Posted by tx on September 29, 2009 under Healthcare, Home Page | 
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on the Public Option line item of the Health Care Bill on Tuesday, September 29th. Democrats have the votes. But, there is a way to stop the process – using Rule 4 of the Rules of Procedure for the Senate Finance Committee.
Rule 4 of the Rules of Procedure for the Senate Finance Committee reads: “Rule 4. Quorums. – (a) Except as provided in subsection (b) one-third of the membership of the committee, including not less than one member of the majority party and one member of the minority party, shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business.”
Conservative citizens all across the United States must demand that Republican Senators in the Senate Finance Committee stop negotiating and Walk Out for America. We will support this effort and will support the Republican members of the Committee. Call and email the following Republican Senators and tell them to Take a Stand and Walk Out. We the People need to tell our elected this point is NON-NEGOTIABLE AND MUST BE STOPPED.
Contact these Republican Senators today, quote Rule 4, and tell them their Constituents demand this Bill be STOPPED.
Member Name DC Phone DC FAX Email
John Cornyn (R-TX) 202-224-2934 202-228-2856 http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) 202-224-5251 202-224-6331 http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact
Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) 202-224-5344 202-224-1946 http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email
http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email
http://kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Jim Bunning (R-KY) 202-224-4343 202-228-1373 http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
http://crapo.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Pat Roberts (R-KS) 202-224-4774 202-224-3514 http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailPat
http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailPat
http://ensign.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
http://enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?
FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailSenatorEnzi
Posted by tx on September 22, 2009 under Home Page |
By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 4:30 PM PT
Policymaking: If the stimulus isn’t working, perhaps it’s because it was largely written by a collection of leftist interest groups called the Apollo Alliance that counts among its directors a co-founder of the Weather Underground.
Read More:
Budget & Tax Policy
The Labor Department reported Friday that 42 states lost more jobs than they gained in August, and that 14 plus Washington, D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10% or more.
Michigan’s rate rose to 15.2%, highest in the nation. Nevada, represented by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is second with 13.2%. California, home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is tied for fourth with Oregon at 12.2%.
Clearly, the stimulus bill that no congressman read is not working. As it turns out, no congressman may have written it either. It’s largely the creation of a coalition of leftist organizations called the Apollo Alliance, whose primary interests are saving the Earth, environmental justice and redistributing wealth. They are not friends of job-creating capitalism.
On Apollo’s Web site, Sen. Reid, whose state also leads in foreclosures, is quoted praising the group of which former green czar Van Jones was a board member.
“We’ve talked about moving forward on these ideas for decades,” Reid is quoted as saying. “The Apollo Alliance has been an important factor in helping us develop and execute a strategy that makes great progress on these goals and in motivating the public to support them.”
Jones, the former Oakland, Calif., community organizer and self-avowed communist, was on the board of the Apollo Alliance when he accepted the position in the Obama administration as green jobs czar.
As Phil Kerpen of Americans for Prosperity told Glenn Beck, Jones has “described the Apollo Alliance mission as sort of a grand unified field theory for progressive left causes” that would tie elements of organized labor with community organizers and environmental groups into an outfit that would restructure American society.
Wade Rathke, founder of Acorn, was also on the Apollo board, as is Gerald Hudson, vice president of the Service Employees International Union, which provides the shock troops in the movement to pass government-run health care.
John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton and now president of the leftist Center for American Progress, also sits on the Apollo board. Each day his group sends out talking points to the left side of the blogosphere. Mark Lloyd, diversity czar at the Federal Communications Commission, was a senior fellow at CAP.
According to Kerpen, the Apollo Alliance put together a draft stimulus bill in 2008 that included almost everything in the final $787 billion package. Little did the voters know that the congressmen and senators they would elect would pass a bill written by activist outsiders.
Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of all this is that an even more radical Jones (no relation) has a relationship with the Apollo Alliance. Jeff Jones was a domestic terrorist in the ’60s and a fugitive from justice throughout the ’70s who, with Bill Ayers, helped found the Weather Underground in 1969.
