On November 2, conservative and independent voters elected a Republican majority to the House and sent a loud clear message that we do not want Obama-Pelosi-Reid ramming socialist big government down our throats. And it looks like the 112th House Republicans got the message. They’re hitting the ground, running.
1. New laws must be in accord with the U.S. Constitution: Even before the new year began, House Republican leaders fulfilled one of their most prominent campaign promises by unveiling a new rule requiring that each bill filed in the House “cite its specific constitutional authority.”
This idea was the top vote-getter (82% support) in the Contract from America – a blueprint that tells public officials about what the people want for their future. In all, 70 incoming Senators and Congressmen have signed the Contract from America, pledging to support the 10-point reform plan:
- Protect the Constitution
- Reject Cap & Trade
- Demand a Balanced Budget
- Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
- Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government
- End Runaway Government Spending
- Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
- Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
- Stop the Pork
- Stop the Tax Hikes
If you haven’t signed the Contract from America, go HERE to sign it!
2. House Republicans also resolved that the 112th House of Representatives will convene tomorrow with a full reading on the House floor of America’s founding document and highest law of the land — the United States Constitution.
3. House Republicans will vote next Wednesday, Jan. 12, to repeal Obamacare, thereby making good on a top-tier GOP campaign promise and setting up a showdown with Obama over his signature domestic policy “achievement.” Although the repeal effort is not expected to succeed, given that Democrats maintain control of the Senate and Obama can veto the legislation, Republicans have a backup plan to chip away at pieces of Obamacare over the long term.
4. Since Republicans are now a majority in the 112th House of Rep., Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif) will be the new chairman of the House Oversight and Govenrment Reform Committee, with subpoena power to compel officials to appear before his committee. Issa told The Washington Post he plans to lead six major investigations in the first three months of the year. On Issa’s list:
- WikiLeaks’ release of classified diplomatic cables
- Recalls at the Food and Drug Administration
- The role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis
- The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s failure to identify the origins of the meltdown
- Alleged corruption in Afghanistan
5. Other incoming Republican committee chairmen are planning investigations into the Justice Department’s civil rights division, the radicalization of Muslims in the United States, homeland security grant money, and air cargo and port and chemical plant security. The incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, plans to investigate the extent to which American Muslims are cooperating with law enforcement authorities in an effort to measure the radicalization of the U.S. Muslim community. Rep. Lamar Smith, head of the House Judiciary Committee, is planning investigations of the Justice Department, including allegations that the civil rights division is not enforcing voter rights laws fairly.
6. House Majority Leader John Boehner is having trouble finding freshmen willing to serve on the Appropriations Committee, an unheard-of circumstance that suggests, at least for the time being, that spending and the perks that historically have come with it are radioactive.
Michael Franc, a congressional scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told National Journal that at two separate orientation conferences—one at Harvard University and the other at Heritage—informal surveys of 49 of the 85 incoming GOP freshmen revealed not one who identified Appropriations as his or her No. 1 committee choice. “They all saw it as a foreign entity,” Franc said.
For example, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan stopped his fellow Ohioan, Boehner, from even offering him a slot on Appropriations because he also wants to stay with Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who will chair Reform and Oversight, as well as to sit on the Budget Committee.
7. Since Democrats control the Senate, the White House, and federal agencies, Republicans can use House oversight hearings to slow down policies and practices they disapprove of. “The ability to hold hearings is a tool to help shape public opinion, put pressure on the Senate and maybe allow you at the end of the day to get concessions from the administration,” said former Republican congressman Vin Weber.
Although Demonrats remain a majority in the Senate, Republicans there are emboldened because their number is increased due to the November 2 elections. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), a leader of the conservative wing of the GOP, has declared war with the Demonrats and Obama over an increase in the debt ceiling.
All of this is a good beginning. Now let’s make sure Republicans maintain their resolve and not weasel out. America can no longer afford politics as usual. If we blow this chance to resist and reverse the Left’s decades-long deformation of this country, there may not be another peaceful chance.
H/t beloved fellows Tina & Steve.
~Eowyn
