Our New Congress: What Are We Going to Do About It?
This is a bit of a rant but a timely one since our brand spankin’ new Congress will be sworn in today and start work on January 6, 2011 — perhaps with a reading of the United States Constitution, a wholesome but largely symbolic gesture. We elected the new folks and got rid of lots (but not enough) of the old because we wanted them to do something to end the accelerating spiral rush toward a multicultural Hell on which we have been little more than unwilling passengers, required to go along for the ride but not allowed access to the steering wheel or brakes. With a solidly Republican House and a more Republican Senate the new Congress can respond to the old command of ”don’t just sit there, do something!” Whether it will remains to be seen.
The new Congress has very powerful tools ready for its use, particularly the new House which holds the strings to our purse; the tools must be used and if the House needs to be reminded with whose purse it has been entrusted, so be it. We have that capability and if we don’t use it then we are willing victims of scam artists of the highest caliber.
There is no ObamaMoney, it all comes via appropriations and they originate in the House. As noted here:
Recent news stories about ObamaCare’s planned implementation should be a clarion call for conservatives to focus their attention on the administrative and bureaucratic arenas with as much or more intensity as they have to defeat ObamaCare in the political and legal arenas.
For starters, I laid out here what I think will be a very effective way for the House to disburse funds from our purse to roll back the most obnoxious parts of the Obama agenda by writing separate and restrictive — important words — appropriations bills for different governmental activities. Even if they didn’t have to originate there, appropriations bills could not be passed without the vote of a majority of the Honorable Members temporarily given seats in the House. They can’t be rejected by the Senate or vetoed by the president without stopping the government, which neither the Senate nor President Obama seems willing to permit.
The best and — as far as I have been able to discover, only — beneficial thing the Congress did during the lame duck session was to defeat efforts to pass an omnivorousbus spending bill to fund federal activities through all of fiscal 2011. Limited funding was provided, but only through March 4, 2011 — two months after the new Congress is seated. After that, the government runs out of our money unless the supply is replenished by the new Congress in a bill originating in the House. Defeat of the omnibus spending bill was good; season’s greetings be upon them. It was probably the best Christmas gift they were able to give the country and I am grateful:
Left-leaning think tanks already disappointed with President Obama’s tax-cut compromise fear its political and economic benefits will be wiped out by budget cuts in the next Congress.
They argue Obama and congressional Democrats will come to regret not moving a yearlong continuing resolution or omnibus bill that would have locked in spending and administration policy for all of fiscal 2011.
Tough. They didn’t do it and that’s a good thing. The focus of the linked article from The Hill is on economic matters. Those are obviously very important but the economy has become inextricably intertwined with social legislation and administrative social regulation — global warming, forced unionization, immigration reform, and a whole cornucopia of other ill-advised social “progress” stuff — that even mere business uncertainty has had substantial adverse impacts on the economy. Until that uncertainty is removed no economic stimulus package will do more than put the country further in debt and further behind. Then it won’t be needed.
There are so many places to start that even to select a few for the defunding prize or even for “honorable mention” would be a Herculean task. Still, a few stand out. The Environmental Perversion Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Statutory Abuse Communications Commission, the Department of Religious meddling Justice and now the Department of Obesity Reduction Agriculture would be good starts. So, to the extent that such is possible, would be the United in destruction of civilization Nations, which is about to have a conference supporting racism and has strayed so far from its course as anticipated by Winston Churchill that it resembles his dream less than does a horse resemble a snake.
Dear Dr. Bones,
¿Surely there can be no place quite like Pajama Junction NJ?
Yesterday we had the Poet Neolaureate of Northwestern Sieve (NC5 D. X. Solway) kindly cookin’ us up a factious hash of the intellectual history of Europe, today there is NC7 D. X. Miller (overripe fruit of Neohaven) naggin’ at Uncle Sam from across the opposite border.
Not to mention Firstlord Murdoch from _Oberniederkangarustadt_.
It would maybe serve the pajamaclad kiddies whight if the Montreal-Panamá-Danbeersheba-Wollagong Axis *did* “take (hah!) their country back.”
Jappy days.
No more ganja for you today.
I like the way Progressives are dealt with in the new animated web movie A Not Too Grimm Fairy Tale… you’ll laugh your butt off as the truth about America is unveiled. This movie gives us a new American symbol (weapon) to mock Progressives-Liberals, the “head-up-the-butt” person.
http://www.marcrubin.com/Hairmerica.ivnu
For me, I want to see ALL Federal Funding for PBS and NPR go away, NOW! They both claim that Federal funding does not make up the bulk of their budgets. Swell, then they will not miss the money when they lose it.
