Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Paul Ryan Denounce "Outside Groups"
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| Photo by abcnews.go.com |
WASHINGTON: Thursday the House of Representatives passed a 2-year budget deal worked out by House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA,) Chairwomen of the Senate Budget Committee. The vote was 332-94 with 162 Republicans voting "Aye" and only 62 Republicans defecting, which surprised Congressman Paul Ryan because of all the the flack he has been taking over the last few days. Democrats voting for the bill were 163, and against were 32. When Speaker John Boehner was asked about the "outside groups" denouncing the bill, he responded "what, the groups that were against it before they knew what was in it?"
Boehner this week said conservative groups had “lost all credibility” by opposing the budget pact before it was even released. He said the activist organizations are “using our members, and they’re using the American people for their own goals.”
The bill is now in the Senate and to it, all 55 Democrats and 5 Republicans have to vote "Aye." Not having to worry about government shutdowns for the next 2 years doesn't sit well with the ultra-rich and Super PACS that like to use shutting down the government as a tactic.
Kudos to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH,) House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI,) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA.) $62B in sequester cuts stopped, $1.012 Trillion in spending, Federal Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2014 will have to contribute 1.03% more to their healthcare costs. The deal doesn't make either side very happy (which is a good sign that it is a good compromise,) and it doesn't cut the deficit a great deal. But, it's start, and at .least there won't be another government shutdown for the next two years. Perhaps they can get something else done, like immigration reform, income inequality, minimum wage, woman's rights, Voter ID/disenfranchisement of Voters, financial reform, JOBS, and so much more.
The rebuke was a clear shot at Heritage Action for America, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and other conservative groups that have proven adept at drumming up conservative opposition to legislation.
Heritage Action (for America) CEO Michael Needham said on Thursday, “The Speaker is trying to turn this into a boring fight between outside groups and himself so we are not having a policy debate about whether or not this is a good deal.” The House approved the budget deal 332-94 on Thursday. On Friday, Needham said "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is picking a fight with outside conservative groups to clear the way for immigration reform."
In October of 2013, Needham admitted "under intense questioning" that Heritage Action was "not being transparent" with their donors as they have generally declined to disclose who their donors are. [25] One exception to this is a donation from conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch: they donated half a million dollars in October of 2013. [26]
"Heritage Action," is a conservative policy advocacy organization, founded in 2010. It works with citizen activists nationwide to generate support for legislation in the U.S. Congress.[1] The organization is a sister organization of the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation.[2][3] Heritage Action has been called a "powerhouse in a new generation of conservative groups"[4] and "perhaps now the most influential lobby group among Congressional Republicans."[5] The Heritage Foundation is not allowed to back pieces of legislation due to its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Heritage Action fulfills this role and provides a link between the think tank and grassroots conservative activists.[7] The organization played an instrumental role in the government shutdown of October 2013.[17][18] While the shutdown was ongoing Heritage Action continued to urge lawmakers not to negotiate a measure to fully fund the government without dismantling the ACA.[16] The strategy of Heritage Action in tying the ACA to the shutdown, according to Needham, was to make President Obama "feel pain" because of the shutdown. [19] Senator Orrin Hatch criticized Heritage for warning legislators not to vote for the Senate budget compromise during the government shutdown of 2013:
"Club For Growth," Club President Chris Chocola said “Apparently, there are some Republicans who don’t have the stomach for even relatively small spending reductions that are devoid of budgetary smoke and mirrors.” The conservative Club for Growth on Wednesday came out against the budget deal struck by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), before the deal was even made public or voted on. This is what Speaker John Boehner was talking about when he was a question by a reporter about "outside groups" opposing the measure and said "what, the groups that were against it before they knew what was in it?"
The Club for Growth is a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic issues.[2] In 2010, the Club’s political arms spent about $8.6 million directly on candidates and bundled another $6 million from Club members and directed those funds to candidates.[6] In 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Club members donated at least $4 million and the Club’s political arms spent nearly $18 million on elections.[7]
The Club has two political arms: an affiliated traditional Political Action Committee called the Club for Growth PAC and Club for Growth Action, an independent-expenditure only committee or Super-PAC. According to its website, the Club for Growth's policy goals include cutting income tax rates, repealing the estate tax, limited government and a Balanced Budget Amendment, entitlement reform, free trade, tort reform, school choice, and deregulation.[3] The Club for Growth PAC endorses and raises money for fiscally conservative candidates.
The Club said it would key vote against the agreement, meaning votes in favor of the agreement would be counted against lawmakers on the group’s annual scorecard.
"Freedom Works" originated from a conservative political group funded by David H. Koch called Citizens for a Sound Economy, which in 2004 split into Americans for Prosperity, led by President Nancy Pfotenhauer, and a remainder group which merged with Empower America and was renamed FreedomWorks, led by President and CEO Matt Kibbe.[4]
In 2009, FreedomWorks responded to the growing number of Tea party protests across the United States, and became one of several groups active in the "Tea Party" tax protests.[19] Among other activities, FreedomWorks runs boot camps for supporters of Republican candidates. FreedomWorks spent over $10 million on the 2010 elections on campaign paraphernalia alone. The required reading list for new employees includes Saul Alinsky,[20] Frédéric Bastiat and Ayn Rand.[21] Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo allege that FreedomWorks helps run the Tea Party Patriots.[22][23] Tea Party Patriots denies this claim.[24] According to a 2010 article in the New York Times, FreedomWorks "has done more than any other organization to build the Tea Party movement."[21]
In the 2010 congressional elections, FreedomWorks endorsed a number of candidates, including Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul.[25] In addition to the aforementioned United States Senate candidates, FreedomWorks endorsed 114 candidates for federal office, of whom seventy won election,[26] an independent study performed by Brigham Young University showed that only FreedomWorks's endorsement had a statistically significant impact on the success of a candidate in the General Election (U.S.).
Sixteen states have already passed resolutions to get the Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Supreme Courts 2010 decision regarding Citizens United. To find an organization or join the effort to overturn the 2010 Citizen United Supreme Court decision go to United For The People . Citizens United allows corporations, the ultra-rich, and Super PACS, like the organizations above have formed. if you noticed the organizations set up 501c4's, non-profit organizations to allow donors to contribute and not pay taxes on their contributions. Non-profit organizations can not be political and back political candidates, so they submit that they are for "causes," not specific politicians. They obviously all have political agendas. ALEC is losing major sponsors and has been lying to the public, the press, and even it's own members. See PRWatch - Don't Believe The Spin From ALEC and PRWatch - New Guardian Docs Show ALEC Misled Press, Public where a spokesperson for ALEC said they had no intentions of forming a 501c4 in "near future," guess "near future" must mean one week, because 8 days later they formed a 501 c4 be4cause the one they had is under investigation for improprieties.
The budget bill H. Con. Res. 472 that House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty (D-WA) Murray agreed on passed the House Thursday, December 12, 2013. Now it must pass the Senate. To pass the Senate all 55 Democrats, and 5 Republicans would have to "Aye" for the bill. Now is the time to CALL YOUR SENATOR. Use this link GovTrack.us to "Call Congress" (Senator)
Boehner this week said conservative groups had “lost all credibility” by opposing the budget pact before it was even released. He said the activist organizations are “using our members, and they’re using the American people for their own goals.”
The bill is now in the Senate and to it, all 55 Democrats and 5 Republicans have to vote "Aye." Not having to worry about government shutdowns for the next 2 years doesn't sit well with the ultra-rich and Super PACS that like to use shutting down the government as a tactic.
Kudos to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH,) House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI,) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA.) $62B in sequester cuts stopped, $1.012 Trillion in spending, Federal Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2014 will have to contribute 1.03% more to their healthcare costs. The deal doesn't make either side very happy (which is a good sign that it is a good compromise,) and it doesn't cut the deficit a great deal. But, it's start, and at .least there won't be another government shutdown for the next two years. Perhaps they can get something else done, like immigration reform, income inequality, minimum wage, woman's rights, Voter ID/disenfranchisement of Voters, financial reform, JOBS, and so much more.
The rebuke was a clear shot at Heritage Action for America, the Club for Growth, FreedomWorks and other conservative groups that have proven adept at drumming up conservative opposition to legislation.
Heritage Action (for America), Club For Growth, Freedom Works
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| Photo by prwatch.org |
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| Heritage Foundation by globalastrology.org |
Heritage Action (for America)
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| Photo by southflorida912.org |
Heritage Action (for America) CEO Michael Needham said on Thursday, “The Speaker is trying to turn this into a boring fight between outside groups and himself so we are not having a policy debate about whether or not this is a good deal.” The House approved the budget deal 332-94 on Thursday. On Friday, Needham said "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is picking a fight with outside conservative groups to clear the way for immigration reform."
