Freedom Leadership Conference to vote on August 21 as Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio & Rand Paul call for help before September vote
What is your view? The Freedom Leadership Conference of August 21 will have its delegates vote YES or NO on this question: defund Obamacare even with the President threatening to blame Republicans when he shuts down the federal government, yes or no? Conservatives are calling this vote “the last, best chance to stop Obamacare.”
So far 138 Senators and Congressmen have said they will not vote to fund Obamacare including Senators Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz. They have signed a letter to U.S. Senate Leader Harry Reid, in which they say “we will not support any continuing resolution or appropriations legislation that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare.”
You can add your name to the letter HERE.
Will Republicans unite in the face of the threat by President Obama and his Democrat allies controlling the Senate, to shut down the government if the House of Representatives refuses to fund Obamacare?
Some Republicans fear that President Obama will shut down the government and then succeed in blaming their Party for the shutdown, causing big losses in the 2014 off year Congressional elections.
But conservatives stand firm in demanding a “no vote” as the only consistent course of action after their grassroots supporters sent them to Washington with a House majority mandate to stop Obamacare. Even President Obama has stalled full implementation of Obamacare, a frank admission that the law will not work.
The Heritage Foundation explains, “What some are proposing is that Congress fund normal government activities, but refuse to fund Obamacare. The upcoming budget legislation, called a continuing resolution, is a decision point for Obamacare funding.”
The August 21 Freedom Leadership Conference will feature an actual vote on this question – a simple YES or NO on the question of whether Senators and Congressman should vote NO FUNDS for Obamacare, or bow to the pressure.
The August 21 event is billed as “A Conference for People of Faith” sponsored by Birthmother Ministries with Pennsylvania State Rep. Stephen Bloom as the keynote speaker and remarks by Birthmother Ministries President Jim Wright. To reserve a place at the conference, go HERE.
The Freedom Leadership Conference is only open to Conference members but new Provisional (temporary) member applications are welcome HERE.
At the August 21 Freedom Leadership Conference, there will also be 2 speakers pro and con selected from the audience on the “defund Obamacare, shut down the government” question. This will be followed by a vote of those attending the conference, with an immediate vote tabulation and announcement at the conference.
If you would like to ask for one of the 3 minute speaking slots please write to EventCoordinator@FreedomLeadershipConference.org at once.
You may also write to us to have your comments reported in this space and/or in the Conference’s Freedom Digest email newsletter before the August 21 conference.
Senator Mike Lee wrote to conservatives:
“President Obama’s recent decision to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate and eligibility verification for the individual exchanges are further proof the law is a failure that will inevitably hurt businesses, American families, and the economy.
“If the president can’t follow his law, then the American people shouldn’t fund it.
“Join me, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and others in signing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying that we will not vote or support legislation that funds the implementation of Obamacare.
“Please tell Harry Reid that you do not want Congress to fund Obamacare by adding your name to the letter today.
“This is the last time – our last best chance – to defund Obamacare before the law is fully implemented.”
It appears this subject will dominate conservative discussion in the next few weeks leading up to the August 21 Freedom Leadership Conference with the big showdown between conservatives and the Obama administration scheduled before the September 30 deadline to fund the government.
If both the Senate and the House do not pass legislation to fund the government including Obamacare, Senator Harry Reid advises Republicans, then Republicans will be blamed for the Democrats’ refusal to compromise and the government shutdown that will ensue.
The helpful Senate Democrat leader suggests that any Republican Senator or House member who even thinks of voting against Obamacare funding, had best telephone Speaker Newt Gingrich to have him remind them of how Gingrich and Republicans were blamed last time a Democratic President shut down the federal government.
We saw dueling talking heads on Fox TV this week argue both sides of this question. Bill O’Reilly introduced his segment on this as “A split in the Republican Party over this issue” last night.
His “guest” Karl Rove explained to the eager-to-be-tutored Bill O’Reilly that the crazy conservatives want to shut the government down and not learn the lesson from House Speaker Newt Gingrich era (1995) where doing that cost them the House in the next election.
Rove in stern tones, in effect called conservatives who are thinking to vote against Obamacare, crazy and unreasonable, unwilling to learn the lessons of history, and they should find some other place to fight President Obama.
Rove, nominated for a “Saul Alinsky Smear Conservatives Award” of the Freedom Leadership Conference in the past for his attacks on conservatives, seems to be reprising his past role. He may even earn another such nomination leading up to the August 21 Freedom Leadership Conference and perhaps this time win the top honor, see Karl Rove Nominated for “Saul Alinsky leftist Smear of the Month” award contesting Piers Morgan
Rove was edged out for the Alinsky award earlier in 2013 by Piers Morgan, who smeared Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt on his TV show.
Less than 15 minutes after Karl Rove “spanked” the over eager Congressional conservatives on Fox News last night, Sen. Mike Lee counter attacked Karl Rove on Sean Hannity, saying that this is our last chance to actually stop the implementation of Obamacare, and it is President Obama, not Republicans, who threaten to shut down the government to get their way.
In other words, if the House refuses to fund Obamacare in the budget, there is no requirement for the President to shut down the government.
The fact is the House of Representatives must authorize spending for it to take place. If they refuse, then the spending does not take place.
If the President wishes to shut down the government to get his way, will the American people blame him, or the Republicans, for this disaster? How will he explain that a small part of the budget did not get approved by the House, so he was so mad he closed down the entire federal government hoping to blame Republicans for what he did?
One would never suspect from listening to Karl Rove’s explanation to the “no spin zone” but also no-questions asked Bill O’Reilly, that it is the President, and not conservative Senators and Congressmen, who would be the ones to shut the federal government down in September.
A Fox News column this week provides more details of Karl Rove’s explanation:
The President will use this as a 2014 mid term campaign election issue, “if they shut down the government by trying to defund ObamaCare in the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government after October 1,” admits this recent Karl Rove column.
Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Karl Rove actually takes the President’s position on this issue – that it is Republicans unwilling to fund Obamacare – one item out of the entire federal budget – that would shut the government down. There is not a word from Karl Rove about the President’s intransigence and unwillingness to compromise, not a word about the benefit for Republicans actually voting for what they said is their position – no Obamacare.
Some Republican Senators and Congressmen appear to be sold on the Karl Rove idea to bow to the inevitable and try to defund Obamacare and risk being blamed by the President for a federal government shutdown.
Erick Erickson of REDSTATE just weighed in on this topic with a column headlined, “The Sad Joke From John Cornyn’s Office,” saying of the Texas Senator, “John Cornyn has turned into a sad joke and (Senator) Mike Lee’s letter is important because it is highlighting these punchlines of past their prime politicians who preach, but won’t practice what they preach.
But many people forget that there was a weak candidate for President – Bob Dole – and that President Clinton campaigned as the fellow who balanced the budget, not as someone so far to the left as Barack Obama. Losing seats in the House appeared inevitable given the lackluster effort we saw that year.
So what “lesson” can we learn from the Gingrich “shut down the government” deal, when that President shut down the government but finally agreed to some compromises with Newt Gingrich and the House to curtail some government spending?
Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Marco Rubio spoke on the Senate Floor about Defunding Obamacare (45 minutes), HERE.
Where do you stand on this?
Shut down the government or shut down Obamacare, is one way of framing the question. That is how President Obama and his allies – and Karl Rove – frame the question.
The other way to frame this question is, stand for what you campaigned on – vote no to NOT implement Obamacare, regardless of the threat that Obama will shut down the government and blame it all on the GOP. Do not capitulate, do NOT think you can fight this battle some other some other time.
You can stand with Karl Rove in urging Senators and Congressman to go ahead and fund Obamacare, do NOT risk being blamed by the President for a government shutdown.
Or you can stand with Senator Mike Lee and other congressional conservatives who are saying: this is our last and best chance to stop Obamacare and go on to win the 2014 mid-term elections.
If you want to register your immediate views on this you can go online to sign Senator Mike Lee’s “Letter to Defund Obamacare.”
You can also register your opinion on this at the August 21 Freedom Leadership Conference by voting one way or the other way. The vote total will be tabulated and announced at the conference.
Where do you stand?
Sincerely,
The Editors & Conference Leadership
P.S. You can stand up and be counted on August 21, “a Conference for People of Faith” where this “Defund ObamaCare” topic will be discussed and voted on. Register to attend near Fairfax City, HERE.
Remember, this is a “members only” conference but it is very easy to submit application for Provisional (temporary) membership at no cost, HERE.
PPS. The Conference Leadership was specifically consulted for this article. Two of them offered specific comments to be added to this article – Thomas L Cranmer and Richard Conn, both past conference speakers at nearly every monthly function since December.
Thomas L. Cranmer: Defund Obamacare
– Republicans are not shutting down the government by defunding Obamacare. The Senate and Obama can just sign the CR as it comes out of the House and the govt would run normally. It would be the Dems that shut down the govt.
– After the last govt shut-down, Repubs picked up two Senate seats and lost only nine House seats but kept control.
– This is discretionary spending, not mandatory like Social Security.
– If the Repubs don’t cut Obamacare spending, their 30 bills to kill Obamacare look useless and silly.
– Obamacare is driving up health care costs for everyone and will increase the deficit in a major way.
– Many more people will become unemployed under Obamacare, so companies can get the workforce below 50 people.
– Many others will lose their full-time employment and be part time at less than 30 hours under Obamacare.
– Doctors will retire in droves with the coming of Obamacare. Those remaining will restrict the number of patients and go to concierge car with non-insurable front end fees of a couple thousand dollars per person. People will have a hard time finding a doctor.
– People will lose their current insurance and doctors under Obamacare.”
(Cranmer is also First VP and Director, Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance)
Richard Conn: Defund Obamacare
I say shut down Obamacare by defunding it, and let the chips fall where they may. I am with Mike Lee in my thinking. In my mind, the Karl Rove’s of the Republican Party are defeatists. Thank goodness the folks like us (the Ronald Reagan’s of the party) prevailed in the founding of this country.
I know the Karl Rove types existed back in those early days of the USA, but the folks like us who were willing to keep on fighting eventually prevailed. This whole episode over the best Republican strategy is quite revealing and instructive for the nation.
It’s my belief that the Karl Rove types will ultimately be shown to be on the losing end of the argument, but we must keep battling them right now and persuading the public that we’re talking about retaining the principles this country was founded upon, instead of the very socialist policies the left in this country thinks they want.
The Karl Rove types would give away our principles and later wonder what happened. They simply are exercising poor judgment and awful strategies, which is what defeatists tend to do at exactly the wrong time. As one columnist I read today said, they are acting as if they’ve been castrated.
Are your two Senators & your Congressman willing to Defund Obamacare?
The following 138 members of Congress have signed the letter to “Defund Obamacare” mentioned in this article, despite the threat by President Obama to shut down the federal government if Congress will not authorize the funds he needs to implement Obamacare. Their letter states, “we will not support any continuing resolution or appropriations legislation that funds further implementation or enforcement of Obamacare.”
