Congressional Candidate Richard Moss knocks Bucshon on Amnesty

At a Parke County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, Congressman Bucshon delivered the keynote speech before the county faithful regaling his “conservative” record. But as is typical of Bucshon, the only time he is conservative is a month before the primary when he is campaigning. The rhetoric does not match the voting record. Congressman Bucshon, for example, raised the matter of this press release during the speech.

(WASHINGTON, DC) – On Thursday, Eighth District Congressman Larry Bucshon, M.D. voted to approve a resolution granting the Speaker of the House authority to file an amicus brief before the Supreme Court defending the Article I powers of Congress. This pertains to United States v. Texas, where the Supreme Court asked whether the president’s executive amnesty violates the president’s duties under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”?

Congressman Bucshon may not realize this, but Congress does not require another branch of government to do its dirty work. It has all the power to do it itself. Since the Congressman has taken to quoting from the Constitution of late, let me remind him that Constitutionally speaking, Congress is arguably the most powerful branch of the federal government. Yes, the Constitution places most of the governing power of the federal government in Congress – if the Republican Congress would but use it. The main power of course is spending. Congress determines appropriations. It can withhold or dispense funding as it chooses. There is no greater power than this. And herein lies our problem. Our Republican held Congress votes for massive Omnibus spending bills that fully fund the Obama agenda for the year. And once that funding has been allocated, Congress has no leverage over the Executive Branch. And Obama can do whatever he wants for the entire year – until the Republican Congress obediently passes the next massive Omnibus bill the following year. And the Republicans have been doing this religiously since 2010 when they took the House.

All other efforts after the spending has already been allocated are political theater, phony show votes or gestures that lack significance. But this is what we have come to expect from our hapless Republicans in Congress. Empty gestures.

As I have written before, Congressman Bucshon voted for the Omnibus bill last December, not less than 2000 pages, a $1.1 trillion behemoth, or about half a billion dollars a page, that increased spending by $53 billion over the last year.  It also fully funded Obama’s lawless executive amnesty, not to mention Planned Parenthood and “sanctuary cities,” while quadrupling H2-B visas bringing in more unskilled labor to compete with American workers. So his claims to oppose Amnesty are false. If you fund something you support it. And he has voted to fund amnesty. Anything after that is meaningless pablum.

But there have been other votes Congressman Bucshon has taken that show his true colors regarding the matter of amnesty. On March 3, 2015, he voted against a motion that would have killed HR240. This bill contained funding for Obama’s lawless executive amnesty. He voted against the motion that would have stopped it, in effect supporting amnesty.

On December 12, 2014, he voted in favor of the Cromnibus bill, a 1700 page, $1.1 trillion monster that once again fully funded the Obama agenda for 11 of 12 federal departments for the entire fiscal year with no Congressional restrictions on his lawless executive amnesty, Obamacare, and environmental regulations. The bill actually provided Obama with an additional $2.5 billion to facilitate his executive amnesty. Still worse, this vote came a month after our landslide wave election victory in November 2014 when we increased our hold on Congress and took the Senate, a stunning rebuke of the Obama administration. The bill was a backroom deal by lame duck Senators who were rejected by the American people. Rather than voting for a CR (continuing resolution) that would have funded the government until January to allow the newly elected Republican majorities to weigh in on major spending bills, it completely undercut them and the American people by funding the government including Obama’s executive amnesty and the rest of his destructive agenda for the entire fiscal year.

So which is it, Congressman, filing an amicus brief so Congress can join in a “lawsuit” before the Supreme Court or use the real power of Congress, the ultimate power, of funding and appropriation? The answer is clear. You didn’t want to upset Obama and the Democrats. You wanted to curry favor with former speaker John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and other liberal Republicans. They are the Republican leadership. You are a loyal foot soldier. Their priorities are your priorities. They support Obama’s lawless executive amnesty because their donors want it. And so do you. And to hell with your constituents and the American people.

This is why we Republicans and conservatives are so frustrated with the Republican Party in Washington. It explains, like him or not, the Trump phenomenon. There is a disconnect between the Republican leadership and their loyal foot soldiers like Congressman Bucshon and the Republican/conservative base that gets them elected.

Pay no attention to liberal Republicans at Lincoln Day Dinners a month before the primary. It’s not what they say while campaigning at home, it’s what they do in Washington. It is time for Bucshon to retire.