Tagged: debt ceiling

Posted: August 9, 2011 at 8:24 pm

New Poll: Rehberg Faction Approval Reaches All Time Low After Debt Vote

The aftermath of the GOP TEA Party congressional dysfunction is that their reputation has reached a 20-year low, according to the most recent CNN poll released today. Not surprisingly, the reputation of the TEA Party is also at an all-time low.

The agenda of Republicans and the TEA party in the House has had damaging effects not just on the nation, but on their own reputations, according to a new poll out today. Apparently, the voters take a dim view of those who demonstrate they don’t give two cents about the country by crowing about “protest votes” and ridiculous proposals (that they know don’t have a chance of passing) rather than making an effort to pass a budget.

The poll found that favorable ratings for House Republicans like TEA Party Congressman Dennis Rehberg in particular have fallen since CNN”s last poll in July of this year. Over that time, Congressional Republicans favorable rating dropped from the dismal 41% to 33%. At the same time, unfavorable impressions of Congressional Republicans increased from 55% to 59%. That’s the highest percentage of voters who view them in an unfavorable light in the entire 20 years period of published results from the CNN/USAToday/Gallup poll.

The TEA Party is even more unpopular than the Republicans, with 31% of voters viewing them favorably while TEA leaves 51% with an unfavorable taste in their mouths. Another all time low for the movement.

Meanwhile, voters have a higher opinion of Democrats. The Dems’ favorable ratings increased from 47 to 49% and their unfavorable ratings stayed the same at 49% following the budget agreement.

It’s interesting that in the west and rural rural areas, the results were even more anti-GOP. Westerners had a 32/62 fav/unfav opinion of Republicans and rural voters had 36/57 fav/unfav ratings for the Rs. For Dems, westerners’ ratings were 46/45. Rural voters also rated Democrats more favorably than Republicans with 41/55 fav/unfav.

Posted: August 3, 2011 at 9:37 pm

Rehberg Tells Different Stories on Different Channels

TEA Party Congressman Dennis Rehberg told Billings television audiences this week that his vote against the budget agreement was really just “a protest vote.” Then, he proceeded to wander all over the place making factually different claims on different stations, saying on one station taxes will be raised and on another, that there was no tax increase. Is he that clueless or is he making things up?

With his vote against the bipartisan budget agreement, TEA Party Republican Dennis Rehberg has only supported partisan plans that will cut Medicare, Social Security and veterans’ benefits in order to protect tax loopholes for millionaires and corporations that ship jobs overseas. Now, verbatim transcripts of Congressman Dennis Rehberg’s live interviews on two Billings TV stations last night have emerged, with a couple of most interesting details.

The TEA Party Congressman says he is concerned about having more money in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, which he chairs. Given his concern, one wonders if he’s gonna’ actually commit to cutting 12 percent of his budget as called for by the Ryan Plan? And what exactly does he intend to cut? Pell Grants, aka “welfare”? After school programs like Flagship, which is already cutting back to due budget cuts? Mine safety? He has yet to indicate any priorities, and he canceled the July 26 markup, or bill work session, of his subcommittee’s appropriations bill.

On KTVQ TV, a station with a fairly wide audience, Rehberg said people are:

“going to be real surprised when the American public finds out that there are going to be tax increases almost guaranteed as a result of this package being passed.”

A half hour later on KULR TV, perhaps thinking no one would notice, he said:

“We’re going to have debt reductions without a tax increase, we actually were debating a debt ceiling increase in Congress–and that’s a good thing.”

Which one was it?

Apparently, Rehberg thinks it doesn’t really matter, because here’s the kicker–Rehberg told the first station, KTVQ:

“mine was–more than anything else–a protest vote.”

Arguably one of the most important economic votes in recent history, with the U.S. economy at stake, and he thought it was important to cast a “protest vote?” Sounds just like a classic teabagger who seeks election just to burn Congress down.

Lastly Rehberg told KULR 8

“we want our freedoms back.”

Exactly which freedoms does the Congressman believe have been taken away?

Anyway, transcripts are below the fold if you’d like to read them in detail, and of course, discuss.

Continue reading →

Posted: August 3, 2011 at 7:29 pm

No Wonder Reherg Voted Against the Budget Agreement

No wonder that TEA party caucus member, Congressman Dennis Rehberg, did not compromise and vote for the budget agreement. The final package included a guarantee that low income students will still have access to college through Pell Grants over the next two years.

As the Missoulian reports:

The federal debt-ceiling bill approved and signed Tuesday included at least one major spending increase, guaranteeing low-income undergraduate students will continue to have access to college.

Congress increased the federal Pell grant program by $17 billion to help cover tuition costs for 9 million low- and middle-income undergraduate students nationwide over the next two years.

You remember the famous TEA Party rhetoric, reported by the Hill:

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) has compared Pell Grants to “welfare”.

