Category Archives: Congress
I Have a Pen Speech
President Obama gave his I Have a Pen Speech yesterday. He waved his pen and said he also has a phone.
He then warned Congress that if it doesn’t do his bidding he would have his way by executive order. He would do that with the pen. He would use the phone to rally “non-profit and private sector support” for his agenda.
He didn’t mention recess appointments. In 2012 he declared the Senate in recess, even though the Senate said it was not. He then used the self-proclaimed recess to appoint 2 new members to the National Labor Relations board without Senate approval.
The Supreme Court is not looking kindly on the maneuver.
Plastic Gun
Nowadays you can make a plastic gun with a 3-D printer and slip it past an airport scanner.
“Who in God’s name wants that?” asked Chuck Schumer. So the senate renewed the Undetectable Firearms Act.
Nuclear Option
Harry Reid pulled the trigger on the so-called Nuclear Option on Thursday. The move changed a 200 year old rule that allowed filibusters against presidential appointments. Now the Senate can confirm nominees with a simple majority. That can happen with a straight party line vote – the same way ObamaCare was passed.
As usual, hypocrisy is non-partisan here. The Republicans threatened the same thing when President Bush was having trouble getting his judicial nominations confirmed in the Senate.
Nuclear Option
Here are some strong arguments against the Nuclear Option – from Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.
Health Care Horror Story
The worms turn in the health care horror story. The president says ObamaCare isn’t just a website. He’s right. The problems go much deeper. Ezra Klein explains here.
The horror continues with the pitchman-in-chief’s claim that “if you like your doctor and your insurance – you can keep it”. The Daily Caller says more people have had their insurance cancelled than have signed up for ObamaCare. Florida Blue Cross cut 300,00 and Kaiser Permanente whacked 160,000 in California.
Health Care Horror Warranty
Now along comes Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson with a new bill to hold the government to its warranty. He calls it the “If You Like Your Health Plan You Can Keep it Act“.
Orwellian Train Wreck
It turns out ObamaCare really is a train wreck.
Republicans tried to delay it and were denied. Then they tried to defund it and the result was a government shutdown.
Even though it was far from their goal, had the Republicans succeeded, they would have saved the president’s signature program a lot of embarrassment.
Orwellian White House
Instead, the White House called the Tea Party’s efforts to stop the train wreck “terrorism“.
The same administration, four years ago, labeled the killing of 13 troops at Fort Hood in the name of Islam, “workplace violence“.
