Why Won’t McIntyre Oppose Obama?

By on May 17, 2012 in Unfulfilled Promises, Voting Record

McIntyre wants everyone in North Carolina to believe that he is a conservative Democrat – one who is pro-life, supports traditional marriage, and is in favor of a balanced budget.  Yet, he has refused to publicly state whether he’ll be supporting Obama in the fall election against the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.  A WECT reporter tried to extract that information from McIntyre, but to no avail.

Any intellectually honest person who has followed McIntyre’s rhetoric over the years must ask the following question.  Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-amnesty president in American history.  He is also a champion of government-run healthcare, cap and trade, stimulus, bailouts, and trillions of dollars in debt – all things that McIntyre supposedly opposes with a vengeance.  Mitt Romney, on the other hand, stands for everything that McIntyre claims to support.  As such, any politician with a shred of moderation, much less conservative disposition, would eagerly support Mitt Romney over Barack Obama.  So why the equivocation on the part of McIntyre?

We must conclude that McIntyre is indeed a supporter of Obama; he is just fearful that such public support would disenchant his conservative constituents.

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McIntyre Votes Against Small Spending Cuts

By on May 15, 2012 in Voting Record

At present, the federal government is running a $1.3 trillion annual deficit.  Mike McIntyre, like all Democrats in conservative districts, voices his strong support for cutting spending and balancing the budget. Yet, McIntyre refuses to say how he will balance the budget and what he will cut.

Last week, the House considered the first of the 12 annual spending bills for fiscal year 2013.  This is the time to eschew the talking points and actually put spending cuts into effect.  However, when presented with almost a dozen opportunities to cut spending from wasteful, duplicative, and failed programs, McIntyre voted on the side of more spending.

Here are some of those missed opportunities:

  • Pompeo Amendment to abolish the Economic Development Administration [roll call #207]
  • Broun amendment that would cut 3% from salaries and expenses accounts covered in the bill and direct $874.6 million to the bill’s spending reduction account. [Roll call #203]
  • McClintock amendment that would cut $277.8 million from wasteful and protectionist programs in the International Trade Administration.  [Roll call #204]
  • Scalise amendment that would reduce funding for Economic Development Administration salaries and expenses by $7.5 million and also reduce funding for the Commerce Department’s management account by $10.7 million. The amendment would direct $18.2 million to the spending reduction account. [roll call #206]
  • Quayle amendment that would cut $21 million provided for industrial technology services at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). [roll call #208]
  • Harris amendment that would cut $542,000 from global warming programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) [roll call #209] Passed
  • Flake amendment that would cut $1.2 billion from the National Science Foundation. [roll call #217]
  • Scott, R-Ga., amendment to abolish Legal Services Corp.[roll call #219]
  • Broun amendment that would cut 12.2% from the entire bill. [roll call #222]

Remember that these amendments represent a mere few billion in spending cuts.  Mike McIntyre needs to explain just how he plans to cut trillions in spending when he won’t even trim a few billion from wasteful discretionary programs.  How exactly will he balance the budget?  With tax hikes?

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McIntyre’s Apathetic Attitude Towards Repeal of Obamacare

By on April 11, 2012 in Voting Record

Opponents of Obamacare were encouraged by the reactions from the majority of the Supreme Court justices during the oral arguments against this monstrosity.  Was Mike McIntyre also cheering on the seemingly good news from the judicial proceedings?

In order to be spared from the electoral albatross of Obamacare, McIntyre voted against passage of the original law.  However, while he proudly reminds his constituents of that vote, he fails to tell them that he has done nothing to help repeal the law from the day it passed until now.  In fact, throughout the high profile oral arguments in the Supreme Court, McIntyre has never expressed any desire that the law be overturned.  He has not issued a single press release on the issue.  There is nothing but silence from McIntyre regarding Obamacare.

Moreover, during the past legislative session, McIntyre refused to sign onto a discharge petition to fast track repeal of Obamacare, only voting for repeal once it was destined to pass.  Yet, when Republicans proposed two budgets this year that would eliminate Obamacare, McIntyre voted against them.  He will only vote for repeal bills that are carefully watched by the public, while voting against repeal bills that are often overlooked by voters.

