House Republicans have proudly touted their America Speaking Out website — which allows visitors to suggest and vote on various policy prescriptions — as a new and innovative way to involve the American people in the democratic process and the creation of federal policy. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) said the site is “revolutionizing the way we govern by engaging the American people and seeking your ideas for making things better.” “Americans are proud of this country. They want to see things get better and they want to be part of that turnaround. That’s what America Speaking Out is all about,” Gingrey said.
In fact, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said that America Speaking Out proves “the Democrat [sic] majority isn’t listening, but House Republicans will.” Well, House Republicans might want to take a gander at what’s garnering interest on their own site, as the proposal receiving the most “interest” (and the second highest number of overall votes) in the job creation section is to “Stop the outsourcing of jobs from America to other countries that do not pay taxes into the U.S. and stop the tax breaks that are given to these companies that are outsourcing.”
Here’s a screenshot (from 5:27 p.m. yesterday):
Of course, Democrats in the current Congress have proposed time and time again to close corporate tax loopholes that encourage the offshoring of jobs, and Republicans have been opposed to all of their efforts. H.R. 1586 prevented teacher layoffs and bolstered Medicaid, while closing a variety of corporate tax loopholes: 39 Republican Senators and all but two Republican members of the House voted no.
Congress has yet to approve a tax extenders bill that renews various important business tax provisions, while closing a corporate tax loopholes that allows corporations to claim domestic tax credits on profits that they never bring back to the U.S. Republicans not only obstructed that bill, but also put forth an alternative that cut Medicaid and infrastructure funding, while leaving the tax loopholes intact.
So if America is speaking out so loud and clear, why aren’t Republicans listening?