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RINOs in Senate Take Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown

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Congress_Immigration-06023-3555Senate Republicans are taking the lead in a carefully orchestrated plan with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to avoid a government shutdown next week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday filed a motion to advance legislation that would redirect Planned Parenthood funding to community health centers and fund the government until Dec. 11 . . .

Democrats will filibuster the stopgap funding measure because of the Planned Parenthood rider, setting up votes on a so-called “clean” continuing resolution next week.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, said the House and Senate had been in talks and leaders decided that it was better for the Senate to move forward first, to show that a funding bill cutting off Planned Parenthood would fail.

“It was concluded that giving the Senate ball control by taking the first whack at this and demonstrating what the traffic will bear in terms of where the votes are in the Senate, would give the House an indication of where we are,” Thune said. (Read more from “Senate GOP Takes Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown” HERE)

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Ted Cruz and Mike Lee Being Vindicated on Shutdown

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The GOP establishment is loath to admit it, but the government shutdown is turning out to be a brilliant political chess move on the part of Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. The Obamacare disaster, fully predictable by anyone who understands the effect of incentives and the fundamental incompetence of academic theorists and left wing ideologues, has made the go-for-broke attempt to stop it an obvious profile in courage.

Just take a look at this chart from the Huffington Post, via Charlie Cook:

generic ballot 12 13

Cook, a seasoned observer, sees the polling data moving against Democrats, and wonders, “Can Democrats Recover From the Obamacare Catastrophe?” But he fails to connect the dots, and dishes some typical establishmentarian snark at Cruz and Lee.

…in August, statements started coming from some of the more exotic Republicans in the House and Senate that perhaps it was a good idea to shut down the government over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Notwithstanding warnings from House and Senate Republican leaders and experienced (and wiser) members that such an effort would be a disaster for the party, the Republicans in the “kamikaze caucus” barreled ahead, over the cliff, shutting down the government.

Read more from this story HERE.

Shutdown Prevention: Back-Room Talks Start

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Photo Credit: APA bipartisan group of senators may serve as a last-minute lifeline if the government faces another shutdown at the start of next year.

Led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and launched during the government shutdown as a springboard for bipartisan negotiations, the “common sense caucus” may offer solutions on budget issues that have long plagued each party…

The group has been there before: Bipartisan deal makers like Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) believe their October talks and draft legislation paved the way for an eventual deal between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to reopen the government and avoid a debt crisis.

The group includes lawmakers who aren’t afraid to buck their leadership, whether it’s Republicans Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting with Democrats to advance President Barack Obama’s nominees or Democrats Manchin and Mark Pryor of Arkansas opposing Reid’s historic push to revamp the filibuster rules.

Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) described the caucus as “kind of the volunteer fire department,” explaining that it may again be called on to unlock negotiations during what looks to be a heated debate between two parties long divided over tax and spending policy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ryan: No Need to Worry About Another Shutdown (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreHouse Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that the country doesn’t need to worry about another government shutdown in January when the current stopgap spending bill runs out.

The government shutdown lasted for 16 days in October, after Republicans demanded that President Obama defund his signature healthcare law.

To avoid another shutdown, Ryan said either he and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would strike a budget deal or Congress would pass a stopgap keeping existing spending levels.

“Either of those two scenarios will prevail, and we will not have a government shutdown,” he said at the Wall Street Journal annual CEO Council. “We will keep the government funding at the current level if need be.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Did the Shutdown Even Matter?

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Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty When budget negotiations began last month, Democrats felt confident that public opinion surrounding the government shutdown would force Republicans to the table, eager to prove their party could compromise.

But today, there’s little sense of urgency on a budget deal. With less than four weeks to go before the conference committee’s deadline, the public focus has shifted to the troubled rollout of the Affordable Care Act and pressure on Republicans has subsided.

“The shutdown is history. We are moving forward to try to get the next thing done,” William Allison, a spokesman for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, said last week.

Asked whether Ryan and others feel pressure to get something done because of the shutdown, Allison was blunt: “Nah,” he said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the conference committee, said the idea that Republicans may be feeling more at ease about the budget deadline now that concerns about the Affordable Care Act have taken center stage lined up with how many Democrats read the situation.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Auto Sales Extend Gains Despite Government Shutdown

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Photo Credit: AFP/Justin Sullivan The US auto industry extended its steady gains in October despite economic uncertainty caused by a government shutdown.

General Motors, Ford and Chrysler posted double digit rises from October 2012 sales while Japanese rival Toyota’s sales grew more modestly.

Automotive website Edmunds.com forecasts that total monthly industry sales will rise 12.7 percent over a year ago and reach an adjusted, annualized pace of 15.5 million vehicles once all automakers have reported.

Weekly data suggested that consumers “started to get jittery” towards the end of the 16-day political showdown, which saw hundreds of thousands of federal employees laid off with no certainty of being paid, said Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell.

But sales soon recovered when the government got back to work on October 17 and back pay was assured.

Read more from this story HERE.

John Kerry: Damage To U.S. Image Abroad Due To Shutdown; Fails To Mention NSA Spy Scandal (+video)

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Photo Credit: AFPJohn Kerry told a liberal think tank Thursday that the recent government shutdown has hurt America’s image abroad. He failed to mention the NSA spy scandal, which at least 21 countries have condemned.

Ironically, as reported by cnsnews.com, Kerry’s appearance at a Center for American Progress conference came on the same day that German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle summoned the U.S. ambassador to warn friendship was at stake over the alleged bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone.

