Originally posted by: Wreckem
Oh you can qoute Article I. Big deal, you have absolutely no idea whatsoever about how Congress works or what their job is. The constitution is such a vague document. Hell going off it, the President is basically lapdog, and that hasn't been the case since FDR.
What part of Representatives, do you not understand?
A representative is a member of the legislative branch in a republic system of government. He represents his constituency in the legislature. The legislature is where they are supposed to make laws. How hard is this? Just becaues senators and congressmen pander now rather than actually write laws does NOT mean that pandering is now their true job description.
They arent productive because
1. Partisanship has increased over the past three decades to assinine levels on both sides of the aisle.
2. The president who never saw a bill he didnt like, now doesnt ever see a bill he likes.
3. Theres political deadlock because the Democratic Party doesnt have 60 votes in the Senate to have cloture. See #1 for why this is a problem.
#1. There's a clear majority for the D's in both houses, so they could still pass anything given voting along partisan lines.
#2. Try reading some of the bills. I wouldn't sign them either. They're so full of completely unrelated BS that signing them into law would be absurd. The authors of the bills know this, which is why they include the BS to begin with. They don't actually WANT to accomplish anything because this is an election year. Since Bush has had to veto all of their crappy bills, they will use that as political ammunition against the R's in the election. Their plan will work because (obviously) people like you don't bother to read anything but what CNN feeds them regarding all of this hokey legislation.
#3. See my #2. Write a decent bill and no one will be able to vote against it because it will be political suicide for them to do so. Instead, we have a bunch of crappy riders thrown on the bill that make it completely idiotic. For example, we couldn't even get a budget this year (2007) because every budget that ended up on Bush's desk had some political football in it that, by all rights, should not be in a budget bill. What is so hard about allotting x number of dollars to each government agency? I work for the VA and we operated off of 'emergency' funding levels all year. The R's were just as bad when Clinton was president as the D's are now. Why? Because people like you don't understand the fundamentals of how the game is played. You think it's more important for Kerry to write some stupid letter that he knows a priori will accomplish nothing than it is to write a bill to fund the VA for next year.
Just to prove my point,
here is a list to every bill that's been passed by the 110th (current) congress. A quick summary of the first twenty things that they "accomplished" in 2007:
1. Regarding consent to assemble outside the seat of government.
2. Expressing the sense of the Congress that schools in the United States should honor the contributions of individuals from the territories of the United States by including such contributions in the teaching of United States history.
3. Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States Postal Service should issue commemorative postage stamps honoring Americans who have distinguished themselves by their service in the armed forces of the United States.
4. Urging increased Federal funding for juvenile (Type 1) diabetes research. (mind you, these are the people who directly legislate the level of federal funding for research that are "urging the increase")
5. Expressing support for the designation and goals of "Hire a Veteran Week'' and encouraging the President to issue a proclamation supporting those goals.
6. Expressing the sense of Congress that the Supreme Court misinterpreted the First Amendment to the Constitution in the case of Buckley v. Valeo.
7. Calling on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and to step up their efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur. (I'll give credit for this one - they did do one thing this year.)
8. Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring victims of HIV/AIDS and recognizing the struggle to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in the United States and throughout the world.
9. Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service should issue a commemorative postage stamp honoring former Representative Shirley Chisholm, and that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
10. Expressing the sense of the Congress that the tax giveaway since 2001 to the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans should be repealed and those monies instead invested in vital programs to relieve the growing burden on the working poor and to alleviate poverty in America. (Once again, these are the guys who actually have to do the repealing, but they're just batting it around instead of doing it).
11. Entitled the ``English Plus Resolution''.
12. Requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in the United States Capitol. (Wow.)
13. Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to prevent the closure or consolidation of post offices.
14. Expressing that Congress has the sole and exclusive power to declare war. (Good thing, because obviously the Constitution doesn't explicitly mention that anywhere...)
15. Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of Iraq should not grant blanket amnesty to persons known to have attacked, killed, or wounded members of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq.
16. Congratulating Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller for becoming the first democratically-elected female Prime Minister of Jamaica and the first female Jamaican head of state.
17. Expressing the sense of Congress that the people of the United States should grieve for the loss of life that defined the Third Reich and celebrate the continued education efforts for tolerance and justice, reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the fight against intolerance and prejudice in any form, and honoring the legacy of
transparent procedure, government accountability, the rule of law, the pursuit of justice, and the struggle for universal freedom and human rights.
18. Expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should be issued in honor of George Thomas ``Mickey'' Leland.
19. Affirming the sense of Congress regarding the obligation of the United States to improve the lives of the 36,950,000 Americans living in poverty and the 15,928,000 of those who live in extreme poverty. (again, instead of actually doing anything about it)
20. Calling on the Government of the United Kingdom to immediately establish a full, independent, and public judicial inquiry into the murder of Northern Ireland defense attorney Patrick Finucane, as recommended by Judge Peter Cory as part of the Weston Park Agreement, in order to move forward on the Northern Ireland peace process.
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