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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/9/2008 11:21:38 AM |
The democrats have been working as they promised, on fixing the countries problems and to get out of this stupid war but also as promissed, bush will veto any non republican legislation. No they have not been working on fixing the countries priority problems.. as I noted on a new thread the Dems in the House this am wanted to talk about national parks and acidity in oceans you know respiratory problems with fish.. when finally a Republican swayed the debate over to Energy.. thank goodness. And also the Democrats as you might be aware just created the hugest War supplemental bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/9/2008 6:23:59 PM | Yes, those damned Democrats, want to keep us at war. We all know they're evil. Right.
Here are the vetoed bills for this session. I'm sure you already saw all this on CSPAN, but let's review.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/L?d110:./list/bd/d110vt.lst:1(Vetoed_Bills)|TOM:/bss/d110query.html|
1. H.R.976 : An act to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes.
2. H.R.1495 : To provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes.
3. H.R.1585 : To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
4. H.R.1591 : Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.
5. H.R.2082 : To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.
6. H.R.2419 : To provide for the continuation of agricultural programs through fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes.
7. H.R.3043 : Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes.
8. H.R.3963 : To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other purposes.
9. H.R.6124 : To provide for the continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through fiscal year 2012, and for other purposes.
10. S.5 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for human embryonic stem cell research.
I'll come back with the stuff that's been filibustered if it's available ;) | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/9/2008 6:51:23 PM | Here's an interesting transcript from a filibuster. You might want to pay attention~it talks about gas.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I extend my appreciation to my good friend, the senior Senator from the State of Illinois.
Today is April 15. It is a big, red-letter day for people because it is the last day to file your income tax returns. As we send in our taxes--and some, as will happen tonight, will wait in line to file their tax returns--it is a good time to give thought to the economic state of our families and our economy, generally.
Since President Bush took office, the cost of gasoline has gone up more than 100 percent, more than doubled. The cost of home heating has skyrocketed. The price we pay for groceries has never been higher.
The head of the World Bank said, 3 days ago, that 31 countries will be in desperate need of food within a matter of months, and there could be riots in those countries. We are very fortunate in America, we don't have a shortage of food. But people are having trouble paying for the food they would like to eat. The same is true for health care, for prescription drugs--for college tuition. At the University of Nevada, we have a new law school. I was happy to see in the latest rankings it came out ranked 78th--a new law school ranked 78th in the Nation. That is remarkable. They have done such a good job.
But they also announced they are going to double the tuition at that new small law school--double the tuition. The cost of going to State institutions is going up. Why? Because the economies of our States are so desperately bad. In the State of Nevada, because of the downturn in the economy, the Governor, with the State legislature, has had to cut almost $1 billion in programs that are there in the State--road construction, new buildings, new programs--and cutting some of the old programs. Of course, they have a program to let prisoners out of our prisons more quickly, not because it is good for the people of the State of Nevada but because they are desperate for money.
We are paying record prices for nearly everything. Yet the average household income has dropped. American families are earning less and paying more. The Republican answer, for 7 years, has been to slash taxes for the ultrawealthy, to side with big business, oil companies, utility companies, and let the little guy fend for himself.
We have worked hard, as the Democratic Party--first in the minority, now in the majority--to cut taxes for the middle class, to end the dependence on oil that keeps our gas and heating bills sky high, to make health care and college tuition more affordable for families. We have now tried for days to quickly pass a highway bill that takes care of some of the problems we had in the massive bill we had before. There are corrections we would like to make on that. Last Thursday evening, the distinguished assistant leader was on the floor, as was the assistant leader for the Republicans. We talked about: Why are we having another filibuster on this? My friend, the junior Senator from Arizona, said: Oh, there will be no filibuster on this, everything is going fine--words to that effect. We had to vote last night to invoke cloture, and rather than being able to legislate on the bill, we are talking on the bill, stalling, wasting time.
We could have started on this legislation Thursday night. We could have legislated all day yesterday and all day today. But, no, we are not going to be able to do that. We are going to use the full 30 hours.
This is a number--it is probably higher than this, but let's assume this is right. The last time we came out and said there were 70-plus filibusters, they came out and said: Oh, no, not that many, not that many. So say 65, for purposes of this discussion.
