Just a few little tidbits from Washington concerning the state of our finances.   Yes, it does sound like a joke and I am so sorry, but this is the way our elected officials are going about doing nothing, NOTHING AT ALL.  In the meantime the President continues to lie out of both sides of his mouth every time he opens his mouth.  I just love him claiming that the United States has produced more oil under his administration that ever before.  What he doesn’t say is that that is true only because President Bush made all the right moves to get our own oil resources open to Americans by drilling!

We are also in up to our ears in the Middle East and the wars going on over there.  All thanks to the Muslim loving America hating President of the United States.  BB

Item 1)    The Dodd-Frank duet: The Wall Street overhaul is set to get double the scrutiny, double the fun at a pair of House hearings on Tuesday.

At the House Financial Services Committee, the oversight subcommittee will explore both the explicit and implicit costs stemming from Dodd-Frank. A GOP presentation making its way around Capitol Hill this week indicated that the various federal agencies charged with implementing the law are looking at more than 2,800 new hires and nearly $1 billion a year in costs. (Worth noting: Taxpayers are not on the hook for that whole amount, as several of the agencies get funds through various revenue sources, not taxpayer funding.) Officials from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Congressional Budget Office and Federal Reserve are all slated to testify.  (Not true that tax payers will not be on the hook for the entire  cost because no matter where it comes from the money will find its way out of our pockets you better believe.  BB)

Elsewhere, a House Oversight subcommittee will delve into whether Dodd-Frank succeeded in its mission of ending the “too big to fail” problem. In its final report, a congressionally appointed watchdog for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) worried that the bailouts may have ingrained that mentality, while the Treasury has insisted Dodd-Frank created the tools that will prevent the need for such rescues in the future.

 

Item 2) Bill Ayers, Obama’s terrorist chronie  from the 1`960′s is now touring the Middle East with his wife  making speeches about his belief that other countries should have the right to vote for the American President.   Yes!  It’s true!  Glenn Beck has it on tape and video.

 

Item 3)

Union tells federal workers to ‘set the record straight’ on GOP cuts

By Kevin Bogardus - 03/29/11 03:28 PM ET

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) released a radio ad Tuesday urging federal workers to voice their opposition to House Republicans’ budget cuts amid worries about a possible government shutdown.

The effort by the largest federal worker union, which has 600,000 members, comes as another deadline funding the government looms over Congress and the White House. If a bill funding the government is not passed by the end of next week, the government will shut down.

In the radio ad, AFGE, a member of the AFL-CIO, calls on federal workers to “set the record straight” by telling lawmakers that they provide essential services to Americans, such as keeping Social Security offices open and making sure food and water are clean and safe.

“Call — then visit — your congressman and senators. Tell them who you are and what you do. Just tell them the truth. It’s about time somebody did,” the radio ad says.

AFGE is taking aim at the House Republicans’ continuing resolution, which will cut $61 billion in the federal budget for the rest of this year. John Gage, the union’s national president, said those cuts would force agencies “to lay off or furlough tens of thousands of federal workers.”

“These budget cuts will decimate federal programs and services but won’t make a dent in the massive budget deficit, which was the result of two unfunded wars, the stock market collapse and trillion-dollar bailouts and tax breaks for corporations,” Gage said in a statement.

The union said the radio ad will air on nearly 100 radio stations in two dozen locations across the country.  (  How nice so now we can expect to see the rioting that took place in Wisconsin and Indiana to be happening in Washington  during the next couple weeks.    Yes sirree, all those federal government workers our tax dollars are paying these  salaries higher than ours and benefits  greater than we get will take the time we are paying them for to riot for even higher wages and benefits because Trumpka and Andy Stern and our Union Leader in Chief Obama  is urging them to do so.  BB)

Item 4)   White House repeats veto threat for HAMP elimination bill

By Peter Schroeder - 03/29/11 11:25 AM ET

The Obama administration is reiterating its threat to veto a GOP bill that would kill one of its major housing relief programs.

The House is due to consider legislation that would eliminate the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) Tuesday, but the White House said it would likely veto the bill if it made it to the president’s desk.

“As tens of thousands of responsible American homeowners struggling with their mortgages receive permanent assistance each month from HAMP, the Administration believes that continuation of HAMP is important to the Nation’s sustained economic recovery,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement of administration policy.