Then there is the biggest question of all: will McIntyre vote for the man who is responsible for Obamacare – the man who will block any effort to repeal it?  If McIntyre is really committed to repealing Obamacare, how can he not back Obama’s opponent in the presidential election?

Or is his public opposition against Obamacare merely a façade to ensconce his broader support for his party leadership while maintaining power in a conservative district?

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McIntyre Wants Higher Gas Prices

By on April 4, 2012 in Unfulfilled Promises, Voting Record

McIntyre has once again exposed himself as a true tax and spend liberal.  With American consumers languishing from record gas prices, Mike McIntyre is resorting to the rhetoric and policies of his fellow Democrats; he is proposing to raise taxes on oil companies and cut checks to consumers with the proceeds.

Specifically, McIntyre is proposing to eliminate universal deductions – which he calls subsidies –for oil companies and cut a $160 per vehicle check to motorists [press release, April 2].  While this sounds like good politics, it is nothing short of Hugo Chavez’s energy policy.  Oil companies, unlike the green energy companies that McIntyre so blithely supports, pay $35 billion in taxes, even after all of the deductions and so-called subsidies are accounted for.  Hence, this is a tax increase, not an elimination of subsidies.  As such, it will raise the cost of production on oil companies who will pass down the extra cost to consumers.

Instead of exacerbating the crisis with higher taxes and attempting to solve it with more handouts, why doesn’t Mike McIntyre support efforts to solve the root cause of problem?  We suffer from artificially low production due to government restrictions on drilling.  Additionally, the cost of producing gasoline from crude oil is greatly increased by government mandates, such as the requirement that all gasoline be mixed with a 10% ethanol blend, which dramatically reduces gas mileage, engendering further pain at the pump.

Over the years, McIntyre has been a big supporter of ethanol mandates as well as an opponent of more drilling, despite his rhetoric to the contrary.  He voted for the 2005 and 2007 energy bills, which ostensibly forced consumers to purchase gasoline mixed with an inefficacious form of fuel produced by well-connected special interests.  Mandating that the public use a product from a specific industry is the consummate subsidy.  Yet, McIntyre wants to raise taxes on an industry that actually pays taxes in order to solve a problem that he impelled through the use of…subsidies.  Talk about hypocrisy!

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McIntyre Opposes Any Real Spending Cuts

By on March 30, 2012 in Voting Record

In order to win reelection, Mike McIntyre will tell anyone who is willing to listen that he is a fiscal conservative who wants to cut spending and balance the budget.  Well, this week was budget week in Washington and McIntyre had a chance to move beyond his talking points by actually voting for real fiscal responsibility.  He failed miserably.

On Thursday, the House passed a budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 that would cut $4.2 trillion in spending, responsibly and gradually reform entitlements, restructure welfare, preserve defense spending, and cut taxes.  McIntyre voted against it.

Could it be that he thought the budget failed to cut enough spending?  After all, even this budget would not balance until 2040.  Well, the Republican Study Committee submitted an alternative budget in the form of a substitute amendment.  It cut $7.5 trillion in spending, cut taxes, preserved the military, and balanced the budget in just 5 years!  This plan would not even begin entitlement reform for another 10 years, but it responsibly cut the other areas of government in order to achieve balance.  McIntyre voted against it.

So why would he oppose these budgets?  Either he has no interest in any meaningful spending cuts or he doesn’t like the fact that these budgets don’t raise taxes.

When you look beyond his talking points, Mike McIntyre is just another tax and spend liberal.

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Does McIntyre Still Want Freddie and Fannie to Use Taxpayer Funds for Risky Loans?

By on March 26, 2012 in Voting Record

Five years after the collapse of the housing market, construction for single-family homes is still declining.  It is unprecedented that the housing recession should last this long, but as the Wall Street Journal reported last week, the housing sector continues to languish from “tight credit for both builders and buyers and a large inventory of cheap, foreclosed existing homes in many markets.”

We must remember that it the hyper interventions on the part of politicians like Mike McIntyre that provoked the sub-prime mortgage crisis – the impetus for the Great Recession.

