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July 13, 2011 6:12 PM

Debt Talks Highlight GOP Divisions

By ALISON GENDAR

WASHINGTON - Republicans saved their sharpest barbs for each other today as they handicapped the chances of passing a debt package by the Aug. 2 deadline.

“Currently, there is not a single debt limit proposal that can pass the House of Representatives," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said.

That was a dig at a plan put forth by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, which would have guarantee President Obama the power to increase the government’s debt limit, unless barred by veto-proof majorities.

Such a plan would prevent the country from defaulting on its loans Aug. 2, and politically would mean Obama would catch the flack for raising the country’s debt, not Republicans.

“I refuse to help Barack Obama get re-elected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy,” Connell said on a radio talk show.

But the measure didn’t gain much traction with either GOP leaders or rank-and-file Republicans.

Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm, R-Staten Island, said unless a debt plan carried substantial spending cuts and structural change, “I can’t raise the debt ceiling.”

“I worked on Wall Street. I know what this will mean - interest rates rise, markets could potentially start to spiral. That’s why we have to get this right, and get a full package of meaningful savings and real structural change,” he said.

And it has to be done fast because House Republicans will not sign-off on a proposal dumped in their laps at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 1.

“We are not voting on something we didn’t read,” Grimm said. “Let us go through it with staff, call constituents, answer questions, understand it. You are not going to see a midnight vote.”

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June 30, 2011 1:04 PM

Let The Calls Begin

By ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON- Democrats have set their sights on first-term Republican Congressman Michael Grimm, targeting him for robocalls blasting him for trying to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Grimm, the city’s only GOP representative, is one of 14 congressmen targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as Democrats try to win 25 seats in 2012 and regain the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The districts flagged were considered fertile ground for Democratic take-downs.

The text of the automated phone calls targeting Grimm is blunt:

"Hi, this is Clare calling on behalf of the DCCC. What does Congressman Michael Grimm have against seniors?

First Grimm voted with his Republican leadership to end Medicare while protecting subsidies for Big Oil and tax breaks for billionaires. Now, they are trying to privatize Social Security.

Republican leaders' scheme to gamble the Social Security that seniors worked a lifetime to earn on Wall Street is way too dangerous. One bad market could wipe out years of savings, putting generations of retirees at risk.

Call Congressman Michael Grimm at (718) 351-1062 and tell him not to gamble Social Security on Wall Street."

Grimm said the calls were nothing more than a scare tactic.

"First we want to kill grandma and now we’re getting rid of social security? Coming up with lies and distortions is easier than coming up with solutions," he said.

"Democrats clearly have no plan to save these programs from going broke, so they’ve resorted to scare tactics. Unfortunately, scaring seniors with false threats is not going to change the fact that these programs will go bankrupt if we do not resolve our debt problem," Grimm said.

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January 6, 2011 7:02 PM

Dems Pounce on Grimm Health Care Comments

BY Michael McAuliff

New Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm had a pretty good first day on Capitol Hill yesterday, but Democrats are pouncing on his comments explaining why he feels he's not a hypocrite for taking his Congressional health care plan while fighting to repeal health care refrom.

“It’s clear that Rep. Michael Grimm is the worst kind of hypocrite – one who protects health care for himself instead of his constituents,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson. “Rep. Grimm has become the latest Republican health care hypocrite to demand government-funded health care benefits for himself, while trying to repeal health care reform and make it harder for most Americans to afford coverage for their own families."

Below is the story that ran in the paper.

WASHINGTON -- New Speaker John Boehner blinked back tears and swore in a new House yesterday — including the first New York City GOPer in four years.

New Staten Island Rep. Michael Grimm didn’t get all weepy himself, the ex-Marine and FBI man assured the Daily News just moments following his swearing in.
Not that it wasn’t emotional.

“It kind of reminds me of the day I graduated as a U.S. Marine,” Grimm said. “The first time you put that uniform on and they say you are now a U.S. Marine, you earned that title — that’s an incredible feeling.

“It’s very similar to putting that [Congress member’s] pin on, raising that right hand and taking that oath,” added Grimm, who brought along his grandmother’s Bible and wore the ring his mother gave his late father before they were married.

“So a little bit of my family history is here,” he said.

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