End Runs around Congress

The President and the Congress have been stymied on some things, but that doesn't stop them. They have just begun to fight using these end runs. Thomas Sowell explains it well
From Townhall.com

Political End Runs
by Thomas Sowell
The Constitution of the United States begins with the words "We the people." But neither the Constitution nor "we the people" will mean anything if politicians and judges can continue to do end runs around both.

Bills passed too fast for anyone to read them are blatant examples of these end runs. But last week, another of these end runs appeared in a different institution when the medical "end of life consultations" rejected by Congress were quietly enacted through bureaucratic fiat by administrators of Medicare.

Although Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Jay Rockefeller had led an effort by a group of fellow Democrats in Congress to pass Section 1233 of pending Medicare legislation, which would have paid doctors to include "end of life" counselling in their patients' physical checkups, the Congress as a whole voted to delete that provision.

Republican Congressman John Boehner, soon to become Speaker of the House, objected to this provision in 2009, saying: "This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."

Whatever the merits or demerits of the proposed provision in Medicare legislation, the Constitution of the United States makes the elected representatives of "we the people" the ones authorized to make such decisions. But when proposals explicitly rejected by a vote in Congress are resurrected and stealthily made the law of the land by bureaucratic fiat, there has been an end run around both the people and the Constitution.

Congressman Blumenauer's office praised the Medicare bureaucracy's action but warned: "While we are very happy with the result, we won't be shouting it from the rooftops because we are not out of the woods yet."


In other words, don't let the masses know about it.

It is not only members of Congress or the administration who treat "we the people" and the Constitution as nuisances to do an end run around. Judges, including Justices of the Supreme Court, have been doing this increasingly over the past hundred years.

Read it all here. Dr. Sowell is a very knowledgeable man who goes on to give the history of the Progressives.

Lying to Congress - an email I received

I haven't posted emails here unless I go to the original source for the story.  This one is so good I have to pass it on.  I don't have the original source, but feel free to pass it on as an email.

A friend of my wife vented today and wrapped her frustration with Congress in a tight wad that formed a cannonball. I just had to pass along her thoughts as they parallel mine.

Subject: Roger Clemens and Congress

While driving home yesterday I was taken aback when I heard that baseball great, Roger Clemens, is being indicted for lying to Congress and could go to prison for 30 years. This email is by no means a defense of lying or a defense of steroids but I found it absolutely incredible when I heard the words “lying to Congress.” I actually found myself laughing. Was the announcer talking about the same Congress that we have in Washington?

I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around the picture of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel, and countless others whose names escape me now who are congressmen and women sitting in judgment of someone who lied about taking steroids when they lie, deceive, and steal from us every day. Are we talking about the same folks who don’t report all of their earnings, don’t pay their taxes, or feather their own nests or that of their spouses with government contracts, sitting in judgment of Roger Clemens? Please clarify for me…are we talking about the same people who by the sin of omission allow our borders to be a sieve and wage war against the state of Arizona for trying to protect her citizens? Surely I am mistaken that we’re not talking about the likes of Nancy Pelosi who wants to investigate 911 families or anyone else who is opposed to the victory mosque on ground zero but will not investigate who is funding the mosque.

Congress should be indicted by the American people! If we cannot throw 30 years then we need to throw them out of office forever and push for term limits.them in jail for  Every day I get more incensed at the absolute disdain our “public servants” have for us - for you and me, the American people.

I cannot tell you what to do but I just had to do something to get this subject out and discussed in the clear light of day. I will be praying, and I will write my congressmen and then wait for their form letters on the supplies that we have paid for which will undoubtedly ignore any thing I said in my letter. I heard a quote on Turning Point Monday morning related to illness and it was something like “don’t deny the diagnosis but defy the verdict.” I think we can all diagnose what is wrong with our country but please don’t sit quietly by and accept the verdict.

A New Use for the Military

Running for Congress.  John Fund in the Wall Street Journal lays it out for us.

Rahm's Way
 Recruiting military veterans to run for marginal House seats comes from the Book of Rahm. 

The idea of specifically recruiting military veterans to run for marginal House seats was part of Rahm Emanuel's master plan when he ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006. The strategy helped Democrats win back the House. Now Republicans are taking a page from the Book of Rahm and mounting their own effort to run veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. The Washington Times reports that the number of vets running this year will be double what it was in 2008 -- and most of the 40 who are running are running as Republicans.

The surge comes at a time when the total of veterans in the House has reached a post-World War II low of just over 21%. D. Patrick Mahoney, an Iraq War veteran who heads the Veterans for Congress political action committee, says it's to be expected that several of this year's candidates will stumble short of the finish line because they come to their races without the wealth or network of supporters that more established candidates have.

