Saturday, October 31, 2009

Foxx continues transparency push, calls for open healthcare debate

The following is from a Oct 27 press release from NC Congresswoman Virginia Foxx.

Foxx continues transparency push, calls for open healthcare debate

Washington, DC—Congresswoman Virginia Foxx today cosponsored a measure (H.Res. 847) to ensure that the process of finalizing healthcare legislation is open to public scrutiny. H.Res. 847 seeks to change the current practice of negotiating the final details of major legislation behind closed doors.

“This is serious business,” Foxx said. “A major overhaul of health care will impact one sixth of our economy and if things don’t change these decisions that affect every America will be made behind closed doors. If there’s nothing to hide, why not throw open the doors and let the public watch?”

Health care legislation is expected to be brought up for a vote in the coming weeks. House and Senate leaders are currently combining disparate pieces of legislation into a final bill in closed meetings. H.Res. 847 will make the House of Representatives more open and responsive to citizens by opening up these closed meetings.

“The lawmaking process is more than just the final votes on legislation,” Foxx said. “It involves committee amendments and votes, Rules Committee hearings, and conference committees. Taxpayers deserve to see the whole legislative sausage machine, not just the shiny, shrink-wrapped package that gets sent to the president for his signature.”

Foxx is also a supporter of additional rule changes in the House to make lawmaking more open to public input and scrutiny:

Cosponsor of a broad, bipartisan bill authored by Democrat Rep. Brian Baird that requires that any legislation be posted online in its final form for 72 hours before it is voted on.
Original cosponsor of H.Res. 835, a measure to ban “phantom amendments” by requiring all committees to post bills online within 24 hours of committee approval.
Original cosponsor of H.Res. 869, to require cameras in the Rules Committee hearing room. The Rules Committee is the body that decides what legislation comes before the House and how it is debated.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

NC Bloggers - Join HuckPAC!

I created a group on www.huckpac.com for bloggers in North Carolina to join together and support Mike Huckabee and HuckPAC. If you would like to join this group, please log in to HuckPAC and look for the "NC Bloggers for HuckPAC" when you click on the map of North Carolina.

NC Bloggers for HuckPAC is dedicated to support Republican candidates who are passionate advocates for tax reform, a strong national defense, real border security, life, the family, less government, and individual liberty. We will support HuckPAC and candidates by posting articles and information on our blogs. We will spread the word virtually!

Please join this group and let's work together to support family, life and liberty. Thank you!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Huck PAC - Blogs - President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Here is Governor Mike Huckabee's blog on the President's Nobel Prize.

Huck PAC - Blogs - President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Shared via AddThis

Updates And Clean-up

I noticed that there is some items on my blog that needed to be updated, etc. I'm going to take some time this weekend to do that!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Vertical Politics And Health Care

Mike Huckabee's vertical politics would really benefit the on-going health care debate. Briefly, vertical politics is not about red states and blue states, it's not about left or right, it's about what is best for our country.

With that in mind, I would like to challenge all of us to look carefully and closely at the health care debate. What does it mean to you? How will it impact you and your family? Read, research and understand the issue and it's importance and impact to you - and then take a stand on the issue.

I must say I am opposed to the current proposals on health care. No, it's not because I'm a Republican, a conservative, a "values voter" or any other label you would want to put on me. I am opposed to it for several reasons, primarily because I do not believe our government was established to provide us with health care. I believe this is government intruding where it doesn't belong. I'm opposed to it because it will raise taxes, and that is never good to do during tough economic times. These are just some of the reasons I cannot support the proposed health care legislation.

Our country has a tradition of strong debate - that's the American way! However, my fear is we are getting caught up in party politics and mid-term election hype and are losing sight of the bigger picture. The health care debate should not be about stopping President Obama. The health care debate shouldn't be about not wanting Democrats getting the credit for fixing health care. Vertical politics injected in the health care debate would mean we focus on why or why not it is right for our country.

The current health care legislation puts government where it doesn't belong. It is creating a burden of debt that we cannot pay. Those are my reasons for opposing health care legislation - what are yours?

Foxx - Post Legislation 72 Hours Before A Vote

The following is from a press release from NC Congresswoman Virginia Foxx.

Foxx joins bipartisan push for 72 hours to review legislation before votes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (NC-5) today joined a bipartisan group of Representatives to call on Congress to post all major legislation and conference reports on the Internet for 72 hours before a vote is taken by the House.

“Congress has a duty to give Americans a chance to review and comment on legislation,” Foxx said. “But when important and controversial legislation is passed only hours after the final bill text is available, average citizens are shut out of the deliberative process.”

“Today the House is scheduled to vote on legislation that spends $33.5 billion—and the final legislation was only made available after 6pm last night. We can and should do better. Posting legislation online for 72 hours is a common sense step Congress can take to make our proceedings more open and transparent.”

Note: Foxx is a cosponsor of a bipartisan measure (H.Res. 554) that changes the rules of the House so that major legislation is publically available in its final form for 72 hours before a vote. Foxx has also signed a “discharge petition” for H.Res. 554. A discharge petition is a procedural tool to bring legislation up for a vote. Once a majority of the House signs the discharge petition H.Res. 554 must be voted on. The discharge petition currently has 181 signatures.