From:               RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day
To:                    Interested Parties
Date:                October 19, 2011
Re:                   Vice President Biden’s Demagoguery Is Demeaning To Women, Victims

Yesterday in Philadelphia, Vice President Biden decided to express his support for President Obama's Stimulus 2.0 plan by explaining to a crowd that he wished opponents “knew what it felt like to be robbed or raped.” Nothing could be more irresponsible and mean spirited. No victim of violent crime would ever wish that others were forced to experience the same trauma they went though – especially to make a brazen political point. So why would the sitting Vice President of the United States?

But this isn’t the first time the Vice President has used this irresponsible argument out on the stump. He used a similar line last week in Flint, Michigan saying that if the President’s stimulus bill isn’t passed, there will be a nationwide epidemic of rape and murder.  Clearly this isn’t another case of “Joe being Joe,” but a calculated messaging point from the Administration to try and gin up support for another round of failed stimulus spending. This is a familiar theme from the White House which has often resorted to over-the-top rhetoric in an attempt to generate support for its policies. So why all the silence from the media? Where is the outrage from women’s and victim’s rights groups?

To link well-justified, bipartisan opposition to the President’s latest stimulus proposal to violent crime is intellectually dishonest and reeks of the kind of gutter politics that the Obama Administration purports to be above. This is the kind of demagoguery one might expect from backbench bombthrowers not a constitutional officer of the United States who is second in line to the presidency and who at any minute could be called upon to lead the free world. Not only is this rhetoric beneath our nation’s second highest constitutional office, it undermines serious policy discussions taking place about how to put Americans back to work.

Our economy is hurting and the Obama Administration’s policies have only prolonged the pain, but that is no excuse for Vice President Biden to wish his political opponents to be subjected to rape or have a gun held to their head. Victims of violent crime should never be used for political gain. The office he holds demands that what he says be treated with a level of importance. It’s time for the media and women’s groups to step up and hold the Vice President accountable for his irresponsible and insensitive choice of words.

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The sacrifices made by members of Congress to serve the people they represent are enormous.  Those who step forward to run for public office give up their privacy, their personal lives and – too often – their personal security.  Instead of spending weekends with family and friends, members of Congress spend what we know as days off traveling across their states and districts to listen to the thoughts and concerns of their constituents.  We too often forget to honor the sacrifice and service of these men and women, and fail to thank them for stepping forward to serve.    

One of the bedrocks of our representative form of government is the right of the people to petition their government and speak freely to their elected representatives in Congress.  We must not allow the events of this past weekend to fundamentally alter the way we govern ourselves.  We must not allow a wall of fear to be erected between the voters and those we elect to represent us. 

And we must not forget to thank the men and women who offer themselves up to serve in public office.  The sacrifices they make are real, as are the risks they increasingly face.  The next time you see one of your members of Congress – of either party - let them know you appreciate their service.  They deserve our thanks.   

For the first time in the history of the institution, the Constitution was read aloud on the floor of the U.S. House.  From the preamble to the Bill of Rights and through all of the amendments, our nation’s founding document was read aloud by members of Congress from both parties. 

A hallmark of the Pelosi Congress was its effort to enact its policy goals by any means necessary, and whether the programs were constitutional or not.  The most egregious example is the federal takeover of health care that dictates that individual citizens purchase health insurance, a product, from a private company.  Already, a federal district judge has ruled this provision of ObamaCare unconstitutional and more than 20 states have joined legal challenges against the federal takeover. 

Preventing these kinds of abuses is the reason it was so important to have the Constitution read aloud in Congress yesterday – and it is the reason that the new Republican leadership requires each new bill introduced to include a statement explaining from which part of the Constitution the legislation would gain its authority. 

For too long under the Pelosi Congress the Constitution was viewed as a roadblock to get around rather than the foundation of the rights and liberties we enjoy as Americans.  By having the Constitution read on the floor of the House, the new Republican majority showed they will respect our nation’s founding document.  Through their actions over the next two years, they will show they mean to put that respect into action to protect the freedoms of every American. 

