in their own party punishes them,” Palin said in a Facebook comment. “This won’t be forgotten come 2014. Right now the GOP establishment is more concerned about the opinion of the media and the Georgetown cocktail circuit than they are ‘we the people’ who hired them. For all this new talk of how the GOP needs a ‘populist movement,’ it would do them good to remember they already have one; it’s called the Tea Party movement, and it won for them the majority they now enjoy in the House.”

On Monday, Boehner pulled conservative GOP Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan from the House Budget Committee. The Speaker also removed conservative Republican Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter Jones of North Carolina from the House Financial Services Committee.

The members believe they were pulled from those committee assignments – from which they would be able to influence fiscal policy – because they have solid conservative voting records.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senate Rejects U.N. Disabilities Treaty

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Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked ratification of a U.N. treaty that promotes equal rights for disabled people, saying the measure shouldn’t be brought up in the lame-duck session and could cede U.S. sovereignty to the global body.

Supporters of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities said the treaty is nonbinding and wouldn’t change or challenge U.S. law. They said the international pact is based on the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and would help protect disabled Americans abroad.

But a 61-38 vote in favor of the treaty fell five votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass all treaties. Eight Republicans and two independents supported the measure, while not one Democrat voted against the treaty.

The United Nations adopted the treaty in 2006. President Obama signed it in 2009, though it failed to move through the Senate — which must ratify all treaties — until this year. It has been signed by 154 nations and ratified by 126.

Critics fear the treaty could strip Americans of fundamental rights, such as denying parents the ability to home-school a child with disabilities if the U.N. committee — or another body carrying out its recommendations — determined it would be in the best interests of the child. Some also worry that language calling for the disabled to have equal rights to reproductive health services could lead to abortions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: The Communist Candidate

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No. Really.

Erwin Marquit, a member of the International Department of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), recently told a conference of communist political parties from around the world that communists in the U.S did not run their own candidate for president on November 6 because they worked within the Democratic Party for the reelection of Barack Obama and the victories of “progressive” Democrats to Congress.

“The Communist Party USA not only welcomes the reelection of President Barack Obama, but actively engaged in the electoral campaign for his reelection and for the election of many Democratic Party congressional candidates,” Marquit declared at the conference, hosted by the Lebanese Communist Party.

Under Obama, he said, “…we have been forming Party clubs in states in which we previously had very few or even no members. This influx of new members led us to have a national Party school earlier this year to acquaint new members with the Marxist-Leninist orientation of the Party.”

The question here is whether the Communists have come around to supporting Democrats, or whether Democrats have come around to supporting Communists, and how much difference is there anymore?

Read more from this story HERE.

Workplace Freedom States Soared While Ohio and Michigan Economies Crashed

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Job creation in Ohio lagged far behind all 22 workplace freedom states from 1991 to 2011, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) records. Without cherry-picking data as union bosses must in order to defend forced unionism, total seasonally adjusted non-farm employment growth shows a huge advantage for residents of right to work states.

With the exception of Indiana, which passed a right to work law in February 2012, Ohio and each of its neighbors – Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky – allow unions to force workers to pay dues as a condition of employment.

During the two decades from 1991-2011, no workplace freedom state had a lower job creation rate than Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Michigan.

Of the 22 states which protected the right of employees in unionized workplaces to choose whether to pay a union boss, 17 had job growth rates better than Ohio and all five of Ohio’s forced-unionism neighbors.

While varying demographics, geography, and innumerable government regulations affect businesses’ ability to create new jobs, the past 20 years have been marked by anemic growth in Ohio compared to every workplace freedom state.

Read more from this story HERE.

Boehner Tax Increase Sparks Conservative Backlash

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Sen. Jim DeMint, a tea party favorite, ripped House Republican leaders for offering a budget framework that embraced new taxes, saying the GOP plan to raise $800 billion in new revenue would hurt the economy, kill jobs and not reduce the national debt by a penny.

“This isn’t rocket science,” Mr. DeMint, South Carolina Republican, said. “Everyone knows that when you take money out of the economy, it destroys jobs, and everyone knows that when you give politicians more money, they spend it. This is why Republicans must oppose tax increases and insist on real spending reductions that shrink the size of government and allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money.”

