House Ways and Means Committee

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Lowry on February 1, 2009 at 11:45am

Marilyn: Of course the Ways and Means committe members know about HR/25 and have direct access to John Linder. The problem is not education its conviction. As long as the Chairmanship is in hostile hands the only way it can come out of committee is for 100 members of the House to petition it to do so. The key here is to get at least 100 co-sponsors, something everyone of us understand. It OK to work on committee members but our real efforts must go towards those congressional districts that do not have co-sponsors. That takes organization and plenty of it. None of this is rocket science, just reality. I believe we are going in the correct direction but must perevere.

Permalink Reply by Steve Curtis on February 1, 2009 at 11:46am

First, I would sort them out, based on how likely they are to support the FairTax. If it looks like we have a plurality who are potential supporters, then I'd focus on them. If not, then I'd put all the effort into convincing one or two leaders who might then be able to "ram through" a FairTax bill over opposition from a majority.

We might also contact John Linder and see how he would recommend proceeding since he is already on the committee and probably has the best sense of what might work.

Permalink Reply by Gary R. Anderson on February 1, 2009 at 1:02pm

OK; Now this is substansive, factual information that we can act upon. Not like some earlier generation of encouragement, where we were saying, "write letters". That we've got down pretty well. With this list, we have a pointed target to aim at. Add to this, a scoreboard. A few of these are already onboard; most are not. Let's see the tote. Second, if you have one of these as a rep, take him on as your personal project, and if he's stalwart, kindly say, that his position is apt to be published. They respond to pressure. (Sometimes by feigning support) When we get back the data from this thrust, we'll know what action to take next, relative to this specific goal. Mind you, there are miriads of other goals to work on, like building FTN so that when the politicos log-on, they'll see more than a couple hundred people whining for something. Each person according to his talent. Now Find YOUR W&M cmte rep., and poll him. Soon we'll have a fully quantified scoreboard, much like we did with the Presidential hopefuls, and the co-sponsors. And so, we go to work!

Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on February 1, 2009 at 2:11pm

The reality is that the FairTax has been turned into a partisan issue by the Democrat leadership. Until that changes, there is no hope of getting the bill passed. Tax legislation can only be introduced in the House of Representatives and the Ways and Means Committee controls tax issues in the House.

Even if the bill is discharged, it won't get favorable consideration as long as the House leadership is against it. According to FairTax.org, there is only one Democrat who actively supports the FairTax - Colin Peterson, MN-7. I'm certain there are others who are favorable, but they are going along with Pelosi, Rangel, et. al.

Here is the list of where the members of the Ways and Means committee stand. We have to figure out a way to get more Democrats (any?) on board. If you live in any of their districts, work on them to buck their leadership.

REPUBLICANS FOR
John Linder, GA (Cosponsor)
Kevin Brady, TX (Cosponsor)
Ginny Brown-Waite, FL (Cosponsor)
Pat Tiberi, OH
Charles W. Boustany Jr., LA

DEMOCRATS FOR
None

DEMOCRATS UNDECIDED
John S. Tanner, TN
Xavier Becerra, CA
Mike Thompson, CA
John B. Larson, CT
Earl Blumenauer, OR
Ron Kind, WI
Bill Pascrell Jr. , NJ
Shelley Berkley, NV
Joseph Crowley, NY
Chris Van Hollen, MD
Kendrick Meek, FL
Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA
Artur Davis, AL
Danny K. Davis, IL
Bob Etheridge, NC
Linda T. Sanchez, CA
Brian Higgins, NY
John A. Yarmuth, KY

REPUBLICANS UNDECIDED
Dave Camp, MI
Sam Johnson, TX
Paul Ryan, WI
Eric Cantor, VA
Devin Nunes, CA
Geoff Davis, KY
Dave G. Reichert, WA
Dean Heller, NV
Peter J. Roskam, IL

DEMOCRATS AGAINST
Charles B. Rangel, NY Chairman
Fortney Pete Stark, CA
Sander M. Levin, MI
Jim McDermott, WA
John Lewis, GA
Richard E. Neal, MA
Lloyd Doggett, TX
Earl Pomeroy, ND

REPUBLICANS AGAINST
Wally Herger, CA

Permalink Reply by Jabari Zakiya on February 2, 2009 at 2:36am

Hi all.

I live in DC and last week (Jan 26-30) I called the office of every W&M committee office and either talked to or left a message or email to the Legislative Aide (LA) who dealt with tax issues. Here are some realities you should be aware of.

1) Not everyone on W&M knows what the FairTax is. Many know what they've heard or been told, but only a few of the LAs I talked to said they actually read the legislation or any other primary information on it. (PS: Very few Congresspeople ***EVER*** bother to read the actual legislation they vote on.)

