The Republicans, who promised change if they had the House, Senate, and Presidency, can only muster a “Continuing Resolution” in which they announce their “resolve” to “continue” to do everything they promised to change.
Tag Archives: budget
The Bully in the Playhouse
The Maine State Legislature has moved to its summer recess and now the cleanup crews have moved in to scrap the residue of food fights, tantrums, rock throwing, and all around juvenile behavior off the walls of the respective legislative chambers and the Governor’s office. It’s been a sight to behold and not a pretty one. Let’s recap the sordid details.
For clarity, it should be stated that much of the untoward behavior has revolved around the Augusta soap opera we all call “As the Budget Churns”. The Governor started things off on the wrong foot by crafting a budget behind closed doors excluding any input from the legislature including the leadership of his own Party and fellow Conservatives. When the budget was presented, Republican leadership expressed their frustration with the process and portions of the budget.
Governor LePage responded by threatening members of his own Party. He publicly promised to run a primary candidate against any Republican who voted against his budget. Now there’s a swell way to build bridges…
As you can imagine, this first of what would be a litany of bluffs and threats from the Executive office, culminating with a threat to resign as Governor if his budget wasn’t passed, did not invoke warm and fuzzy feelings from the Republican legislative caucus. Yes, they pushed back. The melee ensued. This has left Maine residents shaking their heads in disbelief and embarrassment.
But the push back from the legislature seemed more rooted in wounded egos and political payback then a corrective message to the Governor. Eventually, the Republican leadership would join forces with Democrat leadership to craft a budget with no fiscal benefit to the people of Maine. It’s pages read more like an “In-Yo-Face” budget than a plan to strengthen Maine’s economy.
The Maine Conservative Voice would like to respectfully remind the Governor and Republican leadership that they all campaigned on putting Maine people before politics. With the amount of rock throwing that has typified this last legislative session, I’m not sure anyone wants to get before your politics. It’s a good way for Maine taxpayers to get hurt.
Maine deserves better than to have to watch their elected officials turn Augusta into some dark version of Romper Room. All the bullying and hoarding of toys in the playhouse has got to stop. Maine is tired of the mess.
The people I associate with on a daily basis in my workday no longer call LePage “Our Governor”. They simply shake their heads in shame. They are also confused to why a Republican led Senate could not accomplish any of its campaign promises and why they still are playing the doormat to the Democrats. With election season looming on the horizon and only one more session to make amends, the Republicans need to take heed to their business and tuck their egos away or the Democrats, whose symbol is the Biblical term for a donkey, will continue to make Republicans look just like that Democrat party symbol.
Saturday’s Synopsis
House Votes to Repeal Death Tax
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal the “death tax” and now it is on to the U.S. Senate.
Maine State Senator Amy Volk Proposes Bill to Lengthen Senate Term
Senator Amy Volk has introduced a bill that would lengthen the Senate term to four years. TMCV in the past has proposed lengthening the Senate term to six years, in keeping with the Federal term. At the State level all legislative offices are open at the same time and can be overwhelming for voters and political operatives come campaign season. TMCV, at this point, supports this bill.
IRS Goes Before Congress Hand Out Begging For More Money
Yes, you read right. After completely misappropriating the exorbitant amount of money they confiscate from taxpayers every year, the IRS wants more because it doesn’t have enough to operate…maybe….it shouldn’t….operate….ever thought of that….
Maine State Senator David Burns Withdraws Religious Freedom Bill
After increasing pressure from LGBT groups and lack of support within his own Party, although legislative leaders voiced their support, Senator Burns has withdrawn his Religious Freedom Bill. Republican Party officials tell TMCV that the timing was not right. Is the timing ever right for courage and conviction?
Governor LePage Calls For Elimination of State Income Tax
Facing strong opposition from both Parties on portions of his budget, Governor LePage remains resolute in his belief that the State Income Tax should be eliminated. LePage believes that if the legislature will not vote to repeal income tax the people will.
Hillary Announces Candidacy, Visits “Ordinary Iowans”, Uses Staged Iowans
Hillary Clinton announced her bid to be President of the United States this week then promptly traveled to Iowa to see “everyday Iowans”, locked everyday college students in their classrooms so they wouldn’t bother her, parked her campaign van in an everyday handicap spot, and staged her very own”everyday Iowans” meeting with some “everyday Iowan actors”-a whole three of them.
Veterans Administration is Scorched By Latest Report
A scathing report just released by the Inspector General in its latest investigation calls in to question whether the VA has any interest at all in reforming its battered image. The latest findings of the IG detail a litany of abuse, misuse, and corruption including workers being forced to work in a rat infested building.
The “Fix” is In
The so-called “Doc Fix” has been sent to the Presidents desk for his signature. This bill is an attempt to protect Medicare patients who would have had to absorb a 21% cut in services.
Lawbreaker
We are a nation of laws. It is how we maintain the public peace. Our businesses rely on laws to validate and insure the contracts in which they operate. Law is the means to hold the members of a civil society accountable to decency and responsibility.
I would suspect that a majority of Americans have at one time or another found themselves crossways to some rule or regulation. While we all may grouse and grumble at the results of our negligence or maybe just plain rebellion, oftentimes it soon becomes clear that some laws were put there for the protection of the public. So we respectfully submit to the repercussions of our actions.
Not so for the members of the Democrat Party, who forage the halls of Washington D.C. in search of more slush funds to consume. The Federal government is supposed to pass a budget each year. It’s the law. Senate President, Harry Reid, has refused to even allow budgets, passed by the House of Representatives, to come to the floor to be voted on and now the Federal government has not had an operating budget for three years. The “Honorable” Mr. Reid claims that the Republican led House has not put forth a budget to vote on. Yet the House has repeatedly put forth bi-partisan budgets, passed in the House, that Reid will not acknowledge for a vote. The Senate President seems more content to break the law than to honor the legislation of a duly elected House of Representatives, the laws that govern him and responsibilities required of him that are vested in the position and authority he currently retains.
Perhaps Mr. Reid is pouting in frustration that the budgets presented by President Obama cannot make it out of the House with a single positive vote. Yes, the House of Representatives have voted unanimously against the executive budget proposals on multiple occasions. Barack Obama has proven to be so inept on matters of budget that both Democrats and Republicans have refused to have the President’s fiscal disaster on their hands and have voted a resounding bi-partisan “no”. That’s zero, Z.E.R.O, zero votes for the President. Strapped with a leader in the Oval Office that is feckless at best on matters of economy, Harry Reid has decided that perhaps it is best if the law does not apply to him. Better no budget, than a balanced budget. Sadly, Mr. Reid, even the nation of Mexico has an operating budget. Shouldn’t we at least try?
But Mr. Reid is not the most notable lawbreaker amongst Democrat leaders. President Obama now finds the signature act of his administration in direct challenge to the Law of the Land, the Constitution. As ObamaCare weighs before the Justices of the Supreme Court, the President has taken the unprecedented tact of threatening the highest court of the United States while it is in deliberation. The President challenged the court’s authority to judge the constitutional merit of a law, which is one of the primary purposes of the Supreme Court. This outraged the American people and rightly so. The President has spent the week trying to “walk back” his words, but curiously, trying to couch his words in such a way as to leave his threat on the table.
This leaves the citizens of the United States with these questions. If the President is the Constitutional lawyer he claims to be, then is he simply an inept, incompetent lawyer or is he someone who fundamentally disdains the system of checks and balances that founding fathers established? If you were a Party who believed the government should rule the people, not the people rule the government, wouldn’t you view laws that held you accountable and checked your actions as frustrating encumbrances or barriers to the advance of your agenda? Something to think about. What is certain is this. When we the citizens break a law, we pay a fine or face incarceration. When our leaders in Washington break the law and are exposed, they, by their actions, tell we the people to simply go to Hades.
The Maine Conservative Voice 