A lot happened since last week’s blog. A legal giant died unexpectedly over the weekend. The death of Justice Antonin Scalia hit Washington and the country like a shockwave. A fairly evenly balanced Supreme Court, with four liberals, four conservatives, and one in the middle (Justice Kennedy), was knocked off its fulcrum. Scalia was the heart and soul of the conservatives on the Court, and to think that Barack Obama might replace Justice Scalia with a fifth liberal is unacceptable to many Americans ( including me.)
Fortunately, Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader in the Senate, has vowed – not gonna happen. If there was ever a time when Republicans in the Senate need to stick together, and not waiver, this is it. And I can assure you, as time goes by, there will be intense pressure, not just by the Democrats, but by their allies in the mainstream press, to fill the vacancy, and not wait until the election of a new President less than a year away. My concern is that in a number of Senate races in more moderate states, where there are relatively vulnerable Republican Senators up for reelection, the pressure will be particularly intense to allow President Obama to fill the vacancy. It is absolutely critical that Senate Republicans not waiver in their resolve. The stakes are unbelievably high.
The irony of the timing of Justice Scalia’s death is that the Obama Administration had just suffered two significant setbacks at the hands of the Courts. The Supreme Court had pushed back on Barack Obama’s abusive use of executive power. In one case, the Supreme Court put a stay on the Obama Administration’s so-called Clean Power Plan. This was an attempt by Obama’s EPA to cram its agenda down the throats of the states without the support of the representatives of the American people, Congress. The Supreme Court said no.
In the other case, the U.S. Circuit Court for the fifth District (New Orleans) recently ruled that President Obama abused his powers when, by executive action, he blocked 5 million illegal immigrants from being deported. This was a substantial rebuke to Barack Obama’s expansive view of his powers. Unfortunately, the case will now go to a Supreme Court absent Justice Scalia, and therefore a positive result there is more in doubt.
Let’s move on now to something else that took place since last week’s blog, the Republican presidential debate in South Carolina. A pretty feisty affair. My take? Rubio was back to his usual impressive debate performance (except of course for his meltdown in New Hampshire). Kasich was passionate; Bush had his best performance yet; but neither seems to be getting much of a bump in the polling. I really like Ben Carson, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Cruz was strong, and appears to be in it for the long haul. And Trump was, well he was Trump. In his attack on President George W. Bush, he sounded like Michael Moore or Bill Maher. He blamed President Bush for the attack on 9/11, and said in essence “Bush lied, people died.” Trump also said nice things about Planned Parenthood, although he acknowledged that the abortions they do are bad. When he said this, it reminded me of the old joke “other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” Despite this, it seems that no matter what Donald Trump has to say, about a third of Republican voters are bound and determined to vote for him. And unless the Republican field gets winnowed down to Donald Trump vs. one, or at most two, other Republican candidates, and soon, Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee.
One more thing. Congress is not in session this week. However, I flew back to Washington today to give a speech at the National Press Club. As Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, I’m speaking there on the State of Entrepreneurship in America.
Here’s a brief summary of what I’m saying. Small businesses are critical to the American economy. In fact, 70% of new jobs created every year in America are created by small businesses. Unfortunately, Washington seems intent on throwing up new obstacles to impede their success. Washington overregulates and overtaxes. And the tax code is far too complicated.
The Small Business Committee is getting input from the people who know best what needs to be done – America’s small businesses. As a result we are pushing to dramatically reduce the number of regulations that have to be dealt with by the small business community. We are pushing for comprehensive tax reform which will simplify the tax code, and make it flatter and fairer for both individuals and businesses. And we are trying to open up more options for access to capital so small businesses can expand and grow and create more jobs for more Americans.
I’ll be saying a lot more than that, but that gives you a flavor. Anyway, don’t forget, the Republican primary is this Saturday in South Carolina, and the Democratic Caucus is also Saturday, but in Nevada. Unless something bigger happens over the next week, I’ll probably be commenting on them in my blog next week. See you then.
P.S. The other day I heard Rush referring to an article in Investor’s Business Daily about Bernie Sanders. I can’t vouch for everything in the article, but here it is for your perusal.