News from Senator Ayotte's Office
Dear Friends,
With the Senate in session this weekend, I write from Washington to share a quick update on the latest from Capitol Hill.
As you know, debate continues here regarding the nation's debt ceiling. With Tuesday's deadline just days away, members of the Senate and House are working to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congress and be sent to the president.
I thought it was unfortunate that Senate Democrats blocked consideration of the only two serious proposals - which had been passed by the House - to avoid default. We need to enact significant spending cuts and budget reforms to end business as usual in Washington, and prevent default and a downgrading of America's credit rating. I still firmly believe that this difficult moment provides an opportunity to place ourselves on a path to a balanced budget to preserve our country. We can no longer afford to kick the can down the road if we want to protect our economic future.
Last night, I appreciated the chance to discuss the debt ceiling debate on Sean Hannity's show. Click here to watch.
While America's fiscal crisis has been the main focus of attention in Washington this week, read on for additional news from my office.
Senator Ayotte: Pentagon Spending Must Be Scrutinized to Find Savings That Won't Undercut Readiness
During an Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee hearing this week, Senator Ayotte underscored the need to find savings within the Department of Defense (DoD) budget by identifying wasteful and duplicative spending at the Pentagon. The Senator, who serves as the panel's Ranking Member, noted that DoD is one of the few agencies in the entire federal government that cannot pass an independent audit of its finances; she expressed concern that DoD needs more reliable data and financial management processes necessary to fully evaluate areas of potential savings.
In her opening remarks during the hearing, Senator Ayotte emphasized the importance of obtaining reliable financial data to ensure that proposed spending reductions do not undercut warfighters or endanger military readiness.
"With our nation facing a serious fiscal crisis, we must closely scrutinize spending at every federal agency, including the Pentagon. DoD must be auditable to ensure that we're responsible stewards of taxpayer money," said Senator Ayotte. "However, as we reduce defense spending, it's critical to ensure that reductions don't undercut America's warfighters or compromise our military readiness. To distinguish between necessary defense budget cuts and reductions that would harm our troops and threaten readiness, we need reliable financial data and effective business processes and systems."
Senators Ayotte, Brown Renew Call for Stronger Contracting Oversight in Wake of Alarming Reports
Senator Ayotte and Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) on Monday renewed their call for strengthening oversight of U.S. funds for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, following two recent reports that found U.S. taxpayer money had been indirectly funneled to corrupt powerbrokers and insurgents, including the Taliban.
Senators Brown and Ayotte introduced the "No Contracting With the Enemy Act" in February, aiming to make it easier for U.S. contracting officials to void contracts with contractors who funnel taxpayer resources to enemies of the United States, such as the Taliban. At a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, General David Petraeus highlighted the urgency of legislation that would achieve the goals of the Brown-Ayotte bill, testifying that it was needed "the sooner the better."
"These reports highlight troubling shortcomings that must be addressed," said Senators Brown and Ayotte in a joint statement. "Our military in Afghanistan has taken steps to develop better oversight of contracting, but more must be done. With better oversight and with the authorities provided by our provisions, DOD contracting officials will be able to more effectively ensure our money does not end up in the hands of those attacking our troops. The Senate should move quickly to address this issue and pass our provisions that are critical to the mission in Afghanistan."
According to a report in Monday's Washington Post, a year-long investigation conducted by the U.S. military uncovered definitive evidence that taxpayer money intended to fund a $2.16 billion transportation contract in Afghanistan ended up in the hands of the Taliban through fraud, kickbacks, and money laundering. Another report released last week by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that, "While U.S. agencies have taken steps to strengthen their oversight over U.S. funds flowing through the Afghan economy, they still have limited visibility over the circulation of these funds, leaving them vulnerable to fraud or diversion to insurgents." Echoing General Petraeus' September 2010 Counterinsurgency Contracting Guidance issued to U.S. and alliance military forces fighting in Afghanistan, the SIGAR report called on all U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, operating in Afghanistan to improve visibility of subcontractors, integrate intelligence, plans and operations, and ensure that contracted funds are not used to empower insurgents.
Senator Ayotte, Colleagues Urge FCC to Conduct Cost-Benefit Analysis of Proposed Net Neutrality Rule
Senator Ayotte, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, this week urged the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the agency's proposed Internet regulatory rule before it goes into effect. In a letter to Chairman Julius Genachowski, Senator Ayotte, along with Republican colleagues on the Commerce Committee, requested that the agency conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis of its proposed net neutrality rule, pursuant to a recent Executive Order issued by President Obama.
Executive Order 13563, which the President issued on July 11, directs independent and executive agencies to conduct a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of proposed regulations prior to their adoption, with the intent of reducing onerous regulatory burdens on the business community and the public. Although the FCC approved the rules in December, the Senators are requesting a retrospective review, as the net neutrality rule is not federal law yet.
"All federal agencies, including the FCC, must weigh the economic impact of proposed regulations on America's businesses," said Senator Ayotte. "I have serious concerns that the pending net neutrality rule stands to discourage private sector investment and prevent cutting-edge products from reaching the marketplace. Government shouldn't get in the way of entrepreneurial innovation, and that's why I urge Chairman Genachowski to conduct a retrospective review of the rule."
7.31.2011
7.15.2011
Why Every American Should Receive an ObamaCare Waiver
By Michele Bachmann
Since its passage last year, over 1,300 ObamaCare waivers have been rewarded exempting nearly 3.1 million Americans out of the monstrous health care overhaul. With several hundred more waivers pending, the Obama Administration has decided it will no longer accept waiver applications after September 22 of this year. These waivers are extremely telling; if ObamaCare was truly the reform our healthcare system needs, why is the Administration allowing so many to opt out of the program?
It comes as no surprise that hundreds of companies are applying for waivers from ObamaCare. Business owners across the country continue to voice concern over how to implement the new ObamaCare rules without paying fines, laying off workers or even going bankrupt. As the book Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America points out, “ObamaCare will lead to slower wage growth, fewer job opportunities, and more businesses going under.”
Yet, the waiver-granting process became increasingly questionable as companies applied for exemptions. It seemed that ObamaCare regulators were passing out waivers mostly to friends of the Administration. For instance, of the 204 waivers granted by the Administration in April, nearly twenty percent went to some of the finest restaurants and businesses within House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district. Even more jaw-dropping, of those 3.1 million individuals exempted from ObamaCare through waivers, over half – 1.55 million – are union members.
