Republicans didn’t have to vote for cap and trade

Cap and trade support gives California Republicans the losing argument that they voted for fuel cost hikes to save us from even worse taxes. What ordinary voting taxpayer is going to buy that?

#Capandtrade support gives #CAGOP losing argument that it supported fuel cost hikes to save us from even worse taxes https://t.co/8RlNHWBAVv

— HJTA.org (@HJTA) July 31, 2017

Republican refusal to give in to the type of extortion reflected in the cap-and-trade bill may very well have forced the Democrats into approving a CARB-style bureaucracy with a simple majority vote — which, by the way, might still happen. The far-left of the Democratic Party may have cheered but, for Republicans, it would open up vast new demographics — working Hispanics, other ethnic groups and recent immigrants — for whom just a few more cents in a gallon of gas is a big deal.

Unfailing opposition to the deal by Republicans would have provided something else almost always absent from California politics — clarity and accountability. When gas prices go through the roof — which they surely will — there would be no doubt which party to blame.

But we’ll never know as it will be difficult, if not impossible, to repair the damage and restore the Republican brand. Thus the odds of Republicans gaining seats in any of the next four election cycles (thanks to redistricting in 2022) are now in doubt. And for what? So Republicans can now adopt the losing argument that they voted for increased fuel costs to save taxpayers from even higher prices? What ordinary voting taxpayer is going to buy that argument?

“Twenty years of hard work, technical skill building, fostering relationships, a bachelor’s degree in IT, guided me to a coveted position as an IT engineer at Disney,” he told TheDCNF, speaking on condition of anonymity, because he’s waiting on legal advice. “And that was just wiped out.”

◼ DISNEY Worker Details Humiliation of Training His Foreign Replacement... - Daily Caller via Drudge

Republican senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio is backing a bill that would triple the number of guest workers businesses could hire every year, after hundreds of workers in his state were fired and literally replaced by foreign guest workers.

Disney, Southern California Edison and most recently Fossil Group have together fired hundreds of American tech workers and forced them to train their foreign replacements, many of whom were flown in specifically to take their job.

House Passes Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on Anniversary of Gosnell Murder Conviction

BREAKING: U.S. House passes the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act! 242-184-1 #HR36 pic.twitter.com/UgSD6vklxI

— Right to Life (@nrlc) May 13, 2015

House Passes 20-Wk Abortion Pain Bill on Anniversary of Gosnell Murder Conviction #ProLife http://t.co/adOpnChEoT pic.twitter.com/HVVULBCWsY

— Linda Suhler, Ph.D. (@LindaSuhler) May 13, 2015

The House passed a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but it's unlikely to become law: http://t.co/q7XaoAIHSU

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 13, 2015

Speaker Boehner: “We Have Obligation to Defend the Defenseless,” Ban Late-Term Abortions http://t.co/JfMKYJezb0 pic.twitter.com/8UBWHaWLQe

— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) May 14, 2015

Women's choice: abstinence, adoption and etc. Why are Dems saying the only choice is abortion? #theyfeelpain #paincapable

— Star Parker (@StarParker) May 13, 2015

Remember ‘Reconciliation’? The GOP Can Move an Agenda without Democratic Support

Remember ‘Reconciliation’? The GOP Can Move an Agenda without Democratic Support http://t.co/XRz3OR7thl pic.twitter.com/VQtSUnQGEV

— National Review (@NRO) May 12, 2015

Budget reconciliation is a powerful tool because the Senate cannot filibuster bills with this designation, which means they can pass with a simple majority of 51 votes, instead of the usual 60. In practical terms, this means Republicans do not need Democratic support to send a reconciliation bill to the president.

Over the years, reconciliation has been used to pass many significant pieces of economic and budgetary legislation, including welfare reform in 1996 and President Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

Congressional Republicans are agreed that reconciliation should be available for a legislative response if the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case. Such a decision would puncture a large hole in the health-care law by invalidating insurance subsidies in 37 states. Although the ensuing disruption in insurance markets would be entirely the administration’s fault, Republicans are right to prep a serious legislative response that would help people who are losing subsidies and that also would move away from Obamacare’s heavy-handed strictures.

Congress is FINALLY back to work and it's all because of Republicans: https://t.co/vbPMxQH1NI

— NRSC Republicans (@NRSC) May 12, 2015

California: Assembly Democrats Kill Important Transparency Bill

Assembly Democrats Kill Important Transparency Bill to require all legislation to be in print and available to... http://t.co/2cx5sV5vrk

— Katy Grimes (@KATYSaccitizen) May 8, 2015

They’ve done it again — Democrats in the California Legislature killed another good bill. While this may not seem newsworthy, the way they did the killing is.

