According to the DCCC there are 67 House Republicans who voted against the stimulus package. But when these no voters are back in their home states they like to brag and swagger about bringing home the bacon. On a different level, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison joins these ranks. She voted against the stimulus bill and yet she criticized Rick Perry for turning down federal funding for extended unemployment benefits.
Texas has its fair share of outstanding hypocrites. Check the list below to see if your U.S. House Rep. is included in the GOP Hall of Hypocrites. I must admit that I am not shocked to learn that my U.S. Rep., John Culberson, is among them. I betcha your U.S. Reps are too.
Please add "Smokey Joe" Barton to your long list of Republicans and politicos considering a run for the yet to be vacant seat of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. The twelve-term Republican, and staunch supporter of all things that pollute the environment, had this to say through a spokesperson:
"[Barton] believes serving the entire state of Texas as their next senator would be an honor."
It might be an honor to "Smokey Joe," but it would be a huge dishonor to everyday Texans to have him as a Texas senator. You may recall that this isn't the first time that Joe Barton has run in a special election to fill a vacant senate seat. Barton last ran in 1993 with a field of twenty-four other candidates in an effort to win a seat vacated by incoming Clinton Administration Treasurer, Lloyd Bentsen. Ole' Smokey came in third, just missing the runoff. Kay Bailey Hutchison went on to defeat former Railroad Commissioner Bob Krueger. Barton's ego sees an opportunity to best history this time, I suppose.
"Smokey Joe" has had bouts of health problems in the last two to four years, which has led to speculation that he would resign his District 6 congressional seat, encompassing parts of Tarrant County, and not seek another term in office. News that Barton is considering a run for the United States senate is no surprise to me as I always felt that, because of our convoluted special election laws in Texas that he could make a serious run as he did in 1993. The problem is that Barton wouldn't know E-T-H-I-C-S if you spotted him every letter in the term, plus the full definition of it. And, because of his background previously before congress as an oil and gas industry consultant, and spectacular record of being a best friend to energy interests, and deep in denial over global warming, you best believe that Ole' Smokey would live up to his nickname as a senator from Texas. Needless to say, he would have a following. I'm not positive that in a huge field of candidates if Barton would come close to the third place finish he managed in 1993.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann smacks down the obstructionist Republicans and Blue Dogs who are getting major contributions from the health care industry.
PBS pointed out that the health and insurance industries are spending more than a million, 400 thousand dollars a day, just to destroy the "public option" - the truly non-profit, wieldy, round-up and not round-down, government, from helping you pay your medical bills with about a billionth of the recklessness with which it is still paying Halliburton and its spinoffs to kill your kids.
And much of this money is going to, and through, Republicans.
But that's the real point tonight.
Not all of it is going through Republicans...
(An interesting take on Cap and Trade. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
The Cap and Trade Bill (HR 2454) is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and create 'green' jobs, by putting a limit on the amount of pollution large industrial industries can output, and then if they go above that, they have to buy pollution permits. If some companies do not need all that they are allocated, they can sell their permits to companies that do.
Texas U.S. Representatives Joe Barton and Pete Sessions continue their lying campaign about the "Cap and Trade" legislation by claiming that President Obama's proposal to curb greenhouse gas emissions would cost households as much as $3,100 per year. Their 'Party of No' says it is a "massive national energy tax." However Texans and Americans need to know the $3,100 figure they keep lying about is a complete misrepresentation of both President Obama's proposal and the studies from which the number is derived.
An EPA analysis (Environmental Protection Agency) of the draft version found that the 'cap & trade' policy has a relatively modest impact on U.S. consumers assuming the bulk of revenues from the plan are returned to American households. "The EPA estimates the average cost per household to only be between $98 and $140 per year.
Before you read another word, you need to know one thing, elected officials are held to a higher standard.
When an elected official speaks for or against public policy, the microphone they use has an unprecedented ripple effect. When they speak falsely or misconstrue the truth, they are harming both the public discourse and public policy. So, elected officials are held to a higher standard.
That's why it is troubling to read Media Maters for America's report that John Culberson spread misinformation on cap-and-trade policies in an article he wrote in The Hill.
