Today, I got to participate in a blogger conference call with Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington. A number of other bloggers joined me, including John Hawkins and Dan Riehl. Here are the notes I took during the call (these are NOT exact quotes, although I’ve tried to stay as close as possible to their statements).

Rep. Pence started out the conference call explaining that House and Senate Republicans are working on a bicameral alternative to the overwhelming taxing, spending, and borrowing coming out of the White House. Washington just doesn’t get it. The President is spending too much, he borrows and taxes too much. This is the first time that one generation will raise the burden of debt for future generations. Rep. Pence stressed that the taxing, spending, and borrowing will cost Americans jobs, and will especially affect small business owners. Republicans don’t see this as a path to recovery, but to recession. The Democratic Party is saying no to growth, not the Republican Party.

Rep. McMorris Rodgers echoed many of the same sentiments. She says that Republicans are planning on using blogs more, something I hope they actually will do. One of the best statements that I thought she made was when she mentioned the tale of two cities. Right now there is a tale of two cities. On Main Street, small business owners have to make tough decisions: laying off employees, tightening their belts, but in Washington D.C. for Congress it’s a different story. Congress is showering themselves with money, and these levels of spending are not sustainable. They are the highest spending levels since WWII. She went on to illustrate that if we continue this kind of spending, we will double our debt in the next five years, and triple it in ten. In just fifty days of the Obama administration, we’ve spent $1 billion an hour. Americans are having bailout fatigue. Wasteful government spending is out of control, spending money on pet projects that have nothing to do with growing the economy. Republicans want to help small businesses, but Congress has done nothing to help small business growth.

After the two opening statements, we moved on to the Q&A session. Again, please remember that these are notes, not exact quotes.

“How can Republicans be truly bicamerally united if one of our own leaders, Lamar Alexander, just voted for this spending bill? What assurances do we have that Republicans will stand together?”

Mike Pence: Alexander voted against the stimulus bill and is against the Presidents budget. I would like the President to veto the bill today. Sen. Alexander made it clear that he is firmly opposed to the President’s budget and that he thought the opposition among Senate Republicans would be overwhelming if not universal. Our goal is to make sure that Americans understand the difference in approach between Democrats and Republicans; it doesn’t mean that Republicans will always be 100% united. But the overall message will be clear. The House and Senate will work together on this so that
Americans understand what the Republican solutions will be.

“Is it your intentions to get your message out to blogs because the regular media is too distracted by the games that the White House is playing?”

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Republicans need to use every tool available, at times the mainstream media does not give the accurate coverage that we need. This is why we need bloggers, YouTube, social networking sites. We need to make sure that we’re using every tool available. We can create a virtual grassroots network across the country, and it’s great for Americans because we won’t just be feeding them information, but engaging them as well.

Mike Pence: We’ll be using gop.gov, blogging, and social networking to get the message out. We really believe we have to use every means possible to expose the reality of Obama’s budget to the American people.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: We want the American people to be able to go online and read a bill and assess for themselves that this is the right approach, and Republicans want to make sure that always happens.

Businesses are sick of being demonized. Are you working with any organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce to get your pro-business message out?

Mike Pence: I spoke with the United States Chamber of Commerce today. Obama talked with them yesterday and he never mentioned his spending. They applauded me when I talked about fighting spending and taxes on small businesses.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: For example, Obama wants to take away tax deductions for charitable giving, and that is wrong. We should be supporting charitable giving, not making it harder for people to give.

Mike Pence: Obama’s new tax on charitable giving could cost America’s charities as much as $16 billion per year.

“The CBO estimated that the economy could recover by the second half of 2009. If it takes longer is it the fault of the stimulus and government interference?”

Mike Pence: I believe in the resilience of the American economy; the economy will fight its way back to life. But taxing, spending, and borrowing our way to recovery will only slow that recovery. If it recovers earlier it will be in spite of it, not because of it. The time honored way is to be fiscally responsible and also to cut taxes.

If we go the wrong way at home, we can lead the whole world down a negative pathway that will reduce the quality of living. How will Republicans prevent the ‘New-New Deal’?”

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: We need to know what to do to get our economy growing again. Our economy will have a ripple effect around the world.

Mike Pence: America can’t lead the rest of the world down this path of borrowing, spending, and taxing that will only make the world less prosperous for our children.

“Republicans have tried to be bring cleaner versions of previous bills to the floor for debate and have been unsuccessful. How will the Republican budget be different?”

Mike Pence: Republicans will be giving a subsitute and an alternative by working closely with the budget committee by formulating a bold and clear budget alternative. We will make a case that there is too much spending, borrowing, and taxing, and we will expose that. Then we will fully unveil our alternative. We will bring our budget to the floor and get people’s votes on record. Are they for a responsible budget, or more taxing and spending?

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: It is important that people across the country know that there is a difference in approach. We need to make that clear to the American people. We can do that thanks to people like you.

“Do you think you’ll be successful at blocking efforts by Democrats to spend more? And will the Republican budget only be marginally more responsible?”

Mike Pence: The Republican budget alternative will be bold. We will paint in broad strokes, not with pastels, but with bold colors. Just talking about restraint and responsibility will not capture the imagination of the American people.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers: What’s happening now is an entire restructuring of our economy to an overall federal approach. We need to go back to the principles that made America strong. We need to get back to belief in the free market and the belief in the private sector. This current budget is a huge takeover of our economy by the federal government.

Closing:

Mike Pence: We are committed to taking our message to the American people. The Republican message will be simple: we will start on the President’s budget and will end with a Republican alternative based on fiscal restraint and growth. I’ll use one of my favorite Bible verses here: “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?”

Republicans will be sending a clear call.

To sum up, I loved what Rep. Pence and Rep. McMorris Rodgers had to say. They had me feeling very optimistic. However, I still worry about how effective the Republican Party will be, and how genuine these efforts are. It isn’t that I doubt Rep. Pence or Rep. McMorris Rodgers. I do doubt the rest of the Republicans in Washington, though. It sounds like they’re on the right track, however, and if they actually do everything they’re saying they’ll do, it will make a huge difference. One of the best parts was how they completely hammered Obama. They had one message concerning him and they stuck to it, over and over again: the President is spending too much, borrowing too much, and taxing too much. If they repeat that message continually for the next four years, it will sink in.