In the history of this country previously--and I am going to use leader time, not morning business time, Mr. President, during my presentation.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has that right.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, in the entire history of the country, no matter what has been going on in this country--and we have been through some difficult times--the most filibusters we ever had were 61 or 62 during a 2-year period of time, during an entire Congress. But now, in the first year of this Congress, they broke that record--stalling, slowing things down so we cannot legislate the people's business. That is because they are protecting the status quo.
Can you imagine filibustering a bill that is correcting technical mistakes made by the two Houses in passing this legislation previously? They are filibustering that--commas, semicolons, dotting an ``i,'' crossing a ``t,'' that is what we are doing, that is what this legislation is all about, technical corrections--supported by the ranking member, Senator Inhofe, and the chairman, Senator Boxer. They are filibustering this, making us use all the time.
Some may ask why they are doing this. The main reason is they are protecting the status quo. Time after time, Republicans seemed intent on obstruction only for obstruction's sake. They pursued this course on legislative matters large and small. It doesn't have to be, as they have done many times, stopping us from moving forward on matters relating to Iraq--many times. Let's consider that a big issue. But let's consider what we are doing today a small issue--technical corrections on a bill.
Look what is going on in the country today. Look what is going on in the world today. We listen to the news or find it in the newspaper. Today in Iraq--scores of people killed in Iraq. Bombs here, bombs there, two American soldiers killed in Iraq yesterday. We have learned 2.7 million people are displaced in Iraq. That is Iraqis. The population is only 25 million people to begin with and 2.7 million of them are wandering around trying to find a place to live in Iraq. About 3 million have left the country. They have blocked us from doing anything about that.
We had General Petraeus talk about what is going on in Iraq. He didn't answer the question: Are we any safer now than we were before this Iraq war started, before the surge started? No answer to that. When are we going to get our troops home? No answer to that. They have even gone forward on tactics delaying matters on legislation they ultimately came to support--stalling for time.
The most unfortunate aspect of Republican strategy is real people suffer because of it. Why do I say that? There are a lot of things we need to do as a country. We have, now, a big merger that took place making big business even bigger. Delta Airlines has joined with Northwest. They will have 75,000 or 80,000 employees. Now there is talk of United joining with other companies. We have heard Southwest Airlines--they were flying airplanes that were in bad shape, but they did it anyway.
We have learned in recent weeks the Federal Aviation Agency is protecting the airlines and not the consumer. We have a bill we need to do, FAA reauthorization. We need to do that bill. We would like to bring up that bill, but we cannot because we are being stalled on a technical corrections bill--only stalling for time.
Veterans health care--Senator Akaka has asked for months: Why
[Page: S2991] GPO's PDFcan't I bring up my bill? Every time, I say to him: Senator Akaka, we are doing our best, but they stalled us on this and they stalled us on that. That is something we want to do this work period, as we do the FAA legislation.
There is an important piece of legislation--genetic nondiscrimination. A lot of things are happening in medicine. We have the ability to look at people and find out what their genes are going to forecast for the future. But we don't want, as a result of advances in medical care and treatment in this regard, to have someone who may be prone to getting some disease 10 or 15 years from now be discriminated against in the workplace. This is an important piece of legislation, and it is being held up; we can't get to that.
Flood insurance--we want to be able to do this. It is important to the American people. We hear a lot about the Federal Emergency Management Agency. What they deal with more than anything else--more than earthquakes, tornadoes, fires--is floods. Flooding is the most devastating natural disaster we have every year in America, and we want to do something to have the flood insurance program in this country mean something. We saw the never-ending litigation in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama as a result of Katrina. One of the reasons for that litigation is the legislation was not clear. It was not good legislation. We need to change that.
Food safety? My friend from Illinois has been working for a long time to do something about food safety--what can we do to make it better, so that when you go to a fast-food restaurant, you don't get salmonella; if you get a steak, it is OK. Has it been inspected? We have not been able to legislate in that regard.
It is disheartening to recognize and realize what we are not able to do, as a result of the Republicans wanting to maintain the status quo. Why can't we go through this piece of legislation, let Senator Boxer move forward on completing it, and then go to one of the other matters. There are a lot of other matters we need go to. I have only mentioned a few of them.
When I go home, people ask: Why aren't you getting more done? I tell them the Republicans are stalling, they want the status quo. Here is a perfect illustration, I say to my friends who have asked that question. Why are we being asked to waste valuable Senate time--that is all we have is time--valuable Senate time on something that is so unnecessary. We are waiting here. We came in at 10. The Republicans say we can't go to the bill; they want to go to their caucus and discuss what they want to do on the technical corrections bill.
