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House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio waits to speak on Capitol Hill in Washington last week.
With the House set to finish work on the Continuing Resolution, the New York Times profiles House Speaker John Boehner. "For Speaker John A. Boehner, the budget-cutting frenzy taking place on the House floor merges two of his animating political passions — the need to shrink federal spending and the willingness to risk a free-flowing debate. Throw in a new conservative Republican majority and Mr. Boehner is confident of the outcome. 'I have no doubts in the coming weeks and months that people will see our resolve around solving our deficit problem,' Mr. Boehner said in an interview. 'We are going to cut spending. There aren’t any ifs, ands or buts about it.'"
But Boehner opposed one of those spending cuts. “[S]uch a free-for-all can have surprising results, and one of the biggest Wednesday was a victory for President Obama and a defeat for a Boehner-backed initiative,” the Washington Post says. “Many tea-party-backed freshmen broke ranks with their GOP leaders and joined liberal Democrats in voting to cut funding for an alternative engine for a fighter jet. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine project has long been a frequent but elusive target, as well as one that provided jobs in Boehner's home state of Ohio.”
“The rollout of the Senate Democratic agenda Wednesday marks the highest-profile output to date of a revamped message and policy operation quarterbacked by Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.),” Roll Call writes, adding, “The new Senate Democratic agenda, which was finalized last week at the party retreat, pays lip service to the public thirst for budget cuts by adopting President Barack Obama’s call for a five-year domestic discretionary spending freeze while trumpeting new spending that Democrats argue will create jobs. Democratic leaders also tied themselves to Obama’s State of the Union message that the country needs to ‘out-innovate, out-educate and out-build’ the rest of the world, but they want credit for taking initiative on their own to build an agenda.”
So what will it include? “The details included are relatively modest, recycled ideas that in the past have garnered at least some bipartisan support. The 20-item list includes finally passing a long-delayed highway bill, protecting stimulus smart-grid and clean-energy investments from Republican cuts, creating a Clean Energy Deployment Administration, and making the research and development tax credit permanent. Other items include perennials such as patent reform, tax reform and a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind law. The messaging operation remains directed at House Republicans while largely making nice with their Senate Republican colleagues in an effort to appear moderate and sensible.” ‘The budget in the House is a road map to disaster,’ Schumer said. ‘We are being responsible; they are being reckless.’”
“Rebellious rank-and-file House Republicans are feeling pressure from leaders to toe the party line,” Roll Call writes. “While leaders aren’t whipping Members on some major votes — amendments to this week’s stopgap spending measure, for example — they have strongly tried to minimize defections on procedural matters and made it clear that unity is a priority.”
Dog Whistles: “Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Thursday it's not for her to say whether President Obama is a citizen of the United States — or a Christian,” The Hill writes. “‘That isn't for me to state; that's for the president to state,’ Bachmann, the leading Tea Party lawmaker in the House, said on ‘Good Morning America’ on ABC. ‘When the president makes his statements, I think they should stand for their own. … We should take the president at his word.’”
“Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) launched the Progressives United political action committee this week in response to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and to support progressive candidates,” Roll Call writes.
Head Start, PBS, and now National Endowment of the Arts funding…
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Why is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine more important people?
Could it because it goes to money in the Boner's home state? I think so.
I'm willing to go a step further. It is G. E.s agenda. Boehner is fighting to keep his promise to them for donations they've made to him. The money going to the state is a side effect, not the cause.
Mr. Boehner is a dreadful Speaker of the House, he has no leadership skills, showing himself to be very uncomfortable when pressed for answers on hard questions. His new collegues are not making his job any easier either.
These times call for a skillful politician not a backroom operator.
You got that right, GingerBread Mamma: But you have to give him this! He cries SOOOOO well, and pretty much on cue!
Good Morning Ladies, NDD your post made me smile, as well as he cries, it is not a pretty sight.
Bev, hope your sister feels a little better, it is not easy, I lost a good friend for the same reason, so I pray she will do well. You take care.
