Who are you fooling when you’re fooling yourself? A TV Reporter recently asked me what grade I would give Congress in its response to the Coronavirus; B+ was my response. Considering we had to handle an unfolding no-fault natural disaster that was thrust upon us, I think we’ve responded well.
Anytime you rush through legislation there are going to be some unforced and unseen errors. As an example, the second COVID bill was 110 pages and we were only given 30 minutes to read it. It required 90 pages worth of corrections three days after it was passed to correct a few “technical glitches.”
There were also other hits and misses along the way that required correcting, but I won’t bore you with the details. They say the most dangerous ship you can get on is a partnership, but I think the best ship we could board to fight COVID-19 would be bipartisanship.
Another reason I didn’t give Congress an ‘A’ is a total lack of bipartisanship which is wasting valuable time in getting meaningful help to people that are really struggling due to no fault of their own.
Lately we have been debating bills that are going absolutely nowhere in the Senate. Not only will Speaker Pelosi not consult with Republicans in the drafting of these bills, many of her Democrat members of Congress say she has iced them out too.
Messaging bills you call them - you propose to cure cancer by next week, have all cars running on battery power later this week, and give everyone a 110% reduction on their taxes the following Thursday. That was an example, not an actual bill, but now that I’ve planted the seed, you may see us debating it on C-SPAN soon.
Every even number year, all Congressmen are on the ballot, so the thought is you run home and tell your constituents what a great bill you drafted and even though it didn’t become law, if they’ll just send you back for the new Congress, you’ll be sure to get it passed next time.
This week in Washington we spent a lot of floor time debating yet another of Speaker Pelosi’s messaging bills. Taking care of our infrastructure has always been done in a bipartisan fashion until this week. The Speaker has ‘Jumped the Shark’ and America’s infrastructure bill has gone into the ditch. Speaker Pelosi self-executed a $1.5 trillion bill that will be D.O.A. in the Senate. However, the fact that it was passed will play very well back in San Francisco.
Once again, Speaker Pelosi has squandered an opportunity to work with Republicans to pass common-sense legislation, instead packing this bill full of Green New Deal provisions—in an Infrastructure package no less.
A lot of people are in dire straits right now including individuals, states, municipalities, and schools. We need to get back to work hand-in-hand with our Democrat colleagues and solve as many of these issues as we can. Another way to put it is “stop the madness and start the work!”
3 comments:
Oh, please, Rep Billy Long! Spare me. How many times have you personally voted to scrap the Affordable Care Act while putting forth absolutely NOTHING to replace it. Talk about wasting time. It is rich that Republicans are accusing the Democrats of failing to work toward bipartisanship when Republicans have refused to participate in drafting legislation, such as the ACA. When Mitch McConnell vowed to make Barack Obama a "one-term president" and then colluded with Speakers of the House, first Dennis Hastert and then with John Boehner to deprive this country of any legislation that might be perceived as a "win" for Obama, this poisonous partisanship became the go to mode of operation for the Republican party. An example of this is the overhaul of US immigration laws passed by the Senate in June, 2013, by a vote of 68 to 32, with 12 Republicans joining in its passage. The House would not even bring it up for a vote. (https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/immigration-bill-2013-senate-passes-093530) How much of the trouble this country has seen with immigration being used as a wedge and a club might have been avoided by the passage of that bill in 2013? But no, it might have been seen as an achievement for Obama, so the COUNTRY was denied that legislation. This is just one of so many examples. How about when the Vice President comes to Congress, but meets only with Republicans? Or when the White House does a so-called briefing, but only for Republican members of the House, like it did just last week over this business of the Russians offering bounties for US service personnel killed in Afghanistan. How is that bipartisan? Please, don't you talk to us about bipartisanship. It is hollow.
Dorothy Fulks, Webb City, MO
Dorothy, "hollow" it is. Also self-serving and hypocritical. I think it's the Republicans' hypocrisy that damns them the most, especially in regard to their "support" of American troops.
Billy Long says: We need to get back to work hand-in-hand with our Democrat colleagues and solve as many of these issues as we can. Another way to put it is “stop the madness and start the work!”.
Nothing says reaching across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion like using Rush Limbaugh's insultingly coined label for what is and always has been the "Democratic Party."
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