Led by House Speaker John A. Boehner, House GOP leaders sent a $2.2 trillion “fiscal cliff” counteroffer to President Obama on Monday that included the $800 billion in tax increases, which would be generated through eliminating loopholes and deductions in the federal tax code.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tax Exodus: Five States that Residents Are Fleeing

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The past few years have really put the squeeze on cash-strapped states to find new sources of revenue. This environment has generated a level of tax aggression from certain states, which in turn has resulted in a net loss of revenue instead of the intended gain. Residents have begun voting with their feet, deciding to move out of the state instead of thinning their pocket through unwanted taxation. So which states are chasing away their residents? And how does it impact you if you live in one of them? We track migratory patterns through our residency product data, and while some of the states are no-brainers, others may surprise you. Following are our top five ‘shrinking’ states in ascending order:

5. Ohio: The Buckeye State is one of the few around that actually has a balanced budget. One of the reasons is because they tax their residents so well. The interesting part about Ohio though, is that a constant stream has always existed out of the state. Some of the migration is probably due to weather, but they also have very strict well-defined rules surrounding residency. Ohio’s Bright-Line Test names the specific number of days over, under, and in between that dictate someone as resident, non-resident, or other (the burden of proof is on the resident in question for ‘other’). These rules make it simple for an Ohioan to decide whether to stay put or make a run for it.

4. New Jersey: Oh, Jersey. Always the brunt of jokes, our most densely populated state, and a bastion of high taxation. Including local taxes, New Jersey has the highest tax rate in the country. Without going into painful detail, the cocktail of crowded, expensive, and verbal assault makes the Garden State an easy exit for most.

3. California: The Golden State is nearly a tie for the number-two spot, and we are constantly surprised it isn’t at the top of the list given the fiscal issues present there. Municipality balance sheets are in shambles, the state already has high tax rates, and many residents are staying close but merely hopping the border into more tax advantageous states like Nevada. Yes, the weather can be great, the people creative, and they still have one of the most productive economies around, but we haven’t seen a decrease in the flow of residents out of the state which is always a cause for concern.

2. New York: One of the easy guesses for sure. New York has been bleeding residents for some time. Tom Golisano, the founder of Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX), wrote a letter that was published in the New York Post about why he was leaving the state. And he didn’t mince words, explaining he was taxed out of the state for greener pastures to no-income-tax Florida. And it shouldn’t be a shock, Florida welcomed him with open arms.

Read more from this story HERE.

Romney Campaign Regrets Immigration Stance

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Mitt Romney and his team are not eager to dwell on regrets.

But his campaign manager now says that the forceful posture taken against immigration in the Republican primary inflicted lingering damage with Latino voters in the general election.

The Romney campaign chief, Matt Rhoades, acknowledged that point during a forum here at the Harvard University Institute of Politics, where advisers to all candidates in the 2012 campaign gathered to discuss the race.

When asked directly whether Mr. Romney regretted tacking to the right on immigration to appeal to conservative primary voters, the room fell silent.

Stuart Stevens, a senior strategist to Mr. Romney, shook his head no. But after pausing for several seconds, Mr. Rhoades said, “I regret that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Boehner Scoffs After Called on Purging Real Conservatives from Powerful Committee

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Boehner Spokesman Kevin Smith responds- “The Steering Committee makes decisions based on a range of factors.”

House Speaker John Boehner and GOP leadership have removed several conservative House members from their respective powerful committee positions, Breitbart News has learned.

Effective next Congress, leadership pulled Kansas Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash and Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert off committees from which they could exert conservative pressure on fiscal matters. Amash and Huelskamp were pulled from the Budget Committee and Schweikert from the Financial Services Committee.

Huelskamp, a freshman elected during the 2010 tea party wave, thinks the leadership move to pull him from the powerful committee is revenge for him standing up for conservatism. “It is little wonder why Congress has a 16 percent approval rating: Americans send principled representatives to change Washington and get punished in return,” Huelskamp said in a Monday night statement. “The GOP leadership might think they have silenced conservatives, but removing me and others from key committees only confirms our conservative convictions. This is clearly a vindictive move, and a sure sign that the GOP Establishment cannot handle disagreement.”

Earlier on Monday in an interview with Breitbart News, Huelskamp again reaffirmed his support for the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) anti-tax pledge. He’s encouraging his colleagues in the House to come out publicly against potential tax increases and asking citizens across the country to help.

Read more from this story HERE.