Also, I would love to know what the Department of Energy really does. It certainly isn’t finding alternate forms of energy because, if it was, we would have some by now. And if the Department of Energy is in charge of our nuclear weapons program, why isn’t the Pentagon, which is in charge of our defense, controlling that program? I’d also like to see the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms go away, all jobs that SHOULD be done by the FBI and NOT a separate agency.
Will all this get done? Probably not. Unless we get serious about cutting the size and spending of the Federal Government, conservatives will have no choice but to start a third party. The Republicans are on probation now. They had better deliver, or they’re cooked.
Then light the fires and start cooking but don’t expect any apologies from party financed incumbents as long as there are no operable provisions for revocation of legislated funding of their retirement other than outright impeachment rooted in upholding their oath of office to the letter of the law. Results can only be expected when one causes a tsunami that directly endangers their court protected defense by delay system to exposure that can’t be glossed over by MSM whitewash.
You are wrong about the attempt to repeal Obamacare. The newly elected representatives promised to make the attempt and to not do so would be akin to Bush #1′s promise of “Read My Lips, No New Taxes” which he broke almost immediately. They must keep their promises and they should not pass any unconstitutional bills. Of course all the representatives should do that, but they don’t. They should stick to the constitution.
CUT CONGRESSIONAL PAY AND BENEFITS
Their pay adds up to over $95,000,000 a year! And this does not include any other expenses or benefits!
If they can’t take any pay cut, then they have no grounds to stand on to enact any pay or benefit freezes for any individual American.
And put realistic limits on staff sizes, including the White House. The cost of those staffs in dollars far exceeds the compensation of the principles, but the much higher cost is in the meddling they perform.
A good place to start would be to add up what was in place for 2010 and cut it by 50%, at least.
I don’t care about cutting their PAY. This is a very expensive place to live, and I honestly don’t think their pay is out of line.
We DO need to get rid of a lot of perks, cut staff, and ELIMINATE all retirement benefits.
NOBODY should expect to retire from Congress.
Right. Not retire from Congress and NOT permitted permanent residency.
Since politics became a “profession” with no rules or standards except to milk the public purse,what we see is what we get. Politicians are ironiclly known as “servants of the People”. UInterested in their employers — the People, except when they want the contract renewed. Otherwise they strut around with their retinues / entourage like cocks of the barnyard.
Limits not only to their powers, but to the length of employmen. What we have had for a very long time is a private,most exclusive gentlemen’s club in the world with perks of that exclusivity.
“Representative of the “People”s function is to SERVE The People. Don’t see anything in that that spells self-serving or royal court/privileges.
Time limits anyone.
Possibility that Congressmen/Senators recognise “service to the People CHANGES and needs reguilar replenishment with fresh faces, new blood, new ideas. And that by definition the job is temporary. Are sitting Congressmen/Senators so indispensable??
Time limits anyone?
Mr. Miller is the first commentator I have read who appears to have familiarized himself with the DADT repeal legislation before commenting on it. Thanks to him for taking the effort, it was refreshing.
On my single point of contention with this piece, The house should repeatedly bring up and pass repeal of Obamacare. Send it to the Senate in as many forms, and as many times, as possible. The problem with leaving it in place, and unchallenged, is that even if its mandates are de-funded before implementation, the simple possibility of their implementation are forcing whole sectors of the medical and health care industries to reorient themselves to come in line with the new rules they may have to conform to. Already hospitals and clinics that were being planned, are being shelved and insurance companies are reordering the coverage and plans they offer and the price structures in anticipation of the fact that they likely won’t survive implementation of the preexisting condition rules without the individual mandate.
Obamacare, even without going into effect, is having cataclysmic effects on the way medical care is and will be offered.
Thank you, Sir.
I would very much like to see ObamaCare repealed outright as well but have decided that it just ain’t gonna work this year or next. The Republicans/Conservatives do not now have a veto proof Congress and by 2013 there might well be a better President whose veto it would not be necessary to override. That’s something we can and should work very hard to accomplish. Until then, death of ObamaCare and other obnoxious laws by starvation seems better than mere threats of a more violent demise.
