Somebody is getting screwed here
I’ve commented before on the unusually busy agenda for this lame-duck session of Congress. I’m not the only one to notice:
Here’s the funny thing about this month’s lame-duck session of Congress, in which frantic lawmakers have pinballed from tax cuts to “don’t ask, don’t tell” to a nuclear weapons treaty:
It’s not supposed to exist.
In 1933, historians say, the country ratified a constitutional amendment intended to kill off sessions like this – in which defeated legislators return to legislate. The headline in The Washington Post at the time was “Present Lame Duck Session Will Be Last.”
But because of a hole in that amendment, modern Congresses have not only met as lame ducks but have used the post-election session to take some of their most memorable votes.
On Friday, President Obama signed a giant tax-cut bill that Congress approved this week. That follows the passage of child nutrition legislation this month. And Democratic leaders could repeal the law that bans gays from serving openly in the military as soon as Saturday, before they try to rewrite immigration rules and ratify a nuclear weapons treaty with Russia.
This year’s session has “the most ambitious legislative agenda that’s ever been pursued in a lame-duck session since the 20th Amendment,” said John Copeland Nagle, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame and one of the obscure amendment’s few scholars.
This lame-duck session, Nagle said, “is exactly what the 20th Amendment was designed to stop.”
Philosophically I am opposed to any lame-duck legislation. Imagine if just before Christmas 2006 the outgoing GOP Congress had passed legislation ending Social Security and Bush signed it into law.
Scary thought, ain’t it?
Filed under: General
A NE offensive lineman just rumbled 71 yards on a kick-off return – and almost scored.
That might be the play of the year.
might just be
And he didn’t have to hit the sideline for oxygen!
Obama is going to propose cuts in Social Security benefits in State of the Union per the tools at Politico. I guess Goldman Sachs is passing out the draft to get the serfs used to the idea before Christmas. I am going to carry a dozen eggs in my gigantic purse so I can throw them at my local Democratic hacks who said we had to support this abomination in 2008. Something else needs to be thrown at them but I do not want to mess up the last fancy purse I will probably ever own.
Robert Kuttner is hardly a tool even if – surprisingly he was published at Politico. 4 days ago.
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/morning-sneeze-its-dented-cat-food-for-you-already-agreed/
Agreed. But the Politico swarm is though. I will also give Kuttner points for getting the word out the best way he can using any media he can.
The Morning Sneeze: The CEO with no executive experience
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/the-morning-sneeze-the-ceo-with-no-executive-experience/
I’ll answer opportunistically to your question: I was glad to see DADT go. Imagine what a Democratic President could have done with it (or with those amazing majorities for 2 years for that matter).
So, asking this question while the Ds are majority…why?
Of course, I labor under the illusion that there’s a difference between Ds and Rs.
Monday tabloids are here
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/tanloidsmonitored-poor-sick-but-with-lunar-eclipse/
The guy making breakfast at this diner is very angry about the Giants loss to Philly yesterday. Like really really pissed off…giving that spatula a real workout.
The horror, the horror!
On another note, Room at the inn for bloggers in need. And if you know any other bloggers who are really up against it, please add a comment or mail me. Thanks!
lambert, Thanks for the heads up on bloggers in need. I managed to sell a few collectibles on eBay so I have a small Treasury box of $$ that I am spreading around to those liberal bloggers in need.
It ain’t much, but it’s something.