(USA Today) The lame duck session of Congress is finally over. It happened with a flurry of legislation being passed by the House and Senate. What's really amazing is the American public spoke on November 2nd and voted out a large number of Demcrats in the House. The Democrats lost 63 seats in the House and lost six or seven in the Senate. The Republicans gained six seats in the Senate. The Democrats will maintain control of the Senate. However, Congress proceeded with business as usual since the American public made their voices heard at the polls that they didn't approve of the direction Congress was taking the American public. Our elected elite don't care. Congress isn't beholden to the American people. They are beholden to all sorts of interest groups who placed them in power. That's why you see business as usual taking place. I was listened to early radio talk show host Doug Stephan on his "Talk Radio Countdown". He made an interesting comment and said since the American public has spoken, Congress shouldn't be holding a lame-duck session with all those that have been voted out. He said those that lost on November 2nd should have left Washington the day after the election. I believe he's on target. He also stated that the president and both houses of Congress should serve one six-year term and then step down. Term limits are definitely a must.
Most of the legislation that was voted on during the lame duck session shouldn't have been reserved for the next session of Congress which begins in January. The problem is Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have an agenda they're trying to push down the throats of the American people. They don't care what the American people said at the polls. They're going to have their cake and eat it too.
Even though Nancy Pelosi has been demoted as the Speaker of the House, don't think she's going to roll over and play dead. She will use every tactic she can use to accomplish her agenda in the House. She will be the House Minority Leader and I guarantee you she isn't playing dead. She even made the statement arrogantly that the Democrats in the House didn't lose because of her. I beg to differ. She wasn't the only reason why the Democrats lost, but she played a major role in the House Democrats defeat in November. Pelosi is much worse than Hillary Clinton as far as I'm concerned. Hillary knows when to back down. Hillary didn't have any choice when the proposed healthcare bill she tried to push through Congress went in defeat in 1994. However, Pelosi is persistent and she'll push the Progressive agenda through regardless who wins or loses. Nancy is from San Francisco. She knows her seat is safe. She could care less whether her party loses the majority. She's all about the agenda.
Several pieces of legislation were passed by this lame duck session of Congress such as a two year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts as well as extending unemployment benefits for thirteen months, at a cost of $858 billion. Lawmakers began the session November 15, after the midterm elections. I believe Republicans should've tried to hold out to make the tax cuts permanent. This is an issue the Republican Congress needs to make a priority when the 112th Congress begins in January. I'm afraid they won't but they should. Americans are taxed too much already. This class warfare game needs to be put to an end.
Some of the controversial measures that were passed by this lame duck session of Congress were the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell", and the START Treaty, which is a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. I've already stated that the decision to reduce nuclear arms should be made between Congress and the Pentagon. We shouldn't be make making deals with other countries when it comes to nuclear weapons. I don't think we should advertise to the world that we're reducing the stockpiles of nuclear weapons. It will send the message to the world that the United States is vulnerable and rogue countries will feel comfortable in launching an attack against the United States. Military issues should be between Congress and the Pentagon. How can we trust that Russia's going to keep their end of the bargain? We can't. They aren't trustworthy.
Some of the other legislation that Congress successfully passed was a $4.2 billion measure that's supposed to benefit rescue workers who toiled at the World Trade Center in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. It offers health assistance for those sickened by dust and debris. Congress passed the bill Wednesday after trimming its cost from $6.2 billion. There was also a sweeping rewrite of the nation's food-safety laws that will give the Food and Drug Administration more power to inspect food production facilities and issue mandatory recalls of tainted products. After a phase-in period, high risk food facilities will be inspected every three years. Finally, a $4.5 billion child nutrition plan that will expand the school lunch program and allow the government to set new standards for school meals, including in vending machines. The measure, which is championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, would increase by 115,000 the number of low-income students who qualify for free or discounted meals.
One of the bills that went to defeat was the Dream Act, which would give legal status to some illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents. I do believe the 112th Congress will take up this bill and I believe we'll see which Republicans are real and which ones are phony. I believe you'll find several Republicans joining in the bandwagon in passing this bill next year. Senator John McCain will be back to his liberal ways. He had to play "conservative" this year due to the fact he was facing re-election. Now he'll be back to his old tricks once again. It's amazing how the RINO's went along with the Democrats in passing the START Treaty. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) claimed the Start Treaty wouldn't pass. However, he didn't do anything to help prevent the START Treaty from passing in the Senate. It was absolutely pathetic how the Republicans were in lockstep with the Democrats on many of the issues. You can thank the RINO's for the legislative accomplishments of this lame duck session. Many of the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle stocked the spending bills with all kinds of pork. Thankfully, they weren't able to pass the omnibus spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated he had to pull the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill from consideration because he didn't have the votes. Instead, they opted for a stopgap measure to keep the government running through March 4.
I recall how the Republicans were campaigning on how Congress must severely cut the budget or this nation's headed for some major financial trouble. However, they were up to business as usual in this lame duck session. They were taking advantage of all the pork they could take advantage of. Dr. Charles Krauthammer, one of the Fox News contributors, referred to President Obama as the comeback kid because of some of the legislative accomplishments the lame duck session made. That's because the Republicans in Congress are worthless. I wouldn't hold my breath and expect things to change for the better when the new Republican freshmen come to Congress in January. The Republicans and Democrats are just alike. All they desire is the issue. They don't want to solve problems. Both parties are about winning the election and gaining control of Congress--nothing else. That's why the Democrats supported the tax cut extension for two years. They believe they can benefit from it during the 2012 elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment