Liberty Central is excited to serve as an Ambassador-at-Large to our grassroots friends. We are continually meeting with conservative leaders and coalition groups, as well as our conservative champions on the Hill to provide a dialogue between grassroots and D.C. This also enables us to report to you about the current hot topics inside the Beltway.
As you know, Congress is now in summer recess. This week’s update provides an overview of what’s on the radar in September:
Both Houses of Congress must take up the Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). However, leadership will decide which BBA comes to the floor for a vote, and the actual language of the measure is still unknown. Many conservative proponents argue that Congress must send a strong and specific amendment to the states, while others assert that a ‘watered-down’ version is more likely to get the necessary votes from the Democrats.
The next government shutdown battle is on the horizon as the current budget expires at the end of our fiscal year — September 30. Currently in summer recess, Congress will have about one month to settle the next ‘crisis’ by either passing a budget or yet another continuing resolution. The Budget Control Act just ‘simplified’ the budget process; however, reports that Congress is not required to vote for continued government operations are false.
Also in September, the current extension of the bill to fund highways and public transportation will expire. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL) aims for a long-term extension which stays within the receipts of the Highway Trust Fund, and within the framework of the Ryan Budget. If accomplished, this will eliminate the current mandates (i.e., bike paths, graffiti removal, etc.) and allow the states to decide on how the funds are used within their borders.
In the wake of the national debate on the debt ceiling, I’m sending this note out to all of my friends in the Tea Party movement to encourage everyone to not give up the fight in demanding fiscal responsibility at all levels of government. As a Texas state senator who received an A+ rating, by Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Empower Texas, for my consistent conservative voting on fiscal matters, I was greatly disappointed in the bill that passed the House and Senate and was signed by the President. I applaud the courageous 66 Republicans and Senators who voted no on the bill, a bill that does nothing to seriously cut spending, address the 14 trillion debt, or address our entitlement programs that cannot be sustained as currently structured.
I know that tough votes are not easy make. This past session I was the only Republican on Finance who voted no on the budget in committee. I believed we should not spend funds from the Rainy Day Fund for our next budget. (We are going to have a budget gap again and needed to keep every dollar we could. We may need all of it just for Medicare if some of the legislation we passed to find savings doesn’t work as hoped. ) With the help of several other Republicans in the Senate, not on Finance, who shared my view, we blocked the finance bill passed out of committee from coming to the floor until those funds were removed from the 2012-13 budget. Sadly we do not have enough Republicans in Congress or the U.S Senate who are willing to make tough votes.
I watch the national media, including so-called conservatives, criticize and blame the Tea Party movement for the debt ceiling crisis.
Liberty Central is excited to serve as an Ambassador-at-Large to our grassroots friends. We are continually meeting with conservative leaders and coalition groups, as well as our conservative champions on the Hill to provide a dialogue between grassroots and D.C. This also enables us to report to you about the current hot topics inside the Beltway.
Here is this week’s update:
Economy:
Much of the focus is shifting away from the Aug. 2 deadline to the underlying problem – the pending AAA credit rating downgrade. (Remember, Dodd-Frank put the federal government in charge of regulating these ratings agencies.) Still, the GOP is stressing the importance of a debt ceiling back-up plan. Many Senators now seem unwilling to go past the August 2 deadline, even if leverage is gained afterwards.
House Leadership maintains that it will not agree to less than dollar-for-dollar cuts in exchange for the debt ceiling increase. Boehner’s plan (altered after the latest CBO report that it cuts only $850 billion over 10 years) is expected to come to the House floor tomorrow. The plan does contain potential for tax increase, although the likelihood of such an increase is being debated amongst the GOP: Any recommended tax increase must have at least 7 votes to pass out of the Joint Committee, at which time the proposal would go to the House for a vote. Leadership argues that, because of the current House make-up, any tax increase is virtually impossible.
Meanwhile, Harry Reid’s plan requests the largest debt ceiling increase in history – $2.7 trillion – while ‘cutting’ $2.2 trillion. In fact, $1 trillion of these so-called ‘cuts’ are nothing more than smoke in mirrors – as they assume winding down of the global war on terror. (The administration is contacting CEOs and businesses requesting their support for the Reid plan. The administration is also contacting banks, telling them not to worry about a default.)
