Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Freedom File :: Inaugural Edition :: April 2008  

RATE IT | Share   Save   DISCUSS DIGG PRINT del.icio.us EMAIL Technorati TAG IT reddit Related News Related News Week in Review: Cutting the Deficit & Creating New Jobs – Today The Hill: Hensarling takes another shot at deficit in GOP address Weekly Standard: Boehner: If You Want a Deficit Commission, Include Republicans WSJ: Watch what they spend, not what they say The Hill: Rep. Hensarling fires back at Obama in the rumble over deficits Multimedia Multimedia On Cavuto: Boehner Discusses GOP Reform Plans Fox News on a Broken Washington: Soaring Gas Prices, Stalling Economy FNC: Colombia Free Trade Deal "Fell Prey to Election Year Politics" GOP Leaders to Fight Massive Tax Increases Democrats' Tax Hikes "A Drag on the Economy" Issues Issues Curbing Spending & Getting Control of the Debt Creating New Jobs & Growing the Economy

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Freedom File, the official e-mail bulletin of John Boehner’s Freedom Project.

GOP TO MOBILIZE AGAINST LARGEST TAX HIKE IN HISTORY

When House Republicans invited Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to Capitol Hill earlier this month to talk about the rising threat to the U.S. economy, the housing crisis wasn’t the only issue discussed. During the closed-door meeting, and in his subsequent public testimony before Congress the following day, Bernanke repeated a warning he first issued last fall: tax hikes will hurt the economy.

The Democrats who run Congress have ignored Bernanke’s warning. With the full support of presidential candidates Barack Obama and Senator Clinton, House Democrats in March passed a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that features the largest tax increase in American history. The Dems had no choice: they need the revenue to finance their party’s spending ambitions, which are critical to keeping left-wing special interests engaged in the Party’s quest for control of the White House and Congress in 2008.

The strategy is a double-edged sword for Democrats, however. Surveys show Americans are solidly opposed to raising taxes at a time when the economy is struggling.  Middle-class families, already being squeezed by rising prices for gas, food, college, and other needs as their real estate values fall, are particularly opposed. Angst over wasteful Washington spending is high, and trust in Congress is its lowest level since the days of the House bank scandal in 1992. Add it all together, and you have a potentially lethal mixture of populist rage and economic anxiety that could explode.

Watch for Republicans to mobilize to stop the Democrats’ tax hike in the coming days. Expect House Republicans to rally behind legislation by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), the Tax Increase Prevention Act (H.R. 2734), which would stop the massive tax hike in the Democrats’ budget, and to use procedural tactics to force votes on the issue on the House floor during tax week (April 14-19) as Americans are filing their tax returns. Senator John McCain, who supports stopping the tax hike, is also expected to give a major economic address the same week.

Republicans are uniting to defend Americans’ right to keep what they earn and to stop the tax hike’s threat to America’s economic growth. For more, check out the Freedom Project’s latest video, “A Drag on the Economy.”

A FIGHT WORTH FIGHTING: REPUBLICAN REFORMERS CAN WIN IN 2008

No one denies Republicans have their work cut out for them in the effort to earn control of the White House and both chambers of Congress this November. But if there’s been one defining lesson of the 2008 election cycle so far, it’s been this: expect the unexpected. There are a number of political factors favoring the GOP that have received little analysis to date in the mainstream press – and together, they could spell a much better fall for the Republican Party than anyone right now is publicly predicting.

Among these factors:

• Republicans in the most competitive congressional districts are all “battle-tested” following their tight 2006 contests, and the GOP has successfully recruited a strong roster of open-seat candidates and challengers for other battleground districts around the nation. (Each edition of Freedom File will include an individual profile of one of these 2008 candidates; GA-8 candidate Rick Goddard is profiled below.)
  
  
• While Democrats do have a financial advantage in terms of political contributions, their edge has come from trial lawyers and big labor union bosses – not from middle-class families. Recall the 2004 election, when Democrats outspent Republicans – and lost.
  
  
• Democrats have controlled Congress for 15 months – and thanks to aggressive GOP efforts to hold the majority accountable since the first day of the 110th Congress, many vulnerable Democrats have accumulated a 15 month record of bad votes that will be difficult to defend back in their districts. Meanwhile, Republicans are emphasizing a reform message that taps into Americans’ desire to fix a broken Washington and to change Congress – a message that resonates broadly with voters.
  
  
• Republicans lost control of the House in 2006 by 85,000 votes – out of more than 80 million cast. Twenty-one House Democratic freshmen are in congressional seats won by President Bush in the past, while only eight Republicans are in seats won by John Kerry.
  
  
• Republicans are running with Senator John McCain at the top of the ticket – the GOP candidate most capable of winning support among critical independent voters.

In 2008, the fight for freedom and reform is not only worth fighting – it’s a fight Republicans can win.  

PROFILES OF THE NEXT CONGRESS: RICK GODDARD, GA-8

Republicans are renewing their commitment to principles of freedom, security, fiscal responsibility, and reform. The GOP “refurbishing” effort, coupled with rising grass-roots outrage over the hypocrisy of the Democrat-led 110th Congress, has inspired some of America’s most accomplished citizens to step forward and offer themselves as Republican candidates for 2008. One of these candidates is Rick Goddard, vying to represent Georgia’s 8th Congressional District in the next Congress.

Rick Goddard served in the United States Air Force for 34 years before retiring from the service in 2000. He flew 227 air combat missions during the Vietnam War, earning numerous awards for his courage and skill piloting aircraft such as the F-111 fighter-bomber and the F-100 “Super Sabre” fighter jet. Goddard later served as Director of Logistics for America’s air combat forces in Europe. He currently is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Georgia’s Mercer University.

Rick Goddard’s priorities match those of the Georgians who will be his constituents in the next Congress – Georgians fed up with a broken Washington, who want real change. His agenda starts with fixing Congress itself so that America can rise fully to meet the challenges that lie ahead: “winning the global war against Islamic fascism,” reducing the wasteful government spending, enacting immigration reform and opposing amnesty for lawbreakers, caring for America’s veterans, and stopping the coming tax hike on middle-class families and small businesses.

Rick Goddard is poised to become a leading voice for reform and freedom in the United States Congress. For more information on Rick and his efforts, view his profile on FreedomProject.org by clicking here.

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