Republicans Keeping Their Promises

 Published  in the Lynchburg Ledger on February 25, 2011

Republicans elected last November are keeping their promises, and the Democrats are going ballistic.

Republicans took control of the House of Representatives with a landslide that has not been seen in decades.  They made significant gains in the Senate but failed to win a majority, which will now make for interesting political debates and standoffs.

Republicans also took 10 governorships from Democrats, adding to the two they took from Democrats in 2009; one being Bob McDonnell here in Virginia.  Republicans also made significant gains in state legislatures.

One of the biggest Republican campaign promises was to cut spending and that they are doing.  But the Democrats, who apparently were tone deaf last November, are doing everything they can to preserve their tax-and-spend ways.

The U.S. House passed a repeal of ObamaCare only to be shunned by the still Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.  Senator Harry Reid simply refuses to deal with the House passed bill, for now anyway.

Last weekend, the House passed a budget bill for the remainder of FY 2011, which began October 1, 2010.  The Democrats under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi simply refused to do their job.  Budget bills are to originate in the House, and Pelosi never bothered to address the budget, opting instead to spend their time on ObamaCare, Cap and Trade and repealing “Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell.”  The government was kept running on continuing resolutions.

In the budget for the remainder of this fiscal year, Republicans slashed $61 billion from current spending, just as they promised to do.  They cut funding drastically and in some cases de-funded programs completely. 

They cut funding for implementing ObamaCare, de-funded Planned Parenthood and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) which I was thrilled to see.

Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in America, while CPB has outlived its usefulness and become a liberal propaganda outlet.

Senate Democrats have vowed to block the budget, and Obama has promised to veto it, setting up the possibility of a government shutdown.

The last time the government was shut down over spending was in 1995 when the Republicans instituted similar spending reforms, and President William (the Impeached) Clinton vetoed it. 

It was the Republicans who took the public relations hit after the liberal media spun the issue to favor Clinton and the Democrats.  However, today, the climate is a bit different.  With the Internet, blogs, talk radio, Fox News Network (fair and balanced) and the Tea Party movement which has educated many, the liberal media will not have it so easy pinning it on Republicans this time around.

With Jim Webb announcing he will not run in 2012, we will see just how much of a liberal he is when the House budget bill arrives.  We know Mark Warner is a liberal, but we may be able to apply pressure on him to heed the will of the people.

Financial reform is also being felt in the individual states; the most notable being Wisconsin.  The outgoing Democrat governor left Republican Governor Scott Walker a $3.6 Billion deficit to deal with.  Wisconsin, like most of the states, must balance their budget every year.  To deal with the looming financial disaster, the state House passed a bill requested by Walker which included some much needed financial reforms. 

Much of the reforms addressed the out-of-control costs of the state’s public employees, who are all unionized.  They responded by calling Walker a Nazi (and a dictator generally); signs calling him a rapist; and signs calling for his death.  The liberal media has also chimed in with similar rhetoric.  I guess they didn’t get the Obama memo on “civility.”

Union members are being asked to increase their contribution to their health care from 5 to 12.4 percent.  They are also being asked to contribute 5.8 percent of their own retirement, which is currently totally taxpayer-funded.  Other reforms include limiting collective bargaining to base pay only, stopping the state from collecting union dues, requiring an annual secret ballot to keep unions certified, and for union dues to be voluntary and not required as a condition of employment.  Walker’s proposed union bargaining reforms will exempt police and firemen.

Walker, a former county executive, says that for local governments to balance their budgets, they must have these reforms.

The teacher’s unions are the largest unions in the state and have reacted the most violently.  Teachers have called in sick en masse, only to show up at the state capitol in Madison to protest.  With Wisconsin scoring 44^th out of all the states in standardized testing, right at the bottom, perhaps the state needs a massive turnover in the teacher ranks.

The average pay and benefits package for a Wisconsin public employee is $89,500 where the average for workers in the private sector in only $67,000.  Is it any wonder that Republicans promising financial reform were swept in all over the country?

The Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled the state so there would be no quorum in the Senate to vote on the bill.  Republicans hold the majority in the Wisconsin Senate so not one Democrat vote is needed.  These Democrats are blocking the democratic process from following the will of the people.

Wisconsin is just the beginning   Financial reform is on tap for many states such as Ohio, Florida, New York and even California, and the public employee unions in each state will undoubtedly react just like as in Wisconsin.  That is why Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republicans must stand their ground. 

We should be very thankful Virginia is a “Right to Work” state and the unions can not bankrupt us as they have so many other states.