McIntyre has consistently voted to expand the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the mortgage lending business, which ultimately led to the foreclosure crisis and the encumbered credit market that has precluded the housing sector from recovering.

Throughout the past decade, liberal politicians like Mike McIntyre have voted for every opportunity to expand the role of Freddie and Fannie into the housing market.  In a meretricious effort to use these taxpayer-funded government sponsored agencies (GSAs) for the goal of universal homeownership, Freddie and Fannie made sub-prime loans to those who could not afford houses.

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McIntyre Continues to Support Failed Stimulus Measures

By on March 22, 2012 in Follow the Money, Voting Record

On his campaign website, Mike McIntyre lists several instances when he voted against Obama’s proposals in an effort to tout his “independent voice.” One item that is not on that list is his vote in favor of Obama’s $830 billion stimulus.  Including future interest added to the debt payments, the total cost of the stimulus will top $1 trillion.  All of that money was wasted on special interest endeavors that failed to create jobs.  Unfortunately, Mike McIntyre still thinks that government stimulus can create jobs.

This week, McIntyre announced that he secured a $189,000 federal grant for the Southeastern Economic Development Commission (SEDC) in an effort to “pursue every angle and secure every opportunity” to create jobs.  This is just more stimulus spending in which McIntyre uses federal funds to dole out to local special interests.  If this were a winning strategy for job growth, we should be enjoying a period of full employment now.

The question is how can McIntyre fulfill his promise to support balanced budgets when he believes that government spending and special interest pork projects create jobs?

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McIntyre Oversteps the Local Community

By on March 19, 2012 in Follow the Money, Voting Record

Last week, Mike McIntyre cheerfully announced that he had secured a $1 million federal grant for a local fire and rescue company.  This is more evidence of McIntyre’s predilection for an all intrusive federal government.

It is vital for all of our communities to have a well-equipped and trained team of firefighters.  However,  there is no reason why the federal government should be involved in such local issues.  If there is a legitimate need for upgrades to local fire departments, they should be funded by those communities. If funding for fire departments is not something that should be within the responsibility of local governments, then what is?

This is just another example of Mike McIntyre using federal taxpayer money to ingratiate himself with his constituents.  It is this mentality multiplied by 435 Congressmen that has engendered our debt crisis in the first place.

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McIntyre Plays Voting Tricks With Bipartisan Jobs Bill

By on March 12, 2012 in Voting Record

As we’ve noted before, Mike McIntyre has developed a voting stratagem in which he votes for final passage of a conservative bill only after voting with liberals to kill the bill with extraneous amendments.  We are committed to calling him out every time he employs this tactic.

Last Thursday, the House passed a bill (H.R. 3606) to reduce reporting and registration requirements on small companies that desire to “go public” and obtain access to public capital markets.  The bill also exempted small businesses from some onerous reporting burdens required by the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulation bills.  Reducing regulations so small businesses can gain access to public capital markets is such a commonsense jobs bill that even the Obama administration supported the Republican bill.

Not wanting to oppose such a popular bipartisan bill that was destined to pass anyway, McIntyre voted for final passage (roll call 110).  However, once again, he voted with his party on some earlier attempts to derail the bill or strip it of some vital provisions.

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McIntyre Wants Washington to Control North Carolina’s Higher Education

By on March 8, 2012 in Voting Record

One of the most destructive policies of the federal government is its officious involvement in the education decisions of state and local governments.  Mike McIntyre has supported top-down federal education mandates for years.  He proudly voted for the one-size-fits-all No Child Left Behind Act, one of the most burdensome laws on state governments ever passed by Congress.  Yet, instead of rolling back federal control over K-12 education, Mike McIntyre supports new onerous rules on higher education – rules that govern petty details pertaining to college curriculum.

In 2010, Obama’s Department of Education (DOE) issued two new regulations on private for-profit colleges; one defines a credit hour, and the other sets minimum requirements that all higher education institutions must meet to be considered authorized by a state.  The DOE never explained how they could justify a uniform definition of a credit hour as a benchmark for all colleges, even for those that offer a variety of innovative teaching methods.  Moreover, it is the height of hubris for the federal government to suggest that states are lacking the proper oversight over private colleges that operate within their borders.

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