RightWingNews.com: An Interview with Thaddeus McCotter, Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee About The GOP Fiscal Integrity Task Force

Late last week, I got together with Thaddeus McCotter, Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee to talk about the new GOP Fiscal Integrity Task Force that has been announced in the House. I'm always happy to talk with McCotter because he's one of the good guys in Congress -- friendly to blogs and the grassroots, and a sharp thinker when it comes to conservative principles.

What follows is a slightly edited transcript of our discussion.

Earmarks are a big bone of contention even though, percentage wise, they're a very small factor in the deficit. John McCain has said that he wants to eliminate earmarks. Do you anticipate that being something the GOP's Fiscal Integrity Task Force will support?

The first thing we're going to do is look at the definition of earmarks, because there are several floating around. I think McCain's position is important, as is the work of members like Jeff Flake, Jeb Hensarling -- to use this as a symbol of government overspending.

What will also have to be addressed is what takes the place of earmarks. As you'll remember, the reason that earmarks took off in the Gingrich era was because bureaucrats were spending taxpayers' money and bureaucrats and civil servants are unaccountable and unelected. That meant there was nothing that could be done about their bad decisions. So Gingrich, in trying to empower the electorate and the Congressional branch that actually appropriates the money, wanted to bring the accountability down so that if you don't like what your member is doing, you actually have recourse. What broke down though, is the self-policing mechanism, I think.

So, from our point of view, what we want to do is define what earmarks are in a way that makes sense and can help address the problem. Then secondly, if earmarks are banished, how do you prevent the bureaucrats from spending them? So, we have to identify the solution properly, diagnose it, and then go treat it.

...Again, as you point out, the percentage of the spending isn't as important as the symbolism of it. I am like you, hoping that McCain gets elected, as opposed to his two rivals on the Democratic side -- because as we've seen from the Democratic Congress, they've not paid any attention to earmarks other than when we make a stink about it, then they give it lip service and hope it goes away....

...The public should be aware of what the new Democratic Majority wants to do with your money. I think it could be reduced down to one simple phrase: the Democrats take and waste strategy. ...Because they seem to think that every dime government spends right now is so perfectly spent that they have to raise people's taxes to do all this wonderful redistribution of wealth. We would argue as Republicans -- something of a lost art for the last couple of years -- that in fact the government does not appropriately spend every dime of your hard earned money that it takes and the first place they should look is in the waste, fraud, and abuse that's going on in the unfortunately overexpansive promises and entitlements that the government has made....That's the place to start. You don't start by promising to spend money because everything is done properly; you start by looking at the reality that the government wastes a lot of your money and you should always (cut) that before you go looking for (more money).

I have never voted for a tax increase because I have yet to find a governmental entity that doesn't, in one way, shape, or form, have a better way of dealing with your money and treating it in the fiduciary manner it's supposed to....

Now, in your opinion -- people have tried to do this many times before and failed -- what's the most realistic way for us to go about cutting entitlement spending?

Well, I think the way that they've done it is that they've tried to kick the ball down the field. You have to have a realistic assessment of what the global age is going to require and when you look at it, in the past, in the industrial age...there was kind of a deal struck. The corporations would pick up some of the future pensions and health care benefits of employees and the government would fill in the gaps to maintain social order and a social safety net. With globalization, what we're finding is that companies tend to become more multi-national and virtual in their headquarters. The result is that the paradigm between splitting the pensions and health care benefits between the private sector and public sector is breaking down.

What we would argue as Republicans is that you start from the fundamental premise is how you empower Americans to take care of their own needs in the future so that they do not become governmental dependents. That's a fundamental debate we're having with the Democratic Party.

...So, we want to take the premise of "how do you empower people to control their own destiny" and apply it to entitlement programs that were set up under the entitlement programs of Lyndon Johnson...and Franklin Roosevelt, where they firmly believed they could do it with the government on a limited basis because the private entities would also be there as a safety net...that's gone. So, we're trying to look at it through an entirely new prism.

John McCain is advocating a "one-year pause in discretionary spending growth that should be used for a top-to-bottom review of the effectiveness of federal programs." You think that's something Republicans in the House should support?

I think it's great, especially in the sense that the FIT task force is kind of getting a head start on that so that we will be able to come in with ideas to help the McCain Administration as they freeze spending and get it up and running.

...McCain's right. Unless you figure out what's going on, you're going to see the Democrats continue to tempt people to give away their liberty and prosperity in return for government benefits and that has to stop. I think that the one year McCain freeze on discretionary spending can be very helpful to let Americans realize what the real choice is between parties. It's either that their future will be moving towards individual liberty, empowerment, and prosperity or towards government dependency.

Another McCain proposal is that it should "require a 3/5 majority vote in Congress to raise taxes." You think the GOP would support that overwhelmingly?
Absolutely. We're reaching a very dangerous point. I think the Christian Science monitor reported (that more than half of Americans receive significant revenue from the federal government). Also, you see studies that show half of all federal tax filers only pay 3.5% of revenues. If you reach a point where people consider higher taxes a boon rather than a burden, our entire exercise in self-government and our free republic is going to be in danger. I would argue that the harder you make it for the government to take what you make, the better off you're going to be.

Pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment would send a powerful signal about the GOP's seriousness on fiscal conservatism. Is that something you think might happen?
Absolutely. There are people who say that it will never happen. But, we live in a country that has seen the Constitution amended so that slavery has been abolished, so that women have the right to vote, and I think those were a lot harder things to do than to just ask politicians not to waste your money and run up deficits...We always hear arguments from people about how something can't be done, but if we would have listened to that, we'd probably still have 13 colonies.

What issues do you think the pundits and bloggers are not spending enough time on in the spending front?
I think that they're doing it pretty well, but I always like to point out one fundamental thing: the Democrats told us Washington spent too much money, they got elected, and then they immediately spent more.

So, I think what would be helpful is if people had instances or ideas about government spending that they wanted to send to the Fiscal Integrity Task Force, send them to the House Policy Website or post them, because we check the blogs. Give your ideas to us; now's a great time! Also, ...if they think their Congressman would be a good member of a FIT task force, encourage them to join us. The more the merrier...

John Hawkins
Right Wing News

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Rep. McCotter on America's Energy Situation

Transcript:
Mr. McCOTTER. I appreciate that. Thank you. We have a fundamental agreement and yet a disagreement. I think that everyone can see that there are three key elements to America's energy situation: Production, conservation, and innovation. We all agree on conservation. We'd like to see America more energy efficient, and we differ on whether or not what the extreme would be in terms of conservation. Republicans generally would hope that they would be community-oriented conservation, recognizing
these tiny ripples of hope, citizen engagement in protecting their local environment would be the most efficacious way to deal with this situation rather than pass an overarching bill in Washington, with no citizen participation and only hope and more regulation, taxation, and burden upon America's industry and upon the American people.

In the area of innovation it is a very stark difference. Our side of the aisle believes that the free market and the genius of the American people will come up with the innovative solutions necessary to move us toward green fuels and a cleaner environment. The other side of the aisle believes the government knows best, and if they just capture enough revenues from the hardworking American people, they will then determine what ideas will work and will not work and force them upon the market.

But it is most noticeable in the area of production where the two sides differ. We believe production is essential. The gentleman from Iowa has properly laid out we live in a global economy. Supply and demand are the keys to the crisis today. If America does not produce more energy from its own sources, the cost will continue to go up because the supply will remain constricted, if not finite, and the demand will continue to grow from developing countries such as Communist China, India, and others.


What we believe is necessary is a declaration of energy independence which, like our own country's Declaration of Independence, recognizes that it would not happen overnight, it would not be easy; it would require sacrifice, and yet together we would get there.

We need to continue to produce domestic energy as we transition through a free market-based approach to innovations that will get us to a green energy policy and through the community-based conservation that will help foster and perpetuate energy efficiencies within our communities, within our homes.

Now the difference between these two policies is clear in the chart that the gentleman from Iowa has put before us. As someone who does not come from Iowa, but from Michigan, once known as the arsenal of democracy, a proud manufacturing State, the State that put the world on wheels, we see what the cost of energy does. It is not an abstract number, it is a situation which causes an intense amount of pain and anxiety to the constituents of my district and the constituents of my State.

Manufacturing requires energy. We know the manufacturing sector has been decimated by unfair trade competition and other unfortunate policies. Yet, when you take the cost of energy on top of it, you are almost signaling the death knell of the manufacturing base as we know it and as we would like to preserve it, because that cost of energy, as it rises, is put into everything the manufacturer must do. And in the age of global competition, it becomes increasingly difficult for the manufacturer
to keep his costs down, his fixed overhead rising, and in the end, there comes the push, especially from the tier one and tier two suppliers, the push comes from above to either eat the cost or send it offshore.

We also are starting to see what the government dictates in terms of innovation with the emphasis on ethanol and others is we are beginning to hear stories about food shortages in the United States, we are now beginning to hear about how the cost of basic staple commodities is rising. Again, in our economy today, which is slowing down, the cost of energy, the cost of gasoline in particular is the cause. In my mind, this is the cause. Because it is one important commodity that is continuing to
go up in price without any relief in sight, and it also has spillover costs to all of the other commodities related to it.

There is nothing that does not wind up on your kitchen table that does not require energy to produce and transport. There is nothing in your home that you turn on, your Internet, or anywhere else, that does not require energy. As the cost of energy goes up, the cost of everything goes up. If we do not help increase the supply of energy, the costs will continue to rise, the American people will continue to suffer.

Now there will be an attempt, because evidently production conservation and innovation in a sound way is not palatable to some in this chamber, indeed a majority, there would be the attempt to shift the blame for the rising costs of energy to the producers. I am no fan of any multinational corporation. But then, again, I am not their executioner either. Because I remember what Ronald Reagan once said, Corporations are not taxpayers, corporations are tax collectors.

You want a windfall profits tax, you want a punitive tax on oil companies, energy producers, you can do it. And where are these energy producers and oil companies going to get that revenue from? They are going to pass the cost right onto the American people at their pumps, because Americans right now cannot survive without driving their cars to work. They cannot survive without energy. It would seem to me that these are simple lessons that we should have learned in our youth.

Then it occurred to me as I watch my children grow up, we have an entire generation of voters that were not alive in the 1970s. They did not live through the OPEC oil crisis, they did not live through taxation upon energy producers, they did not live through the syn fuels, where government raised taxes, put money in a fund, handed it out and we were going to be energy independent, or when Jimmy Carter went on TV and declared that by turning down the thermostat to 68, this was the moral equivalent
to war.

The gentleman from Iowa and I have in the past talked about our love of history and its need to be taught in the schools. Because anyone with a remote understanding of the 1970s would understand that the failed policies of the 1970s are inadequate to meet the pressing energy needs of today. What we need is a 21st century energy strategy, not a failed 1970s Jimmy Carter policy that actually helped pave the way toward more energy dependence in America.

So I thank the gentleman for what he is doing today, and I would encourage my colleagues to go back and look at what was tried before and failed and then perhaps they would be more amenable to coming across the aisle in joining with us to try to take concrete steps to alleviate not only the rising cost of energy but the rising cost of everyday life that is associated with it.

I yield back to the gentleman from Iowa.

Boehner Announces Plans to Form GOP Fiscal Integrity Task Force for Comprehensive Attack on Government Waste

House GOP Policy Committee Chairman McCotter Tapped to Head Task Force; Members to Be Appointed in Coming Days


WASHINGTON, DC – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today announced plans to form a special GOP task force to identify and fight for spending reforms “that will get government off Americans’ backs and out of their wallets.” The Leader’s Fiscal Integrity Task Force (“FIT Force”) will be headed by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.

“Americans are tired of Washington wasting their hard-earned money while they’re getting squeezed by the rising cost of living,” Boehner said. “Republicans are the party of fiscal integrity, and we’re going to prove it to Americans by fighting as a team for reforms that will get government off their backs and out of their wallets.”

“We need to attack the problem of wasteful spending in its entirety, from earmarks to entitlement spending, and everything in between,” Boehner added. “I appreciate Thad’s willingness to lead this task force, and I look forward to appointing a broad cross-section of members from throughout our Conference to serve on it.”

The goal for the task force, Boehner said, will be to put fiscal integrity into government budgeting, taxing, and spending, and to demand that Congress run the federal government like a family budget.

Boehner noted the task force will not be starting from scratch, but rather will be able to draw from work already done by the Policy Committee, House Republicans’ internal “Reasons to Believe” working groups, Republican committee members, and others, in addition to incorporating new solutions.

McCotter Votes to Ensure Continued Access to Student Loans for American Families

WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), House Republican Policy Chairman, applauded the passage of bi-partisan bill to ensure the economic downturn does not deter students from accessing financial aid needed to pay for college.

McCotter voted for the legislation, The Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (H.R. 5715), which increases the limits on federal school loans and grants. The bill provides new safeguards to ensure families have uninterrupted access to federal college loans in the event that stress on the economy leads to reduced availability to student loans and lending activity. The bill carries no additional cost for taxpayers.

“Especially here in Michigan, families have been hurt by the economy. With millions of American families budgeting for college costs, we must ensure students can still receive a higher education,” said McCotter. “They are both our future and our hope.”

In recent months, the crisis in the nation's credit markets has made it difficult for some lenders that participate in the federally guaranteed student loan program to secure the capital needed to finance their student lending activity.

H.R. 5715 would:

*Reduce borrowers' reliance on costlier private college loans by increasing the annual loan limits on federal college loans by $2,000 for all students, and by increasing the aggregate (the total loan limit over the course of a student's education) loan limits to $31,000 for dependent undergraduates and $57,500 for independent undergraduates;

*Give parent borrowers more time to begin paying off their federal PLUS loans by providing them with the option to defer repayment until up to six months after their children leave school – giving families more flexibility in hard economic times;

*Help struggling homeowners pay for college by ensuring that short-term delinquencies in mortgage payments and medical bills don't prohibit otherwise eligible parents from being able to borrow parent PLUS loans;

*Clarify that existing law gives the U.S. Education Secretary the authority to advance federal funds to guaranty agencies in the event that they do not have sufficient capital to originate new loans, and allow guaranty agencies to carry out the functions of lender of last resort on a school-wide basis. Under the Higher Education Act, these guaranty agencies are obligated to serve as a nationwide network of lenders of last resort if requested to do so by the Education Secretary;

*Give the U.S. Education Secretary the temporary authority to purchase loans from lenders in the federal guaranteed loan program, ensuring that lenders continue to have access to capital to originate new loans. The Education Department would be authorized to purchase loans only if doing so would not result in a net cost for the federal government; and

*Include a Sense of Congress that calls on federal financial institutions, including the Federal Financing Bank, to consider using their current authorities to inject liquidity into the student loan marketplace at no cost to the taxpayer to ensure students and parents continue to have access to low-cost federal loans.

McCotter Bill Fights Illegal E-mail and Cell Phone SPAM

WASHINGTON D.C. – Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), House Republican Policy Chairman, has authored a bill to help fight unsolicited electronic mail, spam, in America’s inboxes and cell phones. HR. 5717, known as “Inform and Deter Spam Act” or “ID Spam Act” will strengthen the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ability to capture illegal spammers. It establishes a fund to prosecute spam case and also provide rewards to individuals who help identify and prosecute them.

“Spam is an irritating intrusion into Americans’ lives. Billions of spam messages infiltrate our personal inboxes infested with scams, frauds, attempts to steal our identities, images corrupting our children, and viruses aimed at damaging our computers.”

“Because computer technology is advancing so quickly, the Federal Trade Commission does not presently possess every necessary tool to stop spam. The ID SPAM Act will strengthen their ability to protect internet users and catch and convict illegal spammers,” said McCotter.

The ID Spam Act would implement some of the FTC’s recommendations and complies with the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act.

The ID Spam Act would allow the FTC to establish a fund to prosecute spam cases.  The FTC would have the authority to issue a reward no greater than $100,000 to individuals who help the FTC identify and prosecute high value, illegal spammers.  To be eligible for the reward, the informant would have to cooperate fully with the FTC and their information must lead to a civil judgment in the case.  Additionally, under the ID Spam Act all assets seized as part of a civil judgment would be returned to the spam fund.

The problems with SPAM:

*Spam’s new focus is identity theft, a scheme known as “phishing,” aimed at obtaining a recipient’s personal information. About 43% of the population has been targeted by phishing, costing consumers an estimated $1.2 billion in 2003. Experts believe “phishing attacks represent a collaboration of the world’s most skilled hackers and organized crime.”

*Pornographic spam hurts children. 1 in 5 children have received unwanted sexual solicitation e-mails in the past year. 20% of these children were “very or extremely upset” about receiving these messages. Over 67% of the unwanted exposure occurred at home.

*Scams via spam are rising. In 2007 Americans reported more then $240 million in losses in connection to internet crime.

*Spam is a burden and raises cost. Spam shifts the burden of cost on the receiver and the internet service provider. Recipients are forced to may more for a less efficient internet. Spam slows down message delivery and accessibility for all by usurping resources from legitimate service.

*Spam is bad for the economy costing U.S. business over $10 billion in 2003. It hurts businesses by making users less productive and forces companies to use resources to combat spam.

Rep. McCotter Co-Sponsors Unemployment Benefits Extension Bill

Bipartisan Effort Would Help Over 3 Million Jobless Americans

WASHINGTON D.C. - Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, (R-MI-11), House Republican Policy Chairman, co-sponsored H.R. 5749,  Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act, which extends unemployment benefits to help the American people weather the current economic downturn.

“We in Michigan have been suffering a one state depression.  Now, with the national economic outlook clouding, it is ever more imperative to help our workers through these difficult times,” said McCotter. 

“This bi-partisan legislation will extend vital unemployment benefits to temporarily unemployed workers, who are clinging to their American dream and desperately seeking opportunities in our state.”

The legislation would extend the 26 weeks of unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. It also provides states with higher unemployment, like Michigan, an additional 13 weeks (26 weeks total) of extended benefits.

During the last three months, the US economy has shed 232,000 jobs. The national unemployment currently sits at 5.1 percent and is expected to rise due to the sluggish economy. Michigan has an above average unemployment rate of 7.2 percent.

If passed H.R. 5749, Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act would:

*Immediately provide up to 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits in every State. 

*Provide an additional 13 weeks (for a total of 26) in States with high unemployment (six percent or higher)

*Be financed by the federal unemployment trust funds, which now have more than enough reserves to cover the cost.

The legislation was introduced earlier this month by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Rep. Phil English (R-PA).

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter Statement on White House Ceremony with Pope Benedict XVI

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, (R-MI-11), House Republican Policy Chairman, today attended a ceremony at the White House honoring Pope Benedict XVI.

“It was a blessing to be a part of the momentous occasion of Pope Benedict's visit to the White House.

“Like his predecessor, the Holy Father has struck a chord with the American people by serving as a humble servant of God, who is full of timeless wisdom.

“Pope Benedict reminded us how, during our earthly journey, we are compelled to promote the liberty and dignity of our fellow human beings. His message of renewal and hope touches people of all faiths and has a heartening effect for all humanity throughout our turbulent times.

“The Holy Father eloquently expressed the moral duty of public officials to serve the least of our brothers and sisters through a humane dialogue Founded upon faith and reason, the first principles upon which our free republic was founded.

People of all faiths should pray for the Holy Father; embrace his message of renewal and hope; and wish him a happy birthday.”

Shenanigans: The Rock 'N' Roll Congressman

McCotter: Still strummin’

Here’s how a conversation with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter starts out:

Us: “Hello, sir, thank you for speaking with me.”

Him: “Why, do people not really talk to you?”

He’s filled with these one-liners.

We’re talking to him about the spoken-word album he just gave out to his peers, called “Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda,” which is McCotter’s new way of sending out a press kit of sorts, only this one doesn’t have those bulky pages that no one reads. And it’s light as air.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the “rock ’n’ roll congressman,” as W calls him, is making CDs. As it’s known, McCotter plays in the Second Amendments — the bipartisan congressional rock and country band. Oddly, though, he says he likes to read.

“It’s a lot easier to get them to listen than to get them to read it,” he tells us, explaining why he gave his colleagues the CD. But his preference is reading. “I get yelled at all the time, so it’s nice to give the ears a rest.” But he’s just glad the GOP can have some fun again. “We had fun with it. Republicans haven’t had that for awhile. … We used to be hip and fun,” says the Michigan Republican.

Which is what the band’s for? “Yeah, Bush had us to the White House.” Pause. “Once.” Pause. “He learned his lesson!” he says with a laugh. “I blame it on [band member Rep. Collin] Peterson’s singing and his politics.”

But if McCain were to win, you guys could go back there, no? McCotter’s iffy. “Depends. McCain’s traditional Scotch-Irish, and he has a long memory. I probably won’t ever see the inside of the place.”

As for Obama, McCotter’s hopes are still dashed. “You think there’s a liberal media? How can I play guitar and he has a Grammy?”

President Bush Must Skip Communist Olympics

It's all the rage to say, "Our GOP has lost its way." It's quite beyond dispute, for the truth remains the truth.

Yet the stock recitation of selected symptoms -- spending, Iraq, Katrina, etc. -- omits a sinister affliction consuming the heirs of Lincoln and Reagan. The ravenous malady eclipsing our honor is this: Republicans coddle communist China.

No starker episode exhibits our anile need for a moral hospice before we slither into the dust bin of history than the one playing out before Americans' astonished eyes. Legacy building with the urgency of a dying Pharaoh staring at an unfinished Sphinx, George Walker Bush is bent upon being the first U.S. President to attend a foreign nation's Olympics. The nation in question is communist China, the shock troops of which are presently bludgeoning Tibetan Monks as if they were orange bathrobed baby seals. (One shudders at the prospect this Tibetan repression is the Chi-coms' sedulous sally into Olympic demonstration sports.)

Notwithstanding the Global Generation's remaining misanthropes' unsophisticated quibbling (i.e., me and mine), our Compassionate Conservative-in-Chief has eagerly RSVP'ed to the communist dictatorship's dramatic recreation of the Berlin Olympics. Given "The Decider's" resolve, hope dims we might disabuse his whimsy that watching a wobbling discus with the wanton butchers of Tiananmen Square can advance the sacred cause of human freedom. But we are duty-bound to the endeavor, lest as "history with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past" she finds us fallen from the ranks of honor.