At least he answers questions. Pelosi would only go on MSNBC..
Someone like Pelosi - she had total control over her minions.
It really is kind of funny. For all this time the republicans were mindless idiots in lock step as the party of no. No they exercise independent thought and you complain and make fun.
Well at least you all [NewDay, GingerB] are nothing if not consistent.
I thought the Congressmen/women work for the people that elected them? Why would I want my rep fall in line with someone I don't agree with. That's the problem you people forget.
What tough questions do you speak of? The STUPID A@@ questions from NBC, is Obama is a Muslim or born in this country? Or better yet why he doesn't tell the people to stop, well guess what? My reps don't tell me what to do, I tell him what to do. You people are confused on how Government works. So ask yourself, do you work for you Congressmen/women? If you do, you're a fool and probably shouldn't vote.
It is one thing to sit on the sidelines and throw rocks, it is another to actually lead the parade. As usual, repeal everything and replace with nothing.
He only had a one word answer for everything for the last 2 yrs. That word being "NO"! Now HE is being told NO by his own (T) Party!! I love It!!! How does it feel Mr. Weeper!!! HA HA. Here is a Tissue, now go dehydrate yourself.
Competition between companies (or between 'alliances of companies') delivering or providing identical-requirement products acts against complacency and cultivates levels of reliability, innovation and quality improvements in such products that monopoly situations never can...
With over $100 billion dollars to be spent on F-35 stealth fighter engines over the next 30-years, surely it can not be good sense to have just one company- Pratt & Whitney- left as monopoly supplier for these fighters' engines??
Past experiences with previous U.S. fighter aircraft programmes* in which 2 companies were contracted as engine suppliers have shown unequivocally that having more than one engine supplier has substantial advantages in:
- initial engines' quality;
- engine-improvements over-the-duration-of-the-fighter-programme;
- costs; &
- reliability...
... over allowing just 1 company to supply engines for the respective fighter programme...
Studies conducted by the (U.S.) Cost Analysis Improvement Group (CAIG) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), and the U.S.'s Government Accountability Office (GAO) have all found that having 2 companies supplying engines for the F-35 stealth fighter would provide non-financial benefits (as a result of 'competition') including improvements in fleet readiness, contractor-responsiveness, sustainment of industrial base, and stronger international relations...
Although these studies differed in cost-benefit break-even points, all found that having more than 1 company supplying engines for the F-35 would provide financial benefits for the programme...
The CAIG study estimated that a fourth- or fifth-generation fighter such as the F-35 would experience an average of 7.2% weight growth between Critical Design Review (CDR) and Initial Operational Capability (IOC) and an additional 0.3% of weight growth thereafter.
Additionally, the CAIG study found that such growth in aircraft weight would eventually require a commensurate growth in engine thrust and stated that Pratt & Whitney’s (F135) engine was already close to exceeding its designed engine temperature specifications, and would require modifications beyond those that would be needed in the Rolls Royce/General Electric (F136) engine to allow for thrust growth...
The IDA study estimated that an F-35 stealth fighter "engine competition" would result in a gross savings of 11% to 18%. IDA concluded that past studies of various procurement competitions showed an average (un-weighted) savings of 14.6%...
The GAO study stated that analyses of past engine competitions have shown financial savings of up to 20% and concluded that it is reasonable to assume that savings generated from companies competing to supply engines for the F-35 would recoup investment costs...
->>> "JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER, Additional Costs and Delays...", 03-2010:
:
page 12- "(past fighter programmes' experiences have strongly suggested substantial) benefits from F-35 engine competition including better performance, increased reliability, and improved contractor responsiveness.."
->>> "F-35 Alternate Engine Program: Background and Issues for Congress", 22_03-2010:
_________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
* F-15, F-16 and F-18 fighter programmes...
There is one small problem that everyone of you supporting having the other engine are missing. It is not an engine that will compete with the prime contractor's engine, it is an engine that will be in addition to the prime contractor. If were truly a competition, then, yes, lets have a competition and let the military purchase the best one out there.
