You may have seen the political demonstrations by Democrats on the floor of the House this week where they staged a sit-in to force Congress to vote on gun control bills. These members were tweeting and posting on social media about their antics, sadly using the Orlando tragedy to advance a political agenda.They are also using this tragedy to fundraise. This is wrong.
I was disappointed to see such a willful disregard for the House and the millions of Americans they silenced by not allowing the business of Congress to proceed. I was even more taken aback by the lack of attention these lawmakers have given to the real threat posed by this attack in Orlando: radical Islamic terrorism. What occurred was a terrorist attack by an individual who pledged allegiance to ISIL. This should be the focus of our attention, not efforts to deny law-abiding American's their Second and Fifth Amendment rights.
Further, these actions also thwarted significant pieces of legislation from making their way through the legislative process. As a result of this political maneuvering, the House was unable to debate or vote on two bills:
- The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2017—a bill which makes vital investments in our nation’s job creators, prioritizes law enforcement agencies and anti-drug initiatives, and improves spending accountability across a number of government functions.
- The Separation of Powers Restoration Act—a bill that restores Constitutional checks and balances by overturning two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. These decisions allow courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a law rather than ruling on it themselves. Executive agencies should not be allowed to carry out functions only intended for the courts or Congress to decide.
Further, these actions also thwarted significant pieces of legislation from making their way through the legislative process. As a result of this political maneuvering, the House was unable to debate or vote on two bills:
- The Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2017—a bill which makes vital investments in our nation’s job creators, prioritizes law enforcement agencies and anti-drug initiatives, and improves spending accountability across a number of government functions.
- The Separation of Powers Restoration Act—a bill that restores Constitutional checks and balances by overturning two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. These decisions allow courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a law rather than ruling on it themselves. Executive agencies should not be allowed to carry out functions only intended for the courts or Congress to decide.
3 comments:
If he had pledged his allegance to the Yankees during the attack would that have made him a Yankee? Deranged people say things that are deranged that doesn't make them accurate. You prevent home grown terrorism by preventing people on terror watch lists from getting guns. You prevent foreign terroism by keeping bad guys out. If the FBI is concerned enough to investigate you for terrorism then that should trigger the more in depth background check and longer wait. That is just common sense. It is mind boggling that Republicans are adament about defending Omar Matean's right to buy an assault rifle after using it to murder 49 people. I guess they can never miss an opportunity to spread bigotry.
Republicans are too worried about losing their cushy seats in Congress and having their NRA and gun manufacturers payoffs dry up to do their jobs and protect the country and the American people. They are disgusting, and more and more people are seeing through their excuses for not taking action. Universal background checks and an assault rifle ban are absolutely Constitutional, so they're lying when they say otherwise. Refusing to sell guns to people on the no fly list would be Constitutional, too, because anyone on that list would be able to get themselves off of it if they were placed on it by mistake, and their legal expenses in challenging being placed on the list would be paid. That's in the no fly-no buy bill that the Republicans just killed in the Senate. Letting people on terrorist watch lists or who have been on watch lists buy guns is just insane and indefensible. Some safeguards could be put in place there too to protect the rights of somebody who gets on one and doesn't belong there. The Republicans are hiding behind the Constitution and coming up with phony arguments trying to explain why they won't do anything to protect us, even after dozens and dozens of mass murders. A mass murder is one with four or more victims, and that happens regularly now. The Democrats who protested in the House did the right thing in calling the Republicans out for refusing to even bring the gun bills up for a vote, even after Orlando. House Republicans didn't want to go on record as refusing to keep guns away from terrorists and crazy people. How many more attacks like Orlando will it take to make Republicans in the House and Senate do their jobs and protect the country? I hope every one of them is held accountable when they come up for reelection. Right now, Republican voters need to stop hating Democrats for a while and start electing people who will pass some sensible gun legislation to protect them and their families and everybody else.
Memo to Ms. Hartzler:
You need to read the bill and edit your press release, unless you're deliberately trying to misinform people. You wrote, "The Separation of Powers Restoration Act—a bill that restores Constitutional checks and balances by overturning two U.S. Supreme Court decisions." Last I heard, the House can't overturn Supreme Court decisions. As the bill states, it "expresses the sense of Congress," which translated means "this is what we think." Big difference there, don't you think?
Also, FYI--the Democrats were attempting to advance their agenda, which is keeping Americans alive. You might consider signing on.
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