YouCut: Will Washington?
by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)Last Wednesday, I announced on Big Government the launch of a new initiative that would enable taxpayers to directly propose federal spending cuts on the House floor. Today, over a quarter-million Americans will get to see whether their representatives in Congress share their specific fiscal priorities.
For those who hunger to hold their elected officials accountable for perpetuating a culture of reckless runaway spending in Washington, meet YouCut.
This first-of-its-kind interactive initiative empowers taxpayers with direct democracy at a time when their faith in Congress’ fiscal prudence has reached its lowest. YouCut allows the public to vote each week on one of five wasteful spending items that they would like to strip from the federal budget. Once the votes are tallied, Republicans force a vote on whether or not to take up and debate the cut on the House floor.
During the first week, a plurality of voters – over 81,000! – chose to axe a recently created $2.5 billion annual welfare program that undercuts cost-saving welfare reforms made in the mid 1990’s. Within 5 days of the experiment, 280,000 Americans have cast a vote either online or by text message. At several points, more than 5,000 votes were being cast per hour, with less than one percent of votes originating from inside the beltway.
The overwhelming response speaks to the extreme levels of frustration that you feel toward a Congress that refuses to listen to you. Over the last decade, taxpayers have grown weary of the incessant federal spending binges – no matter which party has been in power. They now look across the Atlantic with horror as Europe collapses under the weight of its own debt. Fear that America will go down the same road has only amplified calls for spending restraint.
Through YouCut, concerned citizens are cracking through the wall of resistance put up by big spenders in Washington to create a new culture of savings. This poses a threat to several in Congress who are invested heavily in preserving the status quo – hence the Democratic National Committee’s vigorous effort to discredit the program. Worse, rather than listening to the hundreds of thousands of Americans, Tim Kaine (Chairman of the DNC) and Chris Van Hollen (Chairman of the DCCC) chose to mock the opinions of those who voted. Not listening – a common theme for Democrats.
Driven by a new generation of young and energetic leaders, today’s GOP understands that we were fired from the majority because we abandoned the fiscal principles we had been sent to Washington to uphold. After two terms in the minority, we are eager to restore our reputation as responsible custodians of taxpayer money. It is this commitment to eliminate the prevailing wink-and-a-nod approach to unnecessary spending that spawned YouCut.
This week citizens can choose among the following items:
- Byrd Honors Scholarships ($42 million in savings in the first year -$420 million over ten years) Even the Obama Administration proposed terminating this program in their annual budget. Surely Congress can too.
- Eliminate the Proposed Federal Employee Pay Raise (saves approximately $2 billion in the first year, $30 billion over ten years). President Obama proposed providing federal civilian employees with a 1.4% pay raise next year. This year Federal employees received a 2% raise and since the year 2000 have received raises averaging 3.6% a year. USA Today recently reported that the typical federal worker is paid 20% more than a private-sector worker in the same occupation. This proposal would expand upon the just enacted legislation to prevent Members of Congress from receiving a pay raise and would not impact the scheduled pay raise for those serving in the military.
- Suspend Federal Land Purchases ($266 million in savings in the first year, $2.66 billion over ten years). Last year Congress spent $266 million acquiring additional federal lands at the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, a 138% increase over the comparable amount of funding just four years ago. Given that the federal government already owns 29% of the land in America and has a multi-billion dollar maintenance backlog to maintain current land holdings, suspending new federal land would permit the government to focus on maintaining existing property while also saving taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
- Terminate Funding for UNESCO ($81 million in savings in the first year, $810 million over ten years). Last year the administration proposed deleting the Department of Education’s attaché to UNESCO saving approximately $632,000 a year. Terminating U.S. support for UNESCO entirely would save taxpayers $81 million annually. The U.S. had not supported UNESCO for 19 years prior to the decision by the Bush Administration to rejoin in 2003. UNESCO routinely undertakes activities that are properly the responsibility of individual countries and their governments, including reviewing and making recommendations in areas related to education, arts, culture, ethics, science and technology, and historic preservation. UNESCO recently came under fire for their proposed International Guidelines for Sexuality Education. Membership provides little benefit to American taxpayers in light of the overall cost.