Media Matters for America pulls out this specific quote from the article:
Rep. Culberson: "The ACES Act is more restrictive and would cause even greater economic damage. The cost to Texas ratepayers alone could reach $20 billion in added electricity costs, which is an increase of over $600 per year in utility bills, according to a study commissioned by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas." (TheHill.com, 5/20/09)
According to the Center for American Progress: "A national renewable electricity standard, a key piece of the clean energy legislation currently before Congress, would save households and businesses in every state billions of dollars in electricity and natural gas bills... The numbers come from the Union of Concerned Scientists, who earlier this year analyzed a renewable electricity standard that would aim to have 25 percent of our electricity come from renewable sources by
2025. They found that this standard would save families and businesses $95 billion in electricity and natural gas bills through 2030 and spur new investments and hundreds of thousands of new clean-energy jobs." The study found that Texas in particular would save $693 per household and $21.1 billion in residential, commercial and industrial savings over 20 years.
In addition, Culberson claimed cap-and-trade policy is bad for both the economy and consumers. In the Hill article, he claimed (with out citing any study) the ACES act would stifle domestic energy and manufacturing sectors.
Seems that baseless statement also fails the truth test.
In 2007, the American Council on Capital Formation (ACCF) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) commissioned a report on "the effects of a cap-and-trade law similar to that proposed by the Obama administration" using a "worst-case scenario...what they term the 'high-cost case' forecast." In his op-ed, Rep. Barton touted NAM's opposition to cap-and-trade because of its high cost. But an analysis of the ACCF/NAM report by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found that under cap-and-trade, Rep. Barton's home state of Texas "would experience healthy economic growth."
Solutions are hard to come by in our hyper partisan world. Debate is good. Disagreement is good. When we debate and disagree, we get better public policy. The problem isn't when we disagree, its when we agree and an elected official goes public with false statements or mistruths. I don't think Rep. Culberson was malicious in his article, but he was wrong. Hopefully Culberson, with the correct information, will not only correct his statements, but will also will change his ill advised position on environmental and economic policy.
Of course Media Matters for America has more information about the proposal here. News like this is hard to write about as it breaks, if you were following me on twitter, you would have seen this story last night. Hint hint.
What started as one of those “off the record” conversations was confirmed by numerous Arlington-area Republican sources of mine who have kept talking about the 2010 retirement announcement (supposedly) by Congressman Joe Barton, R-Ennis.
I'd say this is credible, since the poster -- Joey Dauben -- was the last person to run against Barton in the primary.
TX-6 is in North Texas, and contains all of Ellis County, Navarro County, Freestone County, Leon County, Houston County, and a part of Limestone County, Trinity County, and Tarrant County. It runs on a "backslash-diagonal" angle from Arlington & Fort Worth in the Northwest to Trinity in the Southeast. (See district map here).
Talk about Barton's retirement -- and potential Democrats that could run -- in the comments.
As Vince pointed out, Texas congressional Republicans, many of who have never wore a military uniform, talk a good game on taking care of our troops but voting records and otherwise indicate how congressional Republicans only care about their political livelihood, accepting donations from companies profiting of the war, and voting to continue to demoralize and destroy our active military and their families.
Occasionally, Congress will vote on a resolution urging another country to take action on a particular matter--in this case, asking the U.K. for an independent inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, a human rights lawyer who was killed in his home by pro-British loyalists in 1989.
On Tuesday, Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a resolution supporting an inquiry into Pat Finucane's murder, and the resolution passed with 364 voting yes, and only 34 voting no. That's right--34 voted no, including 5 Texas Republicans...
Texas has been the home for majority leaders, House Speakers, Presidents and Vice-Presidents alike, but with the recent national gains for the Democratic Party, Texas has still lost.
On October 20th of this year, Burnt Orange Report saw the writing on the wall. If Democrats won the majority, Texas would be the weakest it has ever been on the national stage.
Not only did Democrats win, the party took both chambers of Congress and relegated our ambitious and power hungry Texas Republicans to bench warmers.
For a quick example, in the past week our two Senators Kay Bailey and John Cornyn have moved up the Republican Leadership latter to become Chair of the Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chair of the Republican Conference respectively. Two major and influential positions... of the minority party. Super, too bad they can't direct policy nor help the state without bipartisan support.
Talk about strong arms- Rep. Joe Barton (R) gets slapped down.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) has dropped his bid to become the next House Minority Leader and endorsed Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) over Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), reports Hotline On Call.
"Sources tell Red State that Barton has withdrawn from the House Leadership race after John Boehner had it made clear to Barton that should Boehner win he would strip Barton of his ranking position on the Energy & Commerce Committee."
