Draining The Swamp - The Rangel Mess

Congressman Charlie Rangel is a prime example of what's wrong with Congress! On July 31, 2007, Nancy Pelosi said "we'll keep our promise to drain the swamp that is Washington D.C. to let sunshine disinfect the Congress". Now, three years later, there are still alligators in the swamp, who believe they are above the law and invincible.

13 ethics violations, including failing to report income from rental properties, using a rent stabilized apartment for campaign functions, soliciting donations from corporations and entities who appear before him and were lobbying him for favorable treatment, falsifying financial disclosures and more. His arrogance allows him to act as if he is entitled to special treatment and consideration, especially after having been in Congress for 40+ years... this while he heads the powerful House & Ways Committee, which oversees tax law and the IRS.

Increasingly, citizens see what's going on... it appears like "business as usual" in Washington and the Democrats are not eager to prosecute Rangel on these serious violations. Amazingly, there have been just 9 Democrats who have come out calling for his resignation, a number far short of what it should be.

Let's show Congress that we're not willing to accept "business as usual" in November. It is truly time to drain the swamp!

-Rick

Congressional Budget Office Weighs In On Debt Once Again

While President Obama's Budget Director Peter give's his "swan-song" speech Friday, the Congressional Budget Office, which he formerly ran, beat him to the punch by announcing the U.S. is headed for a major "Greek-like" financial crisis if it doesn't get it's financial house in order. The CBO stated that interest payments on the debt may likely double to $900 billion annually by 2015 if we continue down this path. Their report looked at countries like Greece, Ireland and Argentina where those countries were faced with paying sharply higher interest rates. We've seen the predicament Greece is in with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now telling them what to do... will this mean holders of U.S. debt such as Japan and China will look to tell the U.S. what to do within the next five years?

With the debt levels soaring, Moody's, the bond rating service, again warned that the U.S. is as risk of losing it's bonded AAA credit rating which we've had since 1913. This, along with our poor economy, could cause foreign nations to look elsewhere to buy bonds, causing U.S. bond interest rates to climb. The CBO says if interest rates climb, we could be paying $100 to $400 billion more per year in interest... money doing nothing for us but going down the drain!

When will Congress wake up and realize they can't keep spending and adding debt? Now is the time to make your voice loud and clear... WE'VE HAD ENOUGH!
-Rick

Unemployment Benefit Extension Piles On More Debt

There was a huge sigh of relief for 2.5 million unemployed people who desperately needed an extension of their unemployment benefits as Congress passed a $34 Billion unfunded package.

Earlier this year the Senate passed and Mr. Obama signed a "Pay As You Go" rule, that required the government to pay for new spending, but yet we have another example of how the Democrats don't feel bound by the pay-go spirit!

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., had proposed paying for an earlier (and costlier) iteration of the bill by rescinding $38 billion in "unobligated" stimulus money and imposing an across-the-board cut of 5 percent on non-defense government agencies. His measure was defeated.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., proposed paying for the measure "with $40 billion in cuts (reducing unneeded government printing, cutting non-essential government travel, and eliminating bogus government bonuses) and revenue raisers (selling unneeded government property and collecting unpaid taxes from federal employees)." It too looks like it will fail.

When will Congress listen to people around the country, their constituents, who are screaming "no more spending"?

If we can get government off the backs of small business by eliminating the 3 Legged Monster, we can create additional jobs and reduce the need for unemployment benefits.

I continue to be the voice of reason... we cannot continue to spend and borrow on the backs of AmericanS and future generations. As your Congressman, I will fight tooth and nail to stop this madness!
-Rick

TARP Watchdog Tells Administration Their Housing Bailout Does NOT Work!

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general over the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), appointed by President Obama, harshly critisized the Obama administration yesterday telling them their main housing program "continues to struggle" and that the number of permanent loan modifications under the program is "anemic." This, after pumping $30 billion into the Home Affordable Mortgage program which the administration touted would help 3-4 million homeowners.

To date, 398,000 homeowners have received permanent mortgage modification, or approximately 12 percent of eligible delinquent homeowners.

In addition, 521,000 homeowners who were on the trial program were inexplicably dropped after 9 months and face foreclosure.

