Tag Archives: US House of Representatives

Apr 17 2015

House Votes To Repeal Death Tax

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation to repeal the death penalty, which has unfairly targeted family run businesses.  U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin released this statement concerning his vote on the bill:

WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015. Congressman Bruce Poliquin released the following statement:

“Family-owned farms, fisheries and wood products companies are vital to the Second District’s economy and community. This vote is a vote for their jobs and our economy.

 

“It’s not fair for hard-working Maine families to start and grow their small businesses, and to pay taxes along the way, to find the IRS knocking on their doors to pay the despised death tax upon the passing of the senior family members.

 

“These family-owned farms, fisheries, and wood products companies provide tens of thousands of jobs and better futures for our Maine families. I’m proud to be part of the effort to repeal the destructive death tax and grow our economy.”

 

Apr 3 2015

Update on HR 5

For those following the progress or lack thereof on HR 5, I recently asked some contacts in DC on the issue.  They informed me that HR5 is essentially dead.  Conservatives effectively heaped so many amendments on the bill that it had to be pulled for a rewrite.  Death by litigation suffocation, but keep your eyes peeled for when it will reemerge in another form.  TMCV will keep you posted.

Mar 5 2015

The Baby and the Bath Water

Many Conservatives and Libertarians are frustrated with progress or lack thereof they are seeing in Washington.  With just a few weeks into the legislative session under their belts, Congressmen and women from U.S. House of Representatives are already taking flak from what is viewed as betrayal from a vote taken on the DHS spending bill.  Coupled with the failure to override the President’s veto on the Keystone Pipeline in the Senate, it has not been a good start to the week for Congress.

TMCV shares many of our readers’ disappointment with Bruce Poliquin on his vote on the DHS bill and we have expressed that to the Congressman, but we are not quite ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. While many in the Cain/Richardson camp are thrilled to jump up and claim the Poliquin term in office is an abject failure only a few weeks in, what this past week and a half has really showed to the American public is that the leadership of the Republican Party in both houses is incompetent.  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are still in charge, they have their troops whipped into shape, and they disdain the Republicans as weak and irrelevant.  It is the opinion of TMCV that Mitch McConnel and John Boehner need to get their intestinal fortitude boosted or step out of the way to let someone with spine, that the Democrats fear, take over.

But here on the edge of the cliff where many are ready to take the plunge over this vote on DHS, lets take a step back, perhaps even a breath or two and examine just exactly what has Bruce voted for.  First, 26 States including Maine have blocked the President’s amnesty bill, which means the President has to take 26 States to court, starting with the 5th Circuit in Texas, in order to continue with his amnesty plan. Until he can win 26 suits, his amnesty plan is dead in the water.

Secondly in January, Poliquin voted for a bill to fund DHS that also defunded Obama’s unilateral executive action on immigration.  The Senate Democrats blocked vote on that bill and would not even negotiate with the House Republicans. Again, where is Mitch McConnel?

Poliquin has stated repeatedly and publicly that he opposes the President’s amnesty plan and will continue to fight it wherever he can.  Because of the grave dangers facing this Country, such as ISIS, he felt it irresponsible to leave the DHS unfunded.  It should be noted that 1500 personnel of DHS and their families in the State of Maine alone depend upon the agency for their paychecks.

Poliquin continues to issue calls for the amnesty bill to be defunded.  He continues to call for the President to honor the checks and balances of our Republic.  Unfortunately, the Congressman seems to be caught between a rock and hard place, with deaf ears on one side and weak knees on the other.  Let’s not toss the bath water out until we are sure what is in it first.