Speaker Boehner

Harry Reid and John Boehner

Takeover Thursdays – Goodbye 112th Congress, and hello 113!!

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Harry Reid and John Boehner

At 12 noon the 113th Congress will be in session for the 1st time, I can only hope this congress will prove to be more productive than the 112th Congress.  The 112th Congress will go down in history as one of the LEAST productive, and Democrats and Republicans are both responsible for this lack of productivity.  It’s popular to just blame Speaker Boehner and House Republicans, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has done his fair share of “making the sausage” .

“The 113th Congress will convene Thursday at the constitutionally required time of noon … There are 12 newly elected senators – eight Democrats, three Republicans and one independent, former Maine Gov. Angus King, who will caucus with the Democrats. They will be joined by Rep. Tim Scott, the first black Republican in decades, who was tapped by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to fill the remaining term of Sen. Jim DeMint….

I have hope, but to be honest not a whole lot of hope!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

The House Passes Bill to avert Fiscal Cliff

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

From Politico…

The House has passed a bill to avert the fiscal cliff, 257-167, sending the bill to President Barack Obama and ending a dramatic New Year’s Day showdown over income taxes and deep federal spending cuts. The bill — which would allow tax rates on upper income Americans to jump, makes permanent middle class tax cuts, extends unemployment benefits and overhauls a variety of other tax and spending measures — passed the Senate early in the morning on New Year’s Day on an 89-8 vote.

The passage of this bill was done with majority support from Democrats and the support of 85 Republicans; including notable Republicans Speaker Boehner and Paul Ryan.

President Obama will sign this bill into law tomorrow!

What’s next???

  • Avoiding the sequestration cuts and coming up with cuts that are responsible and will not hurt the economy and Americans
  • Raising the Debt Ceiling
As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

House will vote on Senate bill w/o amendments to avert Fiscal Cliff

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

In a move that just makes sense, House Republicans will NOT add amendments to the Senate‘s bill to avert the Fiscal Cliff.  Speaker Boehner will take an up-or-down vote a clean Senate passed bill.  This bill will more than likely need the support of both Democrats and Republicans in the House to pass.

Politico reporting…

The House plans to vote tonight on the Senate-passed bill to avert the fiscal cliff. Passage in the House, which is expected, would clear the bill for law since President Barack Obama has said he will sign the legislation.

The decision to move to an up-or-down vote comes after House Republicans internally rejected a plan to amend the bill with a package of spending cuts. That move would’ve likely killed the bill, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans.

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

What will House Republicans do with Senate Bill to avert Fiscal Cliff?

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Speaker Boehner

Speaker Boehner

Speaker Boehner is in the difficult position of not only trying to avert the Fiscal Cliff, but he also has to keep in mind how can he retain his speaker role in the House.

Last night the Senate passed a bipartisan deal with a 89-8 vote, yes my Republican friends the senate deal was overwhelmingly supported by both Republicans and Democrats.  House Republicans have come out today stating their disapproval of the bill the senate passed, they are complaining about the lack of spending cuts in the senate’s bill.  This is something Speaker Boehner warned House Republicans what would happen if they failed to come up with a deal a couple of weeks ago, he stated you will be forced to make a difficult decision on a bill that you did not have a say in and will have the pressure of the fiscal cliff to keep in mind.

Speaker Boehner and House Republicans are trying to figure out what to do with the pending deadline (that actually already passed); they have 2 options at this time…

  1. Pass the Senate bill as is with no changes to it, It would prevent middle-class taxes from going up but would raise rates on higher incomes (> $450K (couples) and > $400K (single)). It would also block spending cuts for two months, extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, prevent a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients and prevent a spike in milk prices.  Lawmakers will have to revisit difficult budget questions in just a few weeks.
  2. The House Republicans can attach their proposed spending cuts ($300 Billion) and send the bill back to senate for a vote. This will more than likely require 100% Republican support in the House as Democrats will not support those attached cuts.

For House Republicans the 1st option would be a difficult pill to swallow… At this moment Speaker Boehner has warned House Republicans that if they do decide to amend the senate bill with proposed cuts they will more than likely set themselves up to be held responsible for the United States going over the fiscal cliff as the Senate would not likely support it.  Boehner has told House Republicans if he can get majority support (217 Repubs) to add amendments to the senate bill he will bring that to the floor of the House for a vote.

When House Republicans decided to go home for Christmas they gave up their right to amend anything!

It was the House and Speaker Boehner that decided they would stop working on a deal and wanted the Senate to come up with something.  The chance for a grand bargain deal disappeared when Speaker Boehner and the House left Washington a couple of weeks ago.

Stop playing games House Republicans, pass the Senate bill which is not the ultimate deal but it gets us past the fiscal cliff and then re-focused on reducing spending.

