Venango County Tea Party Patriots

A non-partisan, non-profit, non-member, association dedicated to educating the public and promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economics, and all other lawful activities.

Senator Mitch McConnell

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Boehner and McConnell on Different Sides on Budget Deal

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) are headed for a rare split on the budget deal.

Boehner backs the agreement, while McConnell doesn’t. The two GOP leaders have worked closely together for years, and it is highly unusual for daylight to emerge between them.

The Speaker on Wednesday urged Republican colleagues to vote for the budget deal negotiated by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his Senate counterpart, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

He blasted conservative groups pressuring House Republicans to vote against the deal. His deputy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), praised the agreement.

McConnell and Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn (Texas), who both face Tea Party-backed primary challengers next year, will vote against the bipartisan budget pact.

They are on the same side as the conservative groups that Boehner ripped, such as the Club For Growth, Heritage Action, the Family Research Council and the American Conservative Union.

A source close to McConnell said he will reject the proposal.

“He said he wouldn’t accept busting the budget caps,” the source said. “They traded busting the budget caps for that deal.”

Read more.

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Senate Dems Go Nuclear – Eliminate Filibuster of Nominees

Senate Democrats succeeded Thursday in deploying the “nuclear option” to make the most fundamental change to floor operations in almost four decades, ending the minority’s ability to kill most presidential nominations by filibuster.

The Senate voted, 52-48, to effectively change the rules by rejecting the opinion of the presiding officer that a supermajority is required to limit debate, or invoke cloture, on executive branch nominees and those for seats on federal courts short of the Supreme Court.

At least three Democrats — Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas — voted to keep the rules unchanged.

The move came after Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., raised a point of order that only a majority of senators were required to break filibusters of such nominees. Presiding over the Senate as president pro tem, Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont issued a ruling in line with past precedent, saying that 60 votes were required. Leahy personally supported making the change.

Voting against Leahy’s ruling has the effect of changing the rules to require only a simple majority for most nominations.

The new precedent represents what’s likely to prove the most significant change in Senate rules since 1975, when the cloture threshold was reduced to 60 votes in most cases (from two-thirds of senators present and voting).

Read more.

Even the Washington Post notes:

Many Senate majorities have thought about using this technical maneuver to get around centuries of parliamentary precedent, but none has done so in a unilateral move on a major change of rules or precedents. This simple-majority vote has been executed in the past to change relatively minor precedents involving how to handle amendments; for example, one such change short-circuited the number of filibusters that the minority party could deploy on nominations.

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Dems Balking at Ending Bush Era Tax Rates

A growing number of Senate Democrats are signaling they are not prepared to raise taxes on anyone in the weak economy unless Congress approves a grand bargain to reduce the deficit.

At least seven Democratic senators have declined to rule out supporting a temporary extension of the Bush-era income tax rates, breaking with party leaders who have called for letting the rates expire for people earning more than $1 million per year.

That gives Senate Republicans a chance to push a temporary extension similar to the deal Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) struck with President Obama in December of 2010.

Democrats running for reelection, such as Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), have declined to endorse their leadership’s call for a tax increase on wealthy families.

Instead, they want Congress to pass a broad package that would cut spending and reform the tax code, which they argue would inject new confidence into the private sector.

Read more.