President Obama’s health care reform grows the size of government and increases its impact on our lives. According to Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America, ObamaCare sets in motion a massive federal bureaucracy with at least 159 new federal agencies, creates more than $500 billion in new taxes and will take $575 billion away from Medicare. In my view, it is time that every American, regardless of their relationship with the Administration, receives a permanent waiver from ObamaCare. I remain committed to working towards the complete repeal of this legislation.
Since its passage last year, over 1,300 ObamaCare waivers have been rewarded exempting nearly 3.1 million Americans out of the monstrous health care overhaul. With several hundred more waivers pending, the Obama Administration has decided it will no longer accept waiver applications after September 22 of this year. These waivers are extremely telling; if ObamaCare was truly the reform our healthcare system needs, why is the Administration allowing so many to opt out of the program?
It comes as no surprise that hundreds of companies are applying for waivers from ObamaCare. Business owners across the country continue to voice concern over how to implement the new ObamaCare rules without paying fines, laying off workers or even going bankrupt. As the book Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America points out, “ObamaCare will lead to slower wage growth, fewer job opportunities, and more businesses going under.”
Yet, the waiver-granting process became increasingly questionable as companies applied for exemptions. It seemed that ObamaCare regulators were passing out waivers mostly to friends of the Administration. For instance, of the 204 waivers granted by the Administration in April, nearly twenty percent went to some of the finest restaurants and businesses within House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s district. Even more jaw-dropping, of those 3.1 million individuals exempted from ObamaCare through waivers, over half – 1.55 million – are union members.
President Obama’s health care reform grows the size of government and increases its impact on our lives. According to Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America, ObamaCare sets in motion a massive federal bureaucracy with at least 159 new federal agencies, creates more than $500 billion in new taxes and will take $575 billion away from Medicare. In my view, it is time that every American, regardless of their relationship with the Administration, receives a permanent waiver from ObamaCare. I remain committed to working towards the complete repeal of this legislation.
7.10.2011
Michele, My Belle
By Ron Dupuis
Granite Staters are fiercely independent when it comes to politics. That is one of the main reasons we get involved early. Of course protecting our first in the nation primary status is another.
Michele Bachmann, "in my humble opinion", seems to be on the side of every issue that concerns me. For example, Bachmann has stated that the number one issue in the coming Presidential election is the economy and job growth. Her plan is to reduce the role of government and "placing the trust in the real job creators, the private sector." This is something every small business owner in New Hampshire should applaud.
On the debt ceiling Bachmann has said " I will stand firm against an increase in the debt ceiling and as President, fight for a renewed vision of Constitutional government and reforms resulting in deep cuts in federal spending so that we never face this situation again." This is something our children, grand children and, believe it or not, our great grand children should be thankful for.
Obama care has been an unmitigated disaster and Congresswoman Bachmann has promised to repeal it. " As President, I will not rest until Obamacare is repealed, and will work to unleash the power of medical innovation and personal choice in producing better treatments and more cures that mean better outcomes at lower cost. And I will push for greater competition in the health care market - because competition both lowers prices and improves outcomes." Hear, hear, applaud applaud.
Bachmann's stated positions go on and on covering everything from national security to drilling for oil. All of which my agreements are wholehearted.
Since this is my column here are some of my thoughts that the Bachmann people should consider.
My feelings on:
Foreign aid; Not one dime to governments that are not representative or duly elected by the people. If Russia or red China want to support such entities let them do so. It has nearly destroyed us in the past and will do the same to them.
National Security; Pakistan is not our friend. President Bachmann should at the very least have our computer experts send a killer virus to affect their nuclear facilities and destroy their missiles. If that doesn't work, I understand Seal Team 6 is free.
Running mate; Ohio is an important state. Congressman Mike Turner (R) of Ohio's 3rd district would be a great choice. That way your theme could be
BACHMANN, TURNER IN OVERDRIVE
and the campaign song could be the Bachmann, Turner, Overdrive hit
"Taking care of business"
Granite Staters are fiercely independent when it comes to politics. That is one of the main reasons we get involved early. Of course protecting our first in the nation primary status is another.
Michele Bachmann, "in my humble opinion", seems to be on the side of every issue that concerns me. For example, Bachmann has stated that the number one issue in the coming Presidential election is the economy and job growth. Her plan is to reduce the role of government and "placing the trust in the real job creators, the private sector." This is something every small business owner in New Hampshire should applaud.
On the debt ceiling Bachmann has said " I will stand firm against an increase in the debt ceiling and as President, fight for a renewed vision of Constitutional government and reforms resulting in deep cuts in federal spending so that we never face this situation again." This is something our children, grand children and, believe it or not, our great grand children should be thankful for.
Obama care has been an unmitigated disaster and Congresswoman Bachmann has promised to repeal it. " As President, I will not rest until Obamacare is repealed, and will work to unleash the power of medical innovation and personal choice in producing better treatments and more cures that mean better outcomes at lower cost. And I will push for greater competition in the health care market - because competition both lowers prices and improves outcomes." Hear, hear, applaud applaud.
Bachmann's stated positions go on and on covering everything from national security to drilling for oil. All of which my agreements are wholehearted.
Since this is my column here are some of my thoughts that the Bachmann people should consider.
My feelings on:
Foreign aid; Not one dime to governments that are not representative or duly elected by the people. If Russia or red China want to support such entities let them do so. It has nearly destroyed us in the past and will do the same to them.
National Security; Pakistan is not our friend. President Bachmann should at the very least have our computer experts send a killer virus to affect their nuclear facilities and destroy their missiles. If that doesn't work, I understand Seal Team 6 is free.
Running mate; Ohio is an important state. Congressman Mike Turner (R) of Ohio's 3rd district would be a great choice. That way your theme could be
BACHMANN, TURNER IN OVERDRIVE
and the campaign song could be the Bachmann, Turner, Overdrive hit
"Taking care of business"
7.09.2011
Obama and Holder show Supreme Arrogance
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Operation Fast and Furious
By Jerry McConnell
Friday, July 8, 2011
The unbelievable audacity of this Obama Administration is enough to rattle a man’s brain it is so brazenly full of chutzpah. It’s as if all of them from the Usurper-in-Chief on down think they not only can walk on water but they can use that water to cleanse all the dirt and mud that sticks to them from their dirty dealings.
They all feel that they are above any criticism or judgment for their nefarious or improper conduct; the order of the day is just forget and find someone to investigate for something else to take the spotlight off of them. It would be interesting to know just how many incidents or issues are being “investigated” by Congress into Obama accomplice miscreantic endeavors. Perhaps Congressman Issa can tell us.
