Our Vice Chairman lets everyone know the history behind Civil Rights and balanced budgets in today’s Daily News Journal:
Conservatives decry deficit spending, but JFK was one of four presidents since World War II to have achieved a balanced budget, so that eliminates the budget deficit as a reason for leaving the party. By the way, three of the four presidents who had balanced budgets were Democrats (Truman, JFK, and Clinton). The lone Republican budget balancer was Eisenhower. (Hey conservatives, what happened to Reagan and the two Bushes?)
ANSWERS EMPHATICALLY THAT TENNESSEE DEMOCRATS’ PRIORITY IS EDUCATION AND WHAT WE STAND FOR
Rep. Kent Coleman (D-Murfreesboro) answered hard questions put to him by the Daily News Journal in Sunday’s edition. While other lawmakers are tiptoeing around education issues being handled in an upcoming Special Session of the General Assembly, Coleman clearly and precisely expressed his opinions on the matter of federal Race To The Top funding and teacher tenure, even when they differed from those of our Democratic governor. He also did the best job in recent memory of calling out Republicans for voting against education funding and then claiming the credit when Democrats got it done, and stating precisely why the Democratic Party of Tennessee is the only party in the state that has proper education of our children as its top priority:
Coleman: I do believe the Democratic Party has the strongest commitment to public education between the two parties. And I’ll give you an example. A few years ago, Gov. Bredesen put forth a proposal to raise about $250 million for school systems through a tobacco tax, and it raised (about) $20 million recurring money for Rutherford County and (Murfreesboro) city school systems. I was the only person in that commission meeting last week that voted to raise that money. But I sat there and listened to the members of the opposing party. I know one of them said something to the effect of a BEP reduction would be the last thing they would vote to do to our county, and I’m having to sit there and think, ‘You didn’t vote to raise the $20 million for Rutherford County,’ and all these commissioners, I don’t any of them realized that. So, someone’s got to communicate to the public education system that the Democratic Party has always had a strong conviction to the belief of equal education, public education, desegregation, and a lot of those of those issues haven’t been popular in the past, but they remain the strongest basis or the reason the Democratic Party exists in Tennessee, because education is our main expenditure at the state level.
Republicans controlled this year’s session of the Tennessee legislature for the first time since reconstruction (1870’s). They took over in a time of unprecedented economic hardship and sagging revenues, adding up to a budget mess that required quick action. What did republicans do with their newfound leadership opportunities? They plugged the budget holes with the very stimulus money they protested, passed “Guns in Bars”, and headed home with their pockets full of per diem checks.
All the while, far right Tennessee Republicans made impassioned speeches about “following the Constitution”, the evils of the stimulus package (yet spent it to plug budget holes), and “limited government”. They even formed a committee to study secession.
Now a Chancery Judge has ruled that the “Guns in Bars” law is unconstitutionally vague, citing that it is problematic for police and small business owners (you know, the ones republicans claim to protect). Following the Constitution to the letter is the one thing all republicans pride themselves in and espouse constantly. This year, when they finally took power for the first time since reconstruction, they couldn’t even do that. The City Paper has the story
In her ruling, [Chancellor] Bonnyman agreed the law was too vague and “does violate the due process rights of the public in general and plaintiff gun permit holders.” The chancellor based her decision on the fact that permit holders cannot determine whether or not they are in violation of the law.
“The principle business being conducted cannot be known to the ordinary citizen,” Bonnyman said. “Inquiry would not be satisfactory or helpful.”
It’s not clear whether or not the Attorney General will appeal the ruling, which effectively eliminated the statute from the law. The legislature is likely to address a new version of the bill in the next session but it is unclear whether or not a guns-in-bar provision will see the same support.
Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas spoke out in support of Bonnyman’s decision, and said his one concern he had was that the ruling would allow the issue to “again take center stage during the next legislative session instead of the vitally important issue of keeping convicted felons behind bars.”
