We’re finally getting through to them:

House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks.

The Republicans’ moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee’s ban in that it applies to all earmarks for all members of the caucus…

…House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) hailed the decision in an interview on Fox News.

“Republicans did something very dramatic today that’s going to make it very uncomfortable for business as usual,” he said. “So now House Republicans are going to the American people and saying we want a clean break from the runaway spending in the past. And that’s going to be quite a contrast from this Congress and the administration.”

We’ll have to keep after them and be rather merciless with any week kneed types who try to get around this. Our Republican demand is that no longer will the money of the American taxpayer be used to buy a politician re-election. No more ear marks – not ever again; that should be our ultimate demand.

This is also why I think we’ll do well in November no matter what happens – Democrats are praying for 8% unemployment and 5% GDP growth. They figure that will save them. It won’t. The people are not upset at the economy, but at government. Which ever party captures the mantle of revolutionary change in the way government business is done will win – and win very big – in November.

Very interesting:

The House ethics committee revealed Wednesday it is investigating allegations involving three lawmakers in unrelated incidents.

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, commonly known as the ethics panel, issued separate statements Wednesday identifying inquiries into Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.).

A statement issued by the ethics committee said each of the investigations is ongoing, but the panel will defer its efforts in Jackson’s case in light of an ongoing Justice Department inquiry.

Each of the investigations was referred to the ethics committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, although the ethics panel noted in its statement that it had previously begun its own investigation into Jackson.

Although the committee did not detail what allegations it is investigating with regard to Graves, the Missouri lawmaker issued a statement Wednesday referring to allegations about testimony before the Small Business Committee.

In March, Roll Call reported that the Congressman invited his friend and neighbor Brooks Hurst to testify before a Congressional hearing on renewable fuels, without mentioning that his wife and Hurst are investors together in renewable fuels plants in Missouri.

So, the Graves issue is probably small beans and placed in the mix to give a bi-partisan flavor…but I’m really wondering what must Waters and Jackson have done to merit this sort of scrutiny. Jackson, of course, is the son of the ill-famed “civil rights” leader, while Waters is a long-time hero of the kookiest of the kook left. In writing Caucus of Corruption, Matt and I found out that Waters is a grafter – putting her family on the payroll and making everyone pay for access, so I wonder if this has something to do with it – did she, at last, go too far? As for the younger Jackson – is it “like father, like son”?

Show the corrupt hypocrites of the House Democratic caucus that we’re not taking their asinine behavior, any more. Go here to help re-elect Joe Wilson.

That’s the way to treat those corrupt hypocrites:

One apology is enough, a digging-in-his-heels Rep. Joe Wilson said Sunday, challenging Democratic leaders who want him to say on the House floor that he’s sorry for yelling “You lie!” during President Barack Obama’s health care speech to Congress.

The leadership plans to propose a resolution of disapproval this week if the South Carolina Republican doesn’t publicly apologize to Congress. Such a measure would put lawmakers on the record as condemning those two words, uttered during last Wednesday’s prime-time speech, that have become a fundraising boon for the defiant Wilson and his Democratic challenger.

Wilson said a resolution would show that Democrats simply wanted to play politics and divert attention from a health care overhaul that is lagging in Congress.

“I am not going to apologize again. I apologized to the president on Wednesday night. I was advised then that, ‘Thank you, now let’s get on to a civil discussion of the issues,’” Wilson said. “I’ve apologized one time. The apology was accepted by the president, by the vice president, who I know. I am not apologizing again.”

It was only barely necessary for Wilson to apologize in the first place – and not for what he said, but for where he said it. President Obama is lying – or is a complete fool. No one can increase the number of people covered and reduce costs at the same time – anyone who says such is a knave or a fool. Wilson finally let the cat out of the bag – we know darned well that Obama and his Democrats aren’t playing honestly in this health care debate, and all other debates…they are saying whatever poll-tested, focus-grouped words seem necessary to ram Obamacare through…and if those words are at variance with the facts, they simply don’t care. To Obama and his Democrats, winning is more important than honor. Wilson called them on it.

