Limbaugh accused Sebelius of blocking KS tax refunds, ignoring Republicans' budget demands
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SUMMARY: On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius "at one point was refusing to send out money that Kansas taxpayers had overpaid." In fact, after Kansas halted payments in February on $12 million in tax returns due to budget shortfalls, Republicans in the state legislature refused to approve Sebelius' proposal to transfer money between state accounts in order to pay tax refunds, state employees, schools, and health-care providers until she approved hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts.
On the March 2 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, whom President Obama has selected to be secretary of health and human services, "at one point was refusing to send out money that Kansas taxpayers had overpaid." Limbaugh added that Sebelius had been "withholding taxpayer refund checks" and that she had "sat on Kansas taxpayers' money and refused to send them their refunds." In fact, after Kansas halted payments in February on $12 million in tax returns due to budget shortfalls, Republicans in the state legislature reportedly refused to approve Sebelius' proposal to transfer money between state accounts in order to pay tax refunds, state employees, schools, and health-care providers until she approved hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts.
According to The Wichita Eagle, Kansas halted payments on tax rebates on February 13 because the state was, in the words of state budget director Duane Goodman, "out of cash, in essence." On February 16, according to the Eagle, "Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers, blocked Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' proposal to borrow $225 million from healthy state funds to cover shortages in accounts used to meet the state's payroll and issue tax refunds." The Eagle further reported that "GOP leaders said they won't approve the IOUs until Sebelius either cuts the current budget herself or signs the bill they passed last week slashing $326 million -- including $32 million for education -- to balance the budget." The paper reported on February 18 that the "standoff that halted state tax refunds and threatened to delay state paychecks ended Tuesday when Gov. Kathleen Sebelius approved $300 million in budget cuts sought by Republican legislators."
Additionally, the Eagle reported on May 3, 2003, that Republicans in the state legislature proposed balancing the budget by delaying tax refunds, which Sebelius vowed to veto (retrieved from the Nexis database):
A Republican plan to delay tax refunds to help balance the state's $4.3 billion budget cleared the House and the Senate on Friday, despite Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' statements that she would veto it.
The move increases the likelihood that lawmakers will be called back into a special session, a Sebelius aide said.
The refund delay was included in both chambers' version of the session's final budget bill. The budget will not balance if Sebelius deletes the refund delay with a line-item veto.
While The Topeka Captial-Journal reported that the subsequent fiscal year 2004 compromise budget gave "Sebelius two options to help balance the state budget --- either delay about $50 million in tax refunds or speed up property tax collections," Sebelius, who "consistently said she wouldn't delay tax refunds," chose to speed up property-tax collections instead of delaying tax refunds.
From the March 2 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: Ladies and gentlemen, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is tanking even further -- now down 255. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting, NASDAQ's down 47 to 50, while the president of the United States -- with a teleprompter -- introduces Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas, as the new Health and Human Services director -- secretary.
Remember, Kathleen Sebelius at one point was refusing to send out money that Kansas taxpayers had overpaid. She was withholding taxpayer refund checks, and now she's been appointed to serve in the Obama Cabinet. So while the economy and the stock market are tanking, Obama has plucked a governor from Kansas who sat on Kansas taxpayers' money and refused to send them their refunds. This is a man who's really for economic recovery, right?
1. When the economy does good under a Republican President, it's the Republican President who is to receive credit.
2. When the economy is bad under a Republican President, the President has no impact on the economy, or it's the fault of the previous Democratic President.
3. When a Republican Governor raises taxes, it's the economically sensible thing to do, and it was forced on him by the previous Democratic Governor and/or the Democratic Legislature.
4. When a Democratic Governor raises taxes, there goes that tax and spend liberal Democrat again!
Is that rhetorical question really coming from the man who professed to hope that the Obama recovery plan would fail? I'm starting to find it hard to believe he really cares one way or the other - and think that maybe he's only out for his own aggrandization.
By the way, I happened to notice that during his CPAC closing speech on Saturday, Jabba the Nut appeared sans tie. Could it be that this inflated tie salesman neglected to have his supplier manufacture a tie of a length sufficient to circumnavigate his very own gelatinous neck? Oh, the irony...
If I'm not mistaken, he also had an earring in his left ear. Who is he trying to fool?
...his coclear implant.
What...didn't the Viagra work? ;>)
I want to apologize to Rush Limbaugh for my dumb, tasteless joke and to reaffirm what a great leader he is. After I re-read my remarks I realized it was not what I intended to convey...perhaps I was insufficiently articulate in my remarks. And did I say what a great leader Rush Limbaugh is...? And let me add that Rush does not want America to fail...he just wants Barack Obama and all the losers who voted for him to fail. God bless Rush Limbaugh. And did I mention what a great leader he is...? <sarcasm>
Dude, I hate that arrogant scumbag as much as anybody; and he did most likely bring it on himself - hearing loss is a known side effect of oxycontin abuse, after all. But it still ins't cool to make fun of people's physical handicaps. That he's a idiot (or for that matter a fat, hypocritical idiot) is fair game (and fun!) but his deafness should not be fodder for our attacks. We are much better than that, and it's not exacly difficult.