In October of 2013, Needham admitted "under intense questioning" that Heritage Action was "not being transparent" with their donors as they have generally declined to disclose who their donors are. [25] One exception to this is a donation from conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch: they donated half a million dollars in October of 2013. [26]
"Heritage Action," is a conservative policy advocacy organization, founded in 2010. It works with citizen activists nationwide to generate support for legislation in the U.S. Congress.[1] The organization is a sister organization of the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation.[2][3] Heritage Action has been called a "powerhouse in a new generation of conservative groups"[4] and "perhaps now the most influential lobby group among Congressional Republicans."[5] The Heritage Foundation is not allowed to back pieces of legislation due to its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Heritage Action fulfills this role and provides a link between the think tank and grassroots conservative activists.[7] The organization played an instrumental role in the government shutdown of October 2013.[17][18] While the shutdown was ongoing Heritage Action continued to urge lawmakers not to negotiate a measure to fully fund the government without dismantling the ACA.[16] The strategy of Heritage Action in tying the ACA to the shutdown, according to Needham, was to make President Obama "feel pain" because of the shutdown. [19] Senator Orrin Hatch criticized Heritage for warning legislators not to vote for the Senate budget compromise during the government shutdown of 2013:
Club for Growth
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| Photo by bergetoons.blogspot.com |
"Club For Growth," Club President Chris Chocola said “Apparently, there are some Republicans who don’t have the stomach for even relatively small spending reductions that are devoid of budgetary smoke and mirrors.” The conservative Club for Growth on Wednesday came out against the budget deal struck by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), before the deal was even made public or voted on. This is what Speaker John Boehner was talking about when he was a question by a reporter about "outside groups" opposing the measure and said "what, the groups that were against it before they knew what was in it?"
The Club for Growth is a fiscally conservative 501(c)4 organization active in the United States of America, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic issues.[2] In 2010, the Club’s political arms spent about $8.6 million directly on candidates and bundled another $6 million from Club members and directed those funds to candidates.[6] In 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Club members donated at least $4 million and the Club’s political arms spent nearly $18 million on elections.[7]
The Club has two political arms: an affiliated traditional Political Action Committee called the Club for Growth PAC and Club for Growth Action, an independent-expenditure only committee or Super-PAC. According to its website, the Club for Growth's policy goals include cutting income tax rates, repealing the estate tax, limited government and a Balanced Budget Amendment, entitlement reform, free trade, tort reform, school choice, and deregulation.[3] The Club for Growth PAC endorses and raises money for fiscally conservative candidates.
The Club said it would key vote against the agreement, meaning votes in favor of the agreement would be counted against lawmakers on the group’s annual scorecard.
Freedom Works
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| Photo by freedomworks.org |
"Freedom Works" originated from a conservative political group funded by David H. Koch called Citizens for a Sound Economy, which in 2004 split into Americans for Prosperity, led by President Nancy Pfotenhauer, and a remainder group which merged with Empower America and was renamed FreedomWorks, led by President and CEO Matt Kibbe.[4]
In 2009, FreedomWorks responded to the growing number of Tea party protests across the United States, and became one of several groups active in the "Tea Party" tax protests.[19] Among other activities, FreedomWorks runs boot camps for supporters of Republican candidates. FreedomWorks spent over $10 million on the 2010 elections on campaign paraphernalia alone. The required reading list for new employees includes Saul Alinsky,[20] Frédéric Bastiat and Ayn Rand.[21] Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo allege that FreedomWorks helps run the Tea Party Patriots.[22][23] Tea Party Patriots denies this claim.[24] According to a 2010 article in the New York Times, FreedomWorks "has done more than any other organization to build the Tea Party movement."[21]
In the 2010 congressional elections, FreedomWorks endorsed a number of candidates, including Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul.[25] In addition to the aforementioned United States Senate candidates, FreedomWorks endorsed 114 candidates for federal office, of whom seventy won election,[26] an independent study performed by Brigham Young University showed that only FreedomWorks's endorsement had a statistically significant impact on the success of a candidate in the General Election (U.S.).
