RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/sinema-calls-on-senators-to-change-their-behavior-instead-of-eliminating-filibuster/

Senator Kyrsten Sinema called on colleagues to “change their behavior” and work for compromises instead of attempting to eliminate the Senate filibuster, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

“When you have a place that’s broken and not working, and many would say that’s the Senate today, I don’t think the solution is to erode the rules,” Sinema told the Journal. “I think the solution is for senators to change their behavior and begin to work together, which is what the country wants us to do.”

Sinema’s comments come amid pressure from progressive Democrats to eliminate the filibuster entirely, and allow legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority in place of the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) has floated changing filibuster rules to make the procedure more difficult to use, without eliminating the filibuster entirely, however Sinema refused to discuss that possibility.

The purpose of the Senate is “to craft bipartisan solutions to solve the challenges we face in our country,” Sinema said.

The Senate is currently divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

Amid Republican opposition, Democrats used budget reconciliation rules to pass their $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by a simple majority. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) announced on Monday evening that the Senate parliamentarian approved using budget reconciliation for two additional bills, which could allow Democrats to pass the Biden administration’s infrastructure package.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/reaganmccarthy/2021/04/05/manchin-n2587410

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivered a blow to President Biden’s “infrastructure” plan, which is already facing a steep challenge in the Senate. Manchin said publicly that he opposes an increase in the corporate tax rate, to 28 percent, that is included in the plan proposed by the administration. 

The “swing vote” Democrat lawmaker said that the increase was a non-starter for him.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is considering using budget reconciliation to pass the hefty infrastructure plan, in order to sidestep the 60-vote threshold, as Democrats did to pass the American Rescue Plan earlier this year. If Schumer took this route, only 51 votes would be necessary to pass the plan. Manchin warned the administration that he is not alone in opposing such a steep increase to the corporate tax rate.

“There’s six or seven other Democrats who feel very strongly about this. We have to be competitive, and we’re not going to throw caution to the wind,” he continued in the interview.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the administration’s infrastructure plan mandates that corporations pay their “fair share” of taxes.

Like other plans put forth by the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats, the infrastructure plan is receiving blowback from Republican lawmakers for inclusion of line-items that are completely unrelated to infrastructure.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/bryan-preston/2021/04/03/freshman-republicans-fight-democrats-big-tech-and-the-media-to-restore-conservative-principles-in-congress-n1437194

Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t at the top of his West Point class. He wasn’t a very successful businessman. When the nation was in peril, no one saw him as the leader who would save the day. But history records that Grant won key victories and when other failed generals, the media, and Copperhead Democrats questioned him, President Lincoln waved the naysayers away. “I cannot spare this man,” Lincoln said. “He fights!”

I can’t help but think of this when looking at what’s likely to play out over the next few, crucial years. 

Much has been written about the future of the Republican Party in recent months, but one authoritative source believes its future is bright. 

In a recent interview, former President Donald Trump shared his thoughts on the next generation of up-and-coming leaders within the party, noting that “we have a lot of young, good people” and that “the Republican party is stacked.” While he singled out notable conservatives such as Ron DeSantis and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a group of up-and-coming freshmen in the House of Representatives is worth watching as they promise to stand strong in the capitol. They will face enormous criticism and pressure, and they know it. 

Members of Congress such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Madison Cawthorn, and Lauren Boebert will continue the work of draining the swamp that President Trump started four years ago. Unlike establishment Republicans who tend to look out for special interests and still think corporate America is their friend, these new leaders reflect the true spirit of the American people and represent the next generation of conservative leadership.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/mar/26/joe-biden-nominates-swing-vote-sen-joe-manchins-wi/

President Biden intends to appoint the wife of the Senate’s top swing vote, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin III, to a plum federal position that pays upwards of $160,000 annually.

The White House announced on Friday it would nominate Gayle Connelly Manchin, a former president of the West Virginia state board of education, to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The organization is responsible for spurring economic development and investment in the 13 states that make up the region of Appalachia — which spans from northern Mississippi to Pennsylvania.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mrs. Manchin is slated to replace Tim Thomas, a former staffer for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The role comes with a salary of approximately $163,000 annually, according to a federal pay database.

