Senator Cornyn Leads the Loyal Opposition

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste", said Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. His mantra provides cover for pushing legislation that would otherwise never be considered, or at least not at the present time. We see that in the current stimulus/spending bill. Despite the economic problems faced by our country, it becomes more and more apparent upon scrutiny of the bill, that spending our way out of the hole is not the answer.

Kudos to the Republicans in the House of Representatives and eleven principled Democrats. They voted against the bill, though it passed due to the Democrat majority in the House.

Now the bill is being argued in the Senate. Yesterday Senator John Cornyn, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, hosted a blogger conference call. I was honored to be invited by his office and called in.

The stimulus/spending bill was the focus of the conversation. In a previously released statement, Senator Cornyn said, "As a strong advocate for open government, I am disappointed the economic rescue plan lacks the real kind of government transparency President Obama has promised. For starters, this plan was crafted largely behind closed doors without bipartisan input or support. Further, while the bill creates an 'Accountability and Transparency Board,' the non-partisanship necessary to make a board like this effective is missing."

"I was hopeful that my colleagues and I could work together in a bipartisan fashion to institute and promote real solutions to revive the economy, but sadly that is not the case. With a deficit projected to hit $1.2 trillion, this is not time to throw another trillion dollars into the air and hope for the best."

Targeting specific Senate seats to go from the Democrat column into the Republican column, Senator Cornyn has released an ad in Nevada called "Trillion" which highlights Harry Reid's support of bailouts. Also, a web site has been launched - www.ReidistributeWealth.com.

This blogger conference call was the first of a series Senator Cornyn plans to host. It is part of a new form of outreach from the National Senatorial Republican Committee. John Nau, a successful business man from Houston, has been tapped as national fundraising chair for the committee. A chief of technology officer will soon be hired.

"I hope there is minimal to none Republican support" in the Senate for the stimulus/spending bill. He mentioned that even with the charade of bipartisanship, exhibited in the cocktail parties and meetings at the White House with leaders of both parties, there has been no input allowed from Republicans. For Democrats on Capitol Hill to appoint themselves the ones chosen to pick winners and losers in our economic recovery is just wrong.

Republicans are well served with Senator Cornyn in true leadership mode.