I hope that my friends on the other side of the aisle, the Republicans, would let us start legislating. After we passed the stimulus bill for housing, I thought we could enter into a program where we would start doing that. I do not know what they could talk about in their caucus about how difficult this particular technical corrections bill is. I said we are not going to fill the tree, which means they can offer amendments. Let them offer amendments. We invite them to offer amendments. But let's move forward on this legislation.
The Republican filibusters of this Congress, 65, is recordbreaking. They should be proud of that. We invoked cloture on more than 65 of those issues. We are still counting. Today is one of those counts that continue. I am very disappointed that we are being stalled again on something as insignificant as a technical corrections bill on highways.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, will you alert me when I have spoken 10 minutes in morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator will be notified.
Mr. DURBIN. A filibuster is a way to stop the Senate from acting. A filibuster is an effort to make sure the Senate does nothing. You saw the movie with Jimmy Stewart, ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'' He took to the floor as a freshman Senator and stood there speaking in a filibuster until he collapsed in physical exhaustion.
Well, it does not quite happen that way anymore. What happens, of course, is someone says: I am going to stop the Senate, and you are going to have to come up with 60 votes to stop me.
Well, Democrats have 51 votes in this current Senate; the Republicans have 49. So anytime we want to move forward with a piece of legislation to which a Republican Senator objects, we need their help to stop a filibuster . They know that.
So their strategy this year has been to slow us down to a crawl so nothing happens and to make sure when something comes up that they think might be a delicate vote for them to face, they start a filibuster . Then we cannot come up with 60 votes, and we move on to something else.
The net result of this filibuster strategy from the Republican side of the aisle is that critically important issues, such as the ones mentioned by the majority leader, cannot be addressed in the Senate. The House passes important and timely legislation and sends it over, and the Republican strategy on this side is to stop anything from happening.
Look at the issues we are facing in this country. The Senator from California is here. She is the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and this committee is considering critical legislation on the question of global warming. This is important for us as a nation. It is important for our planet. And we know when this critical legislation which has now been reported from her committee comes to the floor, we will face a string of filibusters.
That is part and parcel now of the procedure in the Senate. But you say: Well, wait a minute. That is a big issue. Global warming is a controversial issue with some. You expect some political controversy. Right?
Well, accepting that argument, I then have to ask you: Why were we involved in a filibuster until last night by the Republicans on the bill before us today? This is a technical corrections bill. When we passed the highway bill, the Federal highway bill years ago, it was a huge bill affecting the entire United States of America. Then, as we combed through it, word for word, line for line, page for page, we found there were technicalities that needed to be changed: punctuation, references to a road instead of a trail. You find them in here. They go on for hundreds of pages.
But they are technical in nature; it is not a big policy debate. This kind of bill usually passes in the Congress by a voice vote late at night and no one notices. It is housekeeping. That is ordinarily what we do when we try to catch up and make sure everything is done just right.
Senator Boxer has worked long and hard to bring it out of her committee and bring it to the Senate floor, and the Republicans initiated a filibuster against the technical corrections bill. That is like having a resolution to salute motherhood and having them initiate a filibuster . Where is the controversy? There is no controversy in this bill. If they want to offer amendments, we said on this
side: If they are germane amendments to the bill, have at it. That is what the Senate is all about, after all.
But the Republican strategy of filibusters, as indicated by this chart, in the history of Congress, the minority party has initiated no more than 57 filibusters in any 2-year period of time. That is the record, 57 in 2 years.
So far in this Congress, we are barely a few months into the second year. The minority party, the Republicans, has initiated 65 filibusters, and we are still counting.
You say to yourself: Well, they must have been some pretty controversial issues they had to filibuster . A technical corrections bill? So why do they filibuster ? So that we burn the clock and eat up days so we cannot address the issues that are even more important to this country.
Would it not be great for us as a Senate to consider and debate a national energy policy to bring down the price of gasoline in the United States? No way. The Republicans insist on filibustering a bill that focuses on punctuation. Would it not be timely for us to consider the cost of health insurance to businesses and families across America and find a way to make it more affordable and accessible? No way. The Republicans want to debate a bill which changes the word ``trail'' to ``road'' and filibuster it.
That is the reality. And time and again when we have brought up issues, GPO's the Republicans have initiated a filibuster in this Congress. You cannot read this; I can barely read it. It is a list of the Republican filibusters so far in this Congress, 65 and still counting.
