McConnell Gives GOP Weekly Address on Obamacare Anniversary

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell gives this week's Republican address on a theme he has been relentless about the last several days:  the second anniversary of Obamacare.  Click here for video.

McConnell's address is similar to op-eds he wrote for the C-J and NRO, and similar to speeches and news conferences he's given recently.  What is distinctive, however, is his determination to see Obamacare either struck down as unconstitutional -- or repealed. McConnell is on a mission, plain and simple. Make no mistake:  if McConnell becomes majority leader, he will see this thing repealed (if the Supreme Court hasn't disposed of it in the mean time.).

Note that while McConnell has been all over the news in recent days regarding the anniversary of Obamacare, the Obama administration itself has been strangely silent.  As McConnell asked yesterday, where's the birthday cake, Mr. President?

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson Gives GOP Address

This week's Republican Addrsss comes from Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (video here). She hits two points. First, she challenges Senate Democrats to act on four bills that would remove barriers to small businesses expanding and hiring. Each bill has already passes the House with large bipartisan majorities but is stymied in the Senate. Second, she mocks the administration for its bone-headed energy policies, which are succeeding in giving us European gas prices -- the explicit goal of Obama's Secretary of Energy. Hutchinson calls on the administration to let America take advantage of the Keystone Pipeline before Canada decides to sell to China.

Sen. Richard Burr Delivers GOP Address

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) gives this week's Republican Address. He presents a counterpoint to the president's bus tour, in which the president drives to battleground states in his million dollar Canadian bus and argues for massive amounts of new government spending.  That tour, incidentally hit North Carolina this week -- a key state for Obama -- and Burr is therefore a fitting choice to respond not only for the Republican Party, but to speak to those constituents directly.

Burr makes the case for government getting out of the way to allow the private sector to create real jobs, as opposed to phony government jobs. He outlines the Republican jobs plan to consist of the following points:

• Simplify the tax code. This is part of the appeal of the 9-9-9 plan, by the way.
•   Rein in government regulations. Steve Jobs apparently told Obama that the amount of regulation in this country was going to make Obama a one-term president.
•  Cap spending and reduce budget deficits.  Need we say more?
•    Propose common sense healthcare solutions. It is not enough to repeal Obamacare; Republicans need to restore competition to drive down costs.
•    Encourage domestic energy development.  This is Rick Perry's platform.
•     Create a competitive workforce,  To the extent that this justifies the federalization of education, I disagree.
•  Increase exports.  There is bi-partisan support for passage of free trade agreements. Let's get it done.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) Gives GOP Weekly Address

Sen. Dean Helller (R-NV) gives this week's Republican Address, which focuses on the economy.  Heller is in a position to know something about how that hopey changey stuff is workin' out.  His state's economy has the sad distinction of leading the country in unemployment, foreclosures, and bankruptcies.

Here's the link to his video. Democrats like to complain that Republicans have no specifics on how to fix this economy.  To the contrary, Heller's address is replete with specifics:  repeal Obamacare; pass a balanced budge amendment; provide certainty by simplifying taxes to close loopholes and by making tax cuts permanent; open up energy exploration; and fix social security and medicare for the long haul..

Sen. Pat Toomey (Member of the Super-Committee) Gives GOP Address

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) gives this week's Republican address (video here). Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Toomey to the joint special committee to cut spending.  It's worth a couple minutes to listen to Toomey's address just to take comfort in this solid appointment.  Toomey, as a small business owner, has a personal understanding of how government regulation has stymied job creation. His address is also worth a listen -- especially as consumer confidence has plunged -- for his optimism that America can move past this recession by returning to the principles that made us great, that is, by government getting out of the way.

Note that the last Republican address featured the Republican Whip Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Kly also serves on the "super-committee."  His address (click here if you missed it) emphasized the damage that raising taxes could do to our fragile economy.  Kly gave his address just days before the concept of the "super-committee" became the basis of the debt ceiling compromise. Again, a listen to Kyl's address should reassure conservatives that McConnell did well to choose Kly.

I'm guessing that the next Republican address will be given by the third Senate Republican on the "super-committee": Sen. Rob Portman.  Stay tuned!

