Tea partiers should be boiling at $1.1 trillion bill
We’re in need of some fresh, hot tea, and not just because it’s been so cold outside.
Senate Democrats — and some Republican accomplices — want to defy the will of the voters and have one last big-government hurrah. If there was ever a moment for tea partiers to prove to everyone that they’re not going away, this is it.
The immediate threat is a $1.1 trillion spending bill, with some 6,500 earmarks in its nearly 2,000 pages, which Senate Democrats suddenly unveiled Tuesday and want to pass ASAP. The bill would essentially freeze the bloated federal budget through the end of this fiscal year.
In every respect, this is the kind of action voters rejected at the ballot box last month. It is a budget-busting, debt-inducing, written-in-the-dark and rammed-through-before-daylight bill.
Democrats didn’t have the courage to pass such a spending bonanza before the election. They knew the public would punish them for it, and they took the unusual step of refusing to pass an appropriations bill (actually, 12 appropriations bills rolled into one “omnibus” spending package). Well, they refused to do so before now, anyway.
That they punted on this most basic of congressional duties before the election, just to avoid voter scrutiny, is bad enough. But it’s even worse that they are carrying on even after voters handed them the broadest, deepest electoral defeat for either of the major parties in decades: 63 lost seats in the U.S. House and more than 675 in state legislatures. The latter reflects a more decisive repudiation of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Democrats than Republicans suffered after Watergate.
It’s as if we caught the thieves in our house red-handed, and they’re trying to stuff a few more pieces of jewelry in their bags before they flee.
To be fair, it’s not just Democrats at fault here. The Dems can’t get this monstrosity through the Senate without at least a few GOP collaborators, and four Republicans reportedly are considering such a betrayal.
Two of them, Ohio’s George Voinovich and Missouri’s Kit Bond, are retiring. A third, Utah’s Bob Bennett, lost this spring in a GOP primary that was largely fought on fiscal issues. The fourth, Maine’s Susan Collins, is no stranger to siding with Senate Democrats rather than conservative principles. Whatever their motivation, they are flouting the will of the voters.
So, too, are a number of Republicans who have inserted earmarks into the bill. One examination of the bill found just eight of the Senate’s 42 current Republicans requested zero earmarks. The Senate’s top two earmarkers in this round of pork appear to be Mississippi Republicans Thad Cochran (230 earmarks) and Roger Wicker (199).
Another 42 earmarks were tied to Georgia’s Saxby Chambliss, with 24 more from our senior senator, Johnny Isakson. It’s small consolation that they and most Republicans say they won’t vote for the bill even though it contains money for their pet pork projects.
Should the bill pass, House Republicans could do much more when they take the reins in January than merely rescinding the earmarks. They also ought to pass a bill ending the practice of holding lame-duck sessions, in which politicians can thumb their collective nose at voters’ demands. And then they should dare the Senate and President Barack Obama not to go along with them.
But if we’re going to get such results, much less keep the Senate from spending another $1.1 trillion in the first place, we need to see and hear a strong protest from tea partiers. Now’s the time to show they wanted to do more than elect some more spendthrift Republicans.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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168 comments Add your comment
A Patriot
December 16th, 2010
7:53 am
Regardless of what happens,
Kyle will be first in line to vote Republican in 2012.
Weird.
barking frog
December 16th, 2010
8:02 am
The tea party was hijacked by Sarah Palin, a Republican,
and became a part of the Republican Party. So long tea party.
Buzz G
December 16th, 2010
8:04 am
Nothing new here. The Democrats (and some Republicans) have had contempt for the people for years. For many years we have had a government which thought it had the right to control the people, not the other way around.
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
8:06 am
It’s small consolation that they and most Republicans say they won’t vote for the bill even though it contains money for their pet pork projects.
Then why are their earmarks in there in the first place? If they remove their earmarks it might not be such a bad bill and the tea partiers will have less to be riled up about.
Selective Amnesia
December 16th, 2010
8:08 am
@ Duh, you’re spot on but preaching a long sermon to the choir. I think many Americans are aware of this fact, but are so caught up in “my team must win!!!” that rational thought completely escapes them. The fact that there ARE other party candidates (Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc) to vote for on any given ticket-yet by and large we chose not to- proves this point.
