Congressman Cline regularly makes a fool of himself at House committee hearings with his partisan questions designed to score political points rather than elicit information.

Such was the case when Cline interrogated Attorney General Merrick Garland and tried to make an issue of President Biden’s alleged mental impairment.

Cline: Have you ever seen evidence of impairment in your meetings with the president?

Garland: I’m sorry. I’ve testified and I’ll repeat again what I just said.

Cline: Well, that’s different than my question.

Garland: Well, I have seen the president effectively guide the members of the Department, of his cabinet and his military through…

Cline: But you won’t say you’ve ever seen any impairment on his part?

Garland: The president has no impairment. The president…

Cline: You’ve never seen any.

Garland: I don’t know how many ways I can say this. I have complete confidence in the president and I reject your characterization.

What makes this darkly amusing is that while Cline seeks to raise concerns about Biden’s mental fitness, he enthusiastically endorsed Donald Trump– whose cognitive decline is plain for everyone to see almost every time he appears in public– for another four years as president.

According to his latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, Congressman Cline’s reelection campaign has received contributions from the following donors since March 12:

• Amalgamated Sugar Company Political Action Committee (Idaho): $2,000

• Western Sugar Cooperative PAC (Colorado): $1,000

• Minn-Dak Farmers Sugar Cooperative PAC (North Dakota): $2,500

• American Crystal Sugar Company Political Action Committee (Minnesota): $5,000

• Florida Sugar Cane League PAC (District of Columbia): $1,000

• Michigan Sugar Company Growers Political Action Committee (Michigan): $1,000

• American Sugar Cane League of USA Political Action Committee (Louisiana): $2,000

Is it possible that all this sugar-connected generosity is related to Cline’s membership on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies? And his membership on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust? And the fact that the US government subsidizes the American sugar industry by creating artificially high prices?

At any rate, given Big Sugar’s sudden infatuation with Cline, I would like to suggest the congressman adopt this tune as his 2024 campaign theme song:

That’s how Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi described the actions of 40 House Republicans– including Congressman Cline– who voted NO on a $460 billion government funding package that included earmarks they inserted to fund projects in their districts.

In Cline’s case, it was $42 million to fund improvements in the I-81 corridor.

In January Cline told The Washington Post: “I have been trying to take authority away from the massive federal bureaucracy and restore it to the actual representatives of the people here in Congress. The bureaucrats in the Education Department, the Transportation Department, the Commerce Department know less about the priorities of the working men and women of the 6th District of Virginia than their elected representatives.”

As long as he isn’t the one voting to pay for those priorities, I guess.

The I-81 improvements are needed, of course. But don’t thank Cline for them. And don’t let him take credit for them either.

Despite my criticism of Congressman Cline, I appreciated his willingness to hold regular in-person town hall meetings with constituents throughout the Sixth District. These meetings have given his opponents as well as his supporters a chance to voice their opinions face to face without the insulation provided by his staff.

This marked a welcome contrast with Cline’s predecessor Bob Goodlatte, who stopped holding in-person town halls some years before he retired from Congress.

When Cline started holding town halls in 2019, he scheduled them in American Legion and VFW halls, community centers and other reasonably spacious locations. He announced the events on his Facebook page at least four or five days in advance and simply required people to get free tickets online. Although the times weren’t always convenient, there was room for anyone who was able to attend.

After a pause in town halls due to the COVID pandemic, Cline– with no explanation– changed the format. He rebranded the town halls as “Coffee with Your Congressman” and held them mostly at restaurants. And the advance notice for these events has got progressively shorter.

Most recently, on April 4 Cline held “Coffees” at restaurants in Warren and Shenandoah Counties. They were announced on his Facebook page just one day in advance— making it difficult or impossible for many people to attend.

But that’s not the worst of it. One commenter on the Facebook page complained that she wanted to attend the Warren County event but couldn’t because tickets disappeared almost immediately.

According to one constituent who did attend:

What’s going on? Why the ridiculously short notice and the limited seating?

I hope this is nothing more than a case of bad management.

As usual, ridiculously short notice, but…

For folks in Shenandoah County, here’s your chance to ask Congressman Cline the questions you’ve been wanting to ask him– face to face.

