"I was elected to lead, not to read."
Posted on 09/28/2009 6:03:33 PM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) introduced a discharge petition last Wednesday that would compel House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to permit a vote on a House rule change that would force a bit of transparency on the Democrat leadership. House Resolution 554 would require that all major legislation be posted on the web for public review for a minimum of 72 hours before it could be brought to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. No more dropping thousand-page bills and hundreds of pages of amendments at the last minute barring not only the public but members of Congress from reading the bills -- forcing votes on legislation members haven’t been allowed or given the time to read.
The discharge petition has a bit of momentum, garnering 178 signatures in three days. 218 signatures are required to force the vote on the bi-partisan discharge resolution authored by Reps. John Culberson (R-Texas) and Brian Baird (D-Wash.). Five rank-and-file Democrats, including Baird, have signed the petition, publicly bucking their leadership.
On Friday Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) moved to thwart the progress made by this Walden/Baird insurrection. At the behest of Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Walz sent a “Dear Leader Colleague” letter applauding Pelosi and Hoyer for their “transparency and openness” in the legislative process, as if they’d actually been letting members and the public read the bills before votes. He said the Walden/Baird resolution isn’t necessary as House rules, “already require… such a period of time be made available to members for review of legislation and the drafting of amendments.” Walz asks for fellow Democrats to step into the Orwellian Zone with him and sign the letter in support of Pelosi and Hoyer’s current open and transparent legislative process. You can’t make this stuff up.
What Walz deliberately left out of his letter is that the current House Rules aren’t working. Pelosi and Hoyer have shoved a horrifying succession of bills through the House including the trillion-dollar so-called stimulus spending bill, the national cap and trade energy tax, dropping hundreds of pages of amendments at 3:00 am the morning of the vote. In an effort to avoid public scrutiny, Pelosi’s massive “omnibus” spending bill had over 9,000 earmarks that were dropped into the bill at the very last minute.
The sad part is, even though the entire country knows it’s not true, the overwhelming majority of Democrats will not sign the discharge petition because of Pelosi’s arm-twisting, and the petition probably won’t get enough signatures to bring the matter to the floor. The Dems are quite comfortable with the lack of transparency in the legislative process under their Dear Leaders. And they don’t see a need to honor the wishes of the American people by giving their representatives time to actually read a bill before they have to vote on it.
House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio supports the discharge petition and has been leading a drive to get signatures.
“The American people are angry that Speaker Pelosi didn’t allow the public and their elected representatives to read the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill or the national energy tax before they were rammed through the House,” Boehner said. “They have every right to be angry. Look at the results. We’ve lost more than 2.5 million jobs since the ‘stimulus’ bill passed, and yet after the fact we found that it included nearly a million dollars for Rep. Murtha’s ‘airport for no one.’ Months after House Democrats passed Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax, we learned of a secret Obama Administration analysis showing such a ‘cap-and-trade’ scheme will raise costs for American families by an average of $1,700 a year.”
“Congress can, and must, do better,” Boehner added.
We’ll keep an eye on the discharge petition signature count.
House Rams Through More Spending
The Democrats on Friday shoved through the Legislative Branch Appropriations funding, attaching a continuing resolution (CR) which extended the funding for the federal government through October 31, 2009 at the current 2009 levels. The CR also extended highway funding and supplemental appropriation levels for defense in 2009.
Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (R-Ga.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, exposed the reason for Pelosi folding the CR into the unrelated legislation.
“Republicans drafted a positive alternative solution to this continuing resolution that would save taxpayers $84 billion,” Price said. “True to form, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats in power would not allow it to be voted on by the full House of Representatives. Are they worried some of their members might actually believe that saving $84 billion is a good idea? Our nation is on the brink of bankruptcy, yet Democrats in charge continue to spend with reckless abandon. It speaks volumes that those in charge won’t even allow a vote on our cost-saving amendment.”
“This is just another example of the Democrat lack of leadership pretending that Republican solutions don’t exist,” Price added. “Perhaps they don’t believe the problems caused by running up $11.8 trillion in debt can be solved by spending less money. Their refusal to allow a vote on an amendment that saves $84 billion proves once again that they have no plan to deal with their skyrocketing deficits. This is a reckless decision.”