2) The Democrats hold a 27-15 majority over the Republicans. It takes 22 votes to get it out of W&M (majority) and most of the members are probably mostly ignorant of the actual specifics of the Bill versus being opposed to the Bill. What the Dems ARE opposed to, and associate the FairTax with, is the 6 years of Rep control in which they were entirely shut out in having ANY say in legislation of any importance, so its still open warfare on past transgressions. And as demonstrated last week, the Repubs are rightly seen as being more about being political obstructionist than concerned with governance, as shown by their block vote in the House against the economic stimulus package, a bill even the Repub Governors are screaming to get passed. This tainting of the FairTax as a partisan Repub bill is a HUGE HURDLE to overcome before many Dems will consider it. In fact, we should really consider if we could get someone other than Linder to sponsor the bill, because he's seen as ultra partisan by many Dems.

3) I also called every member of the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus), because getting cosponsors and W&M support ARE SIMULTANEOUS goals, not either-or. But the thrust HAS TO BE ON GETTING DEM SUPPORT. It is almost virtually irrelevant how many Repub cosponsors come on, since they don't control anything now (and when they were in control, to remind folks, they refused to push in any meaningful way the FairTax either).

4) But out of Chaos comes Opportunity. As the economy tanks further, and revenues from the so-called voluntary "income tax" system dry up, as more people become unemployed (no incomes) and businesses fail, Congress will BE FORCED to consider real viable alternatives. This is why we need to be continuously putting the FairTax, on a daily basis, in the ears and eyes of all the W&M members, whether avowed foes or not, and wear them down. MOST of the comgresspeople are not stupid (in the cognitive sense), they are more lazy and resistant to change, because change requires them (in their eyes) to stick their necks out.

5) The WildCard in this is Obama. A way to get to Obama is through is wife, his parents, or any other side channels we can use. I know he IS smart enough to understand the FairTax, but currently, especially on economic issues, he is strictly influenced (controlled) by BIG MONEY. But again, economic Chaos, will force him too to consider out-of-the-box alternatives. WE HAVE TO BE READY TO REACH HIM IN THE MANNER HE WILL ACCEPT!!

6) Everyone on this list should pick at least one W&M member and call & email the Tax LA for that person at least once a week. This is STRICTLY ABOUT POWER. You should be nice, and consistent, and maybe we should have some workshops on messaging. But if we claim we have 500,000 members, then those people need to be calling/emailing the W&M members AND their district member multiple times a week. And for those who don't know, the Congress switchboard number is 202-224/5-3121. I don't have the White House memorized yet. :-)

7) Lastly, AFFT has to absolutely re-message itself and the FairTax. This means stop emphasizing associations with Hucklebee, Bortz, etc. Again, they are seen as highly partisan anti-Dems-Progressive. It's guilt by association, whether you like it or not. We need to go to NOW, unions, Planned Parenthood, NAACP, etc., all the groups who fervently supported Obama and cultivate their support, and lessen (stop) the overt solicitation of people and organizations considered rightwing and/or conservative (in the political/social sense). I know some of you may not like the thought of this, but you can either spend the next 8 years spinning your wheels, like you did the previous 8 years, or we can get real and understand who is in power, who they listen too, how they think, and what will make them say yes. IT'S PURE POLITICS, WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY TO WIN!

I personally feel AFFT has relied unrealistically on mere hope that the Repubs would do something with the FairTax, when all the empirical evidence demonstrated otherwise. We can't make the reverse mistake and just assume the Dems are somehow genetically opposed to it either. It's about OPEN WARFARE up here, and you have to understand how to walk through the minefield and come out in one piece on the other side of it.

If people want to go into more detail about what I've been doing, and would like to plan to do leading up to April 15, contact me and we can discuss specifics. I plan to be at the luncheon Marilyn is having in DC for CPAC on March 1

Jabari Zakiya

Permalink Reply by Jim Tomasik on February 2, 2009 at 8:19am

Robert,

I agree with what you are saying but I think having more co-sponsors coming from this list would be a great goal. Of course we still need to petition our local Congressional Rep. to get on board as well.

Jim

Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on February 2, 2009 at 12:52pm

Jabari is correct. As long as this is seen by one party or the other as a program by the other party, something as big as the FairTax can never pass. But I also think there is a basic opposition by Democrats to the concept of the FairTax. It takes away the power to punish/reward behavior through the tax system. That might be a basic tenet of both parties, but it is a stronger tenet of liberals. Remember, the original FairTax bill was introduced by both a Democrat and a Republican. Evidently, at some point, the Democrat leadership in the house put the word out for rank and file Democrats NOT to be co-sponsors.

Given this, it is critical to get some level of support from some Democrats. Currently, there is only one who is actively supportive (Peterson, MN-7). He is Chairman of the House Ag Committee, so he is in the leadership. Perhaps someone in his district (most of Western Minnesota) could get him to convince a few other Democrats to get on board. We should at least find out why he is willing buck the senior House leadership and be an active supporter. Anyone out there in MN-7?

Permalink Reply by Carol Adams McLean on February 4, 2009 at 12:38pm

The bad news is they aren't on board now. Worse news is that we're in a world of economic dung we can't get out of without the FairTax (none I've heard of, and I've been looking)

The good news is our opportunity is coming very soon. The Rats will start jumping on the ship that is sound.