IRS Proposed Regulations: An Assault on Free Speech

From Tea Party Patriots!

The Internal Revenue Service has proposed new regulations to govern 501c4 organizations like Tea Party Patriots. Last year we learned that the IRS was targeting groups like ours because we want to rein in the over-spending/over-regulating government, uphold the constitution, and promote free markets.

Ultimately thousands of Americans were silenced and harassed for their beliefs. With these new regulations, the silencing will be part of the regulatory code of the IRS. Right now the IRS is accepting comments on the proposed regulations and we need to take action!

We need to flood the IRS with comments, we need to contact our elected officials, and we need to pressure the Congressional committees that oversee the IRS. The deadline for comments at the IRS is February 27th, so we must have a continuous effort between now and then to stop this assault on the first amendment.

MORE.  

Tea Party Patriots  have launched a petition calling for the removal of Representative John Boehner as Speaker of the House. Visit www.firethespeaker.com/tpp to sign the petition.

Tea Party Legislative Update, January 26, 2014

House/Senate Action: Weeks of 1/13/14-1/26/14

The House will be in session Monday through Wednesday of next week.
The Senate will be in session Monday through Thursday of next week.

CALENDAR NOTES:

The President’s State of the Union Address will take place Tuesday evening at 9 PM. The House Republican retreat in Cambridge, Maryland will begin place the following day.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington – the
highest-ranking Republican woman in the Congress – will deliver the official Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address.

As he did last year, Sen. Rand Paul will offer his own response, via YouTube and other social media channels. And Sen. Mike Lee will offer a Tea Party response, sponsored by Tea Party Express.

Note: In recent weeks, we've heard a lot about the content of the President’s address, with much speculation indicating that he would again focus on income inequality. But in the last few days, the White House has been leaking information suggesting that because polling by outside allies shows that “income inequality” leads too many people to think he’s really talking about income redistribution (which he is), the language has been tweaked, and instead he’ll talk about “expanding ladders of opportunity,” which is language right out of the old Jack Kemp/Ronald Reagan playbook.

REVIEW:

The House took up and passed H.R. 3362, the “Exchange Information and Disclosure Act,” requiring the Administration to provide regularly weekly updates on the status of the ObamaCare rollout. The measure passed by a vote of 259-154, with 33 Democrats joining 226 Republicans in support.

As we predicted two weeks ago, Senate Republicans – including the six who voted to proceed to consideration of the extension of emergency unemployment benefits – held firm in insisting that the $6.4 billion measure be paid for realistically. (You may recall, Majority Leader Harry Reid had offered to “pay for” the me asure by extending the Sequester for two more years – a joke of a “pay for” that the Senate GOP immediately rejected.) So far, there’s been no further movement.

DEBT CEILING:

As per the October agreement that reopened the federal government, the debt ceiling was suspended until February 7. That’s less than two weeks from now.

In the past, the Treasury has employed what it calls “extraordinary measures” to continue paying federal bills beyond the reaching of the national debt limit. In some cases, this ability has extended for literally months, and early projections this time around indicated that Treasury would be able to use these cash-management gimmicks to buy time through late spring – possibly as late as May or even early June. But February is typically a heavy deficit-spending month, as tax refunds are sent out by the Treasury, so Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent a letter to the Hill last Wednesday informing Congress that Treasury’s ability to use these “extraordinary measures” to continue paying federals bills will run out by the end of February, and, therefore, Congress must take action early next month.  Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell – no doubt influenced by the fact that he faces a competitive
primary challenge from his right in his reelection campaign – appeared on FOX News Sunday this morning to reiterate his insistence that any debt ceiling increase also include policy riders.

Meanwhile, House Republicans – led by Speaker Boehner – are on the same page, and continue to search for consensus in the House GOP Conference as to what those policy riders might be. Among the possibilities: repealing the “risk corridor” provisions in ObamaCare, to ensure that taxpayers are not stuck with the bill for a massive bailout of health insurance companies; approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; and repealing the medical device tax in ObamaCare.

BUDGET:

The White House announced on Thursday that it would release the President’s budget proposal on March 4, roughly a month later than the February 9 deadline required under law. It attributed the delay to the December budget deal. News reports indicate his budget will propose higher taxes on wealthy Americans, and more spending on infrastructure and early education programs.

Meanwhile, there’s been some talk on Capitol Hill that Republicans in the House may decide not to propose and consider a budget for FY2015 at all. Near as I can tell, it’s coming from operatives at the National Republican Congressional Committee and associated consultants, who seem to think that taking votes on a GOP budget is unnecessary (since the budget deal concluded in December includes top-line spending guidelines for FY2015 already), so why risk giving Democrats campaign fodder?

