How extreme are House Republicans? Get this:
A bipartisan resolution to honor Pope Francis before a scheduled U.S. appearance is mired in a U.S. House committee because he is perceived as too liberal. The resolution has only 19 Republican co-sponsors — none from Arkansas.
Reason: He’s too liberal.
Republicans are upset because of comments the Pope made concerning the free market. Last November, for example, Francis published his Evangelii Gandium, in which he noted that “[a]s long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems.”
He also specifically attacked President Ronald Reagan’s signature economic policy, “trickle-down theory,” writing that “[s]ome people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.
Also reports The Hill, quoting a GOP official:
Some Republicans believe the pope is “sounding like [President] Obama.”
Supporters of the resolution are trying to get a vote on it. Call Congressmen Griffin, Womack, Cotton and Crawford. Ask them why they won’t join a resolution praising the pope, who’s also encouraged Christian outreach even to gay people.