Dear Tea Party Patriots:
Thank you to all who contacted our two Virginia senators about the Omnibus spending bill. As many of you probably know, “Dingy” Harry Reid pulled the bill from consideration around 8:00pm last night. At this point we do not know whether Reid pulled the bill due to Democrats withdrawing their support or due to 41 GOP senators standing firm with their threat of filibuster. Either way, this battle in the larger war was won.
On the down side, many GOP members of the House voted to support the bill that extended the Bush-era tax cuts. Unfortunately, this bill was laden with other provisions that made it objectionable, including spending for extension of long-term unemployment benefits that were not balanced by spending cuts elsewhere. (One proposal that was shot down was to use unspent portions of the Obama ’stimulus’ to pay for the extension.)
The other more objectionable provision of the tax bill was an extension of tax credits to Agribusiness for ethanol production. Even Al Gore has come out against the use of ethanol, and he advocated elimination of this subsidy. The GOP went lamely along with this unnecessary, fruitless, and destructive hand-out to Agribusiness. The GOP should let ethanol stand on its own two feet, and it would if it in fact is a benefit to the economy. Instead, the GOP went along with corporate welfare that creates a market for ethanol by requring it as an additive to gasoline, by extending tax credits for producers, and by keeping a tarriif on cheaper imports. A three-pronged hand-out that, by taking corn out of the food supply, results in increased food prices by increasing demand on the limited commodity.
The weak-kneed, limp-wristed GOP played softball again by going along with a short-term, two-year extension of tax cuts that still leaves the business community in doubt about what will occur two years from now when the same issue will be center stage. Obama, knowing that a two-year extension is not enough time to turn the economy around, will then be able to tell the electorate that “We tried the Republicans plan, and it didn’t work.” The GOP should have held firm on extension of all the cuts, including the permanent elimination of the estate tax (better known as the death tax). In this way, the new GOP-controlled House could have passed a proper tax cut extension bill and put the onus and pressure on the Democrat-controlled Senate and Obama White House to kill it in the face of increasingly bad economic news. It would have been short-term pain for the economy but long-term gain for both the economy and the Conservative cause. This action on the part of the GOP does not bode well for those in doubt about whether the GOP has the guts to do what it will take to save our economy and hence our free society.
Speaking of saving our society, presidents from Washington to Reagan (with a few exceptions in between), and even GW Bush (whatever else his short-comings) knew that the best guarantee against foreign attack was to maintain strong defensive posture. The US Senate is currently debating the Obama-negotiated START Treaty that will weaken our defensive posture. This treaty is bad for several reasons. First, its provisions will result in a reduction in our ICBM’s to the level Russia currently has. Second, the treaty disallows the US to continue work on Missile Defense (otherwise knwon as ‘Star Wars’ or SDI – the same ‘Star Wars’ system that scared the daylights out of the USSR, resulted in the Reagan Stand at Reykjavik in 1986, and played a big part in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.) Third, the treaty does not even address the issue of battlefield nuclear weapons, better known as tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons can be thought of “deployed” nuclear weapons, such as on ships, submarines, and land-based vehicles. The treaty only deals with stationary nuclear weapons - ICBM’s in silos. The Russians currently have a huge advantage in tactical nuclear weapons and Obama did not even have this issue addressed by the treaty. Overall, the treaty requires a reduction in US nuclear capability - which make no sense to any person who loves our way of life and wants to protect it.
Regarding the issue of missile defense, the White House disputes the assertion that the treaty curtails US missle defense, while the Russians state it absolutely does. Some senators have asked the Obama State Department to provide the Senate with notes, documents, etc., from the negotiations so the matter can be clarified, but Obama has refused. This confusion on what the treaty requires means there is not an agreement between the Russian government and the Obama Administration. So, the Democrats are asking the Senators to approve a treaty regarding US Defense when there is really not a treaty to begin with – if a treaty represents an agreement. There is no agreement here on a crucial aspect of American nuclear defense. This is reason enough to reject the treaty.
In light of this, we ask that you to contact Senators Webb and Warner to voice your strong opposition to passage of the treaty. Article 2 of the Constitution gives the president power to make treaties with the concurrence of two-thrids of the Senate. The GOP could easily defeat this treaty but many have expressed initial support. Please contact these two senators and voice your informed opposition using the information provided here. Although the Tea Party has, to date, largely concentrated its efforts on domestic policy, we as freedom-loving Americans must realize there are threats, both foreign and domestic, which we must confront.
Please make the call – 202-224-3121 is the number to the Capitol switchboard.
Written by James Stringfield – LTP Member
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