On George Stephanopoulos’ February 12, 2012 show he brought up the Gallup poll of a few days ago that found Congress’ approval at 10%, the lowest in nearly 40 years; approval of IRS is 40%, Nixon during Watergate was 24% and BP during the oil spill was 16%. The Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Republican Paul Ryan, responded with – there’s nowhere to go but up. People will realize that there is a difference between the House and the Senate. The House is controlled by Republicans (true as of January 31, 2012 there were 242 Republicans, 192 Democrats and 1 vacancy). Last year we passed a budget to save and shrink Medicare and Social Security, to pay off our debit, to grow our economy. We passed 30 bills aimed at growing our economy that are sitting in the Senate (as of May 9, 2011 there were 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans and 1 Independent). We passed 4 budget process reform bills to strengthen the way we account for taxpayer money and the Senate has done nothing. The Senate, against current law, has not passed a budget law in 2010 or 2011 and they’re saying they won’t in 2012. We (the House) will because the law says we need to and we have a moral obligation to try and fix this country’s problems before they get out of control. He said there’s a big difference between the action in the House and total inaction by the Senate. Generally people are looking at what’s coming out of Congress which is nothing but when they look at what’s actually happening the House is acting while the Senate is sitting on its hands playing politics. Did you catch the difference in the Senate – 4 more Democrats than Republicans? Any Senator can propose a bill so just because the Senate is controlled by the Democrats I don’t put anymore blame on them than I do on the 47 Republicans. Besides, the House Republicans outnumber the total Senate.
It is my understanding that the Constitution provides that "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." While the Senate cannot originate revenue and appropriation bills, it has the power to amend or reject them. If this understanding is correct than it makes no sense that the Senate waste its time preparing a budget as most will contain some sort of revenue change through taxes, fees, etc. Now let’s talk about a bill’s process. Each bill goes through several stages in each house including consideration by a committee and advice from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). And, most legislation is considered by standing committees which have jurisdiction over a particular subject such as Agriculture or Appropriations. The House has twenty standing committees and the Senate has sixteen; they all meet at least once each month. Most standing committee meetings for transacting business are open to the public unless the committee votes, publicly, to close the meeting and a committee can call for public hearings on important bills. Each committee is led by a chair belonging to the majority party and a ranking member of the minority party. Witnesses and experts can present their case for or against a bill and a bill may then go to a mark-up session where committee members debate the bill's merits. After debate, the committee votes whether it wishes to report the measure to the full house. Committees may offer amendments or revisions but the full house holds the power to accept or reject committee amendments. If a bill is tabled then it is rejected. If amendments are extensive, sometimes a new bill with amendments built in will be submitted as a so-called clean bill with a new number. Both houses have procedures under which committees can be bypassed or overruled but they are rarely used.
On February 11 ABC reported that Americans are paying for unnecessary government spending. A decade ago Congress believed that there would be a need for additional court rooms (I suppose they were thinking that the Patriot Act would increase the need). The ABC story told us about a vacant lot being the site of a $400 million courthouse being built in Los Angeles (LA) where there are already 2 courthouses nearby, $163 million new Miami courthouse with the old one just down the road, padlocked and abandoned, and $105 million spent in DC for a new courthouse with the old one right next door mostly empty. According to the GAO $835 million has already been spent on unnecessary federal courthouses and the GAO wants to pull the plug on new building starting with the LA courthouse. LA politicians say their courthouses are overcrowded and unsafe – right now dangerous criminals use public elevators and corridors. I say start a swing or night shift to deter both conditions and if the structures aren’t up to snuff get them repaired. Now that we know how bills are handled let’s look at what went on the past year. Congress still hasn’t passed a Jobs bill, it did not stop the mint from producing presidential coins until there was public outrage, and it hasn’t stopped the building of unnecessary courthouses. While the President and his party leaders have pushed for reforming banks, corporations, the government, Wall Street and health care. On February 16 the House held 2 hearings regarding contraception/religion; one included no women and the other had only women opposing contraception; the nerve of the Republicans to hold hearings without all parties. Tell me, who is sitting on their hands or wasting time.
On February 16 Michigan’s Governor endorsed Romney even though he’s failing behind Santorum. Santorum’s tax returns showed he made $3.6 million from 2007-2010 (the first 4 years he left Congress) and bought a luxury German (not American) car. Santorum as Gingrich made the bulk of his money lobbying Congress. I found a Republican website that gives Santorum’s actual voting record while he was in Congress and I’ll provide that later.
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