House Republicans

Republicans in the House of Delegates proposed legislation Tuesday that they say would shore up the state employee pension system while cutting the risk that taxpayers will be left on the hook for losses. The House GOP leadership is backing a package of bills that would, among other things, steer the $40 billion system away from what Republicans consider overly risky investments and lower the long-term assumptions of the retirement plan's earnings on its investments. "The rose-colored-glasses projection of our pension system is deceptive to the citizens of Maryland," said House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell of Calvert County.

Days after voting again to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, congressional Republicans have tapped Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland to deliver their weekly address. “As a physician for nearly thirty years who helped mothers and their new babies get through childbirth, I have seen what is good and what is bad about America's health care system, and ObamaCare makes our system worse,” said the Baltimore County Republican, an obstetric anesthesiologist.  “Instead of lowering costs like Washington Democrats promised, ObamaCare is leading insurance companies all over the country to raise their rates by double and triple digits.” House Republicans voted this week for the third time to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act. They have held 37 votes since they took the majority in 2011 to repeal the law in full or in part.

Officially, House Republicans retreated to Baltimore this week to hash out their legislative agenda: repealing health care reform, cutting government spending and fulfilling the other campaign promises that helped to sweep them into the majority. But they still had to eat, and their first two meals Friday provided much food for thought for the 2012 presidential race. Breakfast served up former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, while lunch was a buffet of GOP governors: Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Rick Perry of Texas and Bob McDonnell of Virginia.

The Sun's editorial offers left-handed, fingers-crossed and a fast-wink support for finding the truth about the Benghazi tragedy ("Benghazi deserves real review," May 10) when mostly it contained accusations that Republicans only want to attack President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Well, if this tragedy with the same events occurred during a Republican administration, The Sun along with every major liberal news outlet would be demanding a special commission with subpoena powers be appointed now but with no accusations that Democrats were playing politics.

With a little less than three hours to go in the General Assembly, House Republicans have launched their version of a filibuster against a constitutional amendment imposing what they consider a too-weak lockbox deterring the transfer of money from the Transportation Trust Fund to other purposes. The Republicans are offering repeated amendments to the bill putting the amendment on the ballot, knowing they will lose on each but chewing up time needed to get the bill over to the Senate.  When House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell's amendment was rejected on an 89-49 vote, he urged all members who voted in the minority to explain their votes.

Republicans in the House of Delegates denied Tuesday that there is any need to raise taxes on gasoline to pay for the state's transportation needs, contending the state should instead cut the share of its spending that goes to mass transit and stop diversions of transportation revenue to other purposes. At a news conference in Annapolis, the House GOP caucus criticized a legislative package Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has introduced to jump-start the process of raising transportation revenues.

- House Republicans will gather at an Inner Harbor hotel this evening for an annual retreat that will feature an appearance Friday by President Barack Obama. The president's midday speech, to be followed by a private question-and-answer session with the Republican lawmakers, is an election-year attempt at bipartisan outreach to a group that has been extremely hostile to his agenda. Obama met with House Republicans at the Capitol last January, shortly after taking office, but failed to gain any of their votes for his $787 billion stimulus plan a few days later.

WASHINGTON -- Congress began an ambitious effort yesterday to rewrite immigration policy as House Republicans offered legislation to reduce the numbers of aliens -- legal and illegal -- who settle in the United States.The chief sponsor of the bill, Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, said at a news conference that generations of immigrants had contributed "work, creativity and vibrancy" to the nation. But it is time to "put the interests of America first -- the interests of the American worker, the American taxpayer and the American family," he said.

WASHINGTON -- The House Republicans have passed a give-away-the-store tax bill that they know full well is going to be drastically cut back by the Senate. But in political terms, whatever happens in the Senate is essentially irrelevant.The opinion polls regularly show that the voters would prefer a serious attempt to reduce the federal deficit rather than tax reduction. They seem to recognize the long-term economic reality that this is precisely the wrong time to be reducing taxes and adding to that debt.

WASHINGTON -- Rank-and-file House Republicans, who have already sanded some of the rough edges off their welfare reform proposal, are planning further efforts to soften the bill when it goes to the House floor tomorrow.Republicans have asked to introduce dozens of amendments, many of which would take some of the sting out of the sweeping proposal to overhaul programs for the poor. The House Rules Committee, which is controlled by the Republican leadership, plans to determine today which amendments will be in order.