Location: Strasburg Diner,119 Hite Lane, Strasburg, VA 22657.

I firmly support law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. As a former prosecutor, I’ve seen firsthand the immense good these men and women provide for our families and communities. By opposing the foolish and reckless proposals to defund the police, we can ensure there will always be law enforcement who are ready and willing to run towards the sounds of danger.

Ben Cline’s campaign website

Never mind. Now it’s Cline and his fellow House Republicans who want to defund the police.

The Republican Study Committee budget which Cline is holding in the above photo would slash funding for law enforcement and community safety through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.

According to the RSC budget:

COPS was created in the 1990s as a means to support state and local law enforcement agencies with expenses like salaries, court programs, and juvenile justice programs. Conservatives support our men and women and blue but should question whether the government should involve itself in state and local law enforcement, even if it is only a matter of funding.

The RSC complains about COPS funding going to big cities which cut law enforcement budgets in 2020 in favor of other programs designed to reduce crime. But if reduced spending was wrong then, why is it okay now?

One part of COPS awards grants to local law enforcement to hire officers. In 2023 the hiring program funded 1,730 new positions— the vast majority in rural areas and small towns across the country.

Instead of trying to cut this and other programs designed to aid law enforcement, perhaps Cline should help police departments and sheriffs’ offices in the Sixth District apply for these grants.

In 2022, Congressman Cline was one of just 42 members of the House to vote NO on the Keep Kids Fed Act. The law, which passed with support from all House Democrats and most Republicans, extended federal pandemic-era waivers that helped millions of kids access meals both in school and during the summer. 

Now the House Republican Study Committee, of which Cline is a leading member, has introduced a budget (see above photo) that would ban universal free school meals.

Eight states offer all students, regardless of household income, free school meals — and more states are trending in the direction. But while people across the country move to feed school children, congressional Republicans are looking to stop the cause.

The budget — co-signed by more than 170 House Republicans — calls to eliminate “the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) from the School Lunch Program.” The CEP, the Republicans note, “allows certain schools to provide free school lunches regardless of the individual eligibility of each student.” 

“Additionally,” the Republicans continue, “the RSC Budget would limit spending in the program to truly needy households.”

The CEP allows schools and districts in low-income areas to provide breakfast and lunch to all students, free of charge. The program thus relieves both schools and families from administrative paperwork, removing the inefficiencies and barriers of means-testing, all on the pathway to feeding more children and lifting all boats.

It’s ironic that Cline– who regularly rails against excessive government bureaucracy and regulations– wants to require families to prove they are “truly needy” before their kids can get free meals at school.

Republicans have worked for years to undermine school lunch programs, but the staying focus on the goal, even in rhetoric, is notable given the warm reception some states have received in instituting universal school lunch. In Minnesota, for example, 70 percent of Minnesotans, including 57 percent of conservatives and 54 percent of senior citizens, were found to have approved of the policy change that took effect last summer — even after reports that the program was proving to be more costly than anticipated, due to greater-than-expected demand. Statewide polling in Pennsylvania last year found 82 percent of people support expanding their free school breakfast program to include lunch too, while 87 percent of Ohio K-12 parents were found in 2022 to support school meals for all, regardless of ability to pay.

And of course, universal free school meals eliminate the hurtful divisions between children whose families’ can and can’t afford to pay.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the members of the Clarke County Democratic Committee (in Cline’s district), who– despite the Republican Study Committee– actually care about all school kids getting fed.

As wildfires raged in Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, threatening homes and businesses, Congressman Cline posted on Facebook:

Firefighters doing this physically demanding and dangerous work may appreciate the thanks. But they deserve more than that. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021 by Congress and signed by President Biden, funded a substantial pay increase for wildland firefighters. The law also strengthens job protections for these firefighters and funds programs to help them deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs.

But Ben Cline joined the vast majority of his fellow House Republicans to vote NO. Of course he did.

In case anyone didn’t take him seriously last year, Congressman Cline has just reaffirmed his commitment to slashing Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees.

And, as you can see, he did it with a smile on his face.

Cline is a leading member of the Republican Study Committee, a group of more than 170 House GOP lawmakers, which released these proposals and others on Wednesday. Cline chairs the RSC’s Budget and Spending Task Force.

