President Obama held a press conference this morning after meeting with Congressional leaders to talk about his plans to move the country forward in light of the severe budget cuts that will start to take effect today.
In Florida, you can thank these House Republicans (phone numbers here) for turning their backs on everyday Floridians and the country so they can protect millionaires and billionaires from having to pay their fair share of taxes.
To see how the sequester will hurt Florida, and what their constituents will have to give up so the wealthy (yes, many of whom are members listed below) can continue to pay less in taxes, see this earlier post.
On Holding Middle Class Tax Cuts Hostage, An "Unfiltered" Response For Bilirakis
As Republicans in Congress continue to refuse to cut taxes for the middle class by using misleading language and reasons for doing so, the middle class will no longer take their inaction sitting down. They're actively fighting back and letting their representatives know how they feel.
In his district in Florida today, Congressman Bill Young's office will be the site of a "Day Of Action" by the Tampa Bay Bush Tax Cut Coalition Florida, where they will hold a press conference followed by a meeting with Young.
Meanwhile, in Rep. Gus Bilirakis' district, constituents are receiving the typical one sided emails from Bilirakis, a message which asks for "input" from recipients. The only problem with his message is that any "input" requested must be in the form of his already dictated multiple choice questions and answers. This is a typical response and "request" from Bilirakis that those in his district are used to getting.
In this message, he uses the same false talking points to mislead voters that all the Republicans are touting to scare and intimidate those who would benefit from the tax cuts, when he's actually holding them hostage to protect the wealthy.
These are the only questions Bilirakis offers to his constituents, and the only answers permitted in the lists are "Yes, No, and Unsure:"
Again, this is a typical message from Bilirakis, and emails sent to his office either get only a vague response, one informing the recipient that he's already doing quite enough, thank you very much, or no response at all. Bilirakis has a "safe seat" in the House, and therefore apparently doesn't feel the need to reach out further.
From the looks of the sign above which I spotted on the street in his district over the weekend, that may no longer be the case.
Make no mistake, Bilirakis and his fellow Republicans in the House could vote for those tax cuts for the middle class right now, but instead they're holding them hostage because they want to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, and they know it. Bilirakis knows it. If he doesn't vote for the tax cuts, the middle class will see an average increase in their taxes of $2,000 a year.
What's going on is simply this: President Obama is asking Congress to move forward on a plan that would prevent 98 percent of American families from paying higher taxes next year. The Senate has passed that bill, and the President is ready to sign it -- but the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives won't even bring the bill to the floor for a vote. House Democrats have filed a petition that would force a vote if it attracts 218 signatures. If a bill has enough votes to pass, Congress should vote on it and pass it.
Problem is Bilirakis, Young, and all House Republicans are sitting idly by and refusing to sign, or do anything to help the middle class. In other words, Bilirakis is not acting in the best interests of the voters who put him in office. As that handmade sign illustrates, he's acting in the best interests of Grover Norquist who says no tax cuts ever, for any reason, and he continues to work for the wealthy and will protect them from having to pay their fair share of taxes just like the rest of us.
Voters in his district are fed up with Bilirakis' inaction, and aren't willing to be dictated to by him any longer. He may not care to hear what his constituents have to say, but that's too bad. They should continue to do so, and give him a call:
House Republicans voted again for the 33rd time to "repeal ObamaCare," the first time since the Supreme Court ruled nearly all of it Constitutional. Never mind their so-called love of the Constitution, their love for Supreme Court Justice Roberts who tipped the vote, nor their apparent fondness for the government health care that they enjoy at low rates and at our expense, and especially this: Never mind that it was all political theater and another way to waste money, time, and to distract from the fact that they have done virtually nothing since the 2008 election beyond blocking everything the President and Democrats have tried to do for all of us in the wake of the absolute disastrous eight years of George W. Bush and the tailspin they all sent the country into.
They. Don't. Care.
Nope. If they have anything to say about it, and if they take the White House, the House and the Senate, you will just have to die waiting before they'll grant you what is now constitutionally your right: Affordable health care, no discrimination from health insurance companies for pre-existing conditions, no children allowed to stay on their parents insurance until age 26, nor any of the rest.
They. Don't. Care.
If the Republicans really feel SO strongly that the Affordable Health Care Act should be repealed, I think it's about time they give up their own government health care. After all, we're paying for it, and isn't that just what they claim, that government health care is absolute tyranny? They compare it to the Nazis and the Gestapo, say it's unconstitutional in spite of the fact that their own Supreme Court Justice ruled it otherwise. Hey GOP, put up or shut up. End the tyranny. Give up yours. We the people "can't afford it" remember?
We Floridians who are living with cut, after cut, after cut from a governor who has made a career out of blocking us from getting good affordable health care, who refuses to implement Medicaid and thinks no court can tell him what to do, who ignores the biggest tuberculosis outbreak in 20 years and closes the hospital that treats the victims, turning them out into the streets as the outbreak spreads across the state and people die, we are footing the bill for his actions and every one of his enablers below. And we're paying for a lot more than just that.
Guess what GOP, Americans like and need ObamaCare. Look at the polls.
Below are the Florida members who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 33rd time. Ask them if they intend to end the "tyranny" by giving up their government health care just as they expect us to do.
To Repeal ObamaCare: Yes Votes (244)
Sandra Adams R FL-24 Gus Bilirakis R FL-9 Vern Buchanan R FL-13 Ander Crenshaw R FL-4 Mario Diaz-Balart R FL-21 Connie Mack R FL-14 John L. Mica R FL-7 Jeff Miller R FL-1 Richard Nugent R FL-5 Bill Posey R FL-15 David Rivera R FL-25 Tom Rooney R FL-16 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R FL-18 Dennis Ross R FL-12 Steve Southerland R FL-2 Cliff Stearns R FL-6 Daniel Webster R FL-8 Allen West R FL-22 C. W. Bill Young R FL-10
The House defeated Democrats' motion to amend the repeal bill to require anyone voting for repeal to give up their own taxpayer-subsidized health care plan. They were joined by 8 Blue Dogs.
So not only is there no question that Republicans and Blue Dogs are telling you "government health care for me, just not for thee," it's now part of the Congressional record. As far as they're concerned, the rest of us can just stick it.
Remember how Republicans have been telling you they're against raising taxes for Americans? Raising taxes of any kind? Even for corporations, millionaires and billionaires?
Well, funny thing about that. They've decided there IS at least one group who don't deserve a tax cut:
You.
The House Republicans today rejected a payroll tax cut for the average American.
Except for the two Republicans who just didn't bother to vote at all: Vern Buchanan and Mario Diaz-Balart, every Florida Republican in the U. S. House voted to raise your taxes and cut unemployment benefits.
Republicans in the U.S. House voted today on the Paul Ryan budget plan that would essentially get rid of Medicare, and make significant cuts to Medicaid, while giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
The vote was 235-193. Only four Republicans joined Democrats to vote against the plan.
Cut benefits for the health care of older Americans, while giving more money to the rich in the form of tax cuts. That's the Republican way!
Ryan calls his plan "A Path To Prosperity." That "prosperity" as you can see depends on who you are.
All Florida Republicans voted for the Ryan budget plan, while all Florida Democrats voted against it.
Luckily the plan has no chance when it moves to the Senate.
