Hoyer Press Staff Blog
Blog posts from the press staff of Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer
A look at the morning headlines shows GOP leadership scrambling to save Speaker Boehner’s highway to nowhere bill and struggling with a divided conference as they attempt to retool a bill that destroys 550,000 jobs, rolls back safety and environmental standards, and fails to meet our nation’s infrastructure needs.
A look at today’s headlines shows that Republicans are deeply divided and scrambling to find support for Speaker Boehner’s partisan highway bill. Instead of following the Senate’s lead and working with Democrats on a bipartisan path forward, Republican leadership insists on moving forward with a partisan bill that lacks support among their own Members – forcing Speaker Boehner to “punt” on the bill and throwing the process into disarray.
Just a quick note for Speaker Boehner: When it comes to your behemoth of a highway bill, the problem is your policies, not the process.
Democrats are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter has access to the ballot and remain vigilant when it comes to efforts by Republican lawmakers in several states to impose new barriers to voting.
Over 400 days have gone by since House Republicans took the majority, and they still haven’t put forward a comprehensive jobs plan. So, what did they do today?
With the House set to take up a massive surface transportation bill next week, we here in the Democratic Whip Press Shop wanted to catalog the opposition to Speaker Boehner’s 1,000 page behemoth of a bill. While highway bills have traditionally been bipartisan endeavors, the only thing bipartisan about this bill is the overwhelming opposition to it. Facing criticism from all sides, the bill is threatening to veer off the road before it even hits the Floor.
It’s fascinating to watch Republicans try to hide their opposition to tax cuts for middle class families.
Leader Cantor yesterday: “The Republican conference in the House was never for allowing payroll taxes to go up on working people. And somehow that message didn’t seem to go and flow through, in terms of the message coming out of Washington… Why would we want to stand in the way of anything that would allow that to happen?” [The Hill, 2/7/12]
Compared to Leader Cantor in August: The AP reported that Leader Cantor “has never believed that this type of temporary tax relief is the best way to grow the economy.” [AP, 8/22/11]
House Republicans claim to be focused on jobs and economic growth, but a new analysis by economist Mark Zandi shows that walking away from middle class tax cuts and unemployment insurance could cost our economy 500,000 jobs, raise the unemployment rate by at least 0.3%, and lower economic growth by 0.7%.
Wanted to be sure you saw this editorial in today’s NY Times on Republicans’ willingness to play political games and put middle class tax cuts at risk for 160 million Americans once again.
Wanted to be sure you saw this Politico article today highlighting Republican division over extending middle class tax cuts. One would think that they had learned their lesson after walking away from 160 million Americans in December, but apparently not. With less than a month to take action, it looks like Republicans are willing to put middle class tax cuts at risk once again.
This Groundhog Day, the American people may be feeling a sense of Déjà vu. House Republicans are once again gearing up to push their wildly unpopular plan to end the Medicare guarantee and raise costs for seniors. And like Bill Murray in a certain movie, they might find themselves reliving the same painful scenario over and over again.
There’s less than a month to go until middle class tax cuts expire, and you’d think Republicans would be feeling the heat to get something done. But what did they discuss at today’s conference meeting?
Even as Republicans begin discussions on yet another budget that will end the Medicare guarantee and put insurance companies back in charge of your health care, the Affordable Care Act continues to provide benefits for millions of America’s seniors and their costs continue to decrease.
Republicans just released their first quarter legislative agenda, and a particular line caught our eye: “Have we made a difference since January of 2011? Certainly.”
With millions of Americans still out of work and American families facing a tax increase if the payroll tax cut is not extended this month, it appears Republican conferees are focused on two controversial details: GED's and drug testing.
Taking our country to the brink of default, walking away from meaningful action on the deficit, and putting middle class tax cuts at risk hasn’t played out well for House Republicans according to a recent GOP poll. While Republicans would like to blame their plunging poll numbers on their jobs message, the fact is they haven’t put forward a comprehensive jobs plan, even though they’ve had a year to focus on putting more Americans back to work.
Looks like House Republicans are finally realizing that their Do-Nothing Congress isn't winning them any points with the American people, with Members complaining their agenda for the year “is simply not enough.”
Wanted to be sure you saw this United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll out today showing Americans are “losing faith” in the GOP Do-Nothing Congress. After a year in the majority, Republicans still have not put forward a comprehensive jobs plan or taken meaningful action to address the deficit. It’s clear Republicans have fallen short on their promises and the American people have taken note.
The first week of the second session of the 112th Congress was anything but kind to House Republicans. Looks like their lack of a comprehensive jobs plan and string of political games on the Floor are finally catching up to them.
Just in case you forgot what it was like to actually legislate amidst all of the political show votes from House Republicans, we here in the Democratic Whip Press Shop wanted to remind you that five years ago today, the Democratic-led Congress completed passage of our “100 Hours” agenda. It’s a pretty interesting comparison between what Democrats accomplished when we took the majority in 2007 with a Republican president in the White House, and how the GOP Congress fared in 2011.
Wanted to be sure you saw this Politico article today on the GOP Do-Nothing Congress “trying to get its act together” for 2012:
Key Point: “House Republicans hunkered down in a Capitol basement Wednesday for a members-only meeting aimed at reconciling what some described as a family feud within a GOP majority that’s trying to get its act together for the 2012 session… House Republicans are incredibly concerned about the emerging narrative that their party is in tatters.”
These can’t be the articles House Republicans wanted to come back to Washington to...
The headlines say it all:
This morning, Republicans walked away (again) from the Senate compromise bill to continue tax cuts for middle class families, extend assistance for unemployed Americans, and ensure seniors access to doctors. And it’s certainly not playing out well for them.
