Legislative Update: February 3, 2012

Provided by Tea Party Patriots!

PASSION TO ACTION!!

The House voted last week to repeal the CLASS Act – a piece of Obamacare and another unsustainable entitlement – and now it’s the Senate’s turn. Starting Monday, February 6, we started asking all patriots to call the Senate and tell them to bring the CLASS Act Repeal to a vote, and to vote YES! (**See the Passion to Action Add-On at the end of the update!)

Federal Budget

 Surplus? No way:  Did you know that in January 2007, the CBO published its ten-year budget projections covering 2008 to 2017. This report projected an $800 billion surplus over ten years, including surpluses every year from 2012 to 2017. Four years later, in January 2011, the $800 billion projected surplus from 2008 to 2017 turned into an $8.8 trillion deficit over this same period.

 No budget yet:  Wednesday, February 8th will mark the 1015th day since the Senate has passed a budget. Just this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, “We do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year — it’s done, we don’t need to do it.” The Democrats are trying to say that they passed a budget when the debt ceiling deal was passed – but this is false. Did the debt ceiling deal allow them to continue discretionary spending? Yes. Was it an actual budget resolution? No. Let’s break it down:

“But if what Reid and Schumer are saying is that they’ve followed the law and submitted a budget resolution, then they’re flat-out wrong. The Congressional Budget Act requires the president to submit a budget to Congress by Feb. 1 every year. The Senate Budget Committee is to report a budget resolution to the full Senate by April 1. The House and Senate are to reach agreement on a concurrent budget resolution by April 15. Senate Budget Democrats haven’t submitted a budget since 2009. Here’s why it matters: The Appropriations Committee determines levels of discretionary spending. Approps don’t touch mandatory spending. But mandatory spending constitutes about 60 percent of all federal spending — and mandatory programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security drive our deficits and debt. Without the imposition of budget discipline, these programs grow on autopilot.”

 No budget? No paycheck:  Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has introduced a bill called the Budget or Bust Act (HR 3883). This bill would force the House and the Senate to pass a budget or risk not receiving their paychecks! It would also remove the President from the budgetary process and return the power of the purse to Congress completely.

 President’s failure: Remember this as well about the President’s failure to offer a budget:

o In just one term, President Obama has missed the budget deadline more than any other President.

o In the 90 years covering FY1923 through FY2013, President Obama is the only President to miss the deadline two years in a row. He is the only President who has missed the deadline in three of the four years of a term. And, he holds the record for the longest delay (at 98 days).

o Since the statutory deadline was extended to the first Monday in February, with the exception of the first budget for a new President, this deadline has only been missed three times: Clinton FY1998; Obama FY2012; and Obama FY 2013.

o The President’s flagrant disrespect for budget deadlines extends beyond the late submissions of his annual budget request. The President is required to submit a Midsession Review no later than July 16 each year. The President is required to submit a Financial Report of the U.S. Government no later than December 15. The President is required to submit a plan to shore up Medicare’s finances within 15 days of a funding warning by the Medicare Trustees. Not once has President Obama adhered to any of these deadlines. Read the full analysis here.

 Budget process reform: Two of the budget process reform bills were passed in the House this week. They are:

o HR 3582, The Pro-Growth Budgeting Act of 2012 – This bill would require that for major legislation that CBO prepare an analysis of the effect that the legislation would have on the U.S. economy. This macroeconomic impact analysis would be supplemental information in addition to the official congressional cost estimate of the legislation.

o HR 3578, The Baseline Reform Act of 2012 – Under current law the baseline assumes ever higher spending as discretionary accounts are annually increased by inflation and for a number of other factors. This legislation levels the playing field and removes this pro-spending bias.

o The third budget process reform bill did not come up for a vote this week. No word yet on when it will. It is:

 HR3581, The Budget and Accounting Transparency Act of 2012 – This bill increases transparency in federal budgeting by reforming the way certain costs are calculated and requiring that certain costs incurred by the Federal government are included in the budget.

 Deficit: The CBO released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook this week, projecting that the federal government’s budget deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. With the debt on pace to grow to unsustainable levels in the years ahead, the CBO estimates that economic growth will remain slow and that the unployment rate will exceed 9 percent next year. Key facts from their report:

o Real economic growth is projected to be to 2.2 percent in 2012, falling to just 1.0 percent in 2013;


o The unemployment rate is expected to reach 8.8 percent in 2012, 9.1 percent in 2013, and 8.7 percent in 2014;


o The FY2012 budget deficit is projected to equal $1.079 trillion, the fourth consecutive year with the budget deficit above $1 trillion;


o Total debt is projected to reach $15.99 trillion in 2012, with debt held by the public to eclipse the $11 trillion mark in 2012 (72.5% of GDP);


o Debt held by the public is projected to exceed $15.3 trillion by 2022.

