<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top"><p dir=ltr>Some misguided souls believe in order to save the United States from the Affortable Health Care Act, we must defund and destroy our country. As the logic behind the Vietnam War goes, in order to save the country, we had to destroy it. </p>
<p dir=ltr>Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android</p>
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Tom Hansen <thansen@moscow.com>; <br>
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Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020@moscow.com>; <br>
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[Vision2020] Labrador morphs into Dr. No from Idaho <br>
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Wed, Dec 18, 2013 1:46:50 PM <br>
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<td valign="top"><div style="">Courtesy of today's (December 18, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.</div><div style=""><br></div><div style="">---------------------------------</div><div style=""><br></div><div><span style=""><span class="paragraph-0" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><h1 id="blox-asset-title" style="font-size:30px;outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:34px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="blox-headline entry-title" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(204, 0, 0);line-height:38px;font-family:TiresiasInfofontRegular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Labrador morphs into Dr. No from Idaho</span></h1><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><br></p><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;">Last week, Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, voted against a modest,
bipartisan budget bill that avoids another government shutdown or two.</p></span><span class="paragraph-1" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;">The reason?</p></span></span><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">The deal cancels about $63 billion in spending cuts between defense and ordinary, so-called "discretionary" government programs - part of a larger package of reductions dubbed the "sequester."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">"Those spending increases gut the hard-won spending cuts Republicans fought for during the debt ceiling battle of 2011, otherwise known as the 'sequester,' " Labrador said. "The
'sequester' - which ended up generating bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Obama - forced necessary and long-overdue cuts in discretionary spending."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Setting aside the argument that when the dust settles, this deal cuts the deficit by $23 billion during the next decade, why is Labrador so enamored of the sequester?</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">When Congress enacted the measure in 2011, Labrador was among the 161 no votes.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Even before Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., had inked their deal, Labrador had signed up to oppose it. He was among 19 House Republicans urging Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor to avoid a budget deal and just pass a "clean" continuing resolution, essentially locking government spending in place.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">"... We encourage you to allow a vote as soon as practicable on a full-year 'clean CR' funding bill at levels established in law by the Budget Control Act," they wrote.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">But only a few months before Labrador got behind a "clean CR," he was against it. Labrador joined 78 other House Republicans who
endorsed North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows' plan to block any CR that included funding for Obamacare.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">"... We urge you to affirmatively defund the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare in any relevant appropriations bill brought to the House floor in the 113th Congress, including any continuing appropriations bill," their letter said.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Whatever else you want to call Meadows' idea, that is not the definition of a "clean CR."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">So what other
reason could Labrador have for opposing the budget deal?</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Certainly not the interests of his constituents in this readership area. As this page noted, a "clean CR" virtually eliminated the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program. That's because under the current law, Congress must act affirmatively to renew PILT.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">In Idaho, that's worth $26.3 million - including $1.52 million to Idaho County, $628,098 to Clearwater County, $231,833 to Latah County, $7,422 to Lewis County and $74,007 to Nez Perce County.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p
style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Nor can he cite his ideological brothers and sisters in the House GOP. Of the 144 Republicans who voted to continue the government shutdown last October, 82 switched sides this time and voted for a compromise.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Ryan wasn't the only hard-liner to back the budget deal. Others included Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Tom Price, R-Ga., and Greg Walden, R-Ore.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">That means 169 House Republicans voted yes. Labrador was among a very much exposed rump faction of 62 GOP members voting no.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content"
style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Even in the West's conservative Republican caucus, that margin holds up. Of the 14 Republicans elected from Idaho and its six neighboring states, 10 - including Labrador's seatmate, Mike Simpson - backed the deal. Only three - Steve Daines of Montana, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Joseph Heck of Nevada - joined Labrador.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">How can Idaho's two-term congressman wind up on both sides of the sequester and clean continuing resolution issues?</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Why is he among a steadily shrinking group of holdouts who embrace
congressional dysfunction?</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Whether it's last year's budget deal, immigration reform or even boosting Idaho's minimum wage, he's against it. What is he for?</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><p style="outline:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 18px;"><span style="">Enlighten us, congressman. - M.T.</span></p></div></div><div style="">---------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow,
Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"<span style="font-size:medium;">There's room at the top they are telling you still</span><span style="font-size:medium;"> </span></div><span style="font-size:medium;">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill </span><br style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-size:medium;">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><font size="3"><span style=""><br></span></font></div><div><font size="3"><span style="">- John Lennon<br></span></font><div> </div></div><div><br></div></div></td>
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