Saturday, February 28, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Facing the Voters on Earmark Spending

All week, John Mica received a huge backlash after he issued a two-faced press release that caused huge controversy for his praise of stimulus spending for Central Florida, with no mention that he voted AGAINST the stimulus bill.

Here is a far more appropriate and more personal response from another congressman in a face to face meeting with the people in his district:

During the question-and-answer period at his town hall meeting, constituents asked Kratovil about certain aspects of the stimulus package, including whether there was money for the Chesapeake Bay. Kratovil responded there was no money for the Chesapeake because the stimulus did not include earmarks, which are funds targeted to specific local projects.

Now that's a really up front answer, rather than boasting that stimulus money is targeted to a specific central Florida project as John Mica does:

“The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program,” Mica said.

“Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration."

And more confounding is the fact is that Mica had long ago asserted that he had already secured federal funding for the commuter rail project,......way before there was talk of a stimulus bill:

In 2007:

With one day to spare before possibly losing $180 million in federal funding, CSX Transportation and the state Thursday reached the final deal needed for the region's first commuter-rail system.The agreement turns over 61 miles of tracks from DeLand to Orlando to Poinciana. That means the first leg of the project -- from Fort Florida Road in DeBary to Sand Lake Road in Orange County -- is on track to open in summer 2010.

And at that point, nine daily freight trains -- the bane of harried ommuters -- will be moved out of the heart of Orlando and rerouted around the city toward Winter Haven.
Mica noted that although he could not guarantee when the federal money would be awarded, the money from the Federal Transit Administration is "as certain as anything can be."
Half of the $615 million system will be paid for by the federal government, 25 percent from the state and 25 percent from Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties and Orlando. All five governments voted unanimously for the project earlier this year.

A separate $491 million agreement between CSX and the state of Florida covers several items, including the 61 miles of track, improvements to the freight line that will carry the extra freight traffic and several new or improved rail crossings in Alachua, Marion and Sumter counties.


In 2008

Mica is largely responsible for securing more than $300 million in federal funding to help build the 61-mile long rail project between DeLand and Poinciana, connecting Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties.

Now which one is it? Did John Mica already have federal funding lined up, or is he dependent on stimulus funding, and if so, why the heck did he vote AGAINST the stimulus plan?

Smacks of deception aka lying.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

John Mica Votes Against Funding for Sun Rail

In true form, as a representative of the Party of NO, John Mica votes against funding for Sun Rail, ........ he votes NO on the stimulus package.

Then John Mica has the nerve to brag about the funding the stimulus package "might" create for Sun Rail:

“The total appropriation for transit systems includes $750 million for the New Starts program,” Mica said. “Nationally, the Central Florida Commuter Rail project is next in line for final approval and federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration.
“The timing couldn’t be better. All the project needs is the State Legislature’s approval of the CSX-Florida Department of Transportation liability agreement,” Mica said.


And apparently Mica has also had the gall to brag about the highspeed rail funding that was put into the stimulus bill by Senator Harry Reid. So lets get this straight,......again John Mica voted AGAINST this highspeed rail funding and then turns around to brag about the funding being in the stimulus plan:

Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.
Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.
Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: "This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority's favorite government programs," as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.

How do you explain that?

Mike Steel, a spokesman for House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio, at first ducked when asked about Mica and Young issuing press releases praising the bill
they'd opposed.
"I don't work for Mica or Young," Steel said initially.


So there you have it Mica was for the rail spending, before he was against it, before he was for it....

You figure it out.
One thing is for sure,.....Mica is against creating jobs or he would have voted YES on the stimulus bill.

BTW John Mica and Don Young have been connected before on questionable earmark spending in the case of another famous transportation pet project: The Coconut Road Earmark

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Republicans United Against Jobs and Against Helping the Unemployed

Ray LaHood passed up the allure of K Street to join President Obama’s Cabinet, but he’s been doing a lot of lobbying this week.

The former Illinois congressman, who is now Obama’s secretary of Transportation, is leaning on his ex-colleagues to back the president’s stimulus package. He has placed calls to a number of Republicans, including Reps. John Mica (Fla.), Frank LoBiondo (N.J.), Steven LaTourette (Ohio), Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.). LaHood told ABC News that he has called 11 House Republicans.


LaHood, who used to sit on the Appropriations Committee, has been trying to sell Republicans on the increased infrastructure spending that would go to their states.
Despite LaHood’s outreach, Mica, ranking member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that he is likely to vote against the measure.


Wow, the ranking member of Transportation voting against jobs!


And this is coming from a man who inanswer to the question about voters' wish for Congress to stop bickering and creating consensus, said this:

"I think folks who know me that (I) am probably one of the most bipartisan folks you ever met."

You can find that quote at about 14 min and 20 sec into this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5ylBIS5x6Q

Back to the Hill article, what's even more distressing:

During an interview on CNN on Sunday, LaHood said he is having little luck
convincing his former House Republican colleagues to back the stimulus package.
“I’m going to do everything I can to help the president find the votes for the conference report once the Senate passes this. I’m going to work the phones, I’m going to talk to my former colleagues and do everything I can to persuade them that this bill really will put people to work.”
Democrats will have the votes to pass a stimulus bill in the House, but they privately
acknowledged that they were surprised that every voting Republican rejected the House-passed measure in late January.