Obamacare

 Obamacare snuffs out small business job creation

 Catholic bishops vow to fight against 1st Amendment violations

 Repeal of the CLASS Act was essential

 CBO report shows Obamacare costs rocket out of sight

 Crony capitalism & Obamacare lead to job losses

 Down with the state exchanges!

 Doctors do not support Obamacare

 Ramping up for rationing

Education


 Union Radicals Harass Teacher Who Dared to Support Governor Walker. A teacher with the courage to speak out: Teachers like LaCroix do not turn against their unions for the fun of it. They do so after years of watching a very political, power-hungry organization suck the life out of public schools and kill opportunities for students. LaCroix is one of those teachers who just want to teach, without the constant distraction of organized labor.

Illegal Immigration

 Documentary: TPP North Carolina State Coordinator Mark Hager assisted with the documentary titled, “Invasion: Freedom Under Fire!” about the struggles of American citizens who live along the southern border. If you would like to order a copy, please click here for more information.

 Waivermania: Kansas’ Agriculture Secretary is asking the Department of Homeland Security for a waiver so that agricultural businesses in Kansas could hire illegal immigrants. The agriculture businesses and others in the business community are supporting this effort. So far the Obama administration have handed out healthcare waivers and educational waivers. Are illegal immigrant waivers next? When waivers become the law of the land, there is no law.

 Alabama too: The Attorney General in Alabama is trying to get the legislature to gut their new, stricter laws dealing with illegal aliens because he doesn’t want to have to go to court to fight for it. The Chamber of Commerce and the agricultural businesses are also supportive of the attempt to gut the laws.

Agenda 21

 Redevelopment Reform: Read: "Redevelopment: The Unknown Government" to understand why this is so detrimental to your property rights and fiscal responsibility.

 Petition to Speaker Boehner: Tom DeWeese and the American Policy Center created a petition to alert Boehner to the recently passed resolution of the RNC, acknowledging Agenda 21 and vowing to oppose it. Sign here.

 RNC Resolution:  Many counties across America are jumping all over the RNC resolution. The state of TN and GA have also created resolutions. Start talking to your county commission and Republican party leaders and get your county/state on the list.

 Rio 20 years later: It is obvious where this report is leading. More pressure on the US to send more money to the UN.

 Must-see video: This is a 30-minute TV interview with Heather Gass from CA. It speaks to what is going on in CA regarding Sustainable Development and Regionalization. This is happening everywhere; it is just further ahead in CA. But these issues are the issues we will deal with in the future if we don't stop the plans now.

 Smart meters: American Academy of Environmental Health is calling for a complete and immediate moratorium on the deployment of Smart Meters in California. Smart meters emit continuous radiation and could have serious effects on health. Objectors who are concerned about health and side effects may actually have to pay not to have a smart meter. This is absurd.

 More university indoctrination: The "STARS" program is a propaganda program to persuade college kids into believe in the left’s ideas of “sustainability,” social justice, and social engineering.

House of Representatives – what are your thoughts on these bills?
Summaries provided by the RSC

 CLASS Repeal:  On Wednesday, the House approved H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act by a vote of 267-159. The bill repeals title VIII of Obamacare, which established the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Program—a national, voluntary long-term care insurance program for purchasing community living assistance services and supports. Title VIII also authorized and appropriated funding through 2015 for the National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information first established in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. H.R. 1173 replaces those appropriated funds for the clearinghouse for 2013 through 2015 ($9 million) with funding subject to future appropriation actions. CBO estimates that enacting the bill will have a budgetary effect of reducing direct spending by $9 million and subsequently increasing spending subject to appropriation by $9 million over the 2012-2021 period.

 Welfare Integrity and Federal Pay: Also on Wednesday, the House considered three bills under Suspension of the Rules. The first, H.R. 3567, called the Welfare Integrity Now for Children and Families Act, prohibits TANF funds from being accessed at ATMs in strip clubs, liquor stores, and casinos. In California alone, almost $5 million of TANF benefits were withdrawn from casinos during the three and a half years from January 2007 to the middle of 2010. This provision is enforced by requiring states to report back to the Secretary that they are implementing the provisions of the legislation, or lose 5 percent of TANF funds. The House approved this bill 395-27. The second, H.R. 3835, extends the pay freeze for Members of Congress and federal employees through the end of 2013. This bill passed 309-117. The third, H.Res 496, cuts funding to Congressional committees by 6.4% for this year, except for Appropriations, Armed Services, and Ethics. This bill passed by voice vote.

 Pro-Growth Budgeting: Thursday, the House passed H.R. 3582, the Pro-Growth Budgeting Act by a vote of 242-179. The bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to prepare a supplemental estimate of the macroeconomic impact of any major bills reported by a House or Senate committee—what conservatives usually refer to as dynamic scoring. Under H.R. 3582, a “major bill” would be defined as legislation with any one-year estimated budgetary effect of more than one-fourth of one percent (0.25%) of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in that year. Once it is established that legislation is “major,” CBO would be required to dynamically score the legislation relative to a current policy baseline, which assumes that current tax policies are continued into the indefinite future, much like CBO's alternative fiscal scenario baseline. According to a Budget Committee report, CBO already has the necessary analytical tools and expertise to conduct dynamic scoring. CBO has occasionally provided such reports for certain legislation or policies, though currently this analysis is done on an ad hoc basis, or by request only. Implementing H.R. 3582 would cost about $2 million over the 2012-2017 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, according to CBO estimates.