Sen. Jon Kyl Gives GOP Weekly Address

Sen. Jon Kyl gives this week's Republican address (video here).  It's more than just the same Republican arguments about cutting government simultaneously with raising the debt ceiling.  Sen. Kyl discusses the devastating economic news that most media ignored yesterday while focusing on the Boehner bill vote. Yesterday we learned that the economy only grew 1.3 percent last quarter, and in the first quarter grew only .4 percent.  The second dip of this recession is almost upon us.

Kyl also notes that the tax hikes -- excuse me, "revenue increases," that Democrats want to feed their massive programs will not just hit billionaires. Rather, the tax hikes will necessarily be much broader, and will therefore hit middle-class Americans, unless Democrats agree to scale back the size of the federal government. As Kyl notes, a tax hike in the midst of an economy that is even weaker than we had previously understood is a combination that will kill jobs.

Sen. Orrin Hatch Give GOP Address

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) gives this week's Republican address (video link here).Hatch makes the case for a balanced budget amendment. Recall that he introduced one in 1997, when it last by one vote.  Imagine how different our nation's financial picture would have been had that amendment been ratified!  Would Barrack Obama even run for president of a country with a balanced budget amendment?

This week he will introduce another balanced budget amendment. As Hatch observes, "the only reason congressional Democrats would refuse to pass it, is because they know the people of this country would rise up and quickly ratify it."

Here's the text of Hatch's address:

“Our nation is in the midst of one of the most critical debates in generations. It is a debate about the size, scope, and shape of our national government. It’s a debate over whether we act responsibly so our children and grandchildren aren’t left carrying the burden of unsustainable debt. 

“While the details of this debate change by the day, the fundamentals are clear. President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress refuse to come up with a legitimate plan to confront our run-away spending that has left our country over $14 trillion in debt. He refuses to reform our near bankrupt entitlement programs  -- all while pushing job-killing tax hikes.

“We’ve been down this road before, and Republicans will not go down it again. In 1990, Congress and the President struck a deficit reduction deal that combined spending cuts with tax increases. Unfortunately, while the tax hikes remained, the spending restraint did not, and our debt has only marched higher. 

“The solution to a spending crisis is not tax increases. Yet, Washington has consistently demonstrated that it cannot control its urge to spend. That is why the only long-term solution is a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Only by restoring constitutional restraints on the ability of Congress to spend, can we constrain the growth of the federal government. 

“Think of how different our fiscal picture would be if we’d passed one in 1997. After a fierce debate, the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution that I introduced was defeated by just one vote in the United States Senate.

“Instead of sending that amendment to the states for ratification, and addressing the need for fiscal balance, fourteen years later, our nation faces a debt crisis of epic proportions. Our national debt has gone from roughly $5 trillion in 1997 to over $14 trillion today. That’s more than $45,000 for every man, woman, and child in America.

“And that debt keeps growing. According to Congress’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office, the nation’s debt could reach an astonishing 101 percent of domestic product in a decade – with interest payments that could reach over a trillion dollars a year. 

“The situation has only gotten worse after the Obama administration. In his first two years in office, discretionary spending has skyrocketed by 84 percent, including the failed stimulus, with spending reaching 25 percent of our nation’s economic output. We haven’t seen spending levels this high since World War II.

“This soaring debt is the number one issue I hear about from the people in my home state of Utah. As our economy continues to flounder, and families across Utah and all of America are forced to cut back, Washington refuses to make the tough choices that will bring down our massive debt. They know that we need immediate spending cuts; they know we need to cap spending; they know we need a Balanced Budget Amendment.

“Next week we have an opportunity to set things right. In the Senate, all 47 Republican senators back a Balanced Budget Amendment I’ve introduced with my colleagues Mike Lee and John Cornyn. It would require the president to submit, and Congress to pass, a balanced budget every year. And most importantly, it limits spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product and requires supermajorities in both houses of Congress to raise taxes.

“Unfortunately, last week the White House dismissed a Balanced Budget Amendment saying it is not good for the economy, and that our debt isn’t a constitutional issue.

“The American people know better. A Balanced Budget Amendment is essential for our economy, and our debt is definitely a constitutional issue.

“After all, the constitution belongs to the people, who determine what is a constitutional issue – not the White House. And if the debt isn’t a ‘constitutional issue,’ why is it that every state in the union but Vermont has a constitutional balanced budget requirement?

