REPUBLICAN PARTY "SPLINTERING" AFTER "POLITE LITTLE GIRL" SHOWS REAL LEADERSHIP...

Jeffersons Ghost

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Wed Jan-17-07 03:12 PM
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REPUBLICAN PARTY "SPLINTERING" AFTER "POLITE LITTLE GIRL" SHOWS REAL LEADERSHIP...

Edited on Wed Jan-17-07 03:17 PM by Jeffersons Ghost

House GOP Shows Its Fractiousness In the Minority

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 14, 2007

House Republican leaders, who confidently predicted they would drive a wedge through the new Democratic majority, have found their own party splintering, with Republican lawmakers siding with Democrats in droves on the House's opening legislative blitz.

Freed from the pressures of being the majority and from the heavy hand of former leaders including retired representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), many back-bench Republicans are showing themselves to be more moderate than their conservative leadership and increasingly mindful of shifting voter sentiment. The closest vote last week -- Friday's push to require the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare -- pulled 24 Republicans. The Democrats' homeland security bill attracted 68 Republicans, the minimum wage increase 82.

"You're freer to vote your conscience," said Rep. Jo Anne Emerson (R-Mo.), who received an 88 percent voting record from the American Conservative Union in 2005 but has so far sided with Democrats on new budget rules, Medicare prescription-drug negotiations, raising the minimum wage and funding stem cell research. "Or, really, I feel free to represent my constituents exactly as they want me to be."

"Times have changed. I don't want to be someone who they say is too stubborn to change too," said Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), whose 92 percent conservative rating did not stop him from voting with Democrats on the homeland security and minimum-wage bills.

Current Speaker of the House of Representatives:

"Our pride and our prayers are united behind our men and women in uniform... In this Congress we must work together to build a future worthy of their sacrifice...

Hope -- That is what America is about... By electing me speaker you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is America's heritage and America's hope... It's an historic moment for the Congress... for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited over 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights... Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and our granddaughters today we have broken the marble ceiling... now the sky is the limit...

The election of 2006 was a call to change, not merely to change the control of Congress but for a new direction for our country. Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in the war in Iraq. The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end. It is the responsibility of the president to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets and their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region and a plan that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops...

The American people also spoke clearly for a new direction here at home. They desire a new vision, a new America built on the values that have made our country great. Our founders envisioned a new America driven by optimism, opportunity and strength... They envisioned America as a just and good place, as a fair and efficient society, and as a source of opportunity for all.

Now it is our responsibility to carry forth that vision of a new America into the 21st century.

A new America that seizes the future and forges 21st-century solutions through discovery, creativity and innovation, sustaining our economic leadership and ensuring our national security.

A new America with a vibrant and strengthened middle class for whom college is affordable, health care is accessible and retirement reliable... that declares our energy independence, promotes domestic sources of renewable energy and combats climate change... that is strong, secure and a respected leader among the community of nations...

After years of historic deficits this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go; no new deficit spending. Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt. In order to achieve our new America for the 21st century we must return this House to the American people. So our first order of business is passing the toughest congressional ethics reform in history.

This new Congress doesn't have two years or 200 days. Let us join together in the first 100 hours to make this Congress the most honest and open Congress in history.

One hundred hours.

This openness requires respect for every voice in the Congress. As Thomas Jefferson said, every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.

My colleagues elected me to be speaker of the House, the entire House. Respectful of division of our founders, the expectations of our people and the great challenges that we face, we have an obligation to reach beyond partisanship to work for all America.

Let us stand together to move our country forward, seeking common ground for the common good.

We have made history. Now, let us make progress for the American people.

May God bless our work, and may God bless America."

Progress By New House Leadership

Pelosi visits hometown on victory tour

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 5, 5:07 PM ET

BALTIMORE - Newly elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a victory lap Friday through Baltimore, the blue-collar city where she grew up and learned politics from her father, who was mayor in the 1940s and 50s...

Pelosi's oldest brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, who was also mayor of Baltimore recalls, "We had our doors open every day, people coming in looking for jobs, for medical assistance, for housing, to get somebody out of jail."

Pelosi left Little Italy after high school and never returned as a full-time resident, but neighbors here still remember the polite little girl who rode in open-top convertibles in city parades.

Giovanna Aquia Blatterman, whose husband used to dance with Pelosi at neighborhood church dances, said... "She had a lot of time to watch and absorb, and it's paying off now." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070105/ap_on_go_co/pelosi_speaker

Senate Panel Adds Tax Cuts, Deferred-Pay Rule to Minimum Wage
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Finance Committee voted to add $8.3 billion in tax breaks for small businesses to legislation that would increase the minimum wage... by $2.10, to $7.25, over two years, the first such increase in a decade.

Other tax cuts include an increase to $112,000 the amount of equipment businesses can expect on their tax returns in a single year rather than depreciate over time... allowing restaurants and retailers to deduct improvements to buildings over 15 years, rather than the 39-year schedule under current law. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajRb10Gky.IM&refer=home.

House passes 9/11 security bill
January 10, 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The first item on the House Democrats' "100 hours" legislative agenda, a measure to implement some of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, passed on Tuesday evening.

The vote was 299-128.

Nearly 70 Republicans crossed party lines to vote for the package. It mandates full inspection of air and sea cargo entering the United States and shifts more homeland security funding to communities with high-risk terror targets. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/09/house.agenda/index.html

Student loan interest rates may be lowered
House is set to vote today (January 17, 2007)
By Nancy Zuckerbrod
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Continuing its march through an agenda of popular legislative initiatives, the Democratic-led House is considering cutting interest rates on some college student loans in half.

The House was scheduled to vote today on the measure, which would help an estimated 5.5 million students who get need-based federal loans.

The government pays the interest that accrues on those loans while students are in college. Students pick up the payments after they leave school. http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070117/NEWS02/701170380

A link to a new, more open approach to leadership in the House of Representatives:
{While not a requirement, Flash Player makes this site particularly informative and entertaining.)
http://speaker.house.gov/