Freedom Line Blog

In a surprise announcement on the Senate floor this afternoon, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he will be supporting a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress.  McConnell, who for the last couple of weeks has defended the practice of earmarks, stated:

…I have thought about these things long and hard over the past few weeks. I’ve talked with my members. I’ve listened to them. Above all, I have listened to my constituents.  And what I’ve concluded is that on the issue of congressional earmarks, as the leader of my party in the Senate, I have to lead first by example. Nearly every day that the Senate’s been in session for the past two years, I have come down to this spot and said that Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people. When it comes to earmarks, I won’t be guilty of the same thing.

Make no mistake. I know the good that has come from the projects I have helped support throughout my state. I don’t apologize for them. But there is simply no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused Americans to view it as a symbol of the waste and the out-of-control spending that every Republican in Washington is determined to fight. And unless people like me show the American people that we’re willing to follow through on small or even symbolic things, we risk losing them on our broader efforts to cut spending and rein in government.

That’s why today I am announcing that I will join the Republican Leadership in the House in support of a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress. …

Read McConnell’s full statement here.

Today, on behalf of a grateful nation, CFIF thanks all of our veterans for their service and sacrifice for our freedoms. 

Check out this new and powerful ad from our friends at Citizens Against Government Waste, which is “a chilling look at one potential future scenario” if the United States continues on its destructive fiscal path.

Learn more about this ad and CAGW’s inspiration for doing it here.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out. Below is a summary of its contents:

Release:  CFIF’s “One More Vote” Campaign Launches Ad in Support of a Balanced Federal Budget with No New Taxes
Lee:  Spend, Then Tax: Like Killing One’s Parents, Then Pleading for Mercy as an Orphan
Senik:  Obama’s New Stimulus – Bailing Out the Classified Section
Ellis:  Conservative Latinos Launch Bus Tour for Carly Fiorina

Freedom Minute Video:  The Duty to Remain Silent – Liberals Stifle Free Speech on ObamaCare
Podcast:  Campaign to Force Washington to Stop the Excessive Spending
Jester’s Courtroom:  Sweet Dreams Are Not Made of This

Editorial Cartoons: Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz: Question of the Week
Notable Quotes: Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update by e-mail, sign up here.

Earlier this month, the Center for Individual Freedom launched its “One More Vote” campaign in support of a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the federal budget without raising taxes.

This week, the campaign launched its first 30-second ad, which can be viewed below.

CFIF’s goal is to get this ad in front of as many concerned Americans as possible, but we need your help.  Please consider a contribution to CFIF’s “One More Vote” initiative today to help us publicize this urgent campaign to force the politicians in Washington to stop the spending. 

To make a donation, click here.

Interview with Seton Motley, Editor in Chief of CFIF’s StopNetRegulation.org, regarding the ongoing efforts to stop the Obama Administration’s attempt to regulate the Internet.

Listen to the interview here.

After an unfortunately long hiatus, the Center for Individual Freedom is back up on Twitter.  Please follow us here.

In addition, please follow CFIF’s “One More Vote” campaign to stop the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. here.

The Center for Individual Freedom yesterday lauched its OneMoreVote.org initiative designed to stop the reckless spending  in Washington.  The campaign was featured in Politico’s “Playbook, MSNBC’s “First Read” and The Hill’s “On the Money”:

Politico’s Playbook:

OUT TODAY: “The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) is announcing the launch of the ‘One More Vote’ campaign and website: OneMoreVote.org. The initiative is a grassroots-driven, online enlistment of activists across America focused on pressuring Congress and the administration to enact fundamental spending and budget reforms. … The One More Vote campaign name and concept is a nod to the Balanced Budget Amendment reform effort, a measure that fell just one vote short of passage. On Twitter: @OneMoreVoteCFIF.”

MSNBC’s First Read:

Per a source, “The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) is announcing the launch of the ‘One More Vote’ campaign and website: OneMoreVote.org. The initiative is a grassroots-driven, online enlistment of activists across America focused on pressuring Congress and the administration to enact fundamental spending and budget reforms.”

The Hill’s On the Money:

 More from fiscal hawks this week…

The right-leaning Center for Individual Freedom launches on Tuesday the “One More Vote” campaign, seeking to require supermajorities in both the House and Senate for passage of any budget that projects a deficit, any tax hike and any debt limit increase. The name is a reference to the balanced budget amendment, which fell short of Senate passage by one vote in 1997.  http://bit.ly/9agHwr

If you haven’t already joined this growing movement, please do so here.

Prior to ramming ObamaCare through Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infamously pledged that they had to pass the bill in order for the American people to learn what’s in it.  Now that the dust has settled, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses what we’ve “learned.”  It’s not pretty.

Below is the latest video from the Republican Study Committee, which contrasts Ronald Reagan with the “leadership” in Washington, D.C. today. 

After being called back to Washington, D.C. from Congress’ August recess by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a $26 billion “jobs bill” that is in large part a bailout for teachers unions. 

Prior to the vote, Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) summed up what the House was up to during a must-read floor speech:

Mr. Speaker:  Many people are asking why Congress is here today.  I think the answer’s pretty simple: we’re not bankrupting the country fast enough and so we need to come back and spend more.

In the merciful week that Congress was not in session, my constituents had one message: STOP THE SPENDING.  Obviously, Congress isn’t listening.

