Members of Congress will be sworn in today - and Republicans will officially begin their rule over the 112th session of the United States House of Representatives. And what can we expect? For starters: higher deficits. Republicans will reform PAYGO rules in the House to exempt tax cuts for the rich. Also - Republicans have set a date for repealing Obama's health insurance reforms - reforms that save Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year by requiring insurance companies to actually pay for health care, and cutting billions of dollars in fraud by corporations that sell insurance they call "Medicare Advantage" that isn't Medicare at all. Republicans are also planning to add more secrecy and back room deals. A rule to be voted on today will give Budget Chairman Paul Ryan sole authority to set spending levels in the federal budget without debate. And guess who these back room deals will favor? Big Business. Lobbyists have found their way onto key staff positions with new Republican Members of Congress - and are playing advisory roles with key new Republican Chairmen of House Committees. The new Republican Congress will be tailored for the Chamber of Commerce. And finally - to distract us all from these shenanigans - the House Government Oversight Committee - chaired by Republican Darrell Issa - will be busy launching investigations after investigation into the Obama White House - which Issa declared is, "one of the most corrupt" in history. This is the same Darrell Issa who sent letters out to big corporations asking what regulations they'd like done away with. No corruption there, right? So buckle up - and get ready for two years of this stuff...
-Thom
(Are you ready? What should the Democrats do? Tell us here.)
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