A few minutes into his long-winded speech, Sen. Ted Cruz said something that made me want to punch him in his throat.
“Yet I will tell you, Madam President–you and I have both served in this institution some 9 months, not very long, but in the time we have been here we have spent virtually zero time even talking about jobs and the economy. It doesn’t make the agenda. It apparently is not important enough for this body’s time. We spent 6 weeks talking about guns, talking about taking away law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights, and we spend virtually no time talking about fundamental tax reform, about regulatory reform, about getting the economy going. And politicians wonder why it is that Congress is held in such low esteem. This is unfortunately a bipartisan issue, on both sides.”
Set aside the idea that we responded to the murder of twenty first-graders and their teachers with an effort to take “away law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.” What really angered me was the idea that Congress isn’t focused on jobs because it isn’t on the agenda.
Let’s talk about what is on the Republicans’ agenda. Right now, the leaders in the House are cobbling together a bill that is supposed to pay our debts so we don’t destroy the full faith and credit of the United States of America. Let’s take a look at the goodies that Boehner is attaching to that bill.
The debt-limit measure, which was still being loaded with new provisions late Wednesday, amounts to a grand conservative wish list. In addition to delaying implementation of the health-care law for one year, the bill would establish a timetable for tax reform, squeeze $120 billion from federal health programs over the next decade — in part by tightening medical malpractice laws — and cut federal civil service pensions.
The measure also would approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and advance other GOP economic goals, including increasing offshore oil drilling, blocking federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and restricting most forms of federal industry regulation.
About the only major piece of the Republican agenda missing from the bill is a ban on late-term abortions — and some lawmakers who oppose abortion were arguing to add that, GOP aides said.
Quite a “jobs” agenda, isn’t it? Slashing people’s pensions, cutting down on their earned benefits, denying them medical attention, making it harder to sue bad doctors, allowing and enabling people to pollute the environment with impunity…these are supposed to be job-creating policies. And the Senate Democrats and the president are supposed to go along with these policies or we get to default on our debts.
It would be hard to design a more malevolent set of policies. And these fools seem convinced that these policies are popular.
This is why we can’t pass legislation that will create jobs. We have no partner to work with.
