United Liberty
Speaker of the House
Boehner is Bad News for GOP
Thu, 01/03/2013 - 1:20pm | posted by Ron Davis
Today is the start of a new Congress. That means Speaker Boehner is up for reelection as speaker. Rumors are circling that there are enough Republican Congressmen willing to remove Boehner from the role of speaker. Whether that’ll happen or not remains to be seen, but Boehner is toxic for the GOP needs to be replaced.
He has shown that he has no backbone. He has shown that he has no willingness to stand up against the president. A spineless coward does not need to be the Speaker of the House.
The GOP has a lot of rebuilding to do. They control one house of one branch of government. The leader in that position needs to be someone who can articulate a clear viewpoint and work toward that end.
This approach of opposing Obama until the very last minute and then giving them exactly what they want isn’t working. Democrats are getting exactly what they want out of Republicans, and they are getting it in a way that lets them blame the GOP for everything that goes wrong.
This can’t continue.
I don’t write this post in support of a specific member of Congress that could challenge him. The people in the House that I actually like (which are few and far between) aren’t the type of people with broad support within the party. (That’s par for the course when you lean libertarian.)
Instead, I write this as someone who can use some common sense to see that Boehner is doing everything in his power to ruin any chance of a Republican victory in 2014. Or 2016. Or maybe even 2018.
Replacing Boehner is the right thing to do. He’s proven himself inept and unqualified. If the GOP is going to turn this ship around, they first need to throw Boehner overboard.
How Speaker Newt Gingrich Betrayed the Republican Revolution
Wed, 12/14/2011 - 11:31am | posted by United Liberty Guest
Stephen Slivinski is senior economist at the Goldwater Institute. Previously he was director of budget studies at the Cato Institute, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, and a senior editor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Mr. Slivinski is the author of the book, Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government, published in 2006.
One thing that makes Newt Gingrich an attractive presidential candidate to many conservatives is his term as Speaker of the House and his role as the captain of the Republican Revolution of 1994. But a closer look at the history of the years between 1995 and when he stepped down as speaker in 1998 show that Gingrich was usually at odds with those pushing the Reaganite vision of a truly limited federal government. In fact, when the Republican Revolution succeeded at all it was often in spite of Newt Gingrich, not because of him. Unfortunately, too many conservatives have forgotten this or perhaps may not have known it at all.
Gingrich does indeed come across as an eloquent defender of limited government principles. In 1995, he envisioned the new GOP congressional majority presaging a cultural revolution in Washington, D.C. “The real breaking point is when you find yourself having a whole new debate, with new terms. That’s more important than legislative achievements,” Gingrich told a reporter on the first day of the 104th Congress. “We’ll know in six months whether we have accomplished that.”
Podcast: Liberty Candidate - John Dennis (California’s 8th District)
Wed, 01/27/2010 - 9:52am | posted by United Liberty Staff
Continuing our “Liberty Candidate Series” of interviews, Jason and Brett talk with John Dennis, discussing his opponent, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, liberty in San Francisco, and his candidacy. Dennis is a “Pro-Liberty” Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in California’s 8th Congressional District.
This special edition podcast is the fifth in a series devoted to showcasing liberty candidates nationwide. Dennis talks about his liberty-focused campaign against the Speaker of the House in California.
You can download the podcast here. The introduction music is “Silence is Violence” by the always lovely Aimee Allen.
You can subscribe to the RSS of JUST our podcasts here, or you can find our podcasts on iTunes here.
Cutting Taxes = Increasing Revenue
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 6:22am | posted by Matt Chancey
Around 150 BC, Emperor Ching Ti came to power in China and immediately faced a major problem: his treasury was empty.
Taxes were very high, but no real revenue was coming in. That’s because the system of taxes at that time was an early form of income tax that centered on the government taking a large percentage of a farmer’s crops.
So Ching Ti did something bold and innovative: he cut taxes.
Overnight, taxes went from over 50% down to about 3%. Farmers, who had fled to the hills to escape draconian tax rates, now came home and began farming again. To make a long story short, Ching Ti’s greatest problem while governing was trying to keep all the grain in his barns from spoiling.
It seems that ancient Chinese history is good for more than just cutesy script on a fortune cookie.
John Boehner re-elected as Speaker of the House
Thu, 01/03/2013 - 3:10pm | posted by Jason Pye
Despite (unsourced) rumors of his resignation and demise, John Boehner (R-OH) was re-elected as Speaker of the House this afternoon as the 113th Congress convened for the opening of its first session:
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) was reelected Speaker of the House on Thursday after a week of rumors of a possible GOP revolt.
Boehner won a bare majority in a vote that saw nine Republicans vote for other GOP members, and several others who abstained from voting or voted “present.” Two years ago, Boehner won all 241 available GOP votes.
In a vote that opened the 113th Congress, Boehner received 220 votes, compared to 192 for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader. Fourteen members voted for other candidates or present. Boehner needed 218 votes to win reelection.
