We've seen this bad movie before. It resulted in Stimulus, and the Christmas Eve Obamacare vote last year.
And it appears to be happening again.
This lame duck Congress has no political legitimacy to pass anything other than a continuing budget resolution (including defense) to keep the government operating until the new Congress can consider a full budget, and perhaps to straighten out the tax situation since taxes will rise before the new Congress is seated if nothing is done.
Much beyond that, Mitch McConnell should be shutting down the Senate.
Sweeping social legislation and other non-emergency items should be deferred until the new Congress, rather than having several dozen Congressman and several Senators who have been voted out of or are leaving office decide the fate of such matters. If these social agenda items were such a priority, they could have been brought up months ago, when Congressmen with a political stake in the vote were voting.
Mitch McConnell has a chance to earn the trust of the voters who have given him six new votes, and provided him with the backing of an incoming Republican House. Don't blow it.
Update: A commenter asks "How can we make sure Senator McConnell gets this message loud and clear?" His Washington office phone number is 202-224-2541, and the e-mail contact form is here. As always, be polite.
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We need new rules for the House and Senate. The rules should say that no major legislation can be passed between election day and the day that the new House is in session.
ReplyDeleteYesterday we saw Congresscritters vote on a bill that they should have no right to vote on, like Chet Edwards of Texas, who was soundly defeated by Bill Flores, who is a solid conservative.
Yet, as we saw, a bunch of ticked-off politicians get to throw one last punch at the American voter who ousted them. And it is all legal.
I agree, McConnell should tell Reid that nothing that is not absolutely necessary, like funding the day to day operations of the federal government, and making sure that citizens and companies know what the tax rates will be after Jan. 1, 2011, will not make it to the floor and any of the Democrats little "social justice" bills will fall to the ground with a hard thump.
You are absolutely right. How can we make sure Senator McConnell gets this message loud and clear?
ReplyDeleteSince Congress patently abuses every Defense bill, they should not have a say over how DOD money gets spent, but only over how much. That legislation should be a monthly dollar amount that remains in effect until the next bill changes it. SecDef should then apportion to the various Secretaries for further reapportionment, and so on. If Congress feels strongly the money is not spent appropriately then they already have a process for removal of the Commander in Chief.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he reads your blog, but I passed it on to his office to be sure. Thank you for summing up our concern in such an eloquent manner.
ReplyDeleteThe entire GOP leadership DID get the message lou and clear and went out of their way to acknowledge that they did. They just don't care. The only thing that has changed is the calculus to how they continue being Assistant Democrats while keeping the Tea Party influence at bay.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Mike Pence challenge McConnell for Senate leadership? I don't care that the votes weren't there, the fight would have been constructive. It's like Bachmann meekly accepting NOTHING in the House leadership chain. She even contemplated changing the name of the Tea Party Caucus. Sheesh!
I hear the fight talk but where is the fight? The Tea Party has won absolutely nothing from the GOP establishment but "blame" for messing up the chance of winning a even more leftist RINO majority in the Senate.
Agree 100% percent.
ReplyDeleteThe political damage has already been done to the Democrats in the 2010 elections- there is nothing more to gain this year, and a lot to potentially lose in the long-term by bargaining from a position of weakness in the lame-duck session.
How exactly was Pence supposed to challenge McConnell for Senate leadership, since Pence is in the House?
ReplyDelete