Some at town hall don’t buy Rep. Jim Jordan’s tired talking points

Image of US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-4)

Ohio’s 4th Congressional District representative Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) held a town hall meeting at the University of Findlay on Monday September 19th. In the reddest of red areas of Ohio he still had to spar with some unhappy constituents. They peppered him with questions about the failed Republican economic agenda and the continued outsourcing of jobs. Jordan’s unsupported tired GOP talking points didn’t seem to help.

Continue reading “Some at town hall don’t buy Rep. Jim Jordan’s tired talking points”

“Actually, it’s a lot of work being poor” : Facts from one Ohio county

Long line starts early at Unemployment office

Just hearing the talking points makes me angry so forgive me if I sound angry. Someone will make a comment or bitch about “welfare queens” and about how these lazy poor people have wide-screen TVs and microwaves. If these comments come from friends and family, who should know better, it really drives me insane. Finally my hometown newspaper did me a solid and now I have some facts and figures to fight those biased FOX “news” talking points about poor people.

On Monday, August 22nd, the Findlay Ohio Courier had an article talking about the recent retirement of Judy Wauford, as director of the Hancock County Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). In Ohio, ODJFS handles the state and federal social safety net programs like unemployment, Medicaid, food stamps, and child support enforcement. The piece included some actual facts and data about the poor in Hancock county.

Continue reading ““Actually, it’s a lot of work being poor” : Facts from one Ohio county”

Rep Jim Jordan wants to hurt the elderly and disabled

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-4th) is on the shadow budget group that suggests cuts in the budget and it seems he wants to cut social security and medicare. Like many cheap labor conservatives his cutting didn’t include a Marine vehicle being built in his district. He would rather hurt the elderly and disabled.

“I believe the American people are ready for the tough measures that have to be implemented to put the country on the right path,” Jordan said. “There are sacrifices that are going to have to be made by everyone. The American people get it. The most-important question is, will the political class display the same kind of courage that the American people have displayed.”

To Jordan, this year’s budget battle is only the beginning. He points out that the current temporary spending measures deal only with what is known as discretionary spending – the 12 percent of the budget that finances the annual operations of the government. He is talking of eventually taking on the real cause of the deficit: the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“The discretionary side is a down payment or a first step,” Jordan said. “It’s not going to solve the problem. Everything else has to be looked at, including how to save and reform Social Security and Medicare. The speaker has been clear that will be part of budget. We couldn’t agree more.”

Budget cutting raises tensions between Ohioans Boehner, Jordan

First of all what he said about entitlements causing the deficit is a LIE. The majority of the deficit comes from extending the Bush tax cuts at the end of 2010.

Like all cheap labor conservatives they never talk about corporate America paying their fair share which they don’t.

Republicans like Jordan talk out of their ass especially when it comes to specific cuts. From the same article mentioned at the start, it noted:

As much as Jordan wants to reduce spending, he does have his exceptions. When the Obama administration wanted to cut millions of dollars for a Marine vehicle built in Jordan’s district, the conservative Republican fought to save the money.

Yep he wants to kick Grandma to the curb but don’t mess with his pet project that benefits his district. The fact is that the elderly, disabled, and poor have taken the brunt of the bad economic times we live in. It is time for the corporate world to pay their fair share.

GOP Budget cutter Jim Jordan turns down budget cutting job

Rep Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) who for years has talked about cutting the Federal budget, complained about the spending of the current Congress, promised to cut spending and not raise taxes and was praised by a district newspaper for his promise to cut the budget, turned down an appointment to the powerful House Appropriations committee. Why would a committed budget cutter turn down a place on THE committee that writes the budget?

In a glowing editorial giving Jordan its endorsement, The Findlay (OH) Courier noted:

Jordan believes the Obama administration needs to get a handle on spending, and cut taxes, not raise them, if the country is going to fully recover from the recession.

As a member of the Budget, Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform committees, Jordan is positioned to push for many of the changes that the majority of voters in this district favor.

Jordan proposes reducing “discretionary spending,” which includes items outside Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and defense. He proposes reducing the payroll tax by half for one year, and reducing corporate taxes. He wants to eliminate capital gains taxes and the estate tax.

He believes unspent money from the federal government’s $700 billion bailout of banks in the 2008 financial crisis should be used for deficit reduction.

Published on October 5th 2010 on Section A page 04 Findlay (OH) Courier

You can also check other posts on my blog that quotes Jordan on cutting the budget.

Then today the website “Politico” reported:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was asked to be an appropriator and said thanks, but no thanks. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a tea party favorite, turned down a shot at Appropriations, which controls all discretionary spending. So did conservatives like Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an ambitious newcomer who will lead the influential Republican Study Committee.

Appropriations panel loses its luster

So why would Jim Jordan turn down a committee assignment that would not only fit in his campaign promises for the past couple of years but would also bring him some prestige?

He doesn’t want to have blood on his hands. The GOP has made no secret they plan on making wide spread cuts to everything except defense and giving tax breaks to the wealthy while raising taxes on the middle class.

“Anybody who’s a Republican right now, come June, is going to be accused of hating seniors, hating education, hating children, hating clean air and probably hating the military and farmers, too,” said Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), a fiscal conservative who is lobbying to become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. “So much of the work is going to be appropriations related. There’s going to be a lot of tough votes. So some people may want to shy away from the committee. I understand it.”

Exactly. Jordan doesn’t want more proof that he hates seniors, education, the unemployed, veterans, and the other groups he voted against during the current congress.

*Update*

The Courier reported on Friday 11/19 that Jordan’s staff says the Politico report was wrong that he never had a formal offer to join the appropriations committee. However they quote his spokesperson Meghan Snyder saying that he would turn it down if it was offered. He wants to be on a special group that will make the decisions on what to cut that will then be vetted in the committee so he can do his damage more in the shadows than if he was on the committee out in the open.

But Jordan’s press secretary, Meghan Snyder, said Thursday he never was offered a seat on the powerful committee.

“There’s a lot of talk about it. He never got a formal call,” Snyder said.

Even if he did, Jordan would not accept an offer for the committee, she said.

Jordan’s focus is becoming chairman of the Republican Study Committee, she said. The group of 116 House Republicans seeks to advance a conservative social and economic agenda. He could find out this week if he got the chairmanship.

“He’s interested in being the conscience of conservatives,” Snyder said.

Jordan is not the only House member to campaign for spending cuts and then appear indifferent about the Appropriations Committee. A scarcity of Republicans wanting to be on the Appropriations Committee was the focus of the Politico article. Campaigning for reduced government spending made better politics than cutting spending will be.

Jordan: Not asked, but not interested By Lou Wilin published 11/19/2010 Findlay (OH) Courier