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Stories tagged with “Haley Barbour”

Justice

Top Republican Distances Himself From GOP’s Election-Rigging Plan

By Igor Volsky on Jan 25, 2013 at 5:40 pm

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) distanced himself from his party’s effort to rig the election by appropriating electoral votes based on gerrymandered Congressional districts, telling MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday that he opposes the effort.

Republican party leaders in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan have proposed legislation that would change how most electoral votes are allocated, awarding more electoral votes to the winner of individual Congressional districts, rather than the winner of the state as a whole. Since Republicans plan to implement the proposal in states that are heavily gerrymandered to favor the GOP, the resulting maps would guarantee that Republican candidates would win a majority of each state’s electoral votes, even if the Democratic candidate wins the state as a whole.

A growing number of Republicans have rejected the plan. Barbour has now joined their ranks:

ANDREA MITCHELL (HOST): If it were done nationally, Mitt Romney would have been taking the oath of office on Monday.

BARBOUR: That’s true this time. Other time it might have been just the opposite. I’m a traditionalist myself. I really am a conservative. I’m a little bit skeptical of this. [...]

MITCHELL: Doesn’t it make it look as though the Republicans are trying to sort of game the system? [...]

BARBOUR: As I said, I would not be for it. I don’t think there’s any sort of national movement, and you have sort of convinced me that in Virginia there may not be even state movement. It may be an isolated legislator.

Watch it:

During Barbour’s appearance, Mitchell suggested that Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) would also publicly oppose the election rigging scheme.

Justice

Top Republicans Suddenly Back Immigration Reform After Latinos Overwhelmingly Back Obama

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Nov 9, 2012 at 9:01 am

When Democrats tried to get the DREAM Act and a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants through Congress in 2010, Republicans blocked the immigration reform measure in the Senate. But after a campaign in which GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney staked out harsh anti-immigration positions, and with President Obama winning 75 percent of Latino voters, several key leaders in the Republican party are coming out in favor of immigration reform:

  • House Speaker John Boehner (OH): Saying the issue has been around for far too long, Boehner said in an ABC interview that “I’m confident that the president, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”
  • Former Gov. Haley Barbour (MS): Haley argued on the “Today” show that Republicans need to be in favor of good policy. “And good policy on immigration in the United States is, we are in a global battle for capital and labor, and we need to have what is good economic policy for America on immigration because we do need labor,” he said. “We not only need Ph.Ds in science and technology, we need skilled workers and we need unskilled workers. And we need to have an immigration policy that is good economic policy, and then — and then the politics will take care of itself.”
  • Radio host Sean Hannity: On his radio show Thursday, Hannity told his listeners that he has “evolved” on immigration policy and now supports a “pathway to citizenship.” The problem can’t go on, he added. “It’s simple to me to fix it,” Hannity said. “I think you control the border first. You create a pathway for those people that are here — you don’t say you’ve got to go home. And that is a position that I’ve evolved on. Because, you know what, it’s got to be resolved. The majority of people here, if some people have criminal records you can send them home, but if people are here, law-abiding, participating for years, their kids are born here, you know, first secure the border, pathway to citizenship, done.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), who is running for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Politico that Republicans will have to change how they reach out to Latino voters. “In some fashion, the way we have dealt with immigration gives us a black eye. And we need to figure out how to talk about issues and pursue policies that matter to Latino, Hispanic voters,” he said. And that’s clear from the exit poll results. Among Latino voters, immigration was the second most important issue behind jobs. Sixty percent of Latinos in the U.S. know someone who is an undocumented immigrant, and 90 percent are within two generations of immigrating to the U.S. After Romney spent most of his campaign embracing harmful immigration policies, most Latino voters reported that they thought Romney was “hostile toward Latinos,” while 66 percent said they believe Obama “truly cares about Latinos.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, described it as a “breakthrough” that Boehner is willing to work on immigration reform, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) has vowed to pass an immigration law. But other GOP congressional members have been resistant to reform in the past — House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) previously has promised to not hold a hearing on the DREAM Act — so it has yet to be seen if more Republicans will come around on immigration reform as well.

Update

Fox News parent company owner Rupert Murdoch also publicized his support for immigration reform after the election. “Must have sweeping, generous immigration reform,make existing law- abiding Hispanics welcome,” Murdoch tweeted. “Most are hard working family people.” Murdoch has long advocated for immigration reform.

