Thursday, July 8, 2010

Everything is 'historic' now instead of being good or bad, lame duck congress ready to pass last 'historic' orgy

In the upcoming lame duck session congress is said to be ready to pass Obama's last gasp of 'historic' (forget good or bad) America changers such as cap and trade and card check. Cap and trade just needs to be 'conferenced' to get it through the Senate. We the people are on our own, so nice to hear at least one group, FreedomWorks, is trying to let congress know that Obama isn't the only person in the world who matters:
"Conservative groups such as FreedomWorks are alarmed at the potential damage, and they are demanding that everyone in Congress pledge not to take up substantive legislation in a post-election session. "Members of Congress are supposed to represent their constituents, not override them like sore losers in a lame-duck session," Rep. Tom Price, head of the Republican Study Committee, told me.

but that doesn't faze Democrats who have jammed through ObamaCare and are determined to bring the financial system under greater federal control.

  • Mike Allen of Politico.com reports one reason President Obama failed to mention climate change legislation during his recent, Oval Office speech on the Gulf oil spill was that

he wants to pass a modest energy bill this summer, then add carbon taxes or regulations in a conference committee with the House, most likely during a lame-duck session. The result would be a climate bill vastly more ambitious, and costly for American consumers and taxpayers, than moderate "Blue Dogs" in the House would support on the campaign trail.

  • "We have a lot of wiggle room in conference," a House Democratic aide told the trade publication Environment & Energy Daily last month.

Many Democrats insist there will be no dramatic lame-duck agenda. But a few months ago they also insisted the extraordinary maneuvers used to pass health care wouldn't be used. "...

"EXCLUSIVE: Phil Schiliro, the White House congressional liaison, has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill
  • the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform).
Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION,
A White House aide has the official word: 'President Obama reiterated his call for comprehensive energy and climate legislation to break our dependence on oil and fossil fuels. In the coming weeks he will be reaching out to
  • Senators on both sides of the aisle to chart a path forward.
A number of proposals have been put forward from Members on both sides of the aisle. We're open to good ideas from all sources, and will be working with Senators on a comprehensive proposal. The tragedy in the Gulf underscores the need to move quickly, and the President is committed to finding the votes for comprehensive energy legislation this year.'"
  • (Everything now is both "comprehensive" and "historic."). ed.

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