Roy Blunt

Roy Blunt announced a $123,705 federal grant for the Nixa Fire Protection District this week. "The Assistance to Firefighters program has helped many area fire departments, like Nixa, to upgrade their services, equipment, training and effectiveness," Congressman Blunt said in a statement.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus bill) provided $210 for Assistance to Firefighters Grant, and the FY2010 Homeland Security appropriations bill included $810 million in Assistance to Firefighters Grant money.

Blunt voted against both bills; he was one of just 37 to vote against the Homeland Security budget. 

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a new "No New Jobs" ad highlighting GOP Senate candidates' opposition to the recently-passed jobs bill. 

Roy Blunt told Mike Ferguson and his radio audience on The Eagle yesterday that critics of his Washington record are confusing his "real record" with a "mythical record."  Blunt flatly rejected any criticism of his support for deficit spending and leadership during the Bush years, saying his record on spending is "pretty good."

FERGUSON: You mentioned the tea party activists, and the sorta fiscal conservative activism. And when looking back, there's a lot of criticism of you, not just for, like, the TARP vote and the bailout votes, but for your role in the leadership of the Republican Party at the time.  Do you regret any of those votes?  And what do you have to say to those folks who are skeptical -- at best -- because the Republican Congressional record on spending isn't all that great in recent years.

The U.S. Senate passed a $17.6 billion jobs bill today by a 68-29 vote, sending it to the White House for the President's signature. "The bill includes a payroll tax break for small businesses and highway funding designed to spur job growth," according to Politico.

The Missouri Democratic Party did a little digging and found that Roy Blunt and House Republicans used the "deem and pass" procedure -- a.k.a. a "self-executing rule" -- 112 times as the GOP Whip to pass legislation in the 106th, 107th and 108th Congresses.

But yesterday, Blunt told KMOX' Mark Reardon that the current discussion about using the rule to pass health care bills is "extraordinary." 

I don't think it's ever been done, and if it would have ever been done, you and I would know about it. We'd know that there would have been this level of concern...Now on something that no one really was concerned about it might have happened.

Blunt plays dumb when he's talking to Missouri audiences, but it was Republicans who "set new records" for using self-executing rules.

Southeast Missourian columnist Michael Jensen is misinformed.

Sensing the growing public opposition to runaway pork, both leading U.S. Senate candidates in Missouri -- Roy Blunt and Robin Carnahan -- this week pledged to curtail earmarks if elected. If that comes to pass, they would join Sen. Claire McCaskill, who swore off pork projects when she was elected...

Carnahan says she would oppose any earmarks period. Blunt goes beyond that and pledges to end the practice of earmarks and to introduce legislation to reduce the federal budget by $30 billion -- the amount spent on earmarks last year.

Blunt has not "pledged to end the practice if elected."  He only supports a 1-year ban --  one that would extend just beyond the November 2010 elections. 

Yesterday, St. Louis Tea Party Coalition leader Bill Hennessy announced the organization's support for the U.S. Senate Primary Candidate Forum spearheaded by the Franklin County Patriots.  In an email initiation to supporters, Campaign for Liberty activist Laura Hausladen explained that the March 20 event is intended to address the "great deal of restlessness and discord over the apparent anointment of [Roy] Blunt."

Each of the Republican Party candidates -- except for Blunt -- have confirmed that they will be attending.

Given his long record in Washington, Blunt has had a hard time warming up to the tea party crowd.  He was the #3 House leader in Washington as Republicans grew government spending and deficits, never figured out a way to pay for huge government programs like the Medicare Part D benefit, and was the leader of the House GOP efforts to pass the TARP legislation last year. And Blunt didn't just vote for the TARP legislation -- he was one of the key GOP leaders begging his colleagues to change their votes.

The DSCC is renewing its criticism of candidates who've teased the birther conspiracy theorists after Rob Portman, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, refused to give direct answers to questions about Barack Obama's citizenship.  Portman, Roy Blunt, Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Chuck DeVore (R-CA) are all part of their "Birther Five."