Yeah, you heard that right,.......not one Republican voted for jobs. They want to work the old, tried, and failed formula of more of the same: Substantially just Tax Cuts.


Never mind that tax cuts will do nothing for our economy according to Mark Zandi:

Only $1.02 is generated in economic activity from every $1 in tax cuts.

Japan’s Big-Works Stimulus Is Lesson shows us that from every $1 invested in infrastructure projects in the 1990s, $1.37 in economic activity was created.

As far as helping the unemployed, Republicans would do well to realize that spending heavily to promote social development, is a good investment. Again Japan's experience shows that every dollar spent on spent on social services, like care for the elderly and monthly pension payments, created $1.74 of economic activity.

Many of the excessive additional tax cuts will do little to nothing for our economy, and will not benefit those who already have a reduced incomes or those who have already lost their jobs.

As the title of this blog entry says: Republicans are United Against Jobs and Against Helping the Unemployed. Survival of the fittest may be a quaint idea when the economy is flourishing, but it is outright irresponsible and disastrous during a recession

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

John Mica Hates Women and Children

Well, Mica started the legislative session of the 111th US Congress exceedingly poor. And he is not alone among Florida Congressmen, who are extremely out of touch with the needs of Floridians. Now more than ever, with 255,000 lay-offs state-wide over the last year, we need to protect our children.

Unfortunately John Mica voted No on extending S-Chip to 2013, as did Cliff Stearns, Ander Crenshaw, Bill Posey and Adam Putnam. H.R. 2 paves the way for up to 4 more million uninsured kids to obtain coverage. From an e-mail message sent by Florida CHAIN ( Community Health Action Information Network):

We greatly appreciate the support of Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez, particularly Senator Martinez' vote in favor of extending coverage to legal immigrant children.
On the House side, 15 of Florida's 25 Representatives also voted in support, including 5 Republicans (Reps. Buchanan, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen and Young)!
Congratulations to all of the advocates who made calls to urge passage of this important legislation!

A few differences between the Hoouse version and the Senate version are being resolved. President Obama is then expected to quickly sign the bill, in contrast with the 2 vetoes issued by former President Bush.

Now you may ask how Mica did on a previous bill that supported women, HR 11, the Fair Pay Act, that recently passed the House, and was the very first bill signed into law by President Obama.
I'm sorry to report that John Mica didn't do any better there either, to assure that women get equal pay. And where is the outrage or even plain reporting by local media on this?

From a Press Release by NOW:

"This is an important first step in our efforts to undo years of backsliding on the right to be paid a fair and equitable wage," said National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy. "The Ledbetter bill will allow redress for workers with the energy and willpower to seek redress in the courts, but we have a long way to go before we have fair pay for women, and laws with real teeth."
While it is too late for her to receive the compensation she deserved from Goodyear and was denied by the Supreme Court, Lilly's determined quest for equal rights for women in the workplace led to today's Senate passage of the legislation introduced in her name.

The Ledbetter (Fair Pay) Act, which was blocked in the Republican-led Senate last year, will essentially reverse the 2007 Supreme Court decision that required workers to file charges on a pay discrimination claim within six months after receiving their first discriminatory paycheck.



So lets see how our Florida Republican Congressmen did on this one: NONE voted Yes for H.R. 11, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which was the very first bill Obama signed into law on Jan. 29th.

Before putting his pen to the paper, Obama said:


"Lilly Ledbetter did not set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She
was just a good hard worker who did her job -- and she did it well -- for nearly
two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male
colleagues for doing the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost
more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security
benefits -- losses that she still feels today.
"Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn't worth the hassle and the harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than 10 years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, and lead to this day and this bill which will help others get the justice she was denied. ...
"I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal --
it's bad for business -- to pay someone less because of their gender, or their age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability
."


I guess discrimination is ok for John Mica, Cliff Stearns, Ander Crenshaw, Bill Posey and Adam Putnam, and other Florida Republican Congressmen as long as the women finds out about it six months after her first discriminatory check. Good thing Adam Putnam is not running for re-election.

Here is my hope that the voters dump these out-of-touch Republican Congressmen who are hurting our women and children and elect Faye Armitage, Tim Cunha, Steven Blythe, Doug Tudor, and Jay McGovern if they decide to run again.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Charlie Crist's Plea to John Mica Gets Rejected

The bipartisan National Governors Association called on Congress to quickly pass the stimulus plan. The stimulus bill consists of $819 billion combination of tax cuts and new spending, with the goal to create or preserve 3 million to 4 million jobs.

"States are facing fiscal conditions not seen since the Great Depression — anticipated budget shortfalls are expected in excess of $200 billion," the NGA statement said. "Governors ... support several key elements of the bill critical to states-increased federal support for Medicaid and K-12 and higher education; investment in the nation's infrastructure; and tax provisions to spur investment."

Like Sara Palin who supports the stimulus plan, Charlie Christ also urged House Republicans from Florida to vote Yes.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state's congressional delegation, including House Republicans.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.

But despite the Nadler amendment that passed in the House and put $3 billion more into the stimulus package for transit, and Governor Crist's pleas, Mica had the nerve to vote No.

In fact the "begging" by the National Governors Association got them nothing from any House Republican.

I guess House Republicans decided to listen to Rush Limbaugh and put partisan politics ahead of getting people back to work as the Obama plan would do.