During a time of unprecedented budget constraints, mass state employee layoffs and furloughs, and penny pinching on the part of Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, our new Republican State Comptroller Justin Wilson has decided to give his office a personal stimulus check on the Tennessee taxpayers’ dime.
Luckily, Democrat Joe Haynes, who sits on the Fiscal Review Committee, caught the error and is calling Wilson out. WSMV has the story.
WASHINGTON – For more than two decades, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care system has been plagued by consistently late and, at times, inadequate budgets. On Wednesday (October 7), the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to ensure timely funding for veterans’ health care.
“Our veterans deserve the best available care – red tape and bureaucratic budgetary issues shouldn’t get in the way of their health care,” said Congressman Bart Gordon, who strongly supported the bill’s passage. “Over the years, the VA has had to make do with insufficient budgets resulting in restricted access for many veterans. This bill will change that.”
In 19 of the past 22 years, the VA has not received its budgetary funding prior to the start of the fiscal year. The legislation, the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act (H.R. 1016), would require the VA to provide detailed budgetary estimates sooner so that Congress can allocate funds for the VA’s medical care programs one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year.
“My father and uncle served during World War II and they taught me the importance of taking care of those who volunteer to defend our country,” added Gordon. “Delays in VA funding do a disservice to those who have served. By streamlining the budgetary process, the VA will have up to a year to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to our veterans.”
The bill would require the VA to submit a report each July on the resources it needs for the upcoming fiscal year in order for Congress to address any funding imbalances. This will help to safeguard against the budget shortfalls that the VA has faced in recent years.
The bipartisan bill is supported by a coalition of veteran service organizations, including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, and Disabled American Veterans, who have endorsed the bill as “an historic legislative victory on behalf of all veterans.”
The bill now moves to the Senate where it is expected to pass and then be signed into law by the President.
Rep. Joe Carr (R-Lascassas) told Channel 4 today that he is refusing a request by voters to return thousands of dollars he recently told the Tennessean he “inadvertently” took from the tax payers and now claims he’s “entitled” to it.
Rep. Carr also told Channel 4 he took over $18,000 (more than any other lawmaker) in expenses to pay for hotel rooms, but no one seems to understand why he’d need that much money when he lives less than an hour from the state Capitol.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks.
Joe had the nerve to challenge his fellow big spending county Republicans to join him in not accepting anymore expense claims for the entire calendar year after we caught him with his hand in the tax payer’s pocket.
Rep Joe Carr: I didn't know I took all that money.
Rep. Carr must think Rutherford County voters are stupid enough to believe he inadvertently requested expense money, inadvertently signed for the check and inadvertently drove himself to the bank to cash them.
This weekend’s Tennessean focused more on Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) out spending every single lawmaker in the House when it came to requesting $171 per day for hotel and meal expenses.
Rep. Carr had the nerve to tell the newspaper that he “inadvertently” requested more money for hotel and meal expenses than lawmakers who live in Memphis and Knoxville. Rep. Carr lives only 30 miles from the Capitol, and no one seems to know how he could have run up so many expenses.
“Among area lawmakers, Carr, a first-term lawmaker, claimed the most in per diem expenses in the first quarter of 2009, filing for $9,234 in charges. Carr said he inadvertently ran up the per diems while preparing for his first session in the state legislature.
“Because the state finances were in such a mess, after the election and before the session, I took several trips to Nashville,” Carr said. “I didn’t realize that every time I came to the legislature, they did a per diem.”
Carr said he did not become aware of the extent of the charges until media attention was called to it in the wake of Williams’ letter. He pledged to claim fewer days in the future.
During the last legislative session, Rep. Carr tried to deny extended unemployment benefits to residents in his district, but then he made bogus expense requests for hotels and meals he never purchased and got his own unemployment stimulus check compliments of Tennessee tax payers.