For the third time since she has been in the Legislature, Assembly Minority Leader Kristen Olsen, R-Modesto, authored a bill to require all legislation to be in print and available to the public for at least 72 hours before a vote.

Rather than debating Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1, and then voting on it, Assembly Democrats in the Assembly Budget Committee sent the bill to the “suspense file,” following a brief speech from one lawmaker about the importance of transparency. This is underhanded and the epitome of hypocrisy; the bill was effectively killed without an up-or-down vote of the committee members.

“Apparently they are embarrassed to take a stand,” Olsen said. “They’d rather have the bill disappear.”

Yuck: 83% of nation's schools report more lunches dumped by kids

◼ As school children continue to protest Michelle Obama’s push for healthier lunches by dumping their full trays into garbage bins, the nation’s school boards are joining in to demand that the Obama administration let them off the hook of serving the costly and tasteless meals. - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

When House Representative Tom Marino accused the Democrats of not being brave enough to pass immigration reform when they controlled the Congress, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi jumped up and came at the guy!

◼ ‘What is She Doing?' IJReview

Marino struck a nerve by pointing out that the Democrats owned the entire Congress and White House for two years and did nothing about illegal immigration.

Nancy Pelosi then crept up on Marino and began taunting him. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said it best: “What is she doing?”

There was such a raucous altercation that the House Sergeant came close to having to restore order by force.

Border Chaos:
Border Official: 'I'd Almost Guarantee People Have Been Released That Are Sick'...
Measles, H1N1, TB 'Pretty Common'...
PAPER: Hundreds of dead border-crossers in single Texas county...
Rancher shares grotesque photos...
House passes bill...
Pelosi Chases GOP Lawmaker Across Chamber...
DEM: 'Immigration Reform Not About Enforcement'...
Detention Center Has Hair Salon, Child Care, Basketball Courts, Gym, Soccer Field...
Signs Posted For Illegals Increasingly Written In Chinese...
Feds Fly Unaccompanied Minors to Alaska...
Ready to rumble: Activists to raid congressional town hall meetings...
NYT SUNDAY: Hope Dwindles for Hondurans Living in Peril...

To clean house, pass the Stossel Rule. It's simple: For every new regulation bureaucrats pass, they must repeal five old ones.

◼ Use the 'Stossel Rule' to give government long overdue spring cleaning - John Stossel/FOX

...Today's laws are so complex even the lawyers don't understand them.

And the clutter gets worse. Every day, regulators craft more rules. It's always more. If you're a regulator, and you don't add rules, you think you're not doing your job.

So now that spring is about to arrive, let's give government that overdue cleaning. Eliminate half the 170,000 pages of federal laws, scrap useless Cabinet departments, and cut the $4 trillion in spending in half. We could move about so much more freely if our lives weren't buried in government's junk.

Laws stop me from opening my own lemonade stand, dictate where kids must attend school, and forbid voluntary interactions between consenting adults.

Clean this stuff away!

When government is big, we become smaller. When we're trapped in the web of their rules, we don't innovate; we become passive.

To clean house, pass the Stossel Rule. It's simple: For every new regulation bureaucrats pass, they must repeal five old ones.

It would be a start.

Ted Cruz chastises Harry Reid: It’s not his place to attack private citizens

◼ He also noted the hypocrisy of Reid, attacking the Koch brothers while not mentioning the billionaire who has pledged to give money to Democrats to get Climate Change laws passed. - The Right Scoop VIDEO

◼ Reid blames Ukraine standoff on Koch Brothers - The Hill

◼ Ted Cruz slams Harry Reid over Ukraine aid bill, demonization of Koch brothers

Sen Cruz layeth the smacketh down on Sen Reid.

— Matthew (@Matthops82) March 13, 2014

Love that Cruz is turning Dems' rhetoric back on them. Reid "held this bill hostage…"

— David Fair (@davidfair) March 13, 2014

◼ WaPo: Four Pinocchios for Dems’ Koch habit - HotAir

Harry Reid’s unhinged rants on the Senate floor about David and Charles Koch reflect not just one man’s paranoia but an empty strategy of demagoguery by a major political party....

‘We don’t pass suggestions in this body. … We don’t pass ideas — we pass laws. And we expect them to be faithfully executed.”