Case in point: Our Secretary of the Department of Justice and Attorney General the highest appointed justice purveyor in our government, Eric H. Holder, was recently on a hot burner attempting to defend himself and his immediate superior, Barack Obama from involvement in the mass gun supply activity to criminals in Mexico who bring drugs into the United States and many other illegal activities.
To escape the heat emanating from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) launched Operation “Fast and Furious”—an illegal pipeline for shipping guns into Mexico Holder and his (un)Justice Department suddenly announced that they were going to launch criminal probes into CIA interrogations where alleged deaths were perpetrated during the Bush Administration.
That’s Slippery Ops 101; take the heat off yourself by aiming heat at someone else. I have a feeling Holder is an expert in dodging guilt or exculpation by deflecting it in another direction.
Much of what I have written here was derived from information gleaned at website FireHolder.com established by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), from an article titled, “Help Stop the Conspiracy and Cover Up!” by Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President (NRA) and also FoxNews.com “Justice Department Launches Criminal Probe Into Deaths During CIA Interrogations.”
The LaPierre article contained a Petition circulating as a National Campaign to fire Attorney General Eric Holder and gives a detailed explanation of the BATFE program to assist Obama and Holder’s arguments that “your Second Amendment rights are to blame for the drug crimes and killings in Mexico.”
Obama is so intent on getting our Second Amendment gun rights taken away from us that they blamed the killings at the U.S.-Mexico border on the fact that “our Second Amendment rights are to blame for the drug crimes and killings in Mexico.
LaPierre continues, “Holder and other top-level Obama Administration figures—even the President himself—claimed that 90% of the guns used by violent drug cartels were coming from American gun dealers. In short, they blamed our Second Amendment rights for the violence of the Mexican drug cartels. But leaked U.S. State Department cables have exposed this as a bald-faced LIE.”
He further explained, “These Obama Administration cables proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what the Mexican government already knew: That the drug cartels were getting guns—along with fully-automatic weapons, grenade launchers, anti-personnel mines and other military hardware—through Central America, NOT THE U.S.”
But you’ll notice, Obama and Holder did nothing to let us know about the findings of the State Department and the cables that exposed them. They would rather lay a guilt trip on the good citizens of America in false accusation that their Second Amendment gun rights were to blame for the weapons.
The LaPierre report added, “While these leaked cables exposed the lies propping up Obama’s gun control agenda, administration officials at the highest levels pushed a strategy to fit their gun control aims.
“In a display of corruption and arrogance that’s shocking even for this Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) launched Operation “Fast and Furious”—an illegal pipeline for shipping guns into Mexico.
“With our government’s full knowledge and complicity, BATFE higher-ups ordered firearms dealers to sell these guns illegally to straw purchasers. And it wasn’t just a few guns… It was over two thousand.
This exercise in arrogance and impropriety in high government officials wound up costing the life of one of the BATFE men, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was shot and killed in a gunfight with a group of armed Mexican “illegal entrants. And when the bandits fled, they left behind two AK-style rifles that were traced to sales made under the Fast and Furious operation.”
As stated above, Congressman Darrel Issa ( R-CA) as well as Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) are holding Congressional hearing into Operation “Fast and Furious” the ID given to the expedited sales operations that BATFE forced on gun dealers with the Mexican criminals. During these hearings Senator Grassley questioned Holder according to LaPierre asking, “How did guns that were allowed to ‘walk’ our of gun dealer shops during Operation Fast and Furious end up at a U.S. Border Patrol Agent’s murder scene?” Holder’s evasive answer, “I frankly don’t know.”
This synopsis of potential career ending story of illegalities committed by Justice Department officials was covered more completely in The Examiner on July 06, 2011 that these guns that were being practically given to Mexican criminals were part of the idea that they would be traced to “higher-ups” in the drug cartel for stronger evidence in future investigations.
But as Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Panel discovered, the planned ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ didn’t work as intended.
Several of the weapons sold with ATF approval have been used in nearly two dozen murders on both sides of the border, including that of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. After that killing the program was shut down with Justice Department officials denying any knowledge of Fast and Furious. But ATF Director Kenneth Melson has described multiple oral and written communications he had with senior Justice officials about the program both before and after Terry was murdered emphasizing the relevance of the cover-up.
Chairman Issa’s panel has run into a solid wall of obstruction and resistance Justice Department on requests for information and documents. In a letter to AG Holder, Issa said that ATF Chief Melson told congress that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be far more cooperative with our inquiry but Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and they took full control of replying to Congress.
Obstructing congressional investigations is illegal, as is threatening to discipline or otherwise hamper or prevent any federal employee from cooperating with a congressional inquiry. As The Examiner stated, “We look forward to hearing the explanations of Justice Department higher-ups who told Melson not to respond to the Issa panel’s requests and who, according to Issa, thereby “sent over false denials” and “distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. We might also find out what they were so determined to keep Issa from learning.”
NOW can we get the impeachment proceedings started?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jerry McConnell
Friday, July 8, 2011
The unbelievable audacity of this Obama Administration is enough to rattle a man’s brain it is so brazenly full of chutzpah. It’s as if all of them from the Usurper-in-Chief on down think they not only can walk on water but they can use that water to cleanse all the dirt and mud that sticks to them from their dirty dealings.
They all feel that they are above any criticism or judgment for their nefarious or improper conduct; the order of the day is just forget and find someone to investigate for something else to take the spotlight off of them. It would be interesting to know just how many incidents or issues are being “investigated” by Congress into Obama accomplice miscreantic endeavors. Perhaps Congressman Issa can tell us.
Case in point: Our Secretary of the Department of Justice and Attorney General the highest appointed justice purveyor in our government, Eric H. Holder, was recently on a hot burner attempting to defend himself and his immediate superior, Barack Obama from involvement in the mass gun supply activity to criminals in Mexico who bring drugs into the United States and many other illegal activities.
To escape the heat emanating from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) launched Operation “Fast and Furious”—an illegal pipeline for shipping guns into Mexico Holder and his (un)Justice Department suddenly announced that they were going to launch criminal probes into CIA interrogations where alleged deaths were perpetrated during the Bush Administration.
That’s Slippery Ops 101; take the heat off yourself by aiming heat at someone else. I have a feeling Holder is an expert in dodging guilt or exculpation by deflecting it in another direction.
Much of what I have written here was derived from information gleaned at website FireHolder.com established by the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), from an article titled, “Help Stop the Conspiracy and Cover Up!” by Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President (NRA) and also FoxNews.com “Justice Department Launches Criminal Probe Into Deaths During CIA Interrogations.”