Now that the media caught him with his hand in the tax payer’s wallet, Rep. Joe Carr has promised to claim fewer bogus expense requests in the future. That must make the voters of Lascassas feel much better.
“Mr. Carr seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth on this issue,” Forrester said. “Back home he rants about taxes, but he sure comes to Nashville often to collect his per diem, which reimburses lawmakers for their expenses while doing official business.
“Speaker Kent Williams even sent a letter recently to House members encouraging them to limit use of expense money they collect from the state.”
It must be embarrassing for Rep. Carr to know voters pay attention to these things. For months, Rep. Carr ignored his own party’s leadership warning him and other free -loaders to stop using per diems as his personal unemployment check, but that’s exactly what he’s done.
What’s worse is Rep. Carr doesn’t feel he owes anyone an explanation.
Like many of his constituents, Rep. Carr has fallen on hard times in this 1 1/2 year long Bush recession. But instead of trying to help his district recover from the results of 8 years of failed conservative economic policy, Rep. Carr drafted legislation demanding Gov. Bredesen deny extended jobless benefits to the growing unemployed in Lascassas when they needed it the most. Rep. Carr told listeners on 1450 WGNS that extending their unemployment benefits “would cost too much of the tax payer’s money.”
Now we find out that Rep. Carr, who has no job himself, has been taking his own personal stimulus check directly from tax payers through bogus $171 a day per diem requests meant to pay for hotel and meals for out of town legislators. Rep. Joe Carr claimed more than $18,000 for hotels and meals, even though he lives 30 miles from Nashville. More than $7,000 of that was since July when nothing is going on at the Capitol!
Lascassas deserves an honest, hard working Representative who doesn’t spend as much tax money as Memphis legislators who actually need hotel rooms. The voters ought to ask Rep. Carr what on earth he did with their money.
The state legislature may be out of session but according to local media reports Rep. Joe Carr (R-48) has been spending a lot of summer days at the Capitol claiming per diems, a day’s pay for showing up. Rep. Carr was at the top of the list when it came to which Republican requested the most per diems after the session was already over.
It’s gotten so bad that Republican House Speaker Kent Williams issued a letter to all Representatives asking them to follow some basic guidelines to cut per diem requests. You can read the letter here.
Rep. Carr must not have gotten the memo because he kept requesting money all summer when he thought no one would be watching. Rep. Carr didn’t think twice about pushing his own bill in the last session demanding Gov. Bredesen not accept federal stimulus funds for extended jobless benefits for his district’s growing unemployed. Now that Rep. Carr needs a stimulus of his own, he’s off to collect his directly from the tax payers.
We’ll take a closer look at Rep. Carr’s summer per diem requests later, but first, let’s look at how much our county’s delegation is costing us.
What the list of our county delegation’s per diem requests for the entire session factually shows the voters of our county is a record of spending on the part of the Republican delegation. Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34) doesn’t look that bad on the surface, but then she’s got a lot of making up to do for being deemed the most expensive Republican in the entire House for filing resolutions honoring everything from campaign contributors to her new boyfriend.
The list below does not include per diem requests made after the session, which ought to put Rep. Carr over the top.
Last week, the U.S. House passed the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (”PAYGO”). I was an original cosponsor of PAYGO because I believe it can bring our budget back to sound footing and help our economy grow.
In case you missed it, Monday’s print-edition of The Tennessean included a column I wrote about the importance of the PAYGO rule. To read the article, click here.
Know that I am committed to reducing the budget deficit and ensuring that any new federal spending is completely offset.
Throughout the 1990s the success of pay-go rules in the United States Congress helped reign in deficit spending that flourished under President George H. Bush. Pay-go rules put in place under Democrats turned those deficits into record surpluses under President Bill Clinton.
Pay-go rules were later abandoned by Republicans under President George W. Bush and the resulting borrowing and deficit spending produced the nation’s largest deficit in United States history, plunging the nation into a deep, long-lasting recession.
