Roy Blunt

Mittens' Missouri backers are less than happy with their candidate after his disastrous showing in the Missouri primary earlier this week.  Sen. Roy Blunt didn't mince any words:

Blunt said Wednesday he was disappointed that Mitt Romney did not put any time or money into Missouri’s presidential preference primary.

“No money and no effort,” Blunt, R-Mo., said when asked about the results of Tuesday’s vote, in which ex-Sen. Rick Santorum won 55 percent of the vote to Romney’s 25 percent.

Those are some pretty harsh words coming from Romney's own congressional liaison, the point person who reaches out to other congresscritters and senators and encourages them to join in backing Mittens' (now-flailing) campaign for president.  Maybe Blunt is sore about the fact that Mittens flip-flopped on the commitment he made after Blunt was named the liaison: "I look forward to working with Roy as I bring my plan for job creation to Missouri and the rest of the country," and then never showed up.

Cue the republican freak-out!

Senate republicans have repeatedly refused to confirm a number of President Obama's picks to run multiple agencies, leaving critical government departments without leaders.  Luckily, the constitution allows for a president to make recess appointments to fill these positions.

Today, President Obama has announced that even though Senate republicans refuse time and time again to confirm his nominees and have used procedural tricks in the past to attempt to prevent other recess appointments, he will be bucking a do-nothing Congress and is appointing Robert Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - the agency which is the brainchild of working familiy fighter Elizabeth Warren who is now running for Senate in Massachusettes - as well as three individuals to the National Labor Relations Board.

In a time where almost nothing gets done thanks to republicans gumming up the works in the Senate and throwing workers and the 99% under the bus in the House, it's a great day to be a member of the middle class as we have new fierce advocates for fairness ready to hold greedy corporations, banks and employers accountable.

Just exactly how disfunctional have the republicans and their tea party darlings made Congress?  So disfunctional that a bill passed 89-10 with obvious bipartisan support in the Senate to grant a two month extension of the payroll tax cut to 160 million Americans will be voted down by the republican-controlled House.

Fact: House republicans would rather hike taxes on the 99% than make any attempt at governing. After fighting tooth and nail to protect tax giveaways for the wealthiest 1%, republicans have used every excuse in the book to avoid extending the payroll tax cut.

Even some in Senate republican leadership like Roy Blunt are voicing frustration with the disfunction in Congress, too bad Blunt refuses to do anything other than whine and complain about the disfunction his party could immediately fix, if only they had any inclination to do anything other than attempt at defeating the President.

But I won't hold my breath.

Who knew the "Most Unpopular Freshman" Senator Roy Blunt could finagle his way into being elected to a leadership position in the Republican Conference, 25-22?

As we wrote earlier, Missouri's highest ranking republican got there with absolutely no help from Senate hopefuls Todd Akin, John Brunner and Sarah Steelman - all of whom took a pass on endorsing consumate Washington insider, Blunt.

Still no word on whether or not Akin, Brunner or Steelman have congratulated Blunt. 

Senator Roy Blunt would really like to be the next Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair, but the guy can't even get support at home.  Later today, during the weekly Republican Conference Lunch, Blunt will face off with ultra-conservative Ron Johnson of Wisconsin who has support from other Tea Party darlings such as Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, as well as the two republicans running to join Johnson in the senate primary race in Wisconsin.

One would think, given that they would all like to be Missouri's next senator and be able to serve with Blunt, that Todd Akin, John Brunner and Sarah Steelman would announce their support of the hometown guy Blunt, but each one of them have taken a pass on any endorsement.

From PoliticMo:

• Akin: A spokesman for Akin said he had “no comment” on Blunt’s election.
• Brunner: “Not one person has mentioned they are concerned about a leadership election in Washington where nobody running for U.S. Senate in Missouri has a vote.”
• Steelman: A spokesman for Steelman said her campaign “hasn’t even paid attention to it.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the man they'd all like to join in the Senate.

Perhaps this lack of support from fellow republican senators and the folks back home is further indicative of Blunt's current title of "Most Unpopular Freshman."  From the sounds of it, his standing hasn't improved much.