To be sure, he should not have jumped up and shouted during the President’s speech – that is the sort of rude tactic our leftwingers use. It is right and proper that he has apologized for his action – but by very rude means, all Wilson did was tell the truth – Obama is lying through his teeth about what his health care plan will do.

It is the height of absurdity to claim that a bill which has no bar to illegals won’t cover illegals. It is equally absurd to propose covering more people, more of the time, for more things and say this will reduce the costs of health care. The final absurdity if Obama’s assertions that he’s willing to work with Republicans – we’ve been shut out of the debate, especially in the House.

In this supreme act of rudeness, we might find the final awakening of the American people – in the end, after all, just what were we GOPers doing in Congress last night? We were merely a prop – something to allow Obama to look more impressive as he peddled his falsehoods about health care. Wilson should not have jumped up, but Wilson should not have been there – no Republican should have. This wasn’t a speech of grave national importance where all Americans must pay heed…this was just a campaign event by a politician who is down in the polls and looking for a means to reshape the debate in his favor.

Ultimately, the worst thing which happened last night was a cheapening of the Presidency and the august event known as a Joint Session of Congress…Wilson’s rudeness just capped the whole affair.

UPDATE: From NRO: “Joe Wilson is Rude But Right“

And about time this political bully was hit back:

Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work In Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.”

“I and others have dared to bring these facts to the attention of President Obama, the Congress and the American people,” Issa wrote. “You’ve unfortunately reacted by once again resorting to the playbook of the Chicago political machine.”

A coordinated series of letters threatening a loss of federal funding was sent out in a clear attempt to pressure people like Issa in to keeping quiet about the failures of Obamunism. Emanuel is engaging in classic machine politics – using his power to coerce others in to going along with his scheme. This is what we get when we bring Chicago politics in to DC – it was already plenty corrupt and then we put the masters of corruption in charge.

Nothing doing, “Rahmbo”. We won’t be silenced.

A bit of courage can go a long way:

Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, (R-New Orleans), the first Vietnamese-American congressman and a Catholic, announced this past weekend that, because of the “stealth mandate” for abortion still present in the Health Care bill, he prefers to “save his soul” rather than vote in favor of it.

Cao, the only member of the Louisiana House delegation who had not weighed in on where he stands on the health reform bill, told the Times-Picayune on Saturday that he cannot support any bill that permits public money to be spent on abortion.

“At the end of the day if the health care reform bill does not have strong language prohibiting the use of federal funding for abortion, then the bill is really a no-go for me,” said Cao, who spent time in formation to be a Jesuit priest.

“Being a Jesuit, I very much adhere to the notion of social justice,” Cao said. “I do fully understand the need of providing everyone with access to health care, but to me personally, I cannot be privy to a law that will allow the potential of destroying thousands of innocent lives,” he explained to the Louisiana newspaper.

Naturally, the Democrats are planning on demonizing Rep. Cao – hitting him on radio stations with large African-American audiences for opposing Obamacare. I doubt those ads will mention that a far higher proportion of black children are aborted than white children – the killing of black people, an inherent Planned Parenthood project, probably would be hard to sell to a black audience, ya know? But, if your plan is to simply hide and/or lie about what you’re doing, then this might make good politics. Just call Cao a racist – you know, for not supporting Obama – and hope that enough anger and hatred is generated to cause Cao trouble at the polls. For goodness sake, stay away from the issues at hand or the truth about the Democrat coalition – nothing but trouble for the left in that!

As for Rep. Cao – he’s showing his courage and God will ensure that it all comes out for the best. Win or lose for him in 2010 is immaterial – Democrats think that winning elections is the most important thing, we don’t. Honor and courage count for far more, and eventually earn their just reward.

This is both stunning and quite wonderful:

An amendment introduced to strip Planned Parenthood of its taxpayer funding has passed the Rules Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and is up for a vote on the House floor Friday, reports Jim Sedlak of the American Life League.

