Progress Illinois

We caught Republican Rep. Judy Biggert yesterday describing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in rather unflattering terms for not allowing an up-and-down vote on offshore oil drilling. Turns out, Biggert wasn't alone. The Center for American Progress' Wonk Room has compiled a full list of House Republicans who have tried to brand the California Democrat as a dictator or tyrant since the chamber adjourned earlier this month. My personal favorite? This strange historical analogy, courtesy of Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC):

“When the people of France were starving, they went to the queen and said, ‘The people have no bread.’ The queen’s answer was, ‘Let them eat cake.’ That is not the kind of answer we expect from the leader of the people’s house in the United States of America.”

The irony, of course, is that the House Republicans have committed more than their fair share of obstruction during the 110th Congress. The Republicans attempted to force the House to adjourn repeatedly before August 1. Republican senators have filibustered energy legislation well over 10 times. Conservatives have outright rejected the so-called "Gang of 10" compromise, too.

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What's gotten into the House GOP's drinking water? So enthralled with their worthless plan to drill for more oil offshore, congressmen from across the country have infused their rhetoric with a little extra dose of hyperbole. Rep. Don Manzullo thinks the GOP's empty chamber stunt could be "America’s greatest hour." Minority Leader John Boehner said Americans "will hang" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she doesn't call for an up-and-down drilling vote. And this morning on WLS' Don Wade & Roma, 13th District GOP Rep. Judy Biggert joined in on the Pelosi-bashing fun. Listen here:

Internal mp3

What the American people want is for us to work together to come up with solutions, not to have Nancy Pelosi being the dictator. This is a democracy.

And Biggert isn't the only House Republican choosing to describe Pelosi this way.  Check out this clip (caught by the Center for American Progress) of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) during an August 6 appearance on C-SPAN's Washington Journal:

As Josh noted last week, the suggestion that the Democratic leadership is somehow infringing on the GOP minority's rights by adjourning the chamber for August recess is tough to swallow.  After all, prior to August 1, the Republicans repeatedly attempted to force the House to adjourn, as the Washington Post's Dana Milbank recently reported.  Furthermore, if the Republicans want to raise a ruckus about obstructionism, maybe they should look to the U.S. Senate, where the GOP minority has blocked a record number of bills favored by both the Democratic majority and the American people.

The Hill is reporting that GOP Rep. Judy Biggert was among the new arrivals in Washington, DC today, as House Republicans continued their effort to bring Congress back into session so that their offshore drilling bill can receive a vote. As we noted yesterday, Republican Congressmen Peter Roskam, Mark Kirk, and Don Manzullo have also been participating in this bit of political theater.

This morning, Biggert and several of her colleagues joined former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a press conference to announce a new GOP-sponsored poll purportedly showing that the public supports their actions. From The Hill:

Pollster David Winston of the Winston Group told House Republicans at a morning briefing that 68 percent of Americans want a drilling vote before the end of the 110th Congress. He also said the GOP is winning generic ballots by 12 percent on energy policies when the Republican and Democratic plans are compared, a source in the room said.

I'd be interested to see the wording of that question.

But while we're on the subject of energy-related polling, here are some recent findings that fly in the face of the GOP assumption that the public supports their pro-drilling mantra. In a July poll by Belden Russonello & Stewart, 76 percent of respondents said that "investing in new energy technology including renewable fuels and more efficient automobiles" was a more important government priority than "expanding exploration and drilling for more oil":

As Huffington Post's Sam Stein also mentioned today, 63 percent of the Belden poll respondents said that opening up public lands to oil and gas drilling was "more likely to enrich oil companies than to lower gas prices for American consumers."

The Hill has an interesting article out on internal polling released by 13th District GOP Rep. Judy Biggert. The mid-June survey by American Viewpoint Inc. shows her leading Democratic challenger Scott Harper by 25 points and puts her approval rating at 67 percent. The Harper campaign begs to differ:

Democrat Scott Harper’s campaign disputed those numbers, citing its own polling data, which it says shows the incumbent’s job approval below 50 percent. [...]

Harper’s campaign manager, Sarah Topy, said the Biggert campaign’s decision to release the poll underscored the race’s competitiveness, arguing that Harper is the most serious challenger Biggert has ever faced.

“This is a real race,” Topy added. “Voters are tired of failed leadership and the Bush-Biggert agenda.”

Who knows what the actual landscape looks like in the 13th at the moment. But Topy is right that Biggert's decision to release internal numbers -- to a national outlet, no less -- proves that she's feeling some serious pressure in the wake of Harper's competitive second quarter fundraising.

UPDATE: The Harper campaign has released some of their own 13th District polling numbers (conducted by Fako & Associates between July 15 and July 17). The highlights:

- 71 percent of respondents feel the country is on the "wrong track."

- Biggert's approval rating dropped by 48 percent in November 2007 to 43 percent.

