Posted on 10/07/2010 8:03:55 AM PDT by STARWISE
Both the left and right sides of the blogosphere are buzzing about a bipartisan TARP-style banking bailout bill that somehow reached President Obamas desk in the legislative rush before Congress adjourned for the midterm election break.
The sordid episode underscores everything Ive spotlighted about the culture of corruption over the last two years sabotage of the deliberative process, circumventing of rules, backroom deals, and contempt for the will of the people.
Yes, the Vampire Congress strikes again.
The bill is HR3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010, which requires courts to accept as valid notarized letters made out of state, making it harder to challenge the authenticity of foreclosure and other legal documents. Heres the legislative history of the bill.
Reuters lays out the basic story:
*snip*
And now, the dirty details of the legislative legerdemain that paved the bills path to Obamas desk:
After languishing for months in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill passed the Senate with lightning speed and with hardly any public awareness of the bills existence on September 27, the day before the Senate recessed for midterm election campaign.
The bills approval involved invocation of a special procedure. Democratic Senator Robert Casey, shepherding last-minute legislation on behalf of the Senate leadership, had the bill taken away from the Senate Judiciary committee, which hadnt acted on it.
The full Senate then immediately passed the bill without debate, by unanimous consent. No debates.
No amendments.
No roll call votes.
More:
The House had passed the bill in April. The House actually had passed identical bills twice before, but both times they died when the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to act.
Some House and Senate staffers said the Senate committee had let the bills languish because of concerns that they would interfere with individual states rights to regulate notarizations.
Senate staffers familiar with the judiciary committees actions said the latest one passed by the House seemed destined for the same fate. But shortly before the Senates recess, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy pressed to have the bill rushed through the special procedure, after Leahy constituents called him and pressed for passage.
The staffers said they didnt know who these constituents were or if anyone representing the mortgage industry or other interests had pressed for the bill to go through.
These staffers said that, in an unusual display of bipartisanship, Senator Jeff Sessions, the committees senior Republican, also helped to engineer the Senates unanimous consent for the bill.
Neither Leahys nor Sessions offices responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
You can be pointless too apparently...
Be productive. Offer ideas we can use.
Who is we? I've been around here so long, I've practically become an institution. Have you anything to suggest besides violence, like "torches and pitchforks"?
Who the heck suggested violence?
And we...I mean, WE. People who care.
If you don’t care what happens, then so be it...
Thanks STARWISE.
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