- Eliminate Mohair Subsidies (approximately $1 million in savings in the first year, $10 million over ten years). Federal price support for mohair was first enacted in 1947, and the National Wool Act of 1954 established direct payments for wool and mohair producers. The purpose was to encourage production of wool because it was considered an essential and strategic commodity. According to the Congressional Research Service, no similar purpose was stated for the mohair program. While this program was phased out in 1995, ad hoc payments were provided in 1999 and 2000 and the program was reinstituted in 2002. Eliminating this program once again would save taxpayers approximately $1 million a year. (Also proposed as part of the RSC Sunset Caucus.)
Again, cutting any one these programs is not going to erase our debt or deficit in one shot. But, it will begin to change the focus in Washington from spending to saving, from growing to cutting. That’s why we need your help.
Please take just a few seconds to us in this effort. YouCut offers all Americans the ability to change the wasteful ways of Washington. To be sure, 280,000 votes is a great number. But to bring real change, rather than mere lip service, we need many more people to stand up and participate. The louder our voice, the harder it becomes for Speaker Pelosi to ignore. Visit www.republicanwhip.house.gov/youcut to cast your vote now.
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101 Comments
Cut spending billions of dollars for free abortions first!
And get rid of the "welfare" for the parasites that are living off my paycheck!
Great idea! Voted on the last issues offered. Would love to know what the overall response has been and what the most voted for issue was. Anyone know?
Oooooh…millions in cuts….really? Is that the best you can do?
How about eliminating:
Department of Energy: A cabinet level department established as a response to the gas crisis of the 70's. How's that worked out so far?
Department of Education: A payoff to the corrupt teachers unions by Pres. Carter. Another cabinet level department that does NOTHING to fulfill it's alleged mission, i.e. it educates no one but costs us billions every year.
Those two are a good start. What you are proposing is symbolic but ultimately meaningless.
If this is the best you can do then is it any wonder Republicans get no respect?
Another thing, if you really want to start controlling the narrative in D.C. you can start by refusing to call a smaller increase than previously planned a cut.
If the budget is increased by 5% instead of 10% is this a cut? NO!, it is still an increase.
Reclaim the language.
Um, Mr. Cantor, even if all five of your programs were cut, it would amount to $3.5 billion. With a federal budget of $3.7 trillion, that amounts to 0.08%. Please forgive us rational people who find your proposal to be a circus sideshow. Now if you want to talk about REAL spending cuts, let's take a serious look at the two behemoths – welfare and warfare – that comprise the majority of spending. Let's make big cuts to both, including farm subsidies which amount to about $40 billion a year and make unhealthy food the cheapest. Let's look at the 700 military bases in 130 countries that do not make our borders safe.
Last week's winner:
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/week1.htm
A $2.5 billion cut in welfare. I voted for that one (yay, glad it won!).
I just cast my vote for no pay raise for fed employees.
Re-read the article, it was the 2.5 billion $ welfare program.
The point of the program is to start with small cuts so big cuts become an option. This Congress has shown NO willingness to cut ANY spending, and we have to start somewhere. If House Republicans can start peeling off some Democrats to vote for these small cuts – the bigger ones become harder for them to ignore.
Who cut the cheeze?
There is just so much they can do being in the minority. Now when they are back in the majority, we need to get them to make the big cuts such as eliminating many of the programs and agencies of the progressives. But right now they do not have the ability to make the real changes we want.
And a small cut every week, it will soon add up. It's better than doing nothing.
You guys don't get it.
Conservatives are currently a MINORITY in Congress. They have a much better chance of chipping away at spending a little at a time. They will NOT be able to make huge cuts as a minority.
And if they win a majority, they will NOT be able to retain that majority by wholesale slashing of programs–just as Obama & Co. won't retain their majority because of their ridiculous spending spree.
You don't prune a tree by cutting it off at the trunk. That just kills the tree. We don't want to kill our government–we just want to prune it back.
Thank you for listening to the idea I and other proposed to "submit your own idea". That was a nice feature!
Here's my suggestion:
1. Compile the ideas submitted here into a bill of 5 items for next week.
2. For the next three weeks, state that only the top two out of each five weekly choices will be in the bill.
3. Have a separate initiative with a heavy voting requirement (i.e. user must submit a valid driver's license number that shows eligibility to vote). Then PROSECUTE those who don't obey that requirement. Finally, let the people decide among the millions of suggestions which cost cutting ideas to put into bills.