Ayers, Jones and the Weathermen participated in the violent Days of Rage riots in Chicago and a nationwide anti-government bombing campaign. Like Ayers, Jeff Jones has no regrets, saying: “To this day, we still, lots of us, including me, still think it was the right thing to do.”
Today, Jones finds himself director of the Apollo Alliance’s New York affiliate and a consultant to the national group. One of his clients is the Workforce Development Institute, a union-controlled organization.
As a consultant to WDI, Jones helps write the grant proposals for federal stimulus dollars — funds authorized in the bill that Apollo helped write — all to ensure that taxpayer dollars end up in the hands of groups that share Apollo’s political agenda.
Welcome to government of the activist, by the activist and for the activist.
Posted by tx on September 18, 2009 under Home Page, Principles and Values |
From Texas Insider, an online newletter:
Carter, Conaway: If approved by Senate, federal takeover of student loan industry allowed
(WASHINGTON, DC) – College students will no longer have a choice on where to obtain their student loans if a bill passed today by the House of Representatives becomes law. Democrats voted overwhelming to approve the bill. The legislation elminates the private lender option by June of next year.The House today voted down party lines to approve H.R. 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), which strips students of the ability to choose private lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) over the Federal Direct Lending Program (FDLP).
“The public-private student loan program that has been in place since 1965 has provided funding for over 60 million Americans to attend college,” says Congressman John Carter (R-TX). “To answer success like that by voting to destroy the system makes no sense for students or higher education.”
The Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) last year alone provided college loans for 6.4 million students at 5,000 schools, and has been the overwhelming student loan program of choice for colleges and students, especially among Texas schools and students.
Today’s vote, if allowed to stand, allows a total federal government takeover of the student loan industry.
It is estimated to cost taxpayers up to $50.1 billion over ten years, when taking into account the market-risk of inevitable defaults, which Democrats left out of their scoring on the bill.
The bill is also estimated to eliminate 30,000 jobs nationwide.
Carter says the economic impact in Central Texas will be especially damaging.
“In my district alone, this would directly eliminate over 1,000 jobs, not to mention all the bankers and spin-off businesses that would be negatively affected. After speaking personally with these folks, I know firsthand that many of these employees are the wives of soldiers at Ft. Hood, the last people we would want to hurt while so many of their spouses are deployed overseas protecting our country.”
“If this becomes law, it should be one of the first laws to be repealed by a new Congress in January 2011,” says Carter.
“And it should be a big reason for students and parents across America to make sure that Congress is indeed new,” Carter added.
Congressman Mike Conaway (R-TX-11) also blasted the “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009″, making the following statement after voting ‘no’ on H.R. 3221:
“I am highly disappointed with my colleagues across the aisle for passing yet another piece of legislation that bloats our federal government. Today, the House voted to abolish the successful and well-respected Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) student loan program and replace it with a system of government-run lending 
directly from the United States Treasury.
“Over the past forty years, the Federal Family Education Loan program has provided over 200 million loans and the opportunity for countless young men and women to seek higher education. These services are delivered at very little cost to families struggling to provide their children with a college education. This government-run lending program will be bad for students, bad for schools and bad for American jobs. It will add layers of bureaucratic red-tape while providing only the minimum in services to students and their families.
“The Democrats claim that this student loan bill “saves” $7.8 billion” over ten years; but once the bill’s budget gimmicks are accounted for, the cost is actually $50.1 billion. This bill has the potential to eliminate over 30,000 jobs in the private sector and creates ten new mandatory federal programs.
“The parallels between this takeover of our student loan system and the Democrats’ plan for a government takeover of our health care system are staggering, and I simply could not support this bad bill.”