Let me give you a couple of examples, if I can, of the egregious Republican filibusters in this Congress. We had a bill to implement the 9/11 Commission Report to fight terrorism in America--filibustered by the Republicans.
We had a bill authorizing the intelligence agencies to make America safer--filibustered by the Republicans.
We had a bill for court security so that judges and their families would be safe when they are at work or at home--filibustered by the Republicans.
We had a water resources bill to deal with the infrastructure of America and create good-paying jobs right here at home--filibustered by the Republicans.
The Clean Energy Act, an effort to use renewable, sustainable energy to reduce pollution and stimulate the needs of our economy--filibustered by the Republicans.
The CHIP reauthorization bill, a bill for health insurance for poor children across America, not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, not lucky enough to have health insurance--filibustered by the Republicans.
The economic stimulus package to get this country out of the recession and moving--filibustered by the Republicans.
A Consumer Products Safety Commission overall to stop toys with lead-based paint from coming into this country from China--filibustered by the Republicans.
GOP used to stand for Grand Old Party. That is what the Republicans called their party, the Grand Old Party. But when it comes to the Republicans in the Senate, GOP stands for ``Graveyard of Progress.'' They want to stop this Senate from making any progress on critical issues for this country. They want to run out the clock by filibustering a technical corrections bill.
There is only one remedy for this. It comes in November. The American people will have a chance to speak then. They can initiate a filibuster which the Republicans will hear. They can speak long and loudly and clearly that it is time for change in this Senate. The old ways of Washington dominated by special interest groups really hidebound to the partisanship that will not even let us bring up these technical correction issues has to change.
Voters in this country have the last word in November to elect agents of change, people who will make a difference for improving this country.
I yield the floor.
I think everyone should check this page out.....there's more:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/10/2008 8:59:00 PM | Or maybe it was deleted because you're getting ever so tiresome in your pathetic attempts to try and defend the record of what is perhaps the most corrupt and inept regime in U.S. history. Does the term "broken record" mean anything to you This isn't about defending anyone.. we as citizens need to be reminded what a lousy Majority we have in Congress that has caused the lowest approval rating. Even this morning I saw Steny Hoyer (D) House Majority Leader trying to defend the majority imcompetance and he appeared quite nervous when trying to grasp the right words.. excuses.. because there is no excuse. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 9:59:06 AM | I think everyone should check this page out.....there's more:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query
your link didn't work..otherwise I would check it out. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 10:12:41 AM | http://thomas.loc.gov/
Try this and type in veto or filibuster, take your pick. It's chock full of all kinds of congressional info.
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 10:12:44 AM | Ohh did you check out the other links you know the ones with the number of days this congress has been in session as opposed to the Worst congress in history 2006?
Of course not. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 10:50:51 AM | Days in session does not always mean those are working days. We're talking about Politicians here with 2-3 hour lunches and you know that business meeting with 18 holes of golf attached to it..  | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 11:04:10 AM | OMG an excuse for everything. Days in session means days in session, period. The old congress took 2 hour lunches too. Good Lord.
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 11:18:36 AM | Wake the frvck up People.
Both Political Parties do this. Both! Especially during election years. Whatever will make their party look good.
I still say we need to kick 90% of them out and start fresh. If the new ones don't serve the People of the USA,... vote them out next go round and keep doing it till they all get the message.
AND... if every Citizen wrote and wrote their Congress to get rid of the frills..the expensive cars ...etc. that are paid for out of our tax dollars...and, make sure that Congress puts in a productive 40 hr work week at least for 50 weeks every year...at least We, the People, would be doing something!
AND.. Yes, I have done/am doing exactly that. Always have. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 11:45:31 AM | Good god mark the calendar for the first time I can recall I am going to say this. I agree with Padawan.
We need to get rid of the louts and start fresh and make sure they do their job not just what they want to do. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 4:05:24 PM |
AND... if every Citizen wrote and wrote their Congress to get rid of the frills..the expensive cars ...etc. that are paid for out of our tax dollars...and, make sure that Congress puts in a productive 40 hr work week at least for 50 weeks every year...at least We, the People, would be doing something! where else could you make over 170,000 a year with full benefits, lifetime perks, paid expenses, cars, apartments, travel expenses.. hey you want to ski in the Alps.. plan a business trip and have the taxpayers pay for it....etc.etc.. and have the amount of vacation time Congress has.. these people aren't worth it I'm telling you. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/11/2008 4:45:15 PM | This is a story of why the confidence in congress is low.
