Right On The Right

I had the opportunity today to be involved with another conference call with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). My post on the last conference call is viewable here. This call focused on some economic and budget issues, and kind of jumped around from there.

Minority Leader Boehner opened up by discussing "The Mother of All Tax Hikes." The Democrats, led by Speaker Pelosi, plan on raising taxes, affecting every American. None of the Bush tax cuts will be extended, if the Majority has their way. The Democrats just want to spend, and the only two accomplishments of this Congress (a clean war supplemental and FISA reform), were completed by Republicans. The Democrats just want to spend.

Boehner also went on to talk about the Wall Street Journal article that's becoming known as Murtha Inc. Referring to the American people and earmarks, he said the following:

"The American taxpayers deserve to know, and want to know, what these earmarks are for, who offered them, and what purpose, what public purpose, they bring."

The Wall Street Journal article has a list of the 6 biggest earmarkers in Congress. Four of them are Democrats, and two are Republicans. Congressman Boehner made it clear that the Democrats are not waiting for the Pentagon to request earmarks. When I asked him about the GOP leader of earmarks (Young-FL), he said the following:

"Young won't agree to fund things unless the Pentagon asks for it."

Gribbit decided to ask the Congressman about progress on the Internet Radio Equality Act. Boehner said he had never heard of it, but that he would get information on it. Congressman Boehner was instrumental in maintaining a tax-free internet, so I'm sure he'll take a serious look at the legislation.

Tom Blumer from Bizzyblog asked the Congressman why large economic gains aren't being touted by the Republicans. He mentioned that the economy has expanded for 55 consecutive months. His post on that is on his site. Congressman Boehner said he hadn't seen the numbers but said he would "get out there and do something" about the positive news.

Given that Pelosi spoke up about the Musharaff situation, I decided to ask Congressman Boehner about the problems that continue growing in Pakistan. His words:

"I've got real concerns about what Musharaff is doing. He's been important ally to us, and Pakistan has been important ally in the War on Terrorism. Pakistan is in an important geographic position for our country...

...I am shocked by the actions he's taken. I am hopeful he will restore the Constitution and put Pakistan back into Democratic rule as soon as possible."

The conversation then shifted to S-CHIP, and Minority Leader Boehner assured us that President Bush would continue to veto the bill until it's legitimate. The Congressman thinks the program, as written, is wide open to abuse by non-citizens. When asked about the Democrat strategy of using sick children as spokesmen:

"It's not fair but this is politics. This is the most political thing I've seen. Not one House Republican member saw this bill before it was put on the floor of the house."

There you have it. The Democrats are laying on the pork, practicing dirty politics, and aren't addressing the real issues of today. Instead of bipartisan progress, we have a tyrannical Majority. Didn't they say they would be different and work with us?

As I mentioned in my post about the Democrats and their secret earmark plans, I was in on a conference call with House Minority Leader John Boehner. We got to talking about some other issues, some related to spending, others not. Let me recap:

Matt Hurley from Weapons of Mass Discussion talks about picking fights and the right man picking the right fights. We both agree that this is a good battle to pick, and Congressman Boehner is the right man to lead us. He needs to be holding the gavel, soon.

We managed to talk about some other spending issues, including about how the Republicans lost their way on the issue. Congressman Boehner:

"You go back over the last 3 or 4 years prior to January of '06, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that we lost our way. Whether it be spending or whether it be earmarks, there was a lot more interest in how to hold power than in sustaining the principles that we believe in. What I tried to do, over the course of last year as Majority, is to get us back to our roots. Fiscal discipline, our budget held to the President's number. Secondly, if you recall, the House passed a supplemental on the war, and the Senate wanted more, and I came out and said that we're not going to pass a bill with one dollar more than the President asked for."

Parker from VikingSpirit's blog asked the Congressman about a specific Ohio race coming up in 2008 and whether or not he thinks we can hold the seat. From Parker:

I asked Boehner if he thinks Steve Driehaus is a viable candidate in OH-01 against Rep. Steve Chabot. While Boehner believes that Driehaus is the "most recent in a long line of very viable candidates," he is confident that Chabot will win.

Tom Blumer from Bizzyblog got in a question about an outrageous allegation from Newt Gingrich regarding immigration, which if true, would be damning for the administration. Word is out on whether or not Gingrich's assertion is true. When Boehner was asked on the issue, he responded:

"I'd be surprised if that were the case. Two- if there were any suggestions that that were the case, it's outrageous. We're a nation of laws, and enforcing those laws is a requirement of the administration."

