Is the Super Committee’s Secrecy Brewing a Rank-and-File Revolt?
With only two weeks to go, the so-called super committee may be facing a congressional rank-and-file rebellion from lawmakers on the left and right who have been turned off by the insular group’s high degree of secrecy and fears the entire fast-track process may be unconstitutional. There is an underground sentiment in the city — not reported by the mainstream media yet — that the once highly vaunted super committee may facing serious political trouble.
The super committee is a group of twelve members — six Democrats and six Republicans — who were appointed by House and Senate leadership last summer as part of the deficit deal with the White House. Formally called the “Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction,” the group is mandated to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit relief. Failure to come up with a proposal automatically triggers spending cuts, $500 billion of which are targeted for the Pentagon.
The group potentially wields unbridled power over the country’s economic fate for the next decade, but virtually nothing is known about its deliberations. One House member told PJ Media there is an “eerie silence” from it and from the House and Senate leadership.
Others believe the super committee may now be facing a form of ”de-legitimization” as it has proceeded without offering any substantive information to the public or to Congress. There is a whole confluence of complaints afflicting the panel’s credibility, ranging from its obsession with secrecy, serious ethical problems, campaign fundraising conflicts, and questions about the constitutionality of its unconventional process.
A senior conservative congressional staffer told PJ Media, “Is the super committee dead? Not yet. But it’s moving toward it.”
There also are concerns about ethics problems surrounding the super committee. Currently the panel members do not have to report contacts with outside lobbyists or special interests. And the committee’s work is all about money — big money, and big special interests.
Procedurally the super committee process is unprecedented and designed to limit debate. If any proposal secures seven of the twelve votes, the super committee will report out its debt reduction plan to both the Senate and House by November 23. There, all amendments will be forbidden and lawmakers will only be able to vote it up or down.
Most troubling to both the left and the right is that there has been no real information about the super committee substance or deliberations. Originally there was an idea that private discussions would de-politicize the issue of cutting spending and entitlements. But the committee’s operating style seems more akin to a Kremlin operation than a U.S. congressional body. As a result, its credibility has suffered and privately Washington observers believe its reputation is spiraling downward.
There have been no public agendas, records, reports, memos, or documents produced by the group. There have been no written proposals anyone can publicly read or assess. With the exception of a few public meetings, all of the real closed door sessions have been shuttered tight.
Meanwhile, lobbyists with special access to the twelve select members have been marching up to Capitol Hill. The lobbying effort there has been called a “feeding frenzy,” with special interests swarming over Capitol Hill to get their concession or victory from the so-called “gang of twelve.”
The process completely circumvents a century of congressional rules and constitutionally established processes. Normally legislation requires public hearings, committee votes, passage by both houses of Congress, and joint conference committees to hammer out differences. The super committee process is, at best, an extra-constitutional process and perhaps even unconstitutional.
Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, believes it is the latter. “The problem of the super committee, it destroys that entire constitutional framework and ultimately will produce bad public policy,” he told PJ Media.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has gone further, saying he might eventually challenge the super committee’s constitutionality. He told CNBC: “Well, I would challenge it in the courts and say that is not a constitutional function.” He added,“There’s no authority to have a super Congress who takes over for what the House and Senate are supposed to do.”
At the end, there will be immense pressures on all the lawmakers to vote in favor of their plan. A defeat could spark a further downgrade of the U.S. debt by rating agencies and stoke another steep downturn on Wall Street. Standard and Poor´s downgraded the U.S. debt rating shortly after the $1.2 trillion deficit goal was announced by the White House.
However, since August many House conservatives have been uneasy about the super committee’s work. A staffer related the tensions felt at a recent conservative House briefing led by super committee co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). Reportedly, Hensarling faced blunt criticism from his colleagues. ”They generally asked straight up questions,” the staffer related.
IOW, the Super Committee, which is a direct result of those elected to Congress being either too incompetent or too timid to do the job they were elected to do, is functioning exactly as obama intended it to.
It is so depressing that Congress Critters are the last to figure this out. Apparently.
Did they really think that obama intended the SC to function constitutionally???? They need to get in touch with reality. They probably won’t…..but they really need to.
They could not come to any agreement as a whole body, because the Dems specifically stated they want no budget. So, the punted it to a select few, thus reducing our representation. We now have a President and a panel of 12 to rule over us. Less representation; more tyranny. Epic fail!
Well actually Marc we have Obama who rules by decree, Obama Socialist Czars who rule by non-elected legislation, and 12 appointed Elite Lords ruling behind close doors and telling we, the proletariat, how THEY WILL manage our economy and what THEY think is best for us.
All hail the Collective
P.S. WOW, didn’t realize that Patty “Mao Was Good” Murray was a co-chair, that alone scares the crap out of me.
I still can’t believe Boehner fell for this “super-committee” nonsense because it was a win-win for the democrats! If they can use the threat of defense cuts to force tax increases they win. If the GOP digs in against tax cuts, the Dmes win because they have always targeted DoD spending anyway. Now, once the automatic cuts are implemented, they have the leverage to say the cuts “would have never happened if the Republicans had compromised on tax increases.”
How could the House GOP have ever been so stupid as to allow the dems to get this into terms on the debt ceiling increase!? This is EXACTLY why the GOP should have said “shut ‘er down” back in August.
At some point it is going to finally occur to the electorate that the government has no business spending money in a way that no family in America can. Until the irresponsible are cast out the damage will continue.
I disagree with Gingrich about a lot of things starting with ethanol subsidies, of which he is a big fan, but he was right when he proclaimed the commitee the single dumbest idea he had encountered from Washington. How the supposed conservative leadership could have been so foolish as to agree to it in return for a debt ceiling increase explains just why we are in so much trouble. My supposedly conservative house rep voted for it and I let him know what a fool he was. He also has been cut off from campaign contributions from me.
They agreed because they are NOT conservatives at all. John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are sheep in wolves clothing. They are so afraid of angering the press, and of not being re-elected, that they will compromise any and all principles to stay in power. It’s a way to shift blame for nothing getting done away from themselves. They can (and will) say, “look, it’s not my fault. Blame the supercommittee”. At least with the democrats we know they are going to try to cheat us and lie to us, our own people should be held to higher standards. They should hold THEMSELVES to higher standards. But they don’t. Look at the way Boehner compromised with himself over the budget and debt ceiling issues last summer. If he’d stood fast, we would have a balanced budget right now.
We are screwed any way you cut it. None of the people on that “politburo” have this country well being in these mind/harts. They are ALL stooges. “Nomenclatura” at best, sabatures more likely.
And the worst part is, the people who elected them can’t see it.
When are people going to realize that the Republicans and Democrats in Washington are members of “The Club”? They are members, their contituents are not. At the end of the day, after all the ideological debates and posturing, the members of Congress retire to the bars, clubs and restaurants, paid for by we the people and the lobbyists, put their arms around each other and talk about the deals they’ve made and the money and power they’ve accumulated. Being elected to Congress is equivalent to hitting the Lottery. The only recourse that we have is to vote the $^&%*%;’s out of office and that hasn’t worked very well so far. It’s amazing that people here in America suffer silently and less than half will bother to go to the polls and vote. Depressing.
Spot on! Bigger government is in the interest of both parties. It is the politicians from both parties that are responsible for runaway
government spending and increasingly bigger government, at the expense of we the people’s pocket books and freedoms.
Once a political candidate wins one of those coveted seats in the House or Senate, they seem to forget that they were elected to represent we the people, not further a personal career.
The Super Committee was a recipe for failure, did McConnell think this was a brilliant political move? With Democrat loyalist John Kerry and Patty Murray, on the SC, who put the interest of their party above country, how could anything substantive, possibly get done?
Congress has the power of the purse, it is their job to make the hard spending decisions. They have clearly abrogated their responsibility. So not only do we have a Senate that will not pass a budget, but we have a House that doesn’t want to act either. And so we move ever closer to financial Armageddon brought to us by our own government. The financial misbehavior, by both parties, has been going on for decades. When are Americans going to wake up ?