“This kind of strong budgetary reform would put us on a path to fiscal health and would prevent this White House or any future White House from forcing more debt on the American people.

“The only reason this Administration doesn’t want a constitutional amendment is because they want to keep spending the American people’s money. And the only reason congressional Democrats would refuse to pass it, is because they know the people of this country would rise up and quickly ratify it.

“A balanced budget amendment makes sense; its time has more than come. Now, Congress must act. Thank you for listening and may God continue to bless America.”

Sen. Coats Delivers Republican Address

Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) delivers this week's Republican address.  Click here for the video. Not surprisingly, it is about the national debt. Sadly, by comparing Indiana's fiscal policies with those of the Obama administration, Coats implicitly makes the case for what a great president Mitch Daniels would have made.

Sen. John Hoeven Gives GOP Weekly Address

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) gives this week's Republican address, and he gets us back to the issue that most worries Americans:  jobs.  Hoeven explains how free trade with other countries will help create jobs here (and improve the living standards in other countries, too).  It's hard to believe that we have still not ratified our trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama.  This is way over-due.  Here's the link to his video.

Hoeven recently travelled to South Korea with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.  Hoeven uses South Korea as an example of how free trade creates jobs:

[South Koreans are] keenly aware that U.S. service members sacrificed so much to give them a free society and a free-market economy where they could pursue their dreams.

“South Korea is now a prosperous, modern nation, with a $1 trillion economy, and 49 million consumers, in large part because American service members won and now help preserve the peace. 
Korea is the 15th largest economy in the world, and our country’s 7th largest trading partner. . . .



“The U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement will eliminate or reduce more than 85 percent of the tariffs between the United States and Korea, including the eventual elimination of a 40 percent Korean tariff on American beef.

“Just one project we’ve been working on in my home state, a new beef processing facility, could mean a $100 million investment in our economy and 500 new jobs. In North Dakota that’s a big deal.

“But these free trade agreements are an even bigger deal for America. The South Korean Free Trade Agreement alone will increase our nation’s exports to that country by more than $10 billion and create 280,000 American jobs. In fact, for every 4 percent increase in American exports, we can create one million new American jobs.  . . .

Sen. Mike Johanns Gives GOP Address on Jobs

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) gives this week's Republican address. Click here for the video. Johanns reminds us that the debate on the size of government and the debt is inextricably linked to job creation:

My Republican colleagues and I will continue to push for a scaled back government that allows the enterprising American spirit to create a prosperous economy that benefits everyone. That means reining in spending, reducing the deficit, eliminating red tape that holds businesses back. It is clearly time for government to get out of the way. Our small businesses will respond with innovation and job creation.

Democrats complain that Republicans have failed to make good on their promise to create jobs and have instead become fixated on government spending. As Johanns makes clear, however, that is a false distinction. It is the private sector that will create the jobs, and that cannot happen until government stops hogging the capital.

Orrin Hatch Delivers GOP Address

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) delivers this week's Republican address. His main point is that the Obama administration's plan to selectively freeze spending is not sufficient to address our staggering debt. Here's the video link.

Sen.-elect Ayotte Gives GOP Address

Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) gives this week's Republican address, focusing on what Republicans seek to accomplish in the 112th Congress. Here's the video link. How encouraging to start the new year, and the new Congress, with yet another rising star.

Given the liveliness of Kentucky's Senate race, I had not focused on Ayotte previously. Her speech is well-written and well-delivered. It is particularly poignant as she discusses the need to remain vigilant in the the War on Terror from her perspective as a military spouse.

Ayotte's comments on the size of government and the debt underscore that she is a fiscal conservative. I look forward to seeing what she will accomplish in the 112th Congress -- she strikes me as someone who will work hard to learn the nuances of the Senate. Great to see a conservative woman with gravitas.

Sen. Corrnyn Gives GOP Weekly Address

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) gives this week's Republican address. He notes that even though the new Republican members of the House and Senate have not been sworn in, their election has changed the terms of the debate in Washington by giving Republicans leverage to keep taxes from going up. Likewise, in preventing a huge spending bill Republicans as Cornyn put it, "got the message."

Here's the video of his address.

And here's the transcript:

On November 2, voters elected 13 new Republican Senators and sent 63 more Republicans to serve in the House of Representatives. This week, even before these new reinforcements have taken their seats, Republicans showed the American people that we got the message. And everyone can see how your choices have already changed the terms of the debate here in Washington.

