Ryan Plunders Air and Environment endangering Children, Pregnant Women, Seniors, Minority and Low Income Communities for Big Energy!!!

The Paul Ryan congress is now rerunning a whole bunch of outrageous previously passed anti-American, anti-job creation, anti-environmental bills that turns "good old American values" inside out for big energy. Roll Call:

DELAY OF AIR-QUALITY STANDARDS: The House passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 806) that would extend from 2017 to 2025 stricter standards under the Clean Air Act for reducing ground-level concentrations of ozone, or smog. The bill also changes from five years to 10 years the frequency of EPA reviews to ensure that National Ambient Air Quality Standards reflect the latest scientific and medical information.

Voting yes on this danger to public health?  James Sensenbrenner, R-5, Glenn Grothman, R-6, Sean Duffy, R-7, and that independent rebel newcomer Mike Gallagher, R-8.

Democrats Counter: Well, you won’t hear the Dems talking about it much, and the press won't make any value judgments, but an important Democratic motion exposed how irresponsible and reckless the Republicans are right now. You'd think human life could stand in the way of big energy?

The Republican House defeated a bid by Democrats to prevent HR 806 (above) from fully taking effect if an EPA scientific advisory committee concludes it would raise health risks to vulnerable populations such as outdoor workers, children, seniors, pregnant women and minority and low-income communities. 

Democrats voting yes to protect children and pregnant women? Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore.

More Recycled Republican Recklessness: Thanks to Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, big oil just got a pass to take public and private land. There is no going back on this stuff either:

NATURAL GAS PIPELINE PERMITS: The House passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 2910) that would set tight deadlines for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other federal and state agencies  …  the bill would streamline an overly bureaucratic process. Critics said it would trample on private and tribal property rights and undercut environmental laws. In part, the bill would allow conditional permits to be granted on the basis of aerial data collected by drones that critics said would fail to detect historical sites, endangered species and wetlands.

Republicans voting yes...you guessed it: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, and that real independent newcomer Mike Gallagher.

Democrats tried an American Made Steel motion, but Failed: Pointing out the error of their ways, in the most stark terms possible:

AMERICAN-MADE IRON AND STEEL: Voting 193 for and 232 against, the House defeated a Democratic motion requiring all iron and steel components of cross-border pipelines approved under HR 2883 (above) to be made in the United States.

Voting yes to adopt a made-in-America requirement: Pocan, Kind, Moore

Voting no for American Job Creation in the Steel Industry: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Gallagher

Time to Retire: Rep. James Sensenbrenner says "Nobody's got to use the internet...!"

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, elected way back in 1978, is still operating under the idea that the internet is just a "series of tubes."

Sensenbrenner: "Nobody's got to use the internet...."

Remember when Sen. Ted Stevens clarified that the internet is not something you dump things on, it's not a big truck?

So it is with Rep. James Sensenbrenner, who probably reflects his party's deep thinking on the internet...you know, the internet is just one of many options? Really?

Tell that to Trump who really has to use the internet to state U.S. and foreign policy, attack his enemies, and use it to become president for gods sake.

Constituent Goes after Sensenbrenner over Privacy: You'll notice Sensenbrenner's answer below is ISP focused, dealing with an ISP's ability to make money advertising, having nothing to do with his constituents privacy or her question in general. (Volume is low):

WaPo: Sensenbrenner told a town hall attendee who was concerned about the elimination of online privacy protections that using the Internet is a choice:

“Nobody’s got to use the Internet. … And the thing is that if you start regulating the Internet like a utility, if we did that right at the beginning, we would have no Internet. … Internet companies have invested an awful lot of money in having almost universal service now. The fact is is that, you know, I don’t think it’s my job to tell you that you cannot get advertising for your information being sold. My job, I think, is to tell you that you have the opportunity to do it, and then you take it upon yourself to make that choice. … That’s what the law has been, and I think we ought to have more choices rather than fewer choices with the government controlling our everyday lives.”

What "government control" of our everyday lives? The GOP's mind numbing pat answer to everything "government" just keeps sounding more and more ridiculous everyday. Especially when it comes to selling Americans internet privacy.

