FreedomWorks in the News

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Tea Party Gets Early Start on G.O.P. Targets for 2012

Leaders of more than 70 Tea Party groups in Indiana gathered last weekend to sign a proclamation saying they would all support one candidate — as yet undetermined — in a primary challenge to Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Republican who has represented the state since 1977.

They are organizing early, they say, to prevent what happened last year, when several Tea Party candidates split the vote in Republican Senate primaries, allowing the most establishment of the candidates to win with less than 40 percent.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Hundreds voice support of 'school choice' in capital

Vouchers would allow students to choose their schools

HARRISBURG -- Political momentum is building for taxpayer-funded school tuition vouchers, as hundreds of people clogged the Capitol rotunda Tuesday to support the idea of "school choice."

Many of those attending were elementary and high school students wearing shirts reading "Put Students First -- Support School Choice."

Dawn Chavous, of Philadelphia-based political action committee Students First, repeatedly shouted, "My child!" The large crowd loudly replied, "My choice!"

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

G.O.P. Splits Over Plans to Cut Defense Budget

WASHINGTON — To hear the Republican leadership tell it, the once-sacred Pentagon budget, protected by the party for generations, is suddenly on the table. But a closer look shows that even as Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, insist on the need for military cuts, divisions have opened among Republicans about whether, and how much, to chop Pentagon spending that comes to more than a half trillion dollars a year.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

What Has The IMF Done With Our Money?

It's long past time to end its subsidization of failure.

For decades government officials have been touting the fallacy that International Monetary Fund payments cost American taxpayers nothing. Even former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin claimed that "the IMF has not cost the taxpayer a dime."

This is misleading. Since the IMF operates under a veil of secrecy, these hidden taxpayer subsidies are not subject to annual appropriations, and they are nowhere to be found in the federal budget.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Tea party group seeks to oust 'crony' Immelt

A prominent Republican Tea Party activist has launched a campaign to oust Jeffrey Immelt, the chief executive of General Electric, from his appointment as head of a new advisory panel to President Barack Obama on jobs and competitiveness.

The populist campaign underlines the deep divisions between traditional Republicans, who have been stalwart supporters of big industrial giants such as GE, and the ultra- conservative Tea Party movement, which views big corporations with as much suspicion as it does “big government”.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Tea party-affiliated groups call for Immelt to resign from GE because of work for Obama

General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt's decision to help the Obama administration by heading a new economic advisory panel has sparked outrage from some conservatives and has led to a renewed campaign to force his resignation by groups affiliated with the tea party.

Calling the appointment "crony corporatism in its purest form," FreedomWorks and the Free Enterprise Project said Immelt would use his new position to lobby for government policies that help GE.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Tea partyers say defense in mix for budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Back home, tea partyers clamoring for the debt-ridden government to slash spending say nothing should be off limits. Tea-party-backed lawmakers echo that argument, and they’re not exempting the military’s multibillion-dollar budget in a time of war.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

We're On Track to Repeal Health Care -- Here's How We'll Do It

 

Wednesday, as its first major act, the new House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal the government takeover of health care. On Thursday, the House passed a “replace” resolution instructing key committees to begin replacing Obamacare with a patient-centered approach.

“Repeal and replace” is proceeding according to schedule.

Official Washington wants to dismiss the repeal vote as a stunt, and move on. But far from “symbolic,” yesterday’s vote showed repeal is real and creates huge momentum for the next stop: the Senate.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Dick Armey urges freshmen to curb their enthusiasm

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey urged freshman Republicans and the new House GOP leadership to temper themselves so as not to make the mistakes he and others made following their historic takeover of the chamber in 1994.

“We didn’t manage our enthusiasms and the fact of the matter is it ended up getting us in trouble,” said Armey in an interview as part of Advice for the 112th Congress: A POLITICO video series with former members of Congress.

By Jacqueline Bodnar on February 02, 2011

Not for sale

Cash seldom buys political power. What counts are ideas and the ability to inspire

The popular view of politics is that it is all about money. This is an exaggeration. Consider the example of America, a country where government is often caricatured as “for sale”. Rich candidates can buy a lot of airtime, which occasionally wins them office: think of Michael Bloomberg in New York. But often they flop: think of Mitt Romney, Steve Forbes, Ross Perot and Meg Whitman. Or John McCain, who alienated voters struggling with their mortgages when he could not recall how many houses he owned.