Perhaps we could appeal to our President's historical sensibilities by reminding the Leader of the Free World that attending this evil regime's games will forever stain his legacy by depicting him as calloused to the subjugation of Tibet and sundry other communist abominations. Really, how would this generation of Americans esteem Franklin Roosevelt -- no slouch at setting Presidential precedents -- had he not let the cup of the Berlin Olympics pass from his nicotine stained lips and, instead, pursed them into a smirk with Der Fuerher for Leni Riefenstahl's lens.

Yes, this assumes Mr. Bush worries he may one day be regarded by posterity in the manner William Manchester recalled a discredited generation of sophisticated British "statesmen", save one:

"And as (Churchill's) debts mounted and his gloom deepened, England's indebtedness to Stanley Baldwin rose.in his final deed for the homeland, he joined Chamberlain in telling Tory MPs that if they felt they must deplore totalitarianism and aggression, they must not name names. It was important, he said, to avoid `the danger of referring directly to Germany at a time when we are trying to get on terms with that country.' Fleet Street cheered. So did Britain. These were men of peace."

In fairness, they were also the jackasses who paved a second road to Hell.

If such an appeal to history's verdict proves fruitless, we could remind our Commander-in-Chief communist China is:

Arming our enemies;
Engaging in espionage against us, including the use of cyber warfare;
Subjugating Tibet;
Abetting genocide in the Sudan;
Compelling a "One Child Policy" and forcing abortions amongst its people;
Committing predatory trade practices against us;
Denying their people's God-given human rights;
Subverting sovereign democracies;
Supporting their fellow dictatorships; and, generally,
Being an unsporting bastion of tyranny.

Could this partial recounting of the rogue regime's transgressions against our nation and others prove to the President that attending the communist Chinese Olympics will subvert the moral authority of his position as the Leader of the Free World -- a Free World which, along with the world's oppressed, will be watching and weighing his participation?

Could this enumeration of grievances against the Chi-coms help the Chief Executive glean that the President of the United States cannot attend these games as a passive spectator? (This is, after all, why the Chi-coms invited him.)

Could such a factual exposition convince Mr. Bush that attending their Olympics will reinforce our foreign policy "experts'" suicidal communist China "exception" and, in the event, make President Bush's political statement thus: "The United States is devoted to the self-evident truth every human being is endowed by their creator with the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- except in communist China"?

Given these right reasons, would the President reconsider, for the sake of our free republic's sovereign citizens; and for the sake all the world's enslaved and oppressed who, yearning to breathe free, believe our nation remains their beacon of liberty and bastion of hope?

Thus ends our lesson in rhetorical questions.

Ever the political masochist, I once circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to President Bush positing much of the above and requesting he not attend communist China's Olympics. Only a handful of brave souls signed my entreaty; undaunted, in September 2007 the missive flew. Certain I had affixed the correct address of Mr. Bush's taxpayer-subsidized housing, I am saddened to report he has not replied to this Congressional correspondence with the alacrity he did the Chi-coms' Olympic invite.

As the Year of the Rat scurries toward the opening ceremonies, however, I and my anti-communist ilk have not been idle. On April 1, I introduced H.R. 5668, which would bar any United States government official from attending the Beijing games' ceremonies. (Importantly, this legislation does not impact our athletes.) Oh, I know H.R. 5668 requires the President's signature or a Congressional over-ride of his veto to become law. Still, while it may not persuade the President to be "unavoidably otherwise occupied elsewhere in the world" during the communist Chinese Olympics, it will meet our moral imperative to our posterity, our country, and the cruel muse of History:

For when, once again, history's flickering lamp illumes our aged cheeks and strews her lengthening shadows across our fleeting existence, she will avow how the supporters of H.R. 5668 did "march always in the ranks of honor."

Pray she finds Republicans amongst them.

Papal Welcome Resolution by Rep. McCotter Passes Congress

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Republican House Policy Chairman, noted the passage of House Resolution 838 honoring His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first visit to the United States of America. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. McCotter, was unanimously passed this morning by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic visit to the United States is a uniquely historical moment. It has been twenty nine years since the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and Vatican Head of State has visited the White House, and it is the first visit by Pope Benedict to the United States. All Americans should eagerly look forward to his message of hope and renewal."

Congressman McCotter will meet with His Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI on April 16 during a White House visit. Washington D.C. is the Pope’s first stop during his inaugural visit to the United State of America.

