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Thursday, January 08, 2009

Draconian Rules Change Creates Partisan Furor

The draconian rules change in the U.S. House of Representatives, initiated by Nancy Pelosi and approved overwhelmingly by House Democrats who control the chamber, has created a partisan furor in Washington.

In spite of Barack Obama's talk about 'reaching across the aisle' in a spirit of bipartisanship, the Democrats not only gave a thumbs down to that idea but went further to essentially strip the GOP of any influence whatsoever upon proposed legislation.

The rules change will mean the following:

*The repeal of term limits for committee chairs implemented by Republicans
*The elimination of the 'motion to recommit' on the part of the minority Party
*The end of free, open debate on the House floor on Democrat-initiated bills
*The elimination of the opportunity of the minority to offer alternative bills to proposed legislation

As Robert Romano states in the article linked above:

Without the ability to offer alternatives to pieces of legislation like cap-and-trade, socialized medicine, massive bailout proposals for the Majority’s favored industries, restrictions on energy production, etc., the GOP is being robbed of the chance to debate some of the most important issues facing Congress during the coming session.

And we can safely add to that list gun control legislation that will roll back the clock to more oppressive times when gun bans and more restrictions on the right to bear arms were the order of the day.

The Democrats have effectively silenced any free, open debate on the House floor concerning these issues of grave significance.

This means, in stark terms, that extremists such as Carolyn McCarthy, Charles Rangel, and John Conyers, among others, can essentially have their way when it comes to legislation restricting Second Amendment rights.

Supposedly the American public rebelled against partisanship in the last election. Yet, the representatives they elected to Congress have just insured the most partisan atmosphere in Washington in decades.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

the single most frightening aspect of this is that there are at least 50% (of the % who vote) who see no conflict with what dems promised. They cannot see that their party is just as bad, if not worse, than repubs.

This is another reason to constantly bombard them at every chance for a crystal clear defining of what they mean, ON THE RECORD. Hang them with their words. Just be sure to hang them.

triptyx said...

You neglected to mention that many (if not all) of the rules that were rolled back by Pelosi were actually instituted by Republicans when they first obtained a Majority in 1994 as part of the "Contract With America".

So, we go from a party that was magnanimous in victory to the restoration of tyranny in defeat.

With the state of our new government and the felons in Washington (and at this point, they're *all* felons and cheap con-men as far as I'm concerned), I expected absolutely nothing less.

Frankly, I'm entirely disgusted.

As to hanging them with their words, I guarantee all you'll hear for the next two years, and likely longer is "well, we're still trying to fix what the Republicans did - this is all their fault".

It is foolish to expect the Democrats to take any responsibility for what their policies have wrought, and will wreak, upon our country, and it's plain stupid to expect the media to do it.

Welshman said...

I mentioned it in passing, Triptyx, but it could be emphasized much more. These fairness rules the Democrats shot down were first introduced when the GOP took control of Congress in 1994. Congress has operated by these fairness rules until now. Pelosi and the Democrats want unbridled power.