Republicans are fundraising off Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget proposal as Democrats are looking to put the GOP on the defensive over it.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Tuesday circulated a fundraising appeal to supporters from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) that praises the budget, which would cut $5.8 trillion over a decade. The pitch accuses Democrats of being unserious about addressing the nation's debt and deficit troubles.
"They believe it serves their political interests to try to demonize our proposals to cut spending and preserve critical health and retirement programs for future generations," Boehner wrote of Democrats.
Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, also sent out a fundraising appeal to his Prosperity PAC supporters.
Republicans are trying to turn the issue into a political winner after weathering attacks from Democrats for nearly a week.
Democrats were incensed over the budget, accusing Republicans of using it to gut Medicare and Medicaid. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) predicted last week that his party would retake control of the House because of voter pushback over the proposal.
The DCCC has also launched an ad campaign targeting 25 House Republicans for supporting Ryan's budget. Democrats would need a net gain of 25 seats in 2012 to take back the House. The committee also put out a 30-second ad humorously suggesting that under Ryan's plan, seniors would have to mow lawns or work as strippers to earn healthcare money.
"Last Friday, 235 of my Republican colleagues in the House joined me in supporting this cause and voted to pass my 2012 budget proposal. Now, they’re under attack from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — Nancy Pelosi’s political machine," reads Ryan's email.
"The fact is we can’t afford all of the political nonsense the Democrats are generating. We have a dire financial crisis awaiting us, but we can get ourselves back on the path to prosperity if we act now. My fellow House Republicans took bold action and are now paying the price."
Former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), who lost his House seat in last November's GOP wave to Republican Mike Fitzpatrick, will make a run for attorney general next year.
His decision to opt for a statewide bid comes as national Democrats are searching for a candidate to take on Fitzpatrick in 2012. The district is one of just 14 that went for both Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and President Obama in 2008, making it among the party's top targets as Democrats try to win back the House majority next year.
In a statement announcing his candidacy for attorney general Wednesday, Murphy pitched himself as "an advocate who will fight crime wherever it is — on the streets, in corporate boardrooms, or in Harrisburg."
The news of Murphy's entry into the race was first reported by PoliticsPA.
Along with an official announcement Wednesday, Murphy rolled out endorsements from more than 20 current and former elected officials, including three Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation — Reps. Chaka Fattah, Tim Holden and Jason Altmire.
The Democrat and Iraq war veteran was best known in Congress for authoring the law that repealed the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) suggested Wednesday that questions over President Obama's birth certificate are a distraction from more pressing issues facing the nation, indicating that Obama's certificate of live birth should be enough to "settle" any questions.
During an interview with Bachmann on ABC's "Good Morning America," George Stephanopoulos held up a copy of the president's certificate of live birth, which the Obama camp presented during the 2008 presidential race.
Bachmann said the certificate, which has been rejected as not valid proof of Obama's birthplace by real estate mogul Donald Trump and other doubters, is good enough for her.
Here's part of the Wednesday exchange between Bachmann and Stephanopoulos:
Stephanopoulos: Well I have the president’s certificate right here. It’s certified, it’s got a certification number. It’s got the registrar of the state signed. It’s got a seal on it. And it says 'this copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.'
Bachmann: Well, then that should settle it.
Stephanopoulos: So it’s over?
Bachmann: That’s what should settle it. I take the president at his word and I think — again I would have no problem and apparently the president wouldn’t either. Introduce that, we’re done. Move on.
Stephanopoulos: Well this has been introduced. So this story is over?
Bachmann: Well as long as someone introduces it, I guess it’s over.
Stephanopoulos: It’s right there.
Bachmann: Yeah, there you go. Because that is not the main issue facing the United States right now. The main issue facing the United States is dealing with our debt and our deficit.
During an interview Tuesday evening on Fox News, Bachmann said it was up to Obama to put an end to any questions voters might still have about his place of birth.
"All the Republicans are being asked to attest to the authenticity, and all I'm saying is there's only one person who can attest to the authenticity and that's the clerk of court in the county where he was born," Bachmann said Tuesday. "So everybody should run there, ask the clerk of court to solve this thing."