U.S. House Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.) submitted, as part of the Health and Human Services appropriations bill, an amendment to render Planned Parenthood ineligible to receive Title X funds for “family planning” services.

The Pence Amendment states: “None of the funds made available under this Act shall be available to Planned Parenthood for any purpose under Title X of the Public Health Services Act.”

The backers of the amendment are counting on the people to carry it through – so:

Contact your House member and

your Senators.

My bet is that Pelosi will try to spike this on the floor – she doesn’t want to have common-sense issues like this coming to a vote because it would force moderate Democrats to vote rationally, thus exposing the weakness of the liberal’s House position…that it is dependent upon the votes of people who are in fundamental disagreement with the Democrat leadership. We’d be back to the early 80’s situation where the Democrats’ House majority was nominal while a coalition of GOPers and conservative/moderate Democrats really ran the show.

That aside – and I do urge everyone to make their voice heard – the mere fact that we can get such an amendment out of committee shows how badly weakened the liberal House leadership is. We can stop Obamunism – we can stop Pelosi and Reid from running rough shod over our nation. All we need do is fight and fight and then fight some more.

By now you’ve heard all about Obama’s call to cut $100 million from the budget.

Imagine that. How bold. $100 million out of a $3.5 trillion budget. Wow. There’s the epitome of fiscal responsibility. Republicans justifiably mocked Obama’s so-called fiscal responsibility.

The GOP is not impressed with President Obama’s call to save $100 million.

The basic point is that Obama’s savings amount to a tiny portion of federal spending.

House Republican Whip Eric Cantor’s office sent out a note just a bit ago declaring, “More money has gone to Rep. John Murtha’s (D-PA) pet airport in Pennsylvania than the federal government will save over the next 90 days under President Obama.

“Money The President Says He Will Save Over The Next 90 Days: $100 Million

“Money That Rep. John Murtha Has Secured For His Pet Airport: $150 Million, Not Including The Nearly $1 Million In Stimulus Funding.”

John Boehner issued the followed statement in response to the news.

“The Administration’s new talk of trimming a meager .0025 percent from the $4 trillion federal budget just doesn’t square with its reckless record on borrowing and spending.  Washington Democrats have spent the past three months doling out more taxpayer dollars than every previous President combined, and the Administration is clearly feeling the heat.  If the Administration wants to get serious about cutting waste, it should start by taking a closer look at how millions in ‘stimulus’ dollars are being wasted on a skateboard park in Rhode Island, bike racks in Washington, D.C., highway studies instead of construction projects in Ohio, and programs led by housing agencies that routinely fail audits.

Gregory Mankiw, the former head of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, puts Obama’s call for $100 million in cuts into perspective:

Just to be clear: $100 million represents .003 percent of $3.5 trillion.

To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had be cut? By $3 over the course of the year–approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.

Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) program:

Peril awaits any first-term lawmaker who ventures to the House floor unprepared for a duel, but Ohio Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy had a particularly rough go of it the other day.

Kilroy took the floor to support an amendment to a popular public-service bill — only to face an ambush from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who hit her hard for her vote on an unrelated American International Group measure.

It wasn’t an accident.

Foxx is part of a team of Republican members that House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has put together to create embarrassing, YouTube-worthy moments for vulnerable Democratic freshmen.

Cantor’s floor staff has created a photo album to help identify the 42 most vulnerable Democrats. The aides send daily e-mails to the members of the attack team and alert lawmakers when these targeted members are speaking on the floor. They even draft quick scripts to help focus the questioning.

The tactic seems to be working.

Democrats have begun pulling their vulnerable members from the floor as soon as the attacks begin. And even if the targeted Democrat doesn’t take the bait, video of the episode inevitably finds its way to the Web as evidence of either ineptitude or cowardice.

The Foxx-Kilroy smackdown was so rough that Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) tapped Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), a ferocious debater, to play the part of Foxx during a subsequent exercise with his freshmen on floor procedure.

First off, each GOP House member should obtain a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order. Seriously – make it part of your nature to know this, and House rules.

