Rick Crawford for Congress

U.S. Representative for Arkansas' 1st Congressional District

Crawford Chides State Democratic Party for Lurching to Change Subject from Healthcare

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Rick Crawford today called Gabe Holmstrom’s PR stunt a blatant attempt to divert attention away from President Obama’s creation of a massive new entitlement program.  “Gabe is an incredibly clever political operative,” said Crawford.  “Changing the subject is something our politicians and their spinsters have been doing for far too long.  Instead of talking about the fact that every man, woman, and child in America each owes $184,000 as their share of the unfunded promises our politicians have made, Mr. Holmstrom wants to talk about the President’s birth certificate.”

“The sad fact is that Congressman Berry, who voted for and against this massive new entitlement program, wants to avoid addressing the long-term financial problem facing our country,” continued Crawford.  “While he talks about balancing the budget back home, he has enabled Speaker Pelosi and President Obama to push through a massive new entitlement program that will use taxpayer money to pay health insurance premiums for 32 million Americans.  We need elected officials who will stand up and say, ‘STOP!  Stop digging the hole deeper.’  We need an elected official who will stand up to say our government will not expand or create any new government programs until we restore fiscal soundness.  If we do not do this, our children and grandchildren will pay taxes that are double or triple what we pay today…and that is the best-case scenario.”

Three Reasons to Oppose the Healthcare “Reform” Bill

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I wanted to take a moment and articulate three reasons why I would vote against the healthcare reform bill that will be considered in the House of Representatives Sunday afternoon.

  • The United States simply cannot afford to enact a new entitlement program. Our government is currently saddled with a burden of $56.5 trillion in unfunded promises, which is a burden far too heavy for our long-term economic and political stability. Ringing up trillions more in bills that our kids and grandkids will have to repay is unacceptable. Excluding the price for a new entitlement program, our government will have to more than double current tax rates to pay for these unfunded promises. Do we really want to triple tax rates?
  • The “reform bill” will do nothing to control cost. Sure the bill provides a few Band-Aids that make a good snake-oil pitch to people who haven’t studied the issue. However, it is mathematically impossible to provide taxpayer-funded healthcare to 30 million people and expect the initiative to “save” money. Interestingly enough, the Congressional Budget Office didn’t point to any provision that would provide meaningful healthcare cost savings. Instead, the bill raises taxes to offset some of the bill’s price tag.
  • The bill currently provides taxpayer money to pay for abortions. This is unacceptable. Period. The executive order that President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are offering as a fig leaf to protect pro-life Democrats whom they are pressuring to support the bill is meaningless. An executive order can be rescinded at any time by any president. As I have stated previously, one of Obama’s first acts as president was to rescind several executive orders.

The Healthcare Games Continue

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Today Congressman Berry told the Tolbert Report that he remains undecided on the house healthcare measure that will be considered on Sunday. News reports that President Obama has proposed addressing concerns of abortion by signing an executive order to bar public funding of abortion. This is one of the weakest possible ways to address this issue.

The biggest problem with this approach is that he or any future president simply can sign another executive order to reverse the previous one. One of the first orders of business President Obama conducted was to reverse a number of Bush’s executive orders.

Anyone serious about protecting unborn lives would never agree to this sham “solution.”

Members of Arkansas Delegation Complicit in Nationalized Healthcare

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Congressmen Berry, Ross and Snyder, who all refused to support a measure to block the House of Representatives from “deeming” the Senate healthcare bill as passed, are guaranteeing passage of the healthcare bill this year.  “Even though Congressmen Berry and Ross have pledged to vote against the healthcare bill unless it has substantial changes, their refusal to block the “deeming” process will ensure its passage this year,” said Rick Crawford, candidate for the First Congressional District.

While the House will amend the Senate bill once it has been “deemed” to pass, which would require additional Senate action on the bill, if either effort fails, the President will still be able to sign the Senate bill.  In order for a bill to become law, it must pass each chamber in identical form.  Once the House “deems” the Senate bill as passed, it can be sent to President Obama for his signature.

“President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid have really pulled a quick one over on the American people,” said Crawford.  “The media has yet to pick up on the fact that Pelosi’s move to deem the Senate bill as passed will mean that the Senate bill, in its current form, can immediately become law.  I call upon all candidates in the First Congressional District to condemn this move immediately and demand that Congressman Berry offer a privileged resolution calling on the House to take an “up or down” vote on the Senate bill instead of deeming it as passed without a vote.”

“Republicans and Democrats alike throughout Eastern Arkansas are appalled when I tell them about the games these folks are playing,” continued Crawford.  “Every man, woman and child in American currently owes $184,000 each to cover all of the unfunded promises our government has made.  Now is not the time to add a new massive government entitlement program.”

Rick Crawford Statement on Marion Berry Retirement

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“I respect Congressman Berry’s decision to retire and applaud his many years of public service. I will continue to run a strong campaign based on creating jobs, reducing the deficit, and representing Arkansas values. We can’t afford Obama’s liberal agenda and I am ready to go to Washington to be a check and balance on the liberal Congress.”

