Wouldn't you like to know how House Republicans propose to save America in 27 pages or less? Stephen Colbert took a look, shouldn't we?
Bob McDonnell: In fact, many of our solutions are available at, online, at solutions.gop.gov.
Colbert: Now like many of you, I raced to solutions.gop.gov, and I downloaded the solutions to all of America's problems. Here it is, just 19 pages. WEll actually, this is a cover page, so that doesn't count. And that's the table of contents, so that doesn't count. And half of this is actually what the Democrats plan is, so those don't count. And for some reason the last page is, uh, blank. So the complete GOP guide to saving the economy, reforming healthcare, creating energy independence and keeping our nation safe from terrorists, is nine pages. But folks it is packed with information, along with stock photography and the kind of generous margins usually reserved for eighth grade term papers.
(If anyone can help with embed code, the Colbert video can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... )
This is the little booklet of "solutions" the GOP handed to the President yesterday. Let's take a look inside.
Better Solutions (PDF) - A compilation of GOP policy alternatives presented to President Barack Obama by Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on January 29, 2010.
I'll leave it those of you with more expertise than I have to analyze these GOP proposals, but I will post a few excerpts for your perusal.
The book is flimsy, to be sure. Thirty pages in total. The cover is a tribute to the Orangest Man in Congress:
BETTER SOLUTIONS
a Compilation of GOP Alternatives
Prepared by the Office of the Republican Leader
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH)
As Colbert notes, the second page is a TOC, of what we must assume the GOP considers its greatest hits:
JOBS
Letter to President Obama with GOP No-Cost Jobs Plan (Presented December 9, 2009) __1
“Where Are the Jobs?” Letter to President Obama (Presented October 7, 2009) ___6
GOP Alternative to Democratic “Stimulus” Spending Bill (Presented January 28, 2009)__8
HEALTH CARE
Summary: House GOP Health Care Reform Bill, H.R. 4038 (Introduced November 6, 2009) _9
Letter to President Obama Seeking Meeting on Health Care Reform (Presented May 13, 2009) __10
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Summary: House GOP Budget, “The Path to American Prosperity”, Substitute to H.Con.Res 85 (Submitted April 1, 2009) __11
Proposals to Reduce the Deficit and Achieve Savings for American Taxpayers (Submitted June 4, 2009) ___12
Statement from 222 Economists: To Create Jobs, Rein In Federal Spending (Presented December 17, 2009) __14
OPEN GOVERNMENT & TRANSPARENCY
Summary: House GOP Congressional Transparency Initiative (Presented November 19, 2009) __20
ENERGY
Summary: House GOP American Energy Act (H.R. 2846) (Introduced June 12, 2009) __21
SAVINGS
Summary: House GOP Savings Recovery Act (H.R. 2021) (Introduced April 22, 2009) __23
NATIONAL SECURITY
Summary: House GOP Keep Terrorists Out of America Act (H.R. 2294) (Introduced May 7, 2009) _25
FINANCIAL REFORM
Summary: House GOP Regulatory Reform Plan (H.R. 3310) (Introduced July 23, 2009) __26
Next is a two-page letter to the President on jobs, which advises:
The truth of the matter is that small business, not government, is the engine of job creation in America. Unfortunately, the policies that have been pursued in Washington throughout the past year too often seem to have it backwards. Millions of private sector jobs have been destroyed during the past year. Yet instead of receiving relief from Washington, small businesses have watched with anxiety as their government has devoted its attention to enactment of a job-threatening government takeover of health care, a job-threatening “cap and trade” national energy tax, and other policies that discourage job creation. Small businesses are frozen in their tracks as other sectors of our economy – most notably government – continue to grow.
A a two-page "Summary: Republicans’ No-Cost Jobs Plan" follows, which includes these proposals on unemployment, among other "ideas":
Reform the Unemployment System to Help Those Out of Work Find Jobs and Lower Federal Payroll Taxes to Assist in Hiring:
• Federal unemployment insurance recipients who are most likely to exhaust benefits should be expected to engage in education, training, or enhanced job search as a condition of eligibility. This proposal would expand on the current successful Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment program operated by some States.
• The government should require states to adopt a program like “Georgia Works” as a condition of accessing Unemployment Insurance Modernization funds. Under this successful program unemployment insurance recipients are placed in real part time jobs with real employers, with the employer deciding whether to hire them at the end of a 6-week trial period. Their pay during the period is their unemployment benefit, along with a State-provided stipend for job-related transportation and child care expenses. This has resulted in faster returns to work, less unemployment payments, and thus lower State unemployment taxes.
Free employees for companies! Ingenius!
Another two-page letter to the President follows, on jobs, which says:
The engine of job creation in America is small business, not government. Since the beginning of the year, Republicans have put forth solutions that reflect an understanding of this fact, which was lost last winter in Democratic-controlled Washington’s rush to enact a “stimulus” bill based on slow-moving and wasteful government spending.
They then offer various vague proposals to slash tax rates and shift health care costs away from business owners.
Having solved the jobs problem in seven pithy pages, the GOP next tackles the economy with a single page "GOP Alternative To Democratic “Stimulus” Spending Bill", about half of which reiterates proposals from the previous pages.
