Wiggly Wobbly House Voters

They took a poll on the hill today, and I did not care for what I read. As of today, there are 11 firm "no" votes for the Senate's health care bill, one "leaning no," and 17 that are undecided. The undecideds incompass the 12 Stupakers that have, of late, stated that Pelosi may be able to craft language assuaging their fears about publicly funded abortions. This makes me, the eternal optimist, a bit nervous, although, I still see only a 30% chance of passage. I will admit, though, that Lowry's article on the potential for health care repeal, made me feel a touch better. (http://article.nationalreview.com/427314/the-case-for-repeal/rich-lowry?page=1)

Massa Bullied and Shoved Out Over Health Care?

As noted on Friday, House Democratic member Eric Massa was under investigation for allegedly making an inappropriate comment to a male staffer until he announced his resignation. However, today he claims that the comment made at a staffer's wedding reception on New Years Eve was nothing more than a politically incorrect drunken gaffe and that the real reason he is under investigation is because Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, ordered the investigation to oust him because he wouldn't vote to pass the President's health care bill. Massa explained in a radio interview that Rahm, completely naked, approached him in the shower at the congressional gym, pointed his finger at his chest and told him that he'd better vote for the President's budget. Massa claimed he used these tactics often to intimidate members into voting for the president's agenda. (See this link to hear the radio interview describing the confrontation: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/03/08/massa_rahm_emanuel_would_sell_his_own_mother_for_votes.html). Massa explained that because he was a "no" vote on health care, Emanuel pushed him out by using his inappropriate comment to launch an investigation to end his career and get the President that much closer to health care passage. This accusation, whether true or false, will slow an already impossibly slow bill voting process, but may in fact, lead the President to take action if general denials don't serve to make this issue disappear. I don't think Obama will fire his Chicago-style arm twister, but someone will take the fall if there is too much made of this alleged blackmail, especially if it poses a threat to his obsession, health care reform.

More Bad news for Pelosi: Massa Accused of Harassment, Will Resign Monday

New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa said today that he would resign from Congress on Monday. His statement came after the revelation that he was under investigation by the House ethics committee for sexually harassing a male staffer by using words that he admitted "might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable." Although he owned up to it, he immediately opined that "with the destruction of our elected leaders having become a blood sport, especially in talk radio and on the internet," his family would be "torn apart" by an ethics investigation. Massa’s resignation is a second blow to Speaker Pelosi after Rangel stepped down from his powerful committee chair earlier this week. Moreover, two other House Democrats from Pelosi's state, Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, remain under investigation and could also be forced out of office. Massa may leave Pelosi that much farther from her goal of passing the Senate's health care bil this month.

A New Wave of Bribes for Health Care Votes

Wow. I guess health care obsessed Obama is pulling out all of the stops to coerce the passing of the Senate's bill in the House so he can trudge forward to reconciliation. Obama is hosting ten Democratic holdouts from the November health care bill vote tonight at the White House in an attempt to get them to switch sides. Jim Matheson of Utah is one of them. Conveniently, Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. has just been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit by Obama. They will say this has been in the works for years, but the voters aren't that stupid. This continued Cornhusker-style bribes will only serve to further outrage the public and cause such distaste for the Dems, that they will lose every election in November. This will be especially true if he succeeds in bribing enough congressmen into forcing this bill through reconciliation.

Rangel "Temporarily" Retires His Gavel

Rangel finally asked for a leave of absence from his chairmanship of the House Ways & Means Committee until the ethics committee completes its investigation into his alleged improprieties involving the use of his official position to raise money for a New York college center in his name, his belated disclosure of at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, his use of rent-controlled apartments in New York and espeically, his violation of gift rules in connection with a series of trips he took to the Caribbean. Specifically, the panel found that he "violated standards of conduct by accepting 2007 and 2008 trips to Caribbean conferences that were financed by corporations." Conveniently, it said it could not prove whether Rangel knew of the corporate sponsorship, but that members of his staff knew about them and he was responsible for that. Rangel claimed he was clueless regarding the corporate sponsorship and begged not to be held responsible for something his staff members "may have known." Hmmm, remember the golf trip certain Republican members took with Jack Abramoff? It seems Pelosi's promise to drain the swamp of ethics problems after Republican's "culture of corruption" will swallow up a few of her own.

What's Really Behind the Bunning Block?

Kentucky Senator James Bunning has drawn quite a bit of criticism this week by blocking a $10 billion spending bill that requires unanimous consent to advance expeditiously, that would, among other things, fund the extension of unemployment benefits. According to the media, he is a curmudgeonly, calous, old man that is standing on ceremony without purpose, to punish the unemployed and cause gridlock, true to Republican form. The truth? Bunning is attempting to shed light on the downfalls of increasing the deficit as well as the hypocrisy of the Congressional attempt to avoid PAY-GO, a bill passed by Congress to ensure that legislation does not pass unless there is a corresponding method of payment for the expenditures contained in the bill. Democrats are calling for the extension as an emergency measure, which technically allows them to circumvent PAY-GO. "If we can't find $10 billion to pay for something we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this U.S. Senate," Mr. Bunning said. Bunning wants to pay for the bill by dipping into unused stimulus funds, which the Democrats have refused to do. While I wholheartedly agree with Bunning's principles, I can't espouse his methods as the expiration of unemployment benefits Monday caused 100,000 people to lose their benefits and 400,000 more will lose them within one to two weeks, which would also cause them to lose their health benefits. However, I welcome some other implications of the gridlock such as the lack of funding to the Highway Trust Fund, whose expiration caused the Department of Transportation to furlough nearly 2,000 employees without pay. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704358004575095970707513064.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/us/politics/03cong.html

2009: Government Handouts Higher than Tax Intake

Without welfare, unemployment and tax cuts last year, the income of Americans would have plunged to $723 billion. As it was, with the government cushioning the blow, it dropped to $167 billion. The handouts in 2009 meant that for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes. "Governmental support was critical in keeping the economy, particularly consumer spending, from completely collapsing during the crisis," said Harm Bandholz, an economist at Unicredit Markets. Like other analysts, he believes that the bulk of the small economic rebound we experienced last year was a result of government spending rather than real growth. Since the goverment had to borrow to prop up the economy, it is only a matter of time before the well runs dry and we inevitably experience the second shoe drop, which many say should have occurred from the outset of the crisis.