The statement mirrored one issued March 15 for the same bill.

The veto threat marks the latest from the White House, as House Republicans have pushed to dismantle the administration’s housing relief programs, calling them wasteful and ineffective.

HAMP in particular has failed to meet original expectations for the program. Designed to help 3 million to 4 million struggling homeowners modify their mortgages, the programs thus far has created just over 600,000 modifications.

The House GOP is pushing a package of four bills, which each would eliminate one housing program. The administration has threatened to veto each of them.

House Democrats have fought the bills. In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, 50 Democrats called on the administration to fix HAMP, strongly opposing the Republican efforts to shutter it.

 

Item 5) Ways and Means panel to look at duplicative programs

By Bernie Becker - 03/29/11 05:29 PM ET

A House Ways and Means subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday on a report that found close to three dozen areas where the government had duplicative or overlapping programs. (Actually it was more like 150 ineffective and overlaping programs!  BB)

The Government Accountability Office released its report on the wasteful spending several weeks ago. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who attached an amendment to a debt ceiling vote last year requiring the report, has estimated the GAO had dug up ways to potentially save at least $100 billion.

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Human Resources, said his panel’s hearing would concentrate on any overlap in welfare-related programs.

“Congress needs to review current programs to see how we can reduce that duplication and deliver better services to those who need them,” Davis said in a statement.

 

Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) – the House majority leader and minority whip, respectively – are also teaming up with Coburn in a bipartisan and bicameral effort to examine government waste.

The GAO report found 34 areas where the government programs overlapped and another 47 where Congress could reasonably consider cost-cutting measures.

The 34 areas included the food safety system, Justice Department explosives investigations, teacher quality programs and ethanol programs.  (The Democrats and Obama are against any of these cuts of course.  BB)

 

Item 6)     This next item is about AARP.  I have never and will never be a member of this organization.  AARP is a for profit organization who uses seniors to promote their programs.  They have no interest except making money.  they backed Obamacare because Obamacare did away with Medicare Advantage which then made AARP’s program the only game in town!  BB)

Picking a fight with the seniors’ lobby: The GOP’s attack against AARP for its support of healthcare reform takes off Wednesday when Ways and Means Republicans release a report that purports to detail “the conflict between AARP’s drive for profits, the best interests of its members and the organization’s tax exempt status.”

Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), Wally Herger (R-Calif.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) will release “Behind the Veil: The AARP America Doesn’t Know” ahead of a Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on AARP Friday afternoon. The GOP in particular accuses AARP of supporting cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) because they stand to gain as seniors shift from MA into Medigap supplemental insurance plans endorsed by the association.

AARP officials said Tuesday they haven’t seen the report, but dispute the notion that they’re hiding anything.

“We can’t comment on a report we haven’t read,” AARP spokesperson Drew Nannis said in a statement Tuesday, “but based on what’s already been released we flatly reject any implication that AARP is driven by anything other than our mission to improve the lives for all Americans as they age.”

Tax that man behind the tree: Hospital groups are warning that the healthcare reform law’s fee on medical devices will get passed on to them — and their patients. In fact, they argue, medical device makers could make out like bandits when all is said and done. Read the Healthwatch story.

 

Item 7) Stop implementation, groups say: A group of more than 250 trade associations are backing a senator’s plan to halt healthcare reform implementation until legal challenges are completely settled.

 

The StartOver! Coalition, which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, says it is “prudent” to block implementation efforts as the courts hash out the constitutionality of healthcare reform.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is sponsoring an amendment to a small-business bill that would halt the law’s implementation until the courts have their final say; she has 36 GOP senators on board. Healthwatch’s Jason Millman has the story.  (Of course Rep. Michele Bachmann uncovered several hiddent within the bill itself allocations of funds to implement Obamacare that Obama and Pelosi and Reid managed to sneak into the actual bill.  BB)

Item 8) Waiver madness: Capitalizing on the thousand-plus waivers the Obama administration has granted for a healthcare reform provision, a coalition of anti-reform groups are launching a website that encourages like-minded individuals to ask for an exemption from the individual mandate, employer mandate and other pieces the groups hate. The site, wheresmywaiver.com, is backed by Let Freedom Ring USA, Americans for Tax Reform, 60 Plus, Heritage Action and more.  (I wonder if We the People can get a waiver?  BB)

This time I think Eight is truly enough for today.  BB