Archives for January 2011

President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan both highlighted the need to attack our mounting debt.  Did the president show he was ready to do what is necessary to get our fiscal house back in order?  How about Rep. Ryan?  What should we make of Obama not moving forward on the proposals offered by his own debt commission?  And what should we look for in the president’s new budget to see how serious his reform efforts really are?  We discuss it all with David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States and founder of the Comeback America Initiative.

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Greg Corombos and National Review’s Jim Geraghty celebrate a grim but honest and candid Republican response from Rep. Paul Ryan.  They also groan as President Obama once again targeted Big Oil and “the rich” as needing to pay more to the government.  And they discuss the lethargic response members of Congress seem to have throughout the speech.

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As President Obama prepares to deliver his State of the Union message, Louisiana Rep. John Fleming says it’s time for Obama and all of Congress to commit to spending cuts and smaller government.  What will that actually look like?  Should Congress go along with any sort of additional stimulus plan designed to spur job creation?  And what kind of showdown can we expect over funding of the president’s health care plan?  We discuss it all with Rep. Fleming, who is also a longtime physician.

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Greg Corombos and Jim Geraghty of National Review dread having to watch the State of the Union but are looking forward to Rep. Paul Ryan’s response.  They also have fun with Rahm Emanuel’s ballot problems and wonder if a GOP House freshman is already in an ethics mess.

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New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith is leading the fight against taxpayer-funded abortions.  But as pro-life groups mark the Roe v. Wade anniversary and the grim reality of the lives taken over the past 38 years, Smith says the pro-choice side of the debate has skilfully kept Americans in the dark about the horrors that take place every day in U.S. abortion clinics – not just in the criminal practice of Dr. Kermit Gosnell.  We discuss the Gosnell case and Monday’s March for Life with Rep. Smith.

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New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith is one of the leading pro-life voices among House Republicans and is man leading the fight to ban taxpayer-funded abortions.  Are there taxpayer-funded abortions right now?  What will happen when the Obama health plan is fully operational?  What other fights are coming down the pike over abortion – including over Planned Parenthood?  We discuss it all with Rep. Smith.

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Last week, the House of Representatives voted to repeal the president’s health care plan.  Now the GOP is moving forward on its ideas to reform the health care system for the better.  So what are its big ideas?  What are the four major components of the plan sponsored by Georgia Rep. Paul Broun, who is also a longtime physician.  How would Republicans expand consumer choice and keep health care costs down?  Would they incorporate some of the components of the Democratic plan – like removing caps on coverage and rejecting patients with pre-existing conditions?  How would Republicans use tax breaks to tax breaks to greatly ease the cost of health care?  We discuss it all with Rep. Broun.

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Greg Corombos and National Review’s Jim Geraghty happily bid farewell to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.  They also shake their heads at Democrats still planning to spend their way out of the slow economy and worry about deficits later.  And Greg and Jim have differing thoughts about whether George Allen should run for his former Senate seat once again.

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Missouri Rep. Sam Graves is the new chairman of the House Small Business Committee.  What does he see as the key to sparking more job creation in the private sector?  How aggressive has the Obama administration been in adding regulations through bureaucracy that it could not do through legislation?  How does government spending factor into all this?  And what do small business owners tell Graves would be the best thing Congress can do for them?  We discuss all these questions with Chairman Graves.

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Greg Corombos and National Review’s Jim Geraghty like the plan of House Republicans to make a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions their next legislative goal.  They also examine President Obama’s rising poll numbers and have a lot of fun with some of the nicknames of the mafia figures rounded up on Thursday.

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