Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Food safety bill passes Senate, but dead in the water because … Dems can't read the Constitution
Hotair ^ | 12/01/2010 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 12/01/2010 8:51:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Apparently, no one told Harry Reid to check Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution before passing S510, the food-safety bill that Democrats hailed as a major lame-duck session achievement earlier this week — and which ran afoul of their own party in the House. Section 107 of the bill raises taxes, and as any Constitutional scholar can attest — or anyone else who has actually read the document that Senators swore to uphold when taking office — only the House of Representatives has that power:

A food safety bill that has burned up precious days of the Senate’s lame-duck session appears headed back to the chamber because Democrats violated a constitutional provision requiring that tax provisions originate in the House.

By pre-empting the House’s tax-writing authority, Senate Democrats appear to have touched off a power struggle with members of their own party in the House. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, sending it to the House, but House Democrats are expected to use a procedure known as “blue slipping” to block the bill, according to House and Senate GOP aides.

The debacle could prove to be a major embarrassment for Senate Democrats, who sought Tuesday to make the relatively unknown bill a major political issue by sending out numerous news releases trumpeting its passage.

Section 107 of the bill includes a set of fees that are classified as revenue raisers, which are technically taxes under the Constitution. According to a House GOP leadership aide, that section has ruffled the feathers of Ways and Means Committee Democrats, who are expected to use the blue slip process to block completion of the bill.

Now what? The House will either block the bill entirely or pass its own version of it. The latter option will mean that Reid will have to hold a vote to reopen debate on the bill, and will need unanimous consent to limit that debate. Otherwise, it could take the rest of the legislative calendar in the Senate to move the bill before the session ends and the bill has to be reintroduced. Even if the House cooperated, the bill could later be challenged in court as being procedurally deficient.

Reid can forget about unanimous consent. Roll Call notes that Tom Coburn won’t agree to it due to his strong opposition to the bill in any form. Meanwhile, the issue will continue to draw attention to Democrats’ continued expansion of the regulatory state while ignoring jobs and the budget.

Yesterday, Senate Democrats were crowing about this bill. Today, they’ll be eating crow.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: constitution; famineact; foodsafetybill; searchandfind; senate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

1 posted on 12/01/2010 8:51:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

We’ll see.


2 posted on 12/01/2010 8:52:47 AM PST by Carley (IT'S THREAT ANALYSIS, NOT RACIAL PROFILING)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Perhaps they will just deem that they have all the power in the world.


3 posted on 12/01/2010 8:54:01 AM PST by ClearCase_guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Interesting. This tends to validate Hamilton’s insistence that the two houses of Congress would serve as a check on one another through sheer jealousy if nothing nobler. Don’t expect this to get wide play in the media, however. They’re still trying to blame Bush for the economic decisions made in the Democrat Congress.


4 posted on 12/01/2010 8:55:06 AM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Carley
NOT to Worry > Speaker of the House Pelosi will rule the bill as “deemed” to have been previously passed in it's modified form
5 posted on 12/01/2010 8:55:57 AM PST by VRWCTexan (Those who forget history, are doomed to repeat it !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’m not optimistic any Dem anywhere will really block this bill on Constitutional grounds. Reid will huddle with Pelosi and they will dream up some clever way to bypass the law and pass the bill.


6 posted on 12/01/2010 8:56:14 AM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
"check Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution "

Don't worry about that old piece of paper that doesn't get Upheld in Court anymore. We just had the Obamacare ruling that the Constituion Commerce Clause (which will soon be claimed to cover the Faggot/Dyke Marriage issues), is the catch-all, and the Obamacare is thus Constitutional as a result.

The same with those pesky non-Agrigiant Corp. farmers; we will regulate the snot out of 'em, so they can't compete with Mega-Corp Agribusiness.

After all, the Commerce Clause is used "FOR THE COMMON GOOD".