With an $11.6 million first-quarter total, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee bested their GOP counterpart in the first three months of the year and reported a $5.6 million haul in March.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee reported $11.2 million during the first quarter and raised $5 million in March.
"The strong support we’re seeing so early in the cycle shows that we’re going to be in a position to not only protect our majority next year, but also play offense in 2012," DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil said in a statement. "The Republican move to end Medicare and give more tax breaks to the very rich has fueled support from our base. Our campaigns around the country are seeing that their supporters are excited and engaged earlier than ever before, and that will make the difference next year."
The DSCC reported $5.5 million cash on hand and $4.8 million in remaining debt. The committee also touted strong fundraising from its Democratic incumbents, several of whom posted strong first quarters.
For the NRSC, March marked the committee's best month of fundraising in an off-year since the passage of the McCain-Feingold law, which enacted sweeping campaign finance reforms. The committee reported $1.4 million cash on hand and has $2.7 million in remaining debt — down from the $6.5 million in debt the committee reported after the 2010 midterms.
“Since Senator [John] Cornyn [Texas] assumed the chairmanship in 2009, his finance goals for the NRSC have been three-fold — to be careful stewards of our donors’ money, to continue to close the fundraising gap with Senate Democrats and to ensure that not a single Republican candidate loses on Election Day because of a lack of financial resources," NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer said in a statement. "The NRSC met, and exceeded, those goals last cycle, and while we’re still up against a Senate Democrat majority and the fundraiser-in-chief in the White House, we are committed to building on this success and winning back the majority next year.”
Democrats face a tough Senate landscape next year, with 23 seats to defend. Republicans need a net gain of just four seats to take control of the upper chamber in 2012.
Former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack took a major step toward challenging Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) Wednesday, announcing she's moving into King's district next month to "continue to explore the possibility" of a 2012 campaign.
"The decision to run for Congress deserves serious consideration," said Vilsack, the wife of former Iowa governor and current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D). "Next month, I will move to Ames and continue to explore the possibility of representing Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s important to listen to Iowa families about the issues they want addressed in Congress. Hearing directly from citizens about their concerns and ideas is very important to me."
Given Iowa's new congressional map, some Democrats in the state had
encouraged Vilsack to mount a campaign against King, rather than run in
the state's new 2nd district, which could have set up a Democratic
primary with Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa).
Democrats are taking Vilsack's move to Ames and her exploratory committee as a sure sign she'll mount a campaign against King, who has a national following of grassroots conservatives and Tea Party activists. Still, a Vilsack adviser told The Ballot Box she's not yet ready to make a formal announcement.
"Input from fellow Iowans will help me make the best decision and will give our state a campaign focused on collaboration and results, encouraging a new way to do business in Washington," Vilsack concluded.
Vilsack's move continues the shuffling among Iowa lawmakers now that a new congressional map has been signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad (R). Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) has already shifted down to Rep. Leonard Boswell's (D-Iowa) district and will challenge him next year. Loebsack, meanwhile, has said he intends to move into the new 2nd district to avoid an intraparty primary with Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa).
Likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said Tuesday he plans to unveil his own budget proposal — one that would tackle Social Security reform.
The former Minnesota governor echoed his previous praise of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for putting forth his budget proposal, but said that his plan would depart from Ryan's since it will offer a specific plan on Social Security and reform Medicare differently.
"I'm going to have my own plan that will have some differences than what he had. For example, he didn't address Social Security. I will," he said during an interview with Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston. "You can kick the can down the road and wait for the crisis to come just like we have now in these other programs. But there are reasonable steps ... that I know we can get a majority of the country on board with."
Pawlenty's plan will likely help fuel the debate over the nation's growing debt and deficits, which has taken a front seat as the 2012 presidential campaign begins to heat up.
Spokesman Alex Conant said that the plan would almost
certainly be released sometime after he makes an official announcement.