**Update**

Signs are that the House Repubs will take a vote on the Senate’s bill as is; no amendment with spending cuts!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

House Republicans Oppose Senate Bill to Avert Fiscal Cliff…

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

According to Politico….

House Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to the Senate’s bill to avert the fiscal cliff, making it nearly certain that Speaker John Boehner’s chamber will amend the legislation and send it back to the Senate — a potentially serious blow to a package that appeared well on its way to becoming law. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the No. 2 House Republican, told GOP lawmakers that he was opposed to the legislation in its current form. Republicans are chiefly concerned with the lack of spending cuts in the tax bill.

Takeover Thursdays – Repeal, Repeal, Repeal, BUT…. No Replace!

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Rep Al Green (D-TX)

Since the day the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare aka ACA was signed into law (March 23, 2010) Republicans have talked about repealing the law….

REPEAL AND REPLACE!!!!

The only problem is there is no plan to replace, well Republicans will tell you they have a “plan”. But there plan is more of incremental changes that will not insure nearly as many Americans and will not put much of a dent in the rising cost of healthcare.

So how is it Republicans have been talking about repeal and replace since 2010 and now that it is 2012, there is NO real plan to replace?

What kind of leadership is Speaker Boehner providing for the GOP if he can’t come up with some kind of plan to replace Obamacare.  The GOP had 2 YEARS to come up with something, instead they are empty-handed.  And once again Republicans in the House of Representatives decided they must have another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act…. For the 33rd time, and for the 33rd time there was no plan to replace.

Here is a funny but truthful speech by Representative Al Green from Texas:

Kudos to Al for speaking the truth and showing the foolishness of the GOP, by the way here is great descriptive pic that the Democratic Party Facebook page posted:

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Pres Obama, “Private Sector is doing fine…” WTH!!!

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

President Barack Obama

What will be a tight presidential race, President Barack Obama cannot afford to make any mistakes.  This morning during his press conference President Obama said the following,

“The Private Sector is fine…”

The president stated this while making a point that 4.3 million private sector jobs have been created since he took office….

SMH, ohhhhhhh Mr President!!!!!!

In light of a VERY weak jobs report last week (69K jobs created in May) and slow in growth, WTH was the president thinking saying such a thing?  This is a bad mistake by Obama who usually doesn’t make mistakes like this.  In a matter of minutes Speaker Boehner was tweeting about the president’s gaffe

“President Obama says “the private sector is doing fine” — millions out of work, 8%+ unemployment for 40 months #doingfine?”

On top of that Speaker Boehner and his right-hand man Majority Leader Rep Eric Cantor held a rebuttal press conference to address the president’s speech on the economy.  This was an already scheduled speech for the GOP and now this mistake by President Obama will be highlight of the GOP press conference.  Expect to see a nice attack ad from Mitt Romney and the Super PACs as soon as this weekend if possible if not it will be ready 1st thing Monday morning for the fresh news cycle.

It has definitely been a tough week for President Obama and Democrats, on top of this latest mistake the party had to deal with the loss in the Wisconsin Recall on Tuesday and former President Bill Clinton stating that NOT extending the Bush Tax Cuts would be bad for the economy.

This is a bumpy start to the re-election bid now that Romney will be the GOP representative, but it’s still early.  Obama and David Axelrod have to tighten things up, these mistakes are not campaign killers but this will be a close race and if mistakes like this keep happening….

These mistakes will soon become insurmountable!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Payroll Tax Cut Extension Deal, did Pres Obama back down?

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

President Obama

It was only a short time ago that President Obama said he would veto any Payroll Tax Cut Extension bill if the Keystone Pipeline XL was attached to the bill.

Well…..

This morning the president touted the Payroll Tax Extension Bill albeit a temporary extension (2 months); but what was missing from the presidents short address concerning the extension was that the bill he praised had the Keystone Pipeline XL attached to it.  Yup, that same Keystone Pipeline that he said would bring about the veto of any bill.

I am of the opinion that when you use the threat of the veto you better use it; at this point the GOP already have made up their minds that they can challenge Obama without any repercussions.  And this is exactly what this was about!  I realize the president values the payroll tax cut extension but why talk about using a veto if you’re not going to use it???

Maybe President Obama has something up his sleeve….

Fox News reporter Ed Henry posted on his twitter today:

If Henry is correct nothing REALLY changes as the this bill is not forcing the president to do anything but say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to Keystone sooner than later.  Obama can still say ‘no’ to the pipeline, the question now is what will he decide.  All the facts are not in concerning Keystone Pipeline as there have been many questions surrounding the job creation numbers; Glen Kessler of the Washington does a good job detailing some of the questions about the numbers in his Washington Post Fact-Checker.