The constituent tried to make it clear she wasn't talking about Facebook or Google searches, she was addressing her monopoly ISP:

Not all Internet users have options to switch to a different company if they don’t agree with their current provider’s privacy practices.

Constituent: “Facebook is not comparable to an ISP. I do not have to go to Facebook. I do have one provider. … I have one choice. I don’t have to go on Google. My ISP provider is different than those providers.”

Backtracking and try to ignore the constituents question while explaining the unexplainable...Sensenbrenner's clueless staff appears just as disconnected:

Sensenbrenner’s press office replied to the tweet: “Actually, he said that nobody has to use the Internet. They have a choice. Big difference.” An official from Sensenbrenner’s office said Saturday that the congressman’s point is that people can choose whether or not they want to use certain websites.

The news media itself does serious damage to this story by relegating comments about Sensenbrenner's comments to supposed losers on "social media," who can't get enough of those cat videos on Facebook:

Sensenbrenner’s statement has since drawn criticism from social-media users....

No, everyone who pays bills, sells their product, gets a job online. Sensenbrenner is technically off base when he says "nobody has to use the internet:"

“Nobody has to use indoor plumbing or electricity. They can just use outhouses and kerosene lamps. They have a choice, right?” one Twitter user wrote.

“Nobody has to use the Internet? Many jobs require it. Schools require it. Take his office Internet away, maybe?” said another.

“I’m an online editor. I have to use the Internet. Welcome to 2017,” another one wrote.

The Internet has become such a fixed part of people’s everyday lives, the United Nations considers access to it a human right. In 2016, the U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution declaring that denying someone the ability to access or disseminate information online is a human rights violation.

Walker won't blame Republicans and Rep. James Sensenbrenner for killing 350 jobs at GE.

Democrats and many Republicans in Washington support the Export Import Bank. But the tea party wing of the GOP is hoping to kill the bank completely, oddly claiming now that business handouts are a form of corporate welfare. It's like they don't see what's happening in their own red state legislatures.

For example, Scott Walker was a miserable failure as CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). So much so they had to fire him. And while loans were forgiven and lost forever, all the while many jobs were never created or outsourced, that was okay. Yet Republicans in D.C. are claiming to oppose corporate welfare? No wonder conservative voters are all over the map trying to defend their politicians.

Scott Walker was asked about General Electric's plan to kill 350 jobs in the Republican stronghold of Waukesha, moving them to Canada because they have their own EXIM Bank. Not once did Walker mention his party's opposition to EXIM, or how Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner had a major role in killing jobs in his own district with no blowback:

Huffington Post

Big companies like GE and the many small businesses that are served by the EXIM Bank, to underwrite the sale and purchase of their products considered to "risking" by establishment banks, are pawns of extremist Republican politicians who want to kill the bank in exchange for lower corporate tax rates. Until then, tough luck folks.

That "larger political battle out in Washington" is a Republican game of chicken being played out against American labor for lower corporate tax rates. And as we've seen in GE's Waukesha plant, the family supporting American worker is losing.

On Upfront with Mike Gousha, BizTimes Milwaukee editor Andrew Weiland explained: Almost 200 businesses over the last decade have benefited from the EXIM Bank, accounting for $4 billion of export business activity:

Wisconsin's Republican Science deniers in House pass bill disavowing the social cost of carbon emissions, block Democratic attempts to keep it.

Just like what we're seeing in Wisconsin, our one-size-fits-all Republican Party agenda is taking aim at our clean water and air, getting it ready for privateer plundering. Roll Call:

SCALED-BACK ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS: The House passed bill (HR 348) to scale back the National Environmental Policy Act as a regulator of large construction projects in the U.S. The bill disavows the social cost of carbon emissions; sets a two-year deadline for completing environmental reviews; requires lawsuits challenging reviews to be filed within 180 days; limits the number of reviews per project; authorizes states to prepare alternative environmental assessments and allows agencies to accept secondary rather than original analyses of environmental impacts.

The CBO says the bill would apply mainly to the three federal agencies with the largest construction budgets -- the Department of Transportation for road and transit contracts, the Department of Defense and Army Corps of Engineers.