Can you hear the collective *guffaw* from the rest of the world? Shame.
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
8:09 am
The fact that Kyle is even discussing the number of those senator’s earmarks and not the dollar amount of the earmarks shows why he is a lightweight when it comes to discussing the issues.
I can put in 300 earmarks at $2 each and, according to Kyle’s logic, I should look worse than the guy with 1 earmark for $2 million.
Selective Amnesia
December 16th, 2010
8:11 am
“Remember one thing iRun, every time history, the odds and even sound reason and logic said America and the Americans should not and cannot win… We won. ”
Yeah well we’re losing right now, and are certaily not above reproach to fall to the same demise of say the former USSR or the former Roman Empire.
The former Unites States of America? 20 years? 30 years? 2012? God help us all.
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
8:12 am
Political Mongrel at 8:33 is spot on. The Republicans were clearly handed major losses in 2008 but Rep congressmen didn’t spend the last two years going along with Democrats.
So quit with the “will of the people” b-s.
Selective Amnesia
December 16th, 2010
8:14 am
barking frog- surely you jest?
Tea Party= The GOP reloaded, after a crushing defeat in 2008. I know you know this, just thought I’d reiterate for those who make like my screen name.
shelleywyntershow.com
December 16th, 2010
8:18 am
Where are the local Tea Partiers on the Oaky Woods deal? Oh yeah, Tricia Pridemore is now working for the same people she wanted to become real conservatives. And now not a word is said over a local govt that s cutting education, people and more is spending double on land that Perdue said four years ago we did have money for. So my excitement and embrace for the Tea Party was just BS. All the slings and arrows I took from my African American friends and listeners to my online talk show at shelleywyntershow.com was for naught because this was a BS uprising of angry voters.Yeah right. If you’re angry at 1.1 trillion federal budget you dam well better be angry at Oaky woods deal for EXACT SAME REASON.
Selective Amnesia
December 16th, 2010
8:18 am
“Amen brother!!!!!! How can the uncommon represent us commoners? ”
Hmph, there are entirely too many “common” people who are under the delusion that they are apart of this “uncommon” club, namely amongst the GOP. That’s a large part of the problem.
hryder
December 16th, 2010
8:20 am
This is the reason, huge spending to buy votes, incumbents should NOT be elected in the 2012 elections.
JDW
December 16th, 2010
8:21 am
Liberal Pariah
December 15th, 2010
11:34 pm
“Let’s not forget that the deficit started in the last year of Clinton’s presidency and continued under Bush. Clinton benefitted from the dotcom bubble which unexpectedly increased revenues from taxes on capital gains and rising salaries and a tax increase in his first year in office. Clinton also coat-tailed on the economic boom brought about by the Reagan tax cuts.”
HORSE HOOHEY…Clinton’s last four years were surpluses…Duhbya brought back the deficit with unwise tax cuts.
As for Reagan…..HAH…..what “economic boom”. The Reagan/Bush 1 years produced substandard GDP grow when measured against history and Clinton. The only thing Clinton got from Reagan was a budget deficit which he fixed leading to growth.
HORSE HOOHEY…Clinton’s last four years were surpluses…Duhbya brought back the deficit with unwise tax cuts.
As for Reagan…..HAH…..what “economic boom”. The Reagan/Bush 1 years produced substandard GDP grow when measured against history and Clinton. The only thing Clinton got from Reagan was a budget deficit which he fixed leading to growth.
GDP Growth Rates
Historical…1/1/47 to 1/31/81 GDP growth averaged 3.73%…total debt incurred in the period $988 Billion over 34 years.
Clinton…2/1/93 to 1/31/01 GDP growth averaged 3.81% or about the historical average. Total debt incurred 1.383 Billion over 8 years.
Reagan-Bush…2/1/81 to 1/31/93 GDP growth averaged 3.08% or about 17.5% below the historical average. Total debt incurred $3.414 Trillion over 12 years.