Now, the really cool thing about this is that it just might make the House a debating chamber rather than a rubber stamp for whomever happens to be Speaker. If we can start to get freewheeling debate where the Representative’s better know how to defend their votes, it will just make the legislation which comes out of the House much better thought out than the backroom paste-ups we get these days (such as the now infamous “Spendulus” bill). The second best thing about this is that it does nail Democrats to the wall and make them either defend the indefensible (ie, Democrat bills) or look like fools. Its a “heads I win, tails you lose” strategy for the GOP.

The House is supposed to be the tribune of the people – the place where our voices are loudest. But its not, and hasn’t been for some time now. It is the place where our voices are drowned out by special interests who grease the machine with donations and kickbacks. But this state of affairs only goes on until the light of day is brought in – and it is brought in by real debate on the floor of the House. Heck, guys and gals, we’ll even get “better” liberalism, in a sense – the Democrats still have the votes to pass whatever liberal measures they want, but if we carefully pull out the worst aspects of upcoming bills and force individual Democrats to defend it, we can force out the worst aspects of these liberal programs. We’re doing a service to the nation by not allowing Democrats to hide their votes and views.

The news story:

House Republicans, who put Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on her heels as they voted unanimously to reject the economic stimulus bill two months ago, are now pointing fingers.

The unity of the GOP Conference was strong when all Republicans voted, on two separate occasions, to oppose the stimulus championed by President Obama, who had approval ratings in the 60s at the time. While many Democrats touted the passage of the stimulus, they privately acknowledged that the extent of the Republican opposition surprised them. But that harmony has been fractured, days before a special election in New York that some Republicans characterize as a must-win.

Some of the differences appeared Thursday over how they handled the rolling out of a much anticipated budget alternative, “The Republican Road to Recovery.”

Standing before television cameras, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and other members — including the top Republican on the Budget Committee Paul Ryan (Wis.) — couldn’t answer specific questions about their spending plan.

After weeks of promising a comprehensive alternative to the president’s budget that Republicans have painted as excessive, bloated and wasteful, Boehner was unable to provide specific information about their proposal.

His colleagues were unable to answer line-items questions as well. Boehner dismissed those details as “just a bunch of numbers.”

Even though aides insist that GOP leaders had no intention of releasing their full budget substitute, the press event was a public relations disaster.

“It looked like a disorganized blunder,” one GOP aide said. “It’s the worst messaging snafu at a time when the party can’t afford one.”

I’ll have to go along with the “blunder” judgment on this – I heard one House GOPer try to defend the lack of detail on the Laura Ingraham show and it was a very pathetic performance by a Congressman who is clearly a conservative and a smart man who yet came out and tried to pull a political fast one. You can’t do this, House GOP – you have to put out alternate plans in detail and let the American people know where we wish to lead them. While opposition to Obamunism will carry us a long way – especially as the economy craters – the only path back to power is the path of ideas, and ideals. You’re not fooling anyone, House GOP – well, you could make a stab at fooling Democrats, but the key to victory for us isn’t fooled Democrats (that is a requirement for Democrats to win, not us) but an energized GOP base. And that only comes when there’s a clear plan.

Additionally, we can’t have plans which are just recycled plans of the past – the American people do, indeed, want change. They voted Obama into office pretty much on the strength of change in spite of clear doubts about Obama’s ability pre-election. Obama is now going forward with a massive increase in the corrupt and unworkable status-quo and therein lies our great opportunity: As Obama flounders around with socialism, we have a chance to revamp conservative economic ideas for the 21st century. We’ve won the tax battle and we’ve won the wasteful spending battle – no American politician outside the precincts of the kookiest of kook left will campaign on a promise to raise taxes and massively increase spending (hard as it is to recall, Obama ran as a fiscally responsible tax-cutter). Now we need to change the argument to what sort of America do the American people wish to have.

Obama has his vision for America – massive government, atrophied individual liberty. What do we want? I’ll tell you one thing, fellow conservatives, if we go out there and merely campaign on low taxes, spending cuts and a defense of capitalism, we’re going to lose the debate. To be sure, we still may do quite well in 2010 in an anti-Obama backlash…but if we want the real power to change things, we’re doing to need to be elected for something and not just against some one. What do we want? That is the vital question and we must answer it – the House GOP had a fantastic opportunity to answer it, and blew it.

Fortunately, Obama is almost certain to give us many more chances to make a case for a new, conservative program for America. All we need to do is craft it – and this will take some gigantic steps out of the box. I’ve got some ideas brewing in the brain, and I’ll start to share them over the next couple weeks. But here’s a chance for any GOPer with a mind to do so to start thinking – what do we want?

The way we answer that question will in a large sense determine the course of American history for the next 50 years. Well answered, we’ll win power and be able to change America – badly answered, and Obama’s socialism will be our fate.

The nearly $1 trillion “stimulus” package passed the House... but without a single Republican vote. Toby Harnden at the Telegraph (UK) says (and I agree) it is a slap in the face to Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama got the $825 (or $1.2 trillion over a decade) stimulus package through the House of Representatives but the 244 to 188 vote is a hollow victory indeed. Without a single Republican voting for the bill, his high-profile visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday came to exactly naught – at least on the House side.

Obama vowed to change Washington and usher in a new post-partisan era. The the mood music and optics were pitch perfect as he trekked up to the Hill. Republicans praised his gesture, welcomed his sincere demeanour and appreciated his willingness to listen.

Problem was, he wanted only to listen and did not want to act on what Republicans said. When he was asked if he would re-structure the package to include more tax cuts, he reportedly responded: “Feel free to whack me over the head because I probably will not compromise on that part.”

He apparently added: ” I understand that and I will watch you on Fox News and feel bad about myself.”

That’s fine. No doubt Obama will indeed get beaten up on Fox News. But his failure to get even the squishiest moderate Republican  – including the 11 entertained in the White House by Rahm Emanuel last night – to back him is not merely a big score for Rep Eric Cantor, Republican Whip, and the rest of the GOP leadership.

Take that Barry.

Mark Hemmingway over at NRO has a rundown of the potential race between newly appointed Senator Gillibrand and possible GOP challenger, Rep. Peter King.

As noted in the article, a race between Any GOPer and Caroline Kennedy would be a race GOPers would pay to be allowed to run in – nothing more fun than taking on the clueless scion of a worthless, ultra-liberal political family long shorn of its glamor. But a race against Gillibrand, who has a conservative reputation, has a different dyanmic – if Gillibrand’s conservatism is more than just the result of not being as kook lefty as most New York Democrats.

The American Conservative Union gives King a moderately conservative 76 lifetime rating – which means as a Senator he will routinely annoy the GOP base outside of New York, but that he fits well with the politics of New York State. The ACU, on the other hand, gives Gillibrand a lifetime rating of 8. No, I didn’t forget a number – 8, as in e-i-g-h-t.

Now, there’s not much to go on so far – Gillibrand has only one House term under her belt, so she’s a stealth candidate with allegedly conservative credentials clearly picked with an eye towards the likely mid-term dynamic of 2010 which will have at least an anti-Democrat tinge to it (and a possible anti-Democrat wave) which would make most NY Democrats sure losers in a race against a moderately conservative GOPer.

I figure with Caroline we would have had a 90% chance of taking the seat – but with Gillibrand as the Democrat empty suit, I rate our chances at 60/40 against. But still well worth the effort.

We’ll have to see:

Just days after taking office vowing to end the political era of “petty grievances,” President Obama ran into mounting GOP opposition yesterday to an economic stimulus plan that he had hoped would receive broad bipartisan support.

Republicans accused Democrats of abandoning the new president’s pledge, ignoring his call for bipartisan comity and shutting them out of the process by writing the $850 billion legislation. The first drafts of the plan would result in more spending on favored Democratic agenda items, such as federal funding of the arts, they said, but would do little to stimulate the ailing economy.