Pay-go rules require any new spending by the United States Congress to be paid for by a reduction in spending or tax increases. Under pay-go rules, the Republican policy of borrowing and deficit spending give way to the kind of fiscal responsibility working families are used to. If you don’t have the money in the bank, you don’t spend it or go looking for the credit card.
Yesterday, Democrats, including Rep. Bart Gordon, put these pay-go rules back into effect, but not a single Republican from our state voted for it. The person who has now come to represent opposition to this proven fiscally policy is none other than Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn.
Watch this video and listen as Rep. Blackburn makes the Republican case for saving more money by letting Americans die in future national emergencies like “Katrina” and “tsunamis.” Rep. Blackburn’s proposal was met with such national outrage that her spokesperson had to issue a pathetic apology that said Rep. Blackburn’s mouth gets ahead of her brain sometimes.
We totally agree, but an apology for her vote against fiscal responsible pay-go rules would have sufficed.
WASHINGTON – This week the U.S. House will take an important step towards reducing federal spending by passing H.R. 2920, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (“PAYGO”). This legislation re-establishes the principle responsible for budget surpluses at the end of the 1990s, which required that any new spending by Congress be offset with a reduction in existing spending.
“Our federal spending patterns can’t continue,” said Congressman Bart Gordon who is a long-time supporter of PAYGO. “We have been borrowing money from China, as well as other countries, since 2002 to pay for federal programs and initiatives. This bill draws a firm line in the sand – moving forward, if we are going to spend a dollar, we must find a U.S. dollar to pay for it.”
The first PAYGO rule was included in the Budget Enforcement Act, which was signed into law with Gordon’s strong support in 1990. Over the next decade, PAYGO resulted in a gradual reduction of the federal deficit, and in 1998, the federal government saw its first budget surplus since 1969. Unfortunately, despite Gordon’s objections, PAYGO was not reauthorized in 2002. Since then, the federal deficit has skyrocketed.
“As our economy continues to recover from the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, we must focus on creating jobs and making the U.S. dollar strong again. Reducing federal spending will help on both fronts,” added Gordon. “This legislation expresses our long-term commitment to balanced budgets and financial solvency.”
The PAYGO legislation to be considered in the House this week will require all new spending policies passed by Congress be offset over five and ten years. It will force a serious examination of wasteful spending programs in the budget and tax loopholes that can be eliminated to offset more worthwhile programs.
Sen. Bill Ketron kisses Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey's pinky ring while Sen. Tracy waits his turn.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey will be in town early tomorrow morning to keynote the Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary Club at the Stones River Country Club. As we predicted last week, Lt. Gov. Ramsey will be introduced to Rutherford County voters by his dutiful pet Senators pictured to the right kissing his pinky ring, Senators Jim Tracy (R-16) and Bill Ketron (R-13).
Voters who considered attending out of curiosity can save themselves the trip. What Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Senators Tracy and Ketron will say is no different from what they’ll say all the way up to the 2010 elections despite the facts.
During tense budget negotiations, Lt. Gov Ramsey disappeared to attend several fundraisers during the legislative session, leaving his pet Senators Ketron and Tracy to defend Ramsey’s disastrous budget proposals. His absence was even noted by the much more disciplined Republican Speaker of the House Kent Williams.
Williams said House members were trying to negotiate with senators over a revisions to the state budget plan on Monday, but Ramsey was not involved.
“He’s not here,” Williams told reporters Monday afternoon. “He’s got three fundraisers tonight and that’s a little more important than state government.”
When Lt. Gov. Ramsey returned from raising money for his gubernatorial campaign he found the Democrats got the priorities of working families fully funded despite Ketron and Tracy’s best efforts. Now Lt. Gov Ramsey is on a desperate tour to claim credit for a compromise budget that funds the very priorities his own budget proposal aimed to destroy.
We’re certain Lt. Gov. Ramsey will find at least a couple of suckers in the room tomorrow as he will across the entire state.
