Archive for the ‘Mike Pence’ Category

This presser was just release by the Puckett for Congress campaign.

Puckett States that He Supports an End to the August Recess Until Energy Reform Legislation is Passed

South Bend, IN-Second district Congressional candidate Luke Puckett issued the below statement today.

“Since Friday afternoon a cadre of Congressmen has gone to the floor of the United States House of Representatives to demand that Congress come back from its August recess to have a debate and vote on legislation that would lower the price of gas. Led by individuals such as Rep. Mike Pence, these members are refusing to take a vacation when they know that Congress has not done its job in passing a comprehensive energy reform bill.

“Americans cannot take a vacation from the high gas prices and Congress shouldn’t be taking a vacation until it has done its part to expand our nation’s access to domestic energy supplies. Joe Donnelly and the other members of Congress should not go on recess until they have earned the right to do so.

“I fully support the actions of those members of Congress who are calling for this Congress to be more responsible and I pledge that when I am elected I will fight for meaningful energy reform that will allow us to access our own oil. It is time for us to stop relying on foreign oil for 66% of petroleum needs.”

Puckett also noted that on Monday, August 11, 2008 he will publicly call on President Bush to call Congress back from its vacation for the specific purpose of debating and voting on a comprehensive energy policy bill.

(Follow it here)

Mike Pence (R-IN)

“We just want Speaker Pelosi to call members of Congress back from their five week vacation for this vote. If you think you are not being heard, I want you to know you are. I am holding a 1,500 page stack of emails you sent me yesterday. Keep emailing your congressmen.”

Just gotta say, Mike Pence has been everywhere during this GOP energy revolt.  And he’s got a great speech in the middle of this video from last Friday.

(H/T - the Heritage Foundation Twitter feed)

(H/T - Hoosier Political Report)

Just saw this on Twitter:

From House Republican Leader John Boehner:

House Republicans to Resume Floor Protest on American Energy Monday

Washington, Aug 3 - House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.

In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members and staff Saturday (“A Call to Action on American Energy”), Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) hailed Friday’s action, which was led by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA), and others, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

Anyone care to explain to me why Nancy Pelosi and her cadre of Democrat misfits (who we, unfortunately have to refer to as the majority in the House) would leave Congress for a paid five week vacation without doing anything regarding the energy crisis? But wait! Nancy and misfits may have left, the Republicans have stayed behind even though Nancy turned out the lights.

Jeff Emanuel reports from Red State:

Hoping that the nation’s energy problem will go away if they just go home and ignore it for a few weeks, the Democrats have voted to adjourn early, turned off the lights in the lower chamber, and are trying to lock the doors to make sure no business can be done until September.

The fly in the ointment? Fifteen or so House Republicans, led by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), refused to leave the floor, where — after the Democrats turned off the lights and the microphones — they continuied talking gas prices and energy solutions, which the House was scheduled to do this afternoon already before Pelosi, et al declared an early adjournment..

Pelosi is currently trying to have the press gallery cleared and the doors locked, but Rep. Bunt, Shadegg, and Hoekstra have been taking turns remaining with media in the gallery in order to keep it open.

At one point, Shadegg “figured out how to get the lights and microphones back on,” a House insider tells me — but they have since been shut off once again.

It seems as if Republicans are the only ones taking this issue seriously and Hoosiers have been up front and center at working towards solutions.  Congressmen Buyer and Burton have legislation working towards drilling and other methods of energy independence and relief, Congressman Pence is urging a special session to deal with the mess Democrats have left behind to ignore while on a taxpayer funded vacation and Republican candidates for Congress Luke Puckett, Mike Sodrel and Greg Goode have actually gone to ANWR to see for themselves the truth behind domestic drilling.   What are the Democrats doing?

Taking a vacation.

[More Pelosi "Truth is Propaganda" Below The Fold] (more…)

Mike Pence came to the floor of the House this morning to deliver this one minute speech calling for a special session of congress to deal the energy crisis.

Read the text of Congressman Pence’s one minute speech on a special session.