In the old days, the “super committee” used to be called CONGRESS, because Congress was responsible with coming up with the budgets for this nation. It is sad to think that Congress today can’t even do what they are mandated to do under the Constitution, which is to control the power of the purse. Now we are reduced to having 12 no-name people determine the economic fate for over 300 million people. Does not really sound Constitutional to me. Just shows that we are drifting to a more parliamentary form of government. Nothing will get done in Washington unless one party ownes all of Congress and the White House. The days of compromise are over and single-party rule will be the only way to get anything passed. Who new that, after gaining our independence from Britain, we would end up being just like Britain. Pathetic.
The problem with compromise is that is what got us into this mess in the first place. Compromise with the dems always leads to something unconstitutional.
The Democratic Party, academic left, and MSM definition of “compromise” is, “Do it our way, STFD, and STFU. Or Else.”
That doesn’t leave anyone else much room to maneuver. It also will never change as long as the above-named groups are insular mutual-admiration societies who spend most of their time telling each other how wonderfully “enlightened” they are.
clear ether
eon
Eon, you and I seem to think a lot alike. I agree with you almost all the time. I say almost even though I can’t think of any post you have made that I disagree with just to CMA (the 1st person of CYA. LOL).
“Nothing will get done in Washington unless one party ownes all of Congress and the White House.”
Libertyship46,
We just had that before the 2010 elections. Look where that got us. The Resident and his band of thieves just got us deeper and deeper in debt. Even with control of both sides they still couldn’t come up with a budget.
In all this insanity, in all this crisis of constitutionality, in all this rampant greed and insatiable lust for power by the people running the federal government, it is telling to the nth degree, that not a single voice can be heard, asking the question, telling the truth, that this all we are doing requires us to, the rule of law, the principles of constitution compels us to, deliver up on our vows, our solemn oaths of office, to defend and protect the Constitution.
And none of them are doing so.
Where do We The People fit into all this?
After all we are the Sovereign Power.
The only power in this Constitutional Republic.
We are the only ones not represented in this madness.
From the top down this Mandarin class of cheats, liars, traitors, and tyrants has abused and used every advantage they can muster to enrich and empower themselves at the peoples expense and suffering.
We have the treason of project Gunwalker where thousands of guns where purposefully deliberately provided to Mexican drug cartels for the purpose of painting millions upon millions of Americans as criminals so their right to defend and protect themselves could be taken from them..
Trillions of OUR money given washed into the system of crony capitalism, gone forever, except for the bill. Guess who has to pay it now?
Crushing regulation without representation. Our founders must be flipping in their graves over the shear tyranny of this alone.
Introduction and assimilation of sharia law and it subsequent caliphate into every aspect of our culture and rule of law. Under the guise of a “religion”?
It is a cult, a blood thirsty system of racial bigotry.
I could go on for days.
This “super committee” is another instrument of tyranny specifically sponsored by the usurper in the white house in a constant line of them since he was installed in 2008.
It is why calling obama a usurper fits him perfectly.
There has been much research and reporting on duplicate programs in DC, as well as other egregious waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Is this all so obvious that the SC feels the need to ignore the facts? The first thing they should do is list these instances and have a separate vote on stopping all. I do not believe this committee is the answer, and we are already seeing in the lobbyists’ swarming the committee that this is more ‘business as usual’. We have wasted the past months on this exercise in futility. God help America, that we can survive until 2012.
Anyone who expected the Super Committee to accomplish anything probably believes the Super Friends (TM) were real, too.
The fact that the idiot trifecta of Kerry, Murray, and Baucus are the leading Democrats on it tells you all you need to know. They will demand more spending on “the programs everybody wants”, and higher taxes to pay for same. Except that by the time the new revenues arrive, they will have already spent that money on even more new programs above and beyond those they are demanding now- and will demand more taxes to pay for them. And then repeat the process.
Like Joe Conason’s column yesterday, they believe that if they can keep spending running ahead of revenue, at some point Utopia Will Happen Spontaneously. Either that, or the system will crash, and they can build one more to their liking on the ruins thereof.
There is now another group being formed by the Democrats calling for even more stimulus/deficit spending, on the grounds that “now is not the time to lose courage” re doing so. They also state that Europe is proof that their method works. Yes, they actually believe that Europe is in good condition economically.
There comes a point at which delusion becomes obvious to everybody.