Every Wisconsin representative voted to ignore the devastating health effects and premature deaths caused by carbon emissions, actually writing it into law. Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Glenn Grothman, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Even worse? They rejected attempts by Democrats to again include the social cost of pollution:

SOCIAL COST OF CARBON: The House defeated an amendment to HR 348 (above) allowing agencies to include the social cost of carbon-dioxide emissions in environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Voting to save lives and keep our air and water clean: Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore.

Rubbing it into the face of their own constituents: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

Walker wants the NSA's mass surveillance program if president, no changes.

Scott Walker said he would only consider running for president if the Senate flipped to Republicans in 2014. And it did! 

That’s because guys like Walker can’t function without one party rule. One party passage of his one-sided agenda makes him look like an effective leader. But also under his leadership, Walker took the long term approach of crushing the opposition for years to come, using such tactics as his recall petition "blacklist" to character assassinate his targets.

Eyeing the presidency, Walker knows he’ll need every resource to not just hold power, but lessen the threat of dissent nationally that could change the balance of power in congress.

That’s why he opposes any changes to the NSA’s mass surveillance program:

Governor and likely presidential candidate Scott Walker made clear that he does not support a House bill that bans the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program, suggesting the measure goes too far in limiting the government's ability to monitor phone records.

"I think there needs to be the capacity, if we have in America enemy combatants, or people in line with enemy combatants, we need to be able to gain access to information that would help assist us … Congressman Sensenbrenner, I think, is trying to create some sort of balance to make sure the Patriot Act doesn't run out."

It's a comment like that that even scares members of his own party, like Sensenbrenner, who helped write the USA Freedom Act.

"I was absolutely surprised" to hear of the governor's position, Sensenbrenner said ...  "because all of the Wisconsin Republicans in Congress have voted for it and publicly expressed support for it" … it ends the bulk collection of Americans' call records. Sensenbrenner said that, "where I think the governor was misinformed on the USA Freedom Act, is that it does give the NSA access to the materials they need, but the privacy of Americans is protected because the government is not storing the data." 

Under Sensenbrenner's bill, the government would not collect the data in bulk but could access data from the phone companies with a court order. The measure passed the House on May 13 on a lopsided bipartisan vote. It is backed by the Obama administration.

"Continuing the present program is not the proper balance between privacy and national security," said Sensenbrenner.

Here’s the key reason Walker opposes any changes:

(Sensenbrenner said,) "There is no privacy if the government ends up collecting trillions of phone records made by Americans and storing it for five years."

It's important to remember what Republican, writer and researcher John Dean first saw in Scott Walker, and why he described him this way back in 2012:

Desirous Of Personal Power: As governor, Walker sought to remove civil service jobs, in order to make them political appointments, and thus subject to his control.  Most strikingly, he has sought to undercut the public-employee unions so that he would not have to deal with them, thus increasing his power. He has increased his personal power over some fifteen state agencies, and I suspect that he is just getting started. Walker’s push to get Act 10 passed into law was done in about as authoritarian a fashion as you will ever see, outside of a dictatorship.  

About 25 percent of the population has, in varying degrees, the disposition to follow a double high authoritarian, many blindly or simply because it assuages their fears.  And, of course, these are aggressive followers who can attract others who are unaware of the nature of the person they are electing, thus enabling an authoritarian leader like Walker to gain ever-growing control. Good luck, Wisconsin.

Lunacy # 3: Wisconsin House GOP would prevent EPA from protecting Americans from Ebola, nuclear, biological and terrorist attacks. I'm not kidding.

My head is spinning. After every Wisconsin Republican house member voted to put special interests on the EPA's Science Advisory Board in place of scientists to make it more industry-friendly, and require EPA research to expose the private medical records of effected American citizens dying from pollution - or the rules won't count - they went one step further that will blow your mind. Roll Call:

They turned away a Democratic bid to at least give the EPA an exemption from the restrictions above so it could protect Americans from Ebola, biological terrorist attacks and chemical spills.