(Mr. Limbaugh, I apololgize if I've offended you in anyway in my... LOL. I'm sorry I can't do it! Screw it. You have a problem with me, give me a call - I'll box you for charity or something.)
I wasn't making fun of Rush's self-inflicted hearing loss...I was making fun of his inability to get it up. No, wait...no I wasn't! I'm sorry...I apologize, Rush! The words just came out but I really didn't mean them. The devil made me do it. Forgive me, Rush...please! ;>)
OK... As a male, I'll say: THAT AIN'T COOL EITHER! ;)
Hey, man...I just apologized to Rush for that! ;>)
I think it would be wise if we all started apologizing to Rush because there's going to be payback after he becomes king.
If he's king, then I'm a revolutionary anarchist. Burn baby, burn!
no rush is deaf in his one ear.
How much of Rush Limbaugh's net worth do you suppose has been diminished by the economic crisis? And I wonder what kind of tax hit he's likely to take under Obama's tax plan. My impression has always been that Limbaugh is taking this economic crisis and the election of Barack Obama very personally. Any thoughts...?
I wish the republicans would make up their minds, do they want to now stand for fiscal responsibility? Don't they understand how this hurts the little people? This is no time to demand budget cuts!
Here we go again, making fun of Rough Limppaw, but we do so at our peril. This, this...person is loved and admired by millions. MILLIONS! The numbers alone should frighten us all. His name and puss have practically dominated the media for weeks, now. We can't refer to his fans as the "fringe element" any longer. My fellow MMFA posters, WE are the fringe element. Nobody reads this stuff on the MM site but US. The only publicity MM gets is from Bill O'Reilly and his ilk. The so-called "fringe" is represented far more on the Main Stream Media than reasonable people. Reasonable people do not make "news". Our MSM are tabloids, like those "newspapers" we sheepishly glance at in the supermarket check-out line. Limbaugh's face should be on the masthead of every tabloid in the country.
Dog, I think you're way too pessimistic. Limbaugh has about 14 million regular listeners. How many of those are liberals who tune in to get their hearts pumping is unknown. IMO Limbaugh represents an increaingly isolated faction of the Republican Party.
I would like to apologize for my remarks about Rush Limbaugh which were taken completely out of context. Rush Limbaugh is a great leader and a strong voice for conservatism. Rush has articulated the views of all God-fearing, flag-loving conservatives when he said he wants the Marxist/Socialist Barack Obama and his Marxist/Socialist policies to fail...and that goes for all those losers who voted for B. Hussein Obama, too. And did I mention what a great leader Rush Limbaugh is? And didn't Rush look good in black at his CPAC speech? <sarcasm>
"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." - Obi-Wan Kenobi
No truer words have ever been spoken. And it's particularly apt for petty political squabbles like this one. Both sides state facts (even the 'Pubs in this rare case) but the TRUTH depends entirely on your own [political] POV.
as a die hard star wars fanatic, who regulary calls the entire organization of fox nosie, Rush, neo cons in their entirety as Dark Lords of the Sith.
i must give you the greatest props for your quotation and reference.
A couple of points from a Kansan:
1. The Republican party has strong majorities in both the Kansas House and Senate and have had control for at least the past 10 years (as long as I have lived in Kansas). I find it odd that the legislature is blaming the Govenor for the states budget woes. The legislature crafts and passes the budget.
2. Govenor Sebelius stopped sending refund checks the week before the crisis because the state's cash reserves were down to 10 million dollars and was about to run out of money.
3. The loan request that the Govenor requested is the same kind of loan that has been requested and passed at this time of year each year for the last 10 years. The reason is that Kansas is usually short of cash between Jan-April is because they are trying to pay tax refunds (coupled with a particularly bad economic downturn). Persons who are going to recieve a tax refund tend to file before those who owe money (because those who owe try to wait as late as possible before paying). This causes a cashflow problem because collected revenues do not exceed refunds at this point of the year.
4. The budget bill being presented to the Govenor for her signature was particularly contentious this year. Kansas, just like many states, has a massive budget shortfall. The Republican leadership said they would not approve the requested short-term loan request (which has been the norm for 10 years) until the Govenor signed the budget bill. The Republican leadership knew she would have to sign it the budget by the end of that same day to avoid a stopage in pay to state workers.
5. The agencies that were recieving the largest budget cuts were social services and education. The Republican leadership tried to force Sebelius to sign an unfair budget through blackmail. It is important to note that Sebelius signed the budget but used her line item veto to at least reduce the cuts to education.
Wow, so that post was long! Sorry for the wordy post.
All right Rush, I'm sorry if you're thin-skinned enough to be offended by all the truthful observations I'm going to make in the future. Nuff Said!