Political CHIPS - Conservative Heritage Institute for Principled Strength

Fiscal Cliff Deal FAILS the CHIPS Test! KS 5-CHIPS Senator Jerry Moran FLUNKS First Major Test!!!!

We are more than disappointed that so many elected officials voted “yes” on the recent fiscal cliff legislation. More importantly, we are appalled at the rhetoric these elected officials used to explain their rationale for voting the way that they did.

We are singling out KS Senator Jerry Moran because he is currently reflected as a 5-CHIPS Senator in our organizational system. He voted “yes” on a piece of legislation that easily failed the “CHIPS Test”. This action by KS Senator Jerry Moran violates the concept of good principled governance!

The “CHIPS Test” is a very simple test that every conservative should adopt and commit to memory! It can easily be used on every single piece of legislation at any level of government to evaluate the merits of any proposed or passed legislation. Here are the 4 simple steps in order of priority:

1. Is the legislation moral?

2. Is the legislation constitutional?

3. Can we afford the legislation?

4. Do the people really want this or need this legislation?

Let’s now evaluate the fiscal cliff bill using the “CHIPS Test”:

1. No.

2. No.

3. No.

4. No.

The costs of this bill far outweighed the benefits cited by Senator Moran in his press release. It adds more than a trillion dollars of new spending and debt on the backs of American Citizens who have yet to be born! The assembled bill was delivered to the Senators 3 minutes prior to voting on it which on its own is a dereliction of due diligence, due process, and duty! I would delve into greater detail but I don’t need to because 5-CHIPS member Dr. Milton Wolf already wrote a spectacular piece in the Washington Times that I would encourage you to read! This exercise is a precursor to a much larger fight and another manufactured Washington crisis pertaining to the budget and raising the debt-limit. Please share this blog and incorporate the “CHIPS Test” as a means to evaluate future legislation.

Tags: Cliff, Fiscal, Jerry, KS, Moran, Senator

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Comment by Alex Poulter on January 9, 2013 at 2:26pm: I am well aware of Senator Moran's voting record which is why he is currently reflected with a 5-CHIPS rating. I appreciate the recent votes of all four KS Congressional Reps but please note that 2 of them are not reflected as having CHIPS........Senator Moran is a principled conservative with a lengthy track record of voting the right way. However, using the CHIPS test as my guiding light, i did not feel that his rationale for supporting the fiscal cliff bill was appropriate given the fact and circumstances surrounding the bill and the devilish details. With that said, thank you for offering your comments on this.

Comment by Kristian Van Meteren on January 9, 2013 at 2:10pm: It's vital to understand how we got into this situation. Remember, it was the Budget Control Act of 2011 that created and set up this "fiscal cliff" by putting in motion automatic and drastic cuts to the military as well as the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on January 1, 2013. Remember, when that bill was passed, we were at an impasse and were being threatened by the President, his treasury secretary, members of his party on Capitol Hill, Wall Street, and liberal hacks in the media with credit downgrades and creating a second crash that would have plunged the economy back into recession, if not worse.

With all of that pressure, some Republicans were intimidated into going along with the BCA "deal," which included creating the ill-named Super Congress (which many have forgotten since it accomplished nothing) to solve the impasse and, if that failed, putting in place sequestration and automatic tax hikes -- what later became known as the "fiscal cliff."

The point is that the REAL piece of legislation that created this whole problem -- and the one that should receive most of your attention and justifiable scorn -- was the BCA of 2011 because it set up the entire no-win "fiscal cliff" scenario that we recently saw play out.

Back then, many of us saw that the BCA "deal" created an impossible situation for Republicans. Those Republicans who were intimidated into going along with that horrendous legislation (including members of Kansas' delegation whom you don't attack in this post), effectively loaded the pistol that the Democrats knew they could later hold against our heads to demand tax hikes. And that's exactly what they just did.

THIS IS KEY: Jerry Moran voted AGAINST the BCA of 2011 while other members of Kansas' delegation voted for it.

Like us, Jerry saw this train wreck coming and did his part to try to stop it a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, other Republicans were snookered into signing onto BCA and effectively created the impossible, "damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't" scenario that we were faced with a little over a week ago.

Had I been a member of Congress, I likely would have voted against the recent "fiscal cliff" deal. But I also understand the impossible situation members of Congress were put in -- vote for it and be attacked for giving the Democrats some of what they wanted, including a tax hike. Vote against it and you're not only accused of allowing us to go over the fiscal cliff (with unknown economic implications), you're also effectively "okaying" the automatic tax rate increases for ALL Americans that would have otherwise kicked in.

Again, this was a complete no-win situation for Republicans from the moment they passed the BCA of 2011. That was the critical piece of legislation that truly, in my view, separated the men from the boys. Jerry Moran voted against the BCA and, in so doing, tried to prevent the trap from being set that ultimately ensnared the entire GOP. Others voted for the BCA of 2011 AND voted for the recent fiscal cliff deal and yet they get a complete pass in your post. Why?

Jerry Moran is a fine and principled senator who faced a tough vote recently. But in the real vote that mattered, the BCA of 2011, he proved his stuff and voted exactly as he should have.

Comment by Alex Poulter on January 9, 2013 at 11:57am: The purpose of this exercise is to introduce the CHIPS test. As of this moment in time, i am not suggesting that KS Senator Moran be considered for replacement. Rather, we need to educate the masses on the CHIPS test so that they may have the tools and the foundation to eloquently articulate their position on any proposed legislation. It's amazing how many elected officials (experienced ones) have good intentions but no foundation or principled approach for evaluating legislation.