The Leader's Ledger

Pro-Growth: Republicans Continue To Lead On Removing Roadblocks and Uncertainty Impeding Small Business Growth

Leader Cantor: Republicans Continue To Work Towards Creating An Environment Conducive To Economic Growth. “What we are about in this House is trying to exhibit real leadership and what the President needs to understand is that economic growth is not a government program. We need to do what is necessary to take away the uncertainty and the impediments in the way of small businesses and allow them to grow again. That is what our constituents are expecting, that is what we need to do to provide the leadership that is lacking on the part of this Administration." GOP Stakeout

• The Democrats’ Push To Raise Taxes Would Destroy Jobs and Allow Out Of Control Spending To Continue. If you listen to the discussion of the deficit in the mainstream media or the talking points from leading Democrats on the Hill (but I repeat myself), the refrain is that tax increases must be part of any deficit fix. ... There’s not really a revenue problem.... There is a spending problem. Focusing on taxes implies that the problem is how to pay for spending — taxes or debt — not the spending itself. ... If you look at most of the deficit-cutting proposals, including the president’s, they call for tax increases today in exchange for spending cuts somewhere in the future. I think we’ve seen that movie before. In fact, the president’s proposal actually makes the bait-and-switch game worse. His proposal says that if Congress didn’t actually make those spending cuts, there would be additional tax increases. National Review

The Obama Economy: There Are Nearly 2 Million Fewer Americans Working Since President Obama Signed The Stimulus Into Law

The Obama Economic Agenda Has Failed To Get The Economy Back On Track. Mr. Obama's epic fiscal binge, waves of new industrial policy and the political allocation of credit haven't created the boom they promised. The Wall Street Journal

Reality Check: 1.9 Million Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than When Obama Signed The Stimulus, and Declared The “Recovery Summer.” Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed. CNS News

• The Economic “Recovery” Over The Past Two Years Has Been Weaker Than Would Have Been Expected Without An $800 Billion Stimulus. Economic data over the past weeks, punctuated by recent dismal employment reports, confirm the diminishing impact of the stimulus efforts orchestrated by the Obama Administration and the Federal Reserve. In what must be a huge disappointment to Keynesian enthusiasts, the record doses of both monetary and fiscal narcotics did not produce the desired results. In fact, the size and scope of the "recovery" of the past two years was weaker than would have been expected in a typical business cycle recovery without any stimulus whatsoever. Real Clear Markets

NFIB: More Small Businesses Are Planning To Lay Off Workers Than Hire New Ones. In the latest sign that the economic recovery may have lost whatever modest oomph it had, more small businesses say that they are planning to shrink their payrolls than say they want to expand them. ... many small businesses, which employ half of the country’s private sector workers, are still struggling to break even. And if the nation’s small companies plan to further delay hiring — or, worse, return to laying off workers, as they now hint they might — there is little hope that the nation’s 14 million idle workers will find gainful employment soon. The New York Times

• The Reason For More Layoffs - Businesses Are Being “Squeezed On All Sides.” “Never in the 37-year history of our company have we seen anything at all like this,” said Frank W. Goodnight, president of Diversified Graphics, a publishing company in Salisbury, N.C. He says there is “no chance” he will hire more workers in the months ahead. “We’re being squeezed on all sides,” he says. The New York Times

Editorial: The NLRB’s Claim Against Boeing “Shows No Sense Of Practical Reality.” ... the NLRB is attempting to reverse a U.S. investment by the nation's No. 1 exporter 17 months after the company decided to make it — after the money has been spent, after the equipment is set up and after 1,000 workers have been hired. In South Carolina, assembly of the first 787 is scheduled to begin this summer. For the government to demand now that the company move everything to another state shows no sense of practical reality. ... We are for jobs, and for the investment that creates them. But companies cannot be dragged to Washington and forced to invest here. They have to want to invest here. The Seattle Times

ObamaCare Update: The IPAB’s Unelected Bureaucrats Will Compromise Patient Care

Rep. Phil Roe: President Obama’s Payment Advisory Board Will Lead To Rationed Care. The latest Medicare trustees’ report estimates Medicare will go bankrupt by 2024, which is five years earlier than last year’s estimate. This news is a threat to senior care, and at this rate, Medicare will not be available for future generations. However, since we know the problem is coming, we can act now to save Medicare, improve the quality of care, and keep Washington bureaucrats out of patients’ medical decisions. ... But fixing Medicare should not compromise patient care, and that is what President Obama’s solution would do. The president’s health-care bill created the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a board of unelected bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to decide based on a budget whether to offer Medicare benefits, which leads to rationing of care by government officials. With Medicare’s outlook worsening, the president is now trying to double down on his health-care plan and allow the board to ration even more care. ... IPAB shifts health-care decision-making power away from the patient; it will operate without transparency or accountability, bypassing all congressional oversight; and it places the focus on slashing Medicare costs, rather than on improving the quality of care.The board will consist of a group of 15 unelected bureaucrats who will decide what constitutes “necessary care.” IPAB will try to create a “one size fits all” solution when it comes to medical care. As a physician, I can tell you firsthand how dangerous this mindset can be. In medicine, every case is unique and must be treated that way. National Review

Getting To Know The Freshmen

Renee Ellmers: Rep. Renee Ellmers represents North Carolina’s second district. A nurse for over 21 years, Ellmers grew up in Michigan and lives in Dunn, North Carolina with her husband Dr. Brent Ellmers, a surgeon, and their son Ben. She received her B.S. in nursing from Oakland University and worked as a nurse in Beaumont Hospital's surgical intensive care unit near Detroit, Michigan. In 2009, she and her husband attended a Town Hall meeting to hear her congressman speak on the President’s health care plan. She became an outspoken critic of government-run healthcare and her involvement in that issue spurred her 2010 run for Congress which resulted in defeat of the 14-year-incumbent Bob Etheridge. Little known fact: She has quite a collection of the “As Seen on TV” gadgets including 3 Snuggies – the original blue, a more “luxurious” velour version and her son has a camo Snuggie.

Off The Beaten Path

No One Saw This Coming: Drunken Joyride On Steamroller Ends Badly – NPR

Trail Of Corndogs Bring Down Burglar – KOCO

The Largest Pair Of Rose Colored Glasses ... Ever? – The Wall Street Journal

The Schedule

Today, the House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. First and last votes expected: 3:30 - 5:30 p.m.

• One Minute Speeches (15 per side)

• Continue Consideration of H.R. 2112 - Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012 (Open Rule) 
(Sponsored by Rep. Jack Kingston / Appropriations Committee) The rule provides for no further general debate and makes in order any amendment offered that complies with the House rules.

Postponed Amendment Votes:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro Amendment
Rep. Pete Sessions Amendment
Rep. Sam Farr Amendment
Rep. Paul Broun Amendment #1
Rep. Jason Chaffetz Amendment
Rep. Paul Broun Amendment #2
Rep. Hansen Clarke Amendment
Rep. Paul Broun Amendment #3
Rep. Laura Richardson Amendment

• Special Order Speeches