Tag: Congress

Fix Congress

Fix Congress

Posted on by jack

The full title is Restoring the Consent of the Governed: How Americans Can Hold Congress More Accountable for Serving the National Interest by Bill Bridgman. The title and subtitle are a mouthful but it does summarize the book nicely.

The book is neither long nor expensive. I think it is interesting, well done, and important. The problem it addresses is one I think most Americans can agree with. There is wide spread agreement that the U.S Congress is just not doing a very good job. Continue reading “Fix Congress”

Secret Science

Secret Science

Posted on by Jack

Let me start by saying that as a scientist I am against the idea of secret science. Science should be an open process and certainly not secret.

But sometimes, it isn’t.   And there is nothing sinister about that.  And certainly no need  to be reformed. However, that is not what this bill is about. If science needed to be reformed and it doesn’t, Congress is the last place I would think of. Continue reading “Secret Science”

Shutdown Emergency Declarations In Utah

Shutdown Emergency Declarations In Utah

Posted on by Jack

Declining tourism spending because of the government shutdown has resulted in 4 counties in Utah to declare states of emergency.

Perhaps the governor and county commissioners could contact their members of Congress and suggest they find a way around the Congressional leadership’s refusal to allow votes and suggest that voters of Utah might remember those who keep the government closed.

So called leaders lead us into Shutdown

So called leaders lead us into Shutdown

Posted on by Jack

The intransigence of the leaders of Congress brought us into a government shutdown and now prevents us from re-opening the government.

The House tries to open things piecemeal but that in unsuccessful. In most cases, the leader of the Senate won’t let his Senate vote on these proposals.

Even when there is some success, there are are unintentional omissions. Yes, pass a bill to pay the soldiers. Oops, they forgot to include death benefits. Pass another bill and hope Harry Reed will consider it and hope we don’t leave out anything that turns out to be important.

The government does lots of things and in most cases we don’t know what will be important in the near future. So we have essential personnel man agencies that lose much of their strength in a shutdown. And then watch the CDC have to make a skeleton staff a little less skeletal to deal with a disease outbreak.

Why not just open it all? Well, the leader of the House won’t let his members vote on that.

John Boehner, are you listening ?

National debt crisis solved

National debt crisis solved

Posted on by Jack

It seems to be a repeat of recent events. Congress creates a crisis when there is no need.

Of course the manufactured crisis in the news now is the budget for next year, but that is soon to be followed by a more serious crisis when Congress needs to increase the debt ceiling so we can pay our national bills including interest on the debt and current expenses in excess of revenues.

I am of the opinion that an agreement between the President and Congress the best course but that the President can act by himself and ignore the debt ceiling but that is opinion.

We had a similar crisis just a few years ago. I think the President gave into Congress too easily then.

But are good arguments on both sides. And it could be that neither side really want to push their arguments too hard as they might lose the court case and be much worse off than having this ambiguous situation. So here are the Arguments:

Article 2 Section 3 of the Constitution says of the President:
… “he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” …

So if Congress passes a budget that requires borrowing by spending more than revenues, the President has a duty to borrow so he may execute the laws. It would seem unfair and perhaps unconstitutional to limit his abilities.

The President has an obligation to execute the laws. It is impossible to execute all laws since the debt ceiling law denies him the money to execute many laws, and so he has no choice but to ignore the debt ceiling law unless Congress increases the debt ceiling. By failing to increase the debt ceiling in a timely manner, Congress is blocking his constitutional obligation.

So it seems to me there are 2 good arguments in favor of this. First, the President is in a situation where he cannot execute all the laws so he must pick either this one debt ceiling law or all the others. The second is that the debt limit law is unconstitutional since it prevents the President from carrying out duties specified in the Constitution.

On the other hand, Article 1 Section 8 of the same Constitution gives Congress the power “to pay the Debts” and “To borrow Money on the credit of the United States” so maybe there is a Constitutional case for the debt ceiling. But then nowhere does it say that Congress can refuse to pay debts or limit the ability of the President to carry out the laws that they passed.

But then we have Amendment 14, Section 4:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. …

Here is a part of the Constitution that would seem to suggest that this should not be an issue.

No Labels

No Labels

Posted on by Jack

I have my opinions and I have been known to be wrong on occasion. I usually think I’m right but I’m willing to listen to other opinions and maybe reconsider my own opinion. Sometimes I’ll even change my opinion because of that listening.

Unfortunately, many of our so-called leaders don’t think they need to listen. Even worse they are willing to force everyone else to follow what they think is the right path.

You may have guessed by now that I am thinking about Congress. There is a partisan divide where Republicans don’t give Democratic ideas much serious consideration and Democrats don’t give Republican ideas much consideration and the 2 sides don’t compromise much. There are a few Independent and a few in the major parties willing to cross the aisle but not nearly enough of it.

So I have written about this failure of governing before. The political system is making our democracy dysfunctional.

A group called “no labels” is trying to help move us past this political gridlock. Check out the website of No Labels.

Repeal ObamaCare, maybe 37th time is the charm

Repeal ObamaCare, maybe 37th time is the charm

Posted on by Jack

I read today that the House of Representatives is going to try to repeal ObamaCare for the 37th time.

I’m kind of on the edge of my seat here. Will it pass this time? Did it pass all 36 times before?

How long will it take House Republicans to realize that the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare has been law for a few years and there is no chance of repeal unless the Republicans take over in the Senate and maybe the White House. Wouldn’t their time be better spend in trying to fix parts of the law they find especially objectionable? Or trying to be constructive?

What if repealing ObamaCare actually will increase the deficit as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted. Will the Republicans agree to raise taxes to make their plan deficit neutral? Or will they cut elsewhere?

