Carolina Politics Online

The Senate as you are well aware by now passed a sweetened version of the bailout Tuesday evening.  The House voted again today and complied, as I suspected they would.  So the dirty deed is now done.  Bear in mind that this bill was rife with waist added by the Senate on Tuesday night that had nothing to do with the economical turmoil.

• $2 million tax benefit for makers of wooden arrows for children
• $100 million tax break to benefit auto racetrack owners
• $192 million in rebates on excise taxes for the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry
• $148 million in tax relief for U.S. wool fabric producers
• $49 million tax benefit for fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 1989 tanker Exxon Valdez spill.

People, are you not outraged?  If so, ask yourself why you might be going to the voting booth in November to return the same people to office who just voted for one of the largest Federal power grabs in American history and threw almost a trillion dollars of money we don’t have down the toilet.  Are those of you in South Carolina prepared to give Lindsey Graham another six years?  Think twice.  He’s one of the culprits.  Richard Burr also voted for it on behalf of North Carolina.  Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) opposed the measure.  Additionally, both Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama voted for the bailout as did VP candidate Joe Biden.

I can’t get the vote information from the House yet.  The Web site must be getting swamped with traffic because it’s timing out on me, but I’ll post it as soon as I have it available.

Update: I now have the House roll. Sue Myrick and Gresham Barrett flipped on this, voting for the bailout today, whereas they voted against it before.

Voting for the bill:

• Bob Etheridge (D-NC-02)
• David Price (D-NC-04)
• Howard Coble (R-NC-06)
• Sue Myrick (R-NC-09)
• Mel Watt (D-NC-12)
• Brad Miller (D-NC-13)
• Henry Brown (R-SC-01)
• Joe Wilson (R-SC-02)
• Gresham Barrett (R-SC-03)
• Bob Inglis (R-SC-04)
• John Spratt (D-SC-05)
• Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06)

Voting against the bill:

• G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01)
• Walter Jones (R-NC-03)
• Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05)
• Mike McIntyre (D-NC-07)
• Robin Hayes (R-NC-08)
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
• Heath Shuler (D-NC-11)

The U.S. Senate today overwhelmingly sent President Bush a spending bill of $634 billion to keep the government “operating beyond the current budget year.”  If only that were the case.  This budget passage, as every other, consisted of a hogfest of a Congressional pen of pigs in starched white shirts feeding from the trough that you and I provided.  This thing is stuffed with thousands of earmarks in addition to $25 billion of taxpayer funded loans to help bailout the automakers.  The bill was presented in its final form from the House to the Senate as H.R. 2638, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008, sponsored by none other than our very own Representative David Price (D-NC-04).

How did our representatives vote?  As usual, in the Senate Jim DeMint stood up and vocally opposed the legislation.  Lindsey Graham joined him in voting against it.  Richard Burr made a rare and unusual move, voting Present, Giving Live Pair.  What this means is that somebody else who not present at the vote and knew they wouldn’t be who planned on voting the opposite way Burr was made a deal with him to vote present so that the outcome wouldn’t be altered by their absence.  In other words, for the sake of argument, let’s say Burr was hypothetically going to vote No, but John McCain was absent and was planning to vote Yes which would cancel out Burr’s vote anyway.  McCain would ask Burr to vote Present then so that the same result is produced.  As I said, this is just a hypothetical.  Burr may have intended to vote Yes and made a deal with an absent Senator who wanted to vote against it.  And we can’t forget Liddy Dole who as usual voted for her pork.

In the House we had the following voting for the waste:

• G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01)
• Bob Etheridge (D-NC-01)
• David Price (D-NC-04)
• Howard Coble (R-NC-06)
• Mike McIntyre (D-NC-07)
• Robin Hayes (R-NC-08)
• Sue Myrick (R-NC-09)
• Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10)
• Mel Watt (D-NC-12)
• Brad Miller (D-NC-13)
• Henry Brown (R-SC-01)
• Joe Wilson (R-SC-02)
• John Spratt (D-SC-05)
• Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06)

Voting against the waste were:

• Walter Jones (R-NC-03)
• Virginia Foxx (R-NC-05)
• Gresham Barrett (R-SC-03)
• Bob Inglis (R-SC-04)

Heath Shuler did not vote.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a taxpayer watchdog group that ranks our Congressmen on their effectiveness of responsibly managing our tax dollars and not spending it on frivolous pork barrell spending.  Overall, the current Congress sucks the toejam off a homeless man’s foot in this regard, but our representatives from both North and South Carolina were a little better than most.  A rating of 100% is a taxpayer hero and a rating of 0% is a government elected thief stealing your money in order to pander to his constituents at reelection time.  Our two states received no 100s or zeros, but came close on both ends.