These Groups Speaking Out Against This Budget are the Reason We All Need To Join The Effort To Get Citizens United Overturned
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| Photo by occupyventura805.wordpress.com |
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| Photo by theblogismine.com |
Sixteen states have already passed resolutions to get the Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Supreme Courts 2010 decision regarding Citizens United. To find an organization or join the effort to overturn the 2010 Citizen United Supreme Court decision go to United For The People . Citizens United allows corporations, the ultra-rich, and Super PACS, like the organizations above have formed. if you noticed the organizations set up 501c4's, non-profit organizations to allow donors to contribute and not pay taxes on their contributions. Non-profit organizations can not be political and back political candidates, so they submit that they are for "causes," not specific politicians. They obviously all have political agendas. ALEC is losing major sponsors and has been lying to the public, the press, and even it's own members. See PRWatch - Don't Believe The Spin From ALEC and PRWatch - New Guardian Docs Show ALEC Misled Press, Public where a spokesperson for ALEC said they had no intentions of forming a 501c4 in "near future," guess "near future" must mean one week, because 8 days later they formed a 501 c4 be4cause the one they had is under investigation for improprieties.
The budget bill H. Con. Res. 472 that House Majority Leader Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty (D-WA) Murray agreed on passed the House Thursday, December 12, 2013. Now it must pass the Senate. To pass the Senate all 55 Democrats, and 5 Republicans would have to "Aye" for the bill. Now is the time to CALL YOUR SENATOR. Use this link GovTrack.us to "Call Congress" (Senator)
Group Bios obtained from Wikipedia
References for Heritage Action (for America)
- Jump up ^ May, Caroline (17 June 2010). "Heritage spin-off targets ObamaCare in first grassroots campaign". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Rob Christensen (January 11, 2011). "Heritage Foundation sinks its roots in N.C.". The News & Observer. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- Jump up ^ Weber, Joseph. "Hybrid groups using freedom, cash clout; Conservatives purchase ads,start petitions". The Washington Times.
- Jump up ^ Fineman, Howard (October 9, 2013). "Heritage Action Bails On Debt Ceiling Fight". The Huffington Post.
- Jump up ^ Martin, Jonathan; Rutenberg, Jim; Peters, Jeremy W. (October 19, 2013). "Fiscal Crisis Sounds the Charge in G.O.P.’s ‘Civil War’". The New York Times.
- Jump up ^ Hopkins, Christopher Snow; Khan, Naureen (9 October 2010). "People; Interest Groups". The National Journal.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Smithwick, Benjamin (5 July 2010). "The Fight to Repeal Obamacare". Human Events.com. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
- Jump up ^ Ed Feulner (9 April 2010). "Morning Bell: Heritage Action for America". Morning Bell. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
- Jump up ^ Gizzi, John (27 August 2010). "Sen. Chuck Hagel Strikes Again". Human Events.com. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
- Jump up ^ Arsenault, Mark (11 September 2010). "GOP focus is jobs, not health care; Candidates mostly avoid issue party pledged to hammer". The Boston Globe.
- Jump up ^ Budoff-Brown, Carrie (7 January 2011). "Anti-Reform Dems Cool to Repeal Vote". The News & Observer.
- Jump up ^ "Right wing group uses fear to fight New START". RT.com. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
- Jump up ^ Theobald, Bill (12 December 2010). "Corker Faces Political Dilemma on Nuclear Treaty". The Tennessean.
- Jump up ^ "Tuesday, July 10,2012". Talkers. July 10, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
- Jump up ^ "Heritage Action for America Launches 'Istook Live!' Radio Show". Entertainment Close-Up. July 13, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Moody, Chris (October 9, 2013). "Meet one of the conservative advocacy groups behind the GOP's government shutdown strategy". Yahoo! News.
- Jump up ^ Joseph, Cameron (October 9, 2013). "Heritage Action leader: Paul Ryan's shutdown offer off-target". The Hill.
- Jump up ^ Miller, Zeke J (September 30, 2013). "Hidden Hand: How Heritage Action Drove DC To Shut Down". Time.
- Jump up ^ McCormack, John (October 9, 2013). "Heritage Action's Shutdown Strategy". The Weekly Standard.
- Jump up ^ Taylor, Jessica (October 17, 2013). "GOP senator: Heritage in danger of not amounting to ‘anything anymore’". MSNBC.
