A Dysfunctional Congress in a Weird World | Eastern North Carolina Now

   The media outlets have labeled the 112th Congress as the most partisan, least productive Congress in memory with an approval rating of only 13%. Before we become too excited, let's step back in time and reflect what the Congress was like when Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the Democratic controlled House. Speaker Pelosi was the most dictatorial, partisan speaker the history of the House of Representatives. She had the votes and the power to completely make the Republicans irrelevant, and she did. With the support of Maxine Watters and Barney Frank, she rode roughshod over Congress. As in the case of Obama care, the Republicans were not allowed to participate in any discussions or to even have any input on the bill. It was done behind closed doors with guards to keep the Republicans out. It was strictly a Democratic program. When it was unveiled on the House floor, not one single Republican voted for it, but it passed with overwhelming Democratic support in both the Senate and the House.

    With the Democrats in control of the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, they could pass any laws or spending bills they wanted, and the Republicans couldn't do one single thing about it. That is until a grass roots organization called the Tea Party rose up and said "enough is enough," and they became active in recruiting and campaigning for people who shared their values. Many of the Tea Party candidates were elected to Congress, and they went there with the zeal and a mandate from the people to stop the waste, corruption, and run-a-way spending.
Former speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, speaking to the NaCO Legislative Conference, March 6, 2012, trying to explain a second congressional stimulus package, which has not happened, and will not happen as long as Democrats control any part of the spending of such. The first stimulus package, of over 800 billion dollars, was an unmitigated failure, as the Democrats, firmly in control of both houses of congress and the presidency, turned the public's money into a giant Democrat slush fund: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    We should have realized that the entrenched Democrats would not release their strangle hold on the Congress without a flight. Our new representatives were immediately challenged by the Democratic Party in the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. It was soon apparent that there was a vast divide between the Democrats, who were dedicated to increased spending, and the Republicans, were dedicated to reducing spending. In the past, the East Coast Republicans would work with the Democrats, and the "Blue Dog" Democrats would work with the Republicans. What we have now is liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, and they are committed to different views of government. The leaders have become defenders of their ideologies instead of the consensus builders of the past.

    The new Republicans have had some success, but not as much as we hoped. They are fighting our battles against a Democratic President, Senate, a Democratic Washington bureaucracy, and the conspiracy of our main stream media. When the Republicans pass bills that cut spending, reduce taxes, or cut red tape they are sent to the Senate where the Majority Leader, Harry Reid, refuses to even allow them to be introduced for a vote. And of course the media refuses to tell their readers about anything positive that the Republicans do, but they enhance what the Democrats did or didn't do. The First Amendment should be rewritten to protect the people from the tyranny of the press.

    When the Congressional Republicans passed bills that curbed spending, they never got past the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid. If he didn't like a bill, and he didn't like any Republican bill, he just refused to let it be introduced for a vote. Three Republican Senators, Brown, Collins, and Snow tend to vote with the Democrats, so any Republican sponsored bills have little chance of seeing the light of day. And if my some miracle, a bill was passed by the Senate, President Obama would veto it. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech, "Never before has a president and a Senate done so little to confront challenges so great. We've got multiple crisis-level issues to deal with. And yet Democrats don't want to do a thing."

    The Congressional Republicans have passed a balanced budget every year, but Harry Reid kills it in the Senate. President Obama is the only president in the history of the United States that has never been presented with a budget for his signature. All spending bill must be introduced in the House of Representatives, but with the Senate covering for him, President Obama has made Congress irrelevant, so he can run up trillions of dollars in debt without any restrictions.

    If your Congressman/woman is a Republican you can't be too upset with them, they are doing exactly what we sent them there to do. They stopped the Democratic juggernaut of financial destruction, but unfortunately the Senate is standing in the way of repealing some of the heinous bills.

    When the House Republicans send a bill to the Senate, Harry Reid sends them a personal message.

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