January - February Update

In 2006, the year the Republicans lost control of the House, I spotted a candidate in Ohio whom I believed would be a real leader, a man I viewed as a social conservative we could count on. That year GING PAC supported  Jim Jordan in his first run for Congress. He won and took office in 2007 just as Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker. Over the last four years Jordan has shown his leadership and when Republicans took back control of the House, he was elected as the new head of the powerful Republican Study Committee. 

A sizeable majority of House Republicans in the new 112^th Congress, 175 out of 242, belong to the Republican Study Committee.  The RSC is the conservative caucus, and any House member who is serious about conservative values belongs to it and participates in the formation of policy and legislative agendas.  Its rivals in the House are the Congressional Progressive Caucus, composed of about 74 Democrats who have a socialist agenda, and the perhaps even more radical Congressional Black Caucus, many of whose members also belong to the Progressive Caucus.

Jordan is known as a real fiscal hawk, but he is also outspoken about social issues.  He made a statement about the annual March for Life on the front page of his website, and also spoke at a Sanctity of Life event back in his home state of Ohio.  Jim Jordan released a statement explaining why he will not be attending this year’s Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), which he said was due to the inclusion of the pro gay group called GO PROUD.  Said the Congressman, “Family is the cornerstone upon which a community, state, or nation is built, and conservatives must lead the way in promoting the strengths of the traditional family whenever we can.”

ERIC CANTOR – The new Majority Leader, Eric Cantor is another candidate GING PAC has supported since the first time he ran for Congress. He ranks second in command after Speaker Boehner. Having a true social conservative in this position of leadership will be invaluable in helping to schedule votes on the floor.  I am confident that Congressman Cantor will work closely with Speaker Boehner to schedule votes on some social conservative issues that Nancy Pelosi never would have allowed to come to the floor.

On January 16, the anniversary of Roe v Wade, Cantor issued this statement:  “For the past two years, the life community has suffered the consequences of being completely out of power.  Against the will of our people, Democrats have jammed through an agenda that forces taxpayers to fund abortion and embryonic stem cell research, and even attempted to repeal conscience protections for health care providers.” The Majority Leader went on to say that, “We know that we have an uphill battle in the Senate and the White House.  But I can promise you one thing: the People’s House will stand for life, and we will do everything in our power to make sure our values are reflected in the law of the land.”                          

MICHELE BACHMAN - GING PAC supported Michele Bachman in her first bid for Congress, and in two election cycles since then.  Michele is using the grassroots passion for changing our big, wasteful, overbearing  government to push for real reforms.  Liberal Democrats in Washington must think she’s everywhere they look at the beginning of this new year, not just on the floor of Congress but out in the street speaking to March for Life participants.  And, right after Obama was supposed to have transformed himself into another Ronald Reagan with his State of the Union message, there she was on CNN with her rebuttal speech, hammering away at every misguided, big spending proposal that Obama and the Democrats have come up with.

RANDY FORBES - GING PAC supported Randy Forbes in his first Congressional race in 2000.  Now, he is the founder and head of the Congressional Prayer Caucus and one of the staunchest defenders of religious liberty as our founders envisioned it. When President Barack Obama incorrectly stated several times that the national motto was E Pluribus Unum, it was Congressman Forbes who authored a letter to the President signed by members of the Prayer Caucus, asking him to correct his error. He also introduced a congressional resolution reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the national motto.

It is to be hoped that the new members of Congress whom we supported will prove to show similar courage and leadership.

ANN MARIE BUERKLE -   New Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle is both a nurse and a lawyer, and has valuable experience in the medical insurance field also.  She is a strong opponent of Obamacare, and has commonsense ideas to fix some problems with our nation’s health care system.  She has already joined the Republican Study Committee, and Ann Marie has also just been appointed to Chair the Subcommittee on Health in the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.  Her subcommittee is charged with oversight of the Veterans’ Health Administration.  In the last issue of the Update I wrote about other members we supported such as
CONGRESSMAN ALLEN WEST,  who is now taking on an activist roll in Congress. He was one of the first new members to welcome representitives of Iraqi Christian refugees into his office. 

MARCO RUBIO -  On the Senate side, Marco Rubio of Florida was in the Senate only a matter of days before turning his attention to foreign affairs, an area that has been neglected by the Obama Administration. Our influence in Central and South America and the Caribbean has diminished, with the result that Venezuela and China are taking advantage of our inattention.  Rubio has already welcomed to his office and met with General Douglas Fraser, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command.  They discussed the new governments in Brazil and Colombia, and Venezuelan influence in South America.

Senator Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, very frankly stated his opposition to the recent Obama Administration announcement that our government will ease regulations regarding travel and remittances to Cuba.

THE 2012 CYCLE
The good news is that Speaker John Boehner was sitting behind the president for the State of the Union address on January 26^th. That bad news is that Vice President Biden sat next to him, and that the address was being delivered by Barack Obama. The nation needs to unload itself of debt and restore its Judeo-Christian values -- and those two things will not happen so long as there is a big-spending, pro-abortion president in the White House.

The spending is so out of control that 40 cents of every dollar the federal government spends is borrowed. The government owes so much that the Federal Reserve must keep interest rates at zero to allow the borrowing to continue. Our nation simply can’t afford the welfare state that has been built and it cannot continue to pay government employed janitors four times the rate paid in the private sector. We need rational leaders on both the fiscal and social fronts.

America simply can’t afford Barack Obama! In the 2012 election cycle GING-PAC can make a difference. GING-PAC can legally spend an unlimited amount of money to tell the truth about Barack Obama and his allies during the next election … BUT … We can’t spend money we don’t have.  We need your help!  If we are going to have a GOP nominee for the presidency who is a strong pro-life social conservative, we need to have cash on hand. In just three months the first pre-primary presidential debate is scheduled. We are already in the election cycle and we need funds to make a difference. Please help!

William J. Murray,

Chairman