How out of step congress is with its constituents, do they think a lame duck congress voting on major legislation is representing their constituents? The president said he will fundamentally transform America, he has, and some voters don't seem to know it and other voters don't like it. Congresses summer break is on us and most Representatives and a third of our Senators will be on the stump. They will be campaigning for your vote and some brave ones may replay the equivalent of the Town Hall meetings. There will be fund raisers, picnics and many kinds of ways for Washington's elected elite to get their message out and put their names and faces before the voting public so they can get reelected. Now is the time to question them and to hold their feet to the fire. There is no major legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months.
When I say hold their feet to the fire, I mean attend the fund raisers and picnics and question your Senators and Representatives. Write your local newspapers. Write and Call your Representatives and Senators. Remind them of what happened to Senator Arlen Specter. Let them know a majority of Americans didn't want Socialized Medicine. They didn't want to socialize GM, Chrysler, or the banks and insurance companies. The public has rejected TARP, the stimulus, large deficits, and payoffs to unions and special interests and they certainly don't want an energy tax or any new taxes, as a matter of fact it would be nice just to keep the Bush tax cuts. Or, will democrats continue to be putty in the hand of President Obama with his sinking approval ratings and Senator Reed and Speaker Pelosi? It is time for them to drop the extreme agenda and listen to their constituents. Do they even know that congress has only an 11% approval rating, or do they even care why that is? Lets let them know about that 11% approval rating and beg them not to do anything to make it worse, like ramming major legislation down our throats (again) in a lame duck session of congress. There is no major legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months.
If we attend any Town Hall meetings, any Tea Party rallies, any picnics or reelection rallies, any events Republican or Democrat, incumbent or otherwise. Or if we write or phone our congressman or senator or if we write the local newspaper - we must pound home this message - there is no major legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months
The elite think Americans are too stupid to recognize that once they are back after the elections they are going to try to pass major legislation before the end of this session of congress. Cap and Trade legislation is not dead. Extending the Bush tax cuts is dead, but worse, the President's Commission on the Debt, although appointed in February, will not report until December. How convenient, after the election. The President will hate to go back on his promise of not raising taxes but the Commission's Report will make it an emergency to raise revenue immediately, and of course he can't let a pending disaster go to waste. There is no major tax legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months.
Consider this news comment -- Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) announced last week that his party has abandoned its efforts to pass a comprehensive energy bill that would limit greenhouse gas emissions. Reid and other Democrats were forced to walk away from the legislation after it became obvious that the measure would garner virtually no Republican support, a development that the senator called "terribly disappointing." If he is serious it won't be brought up in a Lame Duck Session, perhaps Nevada voters can get Senator Reed to commit to no more talk about Cap and Trade Legislation by the senate this year. If he won't commit, he may lose votes and he knows it. This standard could be applied to all Senators up for reelection, since the Majority Leader abandoned energy legislation before the election will you Senator (name) pledge that you will not vote for energy legislation that may somehow come up again in this lame duck session? Many over zealous congressmen will be defeated, can we trust you to learn from their mistakes Mr. (name) congressman? Or even better, now that the polls show that you are headed for defeat Senator (name) can we at least trust you to not take revenge on your constituents by voting for tax or bogus energy legislation in a lame duck session of congress? There is no major energy legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months.
Tell the Washington Elite, we want you to do the right thing we want to help you do the right thing, pledge to us you won't ignore the public's will and vote for major legislation that has not been acted on for two years and all of a sudden vote for it now in a lame duck session of congress. If the next session of congress is to be a new start and if President Obama really wants the bipartisanship he promised when he campaigned is there any legislation that can't wait? Let your congressman know, there is no major legislation that has waited twenty two months that can't wait two more months, because he probably wants to act like he doesn't know it and he thinks we are too stupid to know it.
Failing to extend the tax cuts will hurt older Americans and their saving for retirement. In 2008, 71% of dividend income was earned by taxpayers age 55 and older. A third of taxpayers with capital gains income were 65 and older. Another 40% of those with capital gains income were between ages 45 and 65, earning nearly half of all capital gains income. Yet congress did not extend the tax cuts. Keeping rates low would have bolstered individual investment in businesses through innovation and job growth and would have allowed Americans to help move the economy in the right direction. So okay maybe there is some minor legislation that has waited, but can wait no longer.
Even Senators with 2 years remaining on their term like moderate wannabe Ben Nelson of Nebraska are a little nervous of being associated with the extreme agenda and if constituents hold their feet to the fire before the next election questioning their intent on voting for legislation in the lame duck session that has already waited twenty two months. Maybe they will do the right thing and won't have it hanging over their heads in two years that they were impudent enough to vote in a lame duck session.
Campaigning conservatives had better be talking about bogus energy legislation, tax increases, and things that had better not happen during a lame duck session of congress. They need to remind everyone of the failure to repeal the Bush tax cut expiration. If repeal of Obama Care is high on the agenda, how about repeal of any lame duck legislation, can conservatives pledge that?
Republicans need point to reports that the Health and Human Services Department is giving Pennsylvania $160 million to set up a new high-risk insurance pool that will cover any abortion that is legal in the state. Proof that President Obama's Executive Order on taxpayer-funded abortion was a sham. For our efforts to remove the bill's abortion funding, we were called 'deceivers' by President Obama and 'liars' by his allies. Now we know who the true deceivers and liars really are. The new health care law includes $12.5 billion for community health centers, and $6 billion for co-ops, both of which can fund abortions. And some people will use tax credits to help them pay for plans that cover abortion. Just as there were many who believed and trusted the president on that deception, there are many that will believe the deception on energy legislation and the deception on the need for increased taxes. What is worse, they will believe that legislation on these matters is necessary immediately and should be passed by a lame duck congress. We should anticipate that and prevent any major legislation by a lame duck congress.
The president won't need to transform the Constitution, he can continue to ignore it and he will have fundamentally transformed America. The founders gave the power to the states yet Pelosi and Reed and their lackeys have helped the president seize the states power and rights and in doing so have usurped power from the people. If they are betting they can finish destroying the economy and/or the country before another election in two years, then we the people must take that bet, at any odds, and bet everything we have against them.