Nevertheless, top House Republicans – including Speaker Boehner and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan – indicate that they plan to move a budget, as the law requires.

OBAMACARE:

Week before last, a study by McKinsey & Co. revealed that the ObamaCare exchanges had made little progress in actually extending insurance to those who had previously been uninsured. In fact, according to the study, of the roughly 2.2 million people who had signed up for insurance on the federal and state exchanges through the end of December, only 11 percent had been previously uninsured. Those who failed to use the exchanges to enroll cited two big reasons – the high cost of insurance premiums (cited by 52%), and the difficulty of navigating the web sites (cited by 30%).

That same week, Gary Cohen, the director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at HHS, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that the back end of Healthcare.gov is still under construction, and he refused to pin down an estimated completion date. The “back end” is the automated system that sends payments to insurance companies after someone enrolls on one of the exchange web sites. Without this information, the insurance companies literally have no idea who’s enrolled, and who gets a subsidy. They’re flying blind.

Documents released by HHS last week show just how serious a problem this is – to justify firing CGI Federal (the main contractor on Healthcare.gov) and awarding the contract on a sole-source basis to Accenture, HHS revealed that they believe this problem puts “the entire health insurance industry at risk” … “potentially leading to their default and disrupting continued services and coverage to consumers.” Then the memo went even further, saying that if the problem isn’t fixed by mid-March, “they will result in financial harm to the government,” and went on to add that without the necessary fixes, “the entire health care reform program is jeopardized.”

Also that same week, Speaker Boehner announced that House Republicans would offer – and possibly vote on – a replacement for ObamaCare. That promises to be one of the main topics of conversation at the House Retreat that begins Wednesday.

Support for an alternative comes, generally, from the conservatives in the House GOP Conference, who want an issue agenda to run on, not just something to run against. And, as virtually always happens, the GOP consultant class, whose thinking generally runs along the lines of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” opposes them. These consultants see a continued bad economy and a continued disastrous rollout for ObamaCare as their tickets to victory in the 2014 midterm elections, and they seek to minimize opportunities for the Democrats to turn things around.

IMMIGRATION:

As we discussed in our call two weeks ago, House Republican leaders have begun quietly circulating a set of principles on immigration reform that includes a proposal to offer legal status to illegal immigrants. Their thinking is simple – no one believes you can round up and deport 11 million illegal immigrants, so we’ve got to find a way to create a legal status for them short of citizenship.

We expect the one-page document will be released at the House GOP Retreat later this week.
The new principles will envision a legal process by which illegal immigrants can admit guilt and pay fines and any back taxes, and then gain the right to live and work in the U.S. and travel abroad. It will insist that no legalization provisions take effect until border security and other enforcement measures are in place, sources familiar with the draft said.

Unlike under the Senate bill, they will not automatically qualify for citizenship – what critics call a
"special path." But legislation being crafted by Republican lawmakers, apparently with the support of House leaders, would let newly legalized immigrants apply for legal permanent residence, also known as a green card, using the pathways available to anyone else. And here’s the problem for us – once someone has a green card, he or she is eligible to apply for citizenship.

Some House conservatives are planning to introduce their own alternative immigration proposal, which will focus on enforcement of current laws and providing economic assistance to unemployed citizens before providing legal status to illegal immigrants. The alternatives being circulated properly take note of the fact that the White House- and Senate-approved legislation isn’t problematic just because it creates an amnesty for the illegal immigrants who are already here, but it drastically increases the number of foreign unskilled guest workers who could be imported, which would depress wages across the board.

On Thursday, 15 of these conservative House Republicans met with Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama to discuss ways to block the House GOP Leadership’s efforts.

As a reminder, Tea Party Patriots put our own principles for immigration reform last summer. They can be found by clicking on this link.  Stay tuned as this plays out.

The Tea Party 5 Year Anniversary Event

On Thursday, February 27, 2014, the Tea Party movement will be five years old. Five years ago, Americans around the country spontaneously united to stand up to government waste, government overreach and government abuse. Five years ago, we said “no more” to watching our elected officials ignore the Constitution and the free market principles this country was founded on. With the auto bailouts, stimulus packages, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the utter abandonment of fiscal responsibility, it was clear Washington was in need of a serious intervention.
 
Five years later, the Tea Party movement has made significant progress. The 2010 landslide elections showed us that the American people are tired of being let down by spend-happy politicians in Washington. Last year during the budget battle, we learned when we are united, we can accomplish great things, like forcing Congress to listen to the people and stand up to President Obama. Still, there’s work to be done. America still has serious challenges ahead in the form of Obamacare, immigration reform, and runaway spending.
 