U.S. Senate (11)
Jeffrey Chiesa (R-NJ)
Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Mike Enzi (R-WY)
Deb Fischer (R-NE)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
James Risch (R-ID)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
John Thune (R-SD)
David Vitter (R-LA)
U.S. House of Representatives (127)
Adams, Sandy (FL-24)
Akin, Todd (MO-2)
Amash, Justin (MI-3)
Amodei, Mark (NV-2)
Austria, Steve (OH-7)
Bachmann, Michele (MN-6)
Barletta , Lou (PA-11)
Bartlett, Roscoe (MD-6)
Barton, Joe (TX-6)
Benishek, Dan (MI-1)
Berg, Rick (ND-AL)
Bilirakus, Gus (FL-9)
Bishop, Rob (UT-1)
Black, Diane (TN-6)
Blackburn, Marsha (TN-7)
Boustany, Charles (LA-7)
Brooks, Mo (AL-5)
Broun, Paul (GA-10)
Bucshon, Larry (IN-8)
Buerkle, Ann Marie (NY-25)
Burgess , Michael (TX-26)
Burton, Dan (IN-5)
Canseco, Quico (TX-23)
Chabot, Steven (OH-1)
Chaffetz, Jason (UT-3)
Coble, Howard (NC-6)
Conaway, Michael (TX-11)
Culberson, John (TX-7)
Denham, Jeff (CA-19)
Duffy, Sean (WI-7)
Duncan, Jeff (SC-3)
Duncan, John (TN-2)
Farenthold, Blake (TX, 27)
Fincher, Stephen (TN-8)
Flake, Jeff (AZ-6)
Fleischmann, Chuck (TN-3)
Fleming, John (LA-4)
Flores, Bill (TX-17)
Franks, Trent (AZ-2)
Gardner, Cory (CO-4)
Garrett, Scott (NJ-5)
Gingrey, Phil (GA-11)
Gohmert, Louie (TX-1)
Gosar, Paul (AZ-1)
Gowdy, Trey, (SC-4)
Graves, Sam (MO-6)
Graves, Tom (GA-9)
Griffin, Tim (AR-2)
Guinta, Frank (NH-1)
Guthrie, Brett (KY-2)
Hall, Ralph (TX-4)
Harris, Andy (MD-1)
Hartzler, Vicky (MO-4)
Heck, Joe (NV-3)
Herger, Wally (CA-2)
Huelskamp, Tim (KS-1)
Huizenga, Bill (MI-2)
Hunter, Duncan (CA-52)
Jenkins, Lynn (KS-2)
Johnson, Bill (OH-6)
Johnson, Sam (TX-3)
Jones, Walter (NC-3)
Jordan, Jim (OH-4)
Kelly, Mike (PA-3)
King, Steve (IA-5)
Labrador, Raul (ID-1)
Lamborn, Doug (CO-5)
Landry, Jeff (LA-3)
Lankford, James (OK-5)
Latta, Robert (OH-5)
Long, Billy (MO-7)
Luetkemeyer, Blaine (MO-9)
Mack, Connie (FL-14)
Manzullo, (Don IL-16)
Marchant, Kenny (TX-24)
Marino, Tom (PA-10)
McCaul, Michael (TX-10)
McClintock, Tom (CA-4)
McKinley, David (WV-1)
Mica, John (FL-7)
Miller, Jeff (FL-1)
Mulvaney, Mick (SC-5)
Murphy, Tim (PA-18)
Myrick, Sue (NC-9)
Neugebauer, Randy (TX-19)
Noem, Kristi (SD-AL)
Nugent, Richard (FL-5)
Olson, Pete (TX-22)
Palazzo, Steven (MS-4)
Paul, Ron (TX-14)
Pearce, Steve (NM-2)
Pence, Mike (IN-6)
Pitts Joe (PA-16)
Poe, Ted (TX-2)
Pompeo, Mike (KS-4)
Price, Tom (GA-6)
Quayle, Ben (AZ-3)
Renacci, Jim (OH-16)
Ribble, Reid (WI-8)
Roe, Phil (TN-1)
Rokita, Todd (IN-4)
Ross, Dennis (FL-12)
Scalise, Steve, (LA-1)
Schilling, Bobby (IL-17)
Schmidt, Jean (OH-2)
Schock, Aaron (IL-18)
Schweikert, David (AZ-5)
Scott, Austin (GA-9)
Scott, Tim (SC-1)
Sensenbrenner, James (WI-5)
Shimkus, John (IL-19)
Smith, Adrian (NE-3)
Smith, Lamar (TX-21)
Southerland, Steve (FL-2)
Sterns, Cliff (FL-6)
Stutzman, Marlin (IN-3)
Sullivan, John (OK-1)
Terry, Lee (NE-2)
Tipton, Scott (CO-3)
Walberg, Tim (MI-7)
Walsh, Joe (IL-8)
West, Allen (FL-22)
Westmoreland, Lynn (GA-3)
Wilson, Joe (SC-2)
Yoder, Kevin (KS-3)
Young, Bill (FL-10)
Young, Todd (IN-9)
(to have your comment on this subject carried in this space write to EventCoordinator@FreedomLeadershipConference.org)