"When we announced the exploratory committee, the governor
said his campaign would include specific policy proposals. I would
expect them in due course, likely after the formal announcement," he
said.
When it is released, the plan could help direct attention to the likely candidate, who was the first top-tier hopeful to form an exploratory committee but still lags in the polls in part due to a lack of name recognition. It would allow him to present an alternative vision to President Obama, who last week laid out a plan to cut $4 trillion over 12 years.
It could also provide a contrast to Ryan's plan, which all but four House Republicans voted for last week. House GOP leaders were annoyed last week when Pawlenty urged lawmakers to reject the 2011 spending deal that cut $39.9 billion, saying that the cuts appeared to be less than advertised.
Pawlenty delved into some of the specifics of his plan. On Social Security he would gradually raise the retirement age for new
entrants to retirement programs and implement means testing for cost-of-living
adjustments. Ryan's plan, which cuts $6.2 trillion over 10 years, largely gives Social Security a pass, implementing a "trigger" that would require action once certain thresholds are reached.
The former governor also said that his Medicare proposal would depart in some ways from Ryan's plan to "voucherize" the healthcare plan for seniors. His would focus on "payment reforms" that would direct money to doctors and hospitals for better healthcare outcomes, similar to reforms he passed in Minnesota that incentivized pay for healthcare providers.
"We have to improve it because we have to save it," he said of Medicare.
Pawlenty indicated that he would look at reductions to other non-discretionary spending areas, but said he opposes cutting defense spending.
"I believe in a strong defense, I don't believe we should cut that part of the pie chart," he said.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Tuesday warned the Republican leadership in the House to take a stand on the debt ceiling, saying in an interview it's what voters expect.
Bachmann, who was at odds with her party's leadership over the budget deal struck earlier this month said in a Fox News interview that voters aren't in a compromising mood when it comes to the debt ceiling.
"That's our hope that they do that and that's what the expectation is of the people," Bachmann said when asked if she was confident House leaders would hold out for major concessions on spending before agreeing to raise the debt limit. "At least two-thirds of the American people are just saying, 'No, don't raise the debt ceiling at all.'"
The Minnesota Republican, who's weighing a presidential run next year, said the only way she would vote for a debt ceiling increase is if it came with a "total defunding of ObamaCare."
"It's possible I might be at odds with the Republican Party again," Bachmann said of the upcoming debt limit vote. "I know very clearly what people are telling me in my district in Minnesota and around the country. They're saying, 'We're tired of giving the government more authority to borrow money.'"
As for 2012, Bachmann reiterated that she expects to make a decision by June, though she left the door open for an earlier announcement. She also touted her first quarter fundraising haul, singling out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
"And last quarter, I raised more money than any of the other candidates, even Mitt Romney," she said Tuesday.
Between her political action committee and her congressional campaign account, Bachmann raised some $2.2 million. That topped the $1.9 million raised by Romney in the quarter.
"You've often heard candidates say they have to know they have the fire in the belly and they have to be convinced that this is the right thing," she said of a 2012 run. "That's what my husband and I are doing right now."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating took a five-point tumble in a new poll released Wednesday.
Christie, a rising Republican star who enjoyed widespread approval during his first year in office, suffered a previous dip in his approval rating in December. But his numbers rebounded in February, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
Forty-seven percent of New Jersey voters approve of his job performance compared to 46 percent who disapprove in a new Quinnipiac survey, down from his 52-40 percent job approval on Feb. 9.
The new poll could tamp down talk of Christie making a dark-horse run for the White House in 2012.
The outspoken governor has said many times he is not interested in running for president, but has not ruled out accepting the vice presidential nod, should it come his way. And Christie has not ruled out running for president in 2016, though he faces reelection in 2013.
President Obama's approval in traditionally Democratic New Jersey is higher than Christie's, at 51-45. New Jersey voters also prefer Obama over Christie on likability measures and 52 percent would vote for the president over the governor in a potential presidential match-up, opposed to 39 percent who would do the opposite.
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,532 registered voters on land lines and cellphones between April 12 and 18. The poll has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
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