EBOLA DISINFECTANTS: The House defeated a Democratic bid to exempt from HR 4012 (above) any EPA actions to approve Ebola disinfectants or protect communities against nuclear, biological or terrorist attacks or chemical spills into drinking-water supplies. A yes vote was to exempt EPA actions against health threats such as the Ebola virus from the bill.

Republicans weren't about to give Democrats a victory even on this. Voting no and against preventing an Ebola outbreak or chemical terrorist attack: Republicans Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Lunacy # 1: Wisconsin House Republicans start to dismantle EPA, by requiring confidential health information be made public.

We've known for years air pollution harms and prematurely kills Americans every day, but that may not matter anymore if Republicans, who will be in charge soon, block research proving it. Then magically, the harmful effects of pollution will disappear, and anti-science marches on. Roll Call:

SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: The House passed a Republican bill (HR 4012) that would negate specific rule making by the Environmental Protection Agency unless all data from underlying scientific studies -- including any confidential health information about participants -- has been made publicly available so that the studies can be independently replicated. Republicans said the bill would promote much-needed transparency at the EPA, while Democrats said it would thwart enforcement actions because many environmental studies depend on protecting the privacy rights of participants. Democrats said the bill's main targets are studies by the American Cancer Society and Harvard University that link air pollution with ill health and underpin the EPA's administration of the Clean Air Act.

Voting to kill more Americans with cancer and other diseases, by making scientific research completely irrelevant: Republicans Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Here's Alex Wagner with the story as well:



The next post in this series will take your breath away, literally.

Wisconsin House Republicans didn't just pass the Keystone XL Pipeline, they exempted Big Oil from paying for the Cost of Cleanup!!!

With the Republicans taking complete control of the legislative branch in 2015, all they need is a president to rubber stamp the following irresponsible act of belligerence. 

If passing the Keystone XL Pipeline in the House and “bypassing ... the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act wasn't bad enough, get a load of what OUR Republican Wisconsin Congressmen voted against; a Democratic motion to protect the taxpayers from paying for costly oil spills. From Roll Call:

LIABILITY FOR OIL SPILLS: The House on Friday refused to require the Keystone XL Pipeline to pay into the Treasury Department’s Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Sponsored by Democrats, this motion to HR 5682 (above) sought to blunt an Internal Revenue Service ruling under which crude extracted from tar sands is exempted from mandatory support of the oil-spill fund. The ruling spares TransCanada Corp., the Keystone owner, from having to pay 8 cents per barrel into the fund to help cover the cost of cleaning up any spills. Congress established the fund in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding, which spilled hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. A yes vote was to require the Keystone XL Pipeline to contribute to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

Guess who voted yes? Rep. Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore.

In a breathtakingly irresponsible vote to exempt big oil from paying for spilled tar sand oil? The same guys taking charge in 2015; Rep. Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, outgoing Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Why not right? The press is not covering this. Our Republican representatives have been voting like this for years. Search my blog for "roll call" or "ribble" and you'll see what I mean. 

Wisconsin Congressmen hold nation hostage; won't stop offshoring or inversions until Democrats agree to Corporate Tax Cut.

Despite not having gone far enough, Dodd Frank is trying desperately to regulate the financial industry while also trying to prevent another Great Recession.

Republicans Dare to have another Great Recession: But Republicans want to play a game of chicken with our economy and retirement investments again by smashing to pieces every line of reform. Like they told us after the global crash, “you knew the risks, you took your chances, and you lost. That’s the market.” Strangely that didn’t piss off a majority of tightwad conservative voters either who lost money. It’s an odd voting base to say the least.   

Congressional Veto Power over an administrations Department Regulations: Big government Republicans want veto power over regulations that might get in the way of business.  

Cut Corporate Income Tax or Else...: And worst of all, Republicans won’t stop companies shifting jobs overseas or prevent tax inversions until they get a cut in the corporate income tax. Never mind those inversions are permanent and lost forever as revenue. 

Sadly, there's more too...Roll Call:

REPUBLICAN JOBS PACKAGE: The House approved a package (HR 4) of 15 jobs bills that previously passed the House as individual measures, and then died in the Democratic-led Senate. In part, the bills would expedite logging in national forests, scale back the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law, make bonus depreciation and certain charitable contributions by businesses a permanent part of the U.S. tax code, ease certain environmental rules to promote job creation and give Congress veto power over federal regulations having at least a $100 million annual impact on the economy.