“First, Republicans prevented a massive, job-killing ‘New Year’s Day tax increase.’ Before Congress acted, every American taxpayer was looking at a much higher tax bill in just a few weeks. Those higher taxes would have been devastating to millions of American families and small businesses and could have increased the risk of a ‘double-dip’ recession.

“But our bipartisan agreement with the White House changed all that. Our agreement keeps marginal income tax rates low, preserves the one-thousand-dollar per child tax credit, extends relief from the marriage penalty, blocks higher taxes on capital gains and dividends, protects at least 21 million additional families from the Alternative Minimum Tax and reduces the sting of the ‘death tax’ on families and small businesses.

“This bipartisan agreement was made possible because voters gave Republicans much more leverage at the negotiating table. Our leverage forced the White House to abandon its ‘class-warfare’ rhetoric; stop pandering to the President’s left-wing base; and do the right thing for American taxpayers and job creators.

“Republicans delivered even more ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ this week by holding the line on reckless federal spending. Despite their willingness to work with Republicans on taxes, Senate Democrats went their own way on spending by proposing a nearly $1.3 trillion omnibus bill on the American people and by insisting we’d have to vote on it before anyone had the time to figure out what was in it.

“This ‘spending snowstorm’ was nearly 2,000 pages long. It combined 12 separate appropriations bills that were never debated or amended on the Senate floor. And it included more than one billion dollars to feed the beast of ObamaCare, part of which was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge just a few short days ago.

“Senate Republicans stood together but we did not stand alone. Millions of Americans made their voices heard on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. You lit up the phone lines across the Capitol and across the Nation. Thank you for doing that. You helped strengthened the resolve of the Republican Caucus and rattled the nerves of the big spenders on the other side of the aisle.

“As we approach the Christmas Season and the New Year, it’s easy to see how much you have changed our Nation’s Capital. Last year, on Christmas Eve, Senate Democrats passed a divisive 2.6 trillion dollar health care bill strictly along party lines. This year, God willing, Washington will give the American people a far better gift: a silent night.

“Have a joyous holiday season, keep our troops in your prayers, and remember that the best days for our country lie ahead.

Sen. Mark Kirk Gives GOP Address

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) gives this week's Republican address. He focuses on the need for America to spend less, borrow less and tax less. This point alarmed me: "Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson warned that the decline of a great power is clear when a country pays more to its money lenders than its army. We face that year when interest payments on our debt tops our defense budget as soon as 2016."

Here's the text of Kirk's remarks:

“Last month, the American people sent a clear message to Washington: spend less, borrow less and tax less to put America back to work. "

“Unfortunately, too many in Washington want to continue the reckless tax and spend policies of the past. They ignore the warning signs of more debt, taxes and inflation. They embrace wasteful government spending and pork-barrel earmarks. And they think a new massive tax hike on the U.S. economy is exactly what the American people need.

“The current leaders of Congress should not move forward with plans that were just rejected by the American people. These leaders should not raise taxes and risk another recession. Instead, Congress should reduce spending and prevent another tax hike on American taxpayers.

“Americans already pay some of the highest taxes in the world. By raising taxes in order to fuel higher spending, we threaten to restart the recession, pushing millions of Americans out of work.“Right now, families and small business owners are scratching their heads asking one simple question – what will my tax rate be next month?

“Taxpayers don’t know what their personal income tax rates will be come January 1st."

“Family business employers don’t know what the death tax will be.

“Investors and small businesses don’t know what the capital gains rate will be.

“Their uncertainty hurts our economy. It’s unfair and short-sighted.

“Congress should set its highest priority on preventing the massive tax hike currently scheduled to hit our economy on January.

“Meanwhile, our mounting debts pose a clear and present danger to our future. It’s time to cast aside our partisan differences and work across the aisle to solve this problem.

“Congress should set an example by ending pork-barrel earmarks and cutting its own budget. This week, Senate Democrats rejected a proposal to end wasteful earmark spending. Their decision was disappointing and disconnected from the American people.