4. Insist on legal language for the submissions to be considered, and allow public revisions of ideas to improve legal meaningfulness.
It's all a question of values. People complain about the efficacy of Abstinence-Only education programs for instance, but they are a truly great way to get some tail. I am living proof. BOO-YAH!!11!!
Um, if we were a democracy, that would make sense. But we're not.
And threatening prosecution–?? WTF??
Repeal the Little Davis Bacon Act and the federal budget would shrink by hundreds of billions by allowing ALL contractors an "equal opportunity" in ALL public works contract bids!
The "prevailing wage" is a joke and it is a lousy baseline for "budgeting" and "bidding" for public works projects, it undermines the free market!
Let's not kill anybody!
I've had this discussion so many times with my conservative hawk friends. They want welfare, medicare, and medicaid and social security to be gone yesterday. If they had been, how many innocent Americans would be stone cold dead today?
Yes, we need to phase these things out, and we cannot write blank checks. In the long run, that will cost many lives as we can no longer afford to buy or sell food should our dollar become worthless. We cannot afford to lose many wars, and we cannot afford to overspend on things we can't use and do not need.
But realistically, the "cut to nothing now" idea is murderous in effect, if not intent. Yes, we need to stop giving federal housing subsidies to illegal immigrants like Obama's Aunt Onyanga (who contributed to her nephew's campaign and may have voted for him, for all we know.)
Yes, giving her federal housing and federal defense attorneys and federal welfare and this and that is a crime. She neither needs the house nor taxpayer help, she needs to follow the law and leave the country.
But others who may actually need a house will die of exposure without one. The answer is to cut carefully and keep the tree healthy. Our GDP will rise over time, if we kept taxes where they are and spending and inflation to the point we didn't owe any more debt, then in 10 years our GDP to debt ratio would be much lower than today.
That's the answer. Stop the deluge of debt, but do so carefully.
The balance of the borrowed funds in the "stimulus package" should be immediately frozen. Our Congressional and Senate leaders should be forced to liquidate their "Thrift Savings Plan" to pay for all legal actions that they have incurred on their unconstitutional legislations. Our Congressional and Senate leaders should be mandated to an immediate reduction in salary that matches their own States median household income.
There is not federal funding for abortion, sparky. Suck on that one a while while you have some time down under the highway overpass.
It's an idea: make these more than "suggestions" that you text or tweet. Make it a serious business, because billions of dollars are at stake.
What if the chinese suggest we cut submarine spending, then vote it up?
YOU ARE SPEAKING FOR ME!!11!
It would also be nice if you could add language to the bill declaring an immediate moratorium against reporting on sex lives of public figures. Of course it would have to be phrased in such a way to preserve the First Amendment as much as is deemed reasonable. Keep on partyin' y'all!
Yes, us guys do get it.
Really? We're in the minority? No, sh*t Dick Tracy. Nobody is expecting the GOP to be able to do anything until they make gains in both houses.
…they will NOT be able to retain that majority by wholesale slashing of programs–…
I disagree. Look, no matter what they propose (no matter how tepid the cut) the media will distort it and make it seem like they are conspiring to kill widows and orphans.
The GOP has to know this going in and has to remember that the PEOPLE are with them on this.
We don't want to kill our government–we just want to prune it back.
Nice try, but nobody here wants to "kill our government." The U.S. Gov. was able to fight two world wars , kicked the crap out of the commies in Asia (until the left made us surrender), put men on the moon and still provided the best standard of living for its population WITHOUT a Dept. of Energy or a Dept of Education.
How could that be?
Stop putting America Last and Israel First.
Heres a test.Lets see a bill introduced in Congress each week proposing the relevant spending cut. Reintroduce said bill time and time again until it passes. Yes it is a drop in the bucket, but the real question to Congress is "Are you listening?"
"empowers taxpayers with direct democracy at a time when their faith in Congress’ fiscal prudence has reached its lowest. YouCut allows the public to vote each week on one of five wasteful spending items that they would like to strip from the federal budget."
