Yesterday Harry Reid appointed John Kerry, Patty Murray and Max Baucus.
Today Republicans appointed:
Speaker John A. Boehner chose three senior Republican House memebrs: Jeb Hensarling of Texas, and Dave Camp and Fred Upton, both from Michigan.
Mr. Hensarling, who is chairman of the House Republican Conference, will be co-chairman of the new panel, along with Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, chose Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania for the 12-member panel.
Remember, it only takes one. Who is our weak link?
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Let’s put it this way: the only strong link is Toomey.
Sen. Kyl is RINOish, and Upton was the “light-bulb ban” guy. He has recanted on that, but the damage is done; overall a fairly a solid Republican.
As for Kyl, I believe he is retiring, so whether he goes lib on his way out or stands as a Conservative is anyone’s guess.
In other words, meh.
True, courageous leaders would have put Allen West and Johnson from Ohio on the House side, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul from the Senate side – to ensure the leftists got the message that they are NOT going to play games.
But these poor men, Boehner and McConnell, have no spine. They choose people who they wish to reward for loyalty.
Let’s hope they represent the American people and DEEPLY CUT SPENDING and LOWER TAXES.
After all, 2012 is right around the corner, folks. 😀
He darling is reputed to be very Conservative, yet, he’s never stood up and fought openly for anything Conservative. Other people say he’s solid. Yet where was he when Ryan was laying it on the line?
Boehner and McConnell have given us a “compromise” crew who will give us the tax increases for which the GOP were too dickless to come out openly. Then, having agreed to tax increases, they will come out and spin us that it was the best they could get because they don’t want to be blamed for defense or Medicare cuts.
Toomey is the only TP man on board, and he’ll be the Dutch boy with his finger in the tax and spend dike. Where are the other TP warriors who fought the good fight and prevented us from being BBB-? Apparently the rumor was true that they would be excluded.
Well, to the GOP castrati, a pox on you. We’ll primary your asses.
“He darling is reputed to be very Conservative” should be “Hensarling is reputed to be very Conservative.”
Upton is responsible for the light bulb bill but he seems basically conservative.
Camp is more middle of the road.
Hensarling looks to be the budget conservative of the three.
Kyl is very, very conservative.
Portman is a budget wonk and not so conservative.
Toomey is the most conservative.
Those are quick from the hip gut feelings about these guys. The devil is in the details as their actions could just be poses and they’ve done some stuff behind the scenes.
Boehner and McConnell could have done worse. A lot worse.
(sources; bios and wikipedia bios. just a quick scan)
Those who were passed over are more telling than those who got appointed.
My expectations for this “super committee” are higher taxes and more “phony budget cuts.”
I don’t think Boehner and McConnell would appoint anyone willing to change the status quo. But they could have appointed 2 actual conservatives and still had guaranteed higher taxes and phony budget cuts since there are 6 reliable leftists at the table…
The fact that the Republican leadership did not appoint Paul Ryan should speak volumns.
Hensarling is a fiscal hawk. Kyl is a RINO who will cave.
I’ve yet to see a link explaining why, but Paul Ryan specifically asked not to be on the committee.
“The Speaker has chosen three excellent Republican members to serve on this Joint Committee in Chairmen Hensarling, Upton and Camp. I asked the Speaker not to consider me for the Joint Committee, because only the Budget Committee can write legislation to reform the budget process. As Budget Committee chairman, my plan has long been to work on this critical issue throughout the fall. This past year has shown that the federal budget process is more broken than ever and needs to be reformed. If we are truly going to put the country’s fiscal house in order, it will not be enough to temporarily reduce what Washington spends. We must permanently reform the process by which working Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are spent.”
http://paulryan.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=255596
I wonder how many useful bills will come out of Paul Ryan’s committee that cut spending and make the budget more balanced before this Super-Committee even has their first real meeting….
Yeah, Rep. Ryan is in the right spot.
Can’t give you a link – lazy, sorry – but have read that Ryan wants to focus on reforming the Budget Act to get rid of “baseline budgeting,” etc.
Getting rid of baseline budgeting would be a boon – turn an increase in actual dollars spent back into a “budget increase,” get rid of this business where “not increasing spending as fast as the baseline is a savage budget cut.”
Kyl is definitely the weak link. The fact that he is not seeking re-election in 2012 means no accountability for his actions.
Toomey is the surprise. Not only did he vote against the debt deal, but he crafted his own Senate budget proposal which cut spending considerably without touching Medicare or Social Security.
He has also been a critic of President Obama’s out of control spending.
http://reddogreport.com/2011/07/toomey-obama-expands-government-25-then-wants-to-raise-taxes/
Brian O’Connor
RedDogReport.com
Why the hell wasn’t Ryan appointed?!?!?!
Here’s their ACU voting records:
Name, Lifetime ACU Score, Years in Congress, My Assessment
Camp, 88.9, 20 years, conservative
Upton, 73.2, 24 years, RINOish
Hensarling, 98.9, 8 years, super conservative
Kyl, 96.7, 24 years, super conservative
Portman, 89, 8 years, conservative
Toomey, 97, 6 years, super conserative
Senators Portman and Toomey’s ACU score are from their time in the House, both of whom ended their House career at the end of the 2004 term.
Upton has the weakest voting record from a conservative perspective. He’s probably the one to worry about. I’m not too worried about Kyl retiring. He’s a principled conservative. He won’t sell out just because he’s retiring.
Upton. Far and away. Kyl next. Hensarling is the dark horse. He’s on the Leadership team, and if Boehner wants to cut another deal, I fear Jeb may be his hatchet man.
I thought McConnell would put several RINOs on the panel & that didn’t happen at all. Kyl & Toomey are very very conservative & Portman ran as a Tea Partier in ’10 with a solid record. Upton is the closest to a RINO & he still has an ACU rating in the 70s. I thought it was going to be a lot lot worse than this.
I don’t think it matters much, because no one on this committee is going to stray beyond what Boehner and McConnell are prepared to countenance.
Well Upton’s definitely the weak link, from NRO’s The Corner:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/274263/uptons-fiscal-record-andrew-stiles
The whole god damn bunch is a disappointment, as are [almost] all of congress. Who cares? We can fix this situation in November, 2012.