Yesterday on the House Floor, some members of Congress gave one minute speeches to other members of Congress and to Speaker Pelosi (of course she was not in attendance…she was probably making back room deals again). But Congressman Burton basically tells her the American people are not stupid and won’t buy into this game she is playing!

Today, Governor Mitch Daniels wrote a letter to Indiana House members to reject Health Care legislation. See the Governor gets it and understands what it will do to our country and state!

I am proud of my congressman, Rep. Dan Burton (IN-5) for rejecting this as well as Rep. Mike Pence (IN-6), Rep. Mark Souder (IN-3) and Rep. Steve Buyer (IN-4). It is the others that need to listen and take heed! Reps. Carson, Hill, Ellsworth and Donnelly are you listening????

Here is the letter that Gov. Daniels sent to the members of the Indiana Delegation

Read more after the leap

Today word came out that the House GOP Conference has just adopted a complete earmark ban for the rest of the year in order to curb spending and hold the Democrats accountable.

Here are what some members of the Republican Study Committee are saying, with two of them being a part of the Indiana Delegation.

Rep. Dan Burton (IN-5)

Because of the irresponsible spending and public outrage over largess in Congress, I have sworn to not request, and to vote against, earmarks since 2007.  Until today, I was one of just thirty-two members of Congress to take that pledge.  Today, with the entire conference of House Republicans adopting our ban on all earmarks, we have sent a clear message to the American people that we are serious about cutting spending, and serious about an ethical appropriations process in Congress

Rep. Mike Pence (IN-6)

No doubt earmarks are being talked about in a different way by the democratic majority. Democrats were cutting “backroom deals” to persuade reluctant House Democrats to vote for the president’s proposal, and said “the American people want us to change business as usual.

Rep. Eric Cantor (VA-7)

Democrats’ promises to clean up Washington politics “is being broken every day.”

Rep. John Boehner (OH-8)

For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington, Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we’re serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks.

You can read the full article here from The Daily Caller and here is the list of t the 32 members in the Republican Study Committee that signed unto this total earmark ban.

Read more after the leap

The Indianapolis Star’s Matt Tully titled his Sunday column “Making Sense of Political News Commentary.” In his column, he asks several questions.

Two of them are particularly interesting.

Q: Will Burton survive his primary challenges?

A: The crowded field no doubt helps him. And his once-energized opponents have been quiet of late, with the exception of state Rep. Mike Murphy, a one-man public relations machine. But Burton’s fear of debating his opponents makes clear he sees a serious threat ahead.

Nobody at the Indianapolis Star ever misses a chance to dump on Dan Burton, even at the expense of basic common sense.

A crowded field helps Burton, it’s true.

And the field is so crowded that he doesn’t need to bother to debate any of them.

Dan Burton isn’t avoiding debates with his opponents because he’s afraid of them. He’s avoiding debating them because the challenge to him is so fractured and divided that it can hardly be taken seriously and he doesn’t need to worry about debating them.

When you’re behind, as Burton’s opponents are, you want to debate. When you’re ahead, you don’t need to.

That’s just the way it is. It’s Basic Politics 101. Maybe Matt Tully could see that if he wasn’t trying to spin every mention of Burton to as bad an angle for Burton as possible.

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With five candidates running for Senate, fourteen running in the 4th Congressional District and seven in the 5th CD, we’re bound to be in for a lot of poll numbers to come from campaigns over the next nine weeks before the primary.

A few weeks ago, a 5th CD candidate came out with his own poll, from Bellwether Research showing, that Congressman Dan Burton’s re-elect numbers were low.  But when Burton was taken out of the equation, a push poll showed that none of the candidates broke 16%, while “undecided” scored a whopping 43%.  Turns out, that 43% ends up voting for Dan Burton.

Results from a poll taken January 20-21, 2010 and recently released by the Burton Campaign showed:

Congressman Burton currently leads his closest opponent by 34%, as the ballot currently stands at 43% Burton/9% Messer/8% McVey/8% McGoff/4% Murphy/2% Lyons and 26% undecided.

(Read more after the leap)

Was last night’s race a referendum on the President’s health care legislation?  Maybe, in part.  But as the polls were about to close last night, Congressman Burton, fresh off of speaking more days on the House floor than all but three members out of 435 in 2009, went to the House floor again and spelled out how voters all across the country, be they moderate, liberal or conservative, are concerned with what is going on in the House and Senate chambers and how that reflected in the Brown-Coakley race.

Via Congressman Burton’s latest presser:

Burton to Obama: Somebody Messed With Joe

Indiana’s Imaginary 00, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 18th Congressional Districts Make $5.3 Million Tax Dollar Windfall, Create Or Save Just 9 Imaginary Jobs

President Obama to Congress on 2/24/09, “That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort, because nobody messes with Joe.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after reviewing the page on the Obama Administration’s Recovery.Gov website that breaks down Indiana’s “Stimulus” funding by Congressional District:

**See it here**

“Back when President Obama first addressed the Congress after his inauguration, he said that Vice President Joe Biden would oversee the Stimulus spending because, ‘Nobody messes with Joe.’

“Well, I think President Obama should know that somebody has messed with Joe. The imaginary 00, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 18th Congressional Districts of Indiana have, according to recovery.gov, made a tax dollar windfall of about $5.3 million, and ‘created or saved’ 9 jobs – all of which obviously can’t exist in these fake districts.

“From the beginning, I said this program would be exposed to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse. Now, as we see these magical numbers from the Obama Administration, how can we ever be convinced that this money will be accounted for and given proper oversight? The answer is simply this: we can’t.

“It’s time to pack up this program, save the President from further embarrassments, use the remaining funds to pay down the debt and deficits, and cut taxes on capital gains, small businesses, and individuals so we can be 100% sure the money is used to create real jobs in real Congressional Districts.

“The unemployed Hoosiers in my Congressional District have never had the time for the Obama Administration’s inability to stimulate long-term economic growth. It’s time for results. It’s time for the Administration to listen to Republican solutions for improving our economy and creating lasting jobs.”

The following information is from Recovery.gov:

Indiana Congressional District Stimulus funding:

District 00 – $1,265,575 in funds, 0 jobs
District 10 – $1219,765 in funds, 8 jobs
District 11 – $40,487 in funds, 0 jobs
District 14 – $217,914 in funds, 1 job
District 18 – $2,244,240 in funds, 0 jobs