Sen. Pat Toomey re-introduced his bill which obligates the Treasury Secretary to prioritize debt interest, Social Security, and active-duty military pay in the event of default. (Rep. David Schweikert introduced the House companion bill). These 3 priorities make up less than 1/2 of our tax revenue for the month of August — and we reportedly have enough revenue to pay all bills until approximately August 9th.
Energy & Commerce:
The House set a deadline for the administration’s decision on the Keystone Pipeline expansion – November, 1. It passed the House yesterday by a vote of 279-147. Note the Pipeline is projected to create over 100,000 jobs, double our intake from Canada, and produce 1.3 million barrels per day by the end of the next decade.
The House Energy & Commerce Committee is aiming to have every agency under its jurisdiction (HHS, EPA, FCC, etc.) testify to justify its budget requests, in an effort to drastically increase oversight of these regulators. Next up for the Committee will be Dept. of Interior appropriations.
Liberty Central is excited to serve as an Ambassador-at-Large to our grassroots friends. We are continually meeting with conservative leaders and coalition groups, as well as our conservative champions on the Hill to provide a dialogue between grassroots and D.C. This also enables us to report to you about the current hot topics inside the Beltway.
Here is this week’s update:
Economy:
Blue Chip just released its economic forecasts through 2012, and it’s not pretty:
- 2nd quarter GDP growth: downgraded to 2.0%. Figures for May and June were 3.2% and 2.6%, respectively.
- For 2011, real GDP growth fell for the 5th month in a row, now at 2.5%.
- The unemployment rate is forecasted to average 8.9% for 2011. The rate is projected to be 8.1% at the end of 2012.
- Payroll employment growth: projected to average 175,000 jobs per month in 2011 (down from 190,000 in May), and averaging 202,000/month in 2012.
- 2011 inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, is projected to rise to 3.1%. Contrast this figure with the January projection of 1.7%.
However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just set forth his debt-ceiling strategy, causing much disagreement within the GOP: his plan requires Obama to request three debt ceiling increase ($700-900 billion per month) from Congress and propose equivalent amounts in spending cuts. For each vote, a majority of Congress must disapprove the requested increase. Obama could then simply veto – meaning 2/3 of Congress would have to override the veto – otherwise, the debt ceiling increases.
Other:
A movement is underway to freeze wireless taxes: H.R. 1002 and S. 543 aim to freeze “excessive and discriminatory” wireless taxes, which cost consumers a total of $21 billion/year. Proponents of the legislation argue that the freeze is a pro-business and pro-liberty solution, as consumers pay 16% or more in wireless taxes each month.
Rep. Mike Quigley is leading a bipartisan effort requiring the Treasury Secretary to send every taxpayer an itemized federal tax receipt, every year. H.R. 1527, The Taxpayer Receipt Act, specifically requires that the receipt show: debt per legal resident for that year, and additional borrowing per legal resident for the fiscal year.
For more information on the BULB Act, which failed the House yesterday, check out our post:
Summary of this week's report:
Once again conservative Texans have been betrayed and stabbed in
the back by the Republican leadership in Austin. Governor Rick
Perry ordered a special legislative session. Two critical pieces
of legislation were on the agenda - one would ban sanctuary cities,
and the other would make it a crime for TSA agents to touch the
private parts of citizens during security screenings. Well, the
special session has just ended, and neither one of these bills
passed. Rick Perry needs to quit worrying about running for
President and order legislators back to Austin for another special
session. This time he and the GOP members need to show some
backbone and leadership and get these bills passed.
Send a fax to Governor Perry:
http://www.morrisonreport.com/fax_test/index.php?faxID=100
Full report:
It is a play on Michael Quinn Sullivan’s initials — M.Q.S. — but the moniker is fitting on at least two levels: it underscores how much of an irritant the conservative activist has become to politicians who buck his Tea Party orthodoxy, and it also says something about Mr. Sullivan’s staying power in Republican-ruled Texas.
They cannot get rid of him.
“I’ve got to commend him,” said Senator Rodney Ellis, Democrat of Houston. “He’s whipped it up pretty successfully to make himself appear to be much more of a power than I think he really is in terms of delivering votes to or against somebody in an election.”
Mr. Sullivan is by no means the only conservative partisan in Austin. But the 6-foot-4 Eagle Scout has emerged as the most recognizable face of a new brand of grass-roots activists, emboldened by the success of the Tea Party movement and not afraid to rock the boat. They have been loosely described — bitterly in many quarters — as “outside groups” that have driven much of the budget slashing in the waning 2011 legislative session.
Mr. Sullivan, 41, presides over two of the most influential of those groups, Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. The latter has spawned a political action committee that makes campaign donations, mostly to conservative Republicans. In 2009, the former paid Mr. Sullivan $100,000, about a quarter of its budget, I.R.S. disclosures show.
The two organizations operate together as a relatively seamless political advocacy outfit that blasts politicians (typically the “moderate” Republicans) who stray from the notion that the only solution to the state’s fiscal woes is spending cuts — the deeper the better.
Guest Speaker: Allen Clark on Civilizational Jihad
September 12, 2011, 6:30-7:00pm
$5 dinner served at 6pm
1060 E Highland, Southlake 76092
(bldg 1020 of Highland Meadow Montessori Academy)
Allen Clark will speak to us on “Civilizational Jihad”… internal subversion and treason, broader than Sharia Law.
About Allen Clark…
After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, Allen graduated the United States Military Academy in 1963, after which he was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers. Two years after graduation from West Point, he volunteered for a tour in Vietnam where he served as a Military Intelligence officer assigned to the Fifth Special Forces Group. Allen sustained injuries in an early-morning mortar attack at the Dak To Special Forces camp on June 17, 1967, that necessitated the amputation of both legs below his knees. His military service and sacrifice were recognized with receipt of a Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, the Purple Heart, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He was airborne-qualified.
While learning to adjust to his disability and to walk on prosthetic legs, he obtained an MBA in finance and investments from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Allen’s first post-graduate position was as an investment manager for Ross Perot. His other private sector experience has spanned oil and gas exploration, real estate marketing, and mortgage lending. He has been vice president of a bank, president of three oil service companies, and co-founder of a real estate investment company in Texas.
Allen’s impassioned commitment to public service and to helping veterans began with an appointment in 1979 as the Special Assistant for Administration to Texas Governor William P. Clements, Jr. In 1981, Allen was President Ronald Reagan’s selection to be Deputy Administrator for the Veterans Administration (now the Department of Veterans Affairs). However, he chose to remain in Texas where in 1982 he received the Texas Republican Party’s nomination to run for State Treasurer in a race that was won by former Texas State Governor Ann Richards.
In 1989, he was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary for Veterans Liaison and Program Coordination at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 1991, he received his second VA confirmation as Director of the National Cemetery System, a position in which he served until the end of the Bush Administration.
Allen’s dedicated efforts to support veterans’ causes at the national and state levels were recognized with his nomination by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization as the Texas State candidate for the national Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the year 2000. In 1993 the Military Chaplains Association awarded him their annual National Citizenship Award.”
He retired in 2005 as the Public Affairs Officer for the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas, Texas. His current lay ministry is involved in outreach efforts to help veterans recover emotionally and spiritually from adverse wartime experiences. Allen participates in many community and civic activities, including regularly speaking at various group events and churches. Allen has addressed many audiences nationwide as a political candidate, public official, and motivational speaker. Allen’s autobiography titled “Wounded Soldier, Healing Warrior” was published in early 2007 by Zenith Press (visit book site).
He is a member of the American Legion, Association of the U.S. Army, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the World Wars, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Military Officers Association, Sons of the American Revolution, Special Forces Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Association of Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, and Vietnam Veterans of America.
Allen and his wife, the former Linda Frost, are members of Christ Church, Plano, TX. Allen can be contacted by sending an email to allenbclark@aol.com.