Today, the new Republican majority in the U.S. House takes the first steps to getting our nation’s fiscal house back in order.  Today, the will of the people as expressed at the polls will be put into action in the halls of Congress.

With one of its first acts in the majority, the Republican leadership today will bring to the floor of the U.S. House a resolution to cut Congress’ own budget by 5 percent below last year’s levels.  This reduction would save the taxpayers about $35 million over the next fiscal year, and will send the message that things are not business as usual in Congress.

Wasteful government spending has created a national debt of more than $14 trillion.  This burden on future generations threatens our economy, destroys confidence in the government’s ability to treat the taxpayers with respect and makes it more difficult to create jobs for the millions of Americans who are still out of work. 

Cutting Congress’ budget certainly won’t solve the problem in a single step, and a simple $35 million reduction in spending may not seem like much, but it is a start.  It is a declaration that the wasteful spending of the Pelosi Congress is over, and that the wishes of the American people as expressed at the ballot box will be put into action beginning today.   

And not a moment too soon.  Just last week the national debt soared to more than $14 trillion, a $1 trillion increase in the past seven months alone.  More and more provisions of ObamaCare are being implemented, and the clock is ticking until the punishing tax hikes and penalties carried in the health care takeover are fully in place. 

With their first day in office, the Republicans of the 112^th Congress will offer a new beginning to the American people.  A vote scheduled for later this afternoon will cut the House budget by $35 million this year.  Democrat critics call this a symbolic move, but the symbol itself is important.  The new Republican majority will cut federal spending and tighten the government’s belt, and they will begin with Congress itself.    

History was written on Election Day last November, and again today as the new Republican Members of Congress took their seats.  The millions of Americans who took to the polls last fall are no doubt watching today as their votes are turned into action.  

As the new Republican majority gets down to work, I join Republicans everywhere in wishing them well as they begin the task of carrying out the wishes of the American people as expressed at the ballot box.  This is an historic day for our country, and a new beginning for our elected leaders in Congress.  May God bless them, and continue to bless the United States of America.  

Next week, a vote to repeal ObamaCare will be a promise kept by the new Republican majority in Congress. 

The Republican leadership of the U.S. House has set Wednesday, January 12^th as the day to vote on a repeal of the health care law.  The repeal legislation is said to be a brief document that revokes the law – a stark contrast to the thousand page behemoth the Democrats passed last year over the objections of the American people. 

The top priority of the newly elected Republicans in Congress is to protect and create jobs.  And one of the best and quickest ways to preserve jobs is to immediately repeal ObamaCare and the job killing provisions it carries with it.  The new taxes and penalties in the health care law, and the provisions that penalize small businesses from growing too large, will prolong our economic difficulty and make it more difficult for small businesses to invest in themselves and grow.    

The vote next Wednesday is just the first step in the long road to final repeal of ObamaCare.  But it is a step worth taking to protect American jobs and live up to the trust of the American people. 

Bowing to pressure from Republican members of Congress, and finally recognizing the new reality that will see a Republican Speaker of the House next year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has pulled his massive 1,000 page, $1.1 trillion spending bill from consideration on the floor of the Senate. 

The bill Harry Reid was trying to force on the American people would have amounted to nearly $575 million in spending per page and would have represented an increase in spending of $174 billion over the levels of two years ago.  Even worse, the bill would have spent $1 billion to implement ObamaCare at a time when unemployment has lingered over 9.4 percent for 19 consecutive months. 

If the American people had not spoken so loudly at the polls last month, this legislative monstrosity almost certainly would be headed for the president’s desk right now.  Instead, Democrats have been forced to go back to the drawing board to develop a short term extension of federal spending until the new Congress is seated in January. 

If just the prospect of a Republican majority in the House forced the Democrats’ hand and protected the taxpayers this week, imagine what the reality of a new Republican majority will mean when Congress reconvenes next month.  The American people voted in November for a Congress that will treat the taxpayers with respect.  Next month, they may finally have it.         

