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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 11:03 PM

WASHINGTON - A day after his indictment, Rep. Michael Grimm returned to Congress Tuesday but fellow Republicans did not roll out the welcome mat.

Arriving at his office, Grimm (R-Staten Island) cast himself as a victim, and vowed to fight federal charges he evaded taxes on a Manhattan restaurant he once owned.

"There are people that don't like Michael Grimm because Michael Grimm is outspoken," Grimm said. "I'm a Marine. I don't relent."

But Republican leaders began shutting off the support they have given Grimm.

Two House GOP aides said that the National Republican Congressional Committee booted Grimm from its "Patriot Program," which is designed to help Republicans in swing districts raise money.

An NRCC spokesman said Grimm was disinvited from a May 21 fundraiser for 10 Republicans in the program.

And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) passed up an invitation to defend Grimm.

Originally posted here:
Republicans shut off support to Grimm

The morning after the 2012 election, The Wall Street Journals front page carried this summary of the political landscape: A campaign year that began with great hope for Republicans.instead ended Tuesday night with the GOP in a cloud of gloom.

It wasnt just that Democratic President Barack Obama had won re-election. It was that he won even though his job approval had been stuck below 50% for months, and the unemployment rate had hovered around 8% for most of the year. He won relatively easily, holding intact the coalition of young, female and minority voters that first put him in the White House. A presidential campaign that once looked very winnable for the GOP had gone awry.

Many Republicans also believed they had blown a chance to reclaim control of the Senate, and blamed tea party activists who took control of the nominating process in some states and produced candidates who were easily caricatured as extremists. The partys most-energized activists, the party establishment felt, had undermined its fortunes.

Republicans had maintained control of the House. Even there, though, they had lost the national popular vote in House races to the Democrats, 48% to 47%. Only favorable mapping of congressional districts saved House control, small solace at a time when the GOP seemed to have had a legitimate chance to win the House, Senate and White House at once.

In the elections aftermath, the party wasnt in agreement on what the problem was. Some thought that, because Republican nominee Mitt Romney had lost despite winning more white votes than any GOP candidate since the 1980s, the outcome was a sign that the party needed to broaden its coalition to include more young and minority voters. Others urged a recommitment to conservative principles that would energize the partys existing base.

Such disappointments and disagreements can set a party into a bout of soul-searching. Thats exactly what happened to the Republicans, who embarked on perhaps the most public period of introspection by either party since Democrats tried to regroup after Richard Nixon destroyed George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.

Get the rest of this story, and a collection of The Wall Street Journals coverage of the Republican Partys effort to reclaim both houses of Congress, in the free e-book: The Right Way? Republicans Rethink, Reload for 2014.

Original post:
Republicans Rethink, Reload: Free WSJ E-Book

Politics-watchers could be forgiven for thinking Marlin Stutzman has the 2014 campaign in the bag already. He's rolling through his second term in office. At the end of March, he had $430,000 available to stage a race. Better yet for the incumbent, he has a strongly Republican district as a venue in which to stage that re-election race.

Not everyone's convinced. Stutzman faces two Republicans who oppose him in the primary, and three Democrats are competing for the chance to face off against the Republican winner in November.

Several of those in the congressional primary who aren't the incumbent say Congress is a stagnant flop, incapable of governing, but Stutzman says he's still enthusiastic. Republicans who hold the majority in the House of Representatives have accomplished more than they're routinely credited with.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is a prime example. Noting the scores of times the House has voted to repeal the law without seeing it repealed is a standard measure of the prevailing haplessness in Congress. But Stutzman points out that through Congressional pressure (as well as many acts of litigation) the law has been sharply constrained.

By his count earlier this year, the Congress had forced 15 changes in Obamacare, the Supreme Court decision in 2013 brought two major changes and President Obama's administration itself has changed deadlines, rules and requirements 20 times.

Simply put, it's death by a thousand cuts, he said.

More broadly, Stutzman sees three looming priorities that Congress and the nation need to tackle:

*The nation's debt. Although the annual deficit has recently dropped because of the spending cuts imposed by the sequestration deal and the tax cuts that lapsed, people shouldn't assume that improvement will continue. If interest rates go up at all, it's going to blow, he said.

*Tax policy. The nation's economy is ready to grow, Stutzman said, but that growth is going to be hobbled if taxes aren't reduced.

*Medicare. The biggest part of constraining future budget growth is restraining the growth of Medicare spending as more Baby Boomers age into eligibility for the federal insurance program.

See the original post here:
Three Republicans, three Democrats lined up for a chance at Congress

By Niels Lesniewski Posted at 4:50 p.m. on April 29, 2014

Five House Republicans from Louisiana want to see the states Senate delegation try to delay confirmation of Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be Health and Human Services secretary until they get assurances about equitable enforcement of health care law provisions.

Its likely to be an ill-fated exercise, one thats clearly about pressuring Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu.

Families across Louisiana have faced cancelled health insurance plans, rising health insurance premiums, and the loss of access to doctors and hospitals while watching the Administration pick political favorites through selective exemptions from the ACA. It is wholly unfair for families to still be threatened with penalties from the IRS at the same time as insurance companies and businesses are granted unilateral relief, the letter said. Please join us in calling for fairness for all under the law by placing a hold on Ms. Burwells nomination until she agrees to provide equitable treatment for all Americans under the Affordable Care Act.

In a brief interview with CQ Roll Call, lead signatory Steve Scalise, R-La., suggested that, Burwell might pledge to expand a hardship exemption under Obamacare to everyone.

Clearly President Obama has not enforced the law fairly and neither has Secretary [Kathleen] Sebelius, Scalise said of the outgoing HHS leader. Theyve left regular hardworking taxpayers in a lurch.

Weve asked our two senators to seek a hold if she doesnt in fact make that commitment, he said.

Scalise and his fellow Louisiana Republicans are making a request that lacks teeth to stop or even significantly delay Burwells confirmation. In aftermath of last years deployment of the nuclear option to effectively change Senate rules with a simple majority vote, only a majority is needed to get a Cabinet secretary through to confirmation.

That means even a united GOP front in the Senate using Burwell as a proxy in the battle over what Republicans view as improper executive actions to make changes to the health care law would not imperil her confirmation.

With 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, a hold from Sen. David Vitter, R-La., would seem unlikely to hold water.

Read the rest here:
Louisana Republicans Push 'Hold' on Burwell Nomination

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