Rep. Paul Broun and Rep. Tom Price headed to some GOP County Conventions this week.  Broun was asking for help, Price was keeping the buzz going. Rep. Broun has already spent a third of what he had on hand by my calculations.  As I've said as I travel around the state giving my "What do we do now?" speech, grassroots and Tea Party groups have got to learn how to give money.  We ( and I consider myself in that group) are the majority, but we don't control the pursestrings.  Until we do, grassroots candidates can't win and we'll continue to send the same kind of people to Washington.  Tom Price won the straw poll in Forsyth County, one of the biggest Republican counties.  This race is just getting started.  Some believe Rep. Phil Gingrey is the next to get in, so that leaves Rep. Jack Kingston and Rep. Tom Price to decide their fates. 

Then the Congress passed a Continuing Resolution that they say is a step in the right direction.  And I've looked at it and it is.  It's true it doesn't deal with the Obamacare issue and it doesn't defund it.  Some in my profession have lifted up the 16 that voted against the CR and villified the rest who voted for it.  When talking to these guys, off the record, they say, it's a wrong assessment and there are good things in this bill. Actual lower spending year over year for one.  But the appease the naysayers, Rep. Doug Collins and Rep. Tom Graves introduced another bill to defund Obama Care. 

Rep. Doug Collins sent this for explanation:

P r e p a r e d b y t h e O f f i c e o f C o n g r e s s m a n D o u g C o l l i n s ( R -G A ) 

• The Continuing Resolution, approved by the House on March 6, 2013, was the conservative plan. If the CR had failed, it would have likely led to abandoning the ground gained through the sequester, higher spending, and possibly even tax increases. • The correct, and most effective, place to fight for entitlement reform and defunding or repealing Obamacare is on the debt ceiling extension and during the upcoming debate and consideration of the new House Budget Proposal. • The bill locked in the sequestration cuts, bringing the grand total for discretionary spending to around $984 billion. This is the first time since before the Bush Administration that discretionary spending levels are below $1 trillion. • To protect our national security and ensure that our troops and veterans receive quality care, this bill provided full-year Appropriations for Defense, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. It made critical investments in our national security, while reducing wasteful spending. It ensured that every dollar is spent wisely protecting core functions – such as operations – to help ensure the continued readiness of our military. • On Tuesday of next week, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan plans to propose a new budget that will balance the budget in 10 years. On Wednesday, the House Budget Committee will mark up the legislation and it will come to the House floor the following week. • This puts us in a key position of opportunity when the next debt ceiling debate starts. Conservatives will have strong ground to push for defunding Obamacare and reforming Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. And these things can be achieved without any tax increases. • The Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Nita Lowey pointed out the virtues of the bill best when she spoke in Rules Committee against the CR: “Specifically, this bill will delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act… [and] will hamper enforcement of Dodd-Frank protections against improper practices in the financial sector.” • Under the CR, federal agencies and departments are forced to operate under plans and spending levels enacted 15-18 months ago. This is another win for conservatives because these plans and spending levels don’t include many of the provisions in Obamacare, as Ranking Member Lowey pointed out. • The vote on the CR yesterday was a necessary first step to putting our nation back on the path to recovery. It finally gave us meaningful spending cuts and will position us well for the upcoming debate over the budget, entitlement reform, and debt ceiling increase. 

Rep. Tom Graves office explained it this way: 

Statement from Tom Graves:  On the rule/CR:

Tom Graves supported the bill because it cut discretionary spending down to pre-2006 levels (that’s before Pelosi was speaker). Tom viewed this as a win for conservatives, and it was part of a deal that the Republican Study Committee made at the beginning of the year in order to put forward a budget that balances in 10 years. The bill had no new or direct funding for Obamacare – in fact, the House will be voting to repeal Obamacare again in the next week or two.

You’ll also appreciate this: House Democrat Nita Lowey of New York said this about the bill yesterday, “Specifically, this bill will delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act scheduled to begin enrolling participants in October. Without IT infrastructure to process enrollments and payments, verify eligibility and establish call centers, health insurance for millions of Americans would further delayed.”

I know you are familiar with Tom’s record on Obamacare – he is the author of the Defund Obamacare Act and has voted to repeal Obamacare several times, and at every opportunity.

DeKalb County will have a new board and the Atlanta Stadium deal gets scrutiny.  Tim and I will take a look at length these two issues.  Is there a "sesession" of the suburbs from the city. 

And a look at the Fulton County Courthouse shootings, 8 years later.  I was stuck in the Fox 5 Atlanta Studios all day and then was on site when Brian Nichols was captured on Saturday.  Tim has another story to tell. 

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