I’ll give him this much: with or without a budget, they manage to find ways to spend almost equally irresponsibly, so maybe he’s onto something:

At a briefing with journalists on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Hoyer was asked, “Mr. Hoyer, around the same time of the State of the Union [on Jan. 24], I think it was the same day, Republicans were trying to hit Senate Democrats for 1,000 days without passing a budget, and then you talk about this milestone today, 400 days without a jobs bill in the Republican House. But then on Friday [Democratic Senator Harry] Reid said that he didn’t think they needed to bring a budget to the floor this year [and that] the Budget Control Act can serve as a guideline.”

Hoyer said: “What does the budget do? The budget does one thing and really only one thing: It sets the parameters of spending and discretionary caps. Other than that, the Appropriations committee are not bound by the Budget committee’s priorities.”

He continued: “The fact is, you don’t need a budget. We can adopt appropriations bills. We can adopt authorization policies without a budget. We already have an agreed-upon cap on spending.”

They don’t need a budget, and it shows:

**Written by Doug Powers

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Before the payoff, here’s a brief set-up:

Florida’s poor can use food stamps to buy staples like milk, vegetables, fruits and meat. But they can also use them to buy sweets like cakes, cookies and Jell-O and snack foods like chips, something a state senator wants stopped.

Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, also wants to limit other welfare funds, known as Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, from being used at ATMs in casinos and strip clubs and anywhere out of state. The bill comes after reports that the debit cards welfare recipients now receive were used in those places, as well as locations in Las Vegas and the Virgin Islands in a small percentage of cases, but the state does not track what items were purchased.

The bill recently passed a committee. A companion bill in the state House companion is being considered by a subcommittee.

You’d think the food police would be thrilled. If there’s anything they should get behind, it’s an initiative designed to encourage lower income people to avoid unhealthy eats… right?

But instead, one Democrat gives us our chuckle of the day by denouncing (albeit selectively) the notion of food police — and maybe even things like health care mandates. Get a load of this:

But critics say the government shouldn’t dictate what people eat.

“What I choose to ingest even though I may be on food stamps, that’s at my discretion. I don’t need government telling me what I can and cannot purchase,” said Rep. Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed, a Pompano Beach Democrat who voted in committee against the bill (SB 1658). She said the bill is demeaning and invasive and she worries the education campaign would imply to “minorities and low-income folks that they’re not intelligent enough to make selections on the foods they want.”

How many calories are burned by doubling over in laughter for several minutes? Maybe this is part of the “Let’s Move” program and people are being tricked into exercising. It wouldn’t be the first time.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Late last year it was reported that California’s high speed rail project wouldn’t be completed for 22 years and would end up costing about $100 billion, which is three times the initial estimate. The project received over $2 billion from the stimulus.

Gov. Jerry Brown now says the cost won’t be nearly that much, because somehow carbon fees levied on businesses (some of which would no doubt flee the state) will fund a good portion of the construction:

“It’s not going to be $100 billion,” the Democratic governor said on ABC 7′s Eyewitness Newsmakers program. “That’s way off.”

Brown’s remarks come as his administration prepares revisions to the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s latest business plan. Brown is trying to push the project through an increasingly skeptical Legislature following a series of critical reports.

“Phase 1, I’m trying to redesign it in a way that in and of itself will be justified by the state investment,” Brown said. “We do have other sources of money: For example, cap-and-trade, which is this measure where you make people who produce greenhouse gasses pay certain fees – that will be a source of funding going forward for the high speed rail.”

Brown said, “It’s going to be a lot cheaper than people are saying.”

Wait a minute. So if industry stops spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere right now (thereby of course saving the planet from global warming) there won’t be enough cap/trade money for the government to build the latest bankruptcy-inducing glimmer in Joe Biden’s eye? I’ve yet to hear a more convincing argument for going green.

Not unlike the government taxing tobacco and using some of the money to pay for SCHIP, the “green” movement has developed a Catch-22 dependence the very things they seek to eliminate. So keep those smokestacks spewing filth and pay those carbon fees, California industry, because Moonbeam has a “green” rail system to pay for so the planet can be saved from global warming!

At least it helps explain recent decisions like this.

I’m amazed by a bureaucratic mindset that believes forcing a portion of the price tag of a bloated project onto select areas of the private sector will lower the cost to the government, and therefore the taxpayers.

Take it away, Governor:

**Written by Doug Powers

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From an announcement just released on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ website:

“Thank you for your prayers, and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do on my recovery. So, to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week. I’m getting better.”

The video:

Thoughts and prayers are with Rep. Giffords for her continuing recovery.

Update: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer will call a special election in April to replace Giffords:

The governor will set the date for special primary and general elections to determine who will serve the remainder of Giffords’ term, which expires Dec. 31.

Giffords plans to turn in her resignation to Brewer shortly after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

“Upon the Congresswoman’s office being officially declared vacant, I will call a special primary and general election in order to fill the 8th Congressional District vacancy, in accordance with Arizona law,” Brewer said in a statement Sunday. “The winner will complete the remainder of Congresswoman Giffords’ term, which expires at the end of 2012.”

The governor has 72 hours to set the special election after receiving Giffords’ resignation.

Under Arizona law, a special congressional election can only be called by the governor for that purpose. It must be held no sooner than 80 days and no later than 90 days after receiving the resignation.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Rick Perry, along with Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum all failed to qualify to appear on the ballot for the Virgina primary on March 6th.

It looks like Perry will be the first to offer a legal challenge:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign announced Tuesday it will file a lawsuit in an attempt to get on the ballot for Virginia’s Republican presidential primary.

Perry failed to qualify for the ballot after the Republican Party of Virginia said his campaign had not filed the required 10,000 signatures.

“Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election,” Perry campaign communications director Ray Sullivan said in a statement published by National Journal.

In the statement announcing the legal challenge, Perry’s campaign said only 119,034 Virginians voted in the 2008 Republican primary, making the requirement of 10,000 signatures “unrealistic and onerous.”

Meanwhile, after learning he didn’t qualify for the VA primary ballot, Newt Gingrich pledged an aggressive write-in campaign, but that’s probably not going to happen:

When a reporter noted that state law prohibits write-in votes in primaries, Gingrich said: “There’s time for them to change it. If something’s wrong, they ought to fix it.”

That appears unlikely this year, even if lawmakers were so inclined.

Section 24.612 of the Virginia State Code says: “The electoral board shall make printed ballots available for absentee voting not later than 45 days prior to any election.”

That means absentee ballots must be mailed to voters – such as Virginians serving in the military — no later than Jan. 21.

The legislature does not convene until Jan. 11. To make the change, lawmakers would have to pass emergency legislation — a bill that goes into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature, rather than on the customary enactment date of July 1.

Emergency legislation requires a supermajority. Eighty of the 100 members of the House of Delegates and 32 of the 40 state senators would have to vote to change the law.
[...]
As for Gingrich’s proposed change, “I’d say it’s pretty tough at this point,” House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, said Monday in a phone interview.

So, lawsuits all around then? However, I assume the logistical complications alone would render any legal ruling even in a candidate’s favor irrelevant this time around.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

According to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, there are times when the country doesn’t have any need for the US House of Representatives, and it’s because of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee that I often agree with her. Not this time, however.

From The Hill:

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Tuesday that President Obama “absolutely” should use his executive power to continue the unemployment benefits and payroll tax cut extension and said she hoped to discuss the option with the White House later in the day.

“It is extraordinary, don’t get me wrong. But I’m feeling the pain of the constituents I left [at] home,” Jackson Lee said, speaking on the progressive Ed Schultz’s radio show. “I consider this a crisis. I consider leaving Americans without unemployment insurance for January and February a crime. I consider not extending the payroll tax cut … a crime.”

A member of Congress being this ignorant about the Constitution is… a crime.

But Jackson Lee shouldn’t take my word for it or any House Republican for that matter. This is from today’s White House press briefing:

Q: Can the president offer any assurances to the American people that this will get done before January 1st?

Carney: In order for it to get done, it has to pass the House. This is one area where his executive authority does not extend. He cannot order an extension of the payroll tax cut.

Sorry, Sheila.

Read some of Sheila Jackson Lee’s greatest hits here, here, here, here and here.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Yesterday the Senate passed a temporary plan that would extend unemployment and the payroll tax cut for two months, and give President Obama 60 days to decide about the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

It was thought that the House would follow the Senate and pass the bill early next week, but after John Boehner’s interview this morning, not so fast:

House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that he opposes the Senate plan to extend the payroll tax cut for two months.

Boehner, R-Ohio, told the NBC program “Meet the Press” that Congress should continue negotiations to come up with a compromise by the end of the year that would extend the lower payroll tax rate for a full year, as sought by President Barack Obama.

“I believe that two months is just kicking the can down the road,” Boehner said in explaining Republican opposition in the House. “I’m tired of it. … It’s time to just stop, do our work, resolve our differences and just extend it for one year.
[...]
However, it requires approval by the House, and Boehner’s comments reinforced initial rejection of the plan by House Republicans, especially conservatives who don’t like the payroll tax extension in any form. The House will take up the measure Monday.

Boehner apparently reversed himself since a conference call with caucus members Saturday when he was the only House Republican leader to express support for the Senate plan, according to a GOP source. Boehner was not asked about the caucus meeting in the NBC interview.

Check back tomorrow as we follow the bill’s progress, or lack thereof, in the House.

