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 # 2: Wisconsin House GOP dismantle EPA Science Advisory Board by replacing Academic’s with corporate special interests!!! What a good idea?

This is a continuation of pure lunacy by our future Republican overlords in 2015, where science bows to the needs of business, our job creators.

Our Wisconsin House Republicans want to put corporate interests in charge of keeping out air and water clean. Gulp. We never learned anything from the amazing work by tobacco industry scientists who claimed cigarettes were healthy? Roll Call:

EPA SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD: The House passed a Republican bill (HR 1422) to reshape the EPA's Science Advisory Board to make it more industry-friendly. The board provides independent evaluations of the scientific analyses upon which the EPA bases its regulations. This bill would diminish academic representation on the board while expanding corporate membership; permit experts with financial ties to EPA-regulated industries to serve if they disclose their conflicts-of-interest; give state, local and tribal governments a guaranteed number of seats on the board and require the board to gather more public comments, among other provisions.

Don't you love those unscientific public comments?

Jaw dropping? What could go wrong with putting EPA regulated industries in charge of the EPA? What kind of mind would think this is okay?

These five minds, that's who: Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Sean Duffy, Tom Petry, and Reid Ribble. 

What are they're thinking.  

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. 

Psst! Democrats quietly try to pass Midterm Agenda for America. Don’t tell anyone.

Who knew? Thanks to the weekly feature Roll Call, where the paper lists all the “action” in the House, there is now a slight chance we just might stumble upon the bold Democratic statement for the midterms.

It’s hard to imagine anyone with a job or experience handling the household income objecting to the following populist agenda…oh wait, Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble voted against it? 

Voters won’t like that:

DEMOCRATIC POLICY GOALS: The House on Wednesday turned back a bid by Democrats to add five of their policy goals to HJ Res 124 (government funding bill). The motion called for raising the minimum wage, requiring that women receive equal pay for equal work, allowing most student loans to be refinanced, denying government contracts to companies that move headquarters overseas and reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank for the long term.

Republican never, if ever, pass Democratic amendments that are logical no-brainers for the rest of us. 

House Republican GOP to turn special interest research and hearsay into "the best available science."

Remember when tobacco executives said smoking didn't cause cancer? It was based on their own research...science. Or that climate change is fake, based on corporate research they call "science." 

Well, Republicans want to make the stuff churned out by think tanks and corporations into policy making "science." 

And they're hoping slip this stuff by the public, who probably won't notice the play on words. Who are they? Roll Call:

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT HURDLES: The House passed a Republican-drafted bill (HR 4315) requiring the Department of the Interior to publish online the scientific basis of all new “endangered species” and “threatened species” designations under the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill also requires the department to treat data from state, local and tribal governments as “best available science and commercial data” in making decisions on species protection.

What data? Hearsay science? Special interest “science.” Republicans want what could be called “data” from the state, local and tribal governments. They also want it treated as “the best available science,” even if it might not exactly be science. That’s like the state asking people to report seeing deer and treating it as an official “count.” Oh, they’re already doing that.

My Head Explodes: I don’t understand how small government Republicans who believe in the free market can write laws that limit private attorney fees in lawsuits. I’m stumped. Here’s another instance written into this bill:

In addition, the bill puts a $125-per-hour cap on government payments of “prevailing attorney fees” in litigation challenging endangered-species designations.

Hey, let’s cap government payments to those attorney’s representing politicians in John Doe probes. I’m all for it now.

Voting yes to turn special interest research into “the best available science” and meddling in private sector attorney’s fees: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.

And when Democrats tried to fine tune and define what was scientific: 

Republicans  refused to strip HR 4315 (above) the “best available scientific and commercial data,” even if it has not been subjected to peer review. In the scientific community, peer review is a discipline in which new research is not accepted as valid until it is evaluated by other experts in the same field.

Voting against the revision and making it perfectly clear actual science was not what they were looking for: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble

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? 

Irresponsible Wisconsin Republican Congressmen vote to shrink Natural Gas Supplies, Raise Prices and Export Supplies to Countries that sponsor Terrorism.

In the back pocket of big oil, Republicans are not only pushing the XL Pipeline to export gas out of the countries, they're also planning on padding the industries pockets with natural gas export money. You can say goodbye to low natural gas prices for Americans already on tight budgets, like senior citizens:

EXPEDITED NATURAL-GAS EXPORTS: The House passed a bill (HR 6) requiring prompt Department of Energy (DOE) action on applications from U.S. companies to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries in Europe and elsewhere with which America does not have a free-trade agreement. Critics said this would truncate DOE's reviews of whether applications are in the public interest in terms of assuring adequate and affordable domestic supplies of natural gas.

Voting to drain our supply of natural gas and raising prices? Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble.

Democrats to the Rescue? Not if Republicans can help it:

LIMITS ON GAS EXPORTS: The House defeated a Democratic bid to prohibit natural-gas exports under HR 6 (above) that raise household energy costs for U.S. seniors on fixed incomes or benefit countries that are state sponsors of terrorism or conductors of cyber-attacks on America. 