Does anybody remember the last time we tried to build a one-size-fits-all fighter to be shared by all USMC, Navy and Air Force ?
I sure do. The TFX program has so many unfortunate parallels to the JSF boondogle.
Same problems, overweight, overbudget, problems with the engine, compromised performance in the sake of commonality and...at the end a troubled airplane (F-111) which the Navy couldn't even use on carriers and a problematic fighter bomber with stuborn development and operational problems.
Seems like we've learned nothing from history and now we're repeating it!
Has this bozo cut the salaries and benefits of the congress ? Did he end the 80% of their salaries retirements? After only working only 5 years ? If not he isn't serious about reform ! He talks a good show !
But hasn't done a dam thing yet !!!
links:
->>> "JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER, Additional Costs and Delays...", 03-2010:
gao.gov/new.items/d10382.pdf :
page 12- "(past fighter programmes' experiences have strongly suggested substantial) benefits from F-35 engine competition including better performance, increased reliability, and improved contractor responsiveness.."
->>> "F-35 Alternate Engine Program: Background and Issues for Congress", 22_03-2010:
fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/R41131.pdf
_________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Speaker Sobeit Boehner is very bad at his job. He may be replaced if the budget isn't worked out this year. He isn't working. I'm very surprised anyone thought he would. Can't drink and shtoop heavily and get your job done. I'm wondering who the next speaker the Republicans will vote for will be. Yes, I think they will have another vote as Sobeit Boehner will give a tearful resignation speech by May at the latest.
My lord are you an idiot...
Are you that naive? Obama and co. have had 2 years Boehner hasn't even had 2 months. Surely you can't be that stupid.
Why are you comparing Sobeit Boehner to Obama? He needs to be compared to Pelosi. And compared to her, he is standing still and doing nothing his first two months. What do you expect from him in the next two months? JFK and KAZ, Naive and an idiot fits you two for not doing research before opening mouth and inserting foot.
Ana, and you were expecting anything different from those dittohead parrots? They must have got lost on their way over to FOX. Not enough right turns apparently.
I personally would like to keep Boehner in as Speaker. I believe he does his party more harm than good. Let's hope they keep him in.
Every day I see him now confirms my theory of the "Make Obama Fail" campaign. If the country dies with it, so be it.
Let’s Be Clear We Are Being Told that America’s Economy Cannot Recover Unless it’s done on the “Backs of Old People & Sick Old People.” Let’s Call a “Spade A Spade” Entitlements being pushed for by everyone translates to Social Security & Medicare, ie; “Old & Sick People.
Old People have paid into the Social Security & Medicare Systems for Between 30-50 years & we are now being told that Social Security Age Should be raised to 70+
U.S. Mortality/Life Expectancy for
Men Average Age 75 years and
Women Average Age 80 Years
So that means that after paying for your “Entitlements” correction Social Security & Medicare for more than 30-40years
Old People & Sick People can only “Recover” Men about “5” Years of Social Security & Women about 10 Years Of Social Security.....................Before They Die!
Bottom line We “Work & Pay all our lives and we “Now”are being told that Americans “Must work and pay for Social Security Until They Die”
How Much Has Our Government “Borrowed From Social Security Since the 1930”s?
How much has Been Paid Back?
Govt Reporting says Social Security is ‘Owed” 2+Trillion Dollars
Medicare is owed $350 Milion
How much “Interest” was made on “Our” Money?
Our Government Just Gave the “Richest People in our country a $1 Trillion Dollar Tax Cut”
Those were “Tax Dollars Paid By Working Americans
Congress gives Oil Companies $300 Billion Dollars in Subidies A Year! Why?
Oil Companies Don’t Pay Taxes In Our Country but they pay taxes in other countries
Americans need a complete list of Subsidies & AN Accounting for every one given..................................
