Conservative American,
Haven't we had enough bad legislation passed in the name of "bipartisanship" or "compromise?"
Just last week we saw the House GOP (establishment) leadership shoot down the conservative members' amendment that would've completely defunded Obamacare. Speaker John Boehner blocked the conservatives' effort entirely, preventing it from taking a single vote!
As the amendment would've likely passed, it is clear that House leadership is afraid of Obama and would rather give-in than put up a fight for the conservative principles they are supposed to be upholding.
The good news is: apart from establishment powers, there is a very large faction of the GOP that is not interested in growing government, shrinking liberty, or bowing down to Barack Obama.
Two Arizona House members right now are urging their colleagues to stop Big Government legislation through resurrecting the "Hastert Rule" to block bad bills by blocking their rules.
We must support their efforts by telling all GOP House members to join them!
Take Action and DEMAND House Republicans to PLEDGE to VOTE DOWN THE RULES on all GOVERNMENT-GROWING Legislation! The GOP must PREVENT every big-spending bill from receiving a vote!
Reps. Matt Salmon and David Schweikert of Arizona are leading the charge to limit government in the legislature - even against their party leadership.
Salmon this week outlined his pledge to prevent the growth of the federal government in his Washington Times op-ed, and Schweikert committed to do the same in his dear colleague letter.
The Arizona Reps. are calling their colleagues to do more than just vote against bad, government-growing bills - they want to prevent the bills from coming to a vote in the first place!
Salmon, who had formerly served in the House from 1995 to 2001, said that it used to be the norm for the Republican Majority to defend fiscal conservatism by preventing all bad legislation from taking a vote by voting down the rules.
He writes:
"During my previous tenure in Congress, House Republicans passed several pieces of meaningful legislation. We enacted welfare reform, pro-growth tax cuts, and achieved the holiest of grails - a balanced budget. In fact, by the time I left Congress in 2001 to honor my term-limits pledge, we had a budget surplus of more than $240 billion.
These successes were not easy to achieve. They came about because House conservatives were willing to confront GOP leadership when they occasionally got off-track rather than standing firm on the principles of economic freedom.
One tactic we used was to vote against House rules on specific bills that did not uphold conservative principles."
These successes were not easy to achieve. They came about because House conservatives were willing to confront GOP leadership when they occasionally got off-track rather than standing firm on the principles of economic freedom.
One tactic we used was to vote against House rules on specific bills that did not uphold conservative principles."
Conservative Republicans must join Rep. Salmon and commit to voting down the rules on all bills that would increase government spending!
Take Action and DEMAND House Republicans to PLEDGE to VOTE DOWN THE RULES on all GOVERNMENT-GROWING Legislation! The GOP must PREVENT every big-spending bill from receiving a vote!
House rules, in short, are determined by the majority party and decide what bills are voted on, how much time is allotted to deliberate them, and how to go about the amendment process.
Once the rules are determined, they are voted on - it is usual that the minority party votes against the rules the majority party sets, and vice versa, which lends these votes to be divided on party lines.
Salmon notes that the major problem here is that fiscal conservatives too often vote in favor of the rules for bills they would otherwise never vote in favor of, which actually aids the bills in the long-run by placing them up for a vote.
This is why Rep. Salmon explicitly pledged the following:
"From this point forward, I will vote against the rule for bills that increase spending without offsetting spending cuts and encourage my other conservative colleagues to do the same. Similarly, if House leadership brings any more bills to the floor without first securing the support from the majority of the GOP conference, I will take the same action. If enough of my conservative colleagues in the House join me, we can unilaterally put an end to the growth of government that is moving us closer to Greece-like fiscal calamities."
The Arizona Rep. adds that he is willing to challenge GOP leadership over spending issues because his "allegiance will always be to the Constitution and the American people first and foremost, not to [his] political party."
As we noted above, Rep. David Schweikert has joined Salmon in his efforts to limit government, stop spending, anddefend fiscal conservatism by voting down the rules.
It's time for all conservative members to make this pledge - we must demand them to do it! If they don't, we know that they are no better than Big Government Democrats in rubber-stamping excess spending!
Take Action and DEMAND House Republicans to PLEDGE to VOTE DOWN THE RULES on all GOVERNMENT-GROWING Legislation! The GOP must PREVENT every big-spending bill from receiving a vote!
House conservatives need our support.
We already saw that Rep. Schweikert - along with Reps. Amash, Heulskamp, and Jones - was removed from his committee late last year by GOP leadership for his commitment to limiting Washington's spending.
In other words, top conservatives were punished for being ... conservative.
It's time for Reps. to stick to principles despite leadership's big-spending and big-compromising ways.
Rep. Schweikert has it right; he says, "With President Obama's recent realization that he must reach out to the House Republican Conference, we need to stand firm on this principle. Our $16 trillion debt and a deficit that approaches a trillion dollars annually require Republicans in the House to use every tool at our disposal to push for fiscally responsible policies. The future of our country relies on."
Thomas Jefferson said,
"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude... this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for [another ]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."
Will you fax Republican House Members and tell them to join the Arizona Representatives who are taking a stand under opposition? It is likely that many more will join them.
Take Action and DEMAND House Republicans to PLEDGE to VOTE DOWN THE RULES on all GOVERNMENT-GROWING Legislation! The GOP must PREVENT every big-spending bill from receiving a vote!
For America,
Conservative Action Alerts
www.ConservativeActionAlerts.com
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