7 posted on 12/01/2010 8:58:02 AM PST by traditional1 ("Don't gotsta worry 'bout no mo'gage, don't gotsta worry 'bout no gas; Obama gonna take care o' me!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite

It will be more ‘creative government’ from the same clowns who brought us ‘Obamacare’


8 posted on 12/01/2010 8:58:22 AM PST by SMARTY (Conforming to non-conformity is conforming just the same.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Carley

” We’ll see. “

Agree — given the Dim’s absolute talent for twisting the Constitution out of recognition (or ignoring it altogether) to get what they want to expand Government, this sounds like ‘whistling in the dark’......


9 posted on 12/01/2010 8:58:54 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
The debacle could prove to be a major embarrassment for Senate Democrats

That's assuming anyone outside the beltway hears about it after the media locks it down.

Half the people in this country don't even know that only the House can originate tax and spend bills. Most of the morons think the President just passes spending bills all on his own. And since all libs think the Constitution should be ignored, I can't imagine any of them finding fault with the Dems in the Senate on this anyway.

10 posted on 12/01/2010 9:03:43 AM PST by ChildOfThe60s ( If you can remember the 60s....you weren't really there)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: saganite
I'm with you on this one....I have NO FAITH WHAT SO EVER that any of the greedy power seekers in Gov. will think twice about trashing our Constitution....look at how many times the guy in the white house has run over that precious document since he's been in office...sorry, I think the bunch of crooks running the show now will stop at NOTHING to get their agenda passed....there will surely come a time when the people of our nation will rise up and say ENOUGH ALREADY.

Don't get me wrong...I sure hope this thing can get stopped, I'm just not holding my breath till it does.

11 posted on 12/01/2010 9:07:18 AM PST by Molly T. (Has the bunch in Washington crossed YOUR line in the sand yet?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

open letter to TOM HARKIN -D Iowa:

We will “Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense”
(Winston Churchill)
You can try to pass some S-510 bill to regulate farmers, both small and large. We will not submit! We will not give in and we will not give up. You are wrong again. It is time for you to retire. You are too far gone and out of touch with us, the people in your district, to be of any use anymore.
Beau

12 posted on 12/01/2010 9:08:38 AM PST by 1stIowa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VRWCTexan

See here now...

Senator John Glenn said that they could not run this country if they had to go by the Constitution.


13 posted on 12/01/2010 9:17:11 AM PST by Captain7seas (FIRE JANE LUBCHENCO FROM NOAA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

FWIW— ADM is up 1.5% (roughly) and Monsanto up 2.5% in this morning’s trading...


14 posted on 12/01/2010 9:19:42 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Captain7seas

” Senator John Glenn said that they could not run this country if they had to go by the Constitution. “

That might have been a typo - ‘run’ SB ‘ruin’......


15 posted on 12/01/2010 9:21:07 AM PST by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
They can do whatever they want.

Just ask them.

16 posted on 12/01/2010 9:21:57 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (DEFCON I ALERT: The federal cancer has metastasized. All personnel report to their battle stations.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“Blue slipping” is what the House does when the Senate usurps its power of the purse. To put it simply, such a bill is dead. The House won’t even consider it.


17 posted on 12/01/2010 9:23:18 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
“Blue slipping” is what the House does when the Senate usurps its power of the purse. To put it simply, such a bill is dead. The House won’t even consider it.

Correct, but will the House do it?

18 posted on 12/01/2010 9:29:22 AM PST by frogjerk (I believe in unicorns, fairies and pro-life Democrats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: frogjerk

Its already done. The may both be Democrats but the chambers operate very differently and the House And Ways Means Committee’s feathers were ruffled. So the bill is effectively dead since Tom Coburn won’t give consent to proceed on it unless changes are made to his satisfaction.


19 posted on 12/01/2010 9:32:42 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I wonder if anything will be left of our way of life when our bloated government gets finished redesigning it. Now the price of food will increase because of micro-inspections, endless regulations and stupid politicians. The wave of the future, fixing something that isn't broke and taxing the public for it. Get these people out of office now.
20 posted on 12/01/2010 9:33:03 AM PST by ANGGAPO (Let Gulf Beach Club)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson