Perry To Obama: We Disagree, But We'll Take The Dough

Ending speculations of a Texas refusal, Gov. Perry notified President Obama in writing that Texas wants it's fair share

AUSTIN, TX, Feb. 18, 2009 -- In a letter to President Barack Obama Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry sharply disagreed with the President's approach to stimulus, but laid claim to what he called Texas' "fair share".

In the letter, Perry said the state would use the funding "...to promote economic growth and create jobs in a fiscally responsible manner that is in the best interest of Texas taxpayers."

Text of the letter follows:

February 18, 2009

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I'm writing you today in response to stipulations set forth in H.R. 1, the $787 billion stimulus package you signed into law yesterday. As you know, I have been vocal in my opposition to this legislation because I believe there are better ways to reinvigorate our economy and believe H.R. 1 will burden future generations with unprecedented levels of debt.

Throughout the years, Texas taxpayers have sent substantially more dollars to Washington than we receive on issues ranging from transportation to border security and hurricane relief. As I have said during the debate on H.R. 1, should Congress pass stimulus legislation using Texas tax dollars, I would work to ensure that our citizens receive their fair share.

On behalf of the people of Texas, please allow this letter to certify that we will accept the funds in H.R. 1 and use them to promote economic growth and create jobs in a fiscally responsible manner that is in the best interest of Texas taxpayers. I remain opposed to using these funds to expand existing government programs, burdening the state with ongoing expenditures long after the funding has dried up.

I continue to believe that the best way to stimulate the economy is the approach we are taking here in Texas. As a result of low taxes, controlled government spending and a predictable regulatory climate, nearly 80 percent of all jobs created last year in the United States were created in Texas; the vast majority of these were private sector jobs. Just last week, Texas was ranked the top exporting state in the nation for the seventh year in a row.

It was a pleasure meeting you in Philadelphia, and I appreciate your concern for the Texans displaced by Hurricane Ike. While we differ on solutions to the ongoing economic crisis facing our country, I believe we both share a desire to see our great nation endure as a beacon of freedom and economic vitality to the world.

Sincerely,
Rick Perry
Governor

Source: Gov. Perry Release

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Democrats Pass $787 Billion Spending Bill

House Dems fail to honor a 48 hour public review agreement

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 13, 2009 -- With Republicans crying foul, the House and Senate Democrat majorities today steam-rolled the epic spending bill through, after it had been available for viewing less than 16 hours.

On Tuesday, the House unanimously agreed to delay action on the bill until it had been posted online for viewing at least 48 hours. The 1000 page document was posted last night at 11:00 p.m.

This morning, after only 10 hours of overnight public availability, the House began debate on the bill, and at 2:24 p.m. This afternoon, a passing vote of 248-183 was recorded, just 14 hours after the bill was posted.

Among those complaining about both the fiscal soundness of the measure and the failure to honor the 48 hour review period was Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX).


"The biggest spending bill in the history of the world, and the rule says we can't even have the bill read out loud here on the floor so the.... American people know what we are doing to future generations." Gohmert said, speaking on the floor of the House. "We lost 1,200 in east Texas yesterday. Why? Because the hope and change that people voted for in the President has come to doom and gloom. They have held on to avoid letting their workers go, but now for the last month they have heard the Democratic proposals and what they see is no hope. No hope left in this bill."

Other Republicans pointed to a $50 million line item for the National Endowment for the Arts and $300 million tapped to update the federal auto fleet with more fuel-efficient vehicles as examples of needless spending.

"When you look at some of the spending in this bill, it will do nothing about creating jobs," said House Minority Leader John Boehner.

House Democrats, though, hailed the bill as the kind of swift and bold action that President Barack Obama had called for in his Inaugural Address.

"The American people are feeling a great deal of pain, they have uncertainty about their jobs, about health care, about the ability to pay for the education of their children, and sad to say — in our great country — even the ability to put food on the table." said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "And so, today, we have passed legislation that does take that “swift, bold action” on their behalf."

