Posted on 06/27/2007 9:59:38 AM PDT by Jacksonville Patriot
Senate Sausage [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, e-mails:
Someone once said not to watch how sausage or legislation are made. Today especially I prefer to be at the sausage factory.
As if the Senate floor situation could get any worse, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's staff is now rewriting the Clay Pigeon amendment behind closed doors. It is the intent of the Majority Leader to bring this new unread Amendment up without the Republicans seeing the language. Yesterday Senator Reid did not have his massive 373 page amendment ready when he started debate on it and mistakes were made in the initial drafting. This fact was not discovered until Republicans objected to waiving the reading of the bill, and the Senate Clerk had nothing to read. Shockingly, Reid scrambled around, put the floor in morning business for a few hours, and then allowed Kennedy's staff make final changes to the amendment. The language was finally made available around 5:30 pm and Reid "graciously" gave Republicans the night to go through it before moving to it this morning.
This morning Republicans announced that Reid's amendment did not include the Sessions EITC provision in the touchback section, despite the fact that all previously passed amendments were supposed to be incorporated in the bill and the Clay Pigeon amendment. This oversight is the only mistake so far found, yet there may be other mistakes and intentional omissions in the 373 page amendment. This morning Reid put the floor back in morning business and sent his staff off to rewrite the mega amendment once again. Today, "the most deliberative body in the world," is left to debate legislation that they do not have a copy of. When Republicans asked if the amendment could be read once it was written, Reid objected because "it would take up too much time." Reid is promising the changes in the new amendment to be minimal, yet he has yet to allow Republicans to see the amendment, much less to check the changes.
This is a true outrage and shows the extreme measures the proponents of Amnesty will use to pass this bill, without any significant debate, nor any time to read.
06/27 12:34 PM
Well yeah, or McCains — either one.
“When Republicans asked if the amendment could be read once it was written, Reid objected because “it would take up too much time.”
Don’t bother your pretty heads over legalities, boys.
That’s what lawyers are for! Sign right there. And there,
and there, aaaaand we’ll get you a copy next month.
I didn’t think I could be more upset today than I was yesterday. Boy was I ever wrong. Never underestimate the duplicity of the US Senate.
L
He'd probably give as good as he gets; got to give the devil his due (and military training).
Hopefully Dirty Harry is just dragging out this sham to achieve the max negative impact on the White house and the rug will be pull from under El Presidente with tomorrow’s cloture vote.
THey both wish to destroy us.....what’s the difference?
Reid should be shipped to Iran.
Looks like to me that is precisely how the pubies are running the White House (and this nation) right now.
Why is there no outrage?
We should be in open revolt on these issues.
Right and remember how scared we are always saying “Well, if we do that the democrats will .............”?
Notice how the democrats do not spend one minute worrying about what we will say if they overtake the government and the power of the people.
That’s it. I’m killing myself. After lunch, though. I don’t want to die on an empty stomach, I may have a long trip ahead after all. Come to think of it, maybe I should wait till after dinner. Ribs at Smalley’s Roundup in Salinas CA tonight sounds good.
Regular folks who don’t watch this stuff for a hobby (as we do) think this is the way it always goes down.
This is worse than that. That is lazy in doing their job of handling the business we elected them to handle.
The other is denying the minority the right to full disclosure of works in progress.
Reid should be sued. He is telling the Republican senators they have no right to review amendments and must vote them in sight unseen. We did not elect senators to enact laws without full disclosure of those laws.
Reid does not have the power to blindfold our government representatives.
Seems we should have recourse to demand full disclosure so that senators can do their jobs.
None! There’s going to be a military coup in this country one day if these Democrats go to far. (and there is a country)
Even if it was perfect, we all know the only part of this bill that'll be enforced is the amnesty for illegals. Five years from now there will be no fence, and they'll be trying to legalize a new 60 million dems -- oppps, I mean illegals.
It is quite possible that Reid aims to kill this bill because Bush wants it so much. That Reid hates Bush is well known. You all may recall the reason republicans voted against cloture en masse last month was b/c Reid would not allow their amendments to be heard and voted on. They simply asked for more time and Reid wouldn’t allow it. Then he (Reid) took the floor and blamed Bush and the GOP.
The SYSTEM IS BROKE. What is it going to take to return to sanity? Rome is burning.
As my friends in West Texas say, ''It ain't right, but it's true.''
Who's gonna report on it ... the MSM ???
They are covering for the dems like they always do
What is happening on the Senate today is a disgrace and every time Vitter tries to inquiry about something .. he is being ignored by Reid and the Dems
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