Posted by tx on September 15, 2009 under Home Page, Texas candidates, US Constitution |
(WASHINGTON, DC) – The 111th Congress could go down in American history as the “House of Hypocrisy” after Democrats today followed months of ignoring potentially criminal tax evasion by U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY), while scheduling an immediate vote against Republican Congressman Joe Wilson for an inappropriate verbal outburst during last week’s Joint Session of Congress.
“We are witnessing perhaps the most blatant display of moral and legal hypocrisy in the history of this body,” says House Republican Conference Secretary John R. Carter of Texas. “Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have allowed Democrats at the highest levels of the federal government to violate the tax laws of the United States with impunity, blocked all attempts by this body to hold them accountable, and have made a mockery of our system of justice and the Rule of Law. Yet they find it important to hold a vote against a Republican for two words blurted out during a speech by the President, for which he has already apologized. We are witnessing truly malignant partisanship of historic proportion.” Carter has joined other Members of the House in support of Wilson’s apology being adequate to address any breach in House rules for his comment.
Carter introduced a privileged resolution earlier this year calling for removal of Rangel as Chairman of House Ways and Means, the House committee that oversees the IRS, while Rangel remained under investigation for tax violations, among other ethics charges. The resolution was blocked from consideration or debate on a party line vote by Democrats, in spite of the removal being supported by the editorial boards of the New York Times, Washington Post, and numerous other major daily newspapers historically favorable to Democrats.
Carter also introduced the Rangel Rule legislation that would provide the same waiver of penalties and interest on back taxes for all Americans as that enjoyed by Rangel. That measure has also been blocked by House Democrats.
“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the only way this House will restore the Rule of Law is for the American people to overthrow it,” says Carter. “It is time for a revolution at the polls in November 2010.
Carter last night on the House Floor on this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swIfOf5lJ9E
Thank you Congressman Carter for standing up for your constituents!
Posted by tx on September 14, 2009 under Healthcare, Home Page, Texas candidates |
This does answer some questions.
Posted by tx on September 11, 2009 under Home Page, Tea Party Protests, Texas patriots |
Carter Washington Office Holds Open House for Texas Visitors Tomorrow
The Washington, DC office of Congressman John Carter will hold an open house for Texas visitors to the nation’s capitol tomorrow from 12 noon-5:00pm, as hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists from across America descend on Washington this weekend. Texans are encouraged to drop by for light refreshments or rest after the march.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The House Office Complex is closed to the public on weekends. Those wishing to drop in should come to the Longworth Building Entrance on South Capitol Street, call Carter’s office at (202) 225-3864 and a Carter staff member will come down to escort you into the building.
WHAT: Texas Open House
WHERE: 409 Cannon House Office Building, enter through South Capitol Street entrance to Longworth Building
WHEN: 12-5pm, Saturday, October 12
Ya’ll stop by if you’re in town.
Posted by tx on September 10, 2009 under Home Page, Texas candidates |
(From Texas Insider, an online newsletter September 9,2009)
Amarillo and Wichita Falls— September 19, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Congressman Mac Thornberry today announced that he will hold town hall meetings in Amarillo and Wichita Falls on Saturday, September 19, 2009.
These meetings will continue the practice that Thornberry has followed of holding town hall meetings, as well as telephone town hall meetings and other events across the 13th District.
“I have heard from a lot of people in the past few weeks in letters, emails, phone calls, and in person. These town hall meetings are another way for me to listen to the people I work for and for me to share some of my thoughts with them,” Congressman Thornberry concluded.
All citizens of the 13th Congressional District are invited to attend.
Amarillo Town Hall Information:
Saturday, September 19, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Amarillo Civic Center Heritage Room
401 S. Buchanan
Amarillo, Texas
Wichita Falls Town Hall Information:
Saturday, September 19, 2009
3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Midwestern State University
Akin Auditorium
3410 Taft Blvd.
Wichita Falls, Texas
Posted by tx on September 9, 2009 under Healthcare, Home Page, Texas candidates |
The following op-ed by Sen. Cornyn and Benjamin E. Sasse was posted on Forbes, and can also be accessed here.
