Replies

The bottom lines is still as I have stated it. This committee really has no power above and beyond that of the legislature as a whole. The house and the Senate both have to pass the bills that come from their recommendations. The house still belongs to us and we simply need to pressure them to stay strong and to strip the onerous parts out of them before they vote.

“The bottom lines is still as I have stated it. This committee really has no power above and beyond that of the legislature as a whole.”

If I understood Judge Napolitano correctly, there are not enough folks with spines (my words) to stop this crooked unconstitutional mess from happening.

He stated this as a fact and that it will happen.

we simply need to pressure them to stay strong and to strip the onerous parts out of them before they vote.

This is not allowed by the bill they have just approved. That's the point! They either accept the Committee's recommendations - in whole, with nothing 'stripped out' - or the triggers are applied. That's what this bill says.

And the person who would be able to undermine that and allow things to be stripped out is . . . Boehner, the principal architect of this bill. He won't allow amendments or other changes.

Things are not "as [you] have stated it," because of the provision in this bill that the Committee's recommendations cannot be changed. That - in conjunction with the triggers - is where their power comes from.

Ultimately, they have no power above and beyond that of the legislature as a whole - but the legislature as a whole has granted to this Committee an unprecedented and unrecoverable (on this topic, and until a new Congress can be elected) share of the power of Congress as whole.

This is like a squad of soldiers who give all their weapons to one member. It is true that that one member has no power beyond that which the squad 'as a whole' possessed, but he's got that power concentrated. Just because it's 'zero-sum' at the bottom line and this committee has no more power than Congress as a whole does not mean it has no real power. It got its power when the other members of Congress surrendered it as part of this bill.

They are still fully *responsible* - you can't delegate responsibility - but they have delegated all their *authority* to a Politburo.

After all, during the reign of the USSR, the Duma has 4000 members - more representatives than we have. And nothing became law until the Duma approved. Under your logic, the Politburo had no particular power. But if the votes of the ratifying body are a foregone conclusion . . . then the real power lies with those who make the decision, not with those who rubber-stamp the already-made decisions.

>> This committee really has no power above and beyond that of the legislature as a whole <<

Hey, Calex, would you please stop trying to spoil our elegant conspiracy theory? The commenters on this thread were really having more fun than a barrel of monkeys until spoil-sports like you started pouring cold water all over us!