“Cuts” on The Daily Caller

EASTON, Pa. — Ken Kewley woke up Tuesday without health insurance for the first time in nearly nine years. (more)

Democratic strategists believe their Tea Party moment has arrived. (more)

Few things unite a room of battling Republicans more than a Democrat with a head full of ideas about how to spend money. (more)

Facing an outcry from the party’s conservative caucus over allegedly backtracking on spending cuts, House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday that when the House releases its budget proposal next week, the cuts Republicans propose will add up to even more than what they promised last year. (more)

The budget crises that have nearly paralyzed states such as California and Illinois are likely to get worse, not better, in 2011 — despite the massive cuts that have already been made. (more)

1.) Will Paul Ryan’s ‘Road Map’ remain trapped in the glovebox? — The ‘Road Map’ that Rep. Paul Ryan devised when he saw that America was lost in the fiscal woods has received plenty of kudos over the years. Now that Republicans control the house, the bigger question is, Will anybody use it? “Passing the Road Map as part of the House budget would likely go nowhere in the Senate and would undoubtedly draw the president’s veto even if it made it to his desk,” writes The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward. “But it would be a conscious decision by Republicans to do more than say no to Obama’s plan, moving beyond mere opposition to advocating a vision of their own.” Reps John Boehner and Eric Cantor refused to comment when TheDC asked about the Road Map’s role in restoring America’s fiscal sensibilities. Doug Mainwaring, a Maryland Tea Party activist, was less reserved: “If the Republican leadership doesn’t get behind Mr. Ryan and actively promote the Road Map, I predict that Tea Partiers will be looking for a new crop of congressmen in 2012.” (more)

Mark Thursday, Dec. 17, 2010, on your political calendar as the day twin cultures were defeated. The culture of spending, embraced by both parties, was repudiated decisively when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rose to pull the monster 1,924-page, 6,630-earmark omnibus spending bill. And the culture of class envy was repudiated with equal decisiveness when the House overwhelmingly passed the extension of the Bush tax cuts and defeated an amendment to raise the estate tax on large estates. (more)

For all the rancor coming out of the House Democratic Caucus, its members are once again missing the proverbial forest for the trees, and that is this: The Republicans will take over control of the 112th Congress in January with a 49-seat margin. I am not sure what Nancy Pelosi and others don’t get about this reality, but the truth of the matter is that if the Democrats “shellack” President Obama from his flank and cause this tax package to fail in conference (after the Senate votes), then they are in for a rude awakening come January 2011. (more)

As predicted, because it is by now absurdly ritual, early the day after the scheduled conclusion of this year’s talks to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol, negotiators emerged hailing a breakthrough agreement on “global warming.” The Washington Post offers its take which, although it provides no word whether I won the CEI office pool on the number of European diplomats crying (the “over/under” was five), nonetheless opens risibly: (more)

1.) Michael Steele decides that he has done enough damage to the RNC — It appears that RNC Chairman Michael Steele spent some time reviewing his contributions to the health and wealth of the Republican Party this past weekend. What else could have catalyzed his decision–forthcoming tonight, a little birdie told FOX News–to not run for a second term as RNC failman? According to FOX, Steele “sent an e-mail to committee members Saturday night with the subject line, ‘conference call,’ in which “he asked members to join him ‘for a private conference call’ Monday evening.” Perhaps Steele will review his greatest hits before bowing out? Or maybe he has plans to anoint a successor! All we know is that the field of Steele challengers (Reince Priebus, Ann Wagner, Maria Cino, Saul Anuzis, and Gentry Collins, oh my!) will all need to find new campaign slogans: “I’m NOT Michael Steele” isn’t going to cut it now! (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Republican leader says it’s become clear now that taxes will not be raised for anyone during the current economic downturn. (more)

RACINE, Wis. — If Americans aren’t prepared for the hard choices needed to control the national debt, most voters here must have missed the memo. (more)

When the Simpson-Bowles Obama Commission “chairman’s mark” came out last week, there were far too many conservatives who were too quick to say nice things about it. Blinded by lower marginal tax rates and some entitlement reforms, they chose to ignore the fact that the plan is a ten-year tax hike of over $1 trillion, and would saddle taxpayers with a taxes-to-GDP ratio of 21 percent, the highest in American history. A week later, the Rivlin-Domenici commission released their report with a $500 billion tax hike. Americans for Tax Reform actually produced our own (balanced) budget plan that cuts spending and cuts taxes in a reasonable way. But it’s worth reflecting on what too many on the Right said about the “higher taxes” plans for almost-balanced budgets. (more)

The White House is heading back to the drawing board to determine the fate of the Bush tax cuts, amid fears Congress will not approve a plan to hike taxes on the nation’s wealthiest families if Republicans take an expected House majority in next Tuesday’s election, The Washington Post reported Saturday. (more)

Given some of the headlines, one would be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that the UK’s treasury secretary, George Osborne, has just catapulted himself into conservative folklore as the man who finally took an axe — rather than a scalpel — to public spending. (more)

Last week, libertarian think tank the Cato Institute released its Fiscal Policy Report Card for governors. In the study, “governors are graded on their fiscal performance from a limited-government perspective,” earning points for tax cuts and spending cuts, and losing points for tax hikes and increased spending. (more)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday renewed her pledge to pass an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, but now she’s leaving the door open to extending the tax cuts for upper-income Americans. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Here’s some pressure for lawmakers: If they don’t reach agreement on extending soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts, nearly all their constituents back home will get big tax increases. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s plan to raise taxes on wealthier people while preserving cuts for everyone else appears increasingly likely to founder before Election Day. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Leader John Boehner says he would vote for President Obama’s plan to extend tax cuts only for middle-class earners, not the wealthy, if that were the only option available to House Republicans. (more)