 Baseline Reform: Friday, the House approved H.R. 3578, the Baseline Reform Act by a vote of 235-177. The bill removes the automatic annual inflation adjustment from CBO’s discretionary baseline spending projections, thereby removing the automatic assumption that discretionary spending will increase each year. The bill requires CBO to project future discretionary spending “at the level provided for the budget year in full-year appropriations acts,” requiring CBO to use “zero baseline” budgeting for discretionary spending projections. According to a Budget Committee report, current law requires CBO and OMB to assume that discretionary federal spending will continue over the course of the ten-year budget window and increase at the rate of inflation. These requirements added approximately $1.4 trillion in outlays (over ten years) to the discretionary baseline in 2011. This assumption of additional spending in the baseline is a bias toward higher spending. Baseline budgeting also creates the ridiculous Washington scenario where a decrease in a spending increase—one that still allows spending to increase—is called a spending cut. This bill would remove that bias.

The week ahead – what are your thoughts on these bills?

 Line-Item Veto:  Next week the House is expected to consider H.R. 3521, the Expedited Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act. According to the Budget Committee, the bill would give the President an important tool to target unjustified spending, while also protecting Congress’ constitutional authority to make spending decisions. This authority would allow the President to specify spending provisions within an appropriations bill, while requiring stand-alone consideration of these rescission proposals by Congress. Legislation implementing the proposed spending cancellations would receive expedited floor consideration and an automatic up-or-down vote in both chambers of Congress. If this bill is enacted, every dollar of savings would be devoted to deficit reduction.

 Budget Transparency — Also next week the House is expected to consider H.R. 3581, the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act. Among other things, the billwould formally bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on-budget and require their debt issuance to be accounted for in the calculation of the federal debt; and would require fair value accounting for federal credit programs to appropriately evaluate the level of risk being absorbed by the taxpayers. The bill would also require fair value accounting for federal credit programs. The executive branch and Congress would be required to use “fair value” accounting in calculating the costs of federal credit programs that consider not only the borrowing costs of the Federal government, but also the costs of the market risk the Federal government is incurring by issuing a loan or loan guarantee. This reform would bring federal budgeting in line with private sector cost-estimating practices.

 Civilian Property Realignment Act — Next week the House will likely consider H.R. 1734, the Civilian Property Realignment Act. H.R. 1734 is modeled after the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process and would require an examination of federal real property across government, used and un-used, and make decisions based on the best return to the taxpayer. This cost-saving initiative would achieve a reduction in the size of the federal real property inventory through selling or redeveloping underutilized properties, increasing the utilization rates of existing properties, and expediting the disposal of surplus properties. For example, in fiscal year 2009, the federal government spent $1.7 billion in annual operating costs for under-utilized buildings and $134 million, annually, for excess buildings. According to CBO, the bill would save $600 million over five years.

 STOCK Act—(THURSDAY, Feb. 9)  Also next week the House will likely consider a version of S. 2038, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012. As drafted in the Senate, the bill would amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 and the Ethics in Government Act to require the Senate and the House of Representatives to implement an electronic filing system for financial disclosure forms, as well as provide the public with on-line access to that information in a searchable database. The bill also would make clear that Members of Congress, Congressional employees, and federal employees are prohibited from using nonpublic information for personal financial benefit. In addition, the legislation would require more timely reporting of information about financial transactions by Members and staff. The Senate approved S. 2038 yesterday by a vote of 96-3.

**Remember though – this bill may not go far enough**

Senate

 STOCK Act: The Senate passed the STOCK Act by a vote of 96-3 on Thursday. If so many of them voted for this bill now, why did it take them so long to figure out that they shouldn’t be trading stock based on information gleaned from their positions? Check out this link that goes over which amendments were accepted and which were rejected. Some of the rejected ones show us how much of a commitment to honesty these members really have (or don’t have).

 Possible: Additional legislative items which are possible this work period include: FAA Conference report; Postal reform; Highway bill (current extension expires 3/31/12); and the Payroll Conference report (if completed before the recess).

 So-called recess appointments: 40 Senate Republicans have said they will sign on to a court challenge to Obama’s so-called “recess” appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board.

PASSION TO ACTION ADD-ON!

**When you call the Senate offices, urging them to repeal the CLASS Act, take one extra moment to ask them to join in the court challenge against President Obama’s unconstitutional appointments. You’ve already got them on the line, this will only cost you thirty seconds more, but you’ll make a big impact.**