“In the weeks ahead, Republicans and Democrats should enact bipartisan solutions to cut federal spending like a presidential line-item veto, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution and a new procedure to ensure spending reductions actually happen.In the 1980s, President Reagan’s bipartisan Grace Commission set the standard for serious oversight by identifying federal spending that would add little to our nation's growth, but much to its debt. Marrying a new Grace Commission with the authority to submit a proposal to Congress for a straight up or down vote would lead to actual spending reductions. This proposal is in my first Senate bill – the Spending Control Act.

“Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson warned that the decline of a great power is clear when a country pays more to its money lenders than its army. We face that year when interest payments on our debt tops our defense budget as soon as 2016. It’s clear, we need to cut spending to avoid a bankrupt future for our kids and our country.

“I believe that America’s best days still lie ahead of us. If we correct our economic policy by focusing on growth and spending discipline, the sky will once again be the limit for young Americans.

“Spend less, borrow less and tax less to put America back to work. That’s what we heard from the American people last month – and that’s what we should expect from our leaders today.

“May God bless you, your families during this holiday season, and may God bless the United States of America.”

GOP Address: Sen-elect Marco Rubio!

How fitting to end a great week with a rising star of the party giving the Republican weekly address. Sen.-elect Marco Rubio (like the sound of that). The wonderful thing about Rubio's election is that it puts the lie to the notion of the Tea Party -- or the Republican Party generally -- as racist. He is also unapologetic about embracing the exceptionalism of America.

Here's the video.

And here is the transcript:

“With Election Day now behind us, it’s an honor to talk to you about the opportunity before us – an opportunity to put America back on track.

“For too long, Washington has taken our country in the wrong direction: bigger government, reckless spending, and run away debt. And though I’m a proud Republican, here’s the truth, both parties have been to blame.

“This election the American people said enough is enough. That message was loud and clear. We Republicans would be mistaken if we misread these results as simply an embrace of the Republican party. This Election is a second chance. A second chance for Republicans to be what we said we were going to be.

“America is the single greatest nation on earth, a place without equal in the history of all mankind. A place built on free enterprise, where the employee can become the employer. Where small businesses are started every day in a spare bedroom and where someone like me, the son of a bartender and a maid, can become a United States Senator.

“I know about the unique exceptionalism of our country. Not because I read about it in a book, I’ve seen it through my own eyes. You see, I was raised in a community of exiles, by people who lost their country, people who once had dreams like we do today, but had to come to a foreign shore to find them.

“For some their dreams were answered here in America, but many others found a new dream. To leave their children with the kinds of opportunities they themselves never had. And that is what we must do as a nation. To fulfill our sacred obligation to leave the next generation of Americans a better America than the one we inherited. And that is what this election was about.

“In the past two years, Republicans listened to the American people and what they said is that it was time for a course correction.

“The past two years provided a frightening glimpse at what could become of our great nation if we continue down the current path: wasteful spending, a growing debt and a government reaching ever further into our lives, even into our health care decisions.

“It is nothing short of a path to ruin, a path that threatens to diminish us as a nation and a people. One that makes America not exceptional, not unique, but more like the rest of the world.

“As Republicans, here is what our commitment should be to you. Our focus must not be simply winning elections. It must be to ensure the next generation inherits a strong, free and prosperous America.

“We will govern as public servants who understand that re-election is simply a byproduct of good public service and good ideas. And most importantly, we will stand up and offer an alternative to the policies coming out of Washington for the past two years.

“The challenges are too great, too generational in scope for us to be merely opponents of bad policies. Instead, we will put forward bold ideas and have the courage to fight for them. This means preventing a massive tax increase scheduled to hit every American taxpayer at the end of the year. It means repealing and replacing the disastrous health care bill. It means simplifying our tax code, and tackling a debt that is pushing us to the brink of our own Greece-like day of reckoning.

“For many of us coming to Washington for the first time and others returning to serve, it’s a long way from home. A long way from the people whose eyes we looked into at town halls, at diners or roundtables, and promised that this time it would be different. That if you elected Republicans to office again, we would not squander the chance you gave us, and we must not. Because nothing less than the identity of our country and what kind of future we will leave our children is at stake.

“That is our commitment and from you we ask this: hold us accountable to the ideas and principles we campaigned on.

“This is our second chance to get this right. To make the right decisions and the tough calls and to leave our children what they deserve – the freest and most exceptional society in all of human history.

“Thank you for listening, God bless you and your family, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.”

Sen. Chambliss Gives GOP Address

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) gives this week's Republican address. Click here for the video.

He makes a powerful point about the national debt with a quote from Thomas Jefferson I had never heard before:

As the Declaration’s parchment has yellowed with age, America has become a rich nation whose ideals and economy have been the envy of the world. We have faced down many enemies at home and abroad.

But one of the most dangerous threats confronting America today doesn’t come from without, but from within. And I’m talking about our national debt.

Wisely, the Declaration’s author, Thomas Jefferson, warned of this danger early on. As he once said, “There does not exist an engine so corruptive of the government and so demoralizing of the nation as public debt. It will bring us more ruin at home than all the enemies from abroad against whom this Army and Navy are to protect us.”

As usual, Jefferson was right.

At a time when Americans are clipping coupons and pinching pennies, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress continue to spend money that they – we – do not have.

Three weeks ago, America’s national debt topped $13 trillion. And let me say that one more time: $13 trillion is owed by the United States of America today. That number is so big it’s difficult to comprehend.

If you take that $13 trillion and divide it by the number of Americans, that’s $42,000 for every person in this country.

The national debt has risen by $2.4 trillion in the 500 days since President Obama took office. That’s an average of nearly $5 billion per day.

Even though we have to borrow 43 cents of every dollar we spend and the debt is set to double in five years, Congress and this White House still continue to splurge.

More than half of the $9 trillion in debt America will accrue in the next decade will be from interest alone. That money could be better used on national defense or returned to taxpayers.

Instead, future generations will be forced to pay higher taxes to foot the bill for Democrats’ out-of-control spending.

And with much of America’s debt being held by other nations – such as China – our national debt is also a national security issue. No less than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, said last month, “I actually believe that the biggest national security threat we have is our national debt.”

Sen. Wicker Gives GOP Address

This week's GOP address is by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Not surprisingly, he chose to discuss the BP Gulf Spill and the Obama administration's response to "do more harm than good." Here's the video.

Wicker blasts President Obama's speech to the nation as a page out of Rahm Emanuel's manual -- never let a crisis go to waste:

In his speech Tuesday night, President Obama made it clear that he intends to exploit this crisis to push his liberal agenda for a cap-and-tax scheme. This is a disservice not only to the victims and their families but also to the millions of Gulf Coast residents who are struggling in the wake of the spill.

Americans increasingly reject the cap-and-tax proposal because it would drive up the cost of energy and force American jobs overseas.

The President spent more than a third of his address advocating this national energy tax, revealing his true priorities. Now is not the time to push a controversial, job-killing, partisan agenda through Congress.

In addition to devastating our economy, this proposal would do nothing to fix the disastrous leak or clean up our beaches, marshes, and waters.

Another idea that takes us in the wrong direction is the Democratic plan to increase oil cleanup fees and raid those funds to pay for unrelated programs. These funds are needed to clean up spills, not to satisfy Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi’s desire to raise federal spending.

In addition, the administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling has the potential to become the third wave of this disaster. If left in place, the moratorium will permanently eliminate thousands of jobs and drive up the cost of energy for all Americans. You don’t have to take my word for it. Earlier this week democratic strategist James Carville said the moratorium was [quote] “wrecking the economy” of the Gulf Coast.

Kay Bailey Hutchison Give GOP Address

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison gave the weekly Republican address. She focused on the problematic bank "reform" legislation that Democrats are trying to cram through the Senate.

Here's an excerpt:

“Republicans are working to ensure the bill would forbid any future bailouts of Wall Street banks. The idea that a financial institution is ‘Too Big To Fail’ perverts free market capitalism. It suggests that large firms can privatize their profits, yet socialize their risks. Or, put simply, these companies take their profits in good times - but when things go bad – they turn to the government to bail them out. This must end. The American people should not be forced to pay the risky gambling debts of the large financial institutions.

“The Democrats pushed a bill through the Senate Banking Committee that does not stop future bailouts. Republicans have been attacked for speaking out against it and asking for bipartisan negotiations before allowing the bill to be debated on the Senate floor. But to be clear, we will stand firm against a partisan bill that exposes ordinary taxpayers to future bailouts or favors big companies over community banks across America. The tactics the Democratic leadership used to pass the health care bill must not be repeated.