Mr. Cantor, I think you are over-selling this a bit. I'd hardly call this an example of direct democracy. Being able to choose an item from a menu is not equivalent to adding your own idea. I'd be very interested to know who constructs this poll. Like so many others I have seen, it steers the participant towards a desired outcome. Quite frankly, I find that insulting. It's time to stop playing lawyer ball and demonstrate that you are willing to make the tough calls.
Congress didn't need our opinion when they created these debts and they don't need our advice now to fix them. We're telling you to fix it. If you want to keep your job, you need to stop worrying about keeping your job and start DOING your job. Silly public opinion polls aren't cutting it. Don't start jerking us around, or you'll end up playing canasta with Arlen Specter and the rest of the folks we remove from office.
Mr. Cantor you have a nice idea ya know it's cute we all go vote at some website. I also realize Congress
collectivly could not find their rear end with both hands. We can actually cut WHOLE DEPARTMENTS in
the federal government. again even with this drastic cutting of federal workers will NOT address the problems
we have as a country. You and your collective colleagues will have to CUT entitlement programs – DO YOU
UNDERSTAND????????
Glorioski-The Public Health Services Act/ Title X provides Federal Grants. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider it is also the largest recipient of Federal grants under the Title X program. So, you see our Government uses taxpayer funds to abort viable babies through it's grant system, taxpayers provide the money for the grants. Enjoy yourself under the highway overpass.
Um, no, we can't cut whole departments. We don't control congress, Democrats do. You need to wake up and be realistic. 178 Republicans in the house have no POWER to cut anything. Geez, you people need to praise a good idea now and then.
I don't know about that, but it does make you the poster boy for condom use. I bet your mother wishes she had a do-over!
whatreallyhappened- Isn't there a Youth Hitler Rally you should be attending today?
This week I voted for cutting out the federal pay raise. Use what is needed of the $2 Billion (allegedly $225 million) to put National Guard troops on the southern border.
Actually, I work with Congressman Cantor… the poll is constructed by the House Republican Economic Working Group. Each week, a new five are chosen by the members on the group. Some are initiatives by different members. Others are submitted by people who visited the YouCut site – for example the freeze on federal employee pay fits into that category.
No. I think YOU don't get it. We want to prune it back to a stump. We're going to have to in order to save anything of our country. You need to wake up and take a good look around, because you're still not getting it. We need to get rid of 75% of our government. That would still leave us a little to the left of our founding.
There you go! Think big. These politicians are still seeing Congress as a career path. They still aren't getting it.
Hitting the schnapps a little early today huh?
I like your attitude, but a 5% increase is still better than a 10% increase. We don't have the clout (yet) to get rid of the Dept of Education or the Dept of Energy. We need to win the victories where we can–death by a thousand cuts, you know?
Don't let perfect get in the way of better.
Well, I'm glad I got someone's attention. I'm a Republican, live and vote in VA, and I'd like to suggest that you pay particular attention to the part about not jerking your constituents around in my last paragraph. I have supported Eric in the past, but I am extremely disappointed in the level of opposition I'm seeing coming from the GOP on Obama's agenda. I realize you guys are in a fragile position right now. I submit to you that it may be a great deal more fragile than you realize. Take a look at what happened with Rand Paul.
America wants to hear what you're going to do after November with a majority in place, not excuses about what you can't do now (or how little you can do now). We are looking for bold new leadership and we will have it. It's up to Eric to decide if he'll be the one to provide it or not.
AreaMan, you just blasted my two least favorite Departments! I've been livid for two decades about these useless tax dollar supported black holes. Bravo!
Excellent point. And what's even more disgusting is that Planned Parenthood, which receives federal funds to provide abortions, strongly opposes anything that might even slightly reduce the abortion rate in this country. The abortion mills need to keep running in order to justify Planned Parenthood's funding. So much for "Legal, Safe, and RARE".
What really Happened when you dropped as a Baby? What Really Happened when the bully's at your school gave you a swirly? What Really Happened when you got turned down by every girl in school, even the blind ones? What really Happened at the first bar you want to, were you at one that plays for the home team? What really Happened the marble that you had for mind?
What really happened was I copied an old post just for you
Agreed.
But you can't do it in one fell swoop. You're right, it does need massive pruning, but a lot of people are currently relying on the entitlement programs for their survival, and a lot of other people are at the point where that's all they will have when they retire this year or next.
