When it comes to federal spending, boogeyman is bipartisan

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, recently told a Charlotte Chamber of Commerce group visiting Washington, "You should fear for your country."

The Democratic majority in Congress, she warned, has become "bolder and bolder" with tax dollars and the rules of the House. "I am trying to scare you to death," said Rep. Foxx.

Rep. Foxx, you'll recall, in 2006 helped secure $550,000 in federal money for a proposed teapot museum in her district. Citizens Against Government Waste, a national organization, publicized the grant in its 2006 "Pig Book" of pork barrel waste.

Rep. Foxx also defended comments she had made to a radio program that Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois "basically are socialists...."

"I believe they are socialists, and if you look at their platforms you will see their plan is to take money from part of the population and give it to other people in the population," she said later, referring to their health care plans. "I don't know the dictionary definition of socialism, but most people would see that as socialism."

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"You should fear for your country." – Virginia Foxx

Virginia Foxx is shaking in her boots.

The thought of Democrats creating and delivering sound policies to tackle health care, national security, the Iraq War, and the economy has the Republican Congresswoman running scared.

“You should fear for your country,” Foxx told last week the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

Later, Foxx raised the specter of socialism on Democratic presidential candidates who wanted to find solutions to the problems facing North Carolina families.

“I am trying to scare you to death,” she later told a Charlotte Observer reporter.

But here’s the real horror story. Since President George W. Bush and his Republican cronies like Foxx have taken office in 2001:

• North Carolina’s median household income decreased by 7.4 percent.
• Job growth in North Carolina under the Bush Administration lagged far behind previous Presidents.
• The cost to gas up your car or heat your home has risen from $1.37 per gallon in 2001 to $3.22 as of last week.

Today, North Carolina Representatives Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx and Howard Coble opposed strengthening the highly successful Head Start program, which gives almost 20,000 disadvantaged children in North Carolina a better chance to succeed in school.

The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, with only 32 members opposing the measure and 381 Republicans and Democrats supporting it.

“Our children are our state’s most important resource, and we should invest in their future by offering them the best early education possible,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek.

“But today, Republicans tried to make it harder for every child in North Carolina to get a better education, voting against the Head Start program which improves teacher quality and helps raise kids’ achievement in school,” Meek said.

Reps. McHenry, Foxx and Coble opposed the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act Conference Report (HR 1429).

Republican Congressmen Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, and Sue Myrick refused to sign a letter to help North Carolina farmers get federal disaster assistance, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. North Carolina farms are suffering from a statewide drought.

A bipartisan coalition of 10 of North Carolina’s 13 congressional members wrote a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, asking for help.

The letter comes as the state’s soybean, peanut, and Irish potato production are down by 31, 21, and 15 percent, respectively, from last year.

"This is not a partisan problem, and both parties’ leaderships need to be aware of the severity of the problem," Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-7th, told the Winston-Salem Journal.

McIntyre spearheaded the effort.

But Republican obstructionists McHenry, Foxx, and Myrick all allowed partisanship to get in the way of helping their constituents.

North Carolina’s Democratic Congressional Delegation fulfilled their promise to lower college costs by sending President Bush the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

This legislation will bring real help to North Carolina students by providing an additional $500 in need-based grant aid next year, and an additional $5,400 over the next five years. [Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, September, 2007]

But Republicans Richard Burr in the Senate, and Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, and Sue Myrick in the House voted against the bill.

These Republicans voted “no” to cap federal student loan payments at 15 percent of a borrower’s discretionary income.

Republican obstructionists also voted “no” to forgive the debt of borrowers of North Carolina’s nurses, teachers, and law enforcement officers who serve in their profession for 10 years.

NCDP Chair Jerry Meek today applauded North Carolina’s Democratic Congressional Delegation for keeping their promise to make our communities safer and more secure. This week, Congressional Democrats voted to implement the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations-- something Republicans like Richard Burr, Howard Coble, Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry, who voted against the bill, refused to do for the last three years.

In July 2004, the 9/11 Commission announced its recommendations for how to avoid a future terrorist attack in the United States. For three years, Republicans put their partisan loyalty ahead of our nation’s security, first by resisting Democratic efforts to appoint the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission in the first place, then by joining President Bush in ignoring the Commission’s recommendations.

But this week, Democrats in Congress voted to send a long-overdue bill that finally implements the 9/11 Commission recommendations to the President’s desk. The bill would tighten screening of air and sea cargo, strengthen transit security, improve oversight of our intelligence and homeland security systems, and allocate $3.3 billion to help communities improve communications among first responders—a major problem during both the September 11 attacks and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Republicans have fought us every step of the way,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek. “But Democrats scored a victory for the American people today by sending the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations to the President’s desk. The time has come for Republicans to stop standing with the President and start standing up for the people of North Carolina.”

Despite being the ranked 324th least effective Representative in the House, Virginia Foxx managed to rack up one the largest mail tabs in the country. Virginia Foxx spent over $325,000 of tax payer money sending mail to her constituents in attempt to explain her increasingly unpopular voting record. This is more than twice as much as the Representative next most abusive of their franking privilege, Patrick McHenry.

The Winston Salem Journal has the story, along with a graphic.