A year ago, the House of Representatives voted 309-115 to prevent the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” from being enforced for one year. One would think that, with that lopsided of a vote against the “Fairness Doctrine”, the Democrats would at least allow an up-or-down vote on H.R. 2905, the Broadcaster Freedom Act. You would be wrong. Congressman Mike Pence spoke on the floor of the House:

---

But following that vote, I introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act which would permanently ban the “Fairness Doctrine” from ever coming back. And so far, not one single House Democrat has signed our petition for an up-or-down vote on broadcast freedom…and now we know why.

Asked yesterday if she supported reviving the ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi replied “yes.”

She told a meeting at the Christian Science Monitor that the Broadcaster Freedom Act would not receive a vote because “the interest of my caucus is the reverse.”

---

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

Congressman Mike Pence wrote this over at Red State.

Hey folks,

I wanted to drop by and let you know we could really use your help on an issue that I’m sure is important to most of you:  freedom of speech on the airwaves.

Yesterday Speaker Pelosi said she wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.  Here is the critical exchange between her and John Gizzi:

“Do you personally support revival of the ‘Fairness Doctrine?’” I asked.??“Yes,” the speaker replied, without hesitation.

Click here to read the whole story where Speaker Pelosi says it’s in the “interest of my caucus” to bring the Fairness Doctrine back.

From my years in radio and television, I have long battled the specter of the so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine.’ This archaic relic of a bygone era would bring back government control over political views expressed on the airwaves.  In short, the Fairness Doctrine is a threat to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and every other conservative talk radio show host in America.

(Read more below the fold) (more…)

I was proud of my President earlier in the week when he dug around and found his veto pen and rejected the $300 Billion Farm Bill. But apparently there is enough pork in this bill to make pretty much everyone happy–only $70 Billion actually has anything to do with Farms. The bill was brought up yesterday before the House to override President Bush’s veto. The measure passed 316 to 108 (25 more than needed).

With a number that high, many Republicans had to have joined in to override this vote. As it turns out 100 Republicans voted for this mess. So, who in the Indiana delegation voted against this thing. Here is the list:

Rep. Burton
Rep. Pence
Senator Lugar (WOW!)

That’s it. Souder and Buyer both voted for it. I know–they are in very rural areas–but we certainly should accept more from conservative Republicans. Lugar’s vote was on the original bill as the Senate has not voted yet to override the veto.

What a disgrace.

Joe Donnelly, the blue dog Democrat representing Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, spoke at a Notre Dame Law School event Wednesday. Donnelly’s primary topic was pro-life issues.

According the ND Observer (the campus newspaper), in the course of his discourse Donnelly declared that his party is not inherently pro-choice and that a “working majority” in Congress is pro-life. In response to that first statement I’d say that with specific respect to abortion, both of our current political parties were around before 1973 so both of them predate the era of abortion on demand.

This of course doesn’t mean that all Democrats are pro-choice, that Democrats today should be held accountable for the way their party ancestors behaved, or that being pro-life is synonymous with being a Republican. It does mean that inspite of its various flaws, the Republican party has a generally pro-life history and in the aftermath of a judicial ruling making abortion on demand legal, the GOP has on the whole taken the high road and strongly embraced then notion that life is precious and should be protected.

(Read more after the leap)

(more…)

Count on conservative Republicans to raise the bar higher than the Democrats.  Although elected in ‘06 on a platform that proclaimed reform, Democrats have done little in the way of substantively reforming the process of pork barrel spending.  It took House Republicans to call for a one year hold on earmarks and it took House Democrats to turn them down on the offer.

Although the problem of pork barrel spending is a blight in both parties, Republican candidates at every level are taking the initiative to call for a suspension of earmarks until real reform can be put in place.  In Indiana three congressional candidates have taken up the call for reform by calling for a zero-earmark policy until changes can be made.  Former Republican Study Committee chairman Mike Pence has announced that he will not be making any appropriations request for fiscal year 2009 because “…it is clear to most Americans that the way Congress spends the people’s money is broken, especially when it comes to earmarks.”

The two other candidates calling for a moratorium on earmarks are Luke Puckett, running against Joe Donnelly (D) in CD 2, and Mike Sodrel, facing off against Baron Hill (D) in CD 9.  Puckett is advocating for a two year suspension of the earmark process and Sodrel released a statement on Friday calling for a 1 year suspension stating “Earmarks can be beneficial when much needed dollars are sent to local communities, but the system needs to be fair, responsible, and transparent.”