The GOP’s shrunken numbers, particularly in the Senate, will make it difficult for Republicans to stop the stimulus bill, but the growing GOP doubts mean that Obama’s first major initiative could be passed on a largely party-line vote — little different from the past 16 years of partisan sniping in the Clinton and Bush eras.

“Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters yesterday, saying Republicans were not being realistic in their expectations.

Hoping to recapture the bipartisan spirit, Obama will host nine congressional leaders at the White House today for talks about the economic recovery package, which he has asked to be on his desk by Feb. 16, Presidents’ Day. He also agreed to talk with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) and other GOP lawmakers next week about their proposals for more tax cuts.

Republicans have a long list of grievances.

Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), who gave Vice President Biden a 17-page list of spending requests, said he opposes the proposed increase in funding for Pell Grants for college students because it would do little to spur short-term economic growth. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) said the plan lacks enough “fast-acting tax relief,” such as a temporary halt to payroll taxes and more relief for businesses. Sen. John Thune (S.D.) said the nearly $1 trillion price tag would add too much to a federal deficit that is already predicted to top $1.2 trillion for 2009.

“The Republican concerns about what’s moving in the House are growing by the day,” Thune said. He dismissed as “very, very ambitious” Obama’s hope of securing a bipartisan majority of 80 votes for the stimulus plan in the Senate, which could consider its version of the legislation next weekend.

Yes, Nancy, you won the election – and we GOPers should not sign off on a plan which looks to be a slow-moving economic disaster. We can’t do much to actually stop the legislation from going forward…but there’s no need for GOPers to provide a patina of bi-partisanship to a bill which is relentlessly partisan as well as horribly flawed.

Before we GOPers sign on to this, we must insist upon at least some free-market, supply side provisions be inserted into the bill…even if its just making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent. That would at least allow businesses to engage in long-term planning and might help turn the economy around by the middle of 2011. All the current bill does is spend bags of money to no actual purpose – and if such a bill is passed, then whent it all comes crashing down, we want “Democrat” written all over it.

I am all for this, but I can’t help but wonder why ACORN was getting federal funds to begin with…

House Republican leader John Boehner on Wednesday urged President Bush to block all federal funds to a grass-roots community group that has been accused of voter registration fraud.

“It is evident that ACORN is incapable of using federal funds in a manner that is consistent with the law,” Boehner, R-Ohio, wrote Bush, saying that funds should be blocked until all federal investigations into the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now are completed.

ACORN, a group that has led liberal causes since it was formed in 1970, this year hired more than 13,000 part-time workers to sign up voters in minority and poor neighborhoods in 21 states. Some of the 1.3 million registration cards submitted to local election officials, using the names of cartoon characters or pro football players, were obviously phony, spurring GOP charges of widespread misconduct.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me… not one more dime.

Since the failure of the rescue bill, i have been privately imploring friends on The Hill to provide a viable alternative. Looks like they are crafting just that.

I like a lot of the provisions under consideration. I wonder if it could pass without “Christmas Tree” add-ons from the Left. Here are key provisions:

* Require the Treasury Department to guarantee, at up to 100 percent, bank losses resulting from failed mortgage-backed securities originated prior to the plan’s enactment. Such insurance, supporters say, would provide immediate value to the securities and a foundation for which they could then be sold. The Treasury Department would finance that insurance by assessing a premium on outstanding mortgage-backed securities.
* Allow companies to carry back losses arising in tax years ending in 2007, 2008, or 2009 back five years, generating a tax refund and immediate capital
* Allow a “repatriation window” for profits earned by U.S. firms overseas. Such repatriation amounts would not be taxed if invested in distressed debt (as defined by Treasury) for at least one year.
* Allow banks to treat losses on shares of preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as ordinary losses, not as capital losses
* Suspend the capital gains tax rate for two years
* Limit backing of high-risk loans by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
* Schedule Fannie and Freddie for privatization
* Suspend “mark-to-market” accounting until the SEC can issue new guidelines that will allow firms to mark these assets to their true economic value
* Stabilize the dollar by repealing the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, which alternative bailout supporters say diverts the Federal Reserve’s attention from long-term price stability to short-term economic growth
* Require the Treasury to write rules prohibiting excessive compensation or golden parachutes to executives of failed companies
* Task the SEC with regular, annual audit reports of entities the federal government has brought under conservatorship or now owns

If the bill comes up with the above provisions, I bet the bill passes overwhelmingly. AND the stock market would shoot straight up. Go John McCain!

