HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Boehner: GOP Firmly Against ‘Card Check’

Featured in tomorrow’s Washington Times:

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner said Democrats’ use of secret ballots to chose its leadership was ironic because the party wants to nix workers’ rights to a secret voting in deciding whether to unionize.

“The secret ballot election is a cornerstone of our American democracy,” Mr. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said Thursday. “If it is good enough for House Democrats to rely on during today’s high-stakes vote, shouldn’t it be good enough for millions of American workers across America who value their workplace privacy?”

He vowed Republicans would stand firmly against the Democrat’s “card-check” legislation - dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act or EFCA. It would allow organizers to unionize a workplace by gathering enough singed cards rather than the current process of employees deciding by secret ballots…

…Enacting the card-check law is a top priority for organized labor and the unions are confident it will be passed by the Democrat-led Congress and signed by President-elect Barack Obama, a top AFL-CIO lobbyist told The Washington Times this week.

“I have no doubt it will pass and will be singed,” AFL-CIO government-affairs director William Samuel said in an exclusive interview.

Mr. Obama and House Democratic leaders supported the bill during House and Senate votes last year.  Critics of the card check process say it leaves workers vulnerable to coercion and intimidation from either the management or the union organizers.

Mr. Boehner highlighted House Democrats’ use of a secret ballot Wednesday in deciding a bitter showdown between two Democratic titans - Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California and Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan - over control of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

House Democratic Caucus voted 137 to 122 to install the fiercely liberal Mr. Waxman and outs Mr. Dingell, whose close ties to U.S. automakers and the utility industry had put him as odds with the environmental agenda of Democratic leaders, including Mrs. Pelosi.

Mr. Boehner noted that Rep. Louise Slaughter, New York Democrat, earlier in the week expressed relief her vote in the Dingell-Waxman conflict would not be public. “It’s a secret ballot, thank the Lord,” she told Congressional Quarterly.

“Killing secret ballot rights in the workplace may be a priority for the special interests that have placed Democrats in charge of Washington, but it is not in the best interest of workers or our democratic system,” Mr. Boehner said.

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The New House Republican Leadership Team

Today, House Republicans elected the following leaders for the 111th Congress:

•    Republican Leader:  Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)
•    Republican Whip:  Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
•    Conference Chairman:  Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)
•    Policy Committee Chairman:  Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI)
•    Conference Vice-Chair:  Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
•    Conference Secretary:  Rep. John Carter (R-TX)
•    NRCC Chairman:  Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

More images can be found on Leader Boehner’s Flickr photostream

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Washington Post Op-Ed: Republicans’ Road Back

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110602568.html

While Republicans are disappointed by Tuesday’s results, we respect the American people’s decision and pledge to work with President-elect Barack Obama when it is in the best interest of our nation. Some Democrats and pundits may want to read Tuesday’s results as a repudiation of conservatism — a sign that Republicans should give Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue a free ride. I don’t see it that way, and neither should Republicans across the country.

The next four years are critical to the future of our families, our economy and our country, and we have a responsibility to rebuild our party by fighting for the principles of freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty — the principles upon which the GOP was founded. Recommitting ourselves to these principles means two things: vigorously fighting a far-left agenda that is out of step with the wishes of the vast majority of Americans and, more important, promoting superior Republican alternatives that prove that we offer a better vision for our country’s future.

America is still a center-right country. This election was neither a referendum in favor of the left’s approach to key issues nor a mandate for big government. Obama campaigned by masking liberal policies with moderate rhetoric to make his agenda more palatable to voters. Soon he will seek to advance these policies through a Congress that was purchased by liberal special interests such as unions, trial lawyers and radical environmentalists, and he’ll have a fight on his hands when he does so.

In record numbers, Americans voted on Tuesday for a skillful presidential nominee promising change, but “change” should not be confused with a license to raise taxes, drive up wasteful government spending, weaken our security, or give more power to Washington, Big Labor bosses and the trial bar. Americans did not vote for higher taxes to fund a redistribution of wealth; drastic cuts in funding for our troops; the end of secret ballots for workers participating in union elections; more costly obstacles to American energy production; or the imposition of government-run health care on employers and working families.

Republicans have a responsibility to offer a better way. We must reaffirm Americans’ faith in our party by reminding them why ours traditionally has been a party of reform rooted in freedom and security. This will not happen overnight. We must make the case one issue at a time, offering solutions to our country’s biggest challenges to earn back the American people’s trust and rebuild our majority.