Bush-Obama…2/1/01 to now GDP growth averaged 1.65% or more than 55% below the historical average. Total debt to date $6.102 Trillion over 9 years.
Tax cuts that create deficits are the problem not the solution.
Tommy Maddox
December 16th, 2010
8:26 am
For what it’s worth, I’ve been writing all of my Reps to tell them to vote no on all this mess.
williebkind
December 16th, 2010
8:31 am
get out much?
December 15th, 2010
10:40 pm
If you dont know the worth of a penny then you will never know the value of a dollar. 8 billion is a large sum and that money does not belong to congress.
shelleywyntershow.com
December 16th, 2010
8:31 am
@tommy maddox write your local reps and ask them why we are paying for Oaky woods? I am calling and writing and nothing. nothing nothing. This is a damn shame and repubs are pimping us the same way dems pimp Black voters.
It is what it isn't, that is, it's not what it is.
December 16th, 2010
8:34 am
Kyle is trying to make a silk parse out of the south’s earmarks. He’s trying to rally support for long-obsolete, but perennially-obscene conservative values. His teasing parries at the Tea Party read as transparently vulgar as a Tupac rap-lyric. This column made me want to go and fiddy-cent Fifty Cent again, the poor devil.
Bush caused the economic catastrophe that our brave president is leading us out of. The justification for a two front war and a two-tiered tax cut were culled directly from the Conservative economic plan that builds capital progress on top of living children. All the silver tongued lies meant to impede Obama’s kinder remedies stand like the satanic versus the ebonic, the smart-bomb vs the smarter-obama, and the collateral rummage vs the collateral damage.
And I think it stinks.
But merry xmas, anyhoo.
Wallis the dog
December 16th, 2010
8:38 am
Saxby and (unfortunately) just re-elected Isakson should have demanded their earmarks be stripped from the bill. Fire them both!
Liars all......
December 16th, 2010
8:40 am
Has anybody been to Johnny Isakson’s website? He clearly says he introduced legislation to “reduce last minute, wasteful spending and is an original cosponsor of the Balanced Budget Resolution.” Ha! What a liar. You can make fun of the Tea Party all you want, but don’t discount our mission. We The People will make a difference in stopping the runaway train that is Washington politics. It may not happen overnight, but never fear, it will happen. You can make a difference too by going to their websites and telling them what you think instead of blogging or telling your neighbors. Research the information available to you and make an informed decision and tell your representative in Congress what you think. You are WE THE PEOPLE!
Richard
December 16th, 2010
8:43 am
“They also ought to pass a bill ending the practice of holding lame-duck sessions, in which politicians can thumb their collective nose at voters’ demands.”
Watch yourself Kyle. A lame duck session is going to extend the Bush tax cuts.
An American Patriot
December 16th, 2010
9:04 am
Another 42 earmarks were tied to Georgia’s Saxby Chambliss, with 24 more from our senior senator, Johnny Isakson. It’s small consolation that they and most Republicans say they won’t vote for the bill even though it contains money for their pet pork projects.
A work or two for you Saxby and Johnny……You two empty headed do nothing senators from Georgia need to find a way to remove your pet pork projects from this spending bill or at the next election, you will be removed from your nice plushy offices with secretaries, aids, writers, etc. or we will run you out of town on a rail…….Get this, we’re tired of big government, we’re tired of spending money we don’t have as a country, we’re tired of your sticking your nose in everything we do, we’re tired of your Political Correctness Buffalo Chips, You need to stop hiding behing e-mails, web sites to communicate with your constitients. You need to get out of your shell and start to talking with people on the street, at their schools, yea in their drinking establishments, i. e., make your selves accessible to the people……it seems now you’re afraid to speak with them except in a sterile environment. And start “Raising Hell in Congress like Mitch McConnell, John McCain and others. Actually do something to earn all that money we pay you (You work for the American People buddy, not the federal government)
MarkV
December 16th, 2010
9:09 am
Kyle, How do you justify your demand “ending the practice of holding lame-duck sessions?”
