March 14th, 2008 at 11:51 am

Senate: ‘Pork Wins!’ Earmarks 1 Tax Cuts 0 [UPDATE]

in: Fiscal Responsibility, Taxes, The Do-Nothing Congress, U.S. House, US Senate

The United States Senate voted down a proposal introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and supported by Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) that would have placed serious restrictions on which earmarks (pork) that can be introduced in the Senate. The proposal was a companion to the Earmark Reform resolution that has been introduced and denied in the House. The Senate is in effect saying that they love that pork.

From FoxNews.com:

The Senate rejected calls from both parties’ presidential candidates to take an election-year break from pork-barrel spending as a Democratic-run Congress passed budget plans that would torpedo hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts won by President Bush.

John McCain, the GOP nominee-to-be, couldn’t attract even a majority of Senate Republicans to vote with him Thursday night behind the earmark moratorium touted by party conservatives as a way to restore the GOP’s credibility with voters.

It failed on a 71-29 vote. Only three Democrats joined with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in voting for it.

The underlying House and Senate Democratic federal budget plans for 2009, though nonbinding, drew blasts from Republicans for allowing some or all of Bush’s tax cuts to die in about three years.

The House passed its $3 trillion budget plan by a 212-207 vote. It would provide generous increases to domestic programs but bring the government’s ledger back into the black, but only by letting all of Bush’s tax cuts expire at the end of 2010 as scheduled.

The Senate passed a companion plan by a 51-44 vote. It endorsed extending $340 billion of Bush’s tax cuts but balked at continuing all of them. The competing versions head to talks in which the House is all but certain to accept the Senate’s position endorsing tax cuts for the working poor, married couples, people with children and for those inheriting large estates.

In a continuation of their denial of the obvious, the Senate Democrat leadership continues to claim that the 2006 midterm elections were about the war and not about out of control spending by rejecting the moratorium sponsored by McCain and endorsed by Obama and Clinton. Their insistence that the midterm elections that put them into power were about the war the fact remains that had Economic Conservatives shown up to vote in 2006 the majority would look completely different.

With the same arrogance, the Democrats in the majority believe that their election in 2006 was a rejection of the tax cuts which have sustained this economy through higher energy costs and sparked growth in certain sectors in spite of those rises in energy costs. They in a sense believe that their election was a blank check and an endorsement of liberal politics. Why else would speaker Pelosi refuse to bring to the floor a vote on Earmark Reform which has overwhelming bi-partisan support in the House?

The bill that was adopted by the Senate and is sparking the conference is a non-binding budget resolution. Non-binding as in won’t actually become law. That won’t happen for the 2009 budget until the next President is sworn and a new Congress convenes.

Why won’t the Dems allow a vote in the House on Earmark Reform? Because the Dems need to bribe their constituents with pork in order to maintain control. For all their griping about the deficit, they are unwilling to cut the spending necessary to slow it. Another reason why liberal Democrats are hypocrites.

McCain promises, if elected, “Americans are sick and tired of the way we do business in Washington. As president, I promise the American people … the first earmarked, pork-barrel bill that comes across my desk, I’ll veto it.”

We’ll hold him to that for sure.

[UPDATE] 1528

Congress Responds to Soaring Gas Prices by Raising Your Family’s Taxes

via email from House Majority Leader John Boehner:

Gas prices have soared to unprecedented levels in recent weeks, squeezing family budgets and driving up the cost of everything from food to commuter travel. What has the Democrat-controlled Congress been doing while gas prices have soared? It’s been raising your taxes.

Congress’ failure to enact bipartisan legislation addressing America’s growing energy crisis is proof positive that Washington is broken. Democrats took power in Congress in January 2007 promising they had a plan to lower gas prices. Today, gas prices are 43 percent higher than they were when the Democratic majority took over. And the majority’s “plan” has yet to be seen.

The pain from this broken promise is being felt across America. Our district is no exception. If you live in Eaton, your average gas price as of this writing is $3.29 per gallon. Live in Celina or West Chester? Your average gas prices are $3.42 per gallon. (Source: OPIS Price Index, March 14, 2008)

But don’t expect Congress to help you out with the ongoing problem of rising gas prices – it’s too busy trying to enact tax hikes to give middle-class families relief from skyrocketing costs of living. Consider this: under the budget approved last week in the U.S. House of Representatives despite Republican opposition, a family of four earning $50,000 can expect to see their tax burden increase by $2,100, according to an analysis from the House Budget Committee. Right here in Ohio, the average family’s tax burden will actually increase by $2,716.

This is what else the House’s budget would do, if it becomes law:

  • Some 116 million taxpayers will see an average tax increase of more than $1,800 per year.
  • More than six million low-income individuals and couples who currently pay no taxes will no longer be exempt.
  • Approximately 48 million married couples will face an average tax increase of $3,000 per year.
  • Low-income families with one or two children will no longer be eligible for the refundable child tax credit in 2011.
  • Roughly 12 million single women with children will see their taxes increase by $1,100 per year.
  • About 18 million seniors will face tax hikes of more than $2,100 per year.
  • Tax bills for an estimated 27 million small-business owners will increase by more than $4,000 each.

And what will Washington bureaucrats do with this tax windfall? They’ll spend it.

The same budget calls for an astounding $82 billion in increased “discretionary” spending, and does nothing to address the runaway growth of entitlement spending that threatens both current and future generations of Americans. And since Congress refuses to temporarily halt funding for lawmakers’ pet projects – a freeze I and other House Republicans have called for – the extra tax dollars will pay for even more wasteful spending. That means Congress will continue to use your money to fund projects like the “hippie museum” for Woodstock, NY requested by Sen. Hillary Clinton, instead of letting you keep more of what you earn to help you deal with soaring gas prices and other rising costs of living.

Former President Ronald Reagan once said, “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.” His words are as true today as they were in the 1980s.

The American people expect their leaders in Washington to work together to promote American energy independence, keep taxes low, promote economic growth, and put an end to waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Trying to enact tax hikes while costs of living skyrocket is not the way to accomplish that goal.

— — —

Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th District, which includes all of Darke, Miami and Preble counties, most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the northeastern corner of Montgomery County. He was first elected to Congress in 1990.

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