Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the GOP whip, tells National Review Online that he expects House Republicans to respond to President Obama’s jobs speech with a series of individual, “stand-alone” bills. Republicans, he says, are not likely to support the president’s push for a comprehensive legislative package. “Leave the two houses alone and let them go do their work,” he says. “What will happen is, you will get the House to pass something, and then let’s have the debate about it, to see if the Senate can do something with it.”
“If he puts his up, I see it getting broken up,” McCarthy says. “If he puts everything in it, it’s like when your mom put the pill in the jelly, trying to make you eat it. Make each thing stand on its merit. That’s really how it should come. … Why don’t you allow the House to do its work? If you want to talk something about taxes, let’s break that up and do something about tax reform. If you want to talk about infrastructure, okay, we’ll say, ‘Here’s my idea, here’s your idea.’”
Will the president submit a detailed written plan to Congress, or will he demand Congress pass his SPEECH!?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWow - you had me going there for a second thinking that Andy was getting fed up!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat's exactly what I told my wife the House should do before Obama delivered his speech. To the extent it actually had anything at all in it that would appeal to Republicans hold individual votes on those parts of it, along with individual votes on the rest, and send the ones you pass to the senate. Obama was trying to box Republicans in, but there's no reason you can't tear the box apart.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"expects House Republicans to respond to President Obama’s jobs speech with a series of individual, “stand-alone” bills"
That would be great! It would mean the House was finally dealing with unemployment in some way other than adding to it by firing public employees.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis makes sense.
The President, a variety of other Democrats, and their acolytes in the press (e.g., NPR's Cokie Roberts) keep hinting around that there is something basically wrong with our constitutional system.
It seems like more of the same long-festering preference they have for more of a European model, with a Prime Minister and the potential for the government "falling" and precipitating an election if it loses the confidence of the people.
I think the way the House negotiated and handled the recent debt crisis bill was a big mistake and played into Democrat hands politically. They had passed two debt relief measures before there was finally a "compromise" and a quick passage of the new bill.
The Speaker of the House should have told Reid that he and the Senate needed to amend either one or the other of the two House bills, and then to send them back for further consideration by the House. Instead, the Rs let Harry Reid get away with tabling both of those proposals with a majority vote, and they finally agreed to introduce yet a third bill.
Speaker Boehner could have easily publicly told Read to proceed in the constitutional manner and amend what he already had sitting in his lap, and, further, to stop trying to subvert the constitutional process by insisting on "final" agreement before proceeding on legislation.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy don't they just pass it? It's not all the money in the world and there's some good things in it. It isn't going to work, so by just passing it the GOP makes O the undisputed owner of the economy and the employment situation until he is replaced. He won't sign whatever they pass so that's no alternative.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis assumes the bamster and his band of pug ugly minions is going to bother coming up with a bill. I don't believe he ever has as he's given the job of building these monstrosities of bills to his democrat thieves, pelosi and reid.
I wouldn't be surprised if he skipped this step and went straight to demogoguery of how the GOP House is obstructing jobs.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou know that the executive branch doesn't actually make bills, right? Presidents can suggest and plead and cajole and make public wish-lists, but if it's left to Pelosi and Reid to do the actual legislation, that's only because that's what their job is.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou do know that every single Administration, for decades on end, has frequently and heavily participated in putting together drafts of proposals, as well as amendments, for introduction by their party members, and "friendlies" on the other side of the aisle?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy point is that setting out a wish-list, complete with numbers, and leaving it to Congress to make it work would not be an abdication of responsibility or even anything unusual.
Also, I found it an odd criticism in relation to a post arguing that Obama should step back and let Congress do its job.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI like McCarthy. He's a nice guy and a good conservative, but ... he ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I attended a republican fundraiser before the recall of Gray Davis. I wanted Tom McClintock to get the republican nomination, but knew he was too conservative for the average squishy centrist conservative. That left Arnold. What did Kevin tell us? "This ain't the olympics. A silver medal won't do. Vote for Arnold". Boy was that a mistake. Let Cantor talk, he's a lot smarter.
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