The term of Congress runs from January 5 to January 4. If you are fired from a job on November 1 effective January 1, can you say “I am going to take my salary for November and December but I will not do any work for the company?”
Road Scholar
December 16th, 2010
9:15 am
MHS: “No its’ not about me or you. It is about American.” Exactly!
Kyle:“They also ought to pass a bill ending the practice of holding lame-duck sessions, in which politicians can thumb their collective nose at voters’ demands.”
What happens if we were attacked….will Congress just wait until the next one is sworn in? What a stupid (yes I broke my resolution not to insult) idea. Kyle, do the Conserves want to take their ball home since no one is playing the game the way they think it should be played? Mandate? They only control the House. THEY are not the Boss!
I watch a conservative leader state last night (he wouldn’t answer a repeated (4 times) question concerning HIS earmarks) that he allowed the (and his) earmarks to be added to the spending bill so that he could vote against it!!!!!!!!!!!!! What????????????
I agree that if not ALL earmarks should be deleted, that each state gets one. Georgia’s would be the dredging of the Savannah port.
MarkV
December 16th, 2010
9:17 am
After the criminal (in a non-legal sense) delaying and stopping just about everything in the Senate by filibusters, the Republicans have zero right to complain about anything being crammed into the final days of the session.
TruthBe
December 16th, 2010
9:18 am
The ENTIRE Congress and Senate should be replace with Tea Party Folks. Why? Because we need HONEST People in their that care about the USA. And don’t forget to throught out that total disgrace of a president Obama, HLS Sec., and Eric Holder AG. It’s time to MARCH on Washington!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
joe
December 16th, 2010
9:20 am
As B. Fife used to say….”Nip it…in the bud.”
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
9:20 am
This is a perfect example of why the tea partiers look so pitifully ignorant. You can’t separate the terms “politics” and “compromise” unless you have a dictatorship.
You want to see what no compromise looks like? Look at Republicans for the past two years. Until someone starts compromising, ain’t nothing going to happen.
Because your tea party candidate said all the right things on the campaign trail doesn’t mean he/she will be able do one damn thing in Washington without compromising. It just doesn’t happen cause it’ the nature of the beast. In the house alone you have 435 competing interests.
So, grow up tea-partiers and come back to reality.
Darwin
December 16th, 2010
9:21 am
Don’t defy the will of the voters unless they vote for a Democrat. Right?
BW
December 16th, 2010
9:21 am
I agree with jconservative….no elected official is serious about reining in spending. I know that it’s fun to bash Democrats over profligate spending but it’s not like Republicans aren’t complicit…I mean look at the pork they crammed into the tax bill. No more F-22’s but wait surely we need a second engine program for the F-35. National defense is welfare by another name. It would be a trip for President Obama to send John Boehner a balanced budget and watch him squirm. That would end this Tea Party non-sense immediately. Then I want to get some popcorn and watch all the Tea Party “grass-roots” rallies as they turn the budget into another $1 trillion deficit before they vote on it. Maybe then the President will regain some of his swagger and make the Republicans eat their own crow for a while. With all that said someone referred me to a book “What’s The Matter With Kansas?” It detailed that people essentially believe that they are screwed fiscally so they vote for those who engage them on a social or cultural level. That explains alot.
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
9:23 am
Ending lame duck sessions? The people in those positions were elected to be in there and doing what they are doing.
How about we revisit “ending lame duck sessions” the next time congress goes from Republican to Democrat? Yeah, thought so.
Finn McCool
December 16th, 2010
9:29 am
Hey Kyle, looks like Bookman HAD the testicular fortitude to put actual $$ figures in his comment about earmarks this morning.
sad sad sad
C from Marietta
December 16th, 2010
9:44 am
Hey Kyle,
It’s refreshing to read someone come out and say the truth. That being said. Voting for Republicans OR Democrats is the samething. Neither party cares about the people or the will of the people. This shows it’s time for a 3rd party to rise up or we are all in trouble. In my opinion however the people are getting what they deserve. Trusting big party politicans is like your wife cheating on you all the time. Yet, you keep giving her chance after chance. I for one will keep voting for Liberterians. I am not buying into the status quo.
Jefferson
December 16th, 2010
9:45 am
You GOP supporters are a sad excuse for progress…
Liars all......
December 16th, 2010
9:48 am
Mr. McCool, you are anything but cool. All Tea Partiers are ignorant? Surely you must be one of the socialist liberals. Just because the Tea Party movement is standing up for returning the country to THE PEOPLE, you find it offensive. If you are not For The People, then you are against them and I suggest moving elsewhere.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2010
9:55 am
Good morning, everyone.
First, regarding the tax bill. A few people seem to be confusing that bill with this spending bill. They are not the same.
Nor are their dollar figures comparable in the way some of you are making them out to be. This spending bill is $1.1 trillion for ONE year. The tax bill’s estimated cost is around $850 billion for TEN years, or $85 billion per year on average. Big difference.
Finally, for those who say the tax bill adds to the deficit in the same way this spending bill does. Not true.
By definition, a bill’s 10-year cost is not “added to the deficit,” because a deficit is a shortfall for one year. But even if you really meant “the debt” and think I’m being pedantic, there’s a more substantive difference here. The “cost” of tax cuts in future years only adds to those years’ deficits if spending in those years is not brought in line. As I’ve said a couple of times on here regarding the tax bill, the onus will be on the Republicans in Congress to come up with the necessary spending cuts.
But they can’t do it until their newly elected members take office next month, which is one reason I find this last-minute spending bill so odious.
Ima Pol Crook
December 16th, 2010
9:56 am
List of Porker Pigs to be thrown out of office next election!
http://www.uncoverage.net/2010/12/list-of-senators-who-are-sponsoring-pork-projects-in-omnibus-bill/
Junior Samples
December 16th, 2010
9:57 am
“Senate Democrats — and some Republican accomplices — want to defy the will of the voters….”
“…just eight of the Senate’s 42 current Republicans requested zero earmarks”
81% of Senate Republicans is certainly more the ’some’ as you referred.
Nice spin Kyle.
It boils down to this.
Republicans threatened NO to everything until the Bush Tax Cuts were extended. Democrats responded with “how bad do you want it”???
MarkV
December 16th, 2010
10:06 am
Kyle, you may be correct in dismissing the inaccurate claim that the cost of the tax bill adds to the deficit, but it is just nitpicking. I believe that most people understand that what it means is that the yearly spending cost + revenue loss add to the year’s deficit, if there is one. And to assume that spending in those near years will be brought in line is a fantasy.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2010
10:07 am
Following on from that last comment…
Regarding the lame-duck sessions. There is no reason Congress *must* be in session between November and January following an election, short of a national emergency — and to Road Scholar’s point at 9:15 a.m., I’m sure any actual piece of legislation would make provisions for that, probably more broadly than I would like. Congress goes in recess throughout the year. There’s no reason it couldn’t be in recess for most of these two months every other year.
Ending the habitual practice of lame-duck sessions would force members of both parties, whenever they held the majority but were in danger of losing it, to pass legislation before the election so that voters could hold them accountable for it — rather than doing it after they’ve been voted out of the majority but before the changes take place.
And yes, Finn, I think this is every much as bit necessary when Democrats are taking control from Republicans as it is now. And no, Finn, I don’t expect you to believe me.
As for MarkV’s point at 9:09 a.m.: I would be all in favor of cutting their pay to reflect a shorter work period.
We could also look at changing the term of Congress so that the new Congress begins sooner after the election. We’ve done it before, in acknowledgment that modern transportation, etc. meant we no longer needed a transition period of November to March. I think it probably makes more sense to keep the term dates as they are and keep Congress in recess during the lame-duck period, except in an actual national emergency. (And no, failure to squeeze in the DREAM Act before the elections doesn’t count as an “emergency.”)
Liars all......
December 16th, 2010
10:08 am
The Wicked Witch of America, Nancy Pelosi just won Liar of the Year. Everything that comes out of that womans mouth is spin….therefore a lie. Sheesh, aren’t we glad she only has two more years?
The General Feeling
December 16th, 2010
10:09 am
Kyle, please explain how extending the current income tax rates is a cost?
The Tea Party will be enraged and if this spending bill is passed then those voting “aye” and running for office in 2012 will be singled out for replacement. Count on it.
Kyle Wingfield
December 16th, 2010
10:09 am
Junior Samples @ 9:57 a.m.: But only four of the Republicans have said they’re considering voting for the bill. I don’t understand why you’d put an earmark into a bill and then vote against it, unless you’re just trying to have it both ways. But that was what I meant by “some.”
JDW
December 16th, 2010
10:18 am
December 16th, 2010
9:55 am
Good morning, everyone.
“First, regarding the tax bill. A few people seem to be confusing that bill with this spending bill. They are not the same.
Nor are their dollar figures comparable in the way some of you are making them out to be. This spending bill is $1.1 trillion for ONE year. The tax bill’s estimated cost is around $850 billion for TEN years, or $85 billion per year on average. Big difference.”
You are right they are not the same. Both Republican and Democratic legislators have been working on the spending bill for months. It is $26 Billion lower than requested by the budget and represents a 2% increase in spending over last year….sorry your SHOCK I say SHOCK that there is gambling in Rick’s café is laughable.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46383.html
Now talk about spin….JEESSSH…the CBO estimates the tax cut bill will indeed cost $893 Billion over 10 years. Of that cost $797 Billion will be incurred over the next TWO years and $917 Billion over the next THREE. Yes that’s right Kyle those tax cuts will cost us $917 BILLION over three years…far cry from $85 Billion a year now isn’t it.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12020/sa4753.pdf
Again I say…Tax cuts that increase the deficit are the problem not the solution.
JDW
December 16th, 2010
10:19 am
December 16th, 2010
9:55 am
Good morning, everyone.
“First, regarding the tax bill. A few people seem to be confusing that bill with this spending bill. They are not the same.
Nor are their dollar figures comparable in the way some of you are making them out to be. This spending bill is $1.1 trillion for ONE year. The tax bill’s estimated cost is around $850 billion for TEN years, or $85 billion per year on average. Big difference.”
You are right they are not the same. Both Republican and Democratic legislators have been working on the spending bill for months. It is $26 Billion lower than requested by the budget and represents a 2% increase in spending over last year….sorry your SHOCK I say SHOCK that there is gambling in Rick’s café is laughable.
www. politico.com/news/stories/1210/46383.html
Now talk about spin….JEESSSH…the CBO estimates the tax cut bill will indeed cost $893 Billion over 10 years. Of that cost $797 Billion will be incurred over the next TWO years and $917 Billion over the next THREE. Yes that’s right Kyle those tax cuts will cost us $917 BILLION over three years…far cry from $85 Billion a year now isn’t it.
www. cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12020/sa4753.pdf
Again I say…Tax cuts that increase the deficit are the problem not the solution.
hairlip
December 16th, 2010
10:19 am
“You GOP supporters are a sad excuse for progress…”
Jefferson: the election that tossed your beloved Pelosi Dems out of the House and several Reid Dem Senators out 6 weeks ago says you are wrong.
JDW
December 16th, 2010
10:21 am
OOOPS sorry for the double post, Kyle is on top of it this morning and got me out of the penalty box.
Jefferson
December 16th, 2010
10:21 am
So why don’t they just say NO again (GOP), the t-reps have no respect and are just dreamers that will be brought into the machine. Where’s the love?
Jefferson
December 16th, 2010
10:24 am
Anyone that thinks I love any of the politicians is very wrong. elections change nothing to speak of, nor do I care who is speaker (or cryer) of the house.
StJ
December 16th, 2010
10:24 am
“They also ought to pass a bill ending the practice of holding lame-duck sessions, in which politicians can thumb their collective nose at voters’ demands.”
Best idea I’ve heard all year.
Halftrack
December 16th, 2010
10:29 am
You got to remember – - – this is the old spendthrift gang still in office. The Tea Partyiers are waiting in the wings. The Old gang is showing itself big that it wants to destroy the USA by continueing to spend. Just pull a poll on the new Reps. and you’ll see what they want to do.