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| The Congress That Needs to Go Home |
Richard Perle, Former Reagan deputy Defense Secretary and a key architect in helping to end the Cold War has warned that the New START Treaty with Russia is 'seriously flawed' and should not be ratified by the Senate. Perle, now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told NewsMax, “It’s certainly not the kind of treaty Ronald Reagan fought for and accomplished. . . . For example, our right to inspections is limited to sites the Russians declare . . . which makes a mockery of the whole idea of on-site inspections. Imagine when Iran asserts a similar right to limit inspections, or the North Koreans or others. For that reason alone, it’s a very doubtful agreement.” Plenty of time is needed to examine the treaty. “That won’t be done if they vote immediately,” he notes. “The Senate has never seen the full negotiating record on the treaty.” That’s because the Obama administration doesn’t want a serious examination of the dispute between the United States and Russia over ballistic missile defense, Perle says. “Russia claims that, if we build future ballistic missile defenses that impinge on what they believe to be their national security, then all bets are off, and the treaty no longer applies,” he says. “That would inhibit our ballistic missile defense program, even though it’s not aimed at Russia — it’s aimed at Iran, North Korea, and others.”
Newt Gingrich, Chairman, American Solutions is calling for voters to call Senators and to tell them to vote against ratifying New START. Gingrich said, "The Lame Duck Congress is still ignoring the mandate from the American people on numerous other issues, not the least of which is the Senate's consideration of the New START Treaty with the Russians. Americans are not interested in having their Senators ratify a controversial treaty and then leave town without any accountability, and this is certainly no way to consider a binding international agreement that weakens our self-defense and further empowers Russia."
Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was forced to pull the 2,000 page, $1.1 trillion omnibus Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations bill from Senate consideration after acknowledging he didn’t have the votes. As a point of interest, in all the pork was a provision to fund an $8 million shrine to the late Ted Kennedy! How long are we going to continual to pay for past Camelot memories for the Kennedys? Instead, Reid and McConnell will work out a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government until the next Congress takes over.
Also last night, Reid filed cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 5281, the House-passed version of the DREAM Act (AMNESTY, MONEY AND ACADEMIC BENEFITS FOR ILLEGALS), and on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 2965, the House-passed bill to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law (WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE POSITIONS OF BATTLEFIELD COMMANDERS). The cloture votes are expected to be held sometime on Saturday morning.
Around midnight Washington D.C. time, the House of Representatives voted to prevent tax hikes in January, 277-148. Prior to passing the tax deal, the House rejected an amendment from liberal Democrats to raise the estate tax, by a vote of 194-233.
Speaking on the floor this morning, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I’m pleased to report two pieces of good news out of Congress today. After two years of policies that lacked public support, the tide is beginning to turn. Today the President will sign a bill that ensures no American gets a tax hike on January 1. Republicans have fought hard for this legislation. Up until last week, most Democrats resisted. But in the end the American people were heard. And that’s a welcome change from the past two years. The American people have finally been heard on another matter too. Yesterday, Republicans united against a 2,000-page, $1.2 trillion dollar spending bill that Democrats were trying to ram through Congress in the final hours of the session. . . . By approving this bill, we would have helped cement for another year massive increases in spending and helped pave the way for a health care bill most Americans are asking us to repeal. Once those details became clear, it was imperative that we reject it.”
The Wall Street Journal described the Republican success in defeating the omnibus, writing, “In a victory for fiscal conservatives, Senate Democrats abandoned a $1.1 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the remaining nine and a half months of the fiscal year, acknowledging that there isn't sufficient support among lawmakers. A visibly frustrated Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said late Thursday that he was forced to drop the bill after nine Republicans who had previously indicated they would support the measure wouldn't now vote for it."
The Hill added, “The bill’s collapse will take with it more than 6,000 earmarks as well as more than $1 billion in funding for implementation of healthcare reform.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times looked at the bill preventing tax increases that passed by a large margin in the House last night, a chamber still dominated by Democrats. “The bipartisan support for the tax deal also underscored the urgency felt by the administration and by lawmakers in both parties to prop up the still-struggling economy and to prevent an across-the-board tax increase that was set to occur if the rates enacted under President George W. Bush had expired, as scheduled, at the end of the month. Administration officials said Mr. Obama would sign the package into law on Friday.”
At her Washington Post blog, Jennifer Rubin noted, “[S]o, by a margin of 277 to 148, the House -- still under the speakership of Nancy Pelosi -- approved an extension of the Bush tax cuts, a payroll tax cut, an estate tax with a 35 percent rate and a generous $5-million exclusion, a grab bag of other tax cuts and a year of unemployment benefits. If you think elections don't matter, think again.”
In Summary, this Congress should Pass a One Page Continuing Resolution and Go Home! They have done enough damage to the American people!
Tags: US Senate, US House, Washington, D.C., tax reductions, Start treaty, Omnibus bill, tax bill, federal spending, Don't Ask, Don't Tell To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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