Good News from the Republican House Majority

It's been a busy week for the new Republican House majority. First and most important, the House voted to repeal Obamacare 245-189. I know it won't even get to a vote in the Senate, what are you afraid of, Harry, but Paul Ryan reminds us of the importance of this vote. Let me be clear, this bill significantly raises the amount of debt of the federal government.





Next up, the House Energy committee plans to investigate the EPA's power grab over CO2 regulation. From committee documents, as reported in The Hill:

“The stakes could not be higher,” the document says. “ If the Obama administration succeeds in imposing unaffordable and unworkable permitting and other rules through EPA, it will severely impede the domestic manufacturing and industrial growth necessary for this nation to create jobs and emerge from a devastating recession."

Meanwhile Senate Republicans think they can gain significant Democrat support for legislation to restrain the EPA's ability to regulate green house gas emissions.

Most Senate Republicans think the sweeping repeal of EPA authority is the best approach, a Senate aide said, and they’re confident they can get broad Democratic support.
“There’s anywhere from 12 to 15 Democrats that we are eying that we think would have an interest in supporting a bill like this,” the aide said.

I think this is a long shot because Harry Reid won't allow a floor vote on this, and even 15 Democrats plus 47 Republicans wouldn't sustain a veto. But hearings would remind the public about Obama's pernicious use of regulation to bypass the Congress and make for a tasty campaign issue in swing states in the Midwest.

Back to the Obamacare front, the Daily Caller is reporter that Fred Upton, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (the same committee taking dead aim at the EPA) is beginning an investigation of the waiver process that has already allowed 222 companies and unions to escape the nasty clutches of Obamacare. Here is an excerpt of the letter sent to the office charged with overseeing the waivers:

It continued: “In a Nov. 30, 2010 meeting with Ranking Minority Member Michael Burgess, you stated that your office had also denied waiver requests. We would appreciate if your office would explain how a decision is made on whether compliance with the PPACA is necessary.”

Hey, I think we'd all like to know the answer to that one.

Meanwhile, Darrell Issa, Chair of the Oversight Committee has yet to launch a single investigation, but he is already making the right enemies. The ranking minority member of the committee wrote a seven page letter blasting potential targets of investigation. Some lefty group ironically named the Courage Campaign announced the creation of a web site to enable anonymous smears of Issa. And the Washington Post and NPR are trying to poison the atmosphere with questionable articles about Issa's past. Let the smearing begin.