Here is some reading that will be recommended in this presentation:
Wayne Richard blew us all away on Monday night. His presentation was passionate and engaging. By the end of the evening, we were all fired up to fight for justice, and Wayne received a standing ovation. Watch and listen for yourself… each video is less than 10 minutes long…
The followi ng is an excerpt from an email written by Angela Cox of the Johnson County Tea Party…
My fellow Texans and Americans, please take a moment to contact our elected officials below to thank them for their efforts and working hard for our great state of Texas! They must hear from us not only when we disapprove, but when we approve as well!
Rick Perry: Let States Secede From Social Security
Freshly reelected Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) just isn’t ready to give up on the secession talk that made him a topic of conversation last year. Taking a national victory lap after his election to an unprecedented third term this week, Perry is out talking up his new plan to break up the union, kind of: It’s time, he says, to let states opt out of Social Security.
Some Republican lawmakers — still reveling in Tuesday’s statewide election sweep — are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state’s estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.
‘Arizona Style’ Immigration Law Proposed for Texas
conservative lawmaker files bill in first hour of filing period for 2011 session
By Jim Forsyth
Monday, November 8, 2010
Less than an hour after the period began for filing bills for consideration in the 2011 Legislative session, State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), a leader of the newly muscular conservatives in the Legislature, filed an ‘Arizona style’ measure that would crack down on illegal immigration, 1200 WOAI news reports.
Riddle says her measure is a response to what she says is the escalating violence caused by Mexican and Latin American gangs in Texas .
“It is absolutely out of control with the gang related crime, which is going through the roof, so, yes, we are addressing this, and quite frankly, I am not worried about political correctness,” Riddle told 1200 WOAI news.
The measure would be similar to Arizona ‘s controversial SB 1070, in that it would require that local police work with federal immigration officials in determining the legal status of a person who is in their custody.
“If that individual is already being detained, because of another crime, then that officer can inquire as to one’s immigration status,” Riddle said.
The Arizona law has been placed on hold pending a court challenge. Riddle says her measure would help it withstand similar legal challenges.
Riddle’smeasure would also deny all state funds to any community which declares itself a ‘sanctuary city’ and refuses to aggressively enforce immigration laws.
Senator Proposes Conference Resolution to Help Restore Fiscal Discipline
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today led a group of Senate Republicans including Senators Jim Demint (R-SC), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), David Vitter (R-LA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Ensign (R-NV), and John Thune (R-SD), and Senators-elect Rand Paul (R-KY), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Mike Lee (R-UT), in sending a letter to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander notifying him that they intend to propose a resolution at the Republican Conference meeting on November 16th, 2010, which states that a Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal discipline. The full text of the letter is below:
November 12, 2011
The Honorable Lamar Alexander
Republican Conference, Chairman
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Lamar:
We are writing to notify you that we intend to propose the following Resolution at the Republican Conference meeting on November 16:
“It is Resolved by the United States Senate Republican Conference:
(1) That a Balanced Budget Amendment to the United States Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal discipline to our Republic;
(2) That a Balanced Budget Amendment should require the President to submit to Congress a proposed budget prior to each fiscal year in which total federal spending does not exceed total federal revenue;
(3) That a Balanced Budget Amendment should include a requirement that a supermajority of both houses of Congress be necessary to increase taxes;
(4) That a Balanced Budget Amendment should include a limitation on total federal spending.”
Thank you for protecting our rights on this important matter.
Sincerely,
John Cornyn, United States Senator
Jim DeMint, United States Senator
Mike Enzi, United States Senator
Jeff Sessions, United States Senator
David Vitter, United States Senator
Orrin Hatch, United States Senator
John Ensign, United States Senator
John Thune, United States Senator
Rand Paul, United States Senator-elect
Kelly Ayotte, United States Senator-elect
Pat Toomey, United States Senator-elect
Mike Lee, United States Senator-elect
To contact Senator John Cornyn to voice your support of this Resolution:
How far will our country go when they are playing with OUR rights, freedom, and dignity? Check out this video that informs Americans (from a non-American, who is equally worried about America) about the Muslim Mosque just feet away from Ground Zero that is being discussed to be built and possibly set to unveil on September 11, 2010 (according to the video). Find out more by watching this informative video!