◼ ‘How Does Going From Being a Senator to a President Rewrite the Constitution?’: Trey Gowdy Explodes on Obama in Stirring Floor Speech - Jason Howeton/The Blaze

Ignoring President Barack Obama’s veto threat, the House voted on Wednesday for a bill that would expedite congressional lawsuits against the chief executive for failure to enforce federal laws.

The vote was 233-181 in the Republican-led House as GOP lawmakers excoriated Obama for multiple changes to his 4-year-old health care law, steps he’s taken to allow young immigrants to remain in the United States and the administration’s resistance to defend the federal law banning gay marriage.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., sponsor of the ENFORCE the Law Act, delivered a fiery speech and read a series of statements by Obama when he was an Illinois senator in which he warned of the encroachment of the executive on the powers of the other branches of government.

◼ ‘WATCH THIS’: Fired-up Trey Gowdy ‘nails it’ in must-see Obama-slamming speech [video] - Twitchy

I will never stand and clap when any President promises to make us an afterthought. http://t.co/IDP00lW8yH

— Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) March 12, 2014

After seeing this, how can he convince anyone he thought it was a good idea?

◼ Obama Has Unilaterally Changed or Delayed Obamacare 24 Times - Heritage

President Obama has unilaterally changed or delayed Obamacare 24 times without going back to Congress, according to Fox News’ Chris Wallace. Members of Congress sparred Sunday over Obama’s decision last week to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate.

“We have a government of one,” said Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). “We have a super executive and super legislator vested in the president of the United States. … The president knows this is wrong and it’s not defensible. He is violating the Constitution. He is exercising power that doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to the American people.”



Krauthammer s Take The Law Exists in Obama s Head

Issa Applauds Passage of H.R. 3964, The Sacramento–San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Delivery Act

◼ WASHINGTON. D.C. – Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-49) released the following statement on the House’s passage of H.R. 3964, The Sacramento–San Joaquin Valley Emergency Water Act, which will help alleviate drought conditions across California:

“Today, the House of Representatives took measures to ensure that millions of Californians receive access to much needed water during the current drought crisis. By relaxing restrictive water regulations, this Act will increase access to vital water supplies which will save crops and jobs throughout California. I applaud the bill’s author, Rep. David Valadao (CA-21), Rep. Devin Nunes (CA-22), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-23), and the entire California Republican delegation for their work on this crucial measure.”

The House approved the bill on a vote of 229 to 191, with Rep. Issa supporting passage.

OBAMA ADMIN OPPOSES 'RECREATIONAL FISHING AND HUNTING HERITAGE AND OPPORTUNITIES ACT'

◼ The Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act is Title VIII of the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act of 2013, and the Obama administration "strongly opposes" it. - Awr Hawkins/Breitbart

The act is sponsored by Representative Bob Latta (R-Ohio) under the auspices of H.R. 3590. Its purpose is "to promote enjoyment of shooting, recreational, and hunting activities," which it does by "[providing] increased Federal support to facilitate the expansion of public target ranges" and opening more federally managed land to hunting.

Surprised? Only One Mainstream Network Covered the 'Seriously Flawed,' Pork-Ridden Farm Bill

◼ Kudos to CBS, which was the only mainstream news network to discuss the farm bill, a massive, pork-heavy spending bill that was passed by both bodies of Congress and sent to the President on Tuesday. - IJ REVIEW

“CBS This Morning” reporter Sharyl Attkisson explained how the bill “will actually hurt consumers:”

VIDEO AT THE LINK

40,000 new laws take effect in 2014

◼ Legendary attorney, Harvard law professor, and author of "Taking the Stand" Alan Dershowitz joins Jake Tapper's "The Lead" to discuss some of the other fascinating – and controversial – new laws of 2014. - The Lead/CNN

Rubio on his anti-bailout bill: The insurance industry under ObamaCare is headed for a death spiral

◼ Remember, the “risk corridor” (a.k.a. bailout) provisions of the law say that if a plan on the exchange comes in slightly under budget, the insurer has to cut a check for the difference to HHS. If it comes in slightly over budget, HHS cuts a check for the difference to them. - HOTAIR

Without those provisions, an insurer who came in way over budget would need to charge higher premiums next year to cover its loss, and higher premiums are the first baby step towards a “death spiral” — premiums increase, healthy people decide the new premiums are too expensive and drop the plan, the remaining risk pool is thus older and sicker, then the insurer has no choice but to increase premiums again, and on and on. Eventually premiums become so expensive that there’s not enough healthy people left in the risk pool to keep it afloat and the plan goes belly up.

