Anderson@Large

Letter to the President

President Obama will release his long-awaited jobs plan on Sept. 7 before a joint session of Congress. In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Obama wrote:

Our Nation faces unprecedented economic challenges, and millions of hardworking Americans continue to look for jobs. As I have traveled across our country this summer and spoken with our fellow Americans, I have heard a consistent message: Washington needs to put aside politics and start making decisions based on what is best for our country and not what is best for each of our parties in order to grow the economy and create jobs. We must answer this call.

Therefore, I respectfully request the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on September 7, 2011, at 8:00 p.m. It is my intention to lay out a series of bipartisan proposals that the Congress can take immediately to continue to rebuild the American economy by strengthening small businesses, helping Americans get back to work, and putting more money in the paychecks of the Middle Class and working Americans, while still reducing our deficit and getting our fiscal house in order. It is our responsibility to find bipartisan solutions to help grow our economy, and if we are willing to put country before party, I am confident we can do just that.

Thank you for your consideration.

After some consideration, Boehner wrote back that day won’t work due to “parliamentary or logistical impediments.”

Obama agreed to the delay. He will speak on Sept. 8, which coincides with the season opener of the NFL.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement:

Today, the President asked to address the Congress about the need for urgent action on the economic situation facing the American people as soon as Congress returned from recess. Both Houses will be back in session after their August recess on Wednesday, September 7th, so that was the date that was requested. We consulted with the Speaker about that date before the letter was released, but he determined Thursday would work better. The President is focused on the urgent need to create jobs and grow our economy, so he welcomes the opportunity to address a Joint Session of Congress on Thursday, September 8th and challenge our nation’s leaders to start focusing 100% of their attention on doing whatever they can to help the American people.

It looks like “somebody done hoodooed the hoodoo man.”

Money for War, None for Transparency

With the threat of a government shutdown looming, the White House reportedly has offered an additional $20 billion in budget cuts for the current fiscal year. And while there’s no money for open government initiatives, the week old war in Libya has already cost $600 million.

Nancy Scola of techPresident reports:

Open government advocates are freaking out about what the continuing budget resolutions being considered in the House and Senate would do to federal transparency projects like Data.gov, USASpending.gov, and online collaborations, which is to defund them, or to cut their funding to the bone; under the measures being considered on the Hill, the appropriation for the E-Government Fund for the remainder of the year would be cut to 1/17th of what it was in FY 2010, from $34 million down to two. OpenCongress’s Donny Shaw puts the numbers in perspective: “The value of data openness in government cannot be overestimated, and for the cost of just one-third of one day of missile attacks in Libya, we can keep these initiatives alive and developing for another year.”

In his address on Libya, President Obama said we’re in Libya to avert “a looming humanitarian crisis.” Obama noted:

I know that some Americans continue to have questions about our efforts in Libya. Qaddafi has not yet stepped down from power, and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous. Moreover, even after Qaddafi does leave power, 40 years of tyranny has left Libya fractured and without strong civil institutions. The transition to a legitimate government that is responsive to the Libyan people will be a difficult task. And while the United States will do our part to help, it will be a task for the international community and –- more importantly –- a task for the Libyan people themselves.

Count me among the unswayed. Edwin Starr’s anti-war anthem is more than 40 years old, but it’s still spot on.

The State of the Union

I half-listened to President Obama's State of the Union address. Before the first word was uttered, House Republicans said any calls for new spending “investments” would be DOA.

I am on the White House media list so I had an embargoed copy of the speech. I was eager to see whether Obama addressed black joblessness. He didn't.

But Obama did address the needs of illegal immigrants:

One last point about education. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some are the children of undocumented workers, who had nothing to do with the actions of their parents. They grew up as Americans and pledge allegiance to our flag, and yet live every day with the threat of deportation. Others come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense.

Now, I strongly believe that we should take on, once and for all, the issue of illegal immigration. I am prepared to work with Republicans and Democrats to protect our borders, enforce our laws and address the millions of undocumented workers who are now living in the shadows. I know that debate will be difficult and take time. But tonight, let’s agree to make that effort. And let’s stop expelling talented, responsible young people who can staff our research labs, start new businesses, and further enrich this nation.

Obama's latest call for so-called comprehensive immigration reform largely fell on deaf ears.

