Local Rs back Ryan budget, inviting political challenge
Another Paul Ryan budget won passage in the House today, and again Philadelphia-area Republicans voted in favor of the conservative blueprint that was used as a political weapon against them last election - and likely will be again in 2014.
Local Rs back Ryan budget, inviting political challenge
WASHINGTON – Another Paul Ryan budget won passage in the House today, and again Philadelphia-area Republicans voted in favor of the conservative blueprint that was used as a political weapon against them last election – and likely will be again in 2014.
Moments after the vote the Democratic House Majority PAC sent out a release accusing Bucks County’s Mike Fitzpatrick of “embracing dangerous priorities.”
Fitzpatrick, along with Congressmen Charlie Dent, Jim Gerlach and Pat Meehan (in PA) and Frank LoBiondo, Jon Runyan and Chris Smith (in Jersey) all backed the Ryan plan, which Republicans have hailed as a proposal to balance the federal budget in 10 years and rein in spending while lowering taxes. Every local Democrat voted no. (They all represent safely liberal districts, so budget votes like these carry little risk for them).
It was an almost purely party-line vote – only 10 Republicans voted no and no Democrats backed the plan. Where there is risk for local Republicans, as we wrote about a couple weeks back, is that they represent moderate districts where Ryan’s deep budget cuts, proposed Medicare overhaul and tax breaks that will help the wealthy the most might not receive the warm welcome that conservatives give it elsewhere.
The tug-of-war within the party was neatly illustrated today in a post by The Washington Post’s The Fix:
“There is a substantial portion of the GOP conference who see shrinking federal spending and eliminating the budget deficit as not just a goal but the goal,” wrote Chris Cillizza and Sean Sullivan. “For politicians with their eyes on bigger prizes than simply winning re-election to a House seat, however, pledging fealty to austerity over all other priorities may well be a very limiting proposition.”
Inquirer alum Dick Polman touched on a similiar theme on his blog over at NewsWorks.
“The budget debate inside the Beltway is center-right, but out in the world, the general sentiment is center-left,” he wrote.
Polman backs up his assertion with numbers from the National Opinion Research Center poll, whose researcher said, “Although nearly everybody acknowledged that the deficit is an important problem, a solid majority sees job creation as an even more urgent necessity."
Via Polman: 74 percent of Americans said that deficit reduction was "very important," but 92 percent said it was "very important" that the government spend more money to boost jobs. And when people were asked whether they prioritized job creation over deficit reduction, 58 percent said yes. Only 41 percent said they prioritized deficit reduction over job creation.”
Democrats will hope to take advantage of those sentiments next year, when the Philly-area swing districts will once again be potential battlegrounds.
Of course, they tried the same tactic last year and it didn’t work, even with Ryan and his budget plan in full national view as he ran for vice president. The local Republicans had all backed Ryan’s plans twice before, and they all survived election challenges waged with varying degrees of competence.
The Ryan plan is more of a policy platform than actual governing document. The Democratic-controlled Senate has no intention of taking it up, just as the GOP-controlled House has no plans to give serious thought to the Democratic budget. Each side is simply staking out its ideals.
But the policy stakes can have political consequences. Our local members are on record as supporting or opposing it. Even if it never becomes law, expect to hear lots about it in the coming months.
The government has no money. They are running trillion dollar deficits year after year. If you or I do that we end up in jail. Pols do it and we reward them with additional terms in office. Not a single budget passed since O became president. FORWARD!— phillycaster- Paul Ryan wants the revenue from Obamacare to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. This extreme nitwit obviously doesn't get it. Raise revenue and reform entitlements is the best way forward.— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- Sadly we have many dolts that can't see the truth, sir. Phillycaster is one. — tynol10
- LoL. you and Fundamentals should go live in Cypress.. I heard its doing well too.
Democrats in Senate - Illegally no budget for 4 yrs
Obama - No balanced budget in his entire Presidency
Now, that being said. If the US is currently over budget each year by greater than $1 TRILLION, what does that tell us??? We're spending too much money maybe???
BTW, if the Central Bank is printing $4 BILLION per day in money for the US...what do you think will eventually happen to the value of all the money in our pockets???
Right. Think Cypress is bad? The US will be 1000x worse when the music stops.— Professor1982 - Economy today vs 7 yrs ago...let's examine:
•Dow Jones Industrial Average: Then 14164.5; Now 14164.5
•Regular Gas Price: Then $2.75; Now $3.73
•GDP Growth: Then 2.5%; Now 1.6%
•Americans Unemployed (in Labor Force): Then 6.7 million; Now 13.2 million
•Americans On Food Stamps: Then 26.9 million; Now 47.69 million
•Size of Fed's Balance Sheet: Then $0.89 trillion; Now $3.01 trillion
•US Debt as a Percentage of GDP: Then ~38%; Now 74.2%
•US Deficit (LTM): Then $97 billion; Now $975.6 billion
•Total US Debt Oustanding: Then $9.008 trillion; Now $16.43 trillion
•US Household Debt: Then $13.5 trillion; Now 12.87 trillion
•Labor Force Particpation Rate: Then 65.8%; Now 63.6%•Consumer Confidence: Then 99.5; Now 69.6
•S&P Rating of the US: Then AAA; Now AA
•VIX: Then 17.5%; Now 14%
•10 Year Treasury Yield: Then 4.64%; Now 1.89%
•USDJPY: Then 117; Now 93•EURUSD: Then 1.4145; Now 1.3050
•Gold: Then $748; Now $1583
•NYSE Average LTM Volume (per day): Then 1.3 billion shares; Now 545 million shares
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-05/last-time-dow-was-here— Professor1982 - Way to just cherry pick a year, tool. Oh, and the Dow closed at 14,421.49 today (3/21/2013). Time to find a new source to copy and paste.
— wokmaster - phony prof, gov't spending is down, deficit is down, All under Obama. Even without repub help. Imagine how much better off we'd be if the gop actually cared about America instead of their own party and its rich benefactors? — mike l
- This comment has been deleted.— bowersbarn
- Still no facts or figures from Bowers....S/he's like a Vaudeville comedy routine. (HTML deleted) — Professor1982
- Still no facts or figures from Bowers....
S/he's like a Vaudeville comedy routine.— Professor1982 - LOL. Professor1982, you wouldn't know a fact if it smacked you in the face. — CommonSense in Philly
- I think the truth is that the President has not passed a single budget. And the truth is that the President has been leading the country while recording record deficits.
Don't raise revenue until you get your spending under control--otherwise they'll be back in a year asking for a bigger bag of money.— Origami - This comment has been deleted.— bowersbarn
- That statement makes absolutely no sense. The so-called rich pay the vast majority of taxes in this country. When you confiscate and redistribute less of their earnings, nobody is forced to pay for them. The rich are simply forced to pay less to carry the burden of others. — jfar86
- @jfar - Even Bill Mahr agreed that the RICH PAY THE LIONSHARE of taxes...to the chagrin of MSNBC...
Enjoy...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/03/16/bill-maher-california-income-taxes-liberals-you-could-actually-lose-m
— Professor1982
Jonathan Tamari is the Inquirer’s correspondent in Washington, where he follows the Philadelphia area’s interests and representatives. Tamari comes to D.C. after two years as a beat writer reporting on the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL (where, a political source once told him, there are at least rules against hitting below the knees). He previously wrote about politics and government from Trenton, reporting on the characters and color of New Jersey state government.Jersey born and bred, Tamari now lives in the capital city, where he is looking for stories, places to run, soccer bars and good meals.
Reach him at jtamari@phillynews.com.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @JonathanTamari.