Upton vs. Landrieu

Upton Passes 261-157 (39 Dems Vote Yes, 4 Republicans Vote No) Credit where it's due: Boehner, Cantor, et al have played this very well. - Ace

◼ These seem to be the differences between Upton and Landrieu: - Ace Of Spades

Upton provides only for a year-long ability to buy your old policy. Landrieu's bill says the policy must be offered until there are no longer any subscribers to the policy. Advantage: Landrieu

Landrieu's bill applies only to people who actually had the policy before October 1st. Upton is much more expansive: Upton says that if the policy is being offered to anyone, then new customers may buy into that policy as well. Landrieu thus seeks to limit the pool of people who can self-exempt from Obamacare, whereas Upton seeks to expand it. Advantage: Upton

Upton's bill says that insurance companies may offer the old plans. Landrieu says they must...more at the link

◼ Analysis of the Landrieu and Upton Bills - Rush Limbaugh
◼ Upping the Stakes: Include a State-by-State Opt Out Clause as Part of Upton or Landrieu - Ace Of Spades

Why not? Make Red State Democrats vote against the proposition that their own citizens should have the right to exit themselves from this disastrous law.

◼ Oh, My: Rubio Wants to Repeal Obamacare's Pre-Planned Bailouts for Insurance Companies - Ace Of Spades

I guess when I said that Republicans have to make the insurance companies fear them more than they fear Obama, Republicans were already thinking along those lines.

Make the Democrats vote to affirm each and every egregious and unpopular part of this bill.

Make them own it, until they beg us to let them repeal it.

◼ The White House has been trying to shift blame for cancellation letters for several weeks. According to Robert Laszewski, yesterday's presser proves all the previous statements to the effect that Obamacare was not to blame were false. - Breitbart

Megyn Kelly teed up Laszewski with a series of video clips of various White House surrogates suggesting the cancellation letters are a merely a business decision being made by insurance companies. But as Laszewski pointed out, that claim is completely undercut by the President's offer of a "fix."

"If the insurance companies didn't have to cancel people then why did the President give a press conference and announce that insurance companies don't have to cancel people?" Laszewski asked. "The administration just changed the rules so the insurance companies don't have to cancel people" he continued, adding "Well, I guess they had to before then, didn't they Megyn?"

◼ Has Obama Invited the Supreme Court to Revisit His Obamacare Tax? - Ace Of Spades

It is well known that Chief Justice Roberts reversed his legal opinion on Obamacare, that it was unconstitutional, to offer a political opinion, that it was a tax and thus constitutional, in order to save the law. And he did this for political considerations, to preserve the public's good-will towards the Court and maintain its image of nonpartisanship.

...Obama has given him a pretext to write a new opinion. The Court would never simply reverse itself in a year.

But if the facts have sufficiently changed, and if Obama is interpreting his "tax" in a lawless way, claiming it only applies to groups which aren't becoming a political headache.... That gives Roberts the cover to say not "I was wrong" (which he won't say) but "I was right, and as I said previously this is a tax, and taxes must be levied even-handedly, and therefore this law must be struck for failure of the executive to apply it equally to all citizens."

CBS: Insurers backing out of the ObamaCare exchange markets

◼ TPM reports that insurers are telling Congress that a delay of the individual mandate will make the price shocks worse in 2015: - HotAir
◼ Insurers Tell Congress: Beware Rate Shock If Obamacare Enrollment Extended - TPM (image source)

As AHIP put it in a separate statement issued after the senators' Friday letter, an extension "could have a destabilizing effect on insurance markets, resulting in higher premiums and coverage disruptions for individuals and families."

"Moreover, if these vital enrollment incentives were to change, the premiums health plans filed for next year would have to increase to account for fewer young and healthy people signing up for coverage. Extending the open enrollment period could also cause significant uncertainly and instability in 2015 premium rates as health plans would have to start submitting premiums to regulators before knowing who is enrolled in their insurance plans."

Beware of Beautifully Misnamed Laws

◼ Who would oppose “affordable care” and “farm security”? - Victor Davis Hanson/National Review

Washington has a bad habit of naming laws by what they are not.

These euphemisms usually win temporary public support. After all, who wants to be against anything “affordable”? But on examination, such idealistically named legislation usually turns out to be aimed at special interests and the opposite of what voters were promised....

Then, three years later and with two elections out of the way, the tab for all the perks suddenly came due. The law turns out neither to protect patients from rate hikes nor to make health care affordable. In fact, the administration promises of 2009–10 are becoming the nightmare of 2013....

Beware of Congress bearing the gifts of beautifully misnamed laws.

Tom McClintock On The Debt Crisis