Voting yes to increase the deficit with permanent tax cuts and lost corporate revenues: Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble. 

DEMOCRATS’ TAX CHANGES: The House on Thursday defeated a motion by Democrats to amend HR 4 (above) in a way that would deny federal tax breaks to companies that shift U.S. jobs overseas or which reincorporate abroad to avoid U.S. taxation, a process known as “inversion.” The motion also sought to require the Republican leadership to put Democratic issues such as a minimum-wage increase, pay equity for women and student-loan refinancing to House votes.

And you know who defeated cutting corporate handout to offshorers? They're pictured above. And Tom Petri is a moderate? 

Wisconsin Congressmen vote to sell Natural Gas and Oil to Terrorists, and raise our prices by depleting our surplus energy supplies.

Nothing says “irresponsible” more than drilling off our pristine coastlines, quickly approving the XL Pipeline and banning fracking regulation of our public/tribal lands.

The XL Pipeline’s one intended purpose is to export our own supply of oil out of the U.S. for Big Oil profits. It could destroy of our water supply or return us to Middle Eastern dependence on oil, but who cares right?   

Oh, and say goodbye to those low natural gas prices to heat our homes. Republicans want to provide quick approval to export more of that too.

Republicans also want to sell natural gas and oil to terrorists and the countries that harbor them.

In what would appear too many as a political death wish agenda is really a winning platform that might put Republicans in control of the Senate. None of this is hyperbole. Read for yourself the new Republican Energy plan from Roll Call endorsed by our Representatives:   

REPUBLICAN ENERGY PACKAGE: The House approved a package (HR 2) of 19 GOP-drafted energy bills that previously cleared the House as strand-alone measures before faltering in the Democratic-controlled Senate in the face of environmental concerns and other objections. In part, the bills would expand offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, require speedy administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, expedite Department of Energy approvals of applications for exporting liquefied natural gas and prohibit federal regulation on federal and tribal lands of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Higher gas prices at the pump and rising energy costs to heat our homes? Yes say Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble. Heck, any rise in natural gas would mean more drilling, and higher pump prices are always blamed on the Democratic President.   

OIL EXPORTS TO TERRORISM-ENABLERS: The House on Thursday defeated a Democratic motion that sought to amend HR 2 (above) so that it would “prohibit U.S. oil exports to any country, company or individual that supports or harbors terrorist organizations, including ISIS or al Qaeda.”

Voting no to the Democratic amendment, and yes to send our energy recources to terrorist; Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble. Your on the record now. 

GOP tantrum over phony IRS Scandal seeks to help tax dodgers by using programs for seniors.

The supposed IRS scandal targeting both liberal and conservative groups seeking tax exempt status for essentially helping candidates advertise and reach voters, has allowed Republicans a way to encourage tax dodging and defunding the much hated IRS. That in turn starves government of its much needed revenue stream. 

It’s so easy to tear things down, isn't it? When it’s your own country…well, that’s saying a lot.

Wisconsin’s House Republicans want to do just that, by cutting the IRS budget by 3%. But that’s not the ugly and devious part: They want to help tax dodgers by taking those IRS cuts...to fund programs for seniors. You can’t make this stuff up. Roll Call:

IRS Enforcement Cuts: The House voted to shift $10 million from Internal Revenue Service enforcement activities to programs that help seniors and other taxpayers. Overall, the bill cuts enforcement spending by 25 percent, from 2014 in response to the agency’s targeting of certain conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. A yes vote was to reduce the IRS budget for catching tax cheats.

Voting yes, and pitting seniors against catching tax dodgers (I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this one): Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble. Who comes up with this stuff?

Voting an obvious no, Mark Pocan, Ron Kind and Gwen Moore. Sadly, it's important votes like this that don't get any media attention. Party differences are dramatic. 

Not able to Lower Corporate Taxes, GOP tantrum seeks to expand off shore tax havens for Business.

At first I thought, “Why would Democrats vote against a tax deduction for corporations who donate food to charities?”