There are 2 twin alligator brothers who live in Washington.Their names are Fred and Sam. Sam, who is 3 feet long and very thin, ask Fred, who is 7 feet long and very muscular,why he is so big and strong when they were both the same size at birth and being they are twins.Fred ask him Sam what he ate in his diet. Sam told him he ate politicians. He explained he hid under cars in Washington, and when a politicians walk by, he grabs him/her, shakes the s**t out of them, then eats them.Fred told him his problem of being small was because he was not getting nourishment in his diet. He explained politicians are full of s**t, after he shook the s**t out of them, there was not much left. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/12/2008 10:05:07 PM | | Cute story and I agree it could be part of the reason why confidence in this Congress is so low.. but I'd have to say after speaking with several moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans I'd have to say that "broken promises" by the Democats keeps coming up as the #1 main complaint.. American people don't forget so quickly and we won't forget in November.. no matter what party we are connected to we don't like being lied to by anyone.. especially those who have the power to make legislation.. the power to end wars and the power to lower gas prices. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 12:20:50 AM | No it doesn't, Democrats are not all that angry with Congress. It is a bunch of rhetoric and it isn't going to work. Were all too busy trying to figure out how the republicans are going to try to steal another election. Not ONCE have I had a conversation with ANYONE regarding Congressional polling. Everyone is focused on the WH.
So, keep spreading the misinformation, but it won't work. It is a lot (BTW, a lot is ALWAYS TWO WORDS) like a car alarm. Does anyone pay attention when it keeps going off? No one is listening to the rhetoric, no one is talking about the poor congress, except for the filibusters and lack of an override. Well, one person is, over and over and over and over and over and over and over. . . | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 5:22:49 AM | If Democrats(LIKE ME...PLEASE DONT SPEAK FOR ME) are"not all that angry with Congress", then theres no way this 12% could add up mathematecally.
In fact MOST democrats are angry. Try pulling your head out of the adversarial liberal sand & you'll see the rest of the selectively ignored MODERATE party. We see far more than the WH, unlike other elementary one dimensional characters in our party.
Thirty-seven percent of Americans identify themselves as Democrats, compared to 28% who identify as Republicans. Another 34% say they are independents and don't choose (in response to this initial question) to identify with either party.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/107842/
These are Gallup poll numbers. The 12% confidence poll was also Gallup. I would trust them far more than any other cited poll or personal biased opinion.
This is where you are supposed to say " The polls are wrong. I dont see this at all with my horse blinders on".
If "Democrats are not all that angry with Congress", this approval rating would approach 50%, according to the simple locic of painting the Democrats & a chunk of independents with Exodus paint.
And yes , we are talking about Congress(us moderates), its just certain adversarial liberals are hijacking the subject & repeating THEIR one sided opinion over and over and over and over and over and over and over. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 10:21:11 AM | True.. off this board there is ALOT of discussion about the current congress being the worst in history.. and it looks like the Gallop poll is right on target with what people are saying and feeling OFF this site. It's a hard pill to swallow for some but that's just the way it is.. over and over and over and over...
Just one example.. my parents are diehard JFK Democrats/moderates from that era as well as many of their living friends and let me tell you it is the discussion in coffee shops in many states and you'll never guess! they all watch CSPAN! Blaming Bush is just not cutting it this time.. the blame is finally being placed where it belongs. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 3:42:53 PM | | If you cannot accept that part of the blame does lie with the republicans in congress then you are obviously not being fair...you are just pointing fingers to further your own ideas. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 5:15:29 PM | | ^^^ Have to agree. The mess in Congress is not the fault of one party. Rather the stalemate of refusing to work together and simply point fingers at each other is the legacy that they are creating. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/13/2008 6:23:28 PM | | I can't believe you guys didn't follow the elections in 2006.. it was all about the Democrats claiming they would work with the Republicans and would bring back integrity to the Congressplus a slew of other promises I've already mentioned on other threads... The Democrats for two years have changed the rules on the Republicans, haven't allowed the Republicans to debate on certain issues.. have gone as far as changed legislation without voting on it. however they were caught and not to mention they've had their own scandals in Congress with William Jefferson under investigation and being on an ethics committee asigned by Pelosi.. another case if one that I just brought up and that is Charles Rangel being involved in gifts/kickbacks ..etc..etc.. So no the Democrats haven't brought back integrity to the House.. one would have to have listened to the numerous promises that were made in 2006 to be able to debate this issue | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/14/2008 3:31:27 AM |
The Democrats for two years have changed the rules on the Republicans, haven't allowed the Republicans to debate on certain issues.. have gone as far as changed legislation without voting on it
Examples? | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/14/2008 5:29:22 AM | I can't believe you guys didn't follow the elections in 2006.. it was all about the Democrats claiming they would work with the Republicans and would bring back integrity to the Congressplus a slew of other promises I've already mentioned on other threads... The Democrats for two years have changed the rules on the Republicans, haven't allowed the Republicans to debate on certain issues.. have gone as far as changed legislation without voting on it.
