Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-NH) has penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform -- and has distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.
Insisting that it is "critical that Republican senators have a solid understanding of the minority's rights in the Senate," Gregg makes note of all the procedural tools the GOP can use before measures are considered, when they come to the floor and even after passage.
He highlights the use of hard quorum calls for any motion to proceed, as opposed to a far quicker unanimous consent provision. He reminds his colleagues that, absent unanimous consent, they can force the Majority Leader to read any "full-text substitute amendment." And when it comes to offering amendments to the health care bill, the New Hampshire Republican argues that it is the personification of "full, complete, and informed debate," to "offer an unlimited number of amendments -- germane or non-germane -- on any subject."
The details of Gregg's outline are a clear reflection of the extent to which Republicans are turning to the Byzantine processes of the Senate chamber as a means of holding up reform.
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Considering the already lethargic pace of health care reform, this is an illuminating reminder of how Republican's are putting their energy into dragging out the process rather than affecting the legislation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/read-it-gop-senator-pens_n_377386.html
(bolds are mine. complete text at the link)
Needless to say, this is not about policy or reform; this is about stopping any form of legislation out of fear that it might help the democrats. Sen. Gregg and his cohorts have no interest in serving their constituents; they only care about a partisan victory. Self-promotion trumps governance in their minds.
And, as a result, the senate has become completely dysfunctional. It's one thing for a minority party to oppose a policy by trying to modify legislation to reflect a different set of ideals. It's quite another thing to try to prevent the body from taking any action at all.
If we had an informed electorate, any senator engaging in this type of behavior, regardless of ideology, should and would be removed from office. To so blatantly say "I want to stop the government dead in it's tracks", rather than trying to govern in a way that you prefer, proves that you are unfit for office in government. Democracy, for all its flaws, requires that elected officials, in some fashion, represent the people who elected them. It's perfectly respectable to vote against a policy you disagree with; it's downright Un-American to prevent that vote from taking place.
(this is completely seperate from the debate as to what kind of health care reform would be best-I'm discussing the efforts to prevent any action at all)
3 comments:
I disagree that conservative constituents would not be served by their representatives blocking any action on health care reform. My conservative relatives would feel very good about blocking all legislation. They bought into the health insurance industry fud campaign from the start. They also really do want government to be the least government. Of course when they are broke and unemployed they don't seem to have a problem having the state pay for their medical needs. Funny thing that.
While it's true that wingnuts like your relatives believe that government is "bad", most surveys show a majority of the public wants some form of "reform". The point is that elected representatives have a responsibility to the people to at least attempt to govern.
I seem to remember that now-President Obama tried to involve the very same Senator Gregg in formulating his new administration's policies. Even referred to him as a friend, IIRC. Gregg, however, reneged on his acceptance of an administration post. Now we see Gregg as purely obstructionist. I wonder what somebody has on him, or what he has been promised, to cause him to pull these stunts.
The money behind these Rethugs is plentiful. And wait till the Christofacist crowd gets into it in the next set of Rethuglican primaries. I just finished Chris Hedges' book on them. It was horrifying, all the more because it is a 5 year old book that says things proven prophetic by the events that have followed its publication. There is a terrible establishment of the church of money in this nation.
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