According to Politico:

House and Senate negotiators have reached tentative agreement on Treasury’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets after a marathon Capitol negotiating session that started Saturday afternoon and stretched into early Sunday morning.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the deal still had to be “committed to paper,” a process that will continue throughout the night, with an eye toward a formal announcement Sunday.

“We have something verbal,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).

Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the chief negotiator for the House GOP, said he was “looking forward to what we’re going to see on paper” but said he was optimistic that it would be something House Republicans could support.

“I’m not sure yet we can sell it to our conference but I’m 100% sure that this is the best deal we could get,” said a Republican aide.

Said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson: “We’ve been working very hard on this and we’ve made great progress toward a deal which will work and will be effective in the marketplace and effective for all Americans . . . .We’ve still got a lot to do to finalize it, but I think we’re there.”

Seems a bit tentative and my guess is that it could blow up by morning if Democrats have managed to slip in there things like the BS funding for ACORN, but it seems that at least some deal is on track. A lot of hard work for all involved – with John McCain and the House GOP representing America, and the rest of the Congress representing the status quo. And, as usual in a crisis, Obama is nowhere to be found…one wonders if he’ll even show back up in DC to vote on this…

McCain is there, of course…its where leaders go when leadership is needed.

NOTE: If this post is true, as a conservative, I like the improvements in the bank rescue plan:

So it looks like a deal is shaping up

Treasury purchases plus mbs insurance (cantor)

Strong oversight/taxpayer protection

Limits on executive comp

No liberal add-ons (acorn, bankruptcy judges, proxy access)

Govt equity stake likely to be scaled back or dropped. No staff-level enthusiasm for it.

Limit on amount of first tranche of money (less than $700 billion)

This deal gets 100 house gop votes

Perhaps the Democratic establishment was too quick to kneel before Obama? Victor Davis Hanson dicsusses:

The primary season ended with a narrow Obama victory — and a wounded, but supposedly wiser, Democratic candidate.

Not quite. Without evidence, he unwisely has claimed his opponents (“they”) will play the race card against poor him. In contrast, on the hot-button issue of racial reparations, he recently played to cheering minority audiences by cryptically suggesting that the government must “not just . . . offer words, but offer deeds.” He later clarified that he didn’t mean cash grants, but his initial words were awfully vague.

Second, many are beginning to notice how a Saint Obama talks down to them. We American yokels can’t speak French or Spanish. We eat too much. Our cars are too big, our houses either overheated or overcooled. And we don’t even put enough air in our car tires. In contrast, a lean, hip Obama promises to still the rising seas and cool down the planet, assuring adoring Germans that he is a citizen of the world.

Third, Obama knows that all doctrinaire liberals must tack rightward in the general election. But due to his inexperience, he’s doing it in far clumsier fashion than any triangulating candidate in memory. Do we know — does Obama even know? — what he really feels about drilling off our coasts, tapping the strategic petroleum reserve, NAFTA, faith-based initiatives, campaign financing, the FISA surveillance laws, town-hall debates with McCain, Iran, the surge, timetables for Iraq pullouts, gun control, or capital punishment?…

…In a tough year like this, Democrats could probably have defeated Republican John McCain with a flawed, but seasoned candidate like Hillary Clinton. But long-suffering liberals convinced their party to go with a messiah rather than a dependable nominee — and thereby they probably will get neither.

