Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
FROM YAHOO NEWS
Obama likely to focus on deficit in next 2 years
Buzz up!255 votes ShareretweetEmailPrint Play Video FOX News – President Obama Vs. GOP
Slideshow:President Barack Obama Play Video Barack Obama Video:President Obama Boosts Sharon Angle? FOX News Play Video Barack Obama Video:iPad: Autograph Book of the Future? FOX News AP – FILE - In this June 10, 2010, file photo President Barack Obama makes addresses reporters in the White … By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller, Ap White House Correspondent – 2 hrs 21 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Preparing for political life after a bruising election, President Barack Obama will put greater emphasis on fiscal discipline, a nod to a nation sick of spending and to a Congress poised to become more Republican, conservative and determined to stop him.
He is already giving clues about how he will govern in the last two years of his term.
Obama will try to make gains on deficit reduction, education and energy. He will enforce his health care and financial overhauls and try to protect them from repeal should Republicans win control of Capitol Hill. He will use executive authority when blocked by Congress, and steel for scrutiny and investigations if the GOP is in charge.
While trying to save money, Obama will have to decide whether to bend to Republican and growing Democratic pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts, even for the wealthy, that expire at year's end. Obama wants to extend them for people making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000, but a broader extension is gaining favor with an increasing number of Democrats.
Moving to the fore will be a more serious focus on how to balance the federal budget and pay for the programs that keep sinking the country into debt.
In other times, that discussion might seem like dry, Washington talk. Not now. People are fed up with federal spending, particularly as many remain jobless.
The White House refuses to talk about how the president will have to adjust his style or goals if power in Congress tilts right, for fear of undermining what Obama is still campaigning hard to do: keeping Democrats in power. There is no conceding as Obama recruits voters and rallies supporters all the way to Nov. 2.
Yet if polls and analysts are on target, Republicans are poised to win big, possibly taking control of the House and gaining seats in the Senate, where Obama's party already lacks the votes to overcome bill-killing delay tactics. Obama probably will operate in an environment with even fewer moderate Republicans.
The president has signaled that at the start of the new year, he will speak more directly to the country about the financial choices ahead. "If we're going to get serious about the deficit, then we're going to have to look at everything: entitlements, defense spending, revenues. ... And that's going to be a tough conversation," he said.
It's one that will be framed by a bipartisan debt commission, whose ideas this December will give Obama political cover on where to suggest unpopular cuts.
Obama says the most frustrating part of his presidency is that he had to keep spending money and adding to the deficit in his first six months in office "to save the economy." He has from the start called deficit reduction a goal, but one that had to get bumped in favor of sparking the economy.
Ask America: Learn. Listen. Be heard.
Ask America
Election forum
The Fast Fix
Map snapshot
Almost 60 percent of likely voters now say cutting the yearly budget shortfall is the priority, even if that means the government can't spend on new education programs, develop alternative energy sources or enact his health care overhaul or alternative energy policies, an Associated Press-GfK poll found.
Obama defends the huge economic stimulus plan and the bailout of U.S. automakers, and doesn't blame people for getting tired of all the spending. But he does accuse Republicans of showing a lack of genuineness about fixing the systemic problems that have driven up the debt long before he won the White House.
And there rests the true trouble.
Even though Obama and the Republicans ostensibly share the goals of reducing debt and creating jobs, they disagree fundamentally on their approaches. That problem appears to be worsened by the lack of a serious working relationship among the leaders. If divided government simply leads to more division over the budget and economy, newly empowered Republicans and a Democratic president seeking re-election may both pay the price.
"It's going to be very hard to find common ground," said James Thurber, a professor of government at American University. "To a certain extent, (Obama's) strategy depends on the strategy of majority of the House, and what can be found in the Senate, where's he's basically going to be deadlocked."
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said if Obama and his team are going to work with the new Congress, then they must accept the end of government stimulus efforts as a means for creating jobs. Boehner and fellow Republicans have outlined a plan for governing that includes deep spending cuts and a repeal of Obama's health care law, among other changes. Boehner is likely to ascend to House speaker if his party wins a majority.
"They're going to have to signal some kind of willingness to work with Republicans to cut spending," Boehner told The Associated Press. "Cutting government spending is what the American people want, and it's an approach neither party has tried yet."
The federal deficit was a near-record $1.3 trillion for the just-completed budget year.
Obama may succeed in getting Republican support for trade pacts on a new education law that insists on school reforms. He will go for an immigration overhaul and energy legislation, but have to accept smaller, piece-by-piece results. Capping of greenhouse gas emissions, for one, seems to be going nowhere.