Our four Senators did a pretty good job.  Both Burr and DeMint received an honorable mention by the CAGW, each scoring a 97%.  Graham came in with an 87% and Dole with 73%.  Overall, these scores are acceptable.  The House?  Not so much….

The Republicans did decently for the most part, which surprised me because southern Republicans typically are some of the worst abusers for earmarking in Congress.  The Democrats all performed abysmally and Henry Brown, Robin Hayes, and Walter Jones could use some work themselves.

Senator Dole remarked how historic it is to have the opportunity to elect the first female vice-president.  Senator Burr commented on her strong pro-life conservatism and her proven track record of reform and transparency in Alaska.  He referred to her as an “excellent” pick.  Congresswoman Virginia Foxx sent out a press release this afternoon praising the pick, saying “Senator John McCain’s selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate shows that he is serious about shaking up the status quo in Washington .”

In South Carolina, Senator DeMint also echoed Palin’s record on reform as well as her strong conservative credentials.  Congressman Inglis was impressed by Palin’s reform efforts in Alaska because she took on the corruption in her own party.  State House Speaker Bobby Harrell was stunned by the announcement and thinks she will make an excellent Vice-President.  Governor Sanford called her a “fearless advocate for good government in Alaska.”

My personal opinion is that Palin was an excellent pick.  She has an 83% approval rating as Governor of Alaska, which is beyond phenomenal.  She is highly respected among conservatives, which was a weak part of the base for McCain.  Additionally, she is a strong, outspoken, and accomplished woman which is sure to attract like minded women to McCain.  And it doesn’t hurt that she is a total MILF.

I mean, seriously, how can you vote against this??

North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr is in Minnesota to help prepare the Republican party’s platform.

Burr is co-chairman of the GOP’s Platform Committee. It meets every four years to adopt a platform that outlines the principles and policies of the party. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy chairs the committee this year.

The Fayetteville Observer

What will Richard Burr unveil to the nation?  Will it be a return to the 1994 core values of individual responsibility, limited government, and personal liberty?  Anything less is unacceptable to the Republican Party and the American people and a complete waste of time.

H/T Blue NC

Approve 27%
Disapprove 26%
Not sure 46%

Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina has just a 27% approval rating, according to a PPP survey conducted last month.

It’s not that the voters dislike Burr- there are slightly more who approve of the job he’s doing than disapprove. But a remarkably high 46% of them are ambiguous toward him.

Public Policy Polling

Holy Shnikies!

Honestly, as the poll points out, it’s not that people don’t like Burr, I think it’s that he’s just not very well known.  When you think about it, Richard Burr is not someone who is generally in the media limelight.  He’s not one of those Senators that’s out there up front that gets a lot of attention.  On the contrary, everybody around North Carolina knows who Liddy Dole is.

Regardless, Burr has a lot of work to do on his image over the next two years if he doesn’t want to end up a one term wonder.

The State is reporting today that both Senators Graham (R) and DeMint (R) have changed their opposition to offshore drilling as has Congressman Joe Wilson (R) of the Second Congressional District. They are three more of a growing list of politicians now supporting our nation’s ability to drill offshore in the wake of out of control gasoline prices. I just posted the other that North Carolina Senators Elizabeth Dole (R) and Richard Burr (R) and Congressman Mike McIntyre (D) have also moved in the direction of offshore drilling.

A fellow North Carolinian on the committee, Mary Summa of Charlotte, said the platform would reflect the party at large rather than a “rubber stamp” of McCain’s presidential platform. Summa, a former aide to the late Sen. Jesse Helms, believes immigration, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research are contentious issues among Republicans this year.