As for the GOP side of the Super Clowns, they are holding out for the radical idea of… not increasing expenditures beyond the level of incoming revenues. Not cuts- just ensuring that outgo does not exceed income. They want the government to do what the rest of us do, i.e. not spending more than is in the bank. We don’t get to bounce checks, they argue, and neither should the government.
Even this is anathema to the Democrats, whose philosophy holds that government creates wealth by taking it from the private citizen and redistributing it “fairly”, and in doing so somehow increases it by “adding value” by virtue of the process. Don’t bother asking them to explain how this works; you will simply be attacked as a “reactionary”.
The Super Committee will end up demanding more spending and higher taxes. Which is exactly what Himself wants. So don’t be too surprised when it happens.
clear ether
eon
Absolutely right, again. I’m beginning to think the only real solution is the one the French used awhile back. I know others are already ahead of me in thinking so, I just hope the shedding of heads doesn’t spread to far. Be careful, get the right ones, or the left ones as it turns out.
The trouble with that solution, as you state, is that those most likely to invoke it will do so in the name of the same dogmas that got us into this mess in the first place.
In fact, strictly speaking, it’s already happening. The OWSies may look like the anti-war hippies of the 1960s, but in overall mentality they are closer to the mob that sent people to Madame’ Guillotine in France in the 1790s. Listen to their rhetoric, look at their signs, read their demands- all of which are based on the “total destruction and revolutionary vengeance” principle if they don’t get what they want.
The “progressives” are still cheering them on, not yet having realized that they are placing themselves in a very tenuous position. For one thing, the OWSies see them as part of the power structure, and therefore a valid target. For another, even the Community Organizer In Chief has little understanding of the dynamics of a mob.
Getting a mob genned up and pointed in the general direction of somebody you hate is no great trick. Aiming it once it gets underway is something else again. And as for stopping it once it has scented blood, you’d have a better chance of stopping a shark feeding frenzy behind a whaling factory ship.
Those who think they can “use” mobs tend to end up on the receiving end of same, once the mob runs out of other juicy targets. Just as those who start coup d’etats rarely end up ruling the country afterward. In fact, they rarely end up still alive.
Ask Maximilien’ Robespierre’ and Jean-Paul Marat.
cheers
eon
Is there any reason to believe that what the super committee is doing isn’t horse trading?
I haven’t lost faith in their ability to turn out a product of value since one would have had to begin with some faith in order to lose it. The best we can hope for is that their proposal is voted down and all we have lost is three months in which actual, responsible decisions might have been made.
Wait a minute … the SC is NOT constitutional to begin with is it??
This looks a lot like a another “Fast and Furious” debacle with the SC trying subversion “under the radar” … same tactics; different day; different delay tactics. We NEED an effing budget!!! NOT a STUPID COMMITTEE.
How is the congress appointing a committee to come up with recommendations not constitutional? Nobody ever said they couldn’t do that prior to now. They have committees for everything else, why not budget reduction? Although, the members of this committee seem predisposed to not reducing anything except the idea of thrift. If I’m wrong about any of them well, I don’t know who is on it for the republican side but Patty Murray is as corrupt as anyone in congress, just a little quieter.
Well its obvious that the “super committee” is nothing but political cover for our “leaders”. Too gutless and spineless to get much of anything productive done. Heck they won’t even pass a budget and John Boehner lets them get away with this. Expect more taxes increases to come out of the committee. All for $120 Billion of spending cuts, when the deficits exceed One Trillion Dollars. Its all so pathetic and all so predictable.
They didn’t get 120 billion in cuts. They didn’t even get half that. The papers said they got 60 billion but not when you look closer at what the final outcome was. John Boehner could go into a used car lot and start to buy a car for the sticker and talk the salesman into charging him half again that amount instead of talking him down in price.
Wait, it got voted into existance and only now there are concerns about constitutionality? Day late, dollar short. The courts start off with the presumption that legislation is constitutional. Given the whole body gets a vote on the end product these jokers have, wuite by design locked themselves into it. As Walter would say, dimbazz.
Then there is this happy situation where secrecy is keeping the rest of congress in the dark but, oh no, not the lobbyist. Those blood suckers are right there in the room. You tell me who runs the country!
What choice do we have with these people? How do you move a bunch of pompous idiots who think they’re God’s gift and have the power to prove it?