- Jump up ^ DeSantis, Ron (14 Feb 2013). "Federal pay freeze bill paves way for reduced spending". The Hill. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
- Jump up ^ Lunney, Kellie. "House to Vote on Fed Pay Freeze". goveexec.com. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
- Jump up ^ "H.R. 273 - Congress.gov". United States Congress. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
- Jump up ^ http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/10/more-than-kochs-small-donors-fueled.html
- Jump up ^ http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/koch-brothers-heritage-action-donation-98054.html
- Jump up ^ http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/koch-brothers-heritage-action-donation-98054.html
References for Club for Growth
- Jump up ^ "Our Mission is Economic Freedom". Club for Growth.
- Jump up ^ Drew, Elizabeth (3-21-2013). "Are the Republicans Beyond Saving?". New York Review of Books. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- Jump up ^ "About the Club for Growth" www.ClubforGrowth.org
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e O'Connor, Patrick. "Conservative unrest fuels Club fundraising: Toomey". The Hill. Retrieved 4-3-2006.
- Jump up ^ Running on empty: how the Democratic and Republican Parties are bankrupting our future By Peter G. Peterson
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Lengell, Sean. "Club for Growth targeting 'establishment' GOP candidates". Washington Times. Retrieved 5-3-2012.
- Jump up ^ "Organization Profiles: Club for Growth". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Resonsive Politics. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Catanese, David (5-10-2010). "How Bennett got Clubbed". Politico. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- Jump up ^ Heller, Marc (4-24-2010). "Club for Growth on fence". Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- Jump up ^ "Medicare reform The biggest turkey of all?". The Economist. 2003-11-27. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
References for Freedom Works
- Jump up ^ [1] FreedomWorks. Retrieved: 19 June 2012.
- Jump up ^ "SourceWatch Founding".
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Clabough, Raven (August 1, 2010). Beck Closely Examines Tea Party Movement. The New American.
- Jump up ^ Ed Pilkington, Republicans steal Barack Obama's internet campaigning tricks, The Guardian, September 18, 2009
- Jump up ^ Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) and Empower America Merge to Form FreedomWorks FreedomWorks press release
- Jump up ^ Board of Directors, FreedomWorks
- Jump up ^ Empower America RightWeb, April 17, 2008
- Jump up ^ FreedomWorks Board of Directors
- Jump up ^ ‘’Wall Street Journal’’, Citizen Armey, 1/8/2003
- Jump up ^ Corn, David; Kroll, Andy (12-3-2012). "Exclusive: Dick Armey Quits Tea Party Group in Split Over Direction". Mother Jones. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
- Jump up ^ Gillum, Jack; Braun, Stephen (12-4-2012). "Tea Party group chief quits, cites internal split". Associated Press. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
- Jump up ^ FreedomWorks tea party group nearly falls apart in fight between old and new guard
- Jump up ^ Marcus, Rachel (4-19-2012). "Tea party leader Dick Armey gets first-class treatment". Huffington Post. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
- Jump up ^ CHAIRMAN DICK ARMEY SPEAKS ABOUT THE FALL OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AT THE CATO INSTITUTE
- Jump up ^ WISCONSIN CSE IS NOW FREEDOMWORKS
- Jump up ^ Freedomworks Issues School Choice
- Jump up ^ Freedomworks’ Issues
- Jump up ^ Issues: Health Care Reform FreedomWorks. Accessed: 21 June 2012.
- Jump up ^ "The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge?"
- Jump up ^ David Weigel (August 11, 2009). "Conservatives Find Town Hall Strategy in Leftist Text". The Washington Independent. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Shaping Tea Party Passion Into Campaign Force, Kate Zernike, The New York Times, August 25, 2010
- Jump up ^ FreedomWorks Says Jump, Tea Partiers Ask How High | TPMMuckraker
- Jump up ^ The Lie Machine : Rolling Stone
- Jump up ^ Fang, Lee. "Pressed On
- FreedomWorks’ Connections To Tea Parties, Dick Armey Lashes Out At TP As ‘Juvenile Delinquents’". Think Progress. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- Jump up ^ "A Tea-Party Target List? FreedomWorks Releases Its Races For 2010 - Politics - The Atlantic". Politics.theatlantic.com. 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