NBC News reports:

For Social Security, the budget endorses “modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy.” It calls for lowering benefits for the highest-earning beneficiaries….

The new budget also calls for converting Medicare to a “premium support model,” echoing a proposal that Republican former Speaker Paul Ryan had rallied support for. Under the new RSC plan, traditional Medicare would compete with private plans and beneficiaries would be given subsidies to shop for the policies of their choice. The size of the subsidies could be pegged to the “average premium” or “second lowest price” in a particular market, the budget says.

The plan became a flashpoint in the 2012 election, when Ryan was GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s running mate, and President Barack Obama charged that it would “end Medicare as we know it.” Ryan defended it as a way to put Medicare on better financial footing, and most of his party stood by him.

Medicare is projected to become insolvent in 2028, and Social Security will follow in 2033. After that, benefits will be forcibly cut unless more revenues are added.

Biden has blasted Republican proposals for the retirement programs, promising that he will not cut benefits and instead proposing in his recent White House budget to cover the future shortfall by raising taxes on upper earners.

Of course Cline would never stand for that.

Boosting the age to claim Social Security benefits would increase hardship and poverty for older Americans, especially those working physically demanding low-income jobs. That would include a large portion of the people living in Cline’s Sixth Congressional District.

But the threats to Social Security and Medicare are not the only things wrong with this budget.

Apart from fiscal policy, the budget endorses a series of bills “designed to advance the cause of life,” including the Life at Conception Act, which would aggressively restrict abortion and potentially threaten in vitro fertilization, or IVF, by establishing legal protections for human beings at “the moment of fertilization.” It has recently caused consternation within the GOP following backlash to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatened IVF.

The Life at Conception Act wouldn’t just “aggressively restrict” abortion and IVF. It would outlaw them entirely.

Further, according to a White House Fact Sheet, the RSC budget:

• “Raises Medicare costs for seniors by taking away Medicare’s authority to negotiate prescription drug costs, repealing $35 insulin, and the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap in the Inflation Reduction Act.”

• “Cuts Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program by $4.5 trillion over ten years, taking coverage away from millions of people, eroding care for seniors, children, and people with disabilities, and taking us back to the days where people could be denied care for pre-existing conditions and charged more for health insurance simply for being a woman.”   

• “Passes $5.5 trillion in tax cuts skewed to the wealthy and large corporations, including permanently extending tax cuts in the Trump tax law, repealing the minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations the President signed into law, eliminating the estate tax for the wealthiest Americans, providing a massive tax cut for billionaire investors, and making it easier for the wealthy and large corporations to get away with cheating on their taxes.”

And it wouldn’t be a Republican plan without proposals for fighting pointless culture wars. So the RSC budget includes a long list of legislation aimed at curbing the teaching of “Critical Race Theory.” However that is defined.

I have no doubt Congressman Cline will be happy to explain and defend these proposals to any constituent who asks.

After President Biden concluded his State of the Union address to Congress Thursday night, Congressman Cline posted one of his awkward walk-and-talk videos denouncing the speech.

Standing in the Capitol Rotunda next to a statue of Ronald Reagan, Cline said: “Hey this is Ben Cline. I’m here after the State of the Union address.”

He went on to claim: “We didn’t hear much from this president tonight about solutions. We only saw him cast blame for the problems this country is facing.”

Those who watched the address or read the transcript can judge for themselves.

But a funny thing about Cline’s spiel: It was recorded before he or anyone else even heard Biden’s speech.

The speech started after 9 p.m. and ended before 11, when, as usual, it was dark outside in Washington, DC. But notice the daylight coming through the door at the rear as Cline talked.

Another reminder not to trust anything Cline says, on matters big or small.

As for Reagan, whom Cline called “one of our greatest presidents,” Biden made a telling point about him in his speech:

Wasn’t long ago when a Republican president named Ronald Reagan thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Now, now my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. That’s a quote. A former president actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. I think it’s outrageous, it’s dangerous, and it’s unacceptable.

Don’t you think so too, Congressman?

In fairness, Cline gave an interview after the address, as usual following the Republican talking points and ignoring what Biden actually said. Strangely, he called the speech “really disarming.” I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means.