Also on the immigration front, we were all a little concerned about President Bush's plan for amnesty, which luckily is temporarily dead in the Senate. When asked whether or not Congressman Boehner and his colleagues in the House were getting phone calls or public outcry about the issue:

"I've got thousands of phone calls, and I don't know that anybody called in favor of it. One of my colleagues said they got 800 or so phone calls, and they said they got 2 they thought were in favor of it, because they spoke in Spanish."

There was a spattering of laughter following that. The House managed to defeat the Amnesty proposals which made their way through the Senate last year, so we'll be looking to the House to be a stalwart defender of law enforcement this time around too. Congressman Boehner was asked whether or not he has made his position on this clear to the President:

"The President knows very well what I think about this whole process. You should also know, and this won't surprise you, that the President feels very strongly about this. He comes from a border state, he was the Governor of Texas, and he feels very strongly about this."

Lincoln Logs has weighed in on the call too, and he picked up on some very focused talk from the Minority Leader regarding his job. From Lincoln Logs:

First, the Republican Leader said that his role in leadership is to follow a path to earn back the majority. That’s a very interesting distinction. The conference (I almost called it a caucus, pardon me) is to follow a path to win back the majority, but the leader’s job is to make that win easier by working diligently on policies that re-commit Republicans to limited, fiscally responsible, accountable government.

The call ended with Congressman Boehner being asked about the ridiculous no confidence vote on Alberto Gonzales Democrats busied the Senate floor with the other day. The vote would've been non-binding even if it did pass. His quote on the entire dabacle:

"They've been overreaching on all of their oversight hearings and investigations, and they're going to continue to do it. I think they're hurting themselves, and I'm a firm believer that when your political opponents are committing suicide, you don't murder them."

The conference call went very well, and if anyone else that was in on the call weighs in with further commentary, I'll go ahead and update the post. I hope to be involved in future calls with the Minority Leader, and other influential Conservatives.

Update: Bearing Drift Ohio now has a post up about the call, and mentions that there is a $392.5 billion hole in the Democrat budget. You think they're going to cut spending or raise taxes?

I just got finished with a conference call with House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). Several other members of The SOB Alliance were in on the call with me, and we discussed a lot of things, primarily earmarks. Pork barrel spending is getting ridiculous, and Congressman Boehner wants to bring transparency back into the process. Some background, via FOX News:

WASHINGTON — Minority Leader John Boehner threatened Democratic leaders Tuesday, vowing to slow down legislative activities in the House until Democrats agree to open up earmarking policy so that lawmakers disclose their pet projects earlier in the bill-making process.

"Republicans today are going to declare war on our Democratic majority over these secret slush funds," Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Republicans are hoping to hold Democrats to an earlier promise to make earmark requests more transparent by revealing where earmarks are designated and which lawmaker is requesting them before spending bills reach the House floor. Democrats want to release that information during the conference committee process, well after the House votes for appropriations.

Boehner, R-Ohio, said he is upset over the change of heart, and Democrats need to "realize the errors of their ways."

What secret slush fund is he talking about? Democrats have essentially gutted all of the earmark reforms passed by the Republican Congress in 2006, and Congressman Obey (D-WI) has a system set up where earmarks could be hidden, in a secret slush fund. Congressman Boehner's site describes it as follows:

Earmark-Laden Bills Can Now Be Certified as “Earmark-Free.” The Democrats also gutted the Republican earmark reforms by allowing bills to be certified by the majority as “earmark-free” even if they contain earmarks. If a bill comes to the floor with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of earmarks, yet is certified by Chairman Obey as “earmark-free,” it is considered earmark-free under House rules, and there’s nothing any other Member can do about it. House Democrats exploited this loophole to pass a massive spending bill (“continuing resolution”) in February 2007 that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for hidden earmarks.

Congressman Boehner made it clear that we need "a more limited, more accountable government in Washington." He also, when asked about the differences between the Republican Congress of 2002-2006 and the current Democrat Congress, said that "We believe that the government is too big and spends too much. That's what defines us as a party better than anything else."

Representative Roy Blunt also wrote a piece on the secret slush fund in Human Events. Expect to see Republicans hammering this issue over the next few days, because, as Representative Boehner said in the call about reforming earmarks- "We've got to create enough heat to allow the vote to occur."