On February 27, the Tea Party Patriots will gather at the Hyatt Capitol Hill to celebrate the movement’s five-year anniversary, reflect on past successes, and pave a path forward. Join Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder Jenny Beth Martin and other liberty-loving Americans including Sen. Mike Lee (UT), Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX), and Rep. Steve King (IA), as we continue to fight for limited government and fiscal responsibility.

For more information on the event or to reserve your place today, please click here!  http://www.teapartypatriots.org/5yearanniversary/

WHAT: Tea Party 5th Anniversary
WHEN: Thursday, February 27, 2014 from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (EST)
WHERE: Hyatt Regency
400 New Jersey Avenue Northwest
Washington DC, 20001  Please register at link.

Confirmed Speakers:
Senator Mike Lee (UT), Reps. Michele Bachmann (MN), Louie Gohmert (TX), Steve King (IA), Jim Bridenstine (OK), Jim Jordan (OH), Mark Meadows (NC), Matt Salmon (AZ), and more pending…
Activists: Catherine Englebrecht (TX), Woody Hertzog (WA), Cindy Pugh (MN State Rep), KCarl Smith (AL), Claire Gray (NC), Christopher Wright (VA), Mark Herr (TN), Marianne Gasiecki (OH Elected to Local School Board), Michael Patrick Leahy (Organized the first call), Keli Carender (Organized first protest 72 hours before Rick Santelli’s rant), Jenny Beth Martin – Co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, and many more.

Note: A lunch and dinner session will be added. Information and tickets for those sessions will be made available in the near future.

 

Boehner Declares War on the American People

Tea Party Patriots, December 13, 2013

Statement by Jenny Beth Martin, Co-Founder of Tea Party Patriots, on comments made by Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner:

“Speaker Boehner thinks ‘outside groups’ are the problem? Does he really think the American voters who are involved in the tea party, who got him elected, should not demand accountability of their elected representatives?

“The Speaker’s anger and ire is misdirected towards the wrong people. President Obama is choosing whether to enforce laws in the country or not by whim. He changes policy through press conferences and tweets. He rewrites law by fiat.  Members of Congress renege on their pledges not to spend more or increases taxes on hardworking Americans.

“Frankly, Mr. Speaker, continuously making promises and then breaking them is how you lose credibility with the American people. Pitting your colleagues against their constituents is how you lose credibility with your conference.  Not upholding conservative principles is how you lose credibility with the voters who will find someone else if you are not willing to do your job. “

CONTINUED:  http://www.teapartypatriots.org/2013/12/boehner-declares-war-on-the-american-people/

The Effects of Obamacare.

Real Lives. Real Stories. Real Consequences.

Self-employed family struggling under costly Obamacare: “Along with the reduced income, our health insurance has almost tripled. My son has Type I diabetes and needs health insurance. I don’t know what we are going to do in November. In the last year, we have exhausted all our savings.” Ann Marie’s complete story

Primary physician faces challenges in treating patients: “The looming regulations in Obamacare have created an environment in which her husband must try to keep the typical patient-examination time to eight minutes, or he risks losing his business due to ever increasing overhead costs.” Mishelle’s complete story

Husband trying to make ends meet after hours cut: “Obamacare is not only destroying our healthcare; it is destroying the American middle class. So far, the total lose to our family is $14,700 a year and has forced me to seek another part-time job to try to make ends meet.” Kris’ complete story

Disabled man loses lifelong doctor: “Because of Obamacare and the changes being made by insurance companies, my son was told that his insurance would no longer cover treatment at Duke Hospital.” Marilyn’s complete story

Single mom loses full-time employment, foregoes college aspirations: “My hours at work were cut back, so I couldn’t reach full-time status. The company even stated that it was in preparation for Obamacare. I am presently starting my second part-time job and really unsure if I can arrange my college classes to fit between the two.” Kristen’s complete story

Restaurant owners must curtail generous employee benefits: “So the real losers are the employees. They are losing benefits that we gladly paid in the past.  And we’re losing the ability to attract the best workers because our benefit package has been slashed by federal mandates.” Kathleen’s complete story

Medi-Cal patient’s tale of government care: “I am already on state-funded healthcare, and it was nearly impossible to get a simple operation. They kept me sick for a whole year. My personal doctor was useless, but that is a fact that many people on state healthcare already live with….it is just normal for us.” Kristen’s complete story

Medical worker worries about future of practice: “The reduction in Medicare fees has already affected the practice’s bottom line, since 60% of our patients are Medicare patients. My doctors are in doubt about how long they will be able to participate in the Medicare program if the fee reductions and new strangling regulations continue.” Velma’s complete story

Single mom who can’t afford Obamacare premiums: “I found out I get the “privilege” of paying $175/month for a $6,000 deductible. Yippie! I get by paycheck to paycheck as it is. This extra money out of my pocket is JUST what I needed.” Jessica’s complete story

Retiree can’t keep his well-liked catastrophic plan: “Obamacare has cost us the insurance we liked and wanted to keep. It has forced me to put a price on my life of whatever is in our medical savings account.” Chan’s complete story

For more stories on how Obamacare is destroying Americans’ lives, families and businesses, visit www.teapartypatriots.org. 