Here’s why: Rep.’s Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble, angry they can’t reduce corporate tax rates, want corporations to reincorporate overseas to avoid paying taxes. You read that right. 

Nice strategy, don’t you think. Of course that only increases our deficit by reducing revenues even at current spending levels. Ever get the feeling the GOP wants to make things worse? Now you know they do. Roll Call:

Corporate Tax Avoidance: The House defeated a bid by Democrats to deny benefits under HR 4719 (Charitable Deductions, National Debt bill) to businesses that reincorporate overseas to avoid U.S. taxation, a process known as “inversion” that is becoming increasingly prevalent.

Voting to discourage corporate tax dodging through “inversion,” were Democrats Mark Pocan, Ron Kind and Gwen Moore.

Voting to allow corporations to off shore their profits to avoid paying their fair share of taxes? Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy and Ribble. Way to go guys, one way or another you'll bring this country down to its knees. 

Every Wisconsin Republican Congressmen Voted Yes to Increase Deficit $287 Billion in Ten Years.

It’s opposite day again for House Republicans, who want to increase deficits, not cut them. Roll Call:

BONUS DEPRECIATION MADE PERMANENT: The House sent the Senate a bill (HR 4718) to make “bonus depreciation” for businesses a permanent feature of the Internal Revenue Code. This would add $287 billion to federal deficits between fiscal 2014 and 2024, according to official projections. Bonus depreciation allows businesses to deduct 50 percent of the cost of qualified property in the year in which the item was bought. It applies to most types of tangible personal property and software and is in addition to regular depreciation allowances.

Voting yes to increase the nations deficit by adding another handout to corporations, permanently, adding $287 billion to national debt over 11 years: Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble.

And you thought they wanted to cut spending and balance the budget? 

Freedom and Liberty Republicans Ryan & Sensenbrenner vote to give president imperial power to detain people indefinitely.

The party of freedom and liberty is conflicted. 

A few Republicans, like Rep. Paul Ryan and James Sensenbrenner, don't really mind a president with the powers to indefinitely detain people without a trial. Roll Call:

Ryan and Sensenbrenner joining Obama?

INDEFINITE MILITARY DETENTION IN THE U.S.: The House defeated an amendment to the military budget (HR 4435) that would repeal the authority presidents were granted after 9/11 to indefinitely detain suspected members of terrorist organizations in U.S. military custody without charges rather than assign them to America’s civilian criminal justice system. A yes vote was to repeal presidential powers to order indefinite detention. 

Voting to take that power away from the president: Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore, Tom Petri, Reid Ribble

Voting no...yea, the same guys who say Obama is the imperial president, Paul Ryan and James Sensenbrenner. These two also voted keep Guantanamo Bay open. I smell a plot to lock up all liberals in FEMA prisons.

Wisconsin Congressional Boys Club, who Blocked Funding the VA and wanted to kill ObamaCare, now Loves Veterans Socialized Medicine with no Cost Controls.

The Roll Call feature in the Wisconsin State Journal is a revealing window into the kind of world envisioned by Republicans. This is how they're really voting, minus rhetorical spin and distractions. 

Their no compromise agenda is all but ignored by the media, who oddly still finds the time to beat up on Sen. Harry Reid for not compromising as much as he should. 

Below, you'll see how health care for veterans is somehow different from health care for the voting public:

FISCAL 2015 MILITARY BUDGET: The House authorized a $600.7 billion military budget (HR 4435) for fiscal 2015, including … nearly $60 billion for active-duty and retiree healthcare …. The bill bars higher co-payments or enrollment fees in the military healthcare system.

It got a big thumbs up from Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, and Reid Ribble. Sean Duffy was busy expanding his family to 9.

You’ll notice the incredible hypocrisy; while the GOP pushed high deductible health saving accounts for the past 2 decades, they now hate them. So what did they do that would cost taxpayers even more? They barred co-pay and deductible increases for veterans. Why not do the same for your constituents in ObamaCare guys?

GOP Rejects Democratic motion to HR 4435...; 

...to prohibit the awarding of contracts under HR 4435 (above) to companies that fail to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour or provide pay equity between male and female employees.