Senate Finance Committee Health Care Amendments Voted on Friday
Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) #C-10: The amendment would prohibit the federal government from limiting consumer choice by defining the health care benefits offered through private insurance. Failed 9-14.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) #C-2: (As modified): Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Transparency for Health Plans Operating in the Health Insurance Exchanges. Passed by voice vote.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) #C-23: (As modified): Requires that all amendments accepted or ruled out-of-order during the Finance Committee’s consideration of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 be re-scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for accuracy. Failed 11-12 (Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) voted yes).
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) #C-15: Narrow the Age Rating Band. The amendment will replace the 5:1 age rating band in the Chairman‘s Mark with a 2:1 age rating band. Taking together all permissible risk factors, premiums within a family category could not vary by more than a 3:1 composite ratio. Withdrawn.
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) #C-10: Any czar handling health care issues shall be subject to the Senate confirmation process. Failed 10-13.
The Senate Finance Committee resumes markup of its health care outline on Tuesday at 9:30 am.
The dems don't know the meaning of the word honor! This is the most corrupt and evil administration this country has ever seen.
It is un- Democratic to read before you if you are told to.
If the representatives and senators do not want to read the bills before they vote on them, WE THE PEOPLE should be allowed to read the bills for them and then WE THE PEOPLE should tell them how we expect them to vote. After all, it is OUR government.
Democrats say it’s racist to read before you vote.
So can’t Beohner put this put as a privileged resolution? How about 5 days, so we can discuss?
"I was elected to lead, not to read."
na...its like kerry said....we wouldn’t understand it anyway.
If nobody is going to read the laws before passing them..technically a monkey could make just as informed of a decision.
I might add, given enough time a monkey can supposedly write shakespeare ...but it looks like it can do a politicians job on day one.
Now we have enough knowledgeable eyes on the web that any nefarious part could be outed quickly. Assuming that said eyes are allowed to see it.
The last thing the “Democrats” want is a democratic process!
It's getting pretty late.
If they don't stand up to Pelosi soon, it may be too late.
These freshman reps seem willing to just throw away their nascent careers in servile sacrifice to the Botoxed One. I've never seen anything like it. (Is that just my impression? Any congressional insiders out there who have? Has there ever been a speaker of either party able to enforce this level of docile obeisance?)
It would be funny if it was not true.
Her Nanciness would see to it that they never got anywhere as lobbyists afterward. So they’re caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Is this a joke? Posting a proposed bill just 72 hours before it’s voted on doesn’t give the American people enough time to absorb and react to it. In fact, it doesn’t give us enough time to even read it. Most of us aren’t perusing the internet every day seeking to read and comprehend the possible effects of proposed bills, long, windy, and legaleze-steeped as they are. I honesty thought it was going to say “72 days” when I first glanced at the “72”.
What Walz deliberately left out of his letter is that the current House Rules aren’t working. Pelosi and Hoyer have shoved a horrifying succession of bills through the House including the trillion-dollar so-called stimulus spending bill, the national cap and trade energy tax, dropping hundreds of pages of amendments at 3:00 am the morning of the vote. In an effort to avoid public scrutiny, Pelosi’s massive “omnibus” spending bill had over 9,000 earmarks that were dropped into the bill at the very last minute.
Tim Waltz is my libturd socialist pig rep from 1st District-MN. I call his office regularly to scream & holler at his staffies or whoever picks up the phone. I have been disconnected & cut off as well. I don't care....I will keep calling
Tomorrow I am going to call & scream & holler about libturd Tim Waltz's latest travesty above. Rat Bastard!!! He portrays himself as a MODERATE here in MN and he votes for 0bozo & Pelosi right down the party line. Rat Bastard!!! The fur will fly tomorrow. (I better call from my vehicle in the parking lot so I don't get fired at work).
“Transparency” is just a fancy word for “racist”....
If this happens...I EXPECT every Pubbie on Capitol Hill to return to their district immediately...and note their return will occur after their copy arrives in their district...to be reviewed with their constituents in a series of Town Halls.
So I have a stupid question!
What happens when Zer0 and the Rats scurry out of office.
Can a simple EO decimate all this health-care BS, or does the congress need to vote it’s conclusion???
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