The new Congress

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Yesterday, the new House of Representatives were sworn into office.  On today’s docket, the largest Republican majority in almost a century began discussing three key programs to increase jobs.

First, the Keystone XL Pipeline was discussed. It will create construction and some American jobs by piping oil from Canada’s tar sands down to refineries in Texas. Those against it claim the oil will all go to China, and will just increase pollution, because tar sand oil is by far the dirtiest oil around (by their claims).

Second, help vets get jobs by allowing those who receive Tricare or VA benefits to work for a company without being counted in the numbers a company hires for health care ACA/Obamacare reasons. IOW, if a company has 49 workers and does not want to be affected by Obamacare’s requirements with the 50th worker, it can hire several vets that have health benefits and not have it counted against them.

Third, the ACA/Obamacare currently establishes full time as 30 years or more. So those working part time are now receiving less hours, so that companies can keep them under the 30 hour health care requirement.  The Republicans will push to get it moved back up to 40 hours, helping those working part time jobs (mostly affects women).

t is clear that the Republican House is interested in passing laws that will hopefully help Americans.  In the past, Harry Reid’s Senate has stalled, holding off voting (or even hearing) over 300 bills sent to them by the House. With a new Republican Senate, we hopefully will see a Congress that’s interested in reducing government encroachment in all areas of our lives.

While a good start, the question will be whether the Republicans seek to make big changes in the future.  Will they cave when it comes time to increase the deficit? Will they cave when it comes time to face down the exploding budget?  Will they expand their favorite groups at the expense of our freedoms?

The last time we had a Republican Congress and a Democratic President, Bill Clinton was able to balance the budget, change welfare to workfare, and move our nation to the center. “The day of big government is over” did not last long, as Bush and Obama have created twice the deficit all previous presidents created.  Obama is not Clinton (or Reagan or Carter), and is more of an ideologue. .He may stand firm against Republican efforts to stream line government.  Will they stand against him, or cave?

 

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About rameumptom

Gerald (Rameumptom) Smith is a student of the gospel. Joining the Church of Jesus Christ when he was 16, he served a mission in Santa Cruz Bolivia (1978=1980). He is married to Ramona, has 3 stepchildren and 7 grandchildren. Retired Air Force (Aim High!). He has been on the Internet since 1986 when only colleges and military were online. Gerald has defended the gospel since the 1980s, and was on the first Latter-Day Saint email lists, including the late Bill Hamblin's Morm-Ant. Gerald has worked with FairMormon, More Good Foundation, LDS.Net and other pro-LDS online groups. He has blogged on the scriptures for over a decade at his site: Joel's Monastery (joelsmonastery.blogspot.com). He has the following degrees: AAS Computer Management, BS Resource Mgmt, MA Teaching/History. Gerald was the leader for the Tuskegee Alabama group, prior to it becoming a branch. He opened the door for missionary work to African Americans in Montgomery Alabama in the 1980s. He's served in two bishoprics, stake clerk, high council, HP group leader and several other callings over the years. While on his mission, he served as a counselor in a branch Relief Society presidency.

12 thoughts on “The new Congress”

  1. I am very happy to see Harry Reid no longer as Majority Leader, but those expecting big things from this Congress are certain to be disappointed. The establishment Republicans have already proven they want business as usual, which means big government and spending flowing to the usual insiders. On the other hand, it is a good thing for the country as a whole when Congress does very little, so we can be happy about that I suppose. Recent history shows that the best congresses are those with Democratic presidents and Republican congresses. Spending at least gets slowed down a bit.

  2. I agree Geoff. As a conservative, I am still smarting from when the Republicans had control of the House, Senate, and White House and still continued to be big government policy makers. They weren’t even conservative “big government” issues. You couldn’t tell the difference when Democrats took the Senate the following session.

  3. It seems that the public (Republican voter) response to the sheep like selection of progressive acting Boehner to the house leadership has caused a retrenchment. We’ll wait and see. Meanwhile the President plows ahead with fiat rule.

  4. The new GOP majority already gave away the first year of their majority with the passage of the CROMnibus back in December of 2014. They could have passed a CR and then debated the issue when they took the majority in both houses. And the fact that Boehner is now punishing those who opposed his speakership means not much will change….sigh.

  5. If We The People are truly tired of business as usual, then we need to stop voting for Democrats and Republicans. These two parties are destroying what’s left of our republic.

  6. Reading this OP and some of the comments makes me scratch my head. It’s like plucking headlines from Faux News or soundbites from Rush Limbaugh. I’m frankly amazed at how many Mormons are not just Republicans but far-right Republicans. I left the Republican Party years ago, because I am Mormon. The GOP’s understanding of economics (and many other things) is not just wacky, it is frightening.

  7. Snake, many of us here are not Republicans, either. Geoff, a few others and I are Libertarian. That said, we realize we must still deal with a government that is flush with neo-cons, progressives, and faux liberals. I can’t fully respond to your comment on economics, because you were very vague about it. For me, I agree with James Madison that except for times of war, the federal government should only make up about 10 percent of all our government.We should not have deficit spending, except in time of war. We should not be in perpetual war. Nor should we continually create crises and fear (as Connor Boyack notes in his new book, Feardom) so they can expand government power and control.

    I do have some hope for some very strong voices in the Republican party, however. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and particularly Rand Paul are some hopefuls in a party that is changing for the better.

    OTOH, I can’t think of a single Democrat that is for balanced budgets anymore. I remember them screaming at Reagan doing deficit spending to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War. Now, they are bigger spenders than ever. Socialists? No. Fascists? Yes.

  8. The only reason I remain a Republican is to vote in our closed primary elections in my state, which has a 3 to 1 Democrat majority. Local elections matter to me more, at this point, than Federal elections. But when it really comes down to it, I am a Conservative with Libertarian leanings — I’m tired of the wars, the overspending, the entitlement that the government fosters, and the inability of most politicians, no matter their party, to do the right thing.

  9. “I left the Republican Party years ago, because I am Mormon.”

    Nonsense. I have no doubt you left the GOP, but please don’t claim that you did so because your religious principles compelled you. That’s a load of malarkey. My bovine fecal matter radar always goes off when I hear folks saying that they changed their political allegiance for religious reasons.

    It amuses me because anyone caught saying that they went from Democrat to Republican “because they were Mormon” would instantly be mocked, ridiculed, and shamed by what passes for the cognoscenti on the so-called Bloggernacle. So why is it ok to do the same thing in the other direction? Nonsense.

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