To pass a law in the United States, the following should happen:
House of Representatives pass a bill
Senate passes the same bill
President signs the bill
Bill gets enacted as written.
But not in the Dictator Obama way of doing things.
From Fox News: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced a deal to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration that has left 74,000 transportation and construction workers idled.
"I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work," Reid said in a statement Thursday without specifying the details.
The deal is just between Senate Democrats and the White House because the GOP-led House already passed a bill extending the FAA's operating authority through mid-September, a House source with knowledge of the details told Fox News.
Well, that's very nice of the Democrats to pass the bill but here is the kicker:
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is sending a letter Thursday, saying the the House-passed bill gives him the power to waive a GOP provision Democrats opposed that would have eliminated $16.5 million in air service subsidies to rural communities in Nevada, Montana and New Mexico if they were harmed.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/04/reid-announces-deal-to-end-faa-shutdown/#ixzz1U60ZbhSF
If Comrade LaHood can just waive something out of a bill just because he wants to, then why the hell do we have or need a Congress? Further, how is this any different than a line item veto, which for the Federal government is illegal?
If a conservative did this, the liberals would be up in arms along with their friends in the media. But because Obama is leading the Politburo in Washington D.C., the liberals and the media are silent, and sadly, so are the conservative legislators.
update: This crap is even worse than thought. Fron IndyChannel: According to a Senate Democratic leadership aide, the Senate will pass the necessary legislation by unanimous consent on Friday in a so-called "pro forma" session being held while the chamber is in recess. Majority Leader Harry Reid, as the lone senator present, will conduct the pro forma session and call for unanimous consent to pass the measure, which previously was approved by the House, the aide said on condition of not being identified. http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28763130/detail.html
So, now, just 1 Senator is going to vote and pass this bill. There is going to be no debate or legitmate vote.
We are no longer a Democracy when the Democrats and the GOP do this. This is a bunch of crap.
So now comes the postmortem.
1 hour ago
The bill strips funding to a few rural airports. Ok, the administration is using other funds to restore that subsidy. I'm not defending the subsidy, I don't know the pros & cons well enough. But really it's chicken feed, something like $14M in a $3.5T budget -- i.e. 0.0004%.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for Reid passing it solo by unanimous consent, that's only because no one else wants to bother showing up. It's not as though other senators aren't allowed.
Your write-up is a bit overblown.