The economy dispensed with, the GOP moves on to Health Care Reform, which includes this helpful chart:
Scorecard: Speaker Pelosi’s Government Takeover vs. GOP Common-Sense Solutions
______________________Speaker Pelosi's Bill_______________GOP Alternative
Job Losses.......................................Up to 5.5 million...............................0
Medicare Cuts...................................500 billion.......................................0
Tax Increases....................................729.5 billion....................................0
Another letter to the President on health care follows, expressing the GOP's desire to work with the President, but warns:
We believe it is possible, and necessary, to achieve these objectives through common sense reforms without rationing care, eliminating employer-sponsored health benefits for working families, raising taxes, or empowering government bureaucrats at the expense of patients and doctors. We also believe these goals can be accomplished through health reform that maintains current law provisions regarding restrictions on federal funding of abortion services, restricts federal funds from flowing to abortion providers, and does not impose mandates either on insurance carriers or medical providers to participate in activities that violate their religious and moral beliefs.
Health Care Reform achieved, in two easy pages!
On to page 11: FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. Reiterates for the THIRD time proposals made earlier in the booklet, regarding jobs and the stimulus: cut tax rates across the board from 15% to 10%, and from 10% to 5%. A 20% tax cut for small businesses. Make unemployment payments tax free. Home buyer tax credits. Repeal withholding credit for govt contractors. I guess they really like these ideas if they're going to repeat them on every other page and under every heading.
Next page, a helpful summary table on reducing the deficit in which we learn that "Common Sense Spending Caps" will save $317 billion. Who knew? A laundry list of budget cuts follows, earth shattering proposals such as "Terminate Funding for Unnecessary International Organizations - $417.5 Million;" "Terminate Safe Routes to Schools Program - $915 Million;" "Eliminate Full Time Union Representatives from Federal Payroll - $60 Million;" and "Eliminate Overpayments in the Contract for Restaurant Services for the House of Representatives - $5 Million."
14 through 19 are full pages of signatures in support of this statement:
“The country’s economic future depends on Congress’ ability to rein in the growth of federal spending. Failing to restrict spending growth will further balloon the national debt, impede economic growth, and threaten the long-term economic health of our Nation. Controlling spending growth to reverse our dangerous debt accumulation can be done without endangering the near-term economic recovery, and will prove beneficial over the longer horizon.
“The 2009 near-term “stimulus” has proven to be an inefficient spur to job creation and does not merit repeating. Any further policy efforts should be focused on opening borders to free trade, cutting burdensome regulations, and providing necessary tax relief to employers and employees.
Page 20, OPEN GOVERNMENT & TRANSPARENCY, lists five proposals, not enough to even fill the page:
READ THE BILL:
Put all bills online for at least 72 hours before they come to a vote.
BAN “PHANTOM AMENDMENTS”:
Require committees to post bill text online within 24 hours of adoption.
SHOW THE VOTES:
Post Members’ committee votes online within 48 hours.
OPEN HEALTH CARE NEGOTIATIONS TO THE PUBLIC:
Prevent secret deals behind closed doors and ensure a full and open debate.
BRING SUNLIGHT TO THE RULES COMMITTEE:
Allow cameras in the secretive Rules Committee, which decides which bills come to a vote.
Pages 21 and 22 are devoted to ENERGY, and promises to:
• Increase production of American-made energy in an environmentally-sound manner.
• Promote new, clean and renewable sources of energy such as nuclear, clean-coal-technology, wind and solar energy.
• Encourage greater efficiency and conservation by extending tax incentives for energy efficiency and rewarding development of greater conservation techniques and new energy sources.
• Cut red-tape and reduce frivolous litigation.
23-24 - SAVINGS: Recognizing American families’ anxieties about their evaporating personal savings, Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) formed the House GOP Savings Recovery Solutions Group. The group unveiled a blueprint for the Savings Recovery Act to help Americans protect and rebuild their hard-earned savings as quickly as possible while making sure the federal government does not hinder the process.
Okay.
Page 25: NATIONAL SECURITY - Summary: House GOP Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, H.R. 2294. Boehner's statement appears to have been co-written by Big Dick Cheney:
“This bill has a straightforward but vital purpose: to ensure that the terrorists held in the Guantanamo Bay prison are not imported into the United States. We are giving every member of Congress an opportunity to stand with the American people by affirming their opposition to bringing these terrorists into our communities, and we hope they join us. Equally as important, this bill holds the Administration accountable if it acts unilaterally against the will of the American people.
“The world did not suddenly become safe in January 2009. There are still terrorists around the world who are committed to killing Americans and destroying our way of life. A number of those terrorists are being held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay right now. If the Administration is allowed to proceed, they won’t be there for long. In fact, they may be right here, in the United States. I have been urging the Administration to finally present to the American people its plan for what to do with the terrorists held at Guantanamo and for confronting and defeating the global terrorist threat. Right now, that plan does not exist, and the safety of our nation depends on it.
Page 26-27: FINANCIAL REFORM - espouses:
REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES:
No More Bailouts. Ensuring taxpayers are never again asked to pick up the tab for bad bets on Wall Street while some creditors and counterparties of failed firms are made whole.
Ending the Government’s Practice of Picking Winners and Losers. Insolvent firms will be permitted to fail rather then become wards of the state.
Restore Market Discipline. Financial firms must understand there will be consequences for imprudent business decisions
And there you have it, my friends. The Republican solutions to the nation's most pressing problems, in 27 pages (well, less). President Obama has invited Republican proposals and promised to give them a look. It's only fair that we should do the same. Here they are. Tell me your thoughts.
http://www.gop.gov/...