This summer, the American people have focused intently on how Washington proposes to reform health care. One thing is clear: They aren’t impressed with Congress’ efforts to date.
A new CBS poll shows that average citizens, by a margin of 31 to 18, think they’ll be worse off under the proposed overhaul. Their worries at town halls–about the value the government will place on human life and about the odd claim that spending $1 trillion more will save money–are commonsensical, not un-American questions. The president has an opportunity Wednesday not to double-down on the Congress’ failing strategy, but to demonstrate the kind of change to Washington’s business-as-usual on which he campaigned.
While the media has focused on intermittent shouting, our main take-away from the town halls has been different: An unprecedented number of voters are actually reading the draft legislation. At the overflow events we’ve seen, broad cross-sections of America–patients to providers, students to seniors, small-business owners to corporate executives–are reciting page and line numbers from the 1,000-page bills. In most cases, questioners have shown greater command of the technical substance of these proposals than many who have voted for the legislation.
Working Americans, who have seen billions of their hard-earned dollars squandered on the financial and auto bailouts, no longer believe Washington deserves the benefit of the doubt. After the frantic rush to pass an economic stimulus package less than 24 hours after it was written, only a small fraction of the dollars have been spent in the subsequent seven months. While Washington guaranteed the stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8%, one in 10 Americans are now struggling to find jobs. Washington promised to cut the deficit in half, yet budget officials project we will actually add more than $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
Asking if Washington’s rhetoric matches the reality of what the bills say is not only the right but the responsibility of an engaged, educated citizenry. Beltway insiders do not seem to realize that average Americans no longer take politicians’ vague promises at face value.
On Main Streets across Texas, the quote of the year belongs to Rep. John Conyers: “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” Feeling swindled from the $787 billion stimulus bill, wary constituents are picking up the slack and reading the health care legislation themselves. And they want to make sure their elected representatives know what the fine print actually says.
We agree with the president that inaction on health reform is not an option. But worried Americans are wisely asking if their leaders are sure that their bills will not simply make today’s problems worse. They are wary of giving control over personal matters of life-and-death to distant bureaucracies and to political deal-cutters who often do not even know the details of their own deals.
The president can bank a huge reservoir of public trust Wednesday by engaging the public with direct answers to their commonsense questions, such as:
–We spend nearly double per capita what some other industrialized nations spend on health care; how will another trillion dollars really reduce health care spending?
–How can we cut nearly $500 billion from the Medicare program for seniors when it is now underfunded by three times the national debt and currently projected to be bankrupt by 2017?
–How will a new government-run insurance program “keep insurers honest” when our two current public plans, Medicare and Medicaid, are riddled with unmatched fraud, waste and abuse?
–How do we reconcile the claim that lobbyist influence in Washington is decreasing with the fact that those most closely consulted on these gargantuan bills are special interest groups like the pharmaceutical industry?
–”Minimum benefit packages” that are mandated as a part of every insurance plan sound great, but since there’s no such thing as a free lunch, don’t mandated benefits actually reduce choices and drive up costs for all patients?
–Will employer “pay-or-play” mandates accelerate the job losses we are seeing across the country?
By honestly engaging the centrist questions of the voters Wednesday night–instead of parroting the central planners’ one-size-fits-all talking points–the president could provide the specificity the people are demanding and lead a supermajority of the middle. For example, he has repeatedly said that reform should spread to the entire system the superior quality and cost-effectiveness of integrated delivery systems–like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota or Scott & White in Texas. We agree. But now he needs to tell us how his solution will help rather than hurt these non-governmental innovators. If he can do this, he may find the kind of broad public support that Congress’ efforts have lacked.
As important: By paying serious heed to the public’s fear–that a Washington that doesn’t read its bills is as likely to break what works as fix what’s broken–Obama can rebuild the trust of the American people in their leaders.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Agriculture and Budget committees and is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Benjamin E. Sasse, former U.S. assistant secretary of health, teaches at the University of Texas and advises health investors.