For Social Security reform, we'll need a slow phasing-out over a decade or so. My thoughts: Let's say in 2020, payments into Social Security stop. That chunk of FICA on your paycheck goes away. If you are 55 or older as of Jan 1, 2010, you will get your social security when you retire, and continue to get it until you die, at the current rates (if you retire early, the payments are less, like they do now). If you are less than 55, then you have time to set up a 401(K), an IRA, find a relative who'll support you, move to Greece, do something to prepare for your retirement.
There will be people who won't prepare for their retirment, and they'll get the shaft. The government can not (and should not) legislate to save people from themselves.
OK. Let me explain this to you. America is deciding RIGHT NOW whether to give the reins of power back to the GOP. We want to know exactly what they intend to do with that power before we make that decision. Billy is pointing out that we're not impressed with the cheezy crap they've come out with so far and I agree with him completely.
"Good enough" IS NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH! The American voter is raising the bar.
If you choose NOT to look to the future, you might as well stick your head back in the sand or whatever hole you had it inserted in.
With these Progressive's at the helm, they will NOT stop the spending. The Progressives are doing the same thing they did under Ronald Reagan. They spend money like it was their right of passage, NOT. We all need to replace every last one of them. If they will not sign a contract with the voters,we need too send them packing. Say what you mean, do what you say. What a concept.
Remember November
Restore the Republic,
God Bless America
Keep telling them, Billy. Maybe one day soon they will get the message! They aren't thinking big enough to save us. What's the point of putting them back in if this is the best they can come up with?
The probability of a dollar being wasted is directly proportion to the distance it is taken from the individual that earned it.
I voted for cutting the federal pay raise as well. Private industries across the nation have had to institute pay freezes or outright pay cuts to prevent layoffs and stay in business. Our government should not be cushier than our industry.
I was kind of disappointed to see the Byrd scholarships on there. I was the recipient of one, and it saved my parents a ton of money. I guess I assumed it was Byrd's own cash/investments that funded the scholarship, rather than taxpayers.
So, to you, the taxpayers: Thank you for funding my education. It was not wasted.
Do you see or hear ANYONE in the GOP making these suggestions? I sure as hell don't! That's my point. How can I have any confidence that they will do ANY of that stuff if they don't even have the balls to talk about it with the public?
Like I said: you're still not getting it.
OK this is the wrong way to get things done!!! Trying this will get you fried in the MSM without getting any true support as it looks to be a sham (trying to cut billions while they add TRILLIONS). Now if you would attack Departments that are clearly unconstitutional then you may get fried in the MSM but would gain true support and maybe put the fear of god in the Progressives.
and forget not the WELFARE rats breeding what they can not feed….
Keep on them. Give them encouragement and positive reinforcement for the cuts that they do make, while pressing them for bigger and better things.
It's like coaching a high-school distance runner. His personal best for the 1600m is 6:15. You want him to be at 5:15 by the end of the season. At today's race, he dropped his time to 6:02. As coach, do you berate your athlete for not achieving the goal first time out, or do you praise his improvement and use it as a springboard for greater achievement?
We can get this done, but not in one election cycle. We have to take baby steps before we can sprint.
Not sure I understand the post…. Are you saying that you support the Obama agenda? No one is making excuses, we are trying to utilize every means at our disposal (which in the house isn't much) to force consideration of spending cuts. We do not have the ability to bring legislation to the floor, as you know.
I have been skeptical of this program–to be able to vote for one of five doesn't feel like enough given the huge amount of debt the country is in. But it IS a start, and if we can vote each week for something new, then I guess I'm in. Even if we WERE able to vote to cut every wasteful dollar on youcut, this is a website, not an actual vote in Congress. Let's pay attention to the reaction of our representatives, and vote out the ones who aren't listening.
For those who are arguing about who "gets it" and who doesn't, I appreciate what you're all trying to say, but let's all remember that we are on the same side. We may not agree on the best approach, but I think we can all agree that we cannot sustain Government spending as is.
I see your point. There is plenty of crap that we can do without, no doubt about it.! But I'm talking about the political consequences here. Just how much political fallout can conservatives survive if they go in with chainsaws blazing? Do we really want libs back in power because conservatives cut as blindly as the libs spent?