"Treasury's refusal to provide meaningful goals for this important program is a fundamental failure of transparency and accountability that makes it far more difficult for the American people and their representatives in Congress to assess whether the program's benefits are worth its very substantial cost," the report reads.

Once again we are seeing this administration treat TARP like its own personal slush-fund which is a complete betrayal of what the American people were told when the plan was initiated to bail out Wall Street firms.

Indeed, these are VERY substantial costs which, once again, are being pushed onto our children and grandchildren leaving them with what will be insurmountable debt.
-Rick

Thank God The Spill Is Finally Contained In The Gulf. Let's Continue To Pray That It Stays That Way!

So now that the crisis is over, let's assess our President's performance.

The press was all over President Bush for his handling of Katrina, yet Bush got involved, fixed the mistakes and got results. Say what you will about George Bush, but he showed leadership after Katrina and the folks in the Gulf benefitted from his response. Obama's answer is a knee-jerk reaction to stop drilling for 6 months and George Miller's is to punish BP with a 7 year moritorium on American leases for drilling. Does that make you feel better?

How do you think it makes the thousands of newly unemployed oil workers in the Gulf? Way to go Obama and Miller - way to send those good paying oil jobs over seas. The Gulf has been hit hard economically by this spill and our president and congressman's answer is to hurt them more.

Did you notice how no other country on the planet punished BP or stopped their off shore drilling? Of course not, and now with America denying access to its oil, companies will just go elsewhere to drill and hire other countries' workers. 10% unemployment and your president and congressman only make it worse. Our sacrifice in jobs will not serve the greater good. It will only reduce the unemployment rate in Brazil.

Have you had enough yet? If so, let's at least vote Miller out this November. Vote Rick Tubbs for Congress.

Watch this video... https://www.nrsc.org/oilspill?hq_e=el&hq_m=47371&hq_l=1&hq_v=8074721d9a

-Rick

Democrats Including George Miller Pass Fake Budget to Hide Their Gross Mismanagement of Your Money

By the slimmest of margins (215-210), House Democrats passed a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget. The Democrats' "deemed as passed" resolution is missing the most basic elements of a standard budget that is expected each year: total outlays, total federal revenue, total proposed changes to revenue, total deficit levels, and total debt levels.

So as Connie Hair of Human Events so aptly points out "never before -- since the creation of the Congressional budget process -- has the House failed to pass a budget, failed to propose a budget then deemed the non-existent budget as passed as a means to avoid a direct, recorded vote on a budget, but still allow Congress to spend taxpayer money."

This latest "trick" to dump more debt on our children by being even more irresponsible with our tax dollars is flat out corruption! They have no restraint. They are worse than spoiled little brats who just want their way and don't care what the consequences are. Except we, the American people, keep paying the price for their lack of sensibility. It is up to us, the ones paying for their mistakes to finally make them pay the consequence of losing their job. They, the big government, big spend, big tax, big debt, out of touch politicians that are failing to carry out the responsibility we elected them to do. It is up to us now. If we re-elect them i.e. George Miller, again, we have only ourselves to blame.

Another point, Obama claims bipartisan support when he gets one Republican vote (Olympia Snow) yet 38 Democrats and every Republican voted against this. Is this bipartisan opposition? That is what I call it, but it is still a minority. Is it November yet? Everyone who reads this post, you are needed to help this country. You are the one that will make the difference. We cannot sit on the sidelines anymore and hope it gets better because it won't unless you do something about it. Helping me beat George Miller would be a great place to make your difference! http://www.ricktubbs4congress.com/ and Please Follow Me On this Blogsite
-Rick

Get Ready For Another $20 Billion Of Debt Created By Your Congressman George Miller

BP cut off from new US oil drilling leases: California Democrats pass Miller amendment!

California Democrat Rep. George Miller created the amendment so that the government would have more control over BP. Separately, Democratic lawmakers pushed ahead with proposals that would punish the British oil giant for its role in the worst U.S. offshore oil spill ever.

I absolutely believe BP should be punished, but what Miller and the Democrats have done is kill thousands of American jobs and jeopardize BP's ability to pay for their mess. Does that make you feel better? It does make the debt clock spin faster. Way to go George. More government, more debt, more of the same. We can't afford George Miller for another 2 years
-Rick