THE GOP'S RECIPE FOR FAILURE

Breitbart Op-Ed by Jenny Beth Martin

It is easy in politics to say that a win is a win is a win. Liberals are popping corks over former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe’s victory over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the race for governor of Virginia. But once the buzz of the champagne wears off, thinking Democrats will take a more sober look at the particulars of McAuliffe’s win and feel a chill up their spine.

Click to read more at Breitbart.com>>>

Democrats now see why tea party wants to delay Obamacare

Politico Op-Ed By Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots

What a difference a few weeks make.

When congressional conservatives and Tea Party Patriots fought to delay Obamacare’s individual mandate during the debate over the partial government shutdown, Democrats engaged in some of the most incendiary name-calling Americans have heard in years. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California called opponents “arsonists.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called them “anarchists.” Other Democrats resorted to more colorful language, like “political terrorism,” and said their political foes were “guilty of murder.”

Click to read more at Politico.com>>>

GOP ESTABLISHMENT SELLS OUT VIRGINIANS GOP

Must Learn Lessons from 2013 Elections 

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Tea Party Patriots today slammed the GOP establishment for abandoning a winnable race in a key swing state by withholding support for Ken Cuccinelli.
 
“Because the Republican establishment cut funding to its own candidate by two thirds from the 2009 election they robbed the people of Virginia of the good governor they almost had,” said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. 
Click to read more>>>

IRS continues to hound Tea Party Patriots, demands more data for tax-exempt status - Washington Times

The initial firestorm surrounding the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups may have subsided, but tea party leaders say the situation has only become worse and may lead to more lawsuits against the embattled agency.

New documents show the depth of information the IRS is seeking from Tea Party Patriots, a leading conservative group that first applied for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status in late 2010 and one of many organizations singled out for extra scrutiny by the Obama administration.

An IRS letter sent to the group last week and obtained by The Washington Times contains a laundry list of requests related to virtually all the group’s activities, including its involvement in the 2012 election cycle and its get-out-the-vote efforts, fundraising activities, all radio and TV advertising, and other information.

The IRS also is asking for detailed financial records, including “the amounts and percentages of your total expenses that were for fundraising activities in the tax year 2011, 2012 and 2013.”

The Aug. 20 request came as a shock to Tea Party Patriots, which said it already has provided to the IRS extensive information on all of its activities and thinks it is long past time to receive a “yes” or “no” answer.

The letter also is proof that, while President Obama and other liberals have referred to the situation as a “phony scandal,” conservative organizations still are targets, said Cleta Mitchell, a Washington, D.C., lawyer representing the Tea Party Patriots and several other conservative groups.

“This is tantamount to an audit. This is the continuation of the same thing they’ve been doing for four years. They have not stopped,” she said Thursday. “Tea Party Patriots has responded to all of the requests of the IRS to date, but that has gotten us nowhere. They just keep asking more questions. We are now looking at potential legal remedies, but that’s not easy. Congress has made it quite difficult to sue the IRS.”

The letter, according to the IRS, is simply an attempt to gather information necessary for the agency to determine whether the Tea Party Patriots is eligible for tax-exempt status under current law. Meeting the tax-exempt criteria requires that a group’s “primary” function and activities not be political in nature.

CONTINUED:  IRS continues to hound Tea Party Patriots, demands more data for tax-exempt status - Washington Times

'Tea Party Patriots' Preps Activists for August Town Halls on Immigration, Obamacare

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin told Breitbart News Sunday host Stephen K. Bannon on Sunday night that her group has a plan to prepare activists for town halls with their U.S. Representatives and Senators on Obamacare and immigration nationwide over the month of August.

“Really, the rise of the Tea Party started in 2009, I guess, it was four years ago, in the summer of 2009,” Bannon opened up his questions with Martin on the show. "We had the meetings, we had the rallies, but it really started with the town halls against Obamacare. Over the next five weeks we have both the defunding of Obamacare, which is being sponsored and driven by Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, but probably more important is immigration and the immigration bill and representatives going back and hearing from people.”