I don’t like hurricanes and floods either. We are not in a position to outlaw or otherwise prevent them; resources dedicated to those ends would be wasted. What we can do is build strong houses and dams. That is not be as effective as successfully outlawing hurricanes and floods but it is possible and does some good. By the same token, wasting — as I see it — scarce Congressional resources on the impossible might give us a good feeling but nothing more. Those resources wouldn’t then be available for the contentious and labor intensive task of selectively defunding the most obnoxious aspects; that seems possible but only if the Honorable Members in the House are not distracted by trying to do the impossible.
Why is it a waste of time to force the Democrats to vote for Obamacare over and over again? As we get closer to 2012, it will be very instructive to see how many we can peel away, perhaps even to the point where it gets through the Senate and a veto override becomes possible–but certainly to the point where voters in 2012 will be very focused on this issue and where their rep and his/her opponent stands on it.
1. Senate Majority Leader Reid would most likely keep an ObamaCare repeal bill from coming to the Senate floor. He has done that sort of stuff in the past and there is no apparent reason why he can’t/won’t during this Congress;
2. Should there be enough Senators to force such a bill to the floor and to pass it, President Obama would quickly veto it;
3. It would consume time and effort needed to starve the beast;
4. Multiple appropriations bills such as I suggested in this article and in a more detailed linked article, each separate from the others and each with the necessary specificity about what the appropriated funds can and can’t be used to accomplish, will take lots of both time and effort. I am not totally confident that our Honorable Members are up to the task. They will likely need some strenuous as* kicking to persuade them. If they find the energy and time in their busy schedules to do it however, Senator Reid can’t very well keep such appropriations bills from going to the Senate floor for votes: to do so would paralyze the agencies and departments rather than put them on severe but healthy no fat, no Amphetamine diets. Ditto if such bills pass both houses and President Obama were to veto them;
5. Surgically selective defunding is possible and despite the feel-good sensation produced by attempting to pass a repeal bill it is likely to amount to no more than sound and fury signifying nothing;
6. The voters are already pretty well focused on ObamaCare; if and as it comes more and more into effect, they are likely to become even more focused. Defunding will be accompanied by lots of weeping, wailing and gnashing of Librul (as distinguished from Liberal, a different breed) teeth. That should perk up Conservative glee and a realistic sense of accomplishment. Congressional show and tell sessions don’t seem to be the best strategic or even tactical use of resources.
I freely admit that people like me are coming to an end. I served as a Marine in Vietnam (Tet Offensive),my father at Bastogne in WW11, my grandfather in the Spanish -American and WW1 wars. Walter,we don’t hate gays,maybe we don’t understand it but please stop insinuating that we are just bigots. My grandfather had to shovel shi! in New York when he came home from Europe after WW1 with a degree in Physics. Homosexuals don’t know true bigotry.
It begins today. An all court press. Anything less spells catastrophe. God speed, Republicans.
Perhaps that glorious neocapitalist state Cuba may show the way. It had earlier been announced officially that the Cuban government had too many employees. Today, it was announced that
I wonder whether el Presidente Obama pays any attention to what happens in Cuba. It almost seems as though the Castro brothers may have had a reasonably good idea this time. It’s possibly a start.
There’s a wave of change at the hospital where I work > especially recently and ratcheted up beginning Jan 1st. There truly is a transformation in healthcare underway.
Less freedom < more totalitarianism.
Godspeed 112 congress. I will pray for you and America:
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
For my money the biggest short term danger is the EPA. They have spent years preparing to strike at the American economy. Getting CO2 declared as a pollutant and linking greenhouses to public health and welfare were preparations for going fully rogue. Their attempt to use environmental regulations to neuter congress is the biggest short-term threat to the US economy.
If the planned assault on the US economy by the EPA is not prevented, then doing the other things described by Mr Miller will be much harder.
“linking greenhouses to public health and welfare” should read “linking greenhouse gases” to public health and welfare.
We seniors don’t really mind ‘global warming’; It makes the arthritis feel better.
Yeah, gotta watch those greenhouses. They can be downright dangerous!
Maybe there should be a “dangerous greenhouse watch list”?
We’ll do nothing with this new congress. Voting has proved a failure in the United States when it comes to congress and our Democracy is shot to hell. Our laws are ignored at will by sworn officials and our Constitution either ignored or interpreted as those in power please.
