I’ll repost this article later, the language in the comments got to be a bit much for noon on a monday.
This was taken down at 12:19 est.
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The NY Times, of all places, has a fairly neutral and rather un-biased article that presents both side’s arguments and counter arguments about what the New Congress has in store for the opening of the legislative session. I am somewhat shocked by the balance of the article, here is the link for those of you who would like to read the whole thing. Perhaps someone’s New Years resolution was to write at least one fair article this year.
Anyway, here is what the GoP (with the TEA Party as the right leg roundhouse knock-out kick) has in store.
First…
“Many of the incoming Republican congressmen campaigned on the platform that included repealing Obamacare,” Representative Doug Lamborn, Republican of Colorado, said in an interview. “This was the biggest mistake made by the 111th Congress.”
The repeal effort is part of a multipronged systematic strategy that House Republican leaders say will include trying to cut off money for the law, summoning Obama administration officials to testify at investigative hearings and encouraging state officials to attack the law in court as unconstitutional.
For House Republicans, a repeal vote would also be an important, if largely symbolic, opening salvo against the president, his party and his policy agenda.
“Obamacare didn’t lower costs and does not allow people to keep the care they have if they like it, as the president promised,” said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, the incoming House majority leader. “There will be a straight vote to repeal it prior to the State of the Union,” expected in late January.
In the Congress, vote to repeal the Health Care law. They clearly have the votes to pull this off, and it will probably die in the Senate, and certainly be vetoed by the President if by some miracle it passes both chambers. This is a good first step. It puts everyone down on paper where they stand on this very unpopular and possibly unconstitutional law. This sets up the targets for 2012.
Second…
entitlement programs, new limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from oil refineries and power plants, and other legislation that Republicans say cannot be justified by a strict interpretation of the Constitution — a document the new leaders plan to read on the House floor on Thursday — are all in the cross hairs.
The Constitution is going to read on the House Floor. Good Second move when combined with the plan to have all bills from the House have a Constitutional Justification attached to them.
Third…
Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, who is in line to succeed Ms. Pelosi, has said that this time around he would lead efforts to revive the private sector by reducing the size of government — cutting federal regulation, taxes and spending, including the budget of Congress itself.
This is the smart move, while repealing Health Care is mostly symbolic at this point, cutting regulations and budgets is a very real power enumerated to the House. This is the weapon that they can really use. This doesn’t have to be a 1994 redux…The rules of the game have changed drastically. Now the Right has the internet, the monopoly of the Main Stream Media is broken, and Talk Radio is far more powerful now that it was then. Perhaps Congress can go after these Czars that have in effect taken power from the Congress and placed it in the Executive via rule by Bureaucrat Driven Executive Fiat (B-DEF, an apt description of the current Administration).
Congress has the power to write bills and controls the purse strings of fedgov. This Congress has a very angry electorate that put it in power and will take that power away if they fail. The above political moves and fights that are coming up will delineate where each and every Congressman and Senator stands. This will be used in the 2012 elections. I am willing to give Boehner et. al. the benefit of the doubt for now. Their actions in the next two months will be by what they should be judged. Now we get to see if the Tea Parties are a contender or just another journeyman.
Does anyone have any other actions the Congress can or should take? That pesky debt ceiling looks like a nice target…
**UPDATE: h/t NoThreat2U:
Here is Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s You Cut Program
Tags: congress, Politics, President Obama, Tea Parties
