Congressional Tea Party Members WIll Vote No on 2011 Budget

The 2011 budget deal is heading to the House for the final vote and it seems that the final vote for approval is not a "shoe-in." The truest of true fiscal Conservatives and the congressional members of the Tea Party movement are adamant they will strike a "nay" vote to the legislation. Even with a 24-seat majority, Republicans will almost certainly need the help of fiscally moderate Democrats to get the 2011 plan passed. Honestly, I hope there is a shut down. It will motivate there public servant to do the right thing or they can say bye-bye to their plush job and pension. I find that fear is a get motivator.

(Washington Examiner) A vote on the 2011 budget is scheduled for Wednesday.

But many fiscal conservatives, including Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, have both announced they will not back the 2011 plan because it cuts only $38.5 billion, a historic amount for a single-year reduction but about $23 billion less than what Republican lawmakers said was needed to fulfill their campaign pledge to reduce spending to 2008 levels.

Jordan, who heads a large faction of conservative House Republicans as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said he expects significant GOP opposition when the 2011 budget comes up for a vote.

Even with a 24-seat majority, Republicans will almost certainly need the help of fiscally moderate Democrats to get the 2011 plan passed, Republican aides told The Washington Examiner, because many GOP conservatives and freshmen backed by the Tea Party will vote against it.

The federal government is operating under a temporary funding measure that expires Thursday at midnight.

Influential conservatives are pushing the GOP's far right flank to oppose the 2011 bill. Talk show host Rush Limbaugh panned the deal Monday and said the media and political pundits were too eager to praise Boehner, who he said should have pushed harder for deeper cuts.

"It doesn't appear that the rank and file is buying any of the spin," Limbaugh noted.

Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said Republicans may be angered that some of the cuts appear to be from areas of the budget President Obama had already intended to cut or target funds that haven't been allocated yet for specific projects.

"I suspect some of the cuts may not be real cuts," Edwards said, adding that "there may be a bit of a backlash" from conservatives.

Tea Party activists plan on making their disappointment known to the GOP leadership and individual Republican members.

Deal falls short of GOP cut pledge; As good as we could get, Boehner says

Not enough!!!! Need more purging in the GOP establishment starting with House Speaker Boehner. Need more Tea Party supporters to change Washington! The GOP caved in! Pitiful! If it took this long to pass the 2011 budget, just wait till they do the 2012 this year. It's not over yet, folks!

(The Hill) The bipartisan deal struck late Friday falls short of the House Republican campaign pledge to cut $100 billion in fiscal 2011 spending.

The pact cuts $78.5 billion when compared to President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request, which was never enacted.

Comparatively, the accord cuts $39 billion in actual spending, which is $22 billion less than bill the House passed in February.

In a brief interview, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Hill the agreement was "as good a deal as we could get."

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said he expects "significant" opposition from conservatives, both to the short-term fix and the long-term spending bill. He said he will vote against both.

Democrats Game Plan is to Blame Republicans for a Government Shutdown

The Democrats game plan is a scare tactic using class warfare as their initial assault. Next will be a cowardly blame game on the Republican party. This is typical of Democrats. It would be wiser to follow the Wisconsin Democrats and leave town. This whole thing is a joke. The Democrats are claiming that cutting $100 billion will affect society adversely. The budget deficit is in the trillions of dollar and the Democrats are complaining $100 billion. Let the shutdown of the government happen. This time around the American people understands the dilemma this country faces. The American people are more educated that Washington is corrupt. It is ironic how the Democrats are trying to find their way to the American people after ignoring them for the past 4 year. Democrats in Washington are a bunch of scumbags.

(The Hill) Democrats headed back to their districts for the Presidents Day recess hope to drive home the message that Republicans should be blamed if the fight over spending cuts ends in a government shutdown.

House Democrats were still deciding Friday on how much advertising to buy during the week, but they had settled on a message of pointing out specific cuts in the House GOP spending bill and portraying them as unreasonable, a Democratic strategist said.

Democrats will tell constituents that the GOP bill will kick 218,000 children out of Head Start, cause 7,000 special education teachers to loose their jobs, devastate cancer and diabetes research and deny assistance to homeless veterans.

Key part of the Democrats’ messaging strategy will be to place the blame on the Republicans if an agreement on the CR can not be reached and the government is forced to shut down.

If Republicans cuts are successfully painted as unreasonable, then it is easier to blame them if a shutdown occurs, a Democratic aide said.

One aspect of the message is that the spending bill “destroys jobs” at a time of economic recovery. It says Democrats will trim spending by “going after tax loopholes and wasteful subsidies, instead of the reckless and indiscriminate cuts in the GOP spending plan.”

Democrats will also point to efforts they were made by their party to save American jobs. They will highlight attempts to pass a Build America Bonds initiative and a bill ending government contracts for companies that offshore jobs, according to the House Democrats “District Work Plan.”

House GOP Lists $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts

As promised, the Tea Party Republicans in Congress is cleaning house. They already got the 112th Congress to repeal Obamacare. Today, the Tea Party Republicans aggressively presented to the House a way to eliminate $2.5 Trillion in spending in the next 10 years. At this point, the GOP establishment and Liberals are scared that the Tea Party Republicans will change how Washington will function. Now, this is the "Hope and Change" we can all believe in.

(Yahoo) Here is the overview provided by the Republican Study Committee:

FY 2011 CR Amendment: Replace the spending levels in the FY 2011 continuing resolution (NYSE: CR - News) with non-defense, non-homeland security, non-veterans spending at FY 2008 levels. The legislation will further prohibit any FY 2011 funding from being used to carry out any provision of the Democrat government takeover of health care, or to defend the health care law against any lawsuit challenging any provision of the act. $80 billion savings.

Discretionary Spending Limit, FY 2012-2021: Eliminate automatic increases for inflation from CBO baseline projections for future discretionary appropriations. Further, impose discretionary spending limits through 2021 at 2006 levels on the non-defense portion of the discretionary budget. $2.29 trillion savings over ten years.

Federal Workforce Reforms: Eliminate automatic pay increases for civilian federal workers for five years. Additionally, cut the civilian workforce by a total of 15 percent through attrition. Allow the hiring of only one new worker for every two workers who leave federal employment until the reduction target has been met. (Savings included in above discretionary savings figure).

"Stimulus" Repeal: Eliminate all remaining "stimulus" funding. $45 billion total savings.

Eliminate federal control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. $30 billion total savings.

Repeal the Medicaid FMAP increase in the "State Bailout" (Senate amendments to S. 1586). $16.1 billion total savings.

More than 100 specific program eliminations and spending reductions listed below: $330 billion savings over ten years (included in above discretionary savings figure).

Here is the full list of cuts:

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.

Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.

International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.

Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.

National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.

Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.

Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.

Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.

U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.

Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.

Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.

John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.

Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.

Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.

Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.

Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.

Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.

Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.

Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.

Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.

New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.

Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.

Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.

Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.

Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.

Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.

Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.

Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.

Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.

Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.

U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.

General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.

Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.

Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.

No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.

End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.

IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.

Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.

Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.

Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.

Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.

Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.

Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.

USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.

Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.

Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.

Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.

Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.

HUD Ph.D. Program.

Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years