Martin responded with a detailed plan her group Tea Party Patriots has for five individual town halls it is hosting with other conservative groups across the country, and details for constituents attending town halls put on by their congressional members.

“We’re focusing on both of those [Obamacare defunding and immigration] and also on IRS,” Martin said. “With immigration, we’re partnering with Eagle Forum, Remembrance Project and NumbersUSA. We’re going to be in Richmond on August 12 at a town hall meeting there. We’re looking at August 19 at having a town hall meeting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And then we have three more in the works in Ohio, Dallas, Texas, and in South Carolina. And these are all town halls that we are hosting. 

"So we’re doing this to get the information and the facts out there about what is in the Senate bill and what will likely happen if anything passes through the House and these bills go to conference. We’re also getting information about these congressmen and senators who are having these town halls around the country so we can let people know when their congressmen or senators are having these town halls and they can show up and confront them with the facts.”

 CONTINUED:  http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/08/04/Tea-Party-Patriots-preps-activists-for-August-town-halls-on-immigration-Obamacare?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup+August+5%2C+2013&utm_campaign=20130805_m116829555_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+August+5%2C+2013&utm_term=More

ACTION ALERT FROM TEA PARTY PATRIOTS!

Marketplace Fairness Act is anything but fair

A couple of weeks ago, the Senate began debating the Marketplace Fairness Act. Today, it is expected the Senate will put the legislation up for a final vote. We urge you to call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on this bill.

Click to call your Senators now!

Tea Party Patriots has examined the Act on several occasions in recent weeks, and is opposing passage of the legislation. Yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) outlined why all supporters of free markets and low taxes should oppose this bill. Among other reasons:

Naturally, state and local governments are salivating at the prospect of getting a purported $23 billion in new revenue from the private economy. Especially when the out-of-state consumers paying those taxes and the out-of-state businesses owners who collect them can’t vote them out of office.

Last but not least, this bill doesn’t pass constitutional muster. The MFA overturns the fundamental idea that states’ taxing authority ends at their borders. The Supreme Court has said that an out-of-state business could subject itself to a state’s taxing power if due-process concerns are satisfied, namely that the business purposefully targets its activities in that state. But because pure Internet sales by their nature don’t target any one state, this legislation presents a serious constitutional problem.

In addition to the Senator’s reasons cited above, the bill would make bad law because it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. Again, from the Senator:

Senators who vote for it are voting to impose audits, compliance costs, lost wages, and inefficiency on small businesses in every state. And they are potentially crippling an engine of new job creation at a time of economic struggle. This bill will not create jobs; it will not create new opportunities; and it will not create the economic growth our country needs and our people deserve.

This bill would make for extremely bad law. It’s time to put the quash to it today, and not risk its passage in the House. Tell your Senators to vote NO on the Marketplace Fairness Act.

Click to call your Senators now!

Tea Party Patriots to Govt: Stop Squirming. Sequester!

It’s time for government to honor its promise to cut over-spending.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, Tea Party Patriots, the nation’s largest tea party organization, called on the government to stop trying to squirm out of sequestration, and to honor its promise to cut over-spending.

“President Obama signed into law a promise to cut over-spending,” said Lynn Childs, Tea Party Chairman for Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association.  “Now the government is trying to squirm out of the deal and keep over-spending. The Tea Party Patriots and CCTA are calling on the government to stop trying to squirm out of sequestration, stop over-spending, and to honor its promises – for a change.”

The so-called “sequestration” deal, signed into law by President Obama in 2011, was to have government over-spend a little more slowly this year than it did last year. A July 2011 White House fact sheet praised the deal that gave us the sequester as “a win for the economy and budget discipline.” At the time, President Obama said it didn’t impact the middle class or working families. Now, the President calls his sequester idea “a really bad idea” that would hurt middle class and working families.

“The President and his party are trying to scare American families into letting government over-spend even more. 73% of Americans want the government to cut over-spending, while only 15% want the government to spend more,” said Childs, quoting a poll by Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw & Company Research.

“It’s time for government to stop squirming, honor the sequestration deal they created and signed, and cut government over-spending now.”

Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 3,400 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide. Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.

For further information, please contact Lynn Childs, 252-528-0500, email lynn.ccta@gmail.com./

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                     CONTACT: Lynn Childs, 252-528-0500

January 21, 2012                                                            lynn.ccta@gmail.com/

Tea Party to Washington: Get to Work

Time for Celebrating is Over, Time to Get to Work

New Bern, NC – Today, Tea Party Patriots, the nation’s largest tea party organization, calls on the President and both Houses of Congress to get to work.