The LaPierre article contained a Petition circulating as a National Campaign to fire Attorney General Eric Holder and gives a detailed explanation of the BATFE program to assist Obama and Holder’s arguments that “your Second Amendment rights are to blame for the drug crimes and killings in Mexico.”
Obama is so intent on getting our Second Amendment gun rights taken away from us that they blamed the killings at the U.S.-Mexico border on the fact that “our Second Amendment rights are to blame for the drug crimes and killings in Mexico.
LaPierre continues, “Holder and other top-level Obama Administration figures—even the President himself—claimed that 90% of the guns used by violent drug cartels were coming from American gun dealers. In short, they blamed our Second Amendment rights for the violence of the Mexican drug cartels. But leaked U.S. State Department cables have exposed this as a bald-faced LIE.”
He further explained, “These Obama Administration cables proved beyond a shadow of a doubt what the Mexican government already knew: That the drug cartels were getting guns—along with fully-automatic weapons, grenade launchers, anti-personnel mines and other military hardware—through Central America, NOT THE U.S.”
But you’ll notice, Obama and Holder did nothing to let us know about the findings of the State Department and the cables that exposed them. They would rather lay a guilt trip on the good citizens of America in false accusation that their Second Amendment gun rights were to blame for the weapons.
The LaPierre report added, “While these leaked cables exposed the lies propping up Obama’s gun control agenda, administration officials at the highest levels pushed a strategy to fit their gun control aims.
“In a display of corruption and arrogance that’s shocking even for this Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) launched Operation “Fast and Furious”—an illegal pipeline for shipping guns into Mexico.
“With our government’s full knowledge and complicity, BATFE higher-ups ordered firearms dealers to sell these guns illegally to straw purchasers. And it wasn’t just a few guns… It was over two thousand.
This exercise in arrogance and impropriety in high government officials wound up costing the life of one of the BATFE men, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was shot and killed in a gunfight with a group of armed Mexican “illegal entrants. And when the bandits fled, they left behind two AK-style rifles that were traced to sales made under the Fast and Furious operation.”
As stated above, Congressman Darrel Issa ( R-CA) as well as Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) are holding Congressional hearing into Operation “Fast and Furious” the ID given to the expedited sales operations that BATFE forced on gun dealers with the Mexican criminals. During these hearings Senator Grassley questioned Holder according to LaPierre asking, “How did guns that were allowed to ‘walk’ our of gun dealer shops during Operation Fast and Furious end up at a U.S. Border Patrol Agent’s murder scene?” Holder’s evasive answer, “I frankly don’t know.”
This synopsis of potential career ending story of illegalities committed by Justice Department officials was covered more completely in The Examiner on July 06, 2011 that these guns that were being practically given to Mexican criminals were part of the idea that they would be traced to “higher-ups” in the drug cartel for stronger evidence in future investigations.
But as Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Panel discovered, the planned ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ didn’t work as intended.
Several of the weapons sold with ATF approval have been used in nearly two dozen murders on both sides of the border, including that of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. After that killing the program was shut down with Justice Department officials denying any knowledge of Fast and Furious. But ATF Director Kenneth Melson has described multiple oral and written communications he had with senior Justice officials about the program both before and after Terry was murdered emphasizing the relevance of the cover-up.
Chairman Issa’s panel has run into a solid wall of obstruction and resistance Justice Department on requests for information and documents. In a letter to AG Holder, Issa said that ATF Chief Melson told congress that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be far more cooperative with our inquiry but Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and they took full control of replying to Congress.
Obstructing congressional investigations is illegal, as is threatening to discipline or otherwise hamper or prevent any federal employee from cooperating with a congressional inquiry. As The Examiner stated, “We look forward to hearing the explanations of Justice Department higher-ups who told Melson not to respond to the Issa panel’s requests and who, according to Issa, thereby “sent over false denials” and “distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. We might also find out what they were so determined to keep Issa from learning.”
NOW can we get the impeachment proceedings started?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.01.2011
Amessage from Kelly Ayotte
To help support breast cancer survivors and advance breast cancer research, I'd like to tell you about two events this week that I committed to supporting.
Last night in Washington, I played in the 3rd Annual Congressional Women's Softball game, which benefitted the Young Survival Coalition, an organization that supports young women who have breast cancer. For charity, I played on a bipartisan team comprised of women members of the Senate and House, and we squared off against female Capitol Hill reporters. It was a fun way to support a very worthy and important cause.
And this Sunday in my hometown of Nashua, I will run in "Rosanne's Rush for Research" - a 5K run/walk that will help benefit triple negative breast cancer research and treatment.
On Capitol Hill, I continued an effort of great importance to many North Country residents: getting the federal prison in Berlin up and running. Read on for additional news about my work this week in Washington on behalf of New Hampshire citizens.
During a meeting Wednesday in her Capitol Hill office with top officials from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Justice Department, Senator Ayotte reiterated her request for the department to activate the federal correctional facility in Berlin, which has been vacant since it was completed in 2010 despite the nation's federal prisons being 38 percent overcrowded.
Senator Ayotte discussed her request with the Bureau's Assistant Director, William Dalius, and other BOP and Justice Department officials. Mr. Dalius told the Senator that the Berlin Prison is a high priority, and that BOP officials are committed to working with her to ensure that the prison, which is the only existing federal correctional facility in Northern New England, is opened and staffed as soon as possible.
"I am encouraged by Mr. Dalius' comments that the Berlin Prison is a high priority for the Bureau and that he is eager to find a solution," said Senator Ayotte. "I will continue to work with BOP officials to ensure that the facility in Berlin is opened, providing needed jobs in the area, and helping address the dangerous overcrowded conditions at federal correctional facilities throughout the country."
Because of Congress' failure to pass a budget last year, the BOP is being funded under a Continuing Resolution that does not include funds for staffing the Berlin prison. As a result, the facility remains vacant and unstaffed, costing taxpayers an estimated $4 million a year. Senator Ayotte wrote to BOP officials and Attorney General Eric Holder last month, urging them to redirect sufficient funds within the Bureau's budget to allow for the opening and staffing of the prison.
Senator Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met this week with the commanding officers of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, along with two pilots that participated in the F-15 pilot rescue in Libya. The Navy and Marine team provided a briefing of their nine month deployment, which began in August of 2010 and included humanitarian flood relief assistance in Pakistan, combat operations in Afghanistan, counter-piracy operations near the Horn of Africa, and support to operations in Libya.
Senator Ayotte's Statement on President's Plan to Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan
Senator Ayotte on Wednesday released this statement following the President's address to the nation regarding his plan to begin withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan:
"While our troops should not stay in Afghanistan a day longer than our interests require, I don't believe we should impose arbitrary deadlines for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Such timetables encourage the terrorists to wait us out, and dissuade average Afghans from supporting their government and opposing our enemies."
Senator Ayotte Renews Call for Limiting Detainee Transfers Following Escape of Al Qaeda Militants from Yemen Prison
Following reports that as many as 60 al-Qaeda militants escaped this week from a prison in Yemen, Senator Ayotte renewed her call for a stronger U.S. terrorist detention policy that includes permanent limits on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to foreign countries.
"While it is unclear whether any of the escapees are former Guantanamo detainees, this alarming news is further evidence that future transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to countries like Yemen are unwise. Such transfers pose the risk of escape and recidivism, representing an unjustifiable security threat to our nation and the world," said Senator Ayotte, who personally inspected Guantanamo during an official visit in March. "Today's news also further underscores the urgent need for the U.S. to develop a responsible detainee policy that establishes Guantanamo Bay as the location for the long-term detention of current and future terrorist detainees."
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Ayotte has worked to keep open the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility, keep terrorist detainees out of the United States, and limit the transfer of detainees from Gitmo to foreign countries.
Last week, Senator Ayotte successfully worked to include in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization bill a provision she authored that permanently prohibits funding for the construction or modification of facilities in the United States to house terrorist detainees. The measure was approved by the full Committee last Thursday.
In May, Senator Ayotte introduced the Detaining Terrorists to Secure America Act (S. 944), bipartisan legislation that would keep open the Guantanamo Bay facility for the detention and interrogation of current and future terrorists. The bill would also permanently limit the transfer of detainees to foreign countries.
Senator Ayotte Continues Efforts to Cut Federal Red Tape
Continuing her efforts to reduce burdensome federal regulations on New Hampshire's small businesses, Senator Ayotte this week introduced legislation that would protect employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) from a costly new regulation proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL). If implemented, DOL's rule would expand the definition of "fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to include appraisers of all private ESOPs.
The proposed rule would result in new compliance and regulatory costs for private companies offering ESOPs (nearly all of which are small businesses) and could jeopardize the availability of these plans in the future. It also would force appraisers to purchase expensive fiduciary insurance, employ specialized counsel, and could expose private ESOP companies to frivolous litigation.
Senator Ayotte's legislation would reverse DOL's rule by explicitly exempting ESOP appraisals from the law's stringent fiduciary requirements.
ESOP Association President, J. Michael Keeling, said, "We're very pleased to see Senator Ayotte take the lead on this issue. The DOL needs to wake up to the fact that private company ESOPs have tremendous positive records of creating jobs that are locally controlled in high performing companies. ESOPs are good for employees, companies, and our communities."
Last night, Senator Ayotte played in the 3rd Annual Congressional Women's Softball game, which benefitted the Young Survival Coalition, an organization that supports young women who have breast cancer. Ayotte was a captain of the bipartisan, bicameral women members of Congress team, which played against a team comprised of women of the Capitol Hill press corps. Senator Ayotte went 1 for 2 with a line drive to right field in helping the women members of Congress win by a score of 5 to 4.
Last night in Washington, I played in the 3rd Annual Congressional Women's Softball game, which benefitted the Young Survival Coalition, an organization that supports young women who have breast cancer. For charity, I played on a bipartisan team comprised of women members of the Senate and House, and we squared off against female Capitol Hill reporters. It was a fun way to support a very worthy and important cause.
And this Sunday in my hometown of Nashua, I will run in "Rosanne's Rush for Research" - a 5K run/walk that will help benefit triple negative breast cancer research and treatment.
On Capitol Hill, I continued an effort of great importance to many North Country residents: getting the federal prison in Berlin up and running. Read on for additional news about my work this week in Washington on behalf of New Hampshire citizens.
During a meeting Wednesday in her Capitol Hill office with top officials from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Justice Department, Senator Ayotte reiterated her request for the department to activate the federal correctional facility in Berlin, which has been vacant since it was completed in 2010 despite the nation's federal prisons being 38 percent overcrowded.
Senator Ayotte discussed her request with the Bureau's Assistant Director, William Dalius, and other BOP and Justice Department officials. Mr. Dalius told the Senator that the Berlin Prison is a high priority, and that BOP officials are committed to working with her to ensure that the prison, which is the only existing federal correctional facility in Northern New England, is opened and staffed as soon as possible.
"I am encouraged by Mr. Dalius' comments that the Berlin Prison is a high priority for the Bureau and that he is eager to find a solution," said Senator Ayotte. "I will continue to work with BOP officials to ensure that the facility in Berlin is opened, providing needed jobs in the area, and helping address the dangerous overcrowded conditions at federal correctional facilities throughout the country."
Because of Congress' failure to pass a budget last year, the BOP is being funded under a Continuing Resolution that does not include funds for staffing the Berlin prison. As a result, the facility remains vacant and unstaffed, costing taxpayers an estimated $4 million a year. Senator Ayotte wrote to BOP officials and Attorney General Eric Holder last month, urging them to redirect sufficient funds within the Bureau's budget to allow for the opening and staffing of the prison.
Senator Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met this week with the commanding officers of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, along with two pilots that participated in the F-15 pilot rescue in Libya. The Navy and Marine team provided a briefing of their nine month deployment, which began in August of 2010 and included humanitarian flood relief assistance in Pakistan, combat operations in Afghanistan, counter-piracy operations near the Horn of Africa, and support to operations in Libya.
Senator Ayotte's Statement on President's Plan to Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan
Senator Ayotte on Wednesday released this statement following the President's address to the nation regarding his plan to begin withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan:
"While our troops should not stay in Afghanistan a day longer than our interests require, I don't believe we should impose arbitrary deadlines for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Such timetables encourage the terrorists to wait us out, and dissuade average Afghans from supporting their government and opposing our enemies."
Senator Ayotte Renews Call for Limiting Detainee Transfers Following Escape of Al Qaeda Militants from Yemen Prison
Following reports that as many as 60 al-Qaeda militants escaped this week from a prison in Yemen, Senator Ayotte renewed her call for a stronger U.S. terrorist detention policy that includes permanent limits on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to foreign countries.
"While it is unclear whether any of the escapees are former Guantanamo detainees, this alarming news is further evidence that future transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to countries like Yemen are unwise. Such transfers pose the risk of escape and recidivism, representing an unjustifiable security threat to our nation and the world," said Senator Ayotte, who personally inspected Guantanamo during an official visit in March. "Today's news also further underscores the urgent need for the U.S. to develop a responsible detainee policy that establishes Guantanamo Bay as the location for the long-term detention of current and future terrorist detainees."
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Ayotte has worked to keep open the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility, keep terrorist detainees out of the United States, and limit the transfer of detainees from Gitmo to foreign countries.
Last week, Senator Ayotte successfully worked to include in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2012 Defense Authorization bill a provision she authored that permanently prohibits funding for the construction or modification of facilities in the United States to house terrorist detainees. The measure was approved by the full Committee last Thursday.
In May, Senator Ayotte introduced the Detaining Terrorists to Secure America Act (S. 944), bipartisan legislation that would keep open the Guantanamo Bay facility for the detention and interrogation of current and future terrorists. The bill would also permanently limit the transfer of detainees to foreign countries.
Senator Ayotte Continues Efforts to Cut Federal Red Tape
Continuing her efforts to reduce burdensome federal regulations on New Hampshire's small businesses, Senator Ayotte this week introduced legislation that would protect employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) from a costly new regulation proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL). If implemented, DOL's rule would expand the definition of "fiduciary" under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to include appraisers of all private ESOPs.
The proposed rule would result in new compliance and regulatory costs for private companies offering ESOPs (nearly all of which are small businesses) and could jeopardize the availability of these plans in the future. It also would force appraisers to purchase expensive fiduciary insurance, employ specialized counsel, and could expose private ESOP companies to frivolous litigation.
Senator Ayotte's legislation would reverse DOL's rule by explicitly exempting ESOP appraisals from the law's stringent fiduciary requirements.
ESOP Association President, J. Michael Keeling, said, "We're very pleased to see Senator Ayotte take the lead on this issue. The DOL needs to wake up to the fact that private company ESOPs have tremendous positive records of creating jobs that are locally controlled in high performing companies. ESOPs are good for employees, companies, and our communities."
Last night, Senator Ayotte played in the 3rd Annual Congressional Women's Softball game, which benefitted the Young Survival Coalition, an organization that supports young women who have breast cancer. Ayotte was a captain of the bipartisan, bicameral women members of Congress team, which played against a team comprised of women of the Capitol Hill press corps. Senator Ayotte went 1 for 2 with a line drive to right field in helping the women members of Congress win by a score of 5 to 4.
Tough choices
By Jeb Bradley:
On Wednesday, both the House and Senate passed a comprehensive two year budget that Governor Lynch has said he will not veto. Some have praised the budget’s fiscal responsibility while others have criticized the cuts it makes to services. From my vantage point, it is a budget that makes tough choices, establishes priorities, and makes long overdue reforms so that government services will be delivered in a more cost effective manner – all of which will enable NH’s competitiveness and future job growth.
Six months ago NH confronted a gaping $800 million projected budget gap. Despite a languishing economy, the previous two budgets had increased spending 23% from $9.36 billion to $11.5 billion. Prior budgets had relied on inflated revenue estimates that never materialized, borrowing for operating expenses, and one time federal stimulus dollars. Alarmingly, despite nearly 100 tax and fee increases, an $800 million gap loomed. Voters said enough last November.
The 2011 Legislature established two goals: NH would not raise taxes that would harm economic recovery and NH government would live within its means -- just as working families and small business owners have been forced to do in the current economic climate. Budget writers knew great caution was necessary in predicting future revenue and certainly the last six months have proven the wisdom of that caution as revenue has not met expectations. They also knew continued borrowing for operating expenses was unsustainable. Lastly, budget writers knew that with a $14 trillion dollar federal debt and trillion dollar deficits stretching as far as the eye can see -- federal largess was neither possible nor warranted.
Extraordinary tough choices had to be made and priorities established, which meant programs – many worthy -- were cut. Governor Lynch initially proposed significant reductions to hospitals for uncompensated care, cuts to programs that serve troubled youth, catastrophic aid for schools districts’ special education costs, Healthy Children, and to the Post Secondary Education Commission, as well as cuts to virtually every state agency except prisons. The Governor also proposed complete elimination of the 35% state assistance for cities and towns’ retirement costs which would have the effect of increasing property taxes by $85 million annually.
Governor Lynch also presumed that revenue growth would be a relatively healthy 3.5%. Unfortunately as winter turned into spring, revenue in the current budget was $42 million less than projected. Legislative budget writers had to make further spending reductions than those proposed by the Governor. NH has learned the hard way: spending that depends upon revenue that may never materialize is foolhardy.
When the budget reached the Senate, the chair of the Finance Committee, Chuck Morse, effectively established priorities. Senator Morse added funds back in to the budget for mental health programs, the developmentally disabled, Service Link, troubled youth, adoption initiatives, and catastrophic aid for special education. Morse proposed key reforms including allowing up to 600 inmates to be incarcerated at private prisons to create savings to pay for some of these adjustments. The Governor’s proposed elimination of retirement assistance to cities and towns was mitigated by pension reform legislation – benefitting hard pressed property taxpayers.
Given the significantly under-performing revenue, funding could not be restored for the University System or to hospitals. Some people have asked why then was the tobacco tax lowered and why were net-operating-loss provisions expanded. Supporters of the tobacco tax decrease believe there will be no net revenue loss as an increase in cross border sales will occur that will help small businesses. If there is a revenue loss, then the budget calls for the tax decrease to be removed in two years. The net-operating-loss provisions will only take effect in the next budget. These provisions allow business to better carry forward losses against future profits. This will improve New Hampshire’s business climate and has been an important priority for chambers of commerce across the state.
In total, spending has been reduced to $10.2 billion -- an 11% cut. Taxes have not been raised, borrowing for operating expenses has been eliminated, no federal bailouts have been assumed, and rosy revenue projections have been rejected. This budget does what small businesses, working families, and taxpayers have been doing for some time: making tough choices to live within their means.
While much has been written about the budget’s bottom line and the impact on particular programs, less discussed are the reforms that will enable state government to deliver services far more effectively and efficiently.
Medicaid – the largest cost item in our budget – will be delivered through managed care as a result of legislation I sponsored and Governor Lynch recently signed. Managed care will save millions without sacrificing quality. A new education funding formula maintains funding levels, holds communities harmless, eliminates donor towns, while mitigating large spending hikes in Concord. Bipartisan legislation I sponsored will curtail the practice of revenue auditors assessing what in essence is an income tax on the salaries small business owners pay themselves – a key reform to enhance NH’s competitiveness. I also sponsored bipartisan Shoreland Protection legislation which protects our shoreland while also simplifying the permitting process and helping homebuilders create jobs. Prison and retirement reforms will also clearly benefit taxpayers.