Gun background check loopholes

Gun background check loopholes

Posted on by Jack

It has now been almost 4 months since the Newtown massacre and the Congress has been debating measures to limit access to guns without inhibiting lawful guns activity for much of that time.. Some states have already enacted measures but federal efforts are not moving very quickly.

We already have a background check system in place but there are large loopholes. There are fairly simple ways someone who could not pass even the most rudimentary background check can buy a gun without being subject to any sort of check. Say someone convicted of multiple crimes while using a gun wanted another gun, the criminal could just buy the gun privately at a gun show or from a private party online.

It is hard to understand why anyone would oppose the commonsense step of having the same rules for gun purchase regardless of the venue.

Sequester and Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare)

Sequester and Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare)

Posted on by Jack

Just 2 short notes today.

1. The Sequester is nearly upon us. The consequences have been much covered in the press. Long lines at airport security, cut-backs in air traffic control, military cuts, fewer food inspections, and many more. Additionally the cut-backs seem likely to hurt the economy which is only slowly recovering from the recession.

I see little movement toward a solution. In fact, both house of Congress took a week off last week, leaving only a few days to solve this.

2. Heath care reform (aka ObamaCare) is in place. Some find aspects they dislike or that they think will harm the economy. The only call I hear from these groups is “repeal” or “repeal and replace”. Since we have already passed health care reform and it has passed constitutional muster, why not work to fix those part that you disagree with?

When the going gets tough, Congress gets going

When the going gets tough, Congress gets going

Posted on by Jack

We avoided the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the year by just delaying the massive budget cuts known as sequestration.

So now that the delay is almost up and we have less than 2 weeks to solve the problem (or delay again) was does Congress do? They leave town (go into recess) for a week.

The old saying is “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Does this mean our Congress is tough?

Americans for Responsible Solutions: start a dialog to address gun violence

Americans for Responsible Solutions: start a dialog to address gun violence

Posted on by Jack

Americans for Responsible Solutions is an organization founded to help and encourage our lawmakers to stand-up to the powerful forces that prevent our lawmakers from serious considering and putting into place any laws that will restrict gun ownership in an attempt to prevent the serious problem of gun-related violence in out society. Check out the website of Americans for Responsible Solutions.

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded and 18 of her constituents killed or wounded by a gunman about 2 years ago. There have been 11 mass shootings since then. Rep. Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly founded Americans for Responsible Solutions to encourage a national conversation to address gun violence. Check out their website and let your Senators and Representatives know your beliefs on this issue.

Implement and Improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Implement and Improve the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Posted on by Jack

Now that the election is over and Democrats remain in control of the Senate and President Obama occupies the Whitehouse, it should be clear to everyone that repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is extremely unlikely and House Republicans can stop wasting their time with this repeal and replace nonsense for at least the next 4 years.

There are many good things about the law. Or at least I think it is good that insurance companies cannot exclude people who they think will be expensive because of preexisting conditions. I think it is good that they cannot cap the benefits someone who gets seriously sick can receive. But I do not believe the law is perfect.

There are also a good number of things that do not seem like great ideas. And people will differ in opinions as to what those are. For example, many oppose the individual mandate to have health insurance. Others may think the free rider provision for employers is not such a great idea.

You can disagree with some provisions of the law without disliking all of it.

But the ACA is law and there is almost no chance of that changing. I see lots of good things but there are also problems, or at least provisions that some people see as problems. Unless you are happy with all of it, actively encourage your Representatives, Senators, and President to improve the ACA.

It may be a good time to do some actual governing

It may be a good time to do some actual governing

Posted on by Jack

Now that the election is over, it may be a good time to do some actual governing. Seems the parties need to find enough common ground to reach a compromise and prevent us from falling off a fiscal cliff on this next January. Refusal to compromise could put us back in recession ( http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20121107-720595.html )

Trust me and trust Congress

Trust me and trust Congress

Posted on by Jack

Mitt Romney has a plan to fix the economy. It is just that he won’t tell us exactly or even approximately what it is. He will cut taxes for everyone while reducing the deficit and the economy will boom.

Unfortunately he will not tell us how he will manage to cut tax rates while reducing the deficit except to say that he will eliminate nonspecified loopholes and deductions. Paul Ryan seems to have a similar plan with unspecified details. Should they be called the “Trust Me Team”?

It seems they will work with Congress to specify some of those loopholes and deductions. So our role is to trust them and trust Congress. Congress certainly hasn’t done much lately to earn our trust.

So trust them and trust Congress. Does anyone else see a flaw in this plan ?

Podcast alert: cancer at the heart of our democracy

Podcast alert: cancer at the heart of our democracy

Posted on by Jack

Yesterday I heard a great radio interview. Terry Gross of Fresh Air  interviewed Mickey Edwards whose new book The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans is about our hyper-partisan political system.

In the interview, he calls political parties “cancer at the heart of our democracy”. Strong words but well deserved.

I have previously written about this excessive power of party and am glad Mickey Edwards‘ views are getting wider coverage. I enjoy listening to podcasts when I go for a walk. If you enjoy podcasts, be sure to get this interview by Terry Gross.

Although the citizens (or we the people) are theoretically in charge, the people we elect to represent us and govern are too busy posturing and refuse to compromise and so are unable to govern and solve our country’s problems. We have given too much power to the 2 major political parties.

The parties control our elections and limit our choices, determine what laws are come up for a vote and how our representatives will vote. The votes will be in the interests of the party leaders, rather than the people.

The NPR website has highlights of the interviews as well as comments on the interview and the roles of parties in our dysfunctional system.

Is this anyway to run a democracy?