Research

The Obama administration is apparently trying to negotiate with attempted Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in order to obtain important intelligence information regarding his terrorist training and links to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Washington Post reports government authorities are now “inching toward an agreement that would secure cooperation from the suspect in the failed Detroit airliner attack.” The Obama administration wouldn’t have had to start negotiating for information if they didn’t make the “myopic, irresponsible, and potentially dangerous” decision to read this terrorist the Miranda rights. 

It’s no wonder Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) blasted the Obama administration in this week’s Republican address, saying “the Obama Justice Department unilaterally decided to treat this foreign terrorist as an ordinary criminal. Abdulmutallab was questioned for less than one hour before the Justice Department ... more

President Obama met with House Republicans today at their issues conference in Baltimore, where he mentioned the value and necessity of “a loyal opposition.” And Republicans have shown that while we disagree with Obama and Congressional Democrats, we are committed to presenting better solutions as “a loyal opposition.” That’s why House Republicans presented President Obama with an outline of solutions that they have presented throughout the past year:

• A no-cost jobs plan that reduces taxes and regulations that will help small businesses hire more Americans;
• A health care alternative that lowers health care costs by ending junk lawsuits and enhancing health savings accounts;
• An energy plan that promotes development of all sources of energy, traditional and alternative;
• And an alternative budget that cuts wasteful spending and reducing growth in the deficit.

We hope, unlike 2009, that President Obama will work with Republicans this year to focus on an agenda that empowers Americans ... more

That’s what Americans are probably asking themselves after Senate Democrats just voted to raise America’s debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion, the largest one-time increase in American history. This comes after Obama already raised it twice before, for a grand total of $3 trillion in total increases to America’s credit card limit.

Last night, President Obama declared that “like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t … that’s how budgeting works.” But RNC Chairman Michael Steele says today’s vote to increase America’s credit card limit to pay for Obama’s binge spending habit is a slap in the face to cash-strapped families across America:

Today’s vote to increase America’s debt ceiling is just another example, in a year full of examples, that the president has failed to live up to his promise of responsibility. At a time when millions of Americans are desperately struggling to live within their means and survive this ... more

A year into his presidency, Barack Obama has little to tout in his State Of The Union Address tonight. His stimulus was a failure, his agenda has been rejected by the American people, and his polarizing style has made the culture in Washington worse.  He made a lot of big promises, and RNC Chairman Michael Steele has an op-ed in Politico this morning about how he owes us an explanation about whether he still stands by them.

Taxpayers deserve to know why the president’s $787 billion stimulus package failed to keep unemployment below 8 percent. We deserve to know why his government takeover of health care stalled somewhere between the House and the Senate, if according to President Obama, the American people support it. And most of all, our country deserves to know why President Obama has wasted a year without working to find real solutions to create jobs and put Americans back to work. Tonight our nation deserves a genuine explanation, and we need to know how the president is ... more

… if you want details concerning President Obama’s new proposals to increase regulations on banks by restricting their size and scope of products and services. John Carney of The Business Insider’s “Clusterstock” blog reports today:

The Treasury Department has been scrambling to figure out what to say about the new proposals unveiled by Barack Obama last week limiting the size and scope of banks …

The Treasury Department has been fielding questions from bankers and journalists about the new regulations—but so far has not been able or willing to provide much information. Calls and emails to a Treasury Department spokesperson went unanswered this week and last week.

Days before the special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, Obama introduced his savings tax, using it as a “political weapon” to try to defeat Scott Brown. But days after voters sent a resounding rejection of the White House’s liberal agenda by sending Brown to the Senate, President Obama decided to double down on his ... more

As we have done for previous speeches, press conferences and town halls, the RNC Research Department will be responding live online to President Obama’s State of the Union address this Wednesday, January 27 at www.GOP.com/LiveResponse.

We’ll be starting the action early at 8:30 PM Eastern time, so that we can take your questions and comments about the President’s first year in office, and what you can expect from Obama’s “Explanation To The Nation.”

Then at 9:00 PM, we will offer “real time” fact-checking during the President’s speech, and explain how his liberal, big-government agenda has harmed, and will harm America.

Sign up to receive a reminder in the widget below.

As a candidate, Barack Obama pledged to “clean up both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.” But by now Americans know that President Obama has done the exact opposite, bringing his Chicago-style arm-twisting and back room deal-making to the Potomac.

Now, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is allowing a mark-up of a “resolution of inquiry” from Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) that would demand “that President Barack Obama divulge details about his negotiations with healthcare interest groups.” Jeffrey Young of The Hill reports today:

“The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up the resolution authored by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) just hours before Obama's first State of the Union address. Burgess’s resolution requests the Obama administration turn over documentation of its dealings with healthcare trade associations and a labor union …

“Under House rules, the committee of jurisdiction must hold a mark up on such a ‘resolution ... more

That’s what President Obama told Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR), trying to convince him and other so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats to vote for his government takeover agenda, pledging to him that 2010 would look nothing like 1994. As today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports:

Berry recounted meetings with White House officials, reminiscent of some during the Clinton days, where he and others urged them not to force Blue Dogs “off into that swamp” of supporting bills that would be unpopular with voters back home.

“I’ve been doing that with this White House, and they just don’t seem to give it any credibility at all,” Berry said. “They just kept telling us how good it was going to be. The president himself, when that was brought up in one group, said, ‘Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me.’ We’re going to see how much difference that makes now.”

President Obama and his arrogance led to Berry’s announcement today that he would retire rather than face the wrath of voters ... more

If the President is going to send his top three flacks to the Sunday shows to defend his $787 billion stimulus, one would think that they would all be on the same page on how many jobs they have claimed to “save or create.” But as Politico reported yesterday, “White House advisers … gave three different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act”:

• On CNN’s “State Of The Union,” David Axelrod claimed it created or saved 2 million jobs.
• On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Valerie Jarrett claimed it “saved thousands and thousands of jobs.”
• On “Fox News Sunday,” Robert Gibbs claimed it created or saved 1.5 million jobs.

And if all of the evidence that has already been compiled against the Obama administration’s job count wasn’t convincing enough, you can add Columbia University economics professor Jeffrey Sachs to the list of stimulus critics, who said this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the Obama administration’s job counting scheme is “an ... more

That’s how The Washington Post’s editorial board described the Obama’s administration’s response to the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack aboard Northwest flight 253. Within hours of the attack, the Obama administration was willing to sacrifice valuable intelligence in order to please their liberal base by touting a misguided legal precedent that treats bomber Abdulmutallab as an everyday criminal:

The Obama administration had three options: It could charge him in federal court. It could detain him as an enemy belligerent. Or it could hold him for prolonged questioning and later indict him, ensuring that nothing Mr. Abdulmutallab said during questioning was used against him in court… It is now clear that the administration did not give serious thought to anything but Door No. 1. This was myopic, irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

Yet, in another example of the Obama administration’s cluelessness on fighting terrorism, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told Fox News ... more