The kook left was for Obama because Obama was pure as the wind driven snow on the left’s main 2008 issue: Iraq. But Obama secured the nomination on the strength of party elites (ie, the “superdelegates”) rushing over to his side towards the end of the primary season. Without the superdelegates, Obama is substantially short of a nominating majority and had the superdelegates held off, the Democrats would be looking towards a brokered convention. The powers of the Democratic party decided that it was too risky to not nominate Obama and, at any rate, that they already had the White House in the bag, so no worries (the fundamental reason for Obama? Down ballot. Democratic powers were fearful that failure to nominate Obama would weaken Democratic House candidates among black voters, perhaps even turning the House back over to the GOP for weakness in black Democratic turnout).

But it seems to have turned out otherwise – McCain is running neck and neck with Obama and given that GOPers traditionally poll weaker the further out you get from the election, there is every reason to expect that – at minimum – it will be a long night on November 4th…and, of course, there is in this closeness the strong prospect of McCain winning. The basic theory is still good for the Democrats – Obama ensures a massive African American turnout, but other than that the whole game plan for 2008 is proving wrong for the Democrats. It wasn’t supposed to be like this – Obama was supposed to cruise to victory and bring in 20 more House Democrats and maybe as many as 10 Senators. The Liberal Dawn was supposed to happen…but now we might have a liberal nightmare of President McCain and a revitalised House GOP which, even if not the majority, controls the terms of debate in the House.

It has been, indeed, a long and strange election year – and it may well get stranger. Keep this in mind – while Obama is still the inside favorite to win, there is a better chance of a McCain landslide than an Obama landslide (though, of course, the chances of any landslide are pretty small).

Courtesy of Nancy Pelosi, certainly the very worst Speaker in American history:

House Republicans, who insist that Speaker Nancy Pelosi call the House back from its summer recess so votes can be taken on their energy legislation, continued for a third day to make speeches to GOP staff members and Capitol Hill tourists.

They did so in the dimly-lit chamber of the House of Representatives, without the aid of working television cameras or a public address system.

The Republicans became miffed last Friday when Democrats abruptly adjourned the House until September 8 without giving them a chance to speak on the floor about their energy plan, which includes exploring for oil in ANWR and more off-shore drilling.

Even though the House had officially gone out of session, some Republicans stayed on the floor and made speeches anyway.

After taking the weekend off, the guerrilla oratory continued Monday, with organizers of the talk-in estimating that 24 of the 199 House Republicans participated…

…With the House not in session, the chambers’ televisions cameras have been turned off for the three days of speeches. The lights in the chamber have been dimmed, which is normally the case when the House is not session. Also the public address system is off, forcing the Republicans to speak up so they can be heard in the large chamber.

Lucky tourists, many of whom just happened to be touring the Capitol, have been given the rare opportunity of sitting on the House floor. Wearing t-shirt and shorts, they became an impromptu audience for the speechmakers.

Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement on Monday saying, “This Republican hoax is unworthy of the serious debate we must have to reduce the price at the pump and promote energy independence.”

House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., referred to GOP tactics as “stunts” by a “smattering of House Republicans”.

But Republicans claim their unofficial floor sessions are gaining traction with voters who are wondering why Congress is taking a five week vacation while gasoline prices remain so high.

They vow to continue speaking out on the House floor rest of this week and during the weeks ahead.

Its fine for Nancy to say we need a serious debate, but having such a debate is rather impossible if the Democrats cut and run from DC and head for the hills rather than be forced to vote in favor of energy measures popular with everyone except the money-bags of the kook left. That is the thing, you see? Any floor vote on the GOP energy measures will result in a lopsided vote in favor of the proposals – only those Democrats in absolutely safe Democratic seats would dare defy common sense on energy, and so the vote in favor would probably approach 300.

But, its all good: Nancy and Co have handed we GOPers a fine “kitchen table” issue for the fall. We’re willing to do the hard work of getting things rolling towards American energy independence while the Nancy-boy Democrats hide. Come the election, we’ll be able to point out our willingness to make the hard decisions contrasted with the Democrats stark, yellow-bellied fear of doing the same.