In an e-blast, Roy Beck of NumbersUSA wrote:

Well, here was the crazy talk that all those American kids who have graduated recently and are unemployed or underemployed don't deserve protection but instead should be forced to compete with tens of thousands of foreign students for these jobs.

There was a smattering of applause, but I saw NO standing. Nice!

As bad as the language of the President's text -- and as disappointing that he would not put unemployed Americans first by reducing immigration -- I am reassured that this section of the speech basically bombed.

For the majority of Americans, that's the bomb.

House Under New Management

As expected, Ohio Rep. John Boehner was elected speaker of the House.

In his opening remarks, Speaker Boehner said:

Let us now move forward humble in our demeanor, steady in our principles, and dedicated to proving worthy of the trust and confidence that has been placed in us. If we brace ourselves to do our duty, and to do what we say we are going to do, there is no telling what together we can accomplish for the good of this great and honorable nation. More than a country, America is an idea, and it is our job to pass on to our posterity the blessings bestowed to us.

I wish you all the very best. Welcome to the people's House. Welcome to the 112th Congress.

I am sure Democrats and late night comedians were disappointed that Boehner did not break down and cry as he delivered his remarks.

Against all odds, a former small business owner who grew up with 11 siblings in a two-bedroom house and one bathroom is in control. Boehner should tell Democrats and assorted haters:

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you

Opening Arguments

I am in DC for opening day of the 112th Congress. House Republicans will live stream the opening session, including the swearing-in ceremony, on Facebook beginning at 12:00 pm ET.

At approximately 1:40 pm, Rep. Nancy Pelosi will hand over the gavel to House Speaker-elect John Boehner.

House Republicans are getting off to a quick start. They have posted online a bill to repeal President Obama's signature legislative accomplishment, health care reform. The House will vote on the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” on Jan. 12.

Also today, a coalition of state lawmakers will open a new front in the war to “eliminate all economic attractions and incentives that continue to lure illegal aliens across America’s unsecured borders.”

State Legislators for Legal Immigration will unveil model legislation to “halt the misapplication of the 14th Amendment.” They propose to deny automatic citizenship to American-born children of illegal immigrants. The concern is that birthright citizenship is an incentive for foreign nationals to flout the rule of law in the hope that their anchor babies will give them a foothold on legal residency.

SLLI founder Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe is spearheading the national initiative. He will be joined by legislators from across the country and constitutional scholars, including Kansas Secretary of State-elect Kris Kobach, who helped draft Arizona SB 1070.

The press conference will be held at 9:30 am at the National Press Club, but advocates for illegal immigrants have already sent out talking points.

The yet-to-be-unveiled proposal is called “unworkable and divisive.” They say, presumably with a straight face, that “if enacted, they would place huge burdens on American citizens and create a giant new bureaucracy.”

Hello. Hola. Illegal alien mothers and their anchor babies already place an unfair burden on American citizens.The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that 363,000 anchor babies are born yearly in the U.S., costing American taxpayers billions of dollars annually.

For more info, visit State Legislators for Legal Immigration.

UPDATE: Rep. Steve King, incoming chairman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement Committee, has introduced a bill, H.R. 140, which would amend section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and end birthright citizenship.

Contract with America 2.0

It seems like a lifetime ago that flag-waving Republicans stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and pledged a “Contract with America.”

Fast forward 16 years and Republicans are back partying like it’s, well, 1994.

This morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner will unveil a shiny new “Pledge to America,” a 21-page governing agenda to take the country back to the future:

In a self‐governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.

[…]

With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America.

We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

It’s a broad draft document but that hasn’t stopped the pre-buttals. Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement:

Congressional Republicans are pledging to ship jobs overseas; blow a $700 billion hole in the deficit to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires; turn Social Security from a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble; once again, subject American families to the recklessness of Wall Street; and take away patients’ rights. Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of American and threatened our economy.

With this document the “party of no” becomes the “party of oh, hell no.”

UPDATE: House Minority Leader John Boehner released “A Pledge to America” at a family-owned business in Virginia.

During the press event, Boehner said:

“A Pledge to America” offers a new way forward that hasn’t been tried in Washington: an approach focused on cutting spending instead of accelerating spending, and eliminating uncertainty for the private-sector innovators and entrepreneurs who create jobs. These are the solutions the American people are demanding, and Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid should act on them before Congress adjourns for the fall.

“A Pledge to America” can be downloaded here.