Even after that historic loss at the polls, the Democrats continue to spend like there is no tomorrow.  Senate Democrats, pushing to enact their pet projects into law before Republicans take over the House in January, are now trying to create a showdown on Saturday to force a vote on their $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill.  The legislation, which combines the twelve annual appropriations bills that Congress must approve every year, includes more than 6,000 earmarks and would spend more than $1 billion to implement provisions of ObamaCare.

The American people can see that the Democrats in Congress are refusing to treat their tax dollars with the respect they deserve.  According to new Gallup polling, just 13% of the American people approve of the way Congress is handling its job.  The 83% disapproval rating is the lowest Gallup has measured in more than 30 years.  It is no accident that the Pelosi Congress is setting records for disapproval from the American people. 

And at the same time that Democrats in the Senate try to rush a vote on a thousand page, $1.1 trillion spending bill, Democrats in the House are actively working to block passage of a bill that would make sure that taxes don’t go up for every American on January 1^st.  With their last week in control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats are looking to boost spending with one hand and raise taxes with the other.  The Democrats either didn’t hear the message delivered by the American people at the polls last month, or they are ignoring what they were told.  Either way, the Democrats have proven once again that they just don’t get it, and that their time in control of both chambers of Congress can’t end soon enough. 

Led by Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Democrats yesterday filed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill totaling at least 1,924 pages.  The bill comes on the heels of the Democrats’ failure to produce either a budget or  spending bills for most of the departments of the federal government – including appropriations bills for the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security.  Included in the bill is an estimated $5.4 billion for new labor, education and health spending, and $1.25 billion in spending related to the implementation of ObamaCare. 

This attempt to rush another trillion dollar, thousand page bill into law is just another instance of the Democrats refusing to listen to the American people.  The message delivered by the voters last month was loud and clear.  They have had enough wasteful Washington spending and they reject the federal takeover of health care that will give bureaucrats power over decisions best made between families and their physicians. 

True to form even to the last, the Democrats continue to ignore the wishes of the people.  The people want fiscal discipline and belt tightening from Congress.  Instead, Democrats in the Senate are offering one last parting gift to the taxpayers before they leave Washington for the year – another bloated spending bill that will create even more debt for future generations to repay.

The heart of President Obama’s health reform law is a provision that forces citizens to buy health insurance whether they want to or not.  U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that this mandate on citizens goes beyond Congress’ enumerated powers to regulate interstate commerce.  The ruling today came in a case separate from a legal challenge brought on similar grounds by 20 other states. 

Republicans in Congress, and governors and attorneys general in states across the country, have long known that ObamaCare is an unconstitutional government intrusion into decisions best made by families and physicians.  Democrats in Congress, spurred on by Nancy Pelosi and President Obama, ignored these concerns during the debate over the bill and forced its enactment.

Now, as the American people learn more and more about the new law, the truth behind it becomes clear.  ObamaCare was written in secret and forced to a vote before many members of Congress were given an opportunity to even read it.  The mandates and penalties in the bill represent a clearly unconstitutional intrusion into the lives of the American people. 

The road to repeal and replacement of ObamaCare will be long, and will likely require a victory in the United States Supreme Court.  But today, the first battle was won by defenders of our Constitution and believers in the first principles of the founders of our nation.   

One of the chief reasons for this lack of confidence is the lack of certainty that the Pelosi Congress and the Obama White House have provided for America’s small businesses.  New mandates and regulations are revealed within ObamaCare almost weekly, and liberal Democrats in Congress continue to block efforts to extend the Bush tax cuts for every American. 

Liberal House Democrats, fired up in their efforts to make sure every American suffers a tax hike at the end of this month, went so far yesterday as to start chanting, “Just say no!” at the prospect of holding a floor vote on extending the Bush tax cuts.  New reports continue to indicate that the Pelosi Congress could use its final days in the majority to block any deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for job creators and small businesses. 