Nonetheless, in the right districts veterans can appeal to voters as fresh faces who have proven their leadership qualities. Rep. Joe Sestak, a former admiral, is picking up ground in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary against longtime incumbent Arlen Specter. Mark Kirk, an Illinois GOP congressman who was twice deployed to Afghanistan as a reservist in 2008, is now favored to win the Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. Allen West, a Bronze Star winner who has trained Afghan troops as an adviser, is wowing Republican audiences in Palm Beach, Florida in his race to unseat an incumbent Democrat. Steve Stivers, another Bronze Star winner from the Iraq war, is an even bet to unseat Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in a Columbus, Ohio district.

Many veterans lack the polish and political skills of candidates who have climbed the ladder of public office, but in an anti-incumbent year they may find more success than normal precisely because they haven't been tainted by the backroom deal-making that voters are increasingly suspicious of.

Does your Congressman Know the Constitution?

From Hot Air:
Video: GOP congressman fails tea partier’s pop quiz on the Constitution


The article goes on to discuss this:

The point here, of course, is to demonstrate what an afterthought the Constitution has become for members of Congress. No surprise, then, that the item that’s currently getting the most votes for the proposed tea party “Contract from America” is the one demanding that each new bill cite the section of the Constitution that empowers Congress to act. Although how useful would that be, really? No matter what the purpose of the bill is, the citation will always, always be to the Commerce Clause. It entitles Congress to do anything it wants, don’tcha know.

How about a lower limit on salaries for Congressional Staffers

This article from Politico is about House staffers, I'm sure it is also true for the senate.

2,000 House staffers make six figures

Nearly 2,000 House of Representative staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income.

I don't know about you, but to me that is really flaunting power and money in the face of the people of the United States.

Starting salaries on Capitol Hill are still low — many entry-level congressional jobs pay less than $30,000 a year. And many of the most highly paid staffers could make several times the maximum by jumping to lobbying and consulting jobs in the private sector.

But the salary data, compiled for POLITICO by LegiStorm.com, show that it’s possible to make an enviable living in Congress, even without winning an election. The 43 staffers who maxed out at $172,500 — the salary cap for leadership and committee staffers — include John Lawrence, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Paula Nowakowski, the late chief of staff to House Minority Leader John Boehner; and House Parliamentarian John Sullivan. They earned only slightly less than rank-and-file members of Congress, who make $174,000.

Maybe if they had less staffers and did more of their own work they would know exactly what is in a bill and it would be more like, say - 120 pages instead of something in a box of over a foot square and too ugly and large to be shown in a signing ceremony. Maybe.....

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/35050.html#ixzz0jIYBGE79

Win An All Expense Trip to Cophehagen

That's what friends and colleagues of Nancy Pelosi did just by traveling with her, and by the way that included her. CBS News (yes, that CBS news) reported the trip costs were over a million  dollars.

Congress Went to Denmark, You Got the Bill

Congressional expense reports there's new light shed on the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark and how much it cost taxpayers.

CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports official filings and our own investigation show at least 106 people from the House and Senate attended - spouses, a doctor, a protocol expert and even a photographer.

Read the Congressional Expense Report

For 15 Democratic and 6 Republican Congressmen, food and rooms for two nights cost $4,406 tax dollars each. That's $2,200 a day - more than most Americans spend on their monthly mortgage payment.

CBS News asked members of Congress and staff about whether they're mindful that it's public tax dollars they're spending. Many said they had never even seen the bills or the expense reports.

Copenhagen Congressional Junket

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a key climate change player. He went to Copenhagen last year. Last week, we asked him about the $2,200-a-day bill for room and food.

"I can't believe that," Rep. Waxman said. "I can't believe it, but I don't know."

But his name is in black and white in the expense reports. The group expense report was filed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She wouldn't talk about it when our producer tried to ask.

At least Mr. Waxman has a record of being dedicated to working on global warming, for that I will give him a pass on going to the summit; the others, not so much.

Read all the links in the article to get the full story.

Hold Congress Accountable

Mayor Bloomberg is not my favorite politician but he has hit the nail on the head with this one.

Bloomberg Blasts Obama's War On Wall Street, Says Congress Salaries Should Be Held In Escrow For 10 Years Until We See How Their Laws Worked Out
by Henry Blodget

New York mayor Mike Bloomberg is outraged by Washington's attack on his city's primary source of tax revenue. And he has lobbed in a tit-for-tat plan to hold Congress accountable, too.

Go read the rest of the story.