Historically, the party out of power gains something around 30 seats when there's a swing-back. That won't make a majority in the House, that's for sure. Even if by some miracle conservatives win a majority in November, the margin will be so thin that radical cost-slashing–and the conservative majority–will be short-lived.
I don't have the patience for incremental cost-cutting, either. I'd love to see big cuts. But I think we will have more success with consistent, persistent cost-cutting than we would with radical cost-cutting.
Now you are being obtuse. What part of "America wants to hear what you're going to do after November with a majority in place" did you not understand?
"Are you saying that you support the Obama agenda?"
Not at all. Are you implying that Mr. Cantor is the only alternative to that? Because I can assure you that that is not the case.
My question is what will you do IF we decide to put you back in the majority? Does the GOP intend to screw the American public like it did last time?
I'm looking for contrition and a working plan for the future. So far, I'm not seeing either one. I'm seeing meaningless polls and I'm hearing lip service. THIS is what I mean by jerking around your constituents. You are not helping your case with me now.
hey eric how about repealing the Amendment XXVII…..you know the one proclaims that no-one/nobody can mess with YOUR pay check AND YOU can give YOURSELVES raises when ever you change YOUR drawers……. talk about a closed shop union!
People are humorless.
Ain't y'all ever heard of government cheese?
I do not hand out awards and trophies for useless gestures. You're welcome to your opinion, but America is looking for something more than that. We NEED something more than that, and we mean to have it. It's time to step UP or step OFF!
You are correct, there are political consequences.
The majority of the press will be against any reductions in federal spending and will demonize the GOP for even proposing structural reform. Rep. Paul Ryan's Road Map for America is a nice start and could fix many problems but the NYT immediately told outright lies about it.
The GOP needs to embrace the population's new found interest in the deficit and Federal excess and use it to permanently make government more efficient.
In my opinion there are at least two problems with the small steps approach.
1. The small cuts will make NO difference in the deficit and will be overshadowed by increases in other programs. The people are not stupid and will confer NO political capital to the GOP.
2. All of the reforms and cuts can be undone in just one session of Congress. The GOP needs to make permanent changes to the structure of Gov., i.e. you can't spend $68 Billion on the Dept. of Education if there is no Dept. of Education.
If we are looking for ways to save money, why does it cost a text fee to vote? Not everybody has unlimited texting. Further, by supporting your phone company in this way, you are also paying more taxes into the system we are trying to cut.
Perhaps you may want to re-think voting process.
Victory in Europe was not declared on Dec 12, 1941. Read Sun Tzu or Musashi.
Fight only the battles that you can win. These are small battles that are winnable. Reforming the big stuff–political suicide for the entire party right now-not just the individual candidates/representatives. It can't be done right now, but we can work for a position where we can do it later.
You are not listening. I don't know what else to say. You obviously aren't getting the point.
Dit-to.
You reject these small cuts as insignificant, while demanding that the big programs be cut now. I want the big programs cut too, but I know that any attempt to start doing that now will fail. We want the same end result, but one method might achieve that end, and one assuredly won't. My vote is for the method that *may* lead to victory.
It's free online…
Never implied anything like that, and no one is jerking around constituents. In fact, the reverse is true – this initiative empowers constituents. If you want to insult, that's your right. I'm sorry that you dislike this effort to begin to change the culture of spending in Washington.
If you don't want to text, please vote online at no cost. http://www.republicanwhip.house.gov
If you could stop stroking your own ego for a second, you'd see that I am not talking about doing the cuts now. I'm saying they need to tell us what their plan is after November regarding those big cuts.
If you still don't understand that, then you are hopeless. You'll probably go to the polls and pull the handle for anyone with an R beside their name regardless of their position on the issues. Issues don't seem to mean much to you anyway. And I say that as a Republican. You need to start looking more than 2 inches in front of your face.
You completely ignored my request for information regarding your intentions if you regain a majority in the Congress! Would you like to explain to us all how that's not jerking us around? Ignoring the People is what got you into this mess in the first place. I see you haven't learned a thing. I'll be keeping that in mind.
yah. we should put Islam first and America last, right? Go home, you anti-Semite.