Faced with a Democrat majority in Congress that focused much of the past year on a massive takeover of health care, and continues to work to protect the tax hikes scheduled to take place at the end of this month, it is little wonder that the confidence of the American people is low.  With unemployment near 10 percent and home values continuing to drop, the last thing the American people need is higher taxes. 

The American taxpayers deserve to be treated with respect.  They deserve a Congress that will work to create jobs and lower the tax burden of individuals and small businesses.  The lack of confidence the American public has in the Democrats in Congress is well justified, and is the key reason that a new Republican majority is ready to be sworn in this January. 

Throughout the debate over ObamaCare, the president and his allies argued that the government would not take away a person’s health coverage under his health reform plan.  What he failed to tell the people is that ObamaCare would create rules and regulations that make it more and more difficult for employers to continue to offer health coverage to their employees.

As it became clear that the burdensome red tape ObamaCare creates would force private employers to consider dropping employee coverage entirely, the Obama Administration sprung into action to provide waivers out of the bill’s provisions.  As a spokesman for one of the companies set to receive a waiver put it, “The new legislation would have left our part-time workers without their medical coverage."

The sad fact is that these waivers are necessary because of the avalanche of unintended consequences contained within ObamaCare – consequences that likely would have been avoided had Democrats sought Republican cooperation as the bill was being drafted.  Instead, the Pelosi Congress and the Obama White House wrote their own health bill behind closed doors.

Democrats in Congress paid a political price last month for their stubborn refusal to listen to the wishes of the American people on health reform.  Unfortunately, it is the taxpayers who will be paying the bill for the mistakes of the Democrats for years to come – or until a new Republican majority in Congress is able to repeal and replace the federal health takeover. 

In the same week that saw another ugly jobs report, Democrats in both the House and Senate voted for legislation that would raise taxes on job creators by hundreds of billions of dollars and pull money out of the economy that could be used by small business owners to invest and hire new employees. 

According to the new unemployment figures for November released last week, the economy created just 39,000 jobs last month – or about 100,000 less than it needs to in order to keep up with population growth.  The unemployment rate now stands at 9.8 percent, showing that the economy is faltering rather than gaining strength. 

The reason the economy is stumbling to get back on track is clear – Democrats in Congress and the White House have created enormous uncertainty for small business owners regarding future tax rates and are making it more difficult to invest and hire new employees. 

Despite this, the response of Congressional Democrats to the weak unemployment data was a vote to raise taxes on job creators.  Instead of moving quickly to provide certainty for small business owners and make sure they have more money to invest and grow their businesses, Democrats instead chose to delay final votes on extending all of the Bush tax cuts in order to placate the most liberal wing of their party. 

The millions of unemployed Americans have no more time for political games.  The millions of small business owners struggling to make ends meet are running out of days until taxes go back up on January 1^st.  The American people spoke loud and clear with their votes last month about what they wanted from Congress.  It is time for the Pelosi Congress to listen. 

Yesterday, the Democrats in the U.S. House provided even more evidence that they failed to hear the message delivered by the voters.  Instead of taking action to cut government spending and tighten the federal belt, they voted instead to pass another temporary spending measure funding the government through the middle of December.  Once again, the Democrats showed themselves unable to make the hard choices that leadership requires. 

And while they continue to fiddle while the federal budget burns, House Democrats remain committed to blocking any effort to make the Bush tax cuts permanent for every American.  In a hastily called floor vote this afternoon, Democrats in the House voted to push their so called “Middle Class Tax Relief Act” forward, despite the fact that it would allow taxes to go up on about 750,000 small business owners at the end of this year.  Even worse, Democrats tucked into the bill provisions extending about $100 billion of government stimulus funding.    

Sadly, Democrats in Congress are using their last days in the majority in much the same way as they spent the previous four years – by passing the buck and sending the bill for their liberal agenda to future generations of American taxpayers.