Elected to Office or Into the Royal Realm?

Here in Texas when I was young we heard a lot about "The Duke of Duval". In fact if it had not been for that Duke, Lyndon Johnson would not have been elected into office in the first place. It wasn't that the duke was elected to national office but he did wield much power.

Now we have those who are elected to Congress who seem to think they were elected to travel and spend taxpayer money as if they were royalty. The Wall Street Journal addressed this in the article about members of the House of Representatives and their  accomadations in Edinburgh.

Congress Travels More, Public Pays

Lawmakers Ramp Up Taxpayer-Financed Journeys; Five Days in Scotland

The expenses racked up by U.S. lawmakers traveling here for a conference last month included one for the "control room."

Besides rooms for sleeping, the 12 members of the House of Representatives rented their hotel's fireplace-equipped presidential suite and two adjacent rooms. The hotel cleared out the beds and in their place set up a bar, a snack room and office space. The three extra rooms -- stocked with liquor, Coors beer, chips and salsa, sandwiches, Mrs. Fields cookies and York Peppermint Patties -- cost a total of about $1,500 a night. They were rented for five nights.

While in Scotland, the House members toured historic buildings. Some shopped for Scotch whisky and visited the hotel spa. They capped the trip with a dinner at one of the region's finest restaurants, paid for by the legislators, who got $118 daily stipends for meals and incidentals.

Eleven of the 12 legislators then left the five-day conference two days early.

The tour provides a glimpse of the mixture of business and pleasure involved in legislators' overseas trips, which are growing in number and mostly financed by the taxpayer. Lawmakers travel with military liaisons who carry luggage, help them through customs, escort them on sightseeing trips and stock their hotel rooms with food and liquor. Typically, spouses come along, flying free on jets operated by the Air Force. Legislative aides come too. On the ground, all travel in chauffeured vehicles.

I realize there may be some trips that are necessary for overnight stays by legislature, but I fail to see why they need such an entourage to conduct actual business. It seems to me that a real arrogrance, some might call them haughty, seems to come to people who are elected to these offices.  They have lost all memory of the term "Public Servant" and seem to instead see themselves as elite rulers entitled to all the accourtrements that go with their station in life.

Read it all here.

It's Wonderful They Have Nothing Important going on

The AP reported this:
House panel passes college football playoff bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday aimed at forcing college football to switch to a playoff system to determine its national champion, over the objections of some lawmakers who said Congress has meatier targets to tackle.

The bill, which faces steep odds, would ban the promotion of a postseason NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision game as a national championship unless it results from a playoff. The measure passed by voice vote in a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee, with one audible "no," from Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga.

"With all due respect, I really think we have more important things to spend our time on," Barrow said before the vote, although he stressed he didn't like the current Bowl Championship Series, either.

I certainly agree with Rep. Barrow

GOP Congressman Questions AARP Endorsement

We discussed this at the meeting of the Rockport 912 Texans for Freedom last night. This is an article from CNS News. It seems to me there was a conflict of interest when they stumped for the Medicare prescription plan and also on this healthcare bill.

AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, which endorsed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) version of the health-care reform bill Thursday, is drawing fire from a member of Congress who questions the motives of the nation’s largest senior citizens’ lobbying group.

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) told CNSNews.com that it is possible AARP could benefit financially from the passage of the bill, which includes $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage. According to Reichert, if the cuts to the programs result in reduced benefits, more seniors will have to purchase “Medigap” coverage, highly regulated private insurance that fills in holes in Medicare coverage.

Read it all here.

We Won Two Big Ones, Not so much on the other one

There is much euphoria on the wins in New Jersey and Virginia, as there should be, but we didn’t make it in New York 23. That was a flawed race from the beginning and I thought Hoffman could win. I am ashamed for the performance of the incumbent. I thought when she withdrew from the race she would do the right thing. Apparently she doesn’t know how. That is just a sad spectacle of a politician.

The new mantra for the conservatives on New York: Wait till Next Year.  We need to keep that in mind for a lot of the races that will happen next year.  Keep on Fighting for the recovery of our country.

MoveOutCongress.com

Have you seen this website? Go read it now. Here is one of their headlines:
Pink Slip Congress - Today

It's time for them to come home. They spend money we don't have. They pass bills without reading them. They watch as thousands of innocent people are thrown out of work for no just cause and businesses are destroyed. They are conspiring to take over your healthcare and strip you of your choices. They have abandoned the principles of the Declaration and Constitution and cast aside the rule of law.

That is just a snippet. Bookmark the site and keep track of what is going on there.
Sent to me by a Rockport Conservative.