"It's a very different reality for the president for the next two years, which is not to say that nothing gets done," said Norman Ornstein, a political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Even in a rancorous and nasty environment, it seems to me there may some areas of opportunity."
Either real compromise or political pressures may pull Obama and enough Republicans together to get some priorities done. President Bill Clinton managed to rebound and work with Republicans after they swept into office in 1994, teaming up on welfare and balanced-budget legislation.
Never to be ignored are the core Democrats who helped get Obama elected and who, in some cases, are disgruntled about the pace of progress. "He's got to be careful to manage his base," said Ann Crigler, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California. "His election is going to start Nov. 3."
Buzz up!255 votes ShareretweetEmailPrint Play Video FOX News – President Obama Vs. GOP
Slideshow:President Barack Obama Play Video Barack Obama Video:President Obama Boosts Sharon Angle? FOX News Play Video Barack Obama Video:iPad: Autograph Book of the Future? FOX News AP – FILE - In this June 10, 2010, file photo President Barack Obama makes addresses reporters in the White … By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller, Ap White House Correspondent – 2 hrs 21 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Preparing for political life after a bruising election, President Barack Obama will put greater emphasis on fiscal discipline, a nod to a nation sick of spending and to a Congress poised to become more Republican, conservative and determined to stop him.
He is already giving clues about how he will govern in the last two years of his term.
Obama will try to make gains on deficit reduction, education and energy. He will enforce his health care and financial overhauls and try to protect them from repeal should Republicans win control of Capitol Hill. He will use executive authority when blocked by Congress, and steel for scrutiny and investigations if the GOP is in charge.
While trying to save money, Obama will have to decide whether to bend to Republican and growing Democratic pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts, even for the wealthy, that expire at year's end. Obama wants to extend them for people making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000, but a broader extension is gaining favor with an increasing number of Democrats.
Moving to the fore will be a more serious focus on how to balance the federal budget and pay for the programs that keep sinking the country into debt.
In other times, that discussion might seem like dry, Washington talk. Not now. People are fed up with federal spending, particularly as many remain jobless.
The White House refuses to talk about how the president will have to adjust his style or goals if power in Congress tilts right, for fear of undermining what Obama is still campaigning hard to do: keeping Democrats in power. There is no conceding as Obama recruits voters and rallies supporters all the way to Nov. 2.
Yet if polls and analysts are on target, Republicans are poised to win big, possibly taking control of the House and gaining seats in the Senate, where Obama's party already lacks the votes to overcome bill-killing delay tactics. Obama probably will operate in an environment with even fewer moderate Republicans.
The president has signaled that at the start of the new year, he will speak more directly to the country about the financial choices ahead. "If we're going to get serious about the deficit, then we're going to have to look at everything: entitlements, defense spending, revenues. ... And that's going to be a tough conversation," he said.
It's one that will be framed by a bipartisan debt commission, whose ideas this December will give Obama political cover on where to suggest unpopular cuts.
Obama says the most frustrating part of his presidency is that he had to keep spending money and adding to the deficit in his first six months in office "to save the economy." He has from the start called deficit reduction a goal, but one that had to get bumped in favor of sparking the economy.
Ask America: Learn. Listen. Be heard.
Ask America
Election forum
The Fast Fix
Map snapshot
Almost 60 percent of likely voters now say cutting the yearly budget shortfall is the priority, even if that means the government can't spend on new education programs, develop alternative energy sources or enact his health care overhaul or alternative energy policies, an Associated Press-GfK poll found.
Obama defends the huge economic stimulus plan and the bailout of U.S. automakers, and doesn't blame people for getting tired of all the spending. But he does accuse Republicans of showing a lack of genuineness about fixing the systemic problems that have driven up the debt long before he won the White House.
And there rests the true trouble.
Even though Obama and the Republicans ostensibly share the goals of reducing debt and creating jobs, they disagree fundamentally on their approaches. That problem appears to be worsened by the lack of a serious working relationship among the leaders. If divided government simply leads to more division over the budget and economy, newly empowered Republicans and a Democratic president seeking re-election may both pay the price.
"It's going to be very hard to find common ground," said James Thurber, a professor of government at American University. "To a certain extent, (Obama's) strategy depends on the strategy of majority of the House, and what can be found in the Senate, where's he's basically going to be deadlocked."
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said if Obama and his team are going to work with the new Congress, then they must accept the end of government stimulus efforts as a means for creating jobs. Boehner and fellow Republicans have outlined a plan for governing that includes deep spending cuts and a repeal of Obama's health care law, among other changes. Boehner is likely to ascend to House speaker if his party wins a majority.
"They're going to have to signal some kind of willingness to work with Republicans to cut spending," Boehner told The Associated Press. "Cutting government spending is what the American people want, and it's an approach neither party has tried yet."
