the "New" Congress

backseatLover12

I was surprised none of this has been mentioned here already.

So, on the first day of the "new" Congress, republicans did 3 things. They:

1. Proposed a national abortion ban
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/07/3608821/congress-20-week-abortion/
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/republicans-abortion-114169.html

2. Stealth attack on social security http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/01/in_the_new_congress_a_stealth_attack_on_social_security_letter.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/07/1356086/-Republicans-Move-To-Gut-Social-Security-Benefits-on-Their-First-Day-in-Power

4. Attempt to pass the XL Pipeline
http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/house-passes-bill-approving-keystone-xl-pipeline-20150109
http://time.com/3656212/keystone-xl-pipeline-barack-obama-congress/

It must be 1915 and not 2015, because the right wing conservatives are doing whatever they can to turn back human progress to a more barbaric, dictator-like time.

backseatLover12

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/01/09/for-new-congress-same-old-same-old/SNXd88MdQFmlXyK6rjzbAL/story.html

The 114th Congress is only a few days old and Republicans are up to their old tricks.

On day one, the GOP-dominated House quietly passed a rule change that made a generally routine reallocation of Social Security money to the program’s disability trust fund conditional on steps to improve Social Security’s long-term solvency. Since the disability program, which has increasingly become a target of conservative attacks, is expected to run out of money by next year this change means that disability benefits would need to be cut barring overall changes to the financing of Social Security. Since Republicans are unlikely to vote for any tax increase and Democrats are unlikely to agree to benefit cuts, the GOP has created a potential political showdown, by holding hostage benefits for those on disability. As Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren put it, Congress, on its first day, is “inventing a Social Security crisis.”

Republicans are also continuing their political jihad against Obamacare. This week the House passed legislation that would change the bill’s definition of full-time work from 30 hours to 40 hours. As it is now, employers are required to provide health insurance for any employee who works more than 30 hours, so as Republicans claim, employers have every incentive to cut the hours of their workers below that threshold. There are two problems with that argument — a very small percentage of Americans actually work just over 30 hours and far more work more than 40. So in moving the bar from 30 to 40, it would actually put as many as one million Americans at risk of losing benefits. They would then be forced to buy their health insurance from Obamacare exchanges — exchanges that Republicans are openly cheering for the Supreme Court to eviscerate.

In addition, Republicans pushed through another effort to fund the Keystone pipeline, even though President Obama has made clear he intends to veto the legislation. Another rule change would force the Congressional Budget Office to do something called “dynamic scoring” on the economic impact of legislation. This change will make it easier for Republicans to propose tax cuts that appear revenue neutral, while actually blowing up the deficit.

But hey, it’s not all bad: The GOP House also passed a rule continuing the body’s investigation into Benghazi.

To be fair, no one should really surprised by this. Republicans won the election in November; they certainly have every right to push forward with their governing agenda. The problem of course is that there is little evidence that Republicans have any intention of trimming their sails in order to find that much touted common ground with Democrats. Instead, after only four days, the GOP is showing that scorched earth politics, political brinkmanship, and veto-bait legislation is what we can expect from the next two years in Washington.

Meanwhile, President Obama continues to take unilateral steps on immigration and environmental protection and has proposed legislation that would make community college free for all Americans — none of which has a chance of being embraced by Republicans. So both Republicans and Democrats continue to talk past each other, pushing agendas that resonate with their supporters, but do little to help actual Americans. Sounds kinda familiar, right?

rgambs

They are going to forfeit their chance at the White House if they keep it up. If they keep it up with their zany, far-right baloney they will push moderates to vote Democrat, even if Hilary is their only option. Shortly after the election I saw a few articles from moderate GOPers warning the newly elected Repub majority not to get out of hand, but I figured moderation was beyond their capacity.

brianlux

The far right: It's like rattlesnakes on amphetamines. I do hope they burn out fast.

oceaninmyeyes

Ted Cruz, Longtime Foe Of NASA And Science, Will Oversee NASA And Science In New Congress huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/ted-cruz-nasa_n_6456270.htmlSomeone posted in the comments -- The inmates are now running the asylum. smh [-(