Rush Limbaugh on how Democrats are trying to explain their historic loss last week.Liberals want to debate his message?
Rush Limbaugh: Democrats Covering Up For Obama After "Drubbing"
- Thread starter MASTERBAKER
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If Democrats had supported the president from day 1 they would still be the majority in both houses. The way they fumbled away their power says alot about the kind of party they are, fuckups. Obama deserves criticism for surrounding himself with Bill Clinton's disciples he should have known they wouldn't work for him like they did for Bill. Hopefully the Dems learn from this and get rid of Pelosi, Reid, the Clintons and the rest of the leadership in the party they are a embarrassment and do not deserve to be in power.
Why would they get rid of Pelosi, a strong liberal who was a very effective Speaker of the House? The fact that the Republicans target her to a much stronger degree than they did Reid says a lot.
Keep the Clintons because they have name recognition, connections, and a hard politic edge that comes in handy.
Reid is the shits ('cuse my language) and had me rooting for Sharron Angle something vicious.
That said, I'm with you completely on that first line. Obama won and dragged a bunch of them with him as a clear liberal and their not backing him hurt him when it came to making policy.
Pelosi has passed over 400 bills. That's why the GOP hates her!
source: The Hill
Frustrated House still waiting for Senate action on 420 bills
The House ran another legislative lap around the Senate in September, widening the gap in the number of bills the chambers have passed this Congress to more than 400.
With only a lame-duck session remaining, the House since January 2009 has passed 420 bills that have sat on the Senate shelf, according to an updated list provided to The Hill.
The gulf in productivity has led to an escalation in tensions between the chambers, culminating in a veritable staring contest last month over the expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts.
House Democratic leaders have frequently griped at the disparity, and the caucus chairman, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), told The Hill last week that the slow pace of legislating in the Senate, where bills can be held up by the filibuster and other rules, “infuriates” members of the House.
Rank-and-file House Democrats said the lack of Senate action on legislation they had cast tough votes on had left them twisting in the wind before an increasingly agitated electorate. At the top of the list was the June 2009 cap-and-trade energy and climate bill, which passed the House by a slim margin but never made it to the Senate floor.
The gap in approved legislation increased by 48 in the three weeks Congress was in session in September, and by 130 since The Hill first reported on the disparity in February.
Among the House-passed bills from the most recent period still awaiting action in the Senate are measures to audit the claims fund set up by BP after the Gulf oil spill and legislation to increase screening for diabetes. The Senate has also yet to sign off on naming post offices for George C. Marshall, the late actor Jimmy Stewart and the civil rights leader Dorothy Height.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declined comment. The Senate has a busy agenda for the lame-duck session in November but is expected to make no more than a small dent in the House stack before the 111<SUP>th</SUP> Congress concludes.
There are also bills that have passed the Senate but not the House, including a child nutrition measure being pushed by first lady Michelle Obama and the White House. (Lawmakers in the House have yet to agree on a way to pay for the funding in the bill.)
House leaders drew a line in the sand on holding a House vote on tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, saying the Senate would have to act first.
When the Senate decided to punt the issue until after the elections, the House followed suit, despite protests from liberal members who wanted to cast their vote to extend middle-class tax cuts before they left for the campaign trail.
source: The Hill
Frustrated House still waiting for Senate action on 420 bills
The House ran another legislative lap around the Senate in September, widening the gap in the number of bills the chambers have passed this Congress to more than 400.
With only a lame-duck session remaining, the House since January 2009 has passed 420 bills that have sat on the Senate shelf, according to an updated list provided to The Hill.
The gulf in productivity has led to an escalation in tensions between the chambers, culminating in a veritable staring contest last month over the expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts.
House Democratic leaders have frequently griped at the disparity, and the caucus chairman, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), told The Hill last week that the slow pace of legislating in the Senate, where bills can be held up by the filibuster and other rules, “infuriates” members of the House.
Rank-and-file House Democrats said the lack of Senate action on legislation they had cast tough votes on had left them twisting in the wind before an increasingly agitated electorate. At the top of the list was the June 2009 cap-and-trade energy and climate bill, which passed the House by a slim margin but never made it to the Senate floor.
The gap in approved legislation increased by 48 in the three weeks Congress was in session in September, and by 130 since The Hill first reported on the disparity in February.
Among the House-passed bills from the most recent period still awaiting action in the Senate are measures to audit the claims fund set up by BP after the Gulf oil spill and legislation to increase screening for diabetes. The Senate has also yet to sign off on naming post offices for George C. Marshall, the late actor Jimmy Stewart and the civil rights leader Dorothy Height.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declined comment. The Senate has a busy agenda for the lame-duck session in November but is expected to make no more than a small dent in the House stack before the 111<SUP>th</SUP> Congress concludes.
There are also bills that have passed the Senate but not the House, including a child nutrition measure being pushed by first lady Michelle Obama and the White House. (Lawmakers in the House have yet to agree on a way to pay for the funding in the bill.)
House leaders drew a line in the sand on holding a House vote on tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, saying the Senate would have to act first.
When the Senate decided to punt the issue until after the elections, the House followed suit, despite protests from liberal members who wanted to cast their vote to extend middle-class tax cuts before they left for the campaign trail.
Not only did it take Pelosi a year to get a watered down healthcare bill thru the House the bill served as a rallying cry for reps. If she had been a effective leader and gotten that bill passed quickly reps wouldn't have had anything to run on. Bill Clinton is a egomaniac who cares about nobody but Bill Clinton. Funny how he's used Obama's problems to make himself the new face of the party and