Sheer insanity I tell you! We are living in the twilight zone…  All for the sake of political correctness?

We should give terrorists due process and treat them just like our soldiers? The same guys that plotted to kill innocent American citizens? This is just nuts.

The Wall Street Journal tends to take issue with due process for terrorists based upon national security reasons and documents that would have to be disclosed.

“How will judges prevent the public disclosure of classified material? What about Miranda rights, or evidence obtained under battlefield conditions?

“Such questions nearly scuttled the Justice Department’s case against Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, which flamed out last week with a sentence of only 15 years. According to the plea agreement, al-Marri entered the U.S. on September 10, 2001 on orders from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to begin research on chemical weapons and potential targets. Prosecutors were hampered by the possibility of disclosing intelligence sources and methods, as well as (yet another) political flare-up about interrogation and detention.“

John Boehner and the House Republicans, on the other hand, are trying to pass a bill in the House that would prevent terrorists from being released on U.S. soil.

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House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) gave a speech on the House floor asking his colleagues to vote for the alternative budget and explaining the differences and the long-term debt and tax burden that will be left for future generations to carry on their backs.

Here is how the vote fared in the House for the alternatives proposed:

Republican Substitute:

FAILED

REP. PAUL D. RYAN, R-Wis., will offer a substitute on behalf of the Republican Conference that calls for $3.28 trillion in outlays in FY 2010, and $2.29 trillion in revenue, for a deficit of $993 billion. It projects a deficit of $529 billion by FY 2014, and $593 billion by FY 2019. The substitute calls for $539 billion in non-defense discretionary funds. Its total for defense spending in FY 2010 is $690 billion (including funds for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan), $5 billion more than requested by the president and contained in the resolution.

Taxes

The Republican substitute assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will be extended beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of 2010 — including the estate-tax provisions, the child-tax credit, the “marriage penalty” provisions, and the current marginal income tax rates.

The substitute also assumes that the alternative minimum tax (AMT) will be “patched” indefinitely, and therefore would not affect additional taxpayers. It also assumes a change in the tax code in which only two tax rates would be applicable to different incomes — a 10% tax on adjusted gross income up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers, and a 25% tax on income above these amounts. These tax brackets would be adjusted annually by a cost-of-living adjustment as measured by the consumer price index. It also assumes the reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%.

Reconciliation

The Republican substitute directs 10 House committees to report “reconciliation” legislation by July 29 that would reduce mandatory spending by a total of $1.38 trillion over 10 years. It instructs the Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce direct spending by $666.1 billion, requires the Ways and Means Committee to reduce mandatory spending by $605 billion, and requires the Agriculture Committee to reduce direct spending by $38.5 billion. In addition, the measure requires a $22.7 billion reduction by the Education and Labor Committee, a $28.4 billion reduction by the Financial Services Committee, a $1.8 billion reduction by the Foreign Affairs Committee, a $4.3 billion reduction by the Judiciary Committee, a $2 billion reduction by the Natural Resources Committee, and a $1.7 billion reduction by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The substitute makes no assumptions about how such savings would occur.

Earmark Moratorium

The substitute places a moratorium on earmarks, barring House consideration of any bill, joint resolution, or conference report that includes a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited trade benefit, as defined in House rules. The moratorium would be in place until a commission reports proposed changes. Savings from this plan would be used to reduce taxes.

Discretionary Spending

The Republican substitute freezes non-defense discretionary spending in FY 2010 through FY 2014 (excluding funds for veterans’ programs), but would provide for increases in FY 2015 through FY 2019. Like the resolution reported by the Budget Committee, the substitute provides the level of funding for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq requested by the administration, assuming $130 billion for such operations in FY 2010, and $50 billion each year thereafter. According to a release by Budget Committee Republicans, the measure also assumes the repeal of provisions in the economic stimulus package, excluding unemployment insurance.

Other Provisions

According to a release by the Budget Committee Republicans, the substitute applies the House pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rule only to mandatory spending measures, and prohibits the use of tax increases to offset the cost of mandatory spending increases.

The Republican substitute requires the House to take a separate vote on legislation to increase the public debt limit. (Under the so-called Gephardt rule, a joint resolution to increase the public debt limit is automatically passed by the House upon House and Senate adoption of a conference report on a budget resolution, but the substitute instead requires a vote on a separate measure in order to increase the debt limit.)

The substitute requires roll call votes for any measure that authorizes or provides budget authority of at least $50 million, and it bars the Speaker from entertaining an unanimous consent request or motion to suspend the requirement. It creates a point of order against House consideration of a conference report or unreported measure unless a cost estimate has been printed in the Congressional Record at least one day prior to its consideration.

The Republican substitute also establishes a point of order against consideration of conference reports or bills that have not been reported by the appropriate committees of jurisdiction, unless those measure are accompanied by a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate.

Republican Study Committee (RSC) Substitute:

FAILED 111-322

REPS. JIM JORDAN, R-Ohio, TOM PRICE, R-Ga., and MIKE PENCE, R-Ind., will offer a substitute on behalf of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) that sets spending levels, revenue levels, and deficit levels at lower amounts than what is projected by the Congressional Budget Office baseline or what is proposed in the president’s budget request. The substitute provides for total spending (outlays) of $2.6 trillion in FY 2010, $692 billion for defense, and imposes a freeze on non-defense discretionary spending.

The substitute assumes a reduction of $31 billion in federal revenues for FY 2010 and an on-budget $952 billion deficit for FY 2010, compared with a $1.3 trillion on-budget deficit in the resolution.

Reconciliation

The substitute directs six House committees to report “reconciliation” legislation by July 13 that would reduce spending or deficits over five years. It requires a $10.2 billion spending reduction by the Agriculture Committee, an $8.3 billion reduction by the Education and Labor Committee, a $241.9 billion reduction by the Energy and Commerce Committee, a $1.7 billion reduction by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a $4.9 billion reduction by the Natural Resources Committee, and a $214.8 billion deficit reduction by the Ways and Means Committee.

The substitute includes a special rule that would allow the Budget Committee to take into account deficit-reducing legislation enacted after the adoption of the substitute, and make applicable adjustments to reconciliation instructions. It also directs the Ways and Means Committee to report a reconciliation bill no later than June 8 that would reduce revenues by $1.2 trillion for FY 2009 to FY 2014.

Mandatory Spending and Advance Appropriations

The substitute calls on all House committees to identify savings, no later than June 15, amounting to 1% of total mandatory spending under their jurisdictions from activities that are determined to be wasteful, unnecessary, or lower-priority. It limits advance appropriations for FY 2011 and FY 2012 to $23.6 billion, compared with $28.9 billion in the resolution.

The substitute directs the Joint Committee on Taxation, when calculating federal revenues, to take into account the impact of proposed revenue changes on gross domestic product, total domestic employment, gross private domestic investment, the general price index, interest rates, and other economic variables, as well as the impact the economic variables have on federal revenue.

Direct Spending and Earmark Restrictions

The substitute assumes that the House would not take up any direct spending legislation that would increase the deficit or reduce the surplus for either the first five fiscal years covered by the substitute, or the following five years. The requirement would not apply to legislation preserving Social Security or to legislation that would cause a net increase in aggregate direct spending of less than $100 million, and it could be waived under a three-fifths vote in the House.

The substitute calls for the establishment of a Joint Select Committee on Earmark Reform to conduct a full study of practices regarding earmarks in authorization, appropriation, tax, and tariff measures, as well as the efficacy of earmark restrictions or transparency requirements. It requires a moratorium on earmarks until the committee submits its report.

And here is what passed:

H.Con.Res. 85—FY 2010 Budget Resolution (Democrat Budget):

PASSED 233-196

The budget resolution would allow reconciliation (as long as a deficit target of $1 billion is met) for legislation under the jurisdiction of the Education and Labor Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee. The Majority will say that this is intended for health care reform and education reform. However, any legislation that meets this deficit target that falls under one of these committees (such as “cap and tax”) would be eligible for reconciliation protection.

Unprecedented Borrowing:

The budget resolution would increase the national debt to $17.1 trillion in five years, an increase of $5.3 trillion or 49% since January 20, 2009. But this increase is actually understated in two respects. First, the Democrat budget resolution hides what its policies would lead to over the full ten-year budget window. Second, the Democrat budget resolution does not “budget” for several items that are likely to either reduce revenue or increase spending (such as the “AMT patch”). The budget resolution proposes what would be the six largest deficits in U.S. history.

Historic Spending Levels:

The Democrat budget resolution proposes federal spending equal to 27.6% of GDP in 2009 and 24.8% of GDP in 2010. These are the highest spending levels in U.S. history, except for World War II.

Higher Taxes:

The Democrat budget resolution increases taxes by $574 billion over five years.

The 233-196 vote came with 20 Democrats voting against the plan, with the Senate expected to follow suit on a similar blueprint later Thursday night. As expected, no Republicans voted for the budget, which GOP leaders lambasted as the most fiscally irresponsible in history because it projects a faster increase in debt than any other budget.

For all alternatives visit here…

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