The federal deficit was a near-record $1.3 trillion for the just-completed budget year.
Obama may succeed in getting Republican support for trade pacts on a new education law that insists on school reforms. He will go for an immigration overhaul and energy legislation, but have to accept smaller, piece-by-piece results. Capping of greenhouse gas emissions, for one, seems to be going nowhere.
"It's a very different reality for the president for the next two years, which is not to say that nothing gets done," said Norman Ornstein, a political scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Even in a rancorous and nasty environment, it seems to me there may some areas of opportunity."
Either real compromise or political pressures may pull Obama and enough Republicans together to get some priorities done. President Bill Clinton managed to rebound and work with Republicans after they swept into office in 1994, teaming up on welfare and balanced-budget legislation.
Never to be ignored are the core Democrats who helped get Obama elected and who, in some cases, are disgruntled about the pace of progress. "He's got to be careful to manage his base," said Ann Crigler, a professor of political science at the University of Southern California. "His election is going to start Nov. 3."
FROM LYNN JENKINS = HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
As Our Nation’s Debt Continues to Increase Congress is Trying to Save Their Jobs
Last week the White House Office of Management and Budget announced that the year’s budget deficit was $1.3 trillion. Our national debt is now more than $13.6 trillion and continues to grow at an alarming rate. Since President Obama was sworn into office and Speaker Pelosi was re-confirmed as Speaker of the House, Congress has recklessly spent massive amounts of taxpayer dollars adding over $3 trillion to the debt in less than two years. The share of the publicly held debt for each American citizen, man, woman, and child, was calculated this week to be over $43,000, this is up from $36,000 when the so-called stimulus was signed into law and $29,000 when Nancy Pelosi became speaker.
Continued Efforts to Repeal and Replace Obamacare
Not only is President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of health care unpopular among the American people, it is also unconstitutional. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” But, nowhere in the U.S. Constitution did our founding fathers give Congress the authority to regulate commerce between individuals. Requiring all citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty for failing to do so appears to be in violation of that clause.
That is why over the last 10 months I have been hard at work finding ways to repeal this burdensome law and replace it with initiatives that will lower costs rather than raise them. 20 states are currently challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 in court. Kansas, unfortunately, is not represented in the suit, because Attorney General Steve Six ignored my request and that of many Kansans and chose not to challenge the law. To give Kansans a voice in this pivotal case, this week I continued the battle to repeal Obamacare by signing onto the American Center for Law and Justice's Amicus Curiae Brief challenging the law. The brief demonstrates that Congress lacks the authority under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to impose the individual mandate. Furthermore, the brief shows that because the President’s health care reform bill lacked of a severability clause, if the court strikes down the individual mandate it must void the entire package.
Celebrating the Dedication of the Frontier Chapel at Fort Leavenworth
I was honored to be in Fort Leavenworth earlier this week to celebrate the dedication of the Frontier Chapel. The newly constructed Frontier Chapel sits over 500 and serves people of all faiths. Each of us is blessed with so many freedoms and gifts, and it is so important that we recognize the role that faith plays in the lives of those who risk everything to protect us. In Congress, we have a duty to respect both the history and religious traditions of our nation and I will support efforts to do so now and in the future.
Honored with Fiscal Conservative Ranking
This week the National Tax Limitation Committee (NTLC) awarded me with their 2010 Tax Fighter Award. The NTLC was organized in 1975 to seek constitutional and other limits on taxes, spending, and deficits at the federal, state and local levels of government. The NTLC is one of the longest standing and strategically oriented pro-taxpayer/entrepreneur organizations in America. Their research ranks me in the top 5% of current Members of Congress.
I firmly believe that the best way out of the current economic mess is to ensure businesses and families are allowed to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. Raising taxes, especially during hard economic times, creates uncertainty for small business owners, investors, and average American families. Instead of asking cash-strapped families to give even more money to the federal government, Congress needs to learn to tighten its own belt. That is why it is my top priority to keep tax relief for working families and businesses, oppose new taxes such as the value added tax, and put an end to the death tax.
Kansas Visitors in Washington
The 2010 Real World Design Challenge winners from Baldwin High School dropped by my D.C. office this week. The Baldwin High School Real World Design Challenge Team was named national champions of the design competition in March at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The students modeled new jet designs that reduce fuel consumption. Seniors Brandon Baltzell, Carson Barnes, junior Shelby Gregory, sophomore Carrie Deitz and advisor Sandy Barnes got to visit the White House as part of the kickoff to this week’s White House Science Fair.
Please Feel Free to Tell a Friend
Washington, DC Office
130 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6601
Fax: (202) 225-7986
Pittsburg Office
701 N. Broadway Street
Pittsburg, KS 66762
Phone: (620) 231-LYNN (5966)
Fax: (620) 231-5972
Topeka Office
3550 SW 5th Street
Topeka, KS 66606
Phone: (785) 234-LYNN (5966)
Fax: (785) 234-5967
Last week the White House Office of Management and Budget announced that the year’s budget deficit was $1.3 trillion. Our national debt is now more than $13.6 trillion and continues to grow at an alarming rate. Since President Obama was sworn into office and Speaker Pelosi was re-confirmed as Speaker of the House, Congress has recklessly spent massive amounts of taxpayer dollars adding over $3 trillion to the debt in less than two years. The share of the publicly held debt for each American citizen, man, woman, and child, was calculated this week to be over $43,000, this is up from $36,000 when the so-called stimulus was signed into law and $29,000 when Nancy Pelosi became speaker.
Continued Efforts to Repeal and Replace Obamacare
Not only is President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of health care unpopular among the American people, it is also unconstitutional. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” But, nowhere in the U.S. Constitution did our founding fathers give Congress the authority to regulate commerce between individuals. Requiring all citizens to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty for failing to do so appears to be in violation of that clause.
That is why over the last 10 months I have been hard at work finding ways to repeal this burdensome law and replace it with initiatives that will lower costs rather than raise them. 20 states are currently challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 in court. Kansas, unfortunately, is not represented in the suit, because Attorney General Steve Six ignored my request and that of many Kansans and chose not to challenge the law. To give Kansans a voice in this pivotal case, this week I continued the battle to repeal Obamacare by signing onto the American Center for Law and Justice's Amicus Curiae Brief challenging the law. The brief demonstrates that Congress lacks the authority under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to impose the individual mandate. Furthermore, the brief shows that because the President’s health care reform bill lacked of a severability clause, if the court strikes down the individual mandate it must void the entire package.
Celebrating the Dedication of the Frontier Chapel at Fort Leavenworth
I was honored to be in Fort Leavenworth earlier this week to celebrate the dedication of the Frontier Chapel. The newly constructed Frontier Chapel sits over 500 and serves people of all faiths. Each of us is blessed with so many freedoms and gifts, and it is so important that we recognize the role that faith plays in the lives of those who risk everything to protect us. In Congress, we have a duty to respect both the history and religious traditions of our nation and I will support efforts to do so now and in the future.
Honored with Fiscal Conservative Ranking
This week the National Tax Limitation Committee (NTLC) awarded me with their 2010 Tax Fighter Award. The NTLC was organized in 1975 to seek constitutional and other limits on taxes, spending, and deficits at the federal, state and local levels of government. The NTLC is one of the longest standing and strategically oriented pro-taxpayer/entrepreneur organizations in America. Their research ranks me in the top 5% of current Members of Congress.
I firmly believe that the best way out of the current economic mess is to ensure businesses and families are allowed to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. Raising taxes, especially during hard economic times, creates uncertainty for small business owners, investors, and average American families. Instead of asking cash-strapped families to give even more money to the federal government, Congress needs to learn to tighten its own belt. That is why it is my top priority to keep tax relief for working families and businesses, oppose new taxes such as the value added tax, and put an end to the death tax.
Kansas Visitors in Washington
The 2010 Real World Design Challenge winners from Baldwin High School dropped by my D.C. office this week. The Baldwin High School Real World Design Challenge Team was named national champions of the design competition in March at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The students modeled new jet designs that reduce fuel consumption. Seniors Brandon Baltzell, Carson Barnes, junior Shelby Gregory, sophomore Carrie Deitz and advisor Sandy Barnes got to visit the White House as part of the kickoff to this week’s White House Science Fair.
Please Feel Free to Tell a Friend
Washington, DC Office
130 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6601
Fax: (202) 225-7986
Pittsburg Office
701 N. Broadway Street
Pittsburg, KS 66762
Phone: (620) 231-LYNN (5966)
Fax: (620) 231-5972
Topeka Office
3550 SW 5th Street
Topeka, KS 66606
Phone: (785) 234-LYNN (5966)
Fax: (785) 234-5967
The Devil & the Duck
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm
He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.
As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.
Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved!
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his Sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.' Sally just smiled and said, 'well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help? She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know.. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'
Thought for the day and every day thereafter: Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.
He has seen your whole life.... He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.
Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today. Share this with a friend and always remember: God is at the window!
When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm
He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.
As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.
Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved!
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his Sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.' Sally just smiled and said, 'well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help? She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know.. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'
Thought for the day and every day thereafter: Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.
He has seen your whole life.... He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.
Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today. Share this with a friend and always remember: God is at the window!
When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
