Sen. Burr STILL dodging, weaving, misleading on ObamaCare defunding
Senator Richard Burr doesn’t have time for the folks at Heritage Action, but he made time this week for Rotary. Activists affiliated with Heritage Action had scheduled a town hall meeting on ObamaCare in Wilmington for the end of August. Both North Carolina senators were invited, as were several members of Congress.
But Burr spent time with the Rotary Club in the big city of Graham — opining on issues from Egypt to the debt to defunding ObamaCare:
[…] Burr said The Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, was a mandated program and suggestions made by some fellow lawmakers to shut down the government to defund it would not work to eliminate the program. Burr said a government shutdown would only delay the implementation of Obamacare. […]
Hmmm. Social Security is also considered a “mandated” program. Burr & the gang are always tinkering with it — bumping it up with “cost of living adjustments.” Why not do the same — in reverse — to ObamaCare?
(By the way, it was a stroke of PR genius for Burr to blow off Heritage Action for Rotary. Rotary audiences are easy. The meetings I’ve attended — the crowd would give Satan himself a standing-O. It’s very gentlemanly. No tough questions. No in-your-face moments. Strict time limits. With Heritage Action, you’ve got to face Tracey Bentgson and Ginny Quaglia. Trust ,me. No politician wants a piece of those two ladies. They’re tough.)
The Constitution — Article I, section 7 — says Congress has every right to make adjustments to federal spending. Spending MUST originate in the House, but senators — like Burr – can offer amendments to adjust that spending. The leftist FDR worshippers at The Roosevelt Institute aren’t buying the spin Burr is peddling:
[…] Anything that has a significant impact on federal revenues or spending, such as fees, interest on student loans, or mining licenses, can be changed using the budget reconcilation process. The mandate, and some other provisions of the Affordable Care Act, can certainly be stripped out by a Republican majority. Other provisions that don’t affect the budget, such as some of the requirements placed on insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions and keep young adults on their parents’ plans, probably can’t be, because their effect on federal finances is minimal.[…]
Jim DeMint did a great job earlier of slapping down arguments like this made by Burr and other chickenhawk Republicans in the defunding fight.
The Constitution says NOTHING about the federal government running the nation’s health care system. The Constitution is the rule book by which the governing game is to be played. Sure, the leftists will howl and find a favorable judge to slap down defunding efforts. But surely, there are still judges out there who pay attention to The Constitution. The Constitution has done a great job of holding this country together and making America a place people from all over the world want to call home. Surely that two centuries old document is still worth fighting for.
Burr is now totally a creature of the DC beltway establishment. He does not represent his constituents back home. He needs to be primaried and removed from office.
We also need to remember that Toll Road Tillis would be even worse than Burr and do everything we can to stop him in the 2014 primary.
Re primary Burr – with his recent behavior, I question the need – I’m thinking he is banking on some non-elected source of income after 2016 (or before) – say lobbyist or ambassador?!?!
To suggest that Senator Burr’s refusal to go head-to-head with Washington insiders such as Heritage Action in lieu of a local rotary club is neglecting to engage with North Carolinians doesn’t hold water. If we need “inside the Beltway” pundits to fight our battles for us with our own Senators and Congressmen, that in itself is a sign we are abrogating our responsibilities as citizens.
Do not be confused. I am NOT defending Senator Burr, but there are far more tangible reasons to put him out of office than this alleged snubbing.
Also, bullying him into a position that may not be the best course of action is also problematic. The Dems “owned” the White House and both Houses of Congress when they passed Obamacare.
How does kicking the can down the road by “slowing it down” going into the 2014 election cycle help Republicans? I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to let the Dems “own it.”
The Dems want nationalized healthcare, i.e., a single-payer system devoid of free-market healthcare providers, and devoid of a free-market health insurance industry.
The slower the “frog-boiling” of Obamacare implementation, the greater likelihood that it will become so entrenched, so metastasized, that it will be impossible to get rid of, even if the GOP regains control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in the 2016 election.
Might it not be better to feel “the pain” up front, and put the blame where it clearly resides, at the feet of the Dems? The GOP sucks at getting an honest message delivered through the mainstream media. A shut-down of ANY government services will be blamed on the Republicans, thus enabling the Dems to maintain control of the Senate and possibly regain control of the House in 2014. The media has not and will not befriend the GOP.
If the GOP lets the Dems “own” Obamacare completely, how can the Dems blame Republicans for the over-the-top misery index that middle class voters will feel in 2014? If the GOP wanted to “defund” Obamacare, they could have done so years ago. What stopped them? They’ve had control of the House for nearly 3 years.
I think both sides of the elitist-controlled DNC/GOP are playing a “three-card monty” scam on the American people. Look it up.
Your take on who would get the blame for a government shutdown is simply wrong. The polling shows that the cowardly GOP elite, with their backbone of jelly, and their stupid brownnosers like Burr, are afraid of something that is a figment of their imagination.
If the stupid beltway elite gets its way and we chicken out on defunding Obamacare, then many of our voters may stay home in disgust, causing us to lose in 2016. At least three million of our voters, and according to analyst Sean Trende as many as six million voters who turned out for McCain stayed home when it came time to vote for Romney. Running a namby-pamby sissy party is running our voters away.
And even worse, the same set of DC beltway morons who are afraid of their own shadows in fighting Obamacare are also plotting with the Democrats to ram amnesty for illegal aliens down our throats. Don’t forget that Burr voted for that before he voted against it.
It needs to be remembered that Bill Clinton was about to cave when Bob Dole blinked first and undermined his own party. People only remember there was a shutdown and we fared badly in its aftermath. Thus, the wrong lesson was taken to heart and we’re still afraid of our own shadows to this day.
Sen. Burr turned RINO in my eyes from the first lame duck session of congress after our current Pres. was elected, now Shumer has effectively stained Rubio, Ryan, Chaffettz, And a lot of others who sold us a fake bill of goods running as conservatives. Then governing as RINO’s, I’m ashamed to be a Republican lately.
We need to repeal the 17th amendment. This is what happens with the popular vote for senate.