Our most immediate challenge is creating new jobs and getting our economy moving in the right direction again. While Republicans have put forward a plan for economic growth and job creation, congressional Democrats are proposing hundreds of billions of dollars in new government spending masquerading as “economic stimulus.” To rebuild 401(k) plans and keep jobs here at home, we’ll offer tax relief for families and small businesses. And to lower fuel costs and create as many as a million new jobs, we’ll offer a comprehensive plan for more American energy.

We’ll also offer health-care reforms that empower patients and doctors, promote a strong military that keeps us on offense to protect the American people, and demand fiscal and ethical reforms to fix a broken Washington tarnished by scandals on both sides of the aisle. We have a responsibility to the American people to make sure our ideals are heard, and we expect these to be vigorous debates.

I wasn’t born a Republican. I grew up outside Cincinnati as one of 12 children. Our dad ran a bar. I became a Republican because I believe that if you work hard and believe in yourself, there is nothing you can’t achieve. That’s the American dream. And I look forward to leading Republicans in fighting for it. If we return to our roots, to our belief in freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty, our party will come back stronger than ever.

In Congress, Republicans will work across party lines to find solutions to the immense challenges that confront our nation. But we’ll also stand firmly against policies that violate our principles — the same principles held by the vast majority of American families. We Republicans must renew our nation’s trust in us by offering better alternatives rooted in the reforms that define our party and by fighting for the American dream.

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Spreading Your Wealth Around

Below you will find “Spreading Your Wealth Around,” a brief report produced by House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) with the help of House GOP committee ranking members and staff.  The document offers a representative sample (by no means an exhaustive list) of real bills and resolutions proposed by Democrats during the 110th Congress to take wealth from middle-class working Americans and redistribute it through big government programs. 

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Video: 10-3-08 House Republican Leadership Stakeout

Thanks to GOP.gov:

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Video: Speaker Pelosi Floor Speech on Economic Rescue Legislation

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CBO certifies cost of new rescue bill likely to be “substantially less than $700 billion”

The below letter from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was sent to congressional leaders this evening certifying that the net cost of the new version of the economic rescue bill is “likely to be substantially less than $700 billion.”

PDF version here

CBO letter to Congressional leaders - Upload a Document to Scribd

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Letter from Office of Management and Budget on Economic Rescue

The letter displayed below is from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) certifying that the new version of the economic rescue bill will cost “considerably less than $700 billion.”  The letter was sent by OMB Director Jim Nussle to House Republican Leader John Boehner this evening.

PDF version here

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Proposed Economic Rescue Bill

Text of the bill can be downloaded in .pdf form here.

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Democrats Concede On American Energy Production

Last night House Republicans scored a major victory for American families and small businesses as the Democratic leadership bowed to pressure from months of protests by their Republican colleagues and agreed to lift the outdated ban on American offshore and oil shale production.  Increasing American energy production is one component of House Repbublicans’ comprehensive energy plan, the American Energy Act (HR 6566), that includes increased conservation and the further development of alternative and renewable fuels.

Media outlets across the nation are covering the landmark event:

Drill, baby, drill (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

But it is a great day for those who believe…that oil and gas exploration should be allowed in promising areas along the Outer Continental Shelf. It’s a great day, too, for Westmoreland and Price. Their speeches to an empty chamber were heard across America — then in Congress.

Era of offshore oil drilling ban draws to a close (LA Times)

Rep. Adam H. Putnam of Florida, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said, “After a long summer of $4 gas, with winter home heating bills on the way, this good news could not have come too soon.”

Democrats concede, will end offshore drilling ban (AP)

For the time being at least, congressional Democrats appear to be conceding in the standoff with Republicans over more offshore oil drilling as they prepare to let a quarter-century ban on oil and natural gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts fall by the wayside.

House Democrats to Let Ban on Drilling Expire (Washington Post)

Congressional Democrats bowed to political pressure yesterday and agreed to let the ban on offshore oil drilling expire, a decision that would allow exploration just three miles off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines

Bill Would End Coastal Oil Drilling Ban (New York Times)

Republicans have challenged Democrats for months over their opposition to opening up more of the coastline to drilling given rising gasoline prices, and the decision to drop the drilling ban represents a Republican victory.

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