Lets look at what the republican promises and the 10 years they had a majority.
1) The opening of the Contract on America promised a requirement that all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress.
Well, let’s see. Congress has raised its own pay the last five years. Meanwhile the minimum wage hasn’t been raised for almost ten years! Recently a move was made to raise the minimum wage. Every single Democrat voted in favor; all but four Republicans voted against it.
2) THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages.
Actual real wages—the buying power of a person’s money after taxes and living expenses—is at its lowest since the Great Depression. More people may own more gadgets and goodies than ever before, making it seem as though people are better off, but the truth is that most people are only capable of owning those luxury items while also being in debt.
3) Allow independent auditing to ensure that Congress cuts down on waste, fraud, and abuse.
Well…sorry, I just threw up in my mouth there. In response to this one I’ll just mention one name: Jack Abramoff. Yeah, I think we’re safe in saying that this particular promise made in the Contract on America was a huge failure.
4) A requirement that Congress live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses, including an amendment to balance the budget.
Hmm. I wonder. How many families succeed by spending over 100% of what they take in each year? Do you? And when you come up with a budget, do you include all the money you plan to spend? Or do you allow for extra spending on the side without including it in the budget. Are you aware that billions of dollars that have been spent on the Iraq war are not technically in the United States’ budget?
5) THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.
Well, they were right on this one. It was a first-ever vote on term limits for Congressmen and Senators. And it was also a last-ever vote. Going in, they knew they wouldn’t have the votes to get it passed and once it failed they conveniently never brought it up again. Now that they do have the votes to get it passed, it has never once been put on the agenda.
6) THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world.
You know, what the US troops are currently doing in Iraq is exactly the same thing that UN troops have been condemned for since it was established. There is no difference. We are in Iraq now simply to keep the peace during a period of nation-building. So, in effect, all we managed to do was cut the UN out of the process; a process that would have resulted in fewer US troops being there and more international troops being there. As for maintaining US credibility around the world…okay, well, I’ll let you mull that one over a for a little bit.
7) THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years.
8) THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: "Loser pays" laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation.
9) THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.
however they were caught and not to mention they've had their own scandals in Congress with William Jefferson under investigation and being on an ethics committee asigned by Pelosi.. another case if one that I just brought up and that is Charles Rangel being involved in gifts/kickbacks ..etc..etc.. So no the Democrats haven't brought back integrity to the House.. one would have to have listened to the numerous promises that were made in 2006 to be able to debate this issue
Whatever happened to your outrage at being considered Innocent until proven guilty?
Oh right! that only applies to republicans.....
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/14/2008 9:53:06 PM |
Lets look at what the republican promises and the 10 years they had a majority. let's look at your wallet or pocket book TODAY.. are you paying for higher gasoline prices AND an illegal War? | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/14/2008 9:55:14 PM |
The Democrats for two years have changed the rules on the Republicans, haven't allowed the Republicans to debate on certain issues.. have gone as far as changed legislation without voting on it
Examples? Dang I wish more of you people would watch CSPAN you would have seen examples LIVE.. now I've got to rely on mainstream media for a link.. I may be be gone a long time.. searching, searching..etc..etc.. | |
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| Confidence in Congress at record low
Posted: 7/15/2008 2:21:09 AM |
Dang I wish more of you people would watch CSPAN you would have seen examples LIVE.. now I've got to rely on mainstream media for a link.. I may be be gone a long time.. searching, searching..etc..etc..
Yeah I won't hold my breath. What about the post by kevin? That's not as easily dismissable as the response given. Didn't CSPAN show any of that, or is it hard to see things from an objective viewpoint?? | |
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