Posted on 05/11/2015 11:32:37 AM PDT by HomerBohn
If you are watching the news, or were listening to Mark Levin’s rant last evening, the subject du jour is the Senate passage 96-1 of the Corker-Cardin bill. Yes, that is Tennessee’s own Republican Senator Corker, who obviously has his political eye set on a future in the White House.
The bill is advertised by Republican leadership as a great victory, giving Congress 30 days to review the President’s secret nuclear treaty negotiations with Iran before enactment. Under present law, the President cannot execute a treaty with a foreign nation unless it has the approval of 2/3 of the Senate. All senate Democrats present, and all but one Republican, voted to approve Corker-Cardin, plus the President has promised to sign the measure into law. That in itself should have raised some Republican red flags. But the only opposition to passage was that of an upstart Republican freshmen senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton. Oh well, he probably didn’t want an office desk anyway.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the US Constitution stipulates that there can be no foreign treaty executed unless 2/3 of the senators present approve. But under Corker-Cardin, the President’s Iranian Nuclear Deal is binding unless Congress disapproves. See the difference? If Congress should disapprove, the president can nullify such disapproval with a veto. Thus Obama’s Iranian Nuclear Deal will stand if only 34 members of Congress refuse to override his veto, instead of the 67 needed to support his treaty. Are Corker and friends really that dumb?
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-OH) said, “I look forward to House passage of this bill to hold President Obama’s administration accountable,” It doesn’t.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says he just wants to get beyond the Iran matter to move on to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal before critics rip it apart. Just move on, nothing more to see here!
But in this era of unprecedented transparency in government, in order to even see what is in the aforementioned TPP agreement that the Obama administration is hell-bent on passing, you’ve got to (1) be a member of Congress, (2) go to secret classified briefings room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center, (3) leave your staff and cellphone at the door, (5) be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read it, (6) return what you have just read, (7) hand over any notes you may have made, and (8) no matter what, you can’t discuss the details of what you’ve read with anyone! Do visions of Nancy Pelosi and Obamacare come to mind?
The Congressional Research Service admits that if the United States signs on to an international trade agreement, the implementing legislation of that trade agreement would supersede any conflicting federal, state, and local laws. When this occurs, domestic U.S. workers may be subject to a sudden change in tariffs, regulations, or dispute resolution proceedings, which would now be in the hands of international tribunals outside the U.S.
A particularly suspicious aspect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a clause called the “living agreement.” The ‘living agreement’ provision means that participating nations could both add countries (like China) to the TPP without Congressional approval, and could also change any of the terms of the agreement, including controversial areas such as the entry of foreign workers and foreign employees. Critics see this as another open-ended invitation for foreign immigration. Any such changes would not be subject to congressional approval. What kind of an “agreement” is that?
Only two senators, Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and Mike Lee (R-UT) have run the gauntlet to actually read the TPP document. Lee is still “undecided” on the issue. Don’t know about Sessions, but he has written the President, requesting that the content of the TPP be made public prior to any Congressional vote. No response.
We are familiar with situations where we are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t. This time we are damned by what Congress has done, and will be further damned with what Congress is about to do.
How long will this go on before a strong right-wing benevolent despot takes over. We need a Francisco Franco-type NOW!
This just in....Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Giving away it’s treaties approval power is a treason against the United States And especially when the objective is to make sure a sworn enemy openly determined to destroy us gets the nuclear bombs and icbms it needs to do it These congresecritters need a prison cell.
Just damn.
Total disgrace.
Like Graham, a small man with a pathologically large ego. He stands no chance of gaining the WH, none, zero.
“Are Corker and friends really that dumb? “
Yes.
He is an embarrassment to Tennessee.
There may be another in America that might just want to save this now pitiful nation.
I have no idea why the Senate is so eager to give away its constitutional power to approve treaties. Unless they want a monarchy.
I can trust Jeff Sessions. Actually, he would make a good president. He has always been conscientious, wrong only occasionally, and boy has he learned that the middle is no place to be if you want to keep America intact.
Courage is in short supply.
What we need is a civil war with the first casualties being the executive and legislative branches of government.
I’ve always liked Senator Sessions.
We marched on Washington in 2009 over less than this!
Small man?
Why this giant was the mayor of Chattanooga.
Another mistake by a party in serious decline.
It’s a total and complete sellout of American security It’s too weird and insane to be anything short of outright treason for hire $$$$.
Obama won’t have to declare martial law to win the presidency in 2016. No one will stop him. Congress wouldn’t do anything. SCOTUS won’t do anything. Obama and congress have ignored every word of the constitution. Why should he care what it says about 2 terms as president. The only thing to keep Obama out in 2017 and beyond, will be Barak’s huge ego.
This bill is a worthless scrap of paper, not even useful as TP. What this bill purports to do is amend the Constitution without the states ratifying it. For all intents and purposes, we have one party dissolving the Union and governing everything.
THAT is called Communism and this is why we needed to elect a “Republican” Congress, so they could finish the job of destroying the country.
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