GOP adopts their own Amendment to HR 4435...; 

...that would bar the Department of Defense from spending funds in its fiscal 2015 budget on programs that address climate change. A yes vote was to prohibit military spending to deal with climate change.

Voting to not hedge their bets climate change is real? Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Ribble. 

Wisconsin House GOP keeps making taxpayers pay for their $600 a month vehicle leases!!!

Wanna talk about entitlements? Our elite class of representatives don't like it when "saving the taxpayers money" gets in the way of their own luxurious lifestyle of fancy cars. Roll Call:

LAWMAKERS’ LEASED VEHICLES: The House refused to end public funding of leased vehicles for use by members on official business. Under the amendment to HR 4487, members would be required to use their personal vehicles for official travel, with reimbursement from the legislative branch budget on the basis of miles driven. About 60 House members use leased vehicles, at an average cost of under $600 per month, while most other members use their own vehicles for official business and receive reimbursements. The Senate prohibits its members from leasing vehicles. A yes vote was to end taxpayer funding of leased vehicles for House members.

Paul Ryan sided with Democrats Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan, believe it or not. But voting yes to keep the perk...

 Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.

Wisconsin House Republicans vote to Raise Student Loans and Starve Government Services to prove Government sucks.

So Paul Ryan and his Republican pirates have plans to plunder the wallets of their constituents to prove their point that government involvement just makes college loans more expensive. See for yourself below, from Roll Call, as Ryan poison pills the student loan program: 

Accounting for credit programs: The House adopted accounting rules that would raise the stated cost of direct-loan and loan-guarantee programs in the U.S. budget by giving more weight to risk. Democrats said that to define programs such as student loans as more costly would make them a more inviting target for spending cuts.

Voting to make student loans more costly and thus prone to cuts? Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble.

Intentionally price ourselves out of essential services: Letting inflation cut everything out of existence is just irresponsible and lazy. Guys, we can see what you're doing. Sabotage?

Republican spending rules: The House passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 1871) to remove inflation from calculations that determine the all-important “baseline” figure in congressional budget deliberations … over Democratic arguments it would automatically lock in unwarranted cuts each year in discretionary spending.

Voting to eventually price government services out of existence: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble. Even worse? Ryan and the Republicans know what they’re doing:

Veterans, disabled children: The House defeated a Democratic motion to prevent HR 1871 (above) from triggering spending cuts in programs for student loans, food and aviation safety, veterans’ benefits, nursing-home safety and the education of disabled children. A yes vote was to adopt the motion.

Can they do that without committing political suicide? Apparently if you go by recent polling: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble all voted for this Dickensian path to wealth prosperity.

Wisconsin Congressmen try to put Voodoo Economic Spell on CBO!

Supply-side Economics: 1992 presidential candidate Ross Perot was right to call it voodoo economics. Supply-siders are still convinced cutting taxes (government revenues), increase...government revenues. It’s magic.

We’re seeing this play out in Wisconsin, where “job creating” businesses has gotten everything they wanted from Scott Walker, from major tax cuts to tort reform, all without holding up their side of the bargain…jobs, jobs, jobs. And the GOP has yet to ask them to put up or shut up.

After the Reagan and George W. deficits, with a lot of help from the free market experiment that brought us the Great Recession, the only way to get people to accept supply-side was to make it into an actual law and force the CBO to use it.  

‘DYNAMIC SCORING’ BUDGET DOCTRINE: Voting 224 for and 182 against, the House on Friday passed a GOP bill (HR 1874) requiring the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to add “dynamic scoring” to its tools for forecasting the impact of proposed legislation on U.S. economic growth. A tenet of supply-side economics, dynamic scoring holds that tax and spending cuts always pay for themselves by stimulating economic activity. But the CBO, reflecting the views of mainstream economists, does not recognize dynamic scoring as empirically valid, and instead uses what is known as “static scoring” to forecast economic impacts. 

Voting yes to make their fantasy economic dream come true were Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble. Polls show Americans might like to try this magical potion. 