Do you see the libs putting down THEIR chainsaws?! We'd better wake up and realize we are in the fight of our lives. People are going to fall on the field of battle. Accept it and do the right thing and damn the consequences! We lose this one and IT'S OVER!
The problem is, it feels like we're okaying the four we don't vote for. I know it would ruin the vote to allow the obvious answer of "all of the above", but even as it is the vote seems fairly trivial: just remember that "billion" is bigger than "million" and vote for the largest number.
It's a clever way of highlighting government waste, but the interactive aspect of it needs some tweaking.
Evidently, it was. You obviously didn't learn to put the country before your own selfish interests. You're fine with cuts as long as they don't effect you. We're not going to get very far with that attitude!
The reality is, even with a miracle on election day, the conservatives will have a very thin majority. Without a miracle, conservatives will still be a minority. Neither scenario bodes well for any magnitude of cost-cutting, big or small.
Now that idea I like.
I'll call it out for you, since you missed it the first time: I assumed it was Byrd's own cash/investments that funded the scholarship, rather than taxpayers.
The scholarship application didn't come with a disclaimer saying "This is funded with taxpayer money."
The information is readily available on all of the House Republican website. http://www.gop.gov http://www.republicanwhip.house.gov andhttp://www.republicanleader.house.gov
In addition House Republicans plan to unveil next week part of a project devoted to reclaiming the majority, dubbed the Commitment to America.
I apologize for not having the time to write in depth here – am working and back and forth on the floor of the House.
That is a start. I hope there will be details of what will be done with that majority as well.
It was Rep. Cantor. I told him his attention-whoredom was tiresome, and to cut the s#*t. But NOOOooooo….
I support your efforts. Its at least a start and more than anyone else has done in over 20 years. Keep up the good work!
Why don't the R's make an announcement they are cutting frivolous spending, go on all the tv networks making announcements that they are not only listening to the citizens but they are actually working FOR them, and cut all of them? Why one at a time, pick, pick, pick? Why not steamroll, and take the time to send a great message while doing so? Don't just pick five or so a week, make a whole darn page after page list, and make a campaign out of it, then just do it? The R's never take opportunities to get their message out, like the D's who, well don't just get it out there but actually shove it down our throats. But I digress. The R's need to learn how to make the message, take the message out loud and clear shouting from every rooftop, and then back it up.
I never understood why, for example, with Sarah Palin and her wardrobe thing. That would have been a perfect opportunity for her to spin it by saying something like, Well I didn't have any decent clothes because I'm a regular person and don't worry about stupid stuff like that and they insisted on me wearing this stuff even though I flat didn't even want to because I like my blue jeans. Or something. And get the message machine out there too so everyone everywhere hears it loud and clear.
The same when the ludicrous charges against the Tea Parties began. The R's should have united and got the machine into overdrive and had video, speeches, tv time all over the place, about the absolute hypocrisy of the left and show how violent the left ACTUALLY is and show the tv coverage hypocrisy by making short videos that prove it, etc.
The AZ law is also a great time to do just this. Make a video clip of the hypocrisy of the LSM coverage, and show the graphs of the how an overwhelming majority of citizens approve, and show how the AZ law is even MORE strict than the federal law, and get the machine out and everyone on tv discussing it, etc.
I don't know why the R's or conservatives don't capitalize on these moments, instead of always playing defense. If they want to win, and keep the people energized, they need to start playing offense.
Just my 2 cents.
thanks, it never occurred to me to hover over the vote button
thanks, it never occurred to me to click the vote button
whatreallyhappened is he was molested by a Rabbi when he was young!
Rep. Cantor. I've got a suggestion. Cut the s%*t and stop grandstanding on this YouCut BS.
His childhood bully was an Israeli Mossad agent who planned 9/11 in between giving him swirlies.
Audit the FED.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5833R520090...
Restore the Republic,
God Bless America
Rep. Cantor, Why don't we cut all the BS that's going on in Washington and start doing some real work!!! I'm tired with your same old line "The American People want", you have no clue what were going thru, all that matters is political gain, do something productive like putting us back to work with jobs!!! You're do want to help, all you want to do is say "NO" to everything, mainly helping The Unemployed, we can't get jobs nor getting you big wigs to provide an extension without it stalling in the Senate, so until you can do your job don't play games with The American People, we've been thru to much!!!!!