I can hardly believe I'm about to type this: Voting against cheap natural gas prices for senior citizens and for selling gas to countries that sponsor terrorism: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble

I wish I were making this stuff up. And yet Republicans are still threatening to be reelected in November.  

Wisconsin Congressmen vote to Repeat Great Recession with deregulation!!!

The free market Republican Great Recession was so much fun, let’s bring back the conditions that caused it. From Roll Call:

CURBS ON FINANCIAL REGULATION: The House passed a bipartisan bill (HR 4413) that would renew the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through fiscal 2018, curb its regulatory powers, add investor protections and increase the national debt by $948 million over five years. Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, the agency has begun the first federal regulation of the $700 trillion derivatives market, whose collapse in 2008 helped crash the U.S. and global economies and trigger taxpayer bailouts of financial firms. In part, this bill would subject new CFTC rules to time-consuming cost-benefit analyses and exempt derivatives trading by overseas subsidiaries of U.S. financial institutions from direct CFTC supervision.

A yes vote was to reauthorize the CFTC with weakened regulatory powers: Ryan, Kind, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble.

The shocking fact that they didn't learn their lesson when millions of jobs disappeared during the Great Recession, collapsing some European countries, is inexcusable. Here's free market loser Alan Greenspan:

Reckless Wisconsin Republican Congressmen vote to pollute inland Aquifers and...the Great Lakes!!! I'm not exaggerating.

Jobs are one thing, but a total disrespect for the environment at the expense of supposed job creation is lunacy. Wisconsin’s congressmen couldn't be more in the pocket of big oil. From the department “You can’t make this stuff up:”

CROSS-BORDER PIPELINE APPROVALS: The House passed a bill (HR 3301) to weaken environmental reviews of cross-border pipeline projects between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico … critics said it would allow any rejected Keystone application to be resubmitted under relaxed environmental standards. In part, the bill would limit reviews to areas at or near international borders, thus exempting long stretches of pipelines over aquifers and through interior terrain from National Environmental Policy Act standards.

Yes, our state Republicans voted yes on this bill: Voting yes: Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble.

Voting no thank god Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore

But even worse, especially for our congressmen, they were against this...:

PROTECTION OF GREAT LAKES, OGALLALA AQUIFER: The House refused to bar approvals of oil pipelines under HR 3301 (above) that could rupture and spill toxic chemicals into the Great Lakes or the Ogallala Aquifer beneath South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Voting to allow pipelines that could rupture into our Great Lakes? Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, and Ribble. Come on Democratic candidate opponents, use this stuff!!!! From a Wisconsin State Journal feature Roll Call.

Let's Increase Deficits, say Wisconsin Republican Congressmen; More Unpaid for Corporate Tax Cuts.

Remember, increasing the deficit is actually good if corporations can keep more of their money. And because money is speech, corporate freedom is bigger and better than ever.

Voters should be happy business is so actively trying to help Americans understand the issues that affect corporate profits and business liberty to fund campaigns. 

It's true Republicans are screaming bloody murder over the nations problem with deficits, but that has more to do with giving money away to lazy freeloaders than dumping more cash into the pockets of big business. 

Unpaid for Tax Cuts, Again: Still in drunken sailor mode, Republicans are still cutting taxes for businesses without offsetting increases somewhere else, while Democrats push for fiscal sanity. Roll Call: 

CORPORATE TAX BREAKS, LARGER DEFICITS: The House passed a Republican-drafted bill (HR 4453) that would lower tax liabilities in certain instances when companies convert from “C corporation” to “S corporation” status. Because the bill is not paid for, it would add $1.5 billion to federal deficits between fiscal 2014-2024, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.  A yes vote was to pass a bill providing corporate tax relief while raising annual deficits.

Oh, look, deficit slashing Paul Ryan, Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Petri, and Reid Ribble voted to increase deficits. That's not what they're saying at public listening sessions.

Supposed "tax and spend Democrats" like Mark Pocan, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore voted to cut the deficit.

Even Bigger Deficits: Big business is apparently struggling right now, and needs this budget buster:

DEPRECIATION TAX BREAKS, LARGER DEFICITS: The House passed a Republican-drafted bill (HR 4457) that would permanently grant depreciation tax breaks to medium-size and small businesses. Such breaks now are temporary but are routinely renewed on an annual basis. Because the bill is not paid for, it would add $73 billion to federal deficits between fiscal 2014-2024, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. In part, the bill would permanently raise to $500,000 the annual cost of qualified property that businesses can deduct from taxable income immediately rather than over many years.

A yes vote to depreciation tax breaks while raising annual deficits: Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Ribble

Voting to reduce the deficit, Pocan, Kind, Moore.

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.

Rep. Tom Petri bows out, greases skids for State Sen. Glenn Grothman. Democratic Challengers?

With large number of Republicans retiring, you'd think there would be more stories about the party being in trouble...oh yea, guess gerrymandering gave our elections GOP "certainty." 

“The Republican Party of Wisconsin applauds Congressman Tom Petri for his service and dedication to the voters of the 6th Congressional District.

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."