Maryland's House Republicans decided this week to jettison Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell from the leadership of their caucus on the grounds that a new messenger is needed to revitalize the party's prospects and pick up seats in the 2014 election. We wish new Minority Leader Nicholaus Kipke and new Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga the best of luck; Maryland is better when it has two functioning political parties. But color us skeptical that rearranging the deck chairs in the House GOP caucus is going to accomplish much.

The sweeping immigration bill outlined by a bipartisan group of eight senators this week represents the most comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. immigration system in more than a quarter-century. It's also probably Congress' best chance this year to forge a compromise on an issue it hasn't touched since 2007. But that doesn't mean lawmakers still won't find a way to flub it. In theory, at least, the Senate compromise bill contains elements of policies both parties say they favor. In its broadest outlines, it would provide a path to eventual citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are already in the country illegally, which Democrats have long wanted.

With a little less than three hours to go in the General Assembly, House Republicans have launched their version of a filibuster against a constitutional amendment imposing what they consider a too-weak lockbox deterring the transfer of money from the Transportation Trust Fund to other purposes. The Republicans are offering repeated amendments to the bill putting the amendment on the ballot, knowing they will lose on each but chewing up time needed to get the bill over to the Senate.  When House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell's amendment was rejected on an 89-49 vote, he urged all members who voted in the minority to explain their votes.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's gun-control bill is expected to undergo a long and heated debate in the House late Tuesday afternoon as delegates begin considering Maryland's first major piece of gun control legislation in two decades. The state Senate in February passed a version that would ban the sale of assault weapons, limit magazines to 10 bullets and require fingerprints, training and a license to buy a handgun. The House is considering a version that keeps those provisions, but would narrow the definition of an assault weapon, ease training requirements for some buyers getting a handgun license and exempt more people from the gun-control bill's rules.

Hours before the House was scheduled to debate a proposed increase in gas taxes supported by Gov. Martin O'Malley, Republicans lawmakers excoriated the plan Wednesday as a $2 billion drain on taxpayers' wallets over the next six years. House Republicans called a news conference to promise to fight the plan to raise revenue for roads, bridges, mass transit and other transportation needs. The plan would raise taxes on gas by 3.8 cents a gallon on July 1 and add increments in subsequent years.  By mid-2016, the Republicans said, the increase could reach 44.1 cents compared with the 23.5 cents Maryland motorists have paid since 1992, when the tax was last raised.

In case anyone has missed the dueling budget proposals out this week from Rep. Paul Ryan on the Republican side and Sen. Patty Murray for the Democrats, don't fret. You could easily have slept through the last four months and missed nothing. They are pretty much where the two sides have been for even longer than that. And that pretty well sums up where Washington stands on the issue of federal spending, taxes and the deficit. Both parties have won approval to some degree from voters for taking these stands, and so the incentive for actually coming up with a compromise is clearly too small for either to go out on a limb — at least for the moment.

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans today will consider a move to release the names of all lawmakers who bounced checks at the House bank, setting up a political fight with Democrats who support a limited disclosure that includes the most serious offenders.Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, chairman of the Republican Conference, will ask fellow GOP lawmakers to approve his measure, which would reveal the names of all 296 current members who bounced at least one check."I think our members lean in the direction of full disclosure," said Mr. Lewis, following a meeting with House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois and other Republican leaders.

I find it incredible that House Republicans are prepared to bring our economy back to a devastating recession by failing to compromise on the scheduled sequestration in order to protect special interest tax loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires whose tax bracket is already on average less that the tax rate paid by salaried working folks. Lunacy apparently is running rampant in Washington. Jack Kinstlinger, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Sen. Ben Cardin's fear-mongering article about the threat of budget sequestration was appalling ("No to sequestration," Feb. 20). He of all people should know that the sequester was proposed by President Obama himself to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2011. It was agreed to by Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president. Why didn't Senator Cardin raise his doomsday scenario 18 months ago? The U.S debt is $16.5 trillion, of which $6 trillion was created under President Obama over the last four years.