What The Hell Is Wrong With Pas Senate Republicans
Last week Sen. Chuck McIlhinney released his liquor privatization plan. If it were the 1950s his plan would have been considered revolutionary; in the twenty-first century, not so much. Unfortunately, the disappointment does not stop there.
Sadly, it appears that Senate Republicans will be putting legislation up for a vote that will enact the ObamaCare expansion of the already bloated Medicaid program. Evidently some members of the Senate Republican caucus believe that this money from the federal government is somehow free and expanding Medicaid will not result in more government spending down the road. According to an analysis by Pennsylvanias Department of Public Welfare, expanding Medicaid would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers nearly a billion dollars by 2016.
Rounding out the bad ideas emanating from the Senate, is the suggestion by Sen. Jake Corman that the state keep a tax on businesses that is slated to be phased out at the end of the year. Pennsylvania, unlike every other state in the country, collects a tax on business income and business assets. Not only does this result in double taxation, it also discourages businesses from expanding or upgrading equipment. The tax, known as the Corporate Stock and Franchise Tax , was supposed to be phased out entirely by 2008. The tax has survived this long because of two stays of execution. One granted by Gov. Schweiker and the other by Gov. Rendell .
Republicans Claim That Raising The Minimum Wage Would Kill Jobs And Hurt The Economy
There is far more evidence to the contrary. Cities and states that have higher minimum wages tend to have better rates of job creation and economic growth.
Detailed analyses show that job losses due to increases in the minimum wage are almost negligible compared to the economic benefits of higher wages. Previous increases in the minimum wage have never resulted in the dire consequences that Republicans have predicted.
Republicans have accused President Obama of “cutting defense spending to the bone”. This chart of 2014 discretionary spending firmly disproves that argument.
Senate Republicans Use Filibuster To Kill Jan 6 Commission
Only six Republicans joined Democrats in a procedural vote.
Senate Republicans block Capitol riots commission
In a remarkable political moment, Republicans on Friday blocked the Senate from moving forward on a bill that would establish a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.
Six Republicans joined Democrats in the 54-35 vote, but that fell six votes short of the 60 needed to start debate on establishing a commission — which then, normally, would require only a simple majority to pass in a final vote.
“Out of fear or fealty to Donald Trump, the Republican minority just prevented the American people from getting the full truth about January 6,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said right after the vote.
“Senate Republicans chose to defend the ‘big lie’ because they believe anything that might upset Donald Trump could hurt them politically,” he said.
The Senate leader reminded GOP senators they “all lived the horrors of January 6.”
“I was no further than 30 feet from those white supremacist hooligans. Do my Republican colleagues remember that day?
“Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence — the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol? Men with bulletproof vests and zip ties, breaking into the Senate gallery and rifling through your desks. Police officers crushed between doorways?” he said.
“Not so today,” he concluded.
No Republican spoke.
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In 1993 When Bill Clinton Raised Taxes On The Wealthiest 15% Republicans Predicted A Recession Increased Unemployment And A Growing Budget Deficit
They weren’t just wrong: The exact opposite of everything they predicted happened. The country experienced the seven best years of economic growth in history.
- Twenty-two million new jobs were added.
- Unemployment dropped below 4%.
- The poverty rate dropped for seven straight years.
- The budget deficit was eliminated.
- There was a growing budget surplus that economists projected could pay off our national debt in 20 years.
Former Republican Voter After Capitol Riot: ‘i Want No Association With This Party Anymore’
Like so many Republicans, Im sick and tired of talking about saving a party that shows few signs of wanting redemption, which makes it increasingly hard to hold on to the tattered remnants of a once-proud party. Indeed, since the insurrection more than 30,000 Republican voters have dropped their affiliation with the GOP, with many echoing the words of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican.
Despite my own pessimisms about the Grand Old Party, I believe its salvation can still be found in our guiding principles, which do not include putting kids in cages, spewing lies and conspiracies and fermenting deadly insurrections. For those Republicans who remain behind, its time to refocus on what it means to be a Republican. While former President Donald Trump spent four years trying to reshape as much of the Republican Party into his image as possible and, failing that, setting the rest on fire, I agree with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who said, There is a real split for the future of the party, and that epic battle has commenced. Bring it on!
My fellow Republicans must stop playing stupid.
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In The 1960s Republicans Claimed That The Passage Of Medicare Would Be The End Of Capitalism
California Governor Ronald Reagan even proclaimed Medicare would lead to the death of freedom in America. Of course, they were laughably wrong. Since the passage of Medicare, capitalism has thrived and millions of elderly Americans have had longer, healthier lives and greater personal freedom. Medicare remains the most popular form of health insurance in the United States.
When Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.5%, Republicans predicted a recession, increased unemployment, and a growing budget deficit. They were wrong.
John King Explains Why Infrastructure Bill Vote Is A Big Deal
Republicans justify their plan to block sweeping voting rights legislation in the Senate this week by arguing that it’s a huge federal power grab. But their past words and actions suggest they are again prioritizing their own political advantage over defending democracy.
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Republicans Said That If President Obama Was Reelected The Price Of Gasoline Would Rise To $545 A Gallon By January 2015
In fact, Senator Mike Lee of Utah said if Obama was reelected, the price of gas would reach $6.60 a gallon. Newt Gingrich, who was running for president in 2012, said Obamas energy policies, EPA regulations, and failure to approve the XL pipeline would result in $10.00 a gallon gasoline.
Of course, these predictions were laughably wrong. Instead of $5.45 per gallon or $10.00 per gallon, the price of gas in January 2015, was $1.89, less than half of the all-time high of $4.15 a gallon under President Bush.
In 2009 Republicans Predicted That The Economic Stimulus Package Would Only Make The Recession Worse And Cause More Unemployment
The results show they couldn’t have been more wrong. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ended the recession after only a few months. Although 750,000 people were losing their jobs each month when Obama took office, after the Recovery Act was passed the rate of job loss immediately decreased each month and within a year the economy showed positive job growth.
Considering the severity of the 2008 economic collapse and the total opposition by Republicans to do anything at all to stimulate the economy, it is remarkable that the US economy recovered as quickly as it did.
Looking at the rate of job loss and job creation, its easy to see that the stimulus of 2009 was highly successful in stopping the job losses and turning the economy around.
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A Problem With No Clear Solution
The most widely discussed idea for changing this is to grant statehood to the District of Columbia, thus creating a new state with a large nonwhite population and an overwhelming partisan tilt toward Democrats.
The idea has some considerable merits, though as McAuliffes Data for Progress memo points out, it hardly works to unskew the Senates racial bias. Indeed, it actually serves to further dilute the Hispanic populations voting power while increasing the modest overrepresentation of white college graduates.
Going further and making Puerto Rico a state also helps to address that concern, though only partially so. It also raises perennial questions as to whether Puerto Ricans want statehood, a desire thats much clearer in DCs case.
In addition to adding states, Data for Progress calls for nonelectoral forms of activism to combat unjust policies enacted by a government that was designed to favor one segment of the electorate at the expense of all others. The think tank simply asks thoughtful people to participate in efforts to delegitimize the existing setup, arguing that anyone who attempts to defend the Senate as an institution must explain why its supposed merits justify why the vote of a white person should have more weight to it than the vote of a person of color.
In practical terms, however, creating new states would require Democrats to win a Senate majority first. And that means thinking seriously about the geographic skew of public opinion.
Most Republicans Said That President Obama Should Be Impeached Because Of The 2012 Attack On The Us Consulate In Benghazi
Their own investigations, however, proved them wrong. Every Congressional inquiry, including those by the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee, concluded that the Obama administration did nothing wrong regarding Benghazi, that there was no stand down order given, and that neither the President nor anyone in his administration lied about it. Each and every Republican investigation has reached this same conclusion, but Republicans continue to exploit this tragedy for political gain.
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Republicans Insist That Their Policies Create More Jobs Than Democrats And Claim Democratic Policies Are Job Killers
History, however, has proven them wrong. According to numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the last three Republican presidents, there were a total of 21 million new jobs created during their combined 20 years in office .
However, under the last three Democratic presidents, there were a total of 40 million new jobs created during their combined 19 years in office .
So the last three Democratic presidents have seen the creation of nearly twice as many jobs in 19 years as the last three Republican presidents did in 20.
Republicans Routinely Accuse Democrats Of Wanting To Cut Defense Spending To The Bone And Leave Us Defenseless Against Our Enemies
History has repeatedly proven them wrong. Under Democratic presidents and Congresses, the United States still spends more on defense than the next ten countries combined. Republicans frequently insist on spending hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons systems that the Pentagon doesn’t even want in order to benefit the multi-billion dollar defense contractors. Democrats who criticize this unnecessary spending are accused of trying to cut defense spending to the bone.
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Republicans Said President Obama Would Raise Taxes Sky High
It never happened. Income taxes for over 95% of Americans remained the same or lower than they were before Obama was elected. The only people whose income taxes increased were those who make more than $400,000 per year, and their taxes rose only 3%. For most Americans, taxes are still lower now than they were under Reagan.
Republicans Said President Obama Would Be Terrible For The Economy
Although he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, President Obama presided over the longest continuous period of uninterrupted job growth in American history. More jobs were created under President Obama than under both Bush Presidents combined. The stock market repeatedly set new records during Obama’s presidency.