“So you can go to college on Pell Grants — maybe I should not be telling anybody this because it’s turning out to be the welfare of the 21st century,” Rehberg told Blog Talk Radio in April. “You can go to school, collect your Pell Grants, get food stamps, low-income energy assistance, Section 8 housing, and all of a sudden we find ourselves subsidizing people that don’t have to graduate from college.”

Posted: July 29, 2011 at 12:40 pm

Daines Has More Trouble Figuring Out What to Do

Steve Daines has had trouble figure out what office he was running for. Now, he can’t figure out his position on the most important issue currently facing the office he seeks.

This past January, Congressional candidate Steve Daines went on record at the Bitterroot Pachyderm luncheon promising, “that he would not approve an increase in the debt ceiling.” Today, Daines has flipped his stance on the issue.

For months, Steve Daines’s campaign website asked followers to “add your name now to the petition to tell Congress to vote ‘NO’ to raising the ceiling on the national debt.” That petition has disappeared, but here’s a screenshot:

Daines now advocates Speaker Boehner’s plan to increase the debt ceiling, a complete reversal from his original position.

Franke Wilmer’s campaign caught the discrepancy, noting in a press release that Daines

“first agreed with the Tea Party and wanted America to default on our debt, now he agrees with Boehner and wants to cut Social Security and Medicare before raising the ceiling.”

Posted: July 28, 2011 at 6:03 pm

Dennis Rehberg’s “Welfare” May Be Holdup of House Debt Bill

Did anyone catch this little gem from The Hill this afternoon? House conservatives are apparently up in arms over Pell Grant funding in John Boehner’s budget-slashing bill. As of this posting, Boehner has delayed a vote on his bill, and sources say it’s because he doesn’t have the votes to pass it.

Why? According to The Hill, it may be because “conservatives who have stalled legislation to raise the national debt limit are angry that it includes $17 billion in supplemental spending for Pell Grants, which some compare to welfare.”

Yes, Pell Grants. And yes, we can thank our own esteemed millionaire Congressman for the “welfare” reference.

After calling Pell Grants the “welfare of the 21^st Century” this spring, Dennis Rehberg tried to take back his words… by comparing Pell Grants to welfare again.

He’s going to need a better explanation than that no matter how he votes on the Republicans’ Medicare-cutting budget bill.

Posted: July 28, 2011 at 7:28 am

Rehberg Brings in the Moonies to His Defense

Congressman Dennis Rehberg’s political brinkmanship and refusal to compromise to avert a national economic crisis has brought a barrage of constituent email that crashed the congressional website and switchboard, a scathing editorial from Montana’s most-read newspaper, and hundreds of critical Facebook posts from the people of Montana.

Problem is, his actions are so ridiculous that the only people he could find to come to his defense are the Moonies. In his angry rant against the Billings Gazette for daring to point out the problems with his actions, Rehberg cites…wait for it…the Washington Times. Not familiar with this paper? You wouldn’t be unless maybe you were a Moonie.

The Washington Times is founded by the Moonies and has been kept on a close leash by the Moonie staff:

The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the church….

In July 2010 international leaders of the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction the Times was taking and urging closer ties between it and the church.[41] In August 2010, a deal was made to sell the Times to a group more closely related to the church. Editor-in-chief Sam Dealey said that this was a welcome development among the Times’ staff.

UPDATE: D. Gregory Smith at the excellent blog From Eternity to Here has a good take on this too. Go read it here.

Posted: July 26, 2011 at 6:02 pm

Finally, It All Makes Sense

Millionaire Congressman Dennis Rehberg has been voting to kill Medicare and Social Security in Washington DC because he’s taking advice from Republicans in the Montana Legislature.

You remember them – the “leaders” who responded to Montana’s economic challenges with theatrics like the spear hunting bill? They just wrote a letter to Congressman Rehberg pushing him to follow their economic policies.

Congressman Rehberg–who has voted to increase the debt ceiling nine times (yes, NINE TIMES) —is more than willing to listen to extremists who had more success embarrassing Montana than actually creating jobs.

Here’s more of what Congressman Rehberg’s council of economic advisors in the state legislature have in store for Montana:

The Gold Standard – Congressman Rehberg can expect to get a letter asking him to replace US dollars with gold any day now. Rep. Bob Wagner (of CNN fame) introduced a bill that could force Montanans to pay their rent with gold.

Cracking Down on DUI Laws – Rep. Alan Hale told Montanans that DUI laws “are not doing small businesses in our state any good.” Congressman Rehberg has had his own brush with drinking-related accidents, so he might be willing to listen if Rep. Hale asked for help in “reigning in” DUI laws.

Tax Breaks for Millionaires – Legislative Republicans voted to protect tax breaks for millionaires, while gutting education and health care for Montanans. Congressman Rehberg has already thought of this one, but as a millionaire, he wouldn’t need much prodding to vote himself another tax cut.

Raising Tuition for College Students – Just like Congressman Rehberg—who thinks Pell Grants are ‘welfare’—Republicans in the state legislature voted to raise tuition on college students.