As expected, the Senate voted on the Middle Class Tax Cut of 2011 this evening which would have allowed the payroll tax cut to be continued for 2012.  The Democrat's version was fully paid for by a tiny surtax on millionaires - just a few hundred thousand tax payers - and would have provided an over $1,000 tax cut for 160 million Americans and their families.

Unfortunately, also as expected, Republicans blocked the measure and defeated the motion 51-49. 

So, yet again, Republicans like Roy Blunt have demonstrated their inability to do anything but protect the ultra-rich at the expense of tens of millions of working families, essentially voting to hike taxes on 99.8% of taxpayers.  Hypocrites.

It's a little known fact that the best thing to talk about on a Wednesday afternoon is payroll taxes, so let's dive right in.

In Washington, Senate Democrats - including Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill - are preparing to hold a vote on extending the payroll tax cut that affects millions upon millions of America's working families, but as you can imagine, they're facing some stiff opposition.  I'll give you three guesses as to what that opposition is, and the first two don't count.  Here goes:

1. Republicans, like Roy Blunt, sticking up for the 1%.
2. Republicans, like Roy Blunt, sticking up for the 1%.
3. Republicans, like Roy Blunt, sticking up for the 1%.

If you guessed Republicans, like Roy Blunt, sticking up for the 1% you'd be right.  Well, almost right.  The real answer is republicans sticking up for the .2%.  That's 2 tenths of 1 percent of American taxpayers, approximately 1 in 500.

Republicans are protecting .2% of American taxpayers from a tiny tax increase of only 2.1%, and in doing so are demanding that 113,000,000 working families - that's 3.1 million Missouri families, for the record - to pay $1,000 more in taxes in 2012.  So much for sticking to their anti-tax pledge.

I awoke to this morning to some incredible news that got me way more excited than is decent that early in the morning:

Roy Blunt is in favor of tax increases!

Stop the ever-loving presses!

The fact that I tried reading the news before I'd had my first cup of coffee is probably indicative of my enthusiasm at the time because after seeing exactly WHO he wants to raise taxes on, I'm angrier than a wet cat.

It should come as no surprise that Roy Blunt is in favor of a massive tax hike on the poor.  Instead of demanding what would be a fair and honest and requiring the rich in this country to pair their fair share, Roy Blunt wants to increase the tax burden on the most vulnerable, those who are struggling - and increasingly failing - to make it in our economy.  Instead of asking the super wealthy to pitch in, Roy Blunt wants the hard working, tax paying people like you to shoulder a greater and greater portion of the taxes, ostensibly so he and his republican cohorts can continue to give massive tax CUTS and bailouts to the rich and corporations.

If Senator Blunt were serious about solving the economic crisis we find our country in, he'd ask the rich to pitch in and pay their fair share.  Instead, Blunt is siding with millionaires and billionaires in an effort to further bankrupt the middle class and working families.  We deserve better.

The headline for this News-Leader post by Deirdre Shesgreen reads, "Blunt iffy on cause of global warming?" 

Why the question mark?  Roy Blunt is firmly on the record stating that human beings have nothing to do with climate change and global warming.  From a Human Events interview during his Senate campaign: 

Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told HUMAN EVENTS Editor Jed Babbin that Republicans accept that the climate is changing, but added, “There isn’t any real science to say we are altering the climate path of the earth.”  Asked if Republicans would offer a substitute for the Dems’ bill [to address carbon pollution and climate change], Blunt said no. 

This positions is, of course, dumb. Blunt's positions has everything to do with protecting polluters and avoiding action to limit climate change -- it has nothing to do with science.  

"I was actually thinking of writing a book...'The Idiot’s Guide to Buying a Congressman.'"

Earlier this afternoon, a number of concerned citizens, labor leaders, business and academic experts came together in St. Louis to discuss the growing jobs crisis in our country as well as how we as a nation can put Missourians back on the job.

At the heart of the roundtable discussion was call for our elected officials to pass the American Jobs Act.  Including a number of initiatives that have broad bipartisan support, the American Jobs Act has provisions that will assist Missourians in finding work, paying the bills and stimulating the economy.