Our congress is corrupt as they are all “good ol’ boys”, and our President gets around them in any event by appointments and executive orders and harassment by the DOJ. Immigration officials answer to no one and America is inundated by legal and illegal immigrants from the Third World to a purpose no one can understand.
For this to change is going to require some thinking outside the box and some grass roots challenges to the way congressmen break the law and continue to serve like Rangel who should be in prison. Indeed, we need some fundamental changes in how our gov’t does business. They are everywhere they shouldn’t be and nowhere to be found where they should be.
We spend more than half our treasure guarding against nothing states like Iran, N. Korea and wannabees with no naval capability like Russia and China. Then, we turn around and lose equal amounts to Third World illegals who suck billions from our local, state and federal govt’s and some idiots in congress want to give their kids a free education too; unbelievable.
Corporations must be taken out of a scenario where they can lobby and fund politicians. Congressmen and other officials need to have the focus on their oaths of office stepped up somehow so they cannot selectively enforce the law according to their conscience. We must defund this gov’t as it wastes billions every single year. The Constitution itself needs to be amended to take the interpretations of important and very important issues out of the hands of judges all over this country, starting with the anchor baby law which was aimed at former slaves and not foreign nationals. Otherwise it’ll be business as usual.
As presently situated, our Constitution is nothing more than a suicide pact at the service of the Third World for some reason even the Devil himself couldn’t fathom.
Starve the beast the same way it was done in 1919 to the Wilson Progressive machine. Federal budget: 1919, $23B; 1920, $11B; 1921, $10B; 1922, $9B. This govm’t action led to 10 straight years of surplusses, and the roaring twenties. Also rescind the 17th Ammendment and revert to the original intent of the Constitution.
“Corporations must be taken out of a scenario where they can lobby and fund politicians.” Wrong. Make the government small enough so there is no money in lobbying and funding politicians and you might do some good. Otherwise all you’re doing is throwing away the 1st Amendment. And who’s good and noble enough to do that? No one. No politician can be trusted to do that. Limited government by enumerated powers is what we want and need. Strong enough to do the things entrusted to it, and handcuffed on doing more than that.
WRT your views on military and foreign policy – no thanks. One nuke can ruin your whole year and it doesn’t take a navy to deliver that. And China, Russia and others have them.
You know it buddy! I have no intentions of resting on my laurels, you can bank on it. 11/2 was just the beginning, and if I and my like minded fellow patriotic Americans have anything to do with it, things like the social engineering nightmare of the last 5 decades foisted on our butts is history.
For any of you obots and trolls reading my words of wit, beat it. Your days of sticking your worthless noses in my Liberty are at an end.
Where to start? repeal Title 42. Defund the Department of Agriculture, home of Pigford bigotry. Defund the Food and Drug Administration, root and branch.
Private concerns, like the rabbinical councils which evaluate food for meeting kosher requirements, can evaluate food and drugs for purity, nutrition, or effectiveness. Then we would be free to take the best advice we can find, and the illegal drug cartels would be out of work.
At least one time we need to do an Obamacare Repeal Bill. Why? It was a promise, and the GOP needs to redeem its honor.
After that, we can go to specific bills as the author says.
Other things to cut….
Well there are many, but probably the first should be Defunding Planned Parenthood. Its a fiscal and moral supremacy. The GOP has got to show the Pro-Lifers it means business, and will accomplish things, and is not just there to string the Pro-Lifers along with nice words, and no deeds. Otherwise, the Pro-Lifers should sit out the election, and let Obama win.
Second, Defund NPR. Why? Because NPR is one of the Reinforcing Positions. It makes every other liberal position stronger, but at the same time, its uniquely vulnerable.
To put it in game terms, the NPR card being held by the Liberal player gives him a +1 combat bonus to every attack, and a +3 combat bonus to every defense.
Plus NPR is vulnerable because its basically Poor People Paying Peter’s Pence for Princes of the Economy. Its the football and tailgates crowd paying for the opera to help out the limosine crowd. Even from a Democratic point of view, this is horrible. You can use most of th eDem talking points against them.
Now, is NPR worse than Agriculture or Energy? Not neccessarily, it may be, but for now I speak from a tactical point of view. Take down NPR now, and it will make it easier to take down Energy later.
Out with the Dept. of Education. It’s just a bunch of lefties driving our public schools into a very deep ditch.
Congressmen and Senators all become wealthy after just a few years in office. They get all kinds of inside info, and it is completely legal; Not legal for us mind you, but for them.
