Posted on 07/16/2009 8:09:05 AM PDT by Free America52
Monday night Democrats voted to shut down the U.S. House Representatives rather than allow a handful of Republican Congressmen to speak on the floor. What could have been so offensive or frightening about our discourse that Speaker Pelosi felt she had to protect her party by gagging free speech in the House?
In fact, we had planned to speak on the lack of transparency of the House since Democrats took control. We had planned to criticize Speaker Pelosi for repeatedly denying Members, the media, and the public to right to read legislation before it was voted on. We were set to discuss House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s statement last week that if his Members were required to read the Democrats’ healthcare reform package before it was voted on, it would fail.
So the Speaker obviously feels that if the public is truly aware of her party’s agenda, they will reject it. She is now making sure the public is kept in the dark by trampling the centuries-old democratic traditions of the House.
What are those traditions? Every day that the House is in session, following the final vote of the day, representatives are allowed the privilege of free speech on the House floor in what is known as “Special Orders.” They may speak for one minute, five minutes, or one hour segments, and must request their time in advance. Time is allocated equally to both parties on a first-come basis.
Since the advent of live C-SPAN coverage of the House, this has provided a national televised outlet for both Republicans and Democrats to speak to the nation on topics they feel were not adequately addressed during regular order in the House, during which the Democrat majority has the parliamentary ability to limit debate and speeches.
Special Orders therefore frequently serves as a political safety valve if the party in the majority becomes too dictatorial during debate, using their majority status to truly oppress the minority’s ability to debate and offer amendments.
That is now the case in the House, with the Democrat majority under Pelosi repeatedly rejecting House rules to ram a far-left agenda through before the public has time to learn what is actually in the bills.
This is what we were committed to bring to public light.
House rules require a bill be publicly posted for three days before it can be voted on. That basic rule was written by none other than Thomas Jefferson as part of the original rules package of the House, as it is essential to the survival of representative democracy.
The House can waive that rule if it chooses on specific occasions. The Republican-controlled House chose to waive it when considering the Patriot Act in 2001 following the terror attacks of 9-11. They thought there was enough of a national defense emergency to just bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
But Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats have chosen to ignore the rule on every major issue taken up by the House this year, including:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - The Obama Stimulus: This one just had to pass that very day because time was a-wastin’ in getting those new jobs coming. We couldn’t wait for Members to read it. But then the President waited four days to sign it into law while he spent the weekend in Chicago, and months later none of the new jobs have come into existence.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization (SCHIP): Speaker Pelosi couldn’t wait on this one either, although the deadline for reauthorization was still two months away.
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Lilly was peddled as covering decades-old wage discrimination cases, but after waiting 20 years, Congress couldn’t wait one more day to let Members actually read the thing. The bill is still stuck in the Senate Committee
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009: No excuses at all on this one. They just didn’t want the details known.
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009: This one has been languishing since last October, but we suddenly had to pass it that day.
The AIG Bonus Tax Act: This had to get through right then, don’t mind the details, we just had to go after those bonuses. Only when we read what passed after the fact, the bill contained waivers for all of the same executives the bill was supposed to reign in, many with curiously close ties to Treasury Secretary and tax cheat Tim Geithner.
The Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009: No rush whatever on this one time-wise, the Democrats just didn’t want people talking about the hundreds of billions given to foreign banks that should have gone to our troops.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act/National Cap-and-Trade Energy Tax: No excuse was offered on this one, the Speaker just didn’t want anybody reading Henry Waxman’s 300 page amendment he sneaked in overnight before we were forced to vote. Three weeks later, the Senate shows no intention of taking up the bill before the opening day of dove season, if then.
There’s a reason all these bills are listed. The list constitutes every major policy bill undertaken by Congress this year. House Democrats are not just waiving the three-day rule -- they have destroyed it, and are intentionally pushing their agenda to the floor with blindfolds on the media and the public.
This constitutes an astonishing and chilling acceleration of the assault on representative democracy that began in earnest this January.
Representative democracy works when a U.S. Representative listens to the input of their constituents, and votes the way the majority of their district would vote. Only a Representative can’t listen if no one has ever seen the bill, or had time to provide input. They have to vote blind, which for too many, is voting the way their leadership tells them.
This is what Republican House Members were going to the floor to say Monday night. We were set to decry the loss of openness in the House.
Instead, we were met with a slammed door by Democrats, who are now committed to burying truth along with democracy.
The Democrats are the majority -- for now. They chose to silence debate on the floor by gagging House Republican Members from using their historical right to speak after the close of the day. But they cannot stop us from speaking outside the halls of Congress and letting the American public know the truth about their ongoing attack against the very foundations of a free Republic.
That is something that needs to be brought out to the public in depth!!!!
The steps of Congress should have been used.
They are a bunch of wimps!
Leave the House totally to the Dems, assemble on the steps leading to the House, and make it clear to the American public that everything coming out of that Chamber is all democrat doing.
Remember more than once the democrats leaving the Chamber and using that tactic.
I was going to post the same thing.
You know, when the Pubs regain control of the House, it’s going to so fun to watch how fast 9%Nan will be dealt with. The retribution should be swift and harsh. To see her out of power and relegated to nothing more than an observer will be a definite “E” ticket. I just hope the Pubs will have grown a spine and do the job that the voters who put them in office want them to do.
I hope the ‘Pubbies are learning something from this. If they ever get control of the House again, they need to turn the screws on the Democrats until they SCREAM!
And since that won’t take much, they should keep tightening down on them...
None of this tyranny will end until the day the country sends people up to escort Obama and the democrats out and put them behind bars for their failure to uphold the US Constitution.
** I just hope the Pubs will have grown a spine and do the job that the voters who put them in office want them to do.**
GOP as currently set up, probably have a committee set up to escort FLIES out of the Building so they don’t have to hurt them. The chances of the current GOP to get a Spine is about the same as me winning a congressional seat from NEW YORK.
She has been drunk on power for a long time....
I think you’re assuming too much re: the R’s. The R’s in office will go along to get along to show how much nicer and bi-partisan they are than the D’s IF conservatives take back Congress. The R’s are Charlie Brown and the D’s are Lucy holding the football for the kick.
I don’t want 9% Nan anywhere near any gov’t building or “serving” in any official capacity. That worthless socialist hag just needs to go away.
Like you, I hope they have grown some, but I have given up on them. Have since renounced my R affiliation and am now just a straight contrarian constitutional conservative.
Regards,
SZ
Guess it should be transparent that we are under Communists control with figurehead nitwit King Obama at it’s head. The gangster control is with a few thousand corrupt and rotten politicians and they have spent years working on lame Americans to get control. Got to admire the machine, sure made fools of most of America. America has nobody to blame except themselves. So much in fighting in the Republican party. A@@holes just couldn’t overlook some of our candidates faults. Oh, that’s right, must have a perfect person.
“You know, when the Pubs regain control of the House, it’s going to so fun to watch how fast 9%Nan will be dealt with. The retribution should be swift and harsh. To see her out of power and relegated to nothing more than an observer will be a definite “E” ticket. I just hope the Pubs will have grown a spine and do the job that the voters who put them in office want them to do.”
RANT
No offense, but don’t be silly. The Pubbies will fall all over themselves trying to get along. I’d love to see them do something but it’ll never happen. They won’t repeal one single spending bill. They have no cojones are are only a party of drones. They demonstrated this by remaining silent and even helping the Rats attack Palin.
The Republicans are as much traitors to this nation as the Rats are. All it takes for evil to triumph is for men of good will to do nothing. The Pubbies are famous for doing nothing over the past 8 years.... nothing except spend, regulate and spend. It’s time for both of these evil dinosaur parties to go. Keep the names if you want but unless the Pubbies are purged of the Boehners and Bushes nothing will change.
RANT OFF
That feels better.
I think the pubbies should hold a rally on the steps of congress and roast pelosi with this...........but as you say..they are wusses.
Watches as Barry’s “bi-partisan” rehtoric goes up in smoke.
Opps, that’s right, Barry really had no intention of anything working via a bi-partisanship manner.....
This is where Obama is taking the country, no debate, no dialogue, just ram it through before the public gets wise.
I honestly believe this guy is working on the demise of the U.S as we know it. This is the guy who wants to dialogue with his enemies in foreign lands but can not tolerate debate in his own country, what the hell is he afraid of? Americans, generally, are for too enamored with Obama to see through
his hidden agenda. Those who would oppose him are, presumably,
racists or some other foul name. Why will these guys not debate the other side of an issue? They talk about the fairness doctrine yet they don’t practice fairness. And the most frustrating part of all is the media are not in the least concerned. Do they not see what I see? Obama is rushing his agenda through before the lemmings understand it for even they would not agree entirely with what his agenda purports to accomplish. He is practicing mushroom management with style, “Keep em in the dark and cover them with horse shit”
This is so frustrating. Having ready made bills crafted by shadowy, unelected figures and then ramrodded through is NOT what our country is about. They intended that congress people be smart enough to write their own laws so that they would be involved with the issue. Instead people pre-written laws to “lawmakers” and then essentially pay them to pass it. Disgusting.
Ping
I’d love to see Nancy have a tiny little walk-in closet of an office after 2010! I’d love to say what I’d like to see happen to her but think that is better left as a thought.
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