Also on Thursday, European Union leaders meeting in Brussels discussed allegations of widespread NSA spying, and said afterwards that “a lack of trust [between the U.S. and E.U.] would prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence gathering.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Joe Miller: Time to Take a Stand

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The Obamacare shutdown and debt ceiling debacle made one thing abundantly clear. We cannot count on the Washington establishment to save the country we love.

It is time for patriots to take a stand!

It is unconscionable that the President, Harry Reid, and Mark Begich would shut down the government to bail out a failed program that Americans don’t want, can’t afford, and that manifestly does not work.

The backroom deal cut by Congressional leadership to end the government shutdown only reinforced what ordinary Americans already knew – Washington isn’t serious.

The establishment compromise did nothing to mitigate the harmful consequences of Obamacare for Alaskans, it did nothing to address the dire fiscal situation our country is in, and it did nothing to offer relief to small businesses that are struggling in Barack Obama’s economy.

When the President can grant Obamacare waivers for Congress and their staff, big business, big labor, and any number of his favored cronies, but chooses to make the American people and family businesses suffer, we have a problem.  America deserves better.

The bipartisan cabal that just voted to fund Obamacare and give the president a blank check until February simply cannot be trusted.  If you need any further evidence, consider the fact that the national debt jumped by more than three hundred billion dollars the day after the “big bargain.”

Barack Obama told America that raising the debt ceiling would avert a default on US debt, but that’s not how China’s Dagong credit agency saw it. Here is how the Chinese downgrade of US credit was reported by the president’s hometown paper, The Chicago Tribune:

Dagong said that the temporary fix of the debt issue would not defuse the fundamental conundrum of the U.S. fiscal deficit or improve repayment ability in the long-term, but could trigger defaults at any time in the future.

“The deal means only an escape from a debt default for the time being, but hasn’t changed the fact that the growth of government borrowing has largely outpaced overall economic growth and fiscal revenues,” China’s biggest home-grown ratings agency said in a statement. 

It seems everybody but Washington knows that we are swiftly approaching a “fiscal cliff” that will be catastrophic for the future of our country.

As much as he would like to change the narrative and pass himself off as an independent voice in Washington, Mark Begich was there at every turn to aid and abet the President and Harry Reid. The only thing independent about our junior senator is that his words are independent from his actions.

We cannot count on Senator Begich and the “me too” Republicans to represent us. That’s why I’ve filed to run for US Senate.

However Mark Begich and the establishment media choose to spin things, one thing is certain. More spending and debt is bad for Alaska, and it could be catastrophic.

Now the president seems intent on resurrecting the amnesty bill that passed the Senate in June with the full support of our Senate delegation.  

The Weekly Standard reported yesterday that this administration has spent 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare payments over the last five years. Imagine the staggering consequences to our health and welfare systems should we grant blanket amnesty for tens of millions of illegal aliens. The insanity in Washington has to stop.

With your help, I will take reform to Washington. I pledge to stand along side the 144 House members, and 16 Senators who took a stand against the President’s reckless agenda to bankrupt America!

It’s time to stand and fight for the future of “the last best hope of man on earth.” Can I count on you?

Thanks for your generosity and support!

In Liberty,

Joe

What If They Gave a Shutdown and No One Cared?

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Photo Credit: TownHall The shutdown/debt limit imbroglio wasn’t a defeat. Defeats leave the losers feeling defeated. But the designated losers, the conservative base of the GOP – which, more accurately, now is the GOP – is more eager and excited than it has been in a long time.

Why? Someone fought. Finally.

Sure, we didn’t win the repeal of Obamacare. The only people talking about actually repealing Obamacare as a direct result of the tactical moves of recent weeks were the doddering dinosaurs and their media accomplices trying to put out the notion that Ted Cruz and his band of merry marauders had suckered us numbskull conservatives with promises of total victory right here and right now.

Being very familiar with the Constitution, we realize that it’s kind of difficult to pass a law when we only hold the House. We’re clear on that. We were always clear on that. What Ted Cruz did – and what the go-along, get-along gang of Republican stegosauruses hate – is that he fought. He fought. There’s a huge value to drawing a line, to taking a stand, to rallying the troops.

Real leaders – which the GOP establishment lacks – know that. We’ve had two presidential elections in a row with a demoralized base. That’s bad. Just ask Presidents McCain and Romney.

This whole thing really had little to do with Obama and the Democrats and, in the short term, even with Obamacare. This was really about the war between the growing conservative majority in the GOP and the dying GOP establishment minority. It’s a war that must be fought, and which we should welcome. And it’s a war we conservatives will win.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cruz: Blame Senate GOP for ACA Defeat

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreSen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is blaming his fellow Senate Republicans for opposing a movement in the House to defund ObamaCare, which ultimately caused Republicans to win few concessions in the deal to reopen the government and raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

In an interview with the National Review posted on Saturday afternoon, the senator said that there would be “consequences” for supporting the funding bill.

“Unfortunately, rather than supporting House Republicans, a significant number of Senate Republicans actively, aggressively, and vocally led the effort to defeat House Republicans, to defeat the effort to defund Obamacare,” he told the conservative magazine. “Once Senate Republicans did that, it crippled the chances of this effort, and it caused the lousy deal.”

Late on Wednesday, the Senate voted 81-18 to restore government funding until Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7.

Read more from this story HERE.