Teabag Priorities
by digby
The Young Tea Turks are losing patience:
In the House Republican Conference, freshmen and conservatives warn that there must be resolution soon on a budget funding measure that extends through the end of the fiscal year, so that the lawmakers can move on to bigger targets: the fiscal year 2012 budget and the tricky vote on the debt ceiling.
“I don’t think a lot of people have the stomach to do this ad infinitum,” said freshman Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), predicting that the debate on a short-term funding measure wouldn’t go on much longer.
Another GOP freshman, Rep. Allen West of Florida, said it isn’t playing well back home and that constituents “are tired of half-measures.”
At least one new Republican, Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, a member of the Budget Committee, said he’s voting against the short-term bill because he wants to put in place longer-term cuts embraced last month by House Republicans.
“The priorities ... are too critical to ignore for another three weeks — things like defunding the [Environmental Protection Agency], the pro-life provision [defunding Planned Parenthood] and Obamacare,” Huelskamp said in a statement.
That's an interesting mix of priorities, don't you think? I suppose you can make the stretch that defunding those programs are all in service of fiscal rectitude, but that wouldn't exactly be the whole truth now would it? There's a reason why those specific programs are in the crosshairs.
So what about our friend Huelscamp? Is he a Tea Partier? And did he run on those "priorities" he named in that quote?
Well, he's definitely a Tea Partier:
There’s a hot primary in Kansas to replace Republican Todd Tiahart who is moving up to the Senate. Tim Huelskamp, currently in 3rd in a field of 7, is the Tea Party favorite.
From his website:
Yesterday at massive TEA Parties across Kansas, Senator Tim Huelskamp spoke about the importance of the 10th Amendment. “The 10th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution for one purpose – to restrict the power of the federal government. But for years,” noted Huelskamp, “Washington has increasingly ignored any limits on their power – especially with the passage of their most recent stimulus and bailout...
The farmer from Fowler, as many have dubbed him, ran on a platform of conservative values and used a conservative voting record in the state Senate to illustrate his ability to vote against tax increases, spending and government growth.
“This was a hard-fought race, and I had some very worthy opponents,” Huelskamp said following the announcement on his win Tuesday. “My focus going forward is going to be advancing the conservative principles that I’ve campaigned on.”
It does sound as if he ran on low taxes and cutting spending, doesn't it? Yes, he's a hard core Tenther, but if it's all about spending cuts in DC, why not endorse across the board cuts in everything? Why single out Planned Parenthood, of all things, which is a drop in the bucket?
Guess what?
December 30, 2009
Senator Huelskamp to Continue Effort to Defund Planned Parenthood
FOWLER – Sen. Tim Huelskamp (R-Fowler) announced today that he will continue his previous efforts to defund Planned Parenthood of the taxpayer funding they receive from the state of Kansas. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the United States and promotes abortion as a means of “family planning” and routinely uses taxpayer dollars to fund their operations.
Huelskamp led the effort to remove the funding in last year’s legislative session. His measure passed the legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Parkinson.
“This is the right thing to do,” Huelskamp said. “Organizations that perform abortions and fail to report sexual abuse of young girls should never receive taxpayer subsidies. This flies in the face of basic Kansas values.”
Sen. Huelskamp also believes that cutting funding to groups like Planned Parenthood will help establish a responsible threshold for spending public dollars. Planned Parenthood has received approximately $1.2 million over the last four years in Kansas, including a dramatic 23% spike in funding from 2008 to 2009 at the same time that revenues were sharply in decline.
“Continuing to fund Planned Parenthood is every bit as embarrassing as funding ACORN. We need to get serious and let them know that they are no longer welcome at the public trough.”
Note the date. (And the ACORN reference!) Huelskamp is anything but a run-of-the-mill fiscal conservative --- he's a full blown conservative movement, anti-abortion, Christian Right zealot. Here's far right fringe group Concerned Women for America's endorsement:As the father of four adopted children, Senator Tim Huelskamp understands the importance of protecting the future of this country. He defends families from the onslaught of a culture that rejects the sanctity of human life and traditional marriage. He safeguards our children from an endless stream of pornography and anti-Christian imagery.
During four consecutive terms to the State Senate, Huelskamp has spearheaded the charge to defund Planned Parenthood (2009), led numerous fights against judicial activism, and passed amendments to limit access to cyber porn. Not only did Huelskamp author the Kansas Marriage Amendment—he saw it approved by more than 70% of voters in 2005. Huelskamp also worked to pass the “Violence Against Unborn Children” bill in 2007, making it a criminal offense to maliciously harm an unborn child without the mother’s consent while defining the unborn child as a human being.
This man, like the vast majority of Tea Partiers, is as much a hard core social conservative as a fiscal conservative, maybe more. The ongoing delusion, even among liberal commentators, that the Tea Party is some sort of secular organization is absurd. They are, quite simply, the far right, same as it ever was. It would be helpful if everyone would just accept this and stop defining them as some new coalition of average Joes and Janes who have come together around deficit reduction or some such nonsense.
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