Gary Elliott of the Eastern Missouri Laborers' District Council had a crystal clear message for Missouri's congressional leaders:

[T]he American Jobs Act should be passed as well as the Highway Bill. We need both. The first responders and teachers included in the jobs bill are just what this country needs. We have to invest in our community or improvements are never going to come to fruition and the jobs crisis will continue.

Repeatedly, speakers reinforced that investing in infrastructure - such as repairing our crumbling bridges and roads, putting first responders such as police and firefighters back to work, and ensuring teachers are in the classroom with the resources they need - would allow for our economy to recover by putting money in the wallets of workers who will in turn put money back in their communities.

Unfortunately, even while Missourians were sending a message loud and clear to legislative leaders, Senator Roy Blunt yet again voted against infrastructure investment and jobs by voting no on the Rebuild America Jobs Act.  By a vote of 51 to 49 with all republicans voting no, Blunt again showed he is willing to vote to protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires while leaving Missouri's workers out in the cold. 

It's great to see the News-Leader continue to hold Roy Blunt accountable for his long, well-documented record of unethical leadership in Washington.  Water under the bridge, kids! 

What's good for Roy Blunt is good for Missouri.

OK, that's an overstatement, but there's a kernel of truth in that a Missourian in a position of leadership within the U.S. Senate Republican Conference could be beneficial to our state...

It should be noted that Blunt lost his leadership role among House Republicans following the resignation of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, in a money laundering scandal. Blunt was part of that leadership team. But this has never proven a handicap for the freshman senator with Missourians. In Washington, D.C., it may be considered water under any Potomac River bridge.

Excuse me while I clean the spewed coffee off my keyboard and monitor...  and then clear my memory of all of following now-irrelevant information. 

Roy Blunt thinks the number one priority should be creating jobs.

If that's the case, I have a question: why does he keep voting against job creation?  He's had multiple opportunities to vote to put Missourians back to work over the last few weeks and each time he's decided to toe the party line and vote no.

• The American Jobs Act which would have created nearly 20,000 Missouri jobs? NO.
• The Teachers, First Responders Back to Work Act which would have ensured that teachers, police and firefighters have essential funding? NO.

Senator Blunt, if you refuse to vote for the jobs bills that continue to come to the floor of the Senate, what's your plan?  Trade Agreements that encourage companies to send jobs overseas?  Tax breaks for greedy CEOs and corporations that only serve to make the rich richer?  Elimination of regulations that serve to keep everyday Americans safe and sound?  As of now, republicans in congress have introduced ZERO actual jobs bills. 

Until Blunt and his republican colleagues get serious about putting Americans back to work and voting for the jobs bills in congress, I guess Senator Blunt is right: "Not much" will happen in the senate on job creation.

Late last week in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans managed to come to an agreement on ending subsidies for millionaire farmers.  By a vote of 84 to 15, the Senate agreed to end federal handouts for farmers who's incomes exceed $1,000,000.

From the Kansas City Star:

In an emphatic vote early Friday, 84 senators voted to discontinue certain farm subsidies for people who make more than a million dollars in adjusted gross income. [...]

Direct payments, the type of subsidy targeted in Friday's vote, have long been criticized because they are paid regardless of crop prices and yields, unlike other more insurance-like programs that kick in when prices drop or crops are damaged.

Sensing a pattern here?  If given the opportunity, Roy Blunt will always vote to protect his biggest donors and millionaire friends, even at the expense of increasing spending and the deficit and harming those who can least afford it.

Last night, the United States Senate held a vote on the Teachers, First Responders Back to Work Act which had a number of provisisions that would assist a large number of Missourians in getting back to work as well as allowed for large scale investments in critical public services that every American and Missourian relies upon.