NOTE: The full text of the H. Res. 838 is below


House Resolution 838

Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

DECEMBER 4, 2007


Mr. MCCOTTER submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs


RESOLUTION


Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

Whereas Joseph Alois Ratzinger ascended to the Papacy and chose the name Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005, becoming the 265th reigning Pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church;

Whereas he was born and baptized on April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany;

Whereas he was required to leave seminary at the age of 16 and forced into military service for Nazi Germany;

Whereas he risked grave danger by defecting from the Nazi anti-aircraft corps in 1945 and subsequently spent time in an Allied prisoner of war camp;

Whereas he was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1951;

Whereas he is a highly regarded theologian and scholar, having served in various university posts from 1959 until 1977;

Whereas he has written 25 books and given thousands of hours of lectures, making him one of the most prolific theologians in modern times

Whereas he participated as a theological advisor to the Second Vatican Council from 1962 until 1965;

Whereas he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany on March 24, 1977, and ordained a bishop on May 28, 1977;

Whereas he was elevated to cardinal on June 27, 1977;

Whereas he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on November 25, 1981;

Whereas he was elected Dean of the College of Cardinals on November 27, 2002;

Whereas Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was installed as Bishop of Rome on April 24, 2005; Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has made repeated calls for peaceful resolutions to international conflicts;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has made reconciliation and peace an important goal of his Papacy on an ecumenical level reaching out to both Orthodox and Protestant Churches and in an inter-religious manner with Judaism and Islam;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has affirmed the dignity of the human person with respect to refugees, exiles, evacuees, and other migrant persons;

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has decried the imminent dangers posed by terrorism and extremism; and

Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has identified the failed revolutions and violent ideologies of the 20th century as being the result of the ‘‘Dictatorship of Relativism’’:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives welcomes His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

H.RES.838: Welcoming His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States.

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank Chairman Berman, Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen, and all of the members of the Foreign Affairs Committee for bringing this resolution to the floor.

You know, I remember back when I was growing up there was a movie, and the movie was called ``A Hard Day's Night.'' This was at the height of Beatlemania, and the Beatles had obviously been wildly popular and well-received when they first hit our shores. And yet in the movie there is a scene where a reporter, seemingly unaware of this, asked John Lennon a question. And the question was this: ``How did you find America?''

And Lennon said, ``I turned left at Greenland.''

The point I bring this up for is quite simple. Today we hear many inane questions about how His Holiness will be received by the American people. How will America find the Pope? How will the Pope find America? Well, I think these questions are inane for a very simple reason: The United States understands the Holy Father because he advocates that we use faith and reason to find our way through these trying times and on to a transcendent Creator.

The United States, our revolutionary experiment in human freedom, was founded upon faith and reason. The Founders had the faith that they were playing a role in divine provenance, that they had rights that were endowed to them and inalienable by a Creator. And yet it was not passion alone that allowed for the founding of our free republic; they also used their reason to find their way to express how those rights could be guaranteed against government, and how individual citizens could live together
with their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This is no different than the message that the Holy Father brings today. The Holy Father has said that faith and reason are concomitant blessings from God which allow us to find him not only in ourselves but in each other.

So as Americans await the Pope's first visit, I am not saying that there will be teenyboppers dropping in the streets as the popemobile passes, but I do say His Holiness will receive a warm reception from people who have understood and who continue to understand that faith and reason are gifts from God we squander at our own peril.

SEND OUR ATHLETES TO THE BEIJING OLYMPICS BUT NOT OUR POLITICIANS

Mr. McCOTTER. Mr. Speaker, as the Olympic torch goes through San Francisco today, I would just like to bring attention to the fact that I, as well as others on each side of the aisle, will be introducing legislation to ensure that we send our athletes to the games but not our politicians.

In the past, America has sent their athletes to the Olympics to show what free people can achieve, most notably in 1936 when Jesse Owens won gold and disabused the world of the Fuhrer's propaganda that there was an inferior race amongst us. FDR did not go to the Olympics.

I would encourage American politicians, including the President of the United States, not to politicize the games by their attendance, but rather stay home and attend to the pressing issues which face us as a people. This would be the proper way for the United States to both honor the spirit of the Olympics and the spirit of our free people.

McCotter Rocks the Hill With New Policy CD

April 7, 2008
By Emily Heil and Anna Palmer, Roll Call Staff

It Has a Good Beat. A CD of House Members speechifying in earnest tones might not be headed for the top of the Billboard charts, but Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) is doing his rockin’ best to jazz up the Republican Policy Committee’s message.

On Friday, McCotter was distributing a bootleg version of a CD of the committee’s members giving speeches on not-so-sexy topics like health care, taxes and terrorism —all dressed up to look like a rock ’n’ roll album.

He tells HOH that the CD was an alternative to an “eight-foot stack of policy papers.”

“Hopefully, it’s much more conducive to thought and discussion,” he says. The CDs distributed last week were a preliminary version, he says, and he’ll present the final version to House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) this week. “You don’t give Murray the K the session tapes,” he tells us. (He’s referring to Murray Kaufman, the rock impresario who influenced bands including the Beatles, natch).

In the liner notes, McCotter credits each of the speakers with “vocals” on the album’s tracks. The liner notes for “Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda” also include old black-and-white photographs of people listening to the radio, with a superimposed logo featuring McCotter playing guitar, rock-god-style, behind the back. Elsewhere in the notes, the zany McCotter thanks the American people: “You are the blessed children of liberty and the hope of humanity,” as well as “staffs of hard-working roadies.”

Instead of trying to make too much sense of the album, HOH figures it’s best to simply take McCotter’s own advice and just, as he implores listeners, “dig it.”

CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA TO END ITS CRACKDOWN IN TIBET

Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, we stand at a historic moment. In the stream of history, it is oftentimes overlooked as we circumnavigate around time, fate and circumstance the momentous era and the momentous deeds which must be undertaken. This is one of them.

I thank the Speaker for bringing this resolution. I thank her for bringing with it the moral weight of her opposition to Communist China's abysmal human rights record throughout her career in this Congress, and for uniting Republicans and Democrats behind it.

But at this moment, I am also reminded of someone who is no longer with us, someone from whom I learned very much. That man is the late Chairman Tom Lantos, a man who embodied the human spirit in its ability to triumph over evil. How many people in this Congress understood the moment when the tanks rolled into Budapest and the Soviets went into Hungary, that that was a seminal moment in the Cold War, that the desire to breathe free, of the Hungarian people, could not be quelled by tanks and could
only be quenched by freedom? And throughout the history of the Cold War, their example was emulated by others, including the Czechs in 1968, and of course the Poles, and that eventually brought down the Soviet Union.

Today, what may appear a resolution of the moment for a specific incident is not that. It is our generation's Budapest. It is this generation of Americans who get to witness the Tibetans trying to breathe free from beneath the Communist yoke of the Chinese regime. And as we Republicans and Democrats stand together today, we stand with them, and we send a clarion message to the Communist Chinese Government. They will be free. And as the Olympic torch goes from town to town and you see people gathering
together of all political persuasions and all walks of life to protest the abominable suppression of the Tibetans, let us remember that we here have come together to make sure that the torch of Lady Liberty still shines bright as a beacon of hope for all the world.

Rep. McCotter: Stop Politicians' Taxpayer Funded Junkets to the Communist Olympics

New Bill Will Make Attending the Olympic Opening Ceremonies Illegal for the President, All Government Officials

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) introduced a bill in Congress restricting all government officials and employees from attending the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in communist China. The bill does NOT affect America’s Olympic athletes.

The bill, The Communist Chinese Olympic Accountability Act, is a follow up to a September 11, 2007, letter to President George W. Bush in which Congressman McCotter and a bi-partisan coalition of Members of Congress, state: “We urge you [President Bush] to reconsider your decision to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics in communist China.”

McCotter commended Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent comments regarding President Bush boycotting the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and acknowledge her long-standing, principled opposition to communist China’s human rights violations. “Hopefully, Speaker Pelosi will be supportive of this bill; and our colleagues will join us in denouncing the reprehensible actions of communist China and the changing the errant decision of the President to attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics,” said Rep. McCotter, Chairman of House Republican Policy Committee. (http://policy.house.gov)

“While we applaud the hard work of all the Olympic athletes, President Bush, as the leader of the Free World, must uphold America’s beacon of liberty to the world’s oppressed. This noble cause is harmed through his attendance as a guest of this oppressive communist government,” said McCotter.

“The Communist Chinese Olympic Accountability Act” and the September 2007 letter to the President both provide a partial list of communist China’s offenses, including human rights violations, subjugating Tibet, abetting Sudan’s genocidal regime, persecution of its Chinese citizens for freely exercising religion, enforcement of a one child policy upon its Chinese families, supporting fellow dictatorships, and systematically denying the Chinese people their basic freedoms, among others.

The bill prohibits any individual who is an official, whether elected or appointed, or employee of the Federal Government from attending any segment of the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics Games held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Importantly, this prohibition does not apply to any member of the United Stated Olympic Team or persons serving in a support capacity.

“President Franklin Roosevelt did not attend the 1936 Berlin Olympics; and President Bush should not attend the Beijing Olympics. In the grand sweep of history, President Bush’s attendance at these games will be an unwelcome and unnecessary stain upon his legacy as a champion of human liberty,” said Rep. McCotter