By Jeff
Last week President Obama announced (on TV, of course) that he was blessing and signing new legislation call the PAYGO bill that ordered the House and Senate not to pass any new spending bills without a corresponding cut in another program or a new tax to pay for the cost of the bill. “We must do what every American family and small business does every day. Not spend what they can’t pay for.” (How he could stand there with a straight face and say that with the 14-month spending spree he just approved with borrowed money is beyond me.)
Less than a week after he signed the bill into law, a bill landed on the Senate floor costing $10 billion without a way to pay for it except for more borrowing. Senator Jim Bunning (Republican from Kentucky) correctly stated that “We cannot approve this bill as there is no way to pay for it and we just passed the PAYGO Law.” He refused to sign off on the spending bill without a way to pay for it.
You would have thought he killed the Easter Bunny. He was ridiculed by the Dems and even some of his own party begged him to relent (since the spending bill was not a written bill and was an “emergency bill” it need 100% approval.)
The hypocrisy of the other Senators was appalling. Forget what the money was for. They broke the law they just signed and should be held accountable. They ignore a bill they just passed and think we won’t hear about it. Thank God for Fox News. ABC, NBC and CBS had stories about his filibuster but all of them failed to mention the PAYGO bill that was just passed. Instead they pointed out what the money was to go for and how poor Americans were going to be hurt by the Senator’s selfish, self-promotion, grandstanding actions.
Are we ever going to get this spending controlled? I fear not.
Well, Jeff, I am going to have to agree with you about the media coverage of this. I haven’t seen Fox News, but I have listened to this being talked about on CBS news radio and haven’t heard a word about PAYGO. Not paying attention these days, I hadn’t heard of it until I read this article.
And that shines an interesting light on Senator Bunning’s actions, which I have heard about. Honestly, when I heard about his objection, I was impressed with the fortitude it took to be the lone voice that stops the extension of unemployment benefits. That guy is gutsy! I feel very sorry for those who expected the benefits, though, so I wish this would have happened differently. It should have been voted on a month ago so that the people counting on those benefits would have had a month’s notice.
Jeff,
You are so right! It seems they say what they “think the people want to hear” and then do whatever they want to push their agenda! I think it very rare to find one politician from either Party that really hears what the majority of the Country are saying. They just say what they think will keep them in their jobs.
This quote from the cartoon Maxine pretty much sums it up:
We’re going to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president who also hasn’t read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s nearly broke. What could possibly go wrong?
Hypocrisy……Naw !!
Top Recipients of Insurance Industry
1 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) Senate $258,400
2 Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) Senate $195,100
3 Pomeroy, Earl (D-ND) House $157,900
4 Frank, Barney (D-MA) House $147,499
5 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) Senate $147,300
6 Kanjorski, Paul E (D-PA) House $144,200
7 Grassley, Chuck (R-IA) Senate $139,450
8 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) House $130,750
9 Bean, Melissa (D-IL) House $129,700
10 Burr, Richard (R-NC) Senate $127,500
Top recipients of health professionals money:
1 Reid, Harry (D-NV) Senate $303,725
2 Price, Tom (R-GA) House $271,775
3 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) Senate $252,150
4 Pallone, Frank Jr (D-NJ) House $240,350
5 Specter, Arlen (D-PA) Senate $233,150
6 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) Senate $233,000
7 Wyden, Ron (D-OR) Senate $208,971
8 Kirk, Mark (R-IL) House $202,600
9 Gingrey, Phil (R-GA) House $178,325
10 Vitter, David (R-LA) Senate $175,350
Pharmaceuticals:
1 Burr, Richard (R-NC) Senate $172,019
2 Hatch, Orrin G (R-UT) Senate $148,365
3 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) Senate $133,100
4 Reid, Harry (D-NV) Senate $124,850
5 Eshoo, Anna (D-CA) House $112,050
6 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) Senate $99,250
7 Specter, Arlen (D-PA) Senate $97,950
8 Murray, Patty (D-WA) Senate $89,250
9 Capuano, Michael E (D-MA) House $86,350
10 Kirk, Mark (R-IL) House $84,460
Lawyers:
1 Reid, Harry (D-NV) Senate $1,774,223
2 Gillibrand, Kirsten (D-NY) Senate $977,472
3 Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) Senate $849,269
4 Specter, Arlen (D-PA) Senate $757,900
5 Meek, Kendrick B (D-FL) House $544,933
6 Boxer, Barbara (D-CA) Senate $454,970
7 Leahy, Patrick (D-VT) Senate $412,541
8 Dodd, Chris (D-CT) Senate $411,329
9 Lincoln, Blanche (D-AR) Senate $382,886
11 Bennet, Michael F (D-CO) Senate $364,350
I stay frustrated with Plotics in the media. When it comes to mainstream media in general it’s the heartless Republicans against the world saving Democrats. That’s just the truth.
I do feel for the people who need unemployment- but you can’t just wave a wand and make things happen. We have to have a way to pay for these things- hence PAYGO. I know it must have been very difficult for him to stand alone and I do believe its bc he was determined to be fiscally responsible, not bc he doesn’t care about those in need.
So frustrated.
I am sorry, I just can’t side with Senator Bunning on this one.
The larger point he seemed to be trying to make – adhering to PAYGO and not spending money we don’t have – of course, I stand behind. I think most Americans believe the same until a segment of the budget they are concerned about is threatened. For example, Bunning had no problem borrowing funds to pay for the war in Iraq. I know that is history at this point, but when I think of the money we wasted in that war and the fact that it also contributed to outrageous deficits we are struggling with today (Bush was just as much of a spendaholic as Obama is), I feel a little bit of the anger I think Senator Bunning feels.
I question why he picked this issue to play games with, when by his own omission he wanted the bill passed – he just wanted the funds to come from another part of the budget.
That said, I acknowledge that it takes courage to stand out from the crowd and I think he probably genuinely believed he was doing the right thing.
To me it’s simple why he picked this issue……it was the first spending bill since PAYGO was put into effect. Even if he didn’t want it what’s wrong with making these Polishitians stick to what they say.
All these guys do is say the things that sound great and then follow their own “agenda” anyway.
When Bush was in office and needed funding for the war the Democratic controlled Congress could have denied the funding which would have brought the war to an end. In public though they were screaming to end the war. They just did not have the guts to do it.
The Democratic controlled Congress could have denied the Bush Administration the Patriot Act, they didn’t have the guts to do it. In public they were saying how it would trample on our “Rights”. Kind of interesting that Obama last week signed a bill that extended the Patriot Act another year. Of course he signed it on a Saturday night,but where was the outrage by the Democrats? When Bush sent troops to fight in the war, he was called a “baby killer’ and they were trying to impeach him. Obama sends troops to Afghanistan and all of a sudden it’s ok! Where is Code Pink now??
Stop blaming Bush it’s a new President who has been here for over a year now.
Anya,
Please don’t compare Bush’s spending to Obamas. Even if you leave out the idea that country defense should not be subject to a budget, Bush left office with a $450 billion deficit (the last $750 billion TARP fund was approved by the Democrat run Congress) for the fiscal year, while Obama has a $1.3 trillion deficit for this fiscal year, more than the last 16 years combined (despite 2 wars). Spending must stop.