Voters sent a clear message last November – government had to live within its means and stop reaching ever further into taxpayers’ pockets. This budget makes the tough choices to do exactly that. By doing our job in the Legislature ending the climate of spending hikes, unsustainable borrowing, inflated revenue projections, and ever more tax and fee hikes; the stage is set for further job growth –and when job growth is sustained --- revenue will grow.
Tough choices, priorities, necessary reforms that will grow jobs -- or as President Kennedy said a rising tide that will lift all boats.
On Wednesday, both the House and Senate passed a comprehensive two year budget that Governor Lynch has said he will not veto. Some have praised the budget’s fiscal responsibility while others have criticized the cuts it makes to services. From my vantage point, it is a budget that makes tough choices, establishes priorities, and makes long overdue reforms so that government services will be delivered in a more cost effective manner – all of which will enable NH’s competitiveness and future job growth.
Six months ago NH confronted a gaping $800 million projected budget gap. Despite a languishing economy, the previous two budgets had increased spending 23% from $9.36 billion to $11.5 billion. Prior budgets had relied on inflated revenue estimates that never materialized, borrowing for operating expenses, and one time federal stimulus dollars. Alarmingly, despite nearly 100 tax and fee increases, an $800 million gap loomed. Voters said enough last November.
The 2011 Legislature established two goals: NH would not raise taxes that would harm economic recovery and NH government would live within its means -- just as working families and small business owners have been forced to do in the current economic climate. Budget writers knew great caution was necessary in predicting future revenue and certainly the last six months have proven the wisdom of that caution as revenue has not met expectations. They also knew continued borrowing for operating expenses was unsustainable. Lastly, budget writers knew that with a $14 trillion dollar federal debt and trillion dollar deficits stretching as far as the eye can see -- federal largess was neither possible nor warranted.
Extraordinary tough choices had to be made and priorities established, which meant programs – many worthy -- were cut. Governor Lynch initially proposed significant reductions to hospitals for uncompensated care, cuts to programs that serve troubled youth, catastrophic aid for schools districts’ special education costs, Healthy Children, and to the Post Secondary Education Commission, as well as cuts to virtually every state agency except prisons. The Governor also proposed complete elimination of the 35% state assistance for cities and towns’ retirement costs which would have the effect of increasing property taxes by $85 million annually.
Governor Lynch also presumed that revenue growth would be a relatively healthy 3.5%. Unfortunately as winter turned into spring, revenue in the current budget was $42 million less than projected. Legislative budget writers had to make further spending reductions than those proposed by the Governor. NH has learned the hard way: spending that depends upon revenue that may never materialize is foolhardy.
When the budget reached the Senate, the chair of the Finance Committee, Chuck Morse, effectively established priorities. Senator Morse added funds back in to the budget for mental health programs, the developmentally disabled, Service Link, troubled youth, adoption initiatives, and catastrophic aid for special education. Morse proposed key reforms including allowing up to 600 inmates to be incarcerated at private prisons to create savings to pay for some of these adjustments. The Governor’s proposed elimination of retirement assistance to cities and towns was mitigated by pension reform legislation – benefitting hard pressed property taxpayers.
Given the significantly under-performing revenue, funding could not be restored for the University System or to hospitals. Some people have asked why then was the tobacco tax lowered and why were net-operating-loss provisions expanded. Supporters of the tobacco tax decrease believe there will be no net revenue loss as an increase in cross border sales will occur that will help small businesses. If there is a revenue loss, then the budget calls for the tax decrease to be removed in two years. The net-operating-loss provisions will only take effect in the next budget. These provisions allow business to better carry forward losses against future profits. This will improve New Hampshire’s business climate and has been an important priority for chambers of commerce across the state.
In total, spending has been reduced to $10.2 billion -- an 11% cut. Taxes have not been raised, borrowing for operating expenses has been eliminated, no federal bailouts have been assumed, and rosy revenue projections have been rejected. This budget does what small businesses, working families, and taxpayers have been doing for some time: making tough choices to live within their means.
While much has been written about the budget’s bottom line and the impact on particular programs, less discussed are the reforms that will enable state government to deliver services far more effectively and efficiently.
Medicaid – the largest cost item in our budget – will be delivered through managed care as a result of legislation I sponsored and Governor Lynch recently signed. Managed care will save millions without sacrificing quality. A new education funding formula maintains funding levels, holds communities harmless, eliminates donor towns, while mitigating large spending hikes in Concord. Bipartisan legislation I sponsored will curtail the practice of revenue auditors assessing what in essence is an income tax on the salaries small business owners pay themselves – a key reform to enhance NH’s competitiveness. I also sponsored bipartisan Shoreland Protection legislation which protects our shoreland while also simplifying the permitting process and helping homebuilders create jobs. Prison and retirement reforms will also clearly benefit taxpayers.
Voters sent a clear message last November – government had to live within its means and stop reaching ever further into taxpayers’ pockets. This budget makes the tough choices to do exactly that. By doing our job in the Legislature ending the climate of spending hikes, unsustainable borrowing, inflated revenue projections, and ever more tax and fee hikes; the stage is set for further job growth –and when job growth is sustained --- revenue will grow.
Tough choices, priorities, necessary reforms that will grow jobs -- or as President Kennedy said a rising tide that will lift all boats.
The Smell
By Jerry McConnell
The smell of partisan politics is in the air; must be getting close to election time again, if you can describe 18 months as being ‘close’.
Democrats are, as usual, up to their old tricks again; rolling out the ancient and war-weary clichés and charges that Republicans are racists and geared up to prevent the “poor blacks” from getting to the polls to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Only in these modern days, they now include the “depressed Hispanics” as well.
My God, what phonies they are. Election cycle after election cycle they trot out all the tired and disbelievable small-minded people like Donna Brazile, former DNC Chairman, one of the most bigoted racists ever to lie with a straight face. When it comes to politics the truth is such a stranger to this woman that she wouldn’t recognize it if it came directly from Barack Obama. Come to think of it, that’s not a good citation as I wouldn’t believe it either coming from him. But you get my point. :-)
Some people have dubbed Brazile as the female ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ in deference to James Carville the original at spreading the “Big Lie” with dripping venom, so adept that she rose all the way to the top of the Democratic National Committee, but only as an ‘Interim’ Chairman. But these days she appears relatively docile, particularly when compared to the ‘beast’ that copped the title of Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Wasserman Schultz is an elected Representative to the U. S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 20th District nominated to the DNC Chair by President Obama and assumed that position in May of this year. She has not been impressive in the early moments in her lofty position as DNC Chair.