“With the inauguration over and the new Congress sworn in, it’s time for the celebrations in Washington to end and the work of solving America’s debt problem to begin,” said Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA). “We have been patiently waiting for four years for politicians in Washington, DC to get their acts together – and we are tired of waiting.

“In 2008, the President promised he would slash the deficit in half by the end of his first term (fail), in 2010 House Republicans vowed to enact $100 billion in real spending cuts (fail), and the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in over 1,360 days (fail). In the next 3 months Washington will have to deal with the debt ceiling, sequestration, an expiring continuing resolution, and an annual budget - so time is of the essence. Americans are tired of fiscal cliffs and critical deadlines. It’s time for both sides in Washington to take their responsibilities seriously. We are calling for Members of Congress to hold town hall meetings for their constituents the last week in January so that the American people have an opportunity to make their voices heard. A recent Rasmussen survey showed that over 60% of Americans want to see across the board spending cuts. The American people deserve to be a part of this conversation. We must not let the clock tick away on these extremely critical matters. This time there is no excuse for Washington to drag America to the brink of a crisis. Get to work!”

Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 3,400 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide. Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.

For further information, please contact Lynn Childs of Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association (CCTA).

Tea Party Patriots

12 Days of Solutions - Downsizing Government

December 13, 2012

Right now, Washington is discussing how many billions of your hard-earned incomes don’t belong to you. Rather than cut spending, your elected officials want to increase your taxes.

When it comes to balancing the budget, hard choices must be made across the entire federal government’s budget. Downsizinggovernment.org, a project of the libertarian think tank, has outlined ways to cut well over 10% of the federal budget through devolving of the federal government’s powers back to the states and elimination of certain federal spending. These include reforms to subsidies, the Defense Department, Transportation, and many other agencies and spending.

Unfortunately, it seems that Republicans and Democrats alike are okay with taking your money to make up for their corruption and errors with the federal budget. We urge you to call your Member of Congress and tell him or her to instead consider Cato’s great work, and begin returning federal spending to that to which it is limited in the Constitution.

Go to http://www.teapartypatriots.org for more information.

Tea Party Patriots: 12 Days of Solutions!

12 Days of Solutions - The Penny Plan

Washington is at it again. They’re talking about ways to take more of your money to pay for Congress’ inability to actually be fiscally responsible.

Unfortunately for the establishment politicians leading our country to ruin, there exist plans that would actually do a great deal of good for the country. Over the next 12 days, Tea Party Patriots will be discussing 12 of them, and asking you to call your Congressman to ask him or her to support each plan.

The first plan is the Penny Plan. Introduced in 2011, it aims to balance the budget by 2018 by cutting one penny in non-interest federal outlays from each dollar the government spends. Rather than cut from expected spending, the Penny Plan cuts from today’s spending. It also aims to cap spending at 18% of GDP, which is at least one-quarter less than today’s spending levels.
The plan is spelled out in more detail on our website,  but you get the idea. Real cuts. Unlike the “cuts” in discussion on Capitol Hill.

Of course, we know that the establishment in Washington will take a plan as simple as this seriously. As the "fiscal cliff" looms we will see them agree to a bad deal that raises taxes and increases spending which will surely have a devastating affect on the economy, inflating prices for everyday consumers and increasing the number of people who are unemployed. So, in the unlikely event that Washington will prove us wrong, we DARE them to take up the Penny Plan and actually make real cuts in spending.

Call your Member of Congress. Let him or her know that Speaker Boehner should present the Penny Plan to President Obama instead of raising your taxes.

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=378811b3c052d40a005861416&id=41e04cb569&e=234bcfe2d6

12 Days of Solutions - Saving the American Dream

Today, Day 3 of 12 Days of Solutions, finds Washington still fighting over how many of your hard-earned dollars you don’t deserve to keep. Unfortunately, all of the plans in discussion are woefully inadequate.

This lack of attention to quality plans is why Tea Party Patriots is proud to bring a comprehensive plan to balance the budget and enact tax reform to your attention. That plan is the Heritage Foundation’s “Saving the American Dream” budget proposal.

How will this plan save the American Dream? Unlike the proposals being bandied about in Congress, it will:

1. Enact legitimate tax reform.
2. Make Medicare and Social Security solvent for generations.
3. Eliminate much of the unconstitutional non-defense discretionary spending in subsidies, education, and other areas of the federal budget.
4. Get rid of the Affordable Care Act.
5. Balance the budget in 10 years.