Over the past two years, this administration and this Congress have increased spending by nearly 18 percent and run up more debt in two years than the irresponsible Bush administration did in all of its eight years combined.  Meanwhile, unemployment has increased from 7.6 to 9.5 percent.  Yet the problem in the view of House Democrats is that we just haven’t spent enough.   So we gather here today to shovel another $26 billion at the problem. …

Mr. Speaker, with the nation now some 13.2 trillion in debt – 93 percent of the entire economy – it is time to invoke the first law of holes: when you’re in one – stop digging.  And if Congress doesn’t invoke that law now, I can all but guarantee you the American people will invoke it in November.

Read and watch Rep. McClintock’s entire floor speech here.

In letters sent today to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), the Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) joined with more than 150 other organizations, state legislators and bloggers in urging the FCC to abandon its plans to regulate the Internet.

The letters were organized by Americans for Tax Reform.  One of the letters reads in part:

Despite universal acknowledgement that Americans enjoy a free, open, and vibrant Internet, the FCC is relentlessly pursuing a massive regulatory regime that would stifle broadband expansion, create congestion, slow Internet speeds, jeopardize job retention and growth, and lead to higher prices for consumers.

We oppose the FCC’s effort to regulate the Internet under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, which was written during the depression era to regulate telephone monopolies – 60 years before the Internet was ever conceived. … This regulatory ‘reclassification’ would effectively turn innovative private Internet services into a public utility.

“The already free and open Internet has sparked unprecedented growth and innovation over the last decade precisely because it hasn’t been burdened with unnecessary regulation and taxation,” said CFIF President Jeffrey Mazzella.  “The reckless desires of three unelected FCC commissioners and a few radical fringe groups on the left that wish to turn the Internet into a government-controlled public utility now threaten to grind those wheels of Internet growth and innovation to a halt.

“The Courts have spoken.  A rare bipartisan majority in Congress opposes the FCC’s plans.  And, the American people reject this unnecessary and job-killing regulatory regime sought by the FCC,” Mazzella continued.  “It’s past time for the FCC to listen and abandon its plans for a government takeover the Internet.”

To read the letters send to the FCC, click here and here.

The Hill’s popular Hillicon Valley blog mentions the letters here.

In an interview with CFIF, Quin Hillyer, senior editorial writer at the Washington Times and senior editor of The American Spectator, discusses how the mainstream media and Eric Holder’s Justice Department are trying to ignore the Black Panther voter-intimidation case. 

Listen to the interview here.

From the president hoping American students improve in math and science to wanting an approval rating higher than his age, CFIF’s Renee Giachino highlights Obama’s top 10 birthday wishes in this week’s Freedom Minute.

From a story today in The Hill:

Four House Democrats who have proposed significant spending cuts were chastised at a recent caucus meeting for targeting programs senior appropriators had deemed vital, according to lawmakers and aides.

Reps. Gary Peters (Mich.), John Adler (N.J.), Jim Himes (Conn.) and Peter Welch (Vt.) introduced an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill that would cut a dozen programs — totaling $1.4 billion — that had been added on top of President Obama’s initial budget request.

It was an effort to target a few government programs to chip away at a massive budget deficit — just as House leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), have ordered committee heads to do.

Read the full story here.

Earlier today, the Senate began its floor debate on the confirmation of Elena Kagan to serve a lifetime appointment on the United States Supreme Court.  Judiciary Committee Ranking Republican Jeff Sessions did one heck of a bang up job laying out the case against her confirmation during his opening statement.

Sessions stated that Kagan’s record leaves “no doubt what kind of judge she would be:  An activist, liberal, progressive, politically-minded judge who would not be happy simply to decide cases, but will seek to advance her causes under the guise of judging.”

Watch Senator Sessions’ opening remarks, which highlight everything you need to know about Elena Kagan, in their entirety below.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino warns that “voting the bums out” this November may not be enough to hold down the 111th Congress and its contempt for the will of the people. “Beware the lame duck session,” cautions Giachino.

This week’s edition of the Liberty Update, CFIF’s weekly e-newsletter, is out.  Below is a summary of its contents:

Lee:  John Lott: More Guns, Still Less Crime
Senik:  Getting to Yes: Republicans Don’t Need Ideas to Win, But They Need Them to Govern
Ellis:  A Tale of Two California Cities Provides Bellwether for Golden State’s Future
Action Alert:  Stop the BP Bailout

Freedom Minute Video:  Berwick’s Recess Appointment – A Faulty Prescription for Health Care
Podcast:  Interview with Sara Carter, National Security Correspondent at The Washington Examiner
Jester’s Courtroom:  Lawsuit a Shot in the Dark

Editorial Cartoons:  Latest Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Quiz:  Question of the Week
Notable Quotes:  Quotes of the Week

If you are not already signed up to receive CFIF’s Liberty Update by e-mail, sign up here.

Following a meeting with business groups earlier today on  the issue of job creation, House Minority Leader John Boehner floated one of the best ideas suggested this year:  A one-year moratorium on all new federal regulations.

“I think having a moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea,” Boehner told reporters.  “[I]f the American people knew there was going to be a moratorium in effect for a year that the federal government wasn’t going to issue thousands more regulations, it would give them some breathing room.”

Now that’s a Stimulus Plan we can all support!

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino discusses the Obama Administration’s politically-motivated response to the oil spill in the Gulf and its cozy relationship with BP.