I agree. I support the Byrd scholarships. I would vote to cut the funding if we don't have the money but there are so so many other areas we should go first.
There you go – you've just eliminated participation for all non-lawyers by item 4. Since Congress is already composed of lawyers, you've just neutered the program by only allowing those that already think like congressional encumbents to participate while arbitrarily denying the rest of Americans (including all non-lawyer republicans) a voice to the Republicans in Congress. Therefore I call "Troll".
Having to prove citizenship to submit an idea – prove citizenship to whom ? It's not hard too hard for an illegal to get a fake valid drivers license *number* as long as you don't have to have a face that matches the photo on the license. This factor alone puts this program squarely in the Moonbat Mexican Radicals' crosshairs based on your implied requirement to 'show papers'. This is another way to neuter the program by tying it up in political BS while guaranteeing that the Dems will not take the output seriously. Again I call Troll.
By allowing public revisions of ideas, you also guarantee that all ideas get 'stuck in committee' and *never brought to the floor'. Again I call Troll.
Rep Cantor – please continue to keep the faith. I like the idea of your program. I just wish there were more money involved in each option. I am concerned that the Dems will simply say "this is chump change and it's not worth our time…" or something to that effect.
While I agree that human nature will insure a 'submit your own idea' is sure to be drowned in irrelavent "noise", perhaps a rotation system where the more reasonable (you pick them) submitted on week one would be posted on week 2 for vote and the winner taken to Congress on week 3. I yeild the judgement of what is a feasible and reasonable suggestion to your discretion.
you can vote online
Why did you republicans just sit there when the mexican president denigrated America???
Not a one of you got up and walked out or said a thing.
This is so pitiful.
One day you will have to stand for something but you probably won't because you are so afraid of not being elected. Well, I wouldn't vote for you at all after this!
I agree. We must get rolling first with small cuts working our way up to larger cuts. I also believe that both Department of Energy and Department of Education should be cut, but you cant start there. That is like walking into Google and telling the president to take a hike while you run the show having just graduated high school. It is all about momentum and it is starting to work.
if they wan;t cut the spendings next election Citizen will cut their tenure.
Definitely do not spent any of tax payers money on abortion. Get rid of 'WELFARE" we never used welfare ,we
worked for every bit of our money and then you think you can spend our money as you please. I am tired of all
of the bailouts,we needed health reform but not in the way it was done,this is going the cost way too much. Also those of us who paid into social security all of our lives,should continue to get it and the same medicare we were getting. If we were allowed to have all of that money we could have put more away for our retirement. I think we should quite being so free with the money we don't haveand giving it to other countries. We need to do more drilling for oil,more nuclear energy. Please tell the President to act more like a president of this country and quit running us down.
We need a big change in Washington D.C.on wasteful spending and wasteful programs that are put into
play with no experation dates,Like paying land owners not to grow certin crops ,Mohair producers not to make mohair.Support Colleges that let the Professors teach a Socialist Agenda .Why should we pay our taxes tosupport the destruction of our Country.
[...] YouCut: Will Washington?Big Government (blog)Thank you for listening to the idea I and other proposed to "submit your own idea". That was a nice feature! 1. Compile the ideas submitted here into a bill … and more » No comments [...]
Rep. Cantor: this is a great idea, keep it going,I'll be watchingg for future. Republican Candidate Charles Djou here in Hawaii is a great cnadidate, help him if you can! William O. Muff
You are absolutely correct. Only by pruning a bit at a time can we eventually get to bonsai government.
"Why did you republicans just sit there when the mexican president denigrated America???"
That's my point exactly (in the post below/before). That was a perfect opportunity, once again ignored! And today I hear barry is telling the feds not to enforce federal deportation laws, thus purposely worsening the problem. Isn't this breaking some federal law somewhere? The R's/conservatives should be pouncing on this opportunity! I just don't get it.
We could get the majority, if they'd grow a spine, think big, think real, and make a big plan to save this country and tout it! That's the point. You don't restore an old broken down car with a paint job.
[...] YouCut: Will Washington?Big Government (blog)After two terms in the minority, we are eager to restore our reputation as responsible custodians of taxpayer money. It is this commitment to eliminate the … and more » [...]
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