In researching this failed economic BS, I came across another term; the horse and sparrow theory:

The economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted that "trickle-down economics" had been tried before in the United States in the 1890s under the name "horse and sparrow theory." He wrote, "Mr. David Stockman has said that supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy—what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory: 'If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.'"

Or this...

A 2012 study by the Tax Justice Network indicates that wealth of the super-rich does not trickle down to improve the economy, but tends to be amassed and sheltered in tax havens with a negative effect on the tax bases of the home economy.

And finally:

In 1896, Democratic Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan made reference to trickle-down theory in his famous "Cross of Gold" speech:

"There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it."

Wisconsin House Republicans vote to Raise Deficits, Drop 1 Million from ObamaCare a year, return denials for pre-existing conditions and charge more for women.

Republicans like Paul Ryan continue to show the nation just what they would do if they took control of the country. For example, ObamaCare.

Every Which Way but Insured: Wisconsin's House Republicans decided to make it easier for employers to drop health insurance entirely, or at least make every full-time worker part-time (39 hours or less), exempting employers from the ACA penalty entirely. Winners: Big Business. Losers: Workers and their families. From Roll Call:

GOP CHANGES TO HEALTH LAW: The House passed a Republican bill (HR 2575) to raise from 30 to 40 the number of hours worked each week, on average, to meet the Affordable Care Act’s definition of “full-time employee.” By redefining “full-time” to exclude individuals working 30-to-39 hours per week, the bill reduces the number of employees entitled to company-provided coverage. And this, in turn, would reduce the sum total of financial penalties paid by companies for violating the ACA’s employer mandate.

Increases Budget Deficit, Drops 1 million from Health Care Coverage every year:

Supporters said the bill would protect paychecks by removing an incentive for employers to reduce hours in order to avoid ACA penalties. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill would cause about one million people to lose employer-provided health coverage each year while increasing budget deficits by $73.7 billion over 10 years as a result, in part, of employers paying fewer penalties for violating the employer mandate.

How can this be a good fiscal policy? It isn't, but it does adhere to their strict small government ideology. Voting to increase the deficit and drop 10 million from health care, were Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

IMPORTANT-Democrats make their point: The Democrats put the GOP on record supporting gender discrimination and the return of denied coverage for pre-existing conditions:

GENDER BIAS, PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: The House defeated a Democratic bid to bar HR 2575 (above) from taking effect if it would repeal popular Affordable Care Act features such as the law’s bans on gender discrimination and coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions.

Voting to bring back higher prices and death sentence denials for pre-existing conditions: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.

Wisconsin Congressmen vote against the preservation and designation of many future Federal National Monuments.

Saving federal land from looting, excavation or their destruction would seem like a good thing, unless you’re a Wisconsin congressman hell bent on big oil profiting from oil and mineral exploration.

The Antiquities Act of 1906 passed so presidents could quickly save national monuments, instead of going through a lengthy congressional battle. It was for "... the protection of objects of historic and scientific interest. President Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower National Monument on September 24, 1906 … (and) the Grand Canyon National Monument"-Wikipedia.

Because Obama went ahead with a few other proclamations, our GOP leaders were outraged:

The most recent proclamations were the establishment by President Barack Obama of Fort Ord National Monument in California on April 20, 2012,Chimney Rock National Monument on September 21, 2012,[3] and Cesar E. Chavez National Monument on October 8, 2012.[4] President Obama created a further five National Monuments on March 25, 2013, including the First State National Monument in Delaware, the first National Park Service site in that state.[5]”

Can you blame our GOP leaders outrage and push back; the federal preservation of monuments? From Roll Call:

ANTIQUITIES ACT OF 1906: The House passed a bill (HR 1459) to weaken presidential authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to preserve certain federal lands in their natural state. The law was enacted to give presidents a quick means of preventing the looting of archeological and historical resources such as Indian relics on federal land. But critics say modern-era presidents have been overly aggressive in giving “national monument” protection to federal acreage in the West. The bill limits presidents to one national-monument designation per state in their four-year term and subjects preservation decisions to lengthy National Environmental Policy Act reviews.

I know, Republicans are big on national environmental policy, but still (I kid). Voting to prevent the proliferation of many future federal monuments from dotting our already gorgeous country side: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble