House Votes to Defund 'ObamaCare' in Burst of Activity on Spending Bill

[dutch508]

Published February 18, 2011
FoxNews.com

The House voted to defund President Obama's health care overhaul on Friday during a sustained burst of floor activity on amendments to a temporary spending bill that would keep the government lights on but impose deep cuts on domestic programs.

Among the other actions the House took was to reject a controversial plan to end the Pentagon's sponsorship of a NASCAR team and to vote for a ban on federal aid to Planned Parenthood.

The proposals were among more than 120 amendments remaining for the House to vote on as Republican leaders wind down a week of frenzied action on the spending bill.

The overall bill is the first step in an increasingly bitter struggle between Democrats and Republicans over how much to cut federal agencies' funding over the second half of the budget year that ends Sept. 30. Current funding runs out March 4 and a temporary spending bill will be needed to avoid a government shutdown.

Rep. Betty McCollum's amendment, introduced Wednesday, would have prevented the U.S. Army from spending $7 million on NASCAR and $5 million on drag racing in 2011 as well as millions more by the Air Force and Navy. Her proposal sought to give Republicans another target for slashing wasteful spending.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/18/house-poised-vote-nascar-proposal-amendments-gop-spending/





Edited to fix broken link & add pic per Breaking News Rules

[thundley4]

They were talking to the Army guys responsible for NASCAR advertising/recruiting on Fox.  About 1/4 of the Army's ad dollars go to NASCAR, but it's responsible for about 1/3 of their follow ups.

The spiteful Dem only did it because the republicans have targeted NPR and PBS for cuts.

[Eupher]

I have no problem with DOD's cutting of NASCAR support - and I've heard the arguments. If we want to stop spending discretionary money - and this is one of them best I can determine - let's cut it. And cutting federal support of PP and NPR and NEA and all the rest of it should be done too.

The catfighting and quid pro quo is all part of the political game, but when you get down to it, stopping the spending is going to be painful for somebody.

[BlueStateSaint]

They were talking to the Army guys responsible for NASCAR advertising/recruiting on Fox.  About 1/4 of the Army's ad dollars go to NASCAR, but it's responsible for about 1/3 of their follow ups.

The spiteful Dem only did it because the republicans have targeted NPR and PBS for cuts.

Thing is, NPR and PBS are probably responsible for a lot of Dem recruiting.

[Mr Mannn]

Providence smiles upon us in unusual ways.
The democrats fearful of raising taxes (in an election year) deliberately did not pass a budget. Its part of the job, but democrats are above all of that.

so what was the result? Now the new GOP House controls the purse strings for not just 2012 and 2013, but they were handed the controls for 2011 as well. That three years of defunding Obama care for the price of two.

[NHSparky]

Believe it or not, Euph, those sponsorships provide excellent awareness and as was earlier mentioned, excellent follow-ups, appointments, and contracts.

What's next?  No more Golden Knights or Leap Frogs?  No more Blue Angels or Thunderbirds?  All the same purpose, all paid by taxpayer dollars.

[TexasCop]

They didn't have a NASCAR team when I joined the Army.  All we had back then were cool commercials where men jumped out of airplanes.  That seemed to do the trick. 

[Eupher]

Believe it or not, Euph, those sponsorships provide excellent awareness and as was earlier mentioned, excellent follow-ups, appointments, and contracts.

What's next?  No more Golden Knights or Leap Frogs?  No more Blue Angels or Thunderbirds?  All the same purpose, all paid by taxpayer dollars.

Yeah, I know about the recruiting angle (I'm an Army musician and that's one of the angles associated with military music), but when you get right down to it, what kind of value are you going to put on a bunch of cars running around in a circle and having people get all teary-eyed at seeing their particular service's name festooned on the hood of a car?

At least with the Golden Knights, these guys are Soldiers and they're doing what they've been trained to do - parachute out of perfectly good aircraft. Ditto for Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds. These guys are demonstrating military skills at extremely high levels.

NASCAR is important to a lot of people - I get that. But I'm not convinced it's good for the American military in the form and fashion that equates to $x million per year. I think the money could be put to better use, or cut altogether.

[Thor]

NASCAR: National Automotive Sport Centered Around Rednecks

Let's see the Army has a drag racer sponsored, too. (Tony Schumacher) Seems to me that an awful amount of money is paid into Army Recruiting. The other services don't seem to pour that much money down the drain and they most certainly didn't when I was recruiting for the Navy. Hell, we were lucky to get little handouts for our "Spheres of Influence" and DEPpers.

[TexasCop]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VymosPfhdM&feature=related[/youtube]

This is the commercial that made me choose Army over the Marines. 

[Thor]

Had I known that one of my best buddies from my first HS was going to join the Marines, I probably would have chosen that route. I ran across him in Millington, going through the same schools I was, just two weeks ahead of me. It all came down to a written guarantee. The Marines wouldn't, the Navy would. Besides, the Marine Recruiter here was a moron, putting it nicely.

[AllosaursRus]

Ya know, we're probably gettin' more bang for our buck via NASCAR than we ever will thru PBS and NPR! Who do ya think is enlisting, hippes from San Fran?

Gimme a ****in' break!