NEWS FLASH

Barbour Says Mitt Romney Should Release More Tax Returns | During an appearance on CNN’s Situation Room Monday evening, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) appeared to agree with Democrats who are calling on Mitt Romney to release more tax returns. Asked, “should he release the tax returns,” Barbour quipped, “I would, but should it be an issue in a campaign? I don’t think it matters to diddly.” Watch it:

Election

Top Romney Surrogate Applauds Romney For Not Laying Out Specific Policies

By Adam Peck on Jul 8, 2012 at 12:26 pm

On Face the Nation Sunday morning, former Mississippi Governor and Romney campaign surrogate Haley Barbour (R) defended the presumptive Republican nominee from criticism over his refusal to outline any specific policy proposals by trying to spin it as a smart political move:

At the end of the day, Mitt Romney also has to give people something to vote for. I think that is more a matter of timing. I think right now, Romney is smart to wait before he starts laying out proposals after proposals. But he ultimately will.

Voters have been waiting a long time for Mitt Romney to take clear positions on any number of policies. In just the last few weeks, the Romney campaign has failed to provide any specifics on foreign policy, veterans issues, immigration policy, and how he would pay for his trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich.

Complicating matters further, Romney has a long track record of disavowing many policies he has previously supported, making it especially difficult for voters to accurately judge a potential Romney presidency.

Watch Barbour’s remarks:

Health

Gov. Barbour May Vote Against Mississippi’s Personhood Abortion Ban: It ‘Concerns Me, I Have To Just Say It’

By Tanya Somanader on Nov 2, 2011 at 11:50 am

On Nov. 8, Mississippi voters will vote on Initiative 26, a personhood constitutional amendment that defines a person as “every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.” Personhood amendments like this are an extreme invasion of a woman and family’s privacy, not only criminalizing abortion but potentially outlawing common forms of contraception.

While the religious right are standing firmly behind the amendment, not all anti-abortion supporters are thrilled about the this radical overreach. Today on Fox and Friends, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) expressed considerable concern over the bill’s ambiguity, noting “a lot of pro-life people have problems with this particular language.” Following up with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Barbour reiterated that he believes “life begins at conception” but that he may not vote for the bill because of the “ramifications” it will have on a woman’s reproductive rights and health:

BARBOUR: I believe life begins at conception. Unfortunately, this personhood amendment doesn’t say that. It says life begins at fertilization, or cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof. That ambiguity is striking a lot of pro-life people here as concerning. And I’m talking about people that are very, outspokenly pro-life. [...]

TODD: How are you voting on it?

BARBOUR: Really I haven’t decided. If you would have asked me when this was first proposed, I would’ve said A, the legislature would’ve passed it 100 to 1. And B, I believe life begins at conception and therefore I would be for it. I am concerned about some of the ramifications on in vitro fertilization and [ectopic] pregnancies where pregnancies [occur] outside the uterus and [in] the fallopian tubes. That concerns me, I have to just say it.

Watch it:

Barbour is correctly concerned about the “profoundly ambiguous” language of the bill. Fertilization can be defined at least four ways, beginning either with the sperm’s penetration of the egg or, as those behind the bill suggest, when the embryo is formed even before its implantation in the uterus. Such a definition could ban the birth control pill, stem cell derivation, and — as Barbour notes — in vitro fertilization procedures for couples trying to have a baby.

But it is important to note that Barbour’s preferred ban from “conception” still subjects women to serious ramifications. Conception is medically defined as the implantation of the embryo. Most women don’t even know that they are pregnant until four to six weeks after this occurs. “Life at conception” rules would be the most radical ban on abortion yet, completely eradicating a woman’s constitutional right to choose.

Health

GOP Governors Target Undocumented Immigrants In New Medicaid Proposal

By Marie Diamond on Aug 31, 2011 at 1:15 pm

RGA Chairman and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour

Yesterday the Republican Governors Association (RGA) released a list of 31 proposals designed to bring down the cost of Medicaid, which is one of the costliest budget items for many states. Unsurprisingly, the plan would give governors much greater control over Medicaid programs and loosen federal restrictions.

The Wall Street Journal notes that the GOP governors also use the proposal to take aim at one of their favorite scapegoats — undocumented immigrants:

The RGA has floated most of the ideas before, but one jumped out as new. Solution No. 5 would “require the federal government to take full responsibility for the uncompensated care costs of treating illegal aliens.” Keep in mind that federal law already prohibits illegal immigrants from enrolling in Medicaid.

But RGA Policy Chairman and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said illegal immigrants sneak onto the program in his and other states and add to its tab.

“Let’s don’t kid ourselves,” Gov. Barbour told reporters during a briefing at RGA headquarters in Washington. “There are people who are getting on the system and violating the law.”

Undocumented immigrants can get emergency care through Medicaid, but they must pay for all non-emergency care and are not eligible for other Medicaid benefits.

Because illegally enrolled non-citizens make up such a small portion of people on Medicaid, the proposal is clearly more about ideology than cost-cutting. Barbour and Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel both declined to say how much it actually costs their states when undocumented immigrants don’t pay their hospital bills, but “Democratic governors haven’t cited it as a significant cost.”

Studies have found that “because most illegal immigrants are relatively young and healthy, they generally don’t need as much health care treatment as U.S. citizens.” According to USA Today, they account for less than 2 percent of national medical spending.

Ironically, Republican efforts to block immigrants from enrolling in government insurance programs means that undocumented immigrants are much less likely to have health insurance than other families, which drives up health care costs when they inevitably show up in emergency rooms to get care. An effort to add legal immigrant children to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was blocked in the Senate in 2007, and lawmakers added language to ensure that illegal immigrants were excluded.

NEWS FLASH

Haley Barbour Contradicts GOP Health Plan, Says Not All States May Want To Block Grant Medicaid | Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is at odds with the Republican plan to transform the federal government’s contribution towards Medicaid into a block grant for states, telling reporters today that while he strongly supports the initiative, “not all Republican governors may want a block grant.”“It’s up to the states to decide,” Barbour said. As Politico Pro’s Jason Millman reports, “Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association Public Policy Committee, made the remarks during a meeting with reporters in Washington marking the release of a committee report detailing 31 policy proposals for overhauling Medicaid. The report noted that a block grant ‘may’ provide an innovative opportunity for states to implement a transparent financing mechanism that improves health care efficiency and quality.”

NEWS FLASH

Haley Barbour Could Become First Republican Governor To Establish Exchanges | “A one-stop shop for health insurance customers in Mississippi could be up and running early next year, as other states refuse to carry out programs tied to the federal health care overhaul,” the Clarion Ledger is reporting. “Gov. Haley Barbour, who supported the effort to secure the grant and has pushed for a state health exchange since 2007, said Mississippi’s system ‘will be very different from the health exchange envisioned by ‘Obamacare’ or in Massachusetts.’” Ten states have passed exchange legislation, but Mississippi would be the first red state to build the new market place. [H/T: @sarahkliff]

Climate Progress

Mississippi Gov. Barbour, a Former Dirty-Energy Lobbyist, Compares Being Drenched in Oil to Being Dipped in Chocolate

By Joe Romm on Jun 5, 2011 at 9:22 am


Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R) is a Big Oil apologist who raised $2 million in oil money for GOP governors.  That’s probably why he doesn’t draw a big distinction between oil and chocolate.  For him, they are both a treat.

On TP Green, CAP’s Kristen Bartoloni discusses Barbour’s amazing testimony Thursday before the House Oversight Committee on the recovery efforts after last year’s BP oil spill.  Barbour blamed the economic devastation in the Gulf Coast not on BP or the other companies responsible for poisoning the region, but on the media, for  supposedly showing a “chocolate pelican“ over and over again:

Read more

Politics

VIDEO: Mississippi Gov. Barbour Argues President Obama Has Done More Harm To The Gulf Coast Economy Than BP

By Scott Keyes on Jun 3, 2011 at 3:55 pm

ThinkProgress filed this report from the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington, DC.

A year ago, millions of barrels of oil were still flowing into the Gulf of Mexico following an explosion at the BP-run Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The resulting three-month ordeal was the worst oil spill that has ever occurred.

The massive oil slick spread throughout the Gulf region, shut down beaches and hampered the vital fishing industry. Local wildlife was also significantly harmed as a result of the spill.

Despite the region’s vast devastation following the BP oil spill, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) pinpointed a different scapegoat in an interview with ThinkProgress: President Obama.

We asked the Barbour about the gravity of the economic harm caused by BP. Barbour avoided criticizing BP, arguing instead that “there’s no question” that President Obama has caused more harm to the Gulf Coast economy than the worst oil spill in history:

KEYES: Governor, you testified before Congress yesterday on the Gulf Coast. Who do you think has done more harm to the Gulf Coast economy, BP or President Obama?

BARBOUR: President Obama. There’s no question about that. The news media played their part by the way by giving the American people the impression that the whole Gulf Coast was knee-deep in oil and it wasn’t a good place to go for tourism. But the moratorium, $4 gasoline, 9.1 percent unemployment, record deficits, increasing public debt by $3 trillion in two years. Obama’s done more damage to the economy of the country than any private company could possibly do.

Watch it:

Barbour is not alone in his refusal to condemn BP while embracing criticism of President Obama. Last year, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), then-ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, famously apologized to BP for what he deemed a “$20 billion shakedown” by the Obama administration.

Update

In 2010, Barbour praised the government’s response, saying, “As I’ve said before, and said to the president, I think the federal government’s done more right than wrong.”

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