Unfortunately, our elected leaders have ignored the plan. It is therefore up to us to pressure them into bringing it forward during the fiscal cliff debate. Of course we know that the Washington establishment will never bring this plan forward, but we DARE them to do something to actually fix the problems instead of kicking the can down the road for us to worry about in the future. Call your Members of Congress and tell them to bring the Saving the American Dream plan up for a vote!

Check out more at http://www.teapartypatriots.org

12 Days of Solutions - Cut Taxes to Promote Economic Growth

Once again, Washington is discussing how to take more of your money under the guise of “helping” you. In reality, they are talking about covering for the political establishment’s unwillingness to balance the budget, but they hide that behind talk of taxing “the rich.”

Yesterday, we outlined what the Penny Plan does for the federal budget – namely, balance non-interest spending. Today, we’re urging you to call your Member of Congress to ask him or her to support the basic platform of cutting tax rates across the board.

Over the last 50 years, tax cuts have proven to drastically increase the dynamic nature of the American economy. Whether under President Kennedy or President Reagan, the economy was always stronger after tax cuts.

Unfortunately, Washington refuses to admit its problem is spending, not a lack of tax dollars going to Washington bureaucrats. We urge you to call your Member of Congress and tell him or her to lower taxes overall, not go along with the massive tax hikes coming in 2013.

Of course, we know that the establishment in Washington will take a plan as simple as this seriously. As the "fiscal cliff" looms we will see them agree to a bad deal that raises taxes and increases spending which will surely have a devastating affect on the economy, inflating prices for everyday consumers and increasing the number of people who are unemployed. So, in the unlikely event that Washington will prove us wrong, we DARE them to cut taxes for all Americans to jump start the economy.

Call your Member of Congress. Let him or her know that Speaker Boehner should propose cutting taxes for all Americans to President Obama instead of raising your taxes.

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

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Breaking News: Federal Campaigns Vulnerable to Illegal Foreign Donations

FROM TEA PARTY PATRIOTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Report: Federal Campaigns Lack Barriers to Stop Influx of Illegal Foreign Donations

Eight Month Investigation Finds Almost Half of Congress - 47.3% - Vulnerable to Foreign and Fraudulent Online Donations—Presidential Candidates Vulnerable Too

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (October 8, 2012) --- The Government Accountability Institute (GAI), a non-partisan investigative and research watchdog group, announced today the release of a 108-page report entitled: "America the Vulnerable: Are Foreign and Fraudulent Online Campaign Contributions Influencing U.S. Elections?,” the first in a series regarding the impact of the Internet on American elections. The report reveals that over an eight-month investigation, GAI discovered President Obama’s campaign website, along with nearly half of congressional websites, lack some of the common, industry-standard security measures used by most e-commerce websites. In addition, the report found that the Obama campaign has actively solicited donations from foreign nationals.

GAI is led by Peter Schweizer whose landmark book, Throw Them All Out, exposed congressional insider trading and led to the recent passage of the STOCK Act. GAI is the same organization that provided a detailed report of the Justice Department’s lack of prosecutions of Wall Street executives for the financial bailout and revealed that President Obama has attended 43.8% of his Presidential Daily Briefs (PDB) on intelligence and did not attend his in-person briefings the week prior to the September 11th attacks on U.S. embassies in Cairo and Benghazi.

“There has been a lot of discussion of the role that money plays in our elections but little or no focus on the vulnerabilities of our election system to be influenced and or possibly manipulated by foreign and fraudulent campaign donations. That is precisely what this report is about, and it’s very troubling,” said Peter Schweizer, President and Co-Founder of the Government Accountability Institute. “The findings in this report reveal that foreign agents of influence can easily be contributing untold amounts of illegal money into presidential and congressional campaigns. Here’s the good news for most of those who are vulnerable: it’s a three-minute, couple-of-clicks solution,” said Schweizer. “We are urging all congressional offices and President Obama to turn on anti-fraud credit card protections immediately.”

The report found almost half (47.3%) of congressional campaign donation websites lack anti-fraud credit card security systems common on most e-commerce websites. As for Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign, the research found his website does maintain the proper security measures.

Chairman and Co-Founder of GAI, Stephen K. Bannon, stated: “America the Vulnerable is exactly the kind of complex, long-term investigative effort GAI was established to execute. Just like GAI President Peter Schweizer’s insider trading investigation led to the passage of the STOCK Act, we hope this report will result in immediate action to ensure the security of the American electoral system.”

