Jim Himes Enables the Worst Elements of the Democrat Party
By Bob MacGuffie
Jim Himes, the House Representative for CT-4, goes far out of his way to pose and present himself as a ‘moderate’ to his constituents here in Fairfield County. Conventional wisdom for the past couple of decades tells us that the district has shifted from historically Republican to a ‘swing district.’ Therefore, Mr. Himes takes pains to consistently tell us he is a Moderate, aligned with the views and dynamics of his district.
However, his voting record and consistently deceptive language on regular display during his numerous cable TV and print interviews reveal Mr. Himes is something more of a facadeof moderation than a genuine item.
At almost every opportunity since he entered Congress, Himes has voted for the deficit spending that has taken the national debt from $9 trillion in ’09 to today’s $30 trillion-plus. That’s about $20 trillion of debt ladled onto our backs in 13 years by the man who is supposed to be representing us.
‘Debt without consequence’ is a posture embraced by the likes of Warren, Sanders, AOC, Omar, and the rest of the Marxist Squad, who put forth the debased Modern Monetary Theory as the justification for submersing the economy into a debt trap from which it cannot escape.
To test the proposition, at one of his town halls, I asked Mr. Himes if the current national debt bomb implodes on the U.S. economy, would he commit to us that he would never support legislation that would tax our savings accounts to bail out the banks. I also asked him if he could commit not to support any legislation compelling us to dedicate our 401K contributions to a government-guaranteed retirement account (GRA). He emphatically refused to make either pledge on our behalf. So, our congressman refuses to pledge to NOT confiscate our savings in the event of a financial crisis: **Rep. Jim Himes Refuses To Keep Hands Off Retirement Accounts** Himes in Fairfield 4/2/2013
A couple of terms back, Himes held one of the most partisan political posts in D.C. – he was Finance Chair of the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In that role, he raised $163 million for Progressive races and, worse, nationwide.
In addition, he continually over-fundraises for his own campaigns, serving as a campaign piggy bank of sorts in DC – he knows where the money is and sees to it that the Leftists in his party get their ‘fair share.’ Indeed, it was confirmed at the time by the Danbury News-Times, which called Himes “a fixer for the House Democrats when it comes to raising campaign cash.”
And to further burnish his reputation as a reliable Corporatist within the Democrat party, Himes was a central player in drafting a critical exemption to the Dodd-Frank Financial Services Regulations. He dropped seventy Citicorp-drafted lines into a bill exempting broad swaths of derivatives trades from the new regulation.
The banking industry dearly wanted those exemptions. According to the New York Times, “the bill sailed through the House Financial Services Committee over the objections of the Treasury Dept.”
Himes caught an extended amount of grief in the blogosphere in CT-4, but it was the price he had to pay, as the ‘Commercial Bank’ and ‘Securities & Investment’ industries perennially hold the lead categories in dollars donated to his campaigns. In addition, the campaign coffers of the other Democrats on the Committee were richly rewarded.
In the years following, this former Goldman Sachs VP has firmly ensconced himself in the Washington elite as a corporatist rainmaker, making sure the Democrat party is well showered with hefty campaign donations in exchange for legislation favored by the Chamber of Commerce, the hedge funds and the banks…all at the expense of the free market and the taxpayers.
After a few re-election cycles and feeling comfortable in the seat, Mr. Himes effectively abandoned his constituents for the greener pastures of Wall Street, K Street, and the salons of Washington’s well-heeled corporate elites.
I have attended many town halls Mr. Himes has conducted over the years and can attest to his pronouncements illustrating his troubling fidelity to ideas that undermine the country’s foundational principles of individual liberty. He has repeatedly enunciated his view that constitutional rights should have checks on them. He said, “there are no absolute rights in this country.” To exactly what country does he refer? The way our republic works is ‘we the people’ have the unalienable rights, and we have delegated limited powers to the federal government to guarantee those rights and protect the citizenry. But Mr. Himes and other silver-tongued Democrats regularly caution us that it is our rights, rather than government regulations, that have their limits. Mr. Himes has clearly adopted the view of the elite, believing our “unalienable rights” are simply those that the federal government deems fit to define for us.
As of this Congress, Mr. Himes has proven himself totally detached from any fiscal moorings, as he did vote for the $739 billion deceptively named ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ First, in a 9-16-22 interview with C-Span, Himes elaborated that the impact of the inflation-reducing provisions would be “felt in the longer run.” See the interview here.
Himes goes on to say that the “real center of the legislation is the Medicare capping of the out-of-pocket for drug costs at $2,000” and that it was going to “take a couple of years to put in place.” Astounding – the Bill was sold as a mitigating inflation measure, and within a couple of weeks of passage, Himes gives up the ghost and blows smoke touting a centerpiece Medicare provision to be effected a couple of years from now!
This Democrat wrecking-crew mis-labels, mis-represents, and then gouges the American people yet again with a debt-laden $739B green-dream boondoggle! Decades ago, this kind of federal nest-feathering used to amount to a couple of billion dollars – today, it’s ¾ of a trillion in one fell swoop…all to be dispensed by Schumer, Pelosi, and McConnell. Just whose interests are being served by Jim Himes – certainly not those of his constituents. Fairfield County citizens alone just took on another $1.6 billion of federal debt to ‘finance’ this plundering of its own hard-earned wealth. These votes, expanding the already monstrous debt bubble, only serve the interests of those seeking to precipitate a collapse of the U.S. financial system.
Further, the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ includes some $369 billion of Green New Deal booty. Green-dream provisions include $135B of solar and wind credits, tightening of oil and gas regulations, a mandate of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and $60B for Environmental Justice, whatever that is. In 2009 Himes voted for the $800 billion so-called ‘Stimulus’ Bill. At the time, VP Biden called it “the largest single investment in clean energy in American history.” Today Biden and the Democrats have again stepped to the mic and called this green-dream “the single biggest climate investment in U.S. history.” Fool me twice…
Finally, another widely-discussed allocation in the Inflation Reduction Act is $80B of additional funding for the IRS. The line items indicate that only five percent of the funding will go to enhancing service to the public. The balance will fund the hiring of some 87,000 new IRS agents. And current recruitment ads ominously indicate that prospective agents must be willing to be armed. This alarming doubling and arming of the IRS agent forces speak for itself.
The Leftist base of the Democrat party seeks to break the U.S. economy under an unfinanceable burden of debt, financially bankrupt many middle-income Americans with the regulatory and inflation burdens of enforcing a delusional green-dream agenda, and backstop the entire big squeeze by unleashing an army of IRS agents to shake down both individual Americans and small businesses.
Mr. Himes has voted for this entire oppressive agenda, and his behavior demonstrates that he is most assuredly NOT the “Moderate” proclaimed in all his congressional propaganda materials, posturing, and pronouncements. Instead, he represents the corporate interests of his donors and the demonstrably most extreme elements of the Leftist base of the Democrat party. Rather than employ strident language like the Squad, he flies cover for them with his deceptive, misdirecting smooth talk on cable TV and the local Hearst-owned press. He thereby enables the extremists to move the ball down the field while distracting the corporate media from the real game being played.
For those of his constituents willing to see with open eyes – his actions, coupled with his deliberate and purposeful mis-statements under questioning, have revealed a cunning Leftist ideologue acting and voting completely at variance with his public statements and the best interests of his constituents. He must be retired from office this November 8th.
Bob MacGuffie is co-author of the book “The Seventh Crisis – Why Millennials Must Re-establish Ordered Liberty,” Seventh Crisis which examines and illuminates the historic crisis we currently endure.