Another sign that this is not a ‘cave-in’ by Pres Obama is the reaction from House Republicans who have voiced their displeasure with this deal.  It has been reported that House Republicans let Speaker Boehner know that they do  not feel this is a win for Republicans and that this deal may set the stage for Pres Obama to bash Republicans for not passing a long-term Payroll Tax Extension (year-long extension) during his State of the Union Address.

There is still a chance the House Republicans may revolt against Boehner and not sign-off on this deal; Republican leadership like Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority WHIP Kevin McCarthy are not completely sold on this latest deal.

If this deal falls apart it will without a doubt show how weak Speaker Boehner actually is in the House!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

President Barack Obama to speak at 9pm (Eastern) about Debt Ceiling

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Previously the president has given updates concerning the debt ceiling negotiations during the day, for the president to reserve a 9pm time slot for this announcement would leave one to believe this is a somewhat major announcement.

At this point we have 2 paths to select from….

  1. Harry Reid has presented a proposal of $2.7 Billion dollars in cuts that do not include any increase in revenue.  Important to remember that Speaker Boehner and the GOP have said all along that raising the debt ceiling will have to include cuts equaling or greater than the amount being requested to raise the debt ceiling about $2 Trillion dollars.
  2. Speaker Boehner and the GOP is looking for a short-term deal where the debt ceiling will be raised to get thru this year and then another debt ceiling vote will take place in 2012.
President Obama has been adamant that he is looking for a long-term solution (similar to Harry Reid’s plan); the president is looking to provide stability so to give confidence that this debate will not happen again.  The hope is this will return the focus back to job creation and keeping the economy moving in a positive direction.
At this point it looks like the Democrats will be unable to broker any deal containing revenue generation; this is a disappointment But the GOP may have shot themselves in the foot.  In the ‘Grand Bargain’ deal Obama offered a tax hike that was less than if he simply let the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of 2012.  If the GOP continue to refuse to accept revenue generation in this debt ceiling deal, Obama will go hard on letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire and Republicans will basically be responsible for large tax hike they could have avoided.
 All in all it will be interesting to hear what the president will be announcing at 9pm; some how we have to get pass this debt ceiling issue before default 8/2/2011.  Hopefully we can avoid serious damage being done to credit rating as a nation; any downgrade of the United States credit rating will have an effect on ALL of us!!!
As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!

Speaker Boehner breaks off talks with Pres Obama on debt ceiling

Posted on by Bobby Broadway

Once again Republicans have basically walked out of discussions concerning reducing the deficit and raising the debt ceiling; this time instead of it being Eric Cantor this time it’s Speaker Boehner.  Pres Obama in latest talks offered Speaker Boehner $1 Trillion in cuts plus $650 Billion more in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security; this latest offer was more “Generous” than what the Gang-Of-6 plan was offering.

With this latest walkout the president has asked Congressional Leaders to show up to the White House 11am tomorrow morning and that everyone should come with some kind of plan to avoid default.  Obama indicating that we have reached a point where the debt ceiling HAS to be raised now through 2012 and that talks would continue after debt ceiling is raised on reducing the deficit.

If Pres Obama manages to get a clean vote raising the debt ceiling (meaning no stipulations for the raise) he may have pulled off one of the greatest bluffs ever.  Many Republicans (Tea Party kats including Rand Paul) ran on the platform that they will not raise the debt ceiling without significant cuts to the deficit.  If the debt ceiling is raised with specific reductions agreed upon, Republicans will lose what leverage they had in this fight.  The GOP Congressional Leadership should have challenged the president and taken him up on his offer on the cuts and entitlement reforms.  1st Republicans turned down an initial grand bargain deal that would have had $4 Trillion cuts and possibly significant reforms to entitlement programs.  Instead Republicans declined the deal because it included eliminating many Corporate Tax Loopholes that would have raised revenue.

And now Republicans are rejecting an offer by the president that is more “Generous” than what the Gang-of-6 were proposing; WTF!  Most analyst agree that what the Gang-of-6 was offering was more than fair to the GOP an would have hurt the hardcore Liberal.

Instead Republicans want no parts of a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, they would prefer deficit reduction be done by hurting the middle class and poor.  Polls favor Pres Obama in this debate, #1 the American believe the debt ceiling should be raised and#2 they favor a balanced approach to reducing the deficit; meaning not only cutting spending but also raising revenue to reduce our national debt.

Republicans may have squandered a GREAT opportunity to not only reduce the deficit but also a chance to reform entitlements.  If the debt ceiling is raised with no stipulations, the momentum swings back in the favor of the president and the Democrats.  They can play hardball in defending Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Hey Republicans, You Know You Done Fucked Up Now, You Know That, DONT YOU!!!!!

As always….

If there is something to be said, “It’s On Broadway” to step up and say it!!