Other key findings include:

Nearly Half of Congress Vulnerable to Fraudulent and Foreign Donations: Of the 446 House and Senate members who have an online donation page, 47.3% do not require the three or four digit credit card security number (officially called the Card Verification Value, or the CVV) for Internet contributions. The CVV is an industry-standard anti-fraud credit card security feature used by over 90% of all e-commerce operations and nineteen of the twenty largest charities in the United States. By not protecting themselves with industry-standard security, larger campaigns pay millions of dollars in extra card processing fees that could otherwise be avoided with the use of the CVV.

Given the scope of the problem within Congress, the Institute created an interactive 50-state map to allow citizens and journalists to identify which members of Congress lack industry-standard anti-fraud credit card protection on their campaign donation websites. Go to:www.CampaignFundingRisks.com

•Third-Party Fundraising Organizations Lacking Industry-Standard Anti-Fraud Credit Card Security Funnelling Millions to Federal Candidates: Third-party political fundraising organizations, such as ActRight and ActBlue, distribute millions of dollars to federal candidates, but lack industry-standard anti-fraud credit card security features to block fraudulent and international donations.

•Presence of Fake RNC and DNC Donation Websites: The Institute uncovered and identified an individual who established websites posing as both the Republican and Democratic National Committees. The individual has operated the phony websites for years and has accepted thousands of dollars in “donations.” GAI’s findings were detailed by ABC News.

•Donation Solicitations On Foreign Websites To Then-Candidate Marco Rubio’s 2010 Donation Page: The Institute discovered multiple Spanish language, foreign websites featuring video links that included embedded advertising directing individuals to the donation solicitation page of then-U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio. In addition, Rubio lacked CVV protection, which was corrected in May of 2012. As of this report’s publication date, many of these links are still up and active. This is a potential violation of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) solicitation laws.

•Presidential Candidates Lack Transparency Of Small Donations: Campaigns are not required to disclose donations from individuals who gave less than $200 in a campaign cycle unless the campaign is audited. Furthermore, campaigns do not even need to keep records of those who gave less than $50. Presidential candidates are raising large amounts of money that fall under the $200 threshold and audits are rare unless a campaign accepts federal matching funds. To this date (September 26, 2012), the Romney campaign has raised $58,456,968 and the Obama campaign has raised $271,327,755 in contributions under $200 for the 2012 campaign cycle. In the 2008 presidential elections, the Obama campaign raised $335,139,233 in donations under $200. Neither campaign has accepted federal matching funds nor have ever been audited.

•Threat Of “Robo-Donations”: The absence of industry-standard anti-fraud credit card security features render campaigns more vulnerable to so-called “robo-donations.” Robo-donations are large numbers of small, automated donations made through the Internet to evade FEC reporting requirements.

•Given the state-of-the art digital sophistication of the President’s re-election campaign—including social media, micro-targeting and data-mining—its online donation system contains at least three major security vulnerabilities:

1.The absence of the industry-standard CVV and unknown use of AVS anti-fraud security for online credit card donations.

2.The presence of a branded, major third party-owned website (www.Obama.com) redirects its 68% foreign traffic to a campaign donation page.

3.Active foreign solicitation using indiscriminate email solicitations and exposure to social media.

Specifically:

•Obama Campaign Lacks the Industry-Standard Level Of Credit Card Security For Donations, But Uses It For Merchandise Purchases: To purchase Obama campaign merchandise, the campaign requires buyers to enter their credit card CVV security code, but does not require the credit card security code to be entered when making an online campaign donation. By GAI’s estimates, the Obama campaign’s failure to utilize industry-standard protections potentially costs the campaign millions in extra processing fees.

•Obama.com Purchased By An Obama Bundler In Shanghai, China With Questionable Business Ties to State-Run Chinese Enterprises:  In 2008, Obama.com was purchased by an Obama fundraiser living in Shanghai, China, whose business is heavily dependent on relationships with Chinese state-run television and other state-owned entities.

•68% Of Traffic To Anonymously Registered Obama.com Is Foreign: According to industry leading web analytics site Markosweb, an anonymously registered redirect site (Obama.com ) features 68 % foreign traffic. Starting in December 2011, the site was linked to a specific donation page on the official www.BarackObama.com campaign website for ten months. The page loaded a tracking number, 634930, into a space on the website labeled "who encouraged you to make this donation." That tracking number is embedded in the source code for Obama.com and is associated with the Obama Victory Fund. In early September 2012, the page began redirecting to the standard Obama Victory Fund donation page. Search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, using common spamming techniques, may have also been undertaken by unknown third-parties, generating foreign traffic to Obama.com .

To see the online donations, and to receive the official page report, America The Vulnerable: Are Foreign and Fraudulent Online Campaign Contributions Influencing U.S Elections? visit: www.CampaignFundingRisks.com

Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

Copyright © Tea Party Patriots, Inc. 2012

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