This is a deliberate tactic and part of a long-held, calculated GOP strategy. If the president isn't Republican, they will push the same lies over and over in an effort to undermine his legitimacy. They tried to discredit and delegitimize President Clinton. Now they're doing the same thing with President Obama by standing with – or winking at – the right-wing fringe.

The Republican Party is running on fears and smears, and these candidates should be ashamed of themselves.

"It's a fact -- if people are asking questions based on factually wrong premises -- or are doing so to delegitimize the president of the United States -- it's incumbent on a politician to indeed diminish those who ask the question."

Marc Ambinder, politics editor of The Atlantic, expressing his disgust with Roy Blunt and other GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate who "wink at the Birthers"

UPDATE 2 -  The AP has updated its story.  After Kraske's story was printed, the AP reported that "Campaign spokesman Rich Chrismer said Friday that Blunt will abide by the Republicans’ one-year moratorium on earmarks."

UPDATE - Steve Kraske writes this afternoon: "Blunt refused to join the growing bandwagon of lawmakers calling for a temporary, or even permanent, suspension of the practice of awarding earmarks..."

Check out the headline and first sentence in this new AP story: "Missouri's leading US Senate candidates join movement against congressional earmarks."

When did Roy "proud and prolific earmarker" Blunt say he was "against earmarks?" Yesterday, he made a weak proposal to make $30 billion in unspecified cuts to  the federal budget -- but how does such a response constitute a "movement against earmarks" in any way?

Compare the AP's summary of Blunt's position to the following, printed yesterday in Politico:

Blunt has defended the process of earmarking, following the lead of retiring Sen. Kit Bond, whose prolific appropriating has delivered millions for Missouri roads, bridges, airports and housing projects. In 2010 alone, Blunt requested $153 million in earmarks, a record Carnahan was eager to take a swipe at.

UPDATE: Blaine Luetkemeyer supports the GOP proposal. 

House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced in a statement today that his caucus is "serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks."  ABCNews.com:

Conference Chairman Mike Pence, R-Ind., said the decision to "renounce earmark requests of all kinds" came only after a "marathon debate" among conference members.  But he praised the decision as "a new way forward."

"By standing in favor of a moratorium on earmarks in this Congress, House Republicans are making a clean break from the past," Pence said.  "We are offering the American people a fresh start on spending in Washington, DC."

Emphasis added. This "clean break from the past" is a "clean break" from the leadership of people like Roy Blunt -- and this puts him in quite the pickle.

With a record in Washington as long and troublesome as Roy Blunt's, it's a challenge for anyone to keep track of all the stories and scandals. Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, the K Street Project, special favors for Philip Morris....Blunt and his consultants hope you forget them all.

Remembering that bit of wisdom from George Santayana, we've begun to pull together key reports, articles and columns written about Blunt, Inc. into one place.  Check it out. 

MediaMatters fact-checked Roy Blunt's appearance on CNN yesterday, and -- this will shock you -- Blunt chose to play fast and loose with the facts.  Talking about the House GOP's health care plan, he claimed that "the Congressional Budget Office said would have reduced coverage cost for every single American that was gonna buy insurance."

This isn't actually what the CBO said.  The CBO looked at average rates for people who would still be covered under the GOP plan (52 million children and working-age people would remain uninsured), and said there would be "a great deal of uncertainty" for individuals and families.  And because Blunt and Republicans refused to follow through on their promise to make coverage affordable for people with pre-existing conditions, folks in poor health would certainly see higher rates -- if they find coverage. 

The League of Conservation Voters named Roy Blunt to their "Dirty Dozen" list and launched BigOilBlunt.com today to call attention to his "abysmal" lifetime LCV environmental score.  From the website: 

How did Big Oil Blunt earn this dubious distinction?

• By voting against 35,000 clean energy jobs for Missouri… three times (twice in committee and once the House floor).
• By taking more than $1 million in campaign cash from Big Oil and energy special interests.
• By voting to maintain tax breaks and subsidies for polluting corporations while Missourians paid record prices at the pump.