- Democratic affiliation is gradually increasing in the district, while GOP affilitation is dropping.

Conservative bloggers, various GOP members of the Illinois congressional delegation, President Bush, and John McCain have all called for more oil drilling to lower gas prices in the short-term. We did our best to beat back this shaky contention, but alas, we're only bloggers. There has to be some expert out there who can prove us wrong, right?

Not quite. According to The Huffington Post's Sam Stein, it was impossible to find any economist -- from the left or right -- willing to back the proposition that offshore drilling could have a short-term impact on the market dynamics:

The Huffington Post took on the task of finding an expert who thought that Americans would, within the next decade, receive relief at the pump from McCain's plan. Querying the entire scope of the ideological spectrum -- and putting aside the debate over whether or not offshore drilling was sensible policy -- the consensus seemed to be that if the presumptive GOP nominee was persuading voters that he could help decrease their gas bill, he was either living in a political fantasy or being disingenuous.

Maybe Rep. Mark Kirk read Stein's piece. After calling for more drilling off the coast of Cuba, he and Rep. Judy Biggert released an energy proposal yesterday that doesn't include a single mention of additional drilling.

(h/t David Roberts)

Late last week, Democratic congressional challenger Scott Harper launched a website devoted to documenting GOP incumbent Rep. Judy Biggert's support of the Bush agenda. It can be found at www.therealjudybiggert.com and is worth checking out.

In the Iraq section, the Harper campaign points out that Biggert "said in November 2006 that Iraqis would be able to handle their responsibilities alone 'within the next 12 to 18 months.' " That 18-month period would have ended in May and it appears that the Iraqi troops aren't quite ready to go it alone. If I were Harper, I'd be asking Judy for an explanation.

Tomorrow, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will run a radio ad criticizing Rep. Mark Kirk for his decision to vote "present" last week on the House's version of the Iraq war funding bill. The bill included an amendment that modernized the G.I. Bill by expanding education benefits for military veterans and offset the cost with a tax hike on individuals making over $500,000 annually and couples earning more than $1 million. The bill also mandated President Bush to being drawing down the number of troops in Iraq with 30 days of its enactment.

Over 130 Republicans joined Kirk in voting "present" on the bill, including almost all of Illinois' GOP congressional delegation: Reps. Judy Biggert, Peter Roskam, John Shimkus, Don Manzullo, and Jerry Weller.

With the ad-buy, the DCCC is making clear how serious they are about targeting Kirk this time around. After all, it's six months until Election Day and Chicago is one of the country's more expensive media markets.

You can here the DCCC's ad here.

As the Senate passed the new G.I. Bill today by a veto-proof majority, 13th District congressional candidate Scott Harper held a press conference calling attention to the voting record of his opponent, Republican Rep. Judy Biggert, who opposed the bill in the House.

From the Harper campaign press release:

“Judy Biggert’s vote against the GI Bill is outrageous,” said Harper. “Time and again, she has been on the wrong side of these important issues and her vote on this recent legislation is a failure of leadership.”

In addition to her vote on the GI Bill, Harper also criticized Biggert for numerous other votes against veterans, including in 2007, when she came out against a budget that would have increased funding for veterans’ health care by $6.7 billion. She also voted against expanding TRICARE to provide health benefits for National Guard members and reservists, and she voted down the Webb Amendment to increase time off between combat tours overseas.

Harper was joined by veterans of Desert Storm and the Vietnam war in supporting the new G.I. Bill. The group has begun circulating a petition to encourage expanding veterans benefits.

It looks like Reps. Mark Kirk and Judy Biggert may have dug themselves into a pretty big hole. Not only is their plan to promote a voluntarily moratorium on Republican earmarks hollow, as we mentioned yesterday, but it "appears to have divided members of the House GOP leadership." Politico has the scoop:

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and four other GOP members — including Chief Deputy Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) — sent their colleagues a letter Friday urging them to agree to a self-imposed one-year moratorium on earmarks.

The catch: Many members have already submitted earmark requests for this year. To turn around and approve even a temporary ban could reinforce Democratic charges of hypocrisy, charges that resonate because the number of earmarks soared when the GOP controlled Congress.

I understand the desire to stake out what they think is a politically potent position early on. But not considering the appropriations schedule? That's a major gaffe.

The intra-party scuffle also highlights the dearth of positions -- economic or otherwise -- where Republicans have an upper hand. When the GOP is basing it's electoral fortunes on a anti-pork message they can't even agree upon, you know the party has problems. Where does the GOP go from here?

According to several senior House GOP aides, the Republican leadership will survey rank-and-file GOP lawmakers this week to determine the level of support for a one-year earmark ban. Members will also be asked to consider an alternative that would force them to forgo earmarks and direct that money toward a rebate check for taxpayers struggling with the high cost of gasoline this summer. A third proposal would simply maintain the status quo on earmarks.