In the Senate, voting began late this afternoon. Republican Senators opposed passage strongly, with 38 voting to kill the bill, but three, Arlen Spector (R-PA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voted in favor, giving Democrats the 60 votes needed for passage.

On her vote in favor of the bill, Snowe released a statement this afternoon calling herself a key architect in crafting the $789 billion compromise, and saying the bill is more fiscally sound and will create or retain 3.5 million jobs and provide tax relief for 95 percent of hard-working American families.

"Today, Washington sent a strong signal to the American people that this Congress is, indeed, committed to getting our economy back on the road to recovery," said Senator Snowe. "Facing one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history, inaction was not an option. Economists across the ideological spectrum have agreed on one truism – that fiscal stimulus is necessary to provide the positive jolt our economy urgently requires."

Texas Senator John Cornyn (R), taking exception to the debt the bill will cause Texans and the rushed manner in which it was passed, issued the following statement after casting his 'no' vote:

“A stimulus bill would have been a good idea if it had been focused on the right priorities—fixing housing first, providing taxpayers with meaningful, broad-based tax relief and eliminating redundant and ineffective Washington programs. Instead, we saw Democrats in both chambers redefine ‘stimulus’ to mean nearly anything any of them desired. Many programs in the bill are wasteful and unnecessary. The bill will use taxpayer money for things like golf carts, art projects and company cars for federal employees.

“While proponents like to highlight that the bill will provide Texas with $10 billion in government programs, the bill spends money we don’t have—in fact, Texans’ share of the national debt will increase by $90 billion. This doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.

“As a staunch advocate of open government and transparency, I take serious issue with the fact that Members of Congress and the American public had less than 24 hours to look at the conference report before the final vote."

Senate passage is anticipated late tonight, when Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), is expected to provide the 60th vote needed for passage. Brown, returning to Washington after attending the funeral of his mother, was expected to arrive about 10:30 p.m.

Assuming Brown casts his vote as expected, the final vote count in the Senate would be 60-38. All 38 'no' votes came from Republicans.

In the House passage of the bill, no Republican representatives voted for passage. Seven Democrats crossed party lines to vote against the bill.

Obama won't get to claim the bipartisan support he had hoped for, but he can a claim a victory. The bill could be on his desk as early as tomorrow.

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Hutchison Urges White House To Halt Gitmo Closure Plan

Texas Senator presses White House to first name viable alternative for housing terrorists

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 10, 2009 -- U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Texas’ senior Senator, today urged the President to reconsider a date-certain closure of Guantanamo Bay until he can assure Americans there is a viable alternative for detaining terrorist combatants.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Sen. Hutchison wrote:

“The Executive Order contemplates five scenarios for handling current detainees: return them to their home country, release them, transfer them to a third country, transfer them to the United States, or transfer them to another United States detention facility. Unfortunately, all of these alternatives pose substantial risk to our national security and place the lives of Americans and our allies at greater risk than continuing the current policy of holding these prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility. Of upmost concern, naturally, is the option to transfer these detainees to the United States.

“While sending detainees to the United States is clearly an unsupported choice, and an option fraught with risk, the alternative of sending Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons in foreign countries or releasing them to their home country is equally a risky option posing potential harm for our country.

“We now know that as many as 61 detainees previously released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield, many of whom are now waging war against Americans. With this knowledge, we should not abandon the security of Guantanamo Bay for the alternative of foreign transfers that could pose harm to our allies.

“I urge you to reconsider your Executive Order closing Guantanamo Bay and reject any option that might transfer these prisoners to any facility on American soil. Before setting a deadline for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the American people must be assured that the transfer or release of detainees will neither harm our national security interests nor increase the risk of harm to American citizens at home or abroad. This assurance cannot be given today.”


On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order to close the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility by January 22, 2010. Among the facility’s detainees have been key al-Qaeda operatives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

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Stimulus Bill Passes Senate Despite Texas Opposition

$838 Billion dollar spending bill now heads to a House-Senate conference committee

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 10, 2009 -- The U.S. Senate today passed an $838 billion dollar spending bill designed to stimulate the slumping U.S. economy.

Despite calls for bipartisan support from President Obama, only three Republican senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania joined in supporting passage, with neither senator from Texas signing on.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn both registered votes against motion to limit debate (cloture) yesterday, and on the passage of the bill today, and both issued strong statements in opposition.

On the cloture vote yesterday, Sen. Hutchison said "At a time when American families and businesses are facing economic hardship, any ‘stimulus’ should target job creation while being mindful of taxpayer burden and the growing deficit. This 778 page legislation, which will cost the American people a little more than $1 billion per page, is wrongly focused on spending programs that won’t effectively create jobs.

"Furthermore, some of this spending extends out as far as a decade, years after we have fought through this downturn. I believe that the best way to jumpstart our economy is through targeted tax cuts that quickly put money back in the hands of America’s small businesses and families. These tax cuts should work in concert with a limited spending program that emphasizes projects our government is going to do anyway, moving forward military construction, infrastructure and transportation improvements to spur job growth in Texas communities."

On the vote for passage today, Sen. Cornyn issued a statement saying "“I support President Obama’s call for swift action to revive the nation’s economy and put Americans back to work. Unfortunately, this proposal fails on both accounts and instead relies on bloated Washington programs, digging our country deeper and deeper into debt, and passing the IOUs to our children and grandchildren. This is unacceptable.

“I am disappointed that what could have been a bipartisan success has resulted in a bill narrowly passed by the Senate with the support of only three Republicans. Overspending is what landed our nation in the economic turmoil we find ourselves in today, and the partisan spending bill passed by Senate Democrats only exacerbates this irresponsible behavior—increasing our nation’s debt limit by nearly two trillion dollars to $12.14 trillion."


The bill will now go to a conference committee that will iron out differences between the Senate bill passed today, and the House version, which passed on Jan. 28, and would spend $819 billion. The House bill passed with no Republican support.

Obama has hopes of signing the bill before President's Day on Monday. On being informed of it's Senate passage, Obama said "That's good news, It's a good start."

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Cornyn Slams Obama For Closing Gitmo

Calls the move a dangerous step in the wrong direction.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 22, 2009 -- U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made the following statement today after President Obama signed an executive order mandating the closure of the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay:

“Today President Obama, on only his third day as Commander-in-Chief, took a dangerous step in the wrong direction by choosing to close Guantanamo Bay. Now he must answer the important question of what is to be done with these dangerous individuals. Dozens of former Guantanamo detainees who have already been released have returned to the battlefield, continuing to advance their anti-American ideals. If history is any indication of what is to come, our national security is at great risk. Where are our assurances that the remaining detainees will not return to their radical ways and put Americans in harm’s way?

“I am also disappointed President Obama went one step farther today by signing an executive order mandating that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) use the same interrogation procedures as the Army Field Manual, tying the hands of our intelligence professionals. Since September 11, 2001, government and intelligence officials have taken critical and unprecedented steps to protect Americans and improve our national security, and as a result our country has remained safe from terrorist attacks on American soil. President Obama’s actions today send the wrong message of weakness to those who seek to harm Americans, and I believe America will be less safe as a result of this decision.”

Earlier today Sen. Cornyn sent a letter to President Obama urging him to not close Guantanamo Bay without careful consideration of the repercussions and without a safe alternative option for dealing with these dangerous individuals.

See the full text of the letter below.

January 22, 2009

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

I write to urge you to carefully consider America’s national security before deciding whether to close the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility. While I understand that you have pledged to close the facility, now that the awesome responsibility of protecting this nation from the continued threat of terrorist attacks is yours, I believe that a fresh analysis is warranted. This analysis should properly weigh the intelligence-gathering value of the facility and the dangers of releasing these terrorists or moving them into the American mainland.

Closing the Guantanamo facility would raise the question of what should be done with the two-hundred or so foreign nationals held there. These include some of America’s deadliest enemies: monsters like Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the 9/11 mastermind, and al-Qa’ida co-conspirator Ramzi bin al-Shibh.

These men are too dangerous to simply be released. The outgoing administration has labored to release as many of the less dangerous detainees as possible, leaving the worst of the worst at Guantanamo. According to the latest numbers from the Department of Defense, at least 61 detainees who have been held and released from Guantanamo Bay are either suspected or confirmed as having returned to the battlefield to take up arms against the U.S. military, and there is every reason to believe that many of the current detainees would do the same. Release is, thus, not a viable alternative.

According to reports, your Administration is considering plans to move these terrorists into the United States for trial. In my judgment, this would be a colossal mistake. Bringing the detainees here would pose intolerable national security risks. For many of these terrorists, infiltrating and destroying the United States is their life’s mission. The United States government should not knowingly bring such men into our country.

The American people agree that moving terrorists into the United States is a risk that we cannot afford. A recent Gallup poll shows that only 35% percent of Americans favor closing Guantanamo. I have little doubt that even fewer want the terrorists imported to our shores. In 2007, ninety-four Senators, including Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Clinton voted to keep terrorist detainees out of the United States. I was one of those ninety-four Senators, and I will continue to do everything in my power to keep these terrorists out of Texas, or anywhere else in the United States.

Please carefully consider anew, in light of your great responsibilities, the costs and benefits of closing the Guantanamo facility. The Guantanamo facility should not be closed until there is a viable alternative for detaining these terrorists. Until you are satisfied that there are alternatives that do not place the nation at greater risk than the status quo, any formal commitment to closing Guantanamo would be premature and irresponsible.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN

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Obama Elected 44th President of the United States

World watches as U.S. makes history

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wrote the second paragraph of his on chapter in American history tonight, becoming the first black man elected President.

It was feared Election Day would be marred by polling misconduct, legal challenges, and perhaps even violence. None of that was apparent, with many poll workers and election officials giving credit to early voting turn-out.

As polls closed on the East Coast, the count started as expected, with the first state called being Kentucky, going to McCain. Vermont fell next, going in Obama's column.

The first battleground state, Virginia was projected to go to Obama. Pennsylvania fell to the Illinois senator next, and things began to look bad for McCain.

Florida, and it's hotly contested 27 votes, was too close to call until later in the evening. By the time it tallied to Obama, the writing was on the wall.

The Great Lakes states next went to Obama, including Ohio with 20 electoral votes. Soon after that, McCain insiders began admitting there was no combination left that would net the needed 270 electoral votes.

Even though the heartland states from Texas through North Dakota went to McCain, he lost both swing states of New Mexico and Colorado.

At 10:00 pm CST, just as the polls closed on the West Coast, the major networks all projected Obama to win California, giving him well over the 270 electoral needed to lock up the election.

Obama might have won the electoral college in a landslide, but the popular vote was far closer, where he took 52%, while McCain gathered 47%.

By 10:45, John McCain, the Republican candidate, had conceded the win to Obama with a telephone call and a gracious speech. McCain complimented Obama on the race he ran, and pledged to work with him, saying

"Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain.These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face."

McCain thanked his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, his campaign staff, and all of his supporters. The Arizona senator said his campaign had been the great honor of his life, and called for all Americans to work together to solve the problems we face:

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here.

Soon after, President-Elect Obama took the stage at a huge victory party in Chicago. His speech was complimentary to McCain and palin, and conciliatory to the country, at on point pledging to those who did not vote for him:

"I hear your voice, I need your help, and I will be your President, too".

In soaring rhetoric rivaling that of Ronald Reagan, Obama acknowledged the challenge of solving two wars, the economic crisis and difficulties around the globe, saying:

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Time and again, he reiterated his campaign chant of "Yes, we can" calling it a time honored American creed. The jubilant crowd chanted it back to him at every occurrence.

As he concluded his speech, he was joined on stage by his wife, Michelle Obama, and running mate Joe Biden and his wife.

Meanwhile in the nation's capital, a crowd of about two hundred Georgetown University students gathered outside the White House, waving Obama campaign signs, also chanting the familiar "Yes, we can"!

Their mood was less conciliatory, however, as there were a few anti-Bush signs, one reading 'Why wait, evict Bush now'.

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