NHDP - NH Republicans Double Down on Failed O'Brien-Bradley Cuts to Critical Access Hospitals, LCHIP, Scholarships

Senate Republicans follow through on O'Brien Promise to slash NH budget

Concord - New Hampshire State Senate Republicans revealed this afternoon they plan to continue the failed O'Brien-Bradley budget policies voters rejected last fall with 300 million dollars in cuts.  Already they have vowed to cut dedicated funds for LCHIP, scholarship programs for underprivileged students, and reduce funding even below the reckless O'Brien-Bradley budget levels for critical access hospitals.  But even those programs combined aren't likely to add up to the 300 million dollars in cuts Republican Senator Morse is calling for. 

"Jeb Bradley's Tea Party Republican caucus is doubling down on the same failed budget policies from 2011 that killed hundreds of New Hampshire jobs, made the largest cut to public higher education funding in American history, and devastated essential services for thousands of Granite Staters," said New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Harrell Kirstein. "What else will the Tea Party Senate Republicans put on the chopping block?  Are they going to make deeper cuts to the University and Community College Systems, forcing another round of costly tuition increases?  Will they slash domestic violence prevention funding again? What about funding for snow plows for next winter?"

Last May, disgraced Speaker O'Brien promised that if re-elected he would "go further next year, paring as much as $400 million more." [Nashua Telegraph, 5/8/2012] Almost one year to the day from O'Brien making that Tea Party oath, Republicans in the Senate announced they will be following through on his disastrous plan. 

"Clearly Republicans in Concord didn't learn anything from last fall's elections when voters rejected the O'Brien-Bradley budget's mindless cuts undermining education and quality of life in communities across the state," continued Kirstein. "Instead of trying responsible ways to balance the budget while investing in priorities that will grow the economy and move New Hampshire forward, they are reverting to the same failed Tea Party policies of the past."

US House Republicans - EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Obama's Jet-Lagged Leadership

Good afternoon-

When the sequester first took effect, the Democrats who run Washington said they would only replace it with tax hikes – not smarter spending cuts.  Then, earlier this week, as thousands of Americans waited on the runway because of the FAA’s manufactured flight delay crisis, Harry Reid dropped legislation to replace the sequester with phony savings – not actual spending reductions.  But today, Democrats joined Republicans to adopt our targeted “cut this, not that” approach to cut wasteful spending.

Please watch and share this video first for blogs to recap this week’s complete capitulation by the Democratic majority in DC:

WATCH OBAMA’S JET-LAGGED LEADERSHIP HERE

Looks like Democrats have canceled their plans for tax hikes and phony savings and cleared the American people for landing.

ALG's Daily Grind - Let Future Cabinet Secretaries pay for their own ego portraits

March 18, 2013

Let Future Cabinet Secretaries pay for their own ego portraits

The EPA recently blew almost $40,000 for the portrait of former Administrator Lisa Jackson.

We waited four years for this budget?

Senate Democrats pass a budget out of committee that includes massive tax increases, dramatically increases spending, never is projected to come close to balancing the budget, and in a tip of the hat to George Orwell, they call it "balanced" in its approach.

America's coming surveillance society

Today, DHS is not only lending drones to local agencies but distributing grants to them so that they can buy their own without an official policy in place to guide how and when they can be used.

Zerohedge.com: Farage slams Eurozone as 'completely incompatible with nation-state democracy'

UK Independence Party leader points to election results in Italy as signaling the beginning of the end of the Eurozone.

WEEK IN REVIEW: US Rep Shea-Porter Works to Stop Sequestration

WASHINGTON, D.C – One week after sequestration began creating reckless and irresponsible cuts to our economy, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter worked to protect New Hampshire’s middle class from its most harmful effects. From meeting with Granite State veterans to cosponsoring legislation that would replace sequestration with a balanced approach, Congresswoman Shea-Porter is committed to working towards saving the hundreds of thousands of jobs and vital services set to be lost due to this reckless policy.

“Instead of imposing indiscriminate cuts on the Department of Defense and other programs vital to middle class security, we should replace sequestration with a balanced approach that increases revenue, decreases spending, and creates jobs,” said Shea-Porter. “I am hopeful that we can compromise to avert these self-inflicted wounds from Washington, but I refuse to accept any plan that fails the test of balance by leaving corporate tax loopholes open and closing the pathway to the middle class.”  

See below for details from the week.

·         Cosponsorship of H.R. 699, the Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act

Congresswoman Shea-Porter cosponsored the Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act, which eliminates sequestration for calendar year 2013 entirely while reducing the deficit by more than the amount of the scheduled across-the-board spending cuts. It makes specific policy choices that reduce the deficit in a balanced way, with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. The bill also calls for a balanced solution to stop the full multi-year sequester.

·         Statement to the House Budget Committee about the impact of sequestration on New Hampshire

Congresswoman Shea-Porter issued a statement to the House Budget Committee about the effects of sequestration on New Hampshire, specifically highlighting the importance of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to the region’s economy and the country’s national defense. She encouraged the committee to replace sequestration’s arbitrary cuts with a balanced plan that responsibly cuts spending and removes unnecessary tax breaks for special interests, saying, “In order to keep our national defense strong, I ask you to restore the budget of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to the funding level that existed prior to implementation of the defense sequester.”

·         Voting Against the Continuing Resolution that, according to the National Journal, “embraced sequestration”

Congresswoman Shea-Porter voted against a Continuing Resolution that reinforces the mindless cuts that will hurt hiring and incomes, slow the recovery, and keep deficits larger than otherwise.

·         Meeting with the New Hampshire Veterans

Congresswoman Shea-Porter met with New Hampshire veterans to talk about the sequester’s impact on our national security. Although the Department of Veterans Affairs is exempt from sequestration, the Department of Labor’s Veterans Transition Assistance Program, which serves over 150,000 veterans a year, would have to reduce operations – leaving thousands of transitioning veterans unserved as they move from active duty to civilian life.  

·         Meeting with Major General William N. Reddel III, The Adjutant General, New Hampshire

Congresswoman Shea-Porter spoke with General Reddel about her commitment to averting sequestration.

·         Cosponsorship of H.R. 900, the Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013

The set of across-the-board cuts passed into law by the previous Congress - of which Shea-Porter was not a member - was purposely designed to be a bad idea and was never intended to become law.  It was supposed to be so unthinkable as to force a compromise – but it failed.  With Congress unable to craft a bipartisan agreement that takes the sequester off the table, Washington has a duty to avert these catastrophic cuts by any means necessary. That is why Congresswoman Shea-Porter cosponsored the “Cancel the Sequester Act,” a one-sentence bill that would repeal the section of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that created the sequester. 

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy created 246,000 private sector jobs in February and unemployment dropped to 7.7%. This is welcome news and continues to build on 36 consecutive months of private sector job growth. But in order to continue this momentum and avoid the 750,000 American jobs set to be lost this year due to sequestration, Congress must do their job and replace these haphazard cuts with a balanced approach that reduces spending and increases revenue.

 

DNC Video: #GOPSequester: 98 Percent of What They Wanted

Republicans in Congress got what they wanted – the GOP sequester cuts. John Boehner may have gotten 98 percent of what he wanted with these cuts, but communities across the country are bracing for their harmful impact. As President Obama made clear, these cuts are not smart, they are not fair, and they don't need to happen if congressional Republicans step up and do what's right — accept a balanced approach to growing our economy and reducing our deficit. 

Check out the New DNC Video, #GOPSequester: 98 Percent of What They Wanted - http://youtu.be/lw0lh7p4jk8