Hello fellow Democrats. I’m pleased to inform you that this year’s session of the Tennessee Legislature has finally come to an end. It was a long and arduous one for our own Curt Cobb and Kent Coleman, who had to wade through 142 gun bills and several booze bills sponsored by our republican Senator Bill Ketron and Rep. Joe Carr . At last, republicans proposed a budget that killed recruitment dollars for a private solar power plant that would bring 30,000 jobs to Tennessee , put Pre-K education on the chopping block , gutted the Ethics Commission , repealed the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act , stripped funding for MTSU’s Education Building , halted badly needed road and bridge projects, and even refused to erect statues for Tennessee’s Nobel Peace Prize recipients! Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle (D - Memphis) likened it to cuttin’ and runnin’ and Governor Bredesen called it “stupid” . Our republican Senators Jim Tracy and Bill Ketron quickly voted for this “stupid” budget, and refused to help MTSU and its Education Building project. Luckily, Democrats in the House were able to fix most of this disastrous budget and forced Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R-Bristol) to surrender . We won this round.
But, we weren’t able to save the Ethics Commission, even though Rep. Kent Coleman tried his best to stand up for ethics in government. We also have to live with guns in bars, and paper-verified voting was postponed for another year even though we’re sitting on $34 million to implement it! Bottom line - we need more Democrats in the Tennessee Legislature. This website offers ways to get involved, contribute to the effort, stay updated on the issues, and stay connected. Your continued help and involvement is appreciated.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey fails to defund pre-k and MTSU bonds
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s budget proposal to defund pre-k education and construction bonds for MTSU failed to get support of more level-headed lawmakers on Capitol Hill, after Rutherford County rank-and-file Democrats applied the heat over the past week.
In a last minute effort to cut funding to Tennessee’s educational priorities, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Senators Bill Ketron (R-13) and Jim Tracy (R-16) crashed a press conference yesterday and cried out against providing recurring funds to pre-k education. The budget that finally passed rejected their efforts in favor of the common-sense plan promoted by Democrats.
In the House, Rep. Donna Rowland (R-34) went out of her way to make sure her voice vote against MTSU funding was reflected in the official record. Duly noted.
Another defeat to the budget plan promoted by Republicans Ramsey, Ketron and Tracy came when the House approved a compromise budget that included bonds for MTSU’s approved Education Building. Senators Ketron and Tracy had made a back-door deal with Lt. Gov. Ramsey to scuttle the funding, but Democrats raised enough hell through emails and phone calls that Republicans caved.
None of this would have been possible without you standing up for the priorities that matter to your family and Rutherford County. Because Democrats took a stand for the priorities of working families, the Republican plan to cut funding to pre-k education and construction bonds for MTSU and other state universities failed miserably.
Despite their defeated budget proposals to defund education priorities of working families, Senators Ketron and Tracy will welcome Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey to Rutherford County in the coming months to gleefully take credit for the Democratic investments in education. You can count on us making sure the voters are reminded of the truth.
ANSWERS EMPHATICALLY THAT TENNESSEE DEMOCRATS’ PRIORITY IS EDUCATION AND WHAT WE STAND FOR
Republicans controlled this year’s session of the Tennessee legislature for the first time since reconstruction (1870’s). They took over in a time of unprecedented economic hardship and sagging revenues, adding up to a budget mess that required quick action. What did republicans do with their newfound leadership opportunities? They plugged the budget holes with the very stimulus money they protested, passed “Guns in Bars”, and headed home with their 
WASHINGTON – For more than two decades, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care system has been plagued by consistently late and, at times, inadequate budgets. On Wednesday (October 7), the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to ensure timely funding for veterans’ health care.
In the video above, Rep. Carr couldn’t explain how he “inadvertently” drove himself to the bank to “inadvertently” cash 13 weeks worth of bogus meal and hotel expense checks. 