We’ll know right away if it does pass the House, because emanating from inside the Beltway and echoing across fruited plain will be the four of the most famous words in modern American politics: “Lobbyists, start your engines!”

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

If the world doesn’t stop doubting Al Gore and quickly “green” itself at the bargain price of around $76 trillion, human beings could be extinct. That according to Senator Barbara “don’t call me ‘ma’am’” Boxer.

From The Hill:

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) blasted skeptics of climate science Wednesday, alleging they are “endangering humankind.”

“The message I have for climate deniers is this: you are endangering humankind,” Boxer said during a press conference in the Capitol. “It is time for climate deniers to face reality, because the body of evidence is overwhelming and the world’s leading scientists agree.”

Boxer criticized skeptics of climate science, alleging they are standing in the way of significant progress toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions both domestically and internationally.

Did the Senator who has an A+ rating from NARAL just accuse those who refuse to chug from Al Gore’s global warming Kool-Aid bong of being a threat the lives of human beings?

What most worries Boxer about global warming skeptics isn’t that they’re endangering humankind, but rather a grave threat to the circle of crony life in the age of “green” venture socialism.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

This past June, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat, announced that she’ll retire when her current term expires at the end of 2012. Obviously she’s already started practicing:

What’s a five-letter word for neglecting a responsibility?

From The Blaze:

This truly is one of those “gotcha” moments that will leave people shaking their heads in dismay, and disapproval. Democrat Lynn Woolsey, who reportedly earns $174,000 a year serving her constituents in the U.S. House of Representatives, can be seen below in the following C-SPAN clip, doing a crossword puzzle on the House floor while fellow California Democrat George Miller spoke addressed the topic of union rights on Wednesday.

The backdrop provided by Woolsey offered a fitting symbolic compliment to Miller’s speech on worker productivity, wouldn’t you say?

(h/t The Blaze and Andrew Malcolm)

**Written by Doug Powers

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I’d rather see Trump moderate a vice-presidential debate just to see if The Donald’s hair converging in the same room with Biden’s hair would open up some sort of bad-thatch wormhole in the universe, but hey, this is a start:

Donald Trump is pairing up with Newsmax, the conservative magazine and news Web site, to moderate a presidential debate in Des Moines on Dec. 27.

“Our readers and the grass roots really love Trump,” said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media. “They may not agree with him on everything, but they don’t see him as owned by the Washington establishment, the media establishment.”

Mr. Trump’s role in the debate, which will be broadcast on the cable network Ion Television, is sure to be one of the more memorable moments in a primary season that has already delivered its fair share of circus-like spectacle.

Trump might do a great job of spotting and calling out the Republican flip-floppers, since nobody flip-flops like The Donald.

I can’t picture Trump moderating a debate without becoming a participant in it, but Scott Pelley proved that you can do just that and somehow still maintain the title of objective moderator, so have at it, Donald!

In my mind, the winner of this debate will be the candidate who can avoid making the obvious “you’re fired” reference the longest.

And look, there’s already a “Moderator Trump” Twitter handle. That didn’t take long.

By the way, Jon Huntsman will sit this one out.

Somewhat related: Mitt Romney declines a Lincoln-Douglas style debate against Newt Gingrich.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Former MF Global head Jon Corzine is expected to testify at a House hearing next month, and he may now have to add a Senate hearing to the schedule:

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, head of the Senate Agriculture committee, has called on John Corzine, former CEO of MF Global Holdings Ltd. and former governor of New Jersey, to testify before the panel on Dec. 13.
[...]
“The farmers, small business owners and others who trusted this firm are now facing tremendous hardship and may ultimately never recover all of their money,” said Stabenow, whose committee has jurisdiction on oversight investigations over the sort of commodity trading in which MF Global was engaged. “A discovery of this magnitude demonstrates yet again the need for strong oversight and protections for consumers to prevent this sort of abuse from occurring.”

Corzine and MF Global are being investigated for possibly burning through $1.2 billion of other people’s money — or as Stabenow calls them, “bush leaguers.”

And of course the week might conclude with a visit to the White House to be asked to offer more sage economic advice:

**Written by Doug Powers

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Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting and Oversight, is up for re-election in less than a year. McCaskill’s in a statistical dead heat with a Republican challenger, and riding President Obama’s coattails may well amount to a one-way trip to the unemployment office. As a result, McCaskill could be motivated to create some daylight between her re-election campaign and the administration.

From the Daily Caller:

Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, has asked The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review the Obama administration’s award of a $443 million sole-source contract to a company owned by a major Democratic donor.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month that the Obama administration has taken unusual steps to procure an experimental smallpox vaccine from a company owned by a major Democratic donor despite concerns from some experts that such a drug was unnecessary and would not be effective.

You mean there are some Democrats in Congress who might not willingly throw themselves on the crony capitalism grenade and sacrifice their political careers for the greater good of the beneficiaries of Hope & Change?

We may see more of this from Senate Dems up for re-election. Here’s why:

In every major race next year featuring a Senate Democratic incumbent, Obama is polling worse than the incumbent — in some cases, by a substantial margin — according to publicly released surveys.

So rather than running for reelection on Obama’s coattails, these Senate Democrats may end up facing questions over whether they can win with the president on the ballot.

If Democrats up for re-election don’t start seeing their odds improving soon, how long will it be until they start calling for Eric Holder to resign, demand a widening of the Solyndra investigation and maybe even place a 3 a.m. phone call to Hillary?

(h/t Red State)

**Written by Doug Powers

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Remember when Hillary Clinton was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and when she came out the band played Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats”? Me neither, because it never happened and won’t ever happen. But the rules of what’s appropriate aren’t politically uniform in the world of “entertainment,” which is why Michele Bachmann is now wanting an apology from NBC:

Republican candidate Michele Bachmann addressed the controversy surrounding her appearance on ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ this week, saying if what happened to her had happened to the First Lady, heads would have rolled.

When Bachmann was introduced on the Fallon’s show Monday, Fallon’s house band, the Roots, played Fishbone’s song ‘Lyin’ Ass Bitch.’

Fallon has since apologized, and while Bachmann said she accepts the comedian’s apology, she thinks NBC should apologize as well.

“If that had been Michelle Obama, who’d come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they would have fired the drummer, or at least suspended him,” she told Fox News.

If Fallon’s band had done that to Michelle Obama (as if), is there much doubt that Brian Roberts would have seen to public floggings of all offending parties and apologized by asking Comcast/NBC employees to double their DNC donations this election cycle?

Imagine the outrage if it was another guest. Below I took an ABC News story and replaced “Michele Bachmann” with the name of a different public figure:
*****

The drummer for the house band on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” apologized sort of for his decision to play ”Lyin’ Ass Bitch” when Rep. Nancy Pelosi appeared on the talk show Monday night.

Though the lyrics refer to a woman as a “slut trash can bitch,” the band sang the “la, la, la” of the refrain.
*****

Fallon’s house band would be lucky to be able to get a gig leading an OWS drum circle by now if it had happened that way.

Possible topic for discussion: Are GOP politicians chumps for going on these shows and subjecting themselves to mockery — be it overt or relatively subliminal — from an industry that is overwhelmingly liberal, or is it a necessary way to reach voters these days and they just need to have a thick skin, a thorough knowledge of contemporary “music” and a healthy repertoire of comeback lines at the ready?

Update, Thursday 8 p.m. EST: NBC apologizes.

**Written by Doug Powers

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Maybe NBC’s Meet the Press host David Gregory thinks he was complimenting the GOP by pointing out that there is in fact no “grand wizard” in the party. Who knows… all we can do is play the “imagine if a right-leaning news host said that” game.

Transcript from Real Clear Politics:

Ann Curry, NBC News: “He’s not stepping down, continuing to suck the air out of the narrative the Republican party really wants to tell. Does the party now wish he would just go away?”

David Gregory, NBC News: “Well there is no, you know, grand wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue…”

Click the pic to roll tape… clear back to about 1870:

Update: David Gregory apologized for the “very poor choice of words” this morning via Twitter.

**Written by Doug Powers

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On Tuesday we talked about the bankruptcy of the MF Global and the “missing” few hundred million dollars. Today the company’s CEO, Jon Corzine, resigned:

Jon Corzine resigned today without severance pay as head of MF Global, the bankrupt brokerage firm where he had hoped to resurrect his career after a failed gubernatorial re-election bid in New Jersey.

Corzine has resigned from all posts and has confirmed “that he will not seek severance payments in connection with his resignation,” the company said in a statement today.

His severance package was worth $12.1 million, including cash and benefits, the Associated Press reported.

Securities regulators and the FBI are now investigating more than $600 million in missing customer money. Brokerages are required to keep the money they invest separate from client accounts.

“I feel great sadness for what has transpired at MF Global and the impact it has had on the firm’s clients, employees and many others,” Corzine said in a statement, reported the New York Times. “I intend to continue to assist the company and its board in their efforts to respond to regulatory inquiries and issues related to the disposition of the firm’s assets.”

The New York Times reports that Corzine has hired a white-collar criminal defense attorney — standard operating procedure if you were the head of a securities company that misplaced a few hundred million dollars and diverted client money.

Earlier, I was trying to recall which political party Corzine belongs to. The network television newscasts were no help, and in reports about Corzine’s resignation that mention his political career, online stories from ABC News, Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN and CBS didn’t divulge his party affiliation.

Oddly enough, NPR came through.

**Written by Doug Powers

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