Mrs. Manchin’s nomination comes as her husband has become a vital political player in Washington, D.C.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/party-of-groupthink/ar-BB1evm67

When President Biden finally signed into law a $1.9 trillion spending package, passed without a single Republican vote in either house of Congress, the White House celebrated it as “the most progressive piece of legislation in history.”

“So, I would say we feel pretty good about that,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a daily briefing. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist Biden beat to win the Democratic presidential nomination, sang from the same songbook on CNN. Asked about the spending cut from the package to win the votes of a dwindling band of Democratic centrists, Sanders replied, “In my view, this is the most significant legislation for working people that has been passed in decades.” The network’s website later published a piece titled “The US is about to start a massive experiment in progressive government.”

The messaging illustrates the contradiction at the core of Biden’s successful campaign for the White House: He simultaneously pledged to fulfill Sanders’s wishes for the “most progressive president since FDR” and be a nonthreatening, bipartisan deal-maker who would deserve the votes of college-educated, white suburbanites who typically cast their ballots for Republicans.

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/03/11/livelihoods-and-the-congressional-thieves-who-want-to-steal-them/

If there were any doubts that today’s Democratic Party is a corrupt and malevolent force, they were fully removed Tuesday when the House approved the PRO Act, a bill that will steal the livelihood from millions of Americans should it become law. Democrats care about nothing but consolidating their power and making their own lives more comfortable, even if it means creating hardships for others.

The legislation, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, is both a gift to labor union bosses and a burglar’s tool for aiding the outright theft of working Americans’ incomes. It was passed 225-206, with five Republicans voting for it (Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Pa.; Don Young, Alaska; John Katko, N.Y.; Chris Smith, N.J.; Jefferson Van Drew, N.J.) and one Democrat (Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas) against it.

In addition to stripping states of their right-to-work laws, which allow workers to be employed at unionized businesses without being forced to join the union, it also in effect outlaws independent contract work through its ABC test. Adopted by the California (of course) Supreme Court, the test is used to classify workers as either hired employees or independent contractors (freelancers and gig workers). The test was codified into law in California (of course) in 2019 through Assembly Bill 5.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/03/06/8-senate-democrats-help-gop-send-minimum-wage-bill-down-to-defeat-n1430467

A split in the Democratic Party over whether or not to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour has cost Senator Bernie Sanders and the radicals a victory. The margin of victory suggests the issue is dead, at least for the next two years.

The eight defectors had varied reasons for their opposition.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire voted against proceeding, though the tally remains open. So did two close Biden allies, Chris Coons and Tom Carper of Delaware. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Senate Democrats, also opposed it.

Sinema indicated that she supports raising the wage, which last increased in 2009, because she understands “what it is like to face tough choices while working to meet your family’s most basic needs.” But she said a standalone debate on the issue made more sense than putting it in a coronavirus relief package.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/lunch-box-donald-why-blue-collar-workers-are-don-feder/

An NBC News poll released last week reflects one of the most significant political trends of the past 30 years – the realignment of blue-collar workers who’ve left the party of Planned Parenthood and Drag Queen Story Hour for the party of energy-independence, fair-trade deals and border security.

The poll shows that between 2010 and 2020, the Republican share of blue- collar votes rose from 45% to 57%. Within the same demographic, its Hispanic vote went from 23% to 36%, while its black working-class vote went from 5% to 12%.

In 1992, Bill Clinton carried 49% of counties where at least 25% of the workforce was employed in manufacturing. In 2016, Donald Trump took 95%. What used to be one of the left’s most reliable constituencies is now going the way of evangelicals in their flight from a party that’s lost both its mind and its soul.

Writing in The Detroit News on April 10, 2019, Terry Bowman (a 22- year UAW/Ford worker) charges: “While Democrats fight for policies that crush working-class communities, Republicans and our president are fighting for blue-collar jobs and traditional American values.”

The geezer in the White House is becoming a job-killing machine. On Day One, the Keystone XL-Pipeline was axed. And that’s just a down-payment on Biden’s debt to the Greenies. But, not to worry. As John Forbes Kerry assured us, unemployed pipeline workers can get good-paying jobs manufacturing solar panels – in China.