Subsidies Example
Cut Subsidies to Wealthy Farms
Washington paid out a quarter of a trillion dollars in federal farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009
"direct payments" that go out to farmers and landowners even if crop prices and farm profits are setting record highs
“even if the recipient plants no crop at all.”
Direct payments have averaged around $5 billion per year since 2005.
"Market-loss" payments comprise another type of crop subsidy that slows to a trickle when prices are robust but can gush by the billions from the Treasury when prices dip. The last time that happened, farm subsidy costs topped $20 billion in one year.
the federal crop insurance program, mushroomed from $2.7 billion in 2005 to $7.3 billion in 2009, precisely because prices were high.
And since it is taxpayers who pay a good portion of crop insurance claims, the costs we incur for any crop losses climb along with crop prices.
Taxpayer subsidized crop insurance is available to farmers if their crop is eligible for coverage in their area and provides, at no cost, 50 percent catastrophic coverage to farmers
The bulk of the billions in taxpayer subsidies went:
to the “Wealthiest and Largest Farm Operations in the country”
In 2009, a full 60 percent of farm subsidies flowed to States represented by “Senators” serving on the
Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition
, and Forestry
. Congressional Districts represented on the House Committee on Agriculture received 37 percent of all farm subsidies that year.
Congress Members representing four out of the top five Districts in terms of farm subsidies serve on the House Agriculture Committee. Is it any wonder it is an uphill climb to reform farm subsidies?
Ten states, Texas, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, California, South Dakota and Missouri, accounted for 56 percent of total subsidies in 2009.
June,
Isn’t it funny that those clowns in Congress think we will be able to work up to age 70 studies show different? We start to lose our physical and mental capacities well before we reach that age. I for one am resigned to my fate of dying in my late sixties or early seventies so I won't be able to collect much if any of my "entitlements" the “Party of No” has assured me of that. The real problem is that when my current employer has no further need of me when I'm old and used up will I be able to get a job as a greeter at a big box store or a security guard at the mall? Yeah but on the upside, I hear you can live real well on minimum wage... if you like dog food, freeway underpasses, homeless shelters and food kitchens. Man now doesn’t that sounds like the life! I just can't wait! Maybe I should get a head start and dive in right now before all of those cushy private sector jobs are gone!
I would like to see the Bush tax cuts repealed. You want to solve the deficit? That will do it in 10 years and give you a 1 trillion dollar surplus.
If deficit reduction were of even the slightest concern to the right wing, they would stop railing against the poor and working class long enough to look where the money is going. Sorry, it's not going into entitlements, which have been repeatedly slashed (or eliminated) over the past 30 years. That money was used to help pay off Reagan's massive debts, and then to pay off the Bush Sr.'s massive debts. The money is gone now, so the middle class is being hit with the bills for Bush Jr.'s massive debts. Each recent Repub. president has caused unprecedented debt, hitting the poor to middle classes. (note: Until Reagan, the US #1 in class mobility and quality of life of any other nation. Last I checked, we have fallen to around #45.)
IF Boehnner, etc, were legitimately interested in the budget, not in creating a feudal society, they'd go where the expenses are. Today's deficits are solely the fault of unprecedented (and wildly unnecessary) military spending while passing extraordinary annual tax cuts for the rich, causing billions of dollars of lost revenues to government. Our military spending now slightly over half of the fed budget, unprecedented among the world's nations. The military clearly told Republican legislators that they didn't need to buy the obsolete/redundant weapons that Republicans are ordering them to buy, at a loss of billions of dollars per year.
The only way the deficit can be fixed: Restore pre-Reagan tax rates on the rich and corporations, stop paying corporations to export US jobs,close out the myriad of US military bases around the world (no longer relevant in this era), and end the wars. Establish a WPA-type program, focus on our dangerously neglected infrastructure, decaying education system, etc., match workers who need jobs with the jobs that need to be done, and rebuild America.
END all corp tax cuts and cuts for the super-rich, since this has not only failed to "trickle down," but has been tremendously damaging to this country.