Unfortunately, Sen. Blunt voted no.  Here's some of what Blunt voted against:

• $30 Billion To Create or Protect Nearly 400,000 Education Jobs. Nearly 300,000 education jobs have been lost since 2008, and state and local budget crisis will put as many as 280,000 teacher jobs at risk next year.
• $5 Billion to Keep Thousands of Police and Firefighters on the Job. State and local budget cuts have forced thousands of cops and firefighters off the beat.
• Asking Millionaires to Pay Their Fair Share Without Adding a Dime to the Deficit. In order to create or save hundreds of thousands of teacher and first responder jobs, the Senate bill imposes a 0.5% surtax on modified adjusted gross income in excess of $1 million for both single filers and married couples filing jointly.  The surtax is effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012.

Not only did Sen. Blunt vote against teachers and education, firefighters and police, and working families, he did a 180 and went completely back on his word.  In May, after hearing of critical cuts facing the Kansas City Fire Department for prepardness training, Sen. Blunt was quoted as saying, "We will continue working to call attention to this [funding] problem in order to ensure Kansas City receives the funding it needs." [Kansas City Star, 5/21/11]

If Sen. Blunt truly wanted to ensure that firefighters and other first responders in Missouri and around the country were receiving the funding they needed, he would have voted yes.  Unfortunately, Blunt's republican colleagues in the Senate have said their "single most important goal" is to defeat President Obama.  Apparently, Blunt is willing to go along as they try to carry out their goal, even at a devastating cost to our communities in terms of decreased funding for firefighters, police officers, first responders, teachers and other public servants.  Missouri deserves better.

The man they called "Fed-Ex" for his ability to deliver on lobbyist favors was sentenced to five hours behind bars. Check out the Post Dispatch and AP write up: 

A former aide to Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond is spending an afternoon behind bars for taking a trip to the World Series paid for by lobbyists.

U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts sent 37-year-old Trevor Blackann to the Washington federal courthouse lockup for five hours Tuesday for failing to report the trip as income on his tax return.

Blackann, who also did work for then-Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri back in 2000-2001, pleaded guilty to the tax charge three years ago after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors investigating lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his practice of trading trips and other gifts for favors from public officials. One of Abramoff's associates helped organize Blackann's trip to Game 1 of the 2003 World Series at Yankee Stadium.

Blackann was forced out of public policy work after his guilty plea and now lives in Colorado.

Roy Blunt has pretty much accepted that nothing will be done in the United States Senate to create Jobs in Missouri in the near future. Hopefully, many of the over 260,000 Missourians who are unemployed will let Senator Blunt know their thoughts about his position. 

Yesterday, Senator Roy Blunt voted against the American Jobs Act. Watch video of his comments on MSNBC here:

Somehow, Matt Blunt's former chief of staff Ed Martin is now "anti-establishment." I guess that is a nice way to describe a losing campaign. 

One thing is for sure, nothing screams anti-establishment like being photographed with Roy Blunt. Look at these wild-eyed radicals. 

More from the latest Public Policy Polling survey:

Roy Blunt is proving to be a pretty unpopular Senator.  Only 33% of voters approve of the job he's doing to 42% who disapprove. Independents split against him 28/44 and only 54% of Republicans are happy with him compared to 63% of Democrats who give him poor marks.  The fact that Blunt won such an overwhelming victory last year even though he's so unpopular is really symbolic of how brutal the climate was for Democrats in 2o1o- the GOP could have put up most anyone and won the Senate race in Missouri last year.  Blunt's someone who could be really vulnerable if he was running in a year that was good for Democrats or even pretty neutral.  But his timing was perfect last year.

As the Star's Dave Helling notes, PPP's work the last cycle "actually exhibited a slight bias toward Republican candidates," despite their progressive orientation and client list.

Roy Blunt is saying that the Obama administration is scaring businesses with all these crazy regulations about cusory issues like pollution. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and 13 other Republicans introduced legislation this week labeled the "Regulatory Time-Out Act." It would impose a one-year freeze on significant new regulations with over $100 million in compliance costs.

"They're not in hyper speed, they're in ludicrous speed when you look at regulations coming out of this administration," Blunt asserted to reporters recently.

Actually, to the surprise of many in the environmental advocacy community, the Obama administration has already walked back some clean air rules.  

Some would call a United States Senator who quotes the Mel Brooks classic Spaceballs, with no humor injected, to make a point that is not in line with reality ludicrous.