When Is A Blue Dog Really A Blue Dog?

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When is a Blue Dog really a Blue Dog?  That question begs to be asked following the recent actions by Congressman Marion Berry.

First — a little background on the origins of the term Blue Dog.

Blue Dog Democrat logoThe Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1994 in the wake of the mid-term elections in which Republicans took back the majority in the House of Representatives.  The Blue Dog Coalition gave the more conservative members from the Democratic Party a unified voice in the wake of these elections.

The Blue Dog Coalition states that a “…top priority will be to focus Congress on balancing the budget and ridding taxpayers of the burden the debt places on them.”  But votes just this year by Marion Berry calls in to question this very important tenant of the Blue Dog Coalition and should cause individuals in the First District to ask, “When is a Blue Dog really a Blue Dog?”  Here is the evidence:

  • October 3rd, 2008: Marion Berry voted for TARP I  ($350 Billion Dollars)
  • January 21st, 2009:  Marion Berry Voted for TARP II ($350 Billion Dollars)
  • January 28th, 2009:  Marion Berry voted for the Obama Stimulus Package ($787 Billion Dollars)
  • February 24th, 2009:  Marion Berry issued a press release where he stated that “eight years of fiscal recklessness by the Bush Administration” created “unsustainable deficits” for our country.
  • November 7th, 2009:  Marion Berry voted for Healthcare Reform ($894 Billion Dollars)
  • Total Costs of these four votes:  $2,381,000,000,000 Dollars.  That is 2.3 trillion dollars!  That is $8,460 for every single person in the First District, or over $5 billion dollars in debt for the entire First District, not including interest!

The above votes are extremely revealing in comparison to the comment by Marion Berry just this week. After President Obama proposed an increase in troops being sent to Afghanistan, Marion Berry was quoted as saying, “I don’t remember him saying anything about how we’re going to pay for this.” Berry said after the president’s address at West Point, “I just think it’s got to be paid for.”

In October, lawmakers diverted $2.6 billion dollars from funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects.  You can read about those projects and how those funds were diverted here.

Marion Berry, along with his Blue Dog colleagues in both the House and Senate need to ask themselves, “When is a Blue Dog really a Blue Dog”?  The votes previously outlined paint a picture of anything but fiscal responsibility. Instead the votes increasingly and excessively burden taxpayers.  Indeed, the votes tell quite the opposite story – one of being a Lap Dog for Nancy Pelosi, not a Blue Dog representing the people of the First District.  Marion Berry’s conscious-come-lately of fiscal responsibility does not hold water with the people of the First District.

We need someone who will go to Washington who is a fiscal conservative before arrival.  We need someone who is willing to cast votes against spending bills when we do not have the money to support them.  We need to send someone to Washington who will cut taxes and lower our deficits in a way that is fiscally conservative and responsible without having a coalition determining when those times are.

I want to go to Washington and be your conservative voice and vote accordingly so that families in the First District do not have to worry about soaring deficits, out of control spending, and the liberal Obama-Pelosi-Berry agenda that will bankrupt our country.  It is time we send Marion Berry home to Gillete and send someone to Washington who will be a conservative vote, voice, and leader.

($2,381,000,000,000 divided by the total number of Americans in the 2000 census (281,421,906) equals $8,460.  $8,460 multiplied by the population of the First District at the time of the 2000 Census (668,360) equals $5,654,325,600.00)

Congressman Berry Calls Delta Director “Incompetent Moron”

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Congressman Berry’s temper and name-calling is at it again. The members of the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus, which lobbies Congressional members who represent the federally designated Delta Regional Authority, are meeting in Washington this week and Congressman Berry could only muster insults and name-calling as way to work on behalf of the people in the First Congressional District of Arkansas:

On the first day of the two-day meeting, Rep. Marion Berry dismissed Johnson, a George W. Bush appointee, as someone who “steals 120 or 130 thousand dollars of taxpayer dollars,” in the form of his annual salary. “He’s a burr in my saddle,” Berry, a Democrat from Arkansas, told the group on Tuesday evening.

“He’s an incompetent moron,” Berry later said in an interview.

Congressman Berry also voted in favor of the censure of Congressman Joe Wilson for his conduct in the House last week during the President’s speech. Congressman Berry, on the floor of the House, referred to a fellow Congressman, Rep. Adam Putnam, R-FL, as a “howdy doody looking nimrod” during debate on a piece of legislation:

This is just another prime example of how Congressman Berry works with others in Washington and how his temper and resort to name calling has been a detriment to the people of the First District. Its no wonder why the First District remains in the position it is in, especially with federal programs like the Delta Regional Authority, when our Congressman can only muster insults in his efforts instead of results in funding for important initiatives.

The people of the First District deserve better representation than someone who can only resort to insults and name calling when it comes to vital legislation that impacts the First District.

It is time to make a change in the First District!