Obama inherited a much worse recession than the one Ronald Reagan dealt with, yet Obama ended that recession in less than half the time it took Reagan. During his eight years in office, our economy had a net increase of 11 million new jobs despite the loss of more than 4 million jobs during Obama’s first year when he was trying to pull us out of the Bush Recession. Despite Republican attempts to stop all progress, President Obama oversaw the greatest economic turnaround in over 75 years without any help from Republicans.
This chart shows the unemployment rate through 2013 and 2014 based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee Plans First Public Hearing Of Election Investigation
The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee plans to hold the first public hearing of its investigation into the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary Election on Thursday, September 9, at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, according to Committee Chairman Senator Cris Dush . ;
The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee has created a special webpage for Pennsylvania residents to submit sworn testimony regarding problems they have personally experienced with the states election system, according to Committee Chair Senator Cris Dush . ;
Senate Republican Caucus Sends Comments On Rggi Regulation To Irrc
The Senate Republican Caucus submitted a letter to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission prior to its September 1 meeting detailing objections to a proposed regulation that would implement the Governors mandate that Pennsylvania join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative . Read Letter;
2021
Parental control over masking decisions in school is the foundation of a bill introduced by Senator Doug Mastriano and Senator Judy Ward . ;
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The Senates Growing Skew
Back in 1790, about 748,000 people nearly 40 percent of whom were enslaved lived in Virginia. The smallest state, Delaware, had 59,000 residents, of whom about 3 percent were enslaved.
The largest state, in other words, was about 12.6 times as big as the smallest state, and the ratio was even lower among free people.
Today, the smallest state is Wyoming, and the state of Washington has about 12.6 times as many people. Of course, Washington isnt the largest state. Indeed, its not even particularly close 12 states are bigger. Illinois has 22 times Wyomings population. Texas is nearly 50 times as big . And California is a stunning 68 times as large.
These are enormous disparities to live with as essentially a matter of historical happenstance. Not only was the Connecticut Compromise defining Senate representation a hard-nosed plan that didnt reflect any clear larger principle, the boundaries of the states themselves were not drawn the way they are today for any particularly far-sighted reason.
If California had been carved up into Massachusetts-sized states, it could be easily 15 or 16 separate entities each with about four times the population of Wyoming rather than the current mismatch. When currently big states like Texas, Illinois, Florida, and California were admitted to the Union, their populations were not particularly large, and there was no specific intention to downweight their residents.
Mcconnell Turns Senate Republicans Against Jan 6 Commission
Former President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are also against the commission proposal.
05/19/2021 03:07 PM EDT
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Mitch McConnells opposition to a bipartisan proposal to independently investigate the Capitol insurrection is turning GOP senators against the bill, potentially dooming its prospects in the Senate.
The Senate minority leader informed Republicans on Wednesday that he is opposed to the 9/11-style commission that would probe the deadly Jan. 6 riot, as envisioned by the House. And in the wake of McConnells remarks, Sen. Mike Rounds who had expressed support on Tuesday for the idea said he could no longer back the commission in its current form.
Weve had a chance to hear from House leadership about what they saw in the bill. It doesnt appear right now that they believe that it is bipartisan in nature, which to me is extremely disappointing, Rounds said. The way that the bill is written right now, I would feel compelled to vote against it.
McConnell made his remarks opposing the House’s Jan. 6 commission bill, which passed that chamber later Wednesday, at a private breakfast event. A number of Republican senators attended, including Rounds, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Its not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could lay on top of the existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress, McConnell said.
Melanie Zanona contributed to this report.
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The Former President Is As Popular With The Partys Voters As Ever
AFTER GIVING an early signal that he approved of Donald Trumps looming impeachment for inciting an insurrectionand indeed viewed it as a good opportunity to purge the former president from his partyMitch McConnell did an odd thing. Instead of pressing ahead with the impeachment trial in order to begin it while Mr Trump was still president, as the Democrats wanted, the then Republican majority leader sent the Senate on holiday.
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Mr McConnell claimed this was a practical matter: the trial could not be concluded until after Mr Trump had left office, so it might as well not start. Seasoned observers of the senator from Kentucky, who rarely does anything without a partisan motive, suggested he wanted to see which way the wind was blowing in his conference. With the impeachment trial now set for the week beginning February 8th, it is not blowing against Mr Trump.
To convict the former presidentand probably then bar him from public office17 Republicans would need to turn on him, assuming all 50 Democratic senators voted to convict, as they probably will. Yet on January 26th all but five Republican senatorsincluding Mr McConnellvoted to scrap the impeachment. Put up by Rand Paul, the motion alleged it was unconstitutional to impeach a former president.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Getting away with it”