In fact, as Ricky Kreitner of Business Insider – Politix “Democrats Are Already Fretting About Gaffes By Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz” states in his June 10, 2011, column: “Democrats are privately fretting after a rocky start by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
“She has been called out repeatedly by non-partisan fact-checkers for stretching the truth on a number of points, Politico reports: ‘The congresswoman’s latest blunder came Sunday, when she said on television that Republicans ‘want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally — and very transparently — block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates.’
Kreitner explains it “The equating of state legislatures’ efforts to require voters to show identification with laws that required separate schools and water fountains raised hackles, particularly in racially sensitive Democratic circles, prompting a quasi-retraction from Wasserman Schultz. In a statement, she said, ‘Jim Crow was the wrong analogy to use. But I don’t regret calling attention to the efforts” of GOP legislators “to restrict access to the ballot box.’”
I wonder what she would say about the Black Panthers at the polls in Philadelphia in the 2010 elections. Now that’s what I would call REAL “restricting access to the ballot box.”
As Quin Hilyer of Center for Individual Freedom stated in his June 09, 2011 column DNC Race-baiting Camouflages Vote Fraud “Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, has ripped the scab from a deep wound in American politics. The Left has spent years slinging at conservatives the calumny that we want to block access to the polls by minority groups. The charge is a vile slander. Yet in the space of just two weeks, DNC chiefs have twice gone public with the allegation – race-baiting for all they are worth – in a raw attempt to foment racial tension. Beneath the surface, it’s also an attempt to provide a smokescreen for fraudulent voting.”
Hilyer reported that “She was parroting former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, who on May 17 wrote in USA Today that “from coast to coast, the GOP is engaged in what appears to be a coordinated, expensive effort to block voters from the polls. The motivation is political — a cynical effort to restrict voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning Americans. In more than 30 states, GOP legislators are on the move…. What the GOP is attempting to do is change the rules of the game, leaving only their players on the field.”
What both Brazile and Wasserman Schultz are referring to are the efforts of the Republican Party to require voter-ID at the polls in order to prevent the prevalent illegal voting that has taken place in recent elections fostered mainly by the Democrats – (think ACORN.)
Democrats are frightened and energized by the efforts of the Republicans to get voter-ID as a threat to their “vote early and often” campaign so effusively used by ACORN and other voter fraud groups. Frightened that they’ll lose all those extra votes they will not be getting, and energized to keep that sort of illicit operation in action at polls all across the country.
Just ask yourself which political party vehemently opposes the fair-mindedness of Voter-ID and why?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The smell of partisan politics is in the air; must be getting close to election time again, if you can describe 18 months as being ‘close’.
Democrats are, as usual, up to their old tricks again; rolling out the ancient and war-weary clichés and charges that Republicans are racists and geared up to prevent the “poor blacks” from getting to the polls to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Only in these modern days, they now include the “depressed Hispanics” as well.
My God, what phonies they are. Election cycle after election cycle they trot out all the tired and disbelievable small-minded people like Donna Brazile, former DNC Chairman, one of the most bigoted racists ever to lie with a straight face. When it comes to politics the truth is such a stranger to this woman that she wouldn’t recognize it if it came directly from Barack Obama. Come to think of it, that’s not a good citation as I wouldn’t believe it either coming from him. But you get my point. :-)
Some people have dubbed Brazile as the female ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ in deference to James Carville the original at spreading the “Big Lie” with dripping venom, so adept that she rose all the way to the top of the Democratic National Committee, but only as an ‘Interim’ Chairman. But these days she appears relatively docile, particularly when compared to the ‘beast’ that copped the title of Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Wasserman Schultz is an elected Representative to the U. S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 20th District nominated to the DNC Chair by President Obama and assumed that position in May of this year. She has not been impressive in the early moments in her lofty position as DNC Chair.
In fact, as Ricky Kreitner of Business Insider – Politix “Democrats Are Already Fretting About Gaffes By Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz” states in his June 10, 2011, column: “Democrats are privately fretting after a rocky start by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
“She has been called out repeatedly by non-partisan fact-checkers for stretching the truth on a number of points, Politico reports: ‘The congresswoman’s latest blunder came Sunday, when she said on television that Republicans ‘want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally — and very transparently — block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates.’
Kreitner explains it “The equating of state legislatures’ efforts to require voters to show identification with laws that required separate schools and water fountains raised hackles, particularly in racially sensitive Democratic circles, prompting a quasi-retraction from Wasserman Schultz. In a statement, she said, ‘Jim Crow was the wrong analogy to use. But I don’t regret calling attention to the efforts” of GOP legislators “to restrict access to the ballot box.’”
I wonder what she would say about the Black Panthers at the polls in Philadelphia in the 2010 elections. Now that’s what I would call REAL “restricting access to the ballot box.”
As Quin Hilyer of Center for Individual Freedom stated in his June 09, 2011 column DNC Race-baiting Camouflages Vote Fraud “Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, has ripped the scab from a deep wound in American politics. The Left has spent years slinging at conservatives the calumny that we want to block access to the polls by minority groups. The charge is a vile slander. Yet in the space of just two weeks, DNC chiefs have twice gone public with the allegation – race-baiting for all they are worth – in a raw attempt to foment racial tension. Beneath the surface, it’s also an attempt to provide a smokescreen for fraudulent voting.”
Hilyer reported that “She was parroting former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, who on May 17 wrote in USA Today that “from coast to coast, the GOP is engaged in what appears to be a coordinated, expensive effort to block voters from the polls. The motivation is political — a cynical effort to restrict voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning Americans. In more than 30 states, GOP legislators are on the move…. What the GOP is attempting to do is change the rules of the game, leaving only their players on the field.”
What both Brazile and Wasserman Schultz are referring to are the efforts of the Republican Party to require voter-ID at the polls in order to prevent the prevalent illegal voting that has taken place in recent elections fostered mainly by the Democrats – (think ACORN.)
Democrats are frightened and energized by the efforts of the Republicans to get voter-ID as a threat to their “vote early and often” campaign so effusively used by ACORN and other voter fraud groups. Frightened that they’ll lose all those extra votes they will not be getting, and energized to keep that sort of illicit operation in action at polls all across the country.
Just ask yourself which political party vehemently opposes the fair-mindedness of Voter-ID and why?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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