When everyone was talking about the Baucus Bill (the Senate Finance Committee proposal), there was no actual Baucus Bill (something I quietly pointed out). Now there is a real Baucus Bill, and it is a whopping 1502 pages. (h/t The Note)
The actual Bill was released at the very moment it was being merged behind closed doors with the Senate HELP Committee Bill. So there is a Baucus Bill, but it doesn’t matter because it already is being torn apart.
Now that’s transparency for you. Debate and vote on a bill which doesn’t exist, then draft and release it when it doesn’t matter anymore.
There is something fundamentally sick about this process.
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Comments
If there's a silver lining to this fiasco, it's how clearly this points out the need for some constitutional reforms aimed at reining in a runaway Fed. Two I can think of would be to require all bills to be on a single topic (no more sneaking in a massive health care reform on the back of a defense bill) and term limits for our self-perpetuating oligarchy.
It's called smart politics. Like it or not. It's smart politics.
They are warring on the U.S. In war, there are no rules, only winners and losers. They intend to be the winners. It is hard for lawyers to understand that the rules only work when BOTH sides are playing by them. Obama's crew has proven over and over, they aren't bound by silly things like honor, rules, respect, or mercy.
Term limits. If only…
I think the founders made one or two major mistakes in the formation of our system, term limits were one. But they had no idea we'd let it get so out of control.
Pubsecrets,
I agree both your ideas are necessary nad important steps to eliminate the self-serving tendencies of our National Corruptocrats (both Dem and GOP).
However….
Who of our self-serving Congressmen is going to propose any bill including these items? And which of them would vote to limit their powers in such a way?
Unless we get a super-tsunami that wipes out the entire East Coast while Congress is in session, America is sunk. Those dudes we elected are the problem, not any part of the solution.