Harry Reid has been a public servant all his life. How did he become worth $12M?
They sell their votes. It is institutionalized bribery. Folks know they do it for campaign contributions, but most are not aware of the actual insider trading bribery.
This is not about serving your country, it is about becoming VERY wealthy once you are in office.
There is nothing wrong with this country that a big meteorite hitting Washington DC wouldn’t fix.
There have been several comments arguing that we can’t realistically hope for much worthwhile from the new House of Representatives. Promises have been broken in the past and they will continue to be broken in the future; that’s politics as we know it. There are still too many RINOs there; easy and symbolic but ineffective gestures may garner more votes than actually doing something effective and difficult in order to reverse the downward spiral.
An “oh it’s so very bad and will stay that way” attitude is likely to be self perpetuating. We worked hard to get a new and more Conservative bunch in the House and we succeeded; not always but often enough to make a difference. There is a new Speaker of the House and even if he falls on his face in a drunken, weeping stupor (which he is far from likely to do) he will be an improvement over his predecessor. There are lots of new faces. Allen West is one of them and he has been much in the news lately. There are others. We need to keep the pressure on and hope for the best.
The new Congress has been seated for less than one day; give it a chance. Today, here is little else we can do.
Dan Miller writes:
“There is no need to “repeal” the recent legislation on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” as some would like; the new rules to be adopted by the Department of Defense can’t go into effect without congressional approval.”
I believe it is thirty states that have voted on gay marriage and in each case the vote was against gay marriage. But clearly we are going to have gay marriage shoved down our throats. Repeal of DADT is a matter of the Obama administration using the military as a means to do some of the shoving. It is as anti-democratic as one can be.
Let’s see, out of thirty states that have voted, thirty have voted against gay marriage. I wonder what the number would be if the remainder voted? My guess is 48 of the 57 states against gay marriage. Yet the anti-democratic folks, such as Dan Miller, will stand by while this travesty is shoved down our throats. Change your mind, Mr. Miller, we need a constitutional amendment that two-thirds of states can repeal laws. Otherwise, democracy is over, finished, and done in the USA.
Mr. Miller,
Easy with the feet pics – you’re going to cause the NY Jets football coach to swoon..!
For starters on this new Congress – Term limits, FULL discretion, quarterly, of their bank accounts (hey, a great question by Sharron Angle to harry reid regarding his ‘..net worth $12 million..’ – on a Senator’s salary?) to see WHICH are usurpers to lobbyists, Union goons and other self-serving/Republic crushing deeds.
Private industry/corporation owned companies getting/giving more facetime in the swamp (Issa’s actions are a GREAT starting point..). Though Obama shouldn’t be invited, he OBVIOUSLY doesn’t understand Economics 101/102..
Those on unemployment for 90 or 180 + days – they have 30 days to find SOMETHING, for the Pelosi/Olbermann ‘unemployment benefits good for economy’ braintrust is asinine. If this involves wearing a name tag at some job.. tough t itty said the momma kitty.
Go further into introducing/selling the ‘Fair Tax’ construct to the American people.
After these necessities, tackle and reword the 14th Amendment, ENFORCE (the system is not broken but tossed aside (disgusting) ) the immigration laws on the books and institute E-Verify.
Finally, tear apart the Fed and its bootlicking offshoots – the DoED, DoE, DoC, DoL, EPA, ‘non-profit Federally funded agencies’ et al., – a guy can dream..
Personally, I think the entire Federal Budget needs to be cut 25% ACROSS THE BOARD. Period.
As for Congress – here’s an idea:
I have been pondering the problem of egregious congressional spending and perhaps a way to reign in part of the problem. How do you like this solution?
Technically, a Congressional members are “employees” of their home state, and Congressional Districts. Therefore, I propose the following simple solution:
1. All salaries, expenses (office, staffing, housing allowances, travel, health insurance, cars, security) be paid for by their home state and Congressional District.
2. State and local voters can approve or disapprove their spending budgets via Referendums and local ballot.
3. Congressional members can no longer vote pay raises for themselves or increase spending on their “official” behalf.
Since when do I, as a resident of another state, (or any citizen of another state for that matter), have to pay for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi’s outrageous spending habits??? I think this would eliminate more than a billion dollars from the annual Federal budget and truly put oversight of the outrageous spending habits square in the laps of their constituents! I think that is more than fair!