What You Can Do

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Just over the last week, there has been enough major stories come out of the Obama White House to leave just about everyone scratching their heads and wondering what we can expect next. And while we keep reading about things like the President asking Congress to raise our debt ceiling to over $10trillion dollars, to having unconditional talks with dictators who want to harm us, to an administration who wants to nationalize our health care system, we want to know what we can do to put a stop to things like this.
The first thing is we start at home. We start by electing people that will go to Washington and represent the First District not Washington being represented in the First District. Congressman Berry has, for 14 years, served in a capacity that has over time become less and less beneficial for voters. Just this last week, Congressman Berry said publicly that he is supportive of a public option on health care and it is not a deal breaker for him. Congressman Berry has also voted, just this year, to nationalize some of our largest banks and automotive companies. And while these companies and programs are getting billions of our tax dollars, the average American citizen still does not have the job he or she lost this year or last. They still don’t have the promise of better days ahead. And there is no prospect of either of those coming true any time soon.
I want to be the person you send to Washington that will take conservative values, principles, and leadership back and exhibit those on a daily basis. I am a true conservative and I don’t need any caucus to label me otherwise. I believe in spending within our means as a nation and since I am the owner of my own company, I know I can not spend money I do not have.

I understand the many implications that our fiscal policy has on our ag policy. You can not have good ag policy if you don’t have good fiscal policy. Congressman Berry does not represent the single greatest aspect of the First District in our farmers and ag producers and as your next Representative, I will be your voice in one of the most critical aspects of our district.
Lastly, I am a veteran. I have served in the current flash point of Afghanistan and Pakistan and understand what it means to operate during a time of war. I understand the issues, the challenges, and the problems our veterans face in being one. Congressman Berry is not a veteran and can only understand so much what it means to have served, to come home, and to be faced with the many issues our veterans are faced with.
With your help, we will start here, in the First District, and take conservative principles, values, and leadership to Washington so our collective voice can be heard again. It is time that we start fresh and I want to be the one who helps establish this new beginning. This is not an issue of Democrat or Republican. This is an issue of conservative principles over liberal ideologies. I believe that the people of the First District are ready for conservative representation.

The Contradictions of Marion Berry

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Recently, Congressman Berry has made some public statements about the leadership in his own party that leaves residents in the First District scratching their heads and understandably so. When President Obama was first elected, he was working under incredibly high approval ratings and a perceived mandate from the voting public that this administration was not going to be politics-as-usual. In just a few short months, all of these euphoric attitudes would shift and shift dramatically.
This shift was not unique to just voters across the country but also to Congressman Berry. Shortly after President Obama’s joint address to Congress concerning the supposed crisis the country was in due to some of the financial breakdowns going on, Congressman Berry issued this press release decrying the previous administration and its excessive spending habits that resulted in record deficits. The tenor of that press release was one of a new era being ushered in and that President Obama was going to be the one who was going to take this country in a new direction.
Soon after this press release was issued, key legislation started to get introduced and we started to learn what Cap & Trade was all about and just how long the proposed legislation was. We also learned, from the speech of John Boehner on the floor of the House, details within the bill that the American people would otherwise have not known about and more than likely what a majority of Congress did not know about as well, including Congressman Berry.
Congressman Berry voted for the Cap & Trade Bill in conference where no Republican voted for it and it was decided along party lines. It gave some indication how it would turn out on the final floor vote. But there were eight Republicans who voted for Cap & Trade and that would provide cover for some Democrats, including Congressman Berry, that could vote no. Congressman Berry was for Cap & Trade before he was against it. Had he and others voted against such a terrible bill in conference, of which Berry stated at a recent town hall in Jonesboro, “Senator Waxman wrote a bad bill” and “Cap and Trade is a bad idea”, and voted in accordance with the values and desires of the people in the First District, maybe Cap & Trade would have met a different fate. Also of note, it was revealed after the June 30th FEC filing period that Congressman Berry received, along with many others, donations to his PAC from Majority Whip Clyburn, D-SC, quite possibly for his work to help get Cap & Trade passed.
Since Cap & Trade, the current health care debate has caused Congressman Berry and many others to reconsider their position on the issue much closer because the average American realizes what this attempted power grab by the administration is all about. Through town halls, which Congressman Berry had none of until the very end of the August recess he appeared unannounced with Senator Lincoln, Americans have made their voice heard and the Democratic Party is having issues internally where representatives of conservative districts are not willing to go along with a liberal congress and administration for fear of losing their seats. Even Congressman Berry was reported to have said to a senior White House official before leaving for the August recess that “your President” was causing problems on health care reform.
Just this year, Congressman Berry has contradicted himself on three major issues and has also contradicted himself to the people of the First District. The real question is how long will the voters of the Firs District allow him to continue to contradict them in Washington? What we need is someone who will represent the people of the First District to Washington, not represent Washington to the First District. Marion Berry has shown time and again how he is not fit for the job of representing the First District and the voters will have a chance to let their voices be heard in 2010.