After Flip-Flopping On Recovery Package, Rep. Cao Suggests He Might Support Obama’s Budget
After Flip-Flopping On Recovery Package, Rep. Cao Suggests He Might Support Obama’s Budget
Several days before the House voted on President Obama’s economic recovery package, freshman Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) told the Times-Picayune that he would “more likely than not” vote for the legislation because the “2nd Congressional District needs a stimulus package.” When it came time to vote, however, Cao gave into pressure from his party and voted no.
Now, Cao appears to be flirting again with the idea of bucking his party, telling the Hill earlier today that he may vote for Obama’s proposed budget:
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) may buck his party when the House votes on President Obama’s budget proposal later this week. The freshman lawmaker told The Hill that his constituents are split, adding that he wants more information before deciding whether to stick with his party or side with the president. [...]
“At this point, I’m not sure which is approach is better,” Cao said Tuesday morning. If he votes yes, Cao would be the first Republican in recent memory to support a Democratic budget resolution.
Despite Cao’s wobbly position on Obama’s agenda, his constituents appear to support it whole-heartedly. Not only did Cao’s district vote 75 percent in favor of Obama last November, but after Cao voted against the recovery package, several of his constituents initiated a recall campaign.
Obama’s budget offers significant benefits to the people of Louisiana. The Center for American Progress Action Fund found that approximately 1.5 million Louisiana families would benefit directly from Obama’s proposal to extend the Making Work Pay tax cut. As Cao himself noted, Obama’s proposal also includes one billion dollars for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Voucher Program and Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a portion of which will go to his most needy constituents.
Finally, because a significant number of his constituents live in New Orleans, Cao should consider the fact that Obama’s budget includes money to continue and accelerate recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The question now is whether or not Cao can begin to put the long-term interests of his constituents before his own short-term interests within the House Republican Caucus.
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The first Republican in the House to buck his/her party will get quite a bit of national attention. If Cao wants that spotlight, he should sieze the moment because it will soon be yesterday’s news.
Today’s GNOP – less substance than the Style section of a newspaper.
PEACE
March 31st, 2009 at 7:03 pmCao, it’s not about you or the RePugniScum party. It’s about country and people. Get on board or STFU!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:05 pmpoor lil feller,
Pretending he’ll vote against them is the only way he can get any attention from his peers.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:05 pmRep. Cao(ward) is all talk. He’ll bend over for his masters just like he did the last time.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:06 pmMaybe the GOP would like to change it’s mascot from an elephant to something more accurate?
March 31st, 2009 at 7:09 pmThis guy better wise up and vote no if he wants a part of all those Hip-Hop donations flooding in to the RNC for 2010.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:13 pmCan someone explain why Obama is letting Timmy go along with this bank bailout plan?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-arbfLTCtI
Looks like both republicans and democrats are bought and owned by the banks. Now they’re going to own all of you.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:22 pmLet them all continue to put party before country. Eventually the GOP will fade away.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:23 pmWho cares?
March 31st, 2009 at 7:28 pmPastcaring, I think a more appropriate new symbol would be in the form of a vibrating sex toy, since they are doing nothing but screwing this country.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:29 pmIt’s a tough choice. Stimulus funds, or RNC re-election funds?
You can’t have both.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:34 pm@7 – thanks for the spam, spammy!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:36 pmCao owes the Republican Party nothing. They didn’t support his campaign. Yet, they pressure Cao to toe the party line.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:37 pmIt’s starting to look like Mr. Cao is following in the footsteps of “independent” Republicans like Flippy McSpin.
Step 1. Vocally question the party line in order to convince people you’re an “independent” thinker.
Step 2. Quietly vote with the RNC to keep those campaign funds flowing.
As a brief aside:
Here in Minnesota, the state Republicans actually identify themselves as “Independent Republicans”. If that’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:39 pm“going all arlen specter on it”
March 31st, 2009 at 7:40 pmMr. Cao,
This should not be a hard decision for you. The president wants to help the people in your district, while the Republicans are only concerned with helping businesses take over your district. The Republicans could not care less about the people.
Do you represent people or businesses? Last time I checked the constitution, corporations are still not allowed to vote on Election Day, only people. You should be supporting the people whose votes got you elected, not the people whose money got you there.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:45 pmNext, Limbaugh gives Cao an on-air wedgie, and opens the flying monkey cage.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:46 pmThe question that remains unanswered is just how long is that freaking tie? Does that sucker run all the way down to his knees?
March 31st, 2009 at 7:50 pmsomeone either needs to teach the little tyke how to tie a tie properly or, point him towards the “young men’s” department for one that actually fits him. just sayin’
March 31st, 2009 at 7:50 pmif i remember correctly, the gop used strongarm tactics (understatement) to rattle the guy. they threatened to make sure he never got on any committees and wasn’t it mcconnell who actually stood next to him during the vote? those guys are such a-holes…
March 31st, 2009 at 7:50 pmAmerican style democracy at work here, Rep Cao.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:54 pmRepresent your constituents, or di mau di!
“Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) may buck his party when the House votes on President Obama’s budget proposal later this week.”
by thursday, tub-o-lard rush will be calling him “chairman cao the socialist”. cao will back down and be giving tub-o-lard an on-air knob polishing by friday.
March 31st, 2009 at 7:55 pmscrew this guy… he’s a tease… a wimpy tease at that…
just found at the googlenews page:
Court May Add 400 Absentee Ballots to Minn. Senate Race
FOXNews – ?52 minutes ago?
Three judges presiding over Republican Norm Coleman’s lawsuit decided Tuesday that the ballots merit further consideration and possible counting.
Court cripples Norm Coleman comeback in Minn. Senate battle Boston Herald
Panel deals blow to Coleman’s chances Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Minnesota Independent – ABC News – The Moderate Voice – NPR
all 146 news articles »
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&ncl=1323074616&topic=n
notice the tilt of the fox headline… they just can’t go there…
March 31st, 2009 at 7:58 pmSy Hersh on Olbermann tonight.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:04 pmRep. Cao will have a choice by tomorrow..Dont forget that the April Fools Gop budget will be unveiled tomorrow..Yes, the one that will cost $300 billion per year more than Obama’s plan.
Tomorrow is going to be a good day.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:14 pmGotta get reelected Cao. Support Obama.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
March 31st, 2009 at 8:17 pmIt looks like Cao likes his job and wants to keep it. Because the only reason why he won was that the people in his district were tired of the corrupt Jefferson. Cao knows that if he wants to keep his job he’s going to have to move to the left quite a bit.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:28 pmif he doesn’t follow through on this, i propose we refer to him as Rep. Cao-Tao henceforth.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:44 pmSomebody should tell Cao the story of the boy who cried wolf. It only works once or twice. Oh, & they might advise him to switch party affiliations, too, if he wants to keep that seat as much as he seems to.
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
March 31st, 2009 at 8:48 pmThis man is fairly new. And he is not very sophisticated fiscally speaking. And on top of it all, he is Republican. And from his state it is difficult to get anything done. Since he is Republican, he may not be too bright. If he wants to stay in office he should vote yes for this.
A great deal of pressure will be put on him by his own party. Being new he will fold to stay in step, no matter what. What he should really do is pray not to be re-elected. Either way, like most Republicans he will do what is best for him not the people. Himself first.
March 31st, 2009 at 8:54 pmYeah, let’s keep throwing money at banks, Wall Street, hedge funds, credit default swaps, derivatives, and more wars. Continue NAFTA and GATT. This is Change® we can believe in.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:20 pmsounds like we have another Arlen Specter disciple.
if he starts parroting the magic bullet theory….we know we have a reincarnation.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:20 pmArlen Spector? Are you so brainwashed to realize that if someone sees this money grab by banks and investment firms as a giant scam and looting of your dollars into the Elite’s pockets, they must be a Republican?
This was started by Bush, and accelerated by Obama. TARP was a scam, and $12 Trillion of YOUR dollars routed into toxic assets should be an outrage by Americans. I suppose you think rich bankers and executives deserve YOUR dollars more than you do.
Larry Summers, Obama’s economic guru is the pond scum that engineered the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which was the origins of the current economic horror we are in.
Timothy Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. He is one of the major architects of this Bailout Extortion Scam.
This economic team is a mixed Frankenstein Hybrid of the worst of Clinton’s and Bush’s administrations.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:46 pmObama has no power to accomplish what the American Workers and Everyperson hoped he could. He had to compromise his core values and even get permission to run for President, let alone win. The Chief doesn’t run this country, but international banks, Wall Street, The Military-Industrial Complex and a handful of the super-elite do. The President can’t change the major flaws and inequality inherent in the system. JFK tried that with the CIA, Federal Reserve, Israel, the Military and we remember what we saw on that day in November 1963.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:43 pmWeell fergus, that one’s been taken by Bildo the Dildo already.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:45 amLet him vote for the Obama budget and he will be looking for a new job come the next election.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:32 amCao is like a freshly caught Louisiana catfish on the deck of a fishing boat called…………”Katrina”.
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:40 amOK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
April 18th, 2009 at 6:16 amsac ekimi