Thaddeus McCotter Supports $165 Billion Union Bailout: John Linder Supports $165 Billion Union Bailout

As we have been cautioned this week by various conservatives, headed by Ann Coulter, don't get comfortable with the conservative movement in America. There are always those claiming to be conservative, yet all to willing to do just about anything for a few votes.

Thaddeus McCotter and John Linder

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) heads my list. He is a man I have quoted numerous times and have admired. No longer.

According to Americas for Limited Government (ALG), McCotter is one of nine Republicans supporting H.R. 3936, the Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act of 2009. In fact, I find that McCotter is a co-sponsor along with 8 other Republicans: Virginia Brown-Waite (FL), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Steve Latourette (OH), John Linder (GA), Tim Murphy (PA), Peter Roskam (IL), Aaron Schock (IL), and Patrick Tiberi (OH). The bill's sponsor is shown to be Earl Pomery (ND),

Rep. John Linder co-authored The Fair Tax with Neal Boortz, and is also a co-sponsor.

My question, in particular to McCotter and "The Fair Tax" guy, John Linder, is, how does this bill separate itself from redistributing my wealth? Check out McCotter's YouTube page, pick any video and you'll see the hypocrisy, and understand why I was sickened to see his name on this legislation.

The bill proposes to bailout unions, specifically multi-employer pension fund unions. Listed among them is the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association, NFLPA (National FootballLeague Players Association and more than 100 other union-run funds, according to ALG. H.R. 3936 allows for bailouts of SEIU, Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) and the Teamsters. All are underfunded and they are coming at our wallets.

Barack Obama will be chuckling this Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, as he enjoys his visits his beloved pizza joint there - you know, that pizza that he serves at the White House - flies the chef in, and all that. If Democrats can get staunch Republicans like McCotter to sponsor this horrible legislation, what can't he do?

From ALG:

“HR 3936 does not require that a union cut benefits, have participants pay part of the pension costs, change retirement ages, limit access to younger employees, or use union dues to supplement the plan. It doesn’t require that unions negotiate for higher pension payments from employers in lieu of other benefits. Instead, it merely throws the unfunded liabilities onto the backs of taxpayers – a potential $165 billion dollar bailout,” Wilson explained.

Citing the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by labor bosses to support Obama, the Democratic majority, and the 9 House Republicans (see attachments below), Wilson decried unions’ “audacity to try to cash in on their political investment by foisting these unfunded liabilities accumulated under their watch onto the backs of taxpayers, who are struggling to fund their own retirements.”

The Senate version of the bill, SB 3157, was to be heard in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on May 27th. The Senate Committee titled their bill Building a Secure Future for Multi-employer Pension Plans or Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act of 2010. It shows a full Committee hearing but no report on those hearings. Democrat Sen. Robert Casey (PA) is the sponsor. ALL CO-SPONSORS ARE DEMOCRAT in the Senate.

The House version of the bill sits in the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions and in the House Ways and Mean Committee.

I don't care that the unions are under-funded. I don't care that some of these states, especially Michigan and Ohio are hard-hit. The fact is that it should be a criminal matter that legislators may tell me to come to the rescue with my hard earned dollars.

I've had enough. I bet you've had enough. The ALG report on this is excellent and includes a line to PAC donations for each of the nine, as well as a link to a pdf of ALG president William Wilson's letter to the nine GOPers. Contact them here and here.

Among the PAC donations to McCotter, I notice there were many who really believed he believed in the tenets of our Republic, i.e. the Committee for the Preservation of Capitalism, the Free and Strong America PAC, the Freedom and Security PAC, the Freedom Project, Friends of Jeb Hensarling, Friends of John Boehner, the Growth and Prosperity Political Action PAC, Help America's Leaders PAC, the Texas Freedom Fund, and the Win Back America PAC.