Stories broke yesterday afternoon that Boehner would resign during a meeting with the House Republican Conference. That obviously didn’t happen. Then the rumor was that enough conservative members had said that they were ready to vote to oust Boehner in today’s vote. Again, that didn’t happen.
Here’s how the dissenting members voted:
Defectors from Boehner included Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), who voted for Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho). Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) and two freshmen, Reps. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), all voted for Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), but Cantor himself voted for Boehner.
Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) voted for outgoing member Allen West (R-Fla.). Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) voted for former Comptroller General David Walker. Speakers of the House do not have to be members of the House, although historically they all have been.
John Boehner is not resigning
Wed, 01/02/2013 - 3:38pm | posted by Jason Pye
Stop. Just stop. It’s not going to happen. You have better things with which to waste your time than reading these stories.
It seems like some bloggers are taking dissatisfaction from conservatives in Congress with the “fiscal cliff” and are using every single statement made to have some meaning that it doesn’t necessarily have. Boehner’s people are denying the rumor via this report from Twitter:
That was easy. From Boehner Spox @michael_steel: “Rep. Boehner expects to be elected Speaker tomorrow.”
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 2, 2013
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Boehner step aside; especially after some of the actions take over the last few months — ranging from his kicking solid fiscal conservatives off of key committees to his complete capitulation to President Obama. But unless some unforseen scandal is about to break in the news — other than his disasterous leadership — Boehner is, unfortunately, staying put.
Justin Amash says Boehner will not be welcome in his district
Thu, 12/13/2012 - 11:30am | posted by Jason Pye
While the removal of four fiscally conservative members of key committees, House Republican leadership — a decision presumably made by Speaker John Boehner — has made it clear to the rest of their caucus — principled, outspoken members will not be tolerated in positions that could influence a potential “fiscal cliff” deal.
One of the members removed by House Republican leadership, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), the only member of Congress who explains each one of his votes, isn’t sitting silently. In fact, speaking out even louder than before.
Yesterday, Amash dropped a couple of tweets noting that, despite the hand wringing and public back-and-forth between Boehner and President Obama, there really isn’t much a difference between the budgets put forward by the two:
Pres Obama proposes nat’l debt of $18.9T by 2022. Spkr Boehner proposes nat’l debt of $18.4T by 2022. #winning #sarcasm
— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash) December 12, 2012:
My debt projections assume current-law baseline. Obama’s & Boehner’s plans likely create much MORE debt than $18T by 2022. #ouch
— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash) December 12, 2012
Tom Price denies interest in bid for Speaker
Mon, 12/10/2012 - 5:10pm | posted by Jason Pye
Despite a report this morning from Robert Costa of National Review hinting at interest in a challenge to Speaker John Boehner from the right, a spokesperson for Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), one of the most conservative members of the House, has denied that he will challenge Speaker John Boehner:
A spokeswoman for Rep. Tom Price on Monday squelched speculation that the Georgia Republican would challenge House Speaker John Boehner for the chamber’s top job.
“Congressman Price is not running for speaker,” press secretary Ellen Carmichael said in a categorical midday statement.
“He is focused on real solutions to get America back on track,” she said. “Those solutions reside in fundamental principles that embrace individual opportunity and economic freedom.”
American Majority Action, which is leading the charge against Boehner, has endorsed two other House conservatives — Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), both of whom are past chairs of the Republican Study Committee — as suitable challengers.
Conservative group: House Republicans should replace John Boehner
Fri, 12/07/2012 - 11:30am | posted by Jason Pye
Conservatives are increasingly unhappy with House Speaker John Boehner. Within days of the presidential election, Boehner had once again signaled a willingness to raise tax revenues. To make matters worse, House leadership punished fiscally conservative members of the GOP caucus by removing them from key committee assignments.
The reaction from conservatives has been one of anger, and understandbly so. They’re concerned about Boehner’s leadership in the “fiscal cliff” debate, worried that House Republicans are ready and willing to sellout their principles to cut a deal. Some conservatives are even going as far as calling for him to be ousted. American Majority Action (AMA), a conservative group which launched the #FireBoehner hashtag on Twitter, is asking House Republicans to replace to Boehner:
The president and CEO of conservative group American Majority Action (AMA) is demanding Republicans band together to fire House Speaker John Boehner.
“Speaker Boehner has been an abysmal failure as speaker, and his latest purge is the nail in the coffin for conservatives,” AMA’s Ned Ryun said in a statement. “Boehner has never won a negation battle with the White House or Senate—and he’s been nothing short of an embarrassing spokesman for the Conservative Movement. It’s time for him to go.”
Gingrich announces bid for president
Thu, 05/12/2011 - 11:19am | posted by Jason Pye
As expected, Newt Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, announced his bid for president yesterday via Twitter and a YouTube video where he says that “we can return America to home and opportunity.” Polls currently show him in the top five of GOP hopefuls.
If you’re looking for Republican that has enabled big government, such as backing bailouts and expanding entitlements, then Gingrich is right up your alley.