Unfortunately the “Super Committe” is constitutional. The Court is barred from ruling by the doctrine of separation of powers. Each chamber can make its own rules. The votes have to be published but proceediing can be secret. Indeed the original Congressional Record was called “The secret Diaries of Congress.”
“A parliament may not bind its successor.” This is why no long-term deal on spending will hold more than two years. The next Congress can scrap any commitment and go back to business as usual. This is how it is, folks.
How true. Any long term plan to address debt and deficit, will last only as long as a change of political control of the Senate and House.
The Stupor Committee is going to produce…a fiasco.
NOBODY is going to like anything they come up with…and if they come up with nothing (which may have been the small c communists’ plan all along) they are going to gut our military…in exchange for doing Bill Ayers’ dirty work, attritioning out 30 million elderly, mostly white, mostly center-right Americans.
The Republicans got snookered. They could NEVER win …the gambit was rigged from the beginning.
Think about it. The small c communists don’t CARE about “saving” capitalism or the free market. They want to kill it, replace it, “transform” us, “redistribute” wealth.
Unless and until we come to understand that, accept that, embrace that…we will continue to discuss the wrong issues. Please, do this exercise.
Take the FIRST stepping stone issue as this…the small c communists have ZERO interest in helping grow free market capitalism.
NOW…AND ONLY NOW…begin to look at the Stupor Committee. Nothing, and I mean nothing…the Republicans came up with…other than a full surrender, was going to fly.
The small c communists get to gut the military in half, if nothing is done. They get to tax our brains out and “redistribute” our accumulated wealth if our super secret, double secret probation “representatives” cave in. What were they offering in return…an empty dishrag, unsustainable program that was on it’s last legs…that impact more center-right voters anyway?
It was a con job. Republicans got snookered. It’s a rigged game.
They have planted so many fringe leftists in the DOJ it will take us 49 years to get them out. Czars and czarinas, all over the board in every department. Dormant viruses that may crop up in any portion of our body politic.
They own the propaganda machine and can paint it ALL the Republicans fault.
We are in the middle of a coup.
And, the small c communists have just handed the dagger to the Stupor Committee.
As Albert E. once observed, problems and never solved at the same level of awareness that caused them. When an organization has proven to be unable to right the problems it has created, we can assume any scheme it concocts to address those problems will have a similar result.
The name of this game is CYA, not problem solving.
YIKES! You mentioned RON PAUL!
DOUBLE YIKES!! And quoted him ACCURATELY!!!
Release the Kracken!
“the group is mandated to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit relief”
This is not exactly true —- it is 1.2 Trillion over 10 years – Even if that were for one (1) month we woudl still be going further into debt.
This is a congressional delaying tactic so spending and corruption cna go on at the same rate, and the Federal Governemtn Workers and legislatures can have their pet projects and entitlments and believe in thier own minds they are doing something. And the majority press continues to fly cover for them.
What a Joke.
Two thoughts…
Democrats sold their souls when employing the same kind of ‘super secret’ approach to policy making during the Barry’s Benefits/ObamaCare travesty. I wish they would shut their pie holes.
The fact that Republicans have shown themselves willing to aid and abet in this charade once again reveals their true nature -go along to get along “…cuz we got a good thing going here on Capitol Hill.”
“And the bestest part is – we don’t have to pay for our mistakes and live with the consequences of our meddling. We’re intelligent and elite – if our ideas don’t work, well hell – we’ll think up some other stuff to make you little people better off.”
Point gun at foot, squeeze trigger, limp away.
The super duper pooper committee is a stall tactic by the president and congress. The ressession has been here since 2008 and yet Washington has yet to cut any program. Every year spend more and more. There is no budget! Washington lacks leadership; the committee is just sitting around calling each names and reminiscing about the good old days when they spent without consequences.
This “Super Committee” is nothing more then the Congress and Senate abdicating their Constitutional Duty. Since these people are useless, the people of this Country should be allowed to make the final decision. Let the Republicans write a 4 Trillion Dollar Deficit Reduction Plan and have the Democrats do the same. Have it scored by the CBO and put it on the 2012 Ballot. Whichever plan wins, that’s it. No changes, no nothing. If they won’t do their job, we will.