Posted by tx on September 2, 2009 under Home Page, Texas candidates |
PLACE: 207 S. Brooksedge Circle
The Woodlands, TX 77382
DATE: Tuesday, September 8, 2009
TIME: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
RSVP by September 7, 2009 to 832-326-8349
Light Refreshments provided.
IT IS TIME TO HOLD CONGRESS ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES
Tyler Russell represents the new leadership of the Republican Party. A Reagan conservative, Tyler is a strong advocate for liberty and freedom based on Constitutional limited government. He is determined to work within Congress to ensure a reduction of the national debt and low taxes through the pursuit of sound fiscal policy. Tyler firmly supports the achievement of economic growth through a strong and a vibrant private sector.
TYLER RUSSELL HAS SIGNED HIS COMMITMENT TO THE 9 PRINCIPLES AND 12 VALUES
When asked why he became the first 9/12 candidate in Texas, Tyler said, “The 9 principles and 12 values outlined by all of the 9/12 groups have always been at the heart of my core beliefs. I am proud to be the first candidate in Texas who signed the contract. The United States needs leaders who will make decisions based on these principles that reflect the ideals of the American people. The values for which 9/12 organizations stand need a strong voice on Capitol Hill. I plan to help restore our Republic by being a principled leader guided by these values.”
The link to Tyler’s signed contract: http://912candidates.org/tx/files/2009/08/tyler-russell.png.
TYLER RUSSELL’S BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Tyler attended the United States Air Force Academy where he served on the prestigious Cadet Honor Guard. Tyler graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering and entered into Active Duty service. As a Lieutenant, Tyler attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Tyler and his wife Christine live in The Woodlands, Texas. He recently received his MBA in Finance Management and is currently employed in the local energy sector. Tyler is a member of the Republican Party and will be partcipating in the Primary in early 2010.
TYLER RUSSELL ON THE ISSUES
Tyler’s position on public policy issues facing our nation reflects his deep belief in limited government and the restoration of States’ rights after decades of power-grabbing by Washington. His views are grounded in solid conservative values ranging from his strong support of pro-life policies and Second Amendment rights, to the support for low taxes and market-driven economic growth. For more information visit the website at TylerRussellForCongress.com.
Posted by tx on August 31, 2009 under Home Page, Tea Party Protests, Texas candidates, Texas patriots |
Officially the first 9/12 Candidate in the great state of Texas!
When asked why he became the first 9/12 candidate in Texas, Tyler said,
“The 9 principles and 12 values outlined by all of the 9/12 groups have always been at the heart of my core beliefs. I am proud to be the first candidate in Texas who signed the contract. The United States needs leaders who will make decisions based on these principles that reflect the ideals of the American people. The values for which 9/12 organizations stand need a strong voice on Capitol Hill. I plan to help restore our Republic by being a principled leader guided by these values.”
Tyler Russell represents the new leadership of the Republican Party. A Reagan conservative, Tyler is a strong advocate for liberty and freedom based on Constitutional limited government. He is determined to work within Congress to ensure a reduction of the national debt and low taxes through the pursuit of sound fiscal policy. Tyler firmly supports the achievement of economic growth through a strong and a vibrant private sector.
On the Issues
Tyler’s position on public policy issues facing our nation reflects his deep belief in limited government and the restoration of States’ rights after decades of power-grabbing by Washington. His views are grounded in solid conservative values ranging from his strong support of pro-life policies and Second Amendment rights, to the support for low taxes and market-driven economic growth.
As your Congressman, Tyler will… 
= Fight for the reduction of the national debt and promotion of fiscal responsibility – no bailouts, no stimulus.
= Pursue a strong, uncompromising national security and the achievement of energy independence.
= Ensure our borders are finally secured and illegal immigration is eliminated.
= Ensure the best care and services is always delivered to our veterans.
(Portions of this post extracted from “Tyler Russell for Congress”.)