“If the platform supports embryonic stem cell research, I’ll do everything I can to get it out,” Summa said of the controversial medical initiative that McCain and Burr have supported. (McCain said last month that he’s open to re-examining his position.)

Burr said the platform would be drastically changed from previous conventions only if a compelling case could be made that the majority had redefined its position on an issue, and he doesn’t think that’s the case with studying embryonic stem cells.

The News & Observer

If gay marriage and stem cell research are examples of what they deem as really important to the country right now, then this coalition of Burr and others in the Republican Party has already failed.  Limited government and personal liberty has played second fiddle to social conservatism for the last eight years.  While Republicans wasted their time sweating over who was going to get married and who was burning the American flag, they allowed their elected representatives to spend away their future, drag us into an unjustified war, and roll back our rights.  This is what drove away many voters who had been GOP supporters ever since the Reagan years and their continued crusade of government enforced morality won’t win them back.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., on Wednesday spearheaded opposition to a $50 billion expansion of President Bush’s signature program to combat AIDS in Africa and elsewhere overseas.

DeMint, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and five other Republican senators blocked Senate consideration of a bill that would more than triple U.S. aid to nations most stricken by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and to international relief groups helping them.

Charlotte Observer

With the country headed towards a recession, inflation up, energy costs up, and unemployment rising, what in the hell is George Bush thinking sending $50 billion of our money out of this economy and over to a foreign nation?  Not to the mention the fact that all of this foreign aid giving is unconstitutional anyway.  Cut that money out of the budget altogether and lower the deficit.  Praises to DeMint and Burr for watching out for the American taxpayer, on this bill anyway.  (I’m still pissed at Burr for voting for the mortgage bailout)

Three Senators, belonging to the “party of personal responsibility”, the “party of small government”, and the “party of individual accountability” voted to throw away $300 billion of your tax dollars.  Lindsey Graham, Elizabeth Dole, and Richard Burr apparently think that it’s their job to hand your money over to irresponsible home owners, real estate speculators, and big companies like Countrywide Mortgage because they got in over their head.  Wasn’t that nice of them?

Stop paying your mortgage.  You don’t have to.  If you default the nannies in Washington will bail you out.  That’s the message that was sent by every Democrat present for this vote in the Senate and all but nine Republicans who were present in the Senate.  Jim DeMint was the only one of our Senators who voted against this feckless piece of legislation.

Dole is up for reelection in November, which I am sure plaid a role in her decision.  Now she can run around the state, when she actually comes here, and shamelessly pander to all the voters.  Look!  I voted to take other people’s money and give it to you so you can pay for that house you bought that you couldn’t afford in the first place!  Vote for me in November!

Sen. Richard Burr is trying to persuade leadership to allow a debate on his and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill as well. Their proposal, about $38 billion over 10 years, would raise the monthly stipend for veterans.

To address concerns from the Pentagon about troop retention, their bill also allows the full education benefit to be transferred to military members after 12 years of service. It also is authored by Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

The News & Observer

It would seem that Jim Webb has the better bill of the two.  Webb’s bill allows military members to go to any university they want in their home states, compared to serving 12 years to receive the full benefit as in Burr’s bill.  As far as troop retention goes, it would be a concern if we weren’t war mongering in Iraq.

A Department of Veterans Affairs team leader in Texas suggested mental health professionals should diagnose patients with “adjustment disorder” rather than post traumatic stress disorder in order to save time and money treating veterans, according to an internal VA e-mail.

VA Secretary James Peake immediately called the e-mail “inappropriate” and a violation of VA policy.

CBS News

And yet another shining example of how well our boys get treated for putting their lives on the line for our country.  Stop loss deployments, sewage ridden barracks, sub-par pay, and now we won’t even treat them for issues resulting from their experience.

Senator Burr sits on the Veteran Affairs Committee and has joined the Democrats in calling for an investigation into this.  Whoever this was needs to be fired and maybe even prosecuted.

WASHINGTON — The son of a Presbyterian minister, Sen. Richard Burr said he doesn’t believe someone could sit in a church for 20 years and not be influenced by his preacher.

But the N.C. Republican said he still opposed his state party’s decision to air an ad attacking Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama because of controversial comments by preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Obama, once considered a lock to beat rival Hillary Clinton of New York in the state’s May 6 primary, has been dropping in N.C. polls since Wright’s most recent public comments.

“I don’t believe when someone is committing suicide that it’s necessarily your responsibility to help them,” Burr said Thursday. “I think he’s doing an excellent job of doing that on his own right now. I don’t know why anybody would jump into the fray.

“I don’t think it’s necessary, I don’t think it’s helpful.”

Charlotte Observer

Time will tell if Burr is correct. The reaction to the Wright ad seems to be mixed. The high profile politicians have come out against it, but when you listen to the local talk radio, callers have been proclaiming their praise for the NC GOP for finally “growing a set” as some have put it.

And Burr is correct about Obama. You don’t sit in a church for 20 years if you don’t agree with the message.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will be the keynote speaker at the Henderson County Republican Party’s Lincoln Lunch at noon Saturday at Apple Valley Middle School.

The lunch will follow the county convention.

The event is also expected to draw other candidates for office.

Pisgah Mountain News

With the contest for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination all but locked up for John McCain, one of Washington’s favored political parlor games - running-mate speculation - began in earnest yesterday.

Dozens of names have been floated as possibilities for the No. 2 spot on McCain’s ticket this fall.

Some, such as U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, have been singled out as potential vice presidents by McCain himself.

Winston-Salem Journal

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Richard Burr wants a national sales tax holiday to goose the ailing economy — figuring discount prices would do the nation’s cash registers more good than rebate checks.

Reaction to his idea ranged from “crackpot” to it-ain’t-gonna-work, as economists said sales tax holidays don’t inspire consumer spending so much as change the date that shoppers are pulling out their wallets.

The News & Observer

I have to go with the naysayers on this one. A moratorium on sales taxes aren’t going to make people jump out of their beds and run to the store to spend lots of money. Sales taxes are a very small portion of the price you are paying when you buy something. Eliminating them won’t be enough to make a difference to anyone unless you are planning on going out and buying a really expensive item like a car or something.

Washington – Today, the Club for Growth released its 2007 Senate RePORK Card, compiling a scorecard of all senators’ votes on fifteen anti-pork amendments throughout 2007. These amendments were offered by taxpayer heroes Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC).

“For all the talk about fiscal responsibility, it is clear that many senators are more interested in securing pet projects than living up to their campaign promises,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Fortunately, taxpayers can look at the Club for Growth’s House and Senate RePORK Cards and hold their senators and representatives accountable for wasting taxpayer dollars on hippie museums and beaches.”

Some interesting numbers to consider:

• Only three senators received a perfect score of 100% (and were present for a majority of the votes): Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

The Club for Growth

Only three Senators scored a 100% on anti-pork amendments and two of them come from right here in our own neck of the woods.  Lindsey Graham scored a 92% and Elizabeth Dole a 62%.

In order to protect retired chimpanzees from being subjected to continued research, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) has co-introduced the Chimp Haven is Home Act.

Working along with Senators David Vitter (R-Louisiana) and Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), Burr looks to improve the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act of 2000 which established Chimp Haven in Keithville, Louisiana for chimpanzees no longer needed for research.

News 14 Carolina

It’s nice to see that Senator Burr is an animal lover, but honestly, don’t they have more important things to do in D.C.?

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr lost his bid this morning for the No. 3 post Republican Senate leadership.The vote was 31-16. The winner was Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

“I congratulate Lamar,” Burr told reporters outside the closed-door meeting in the U.S. Capitol. “He ran a great campaign.”

The News & Observer

Monday’s retirement announcement by Republican stalwart Sen. Trent Lott has gotten Sen. Richard Burr to thinking: Should he join the GOP’s Senate leadership team?

If the dominoes fall correctly, Burr could get the chance.

Burr, a freshman senator, will seek the chairmanship of the policy-oriented Republican conference if the job becomes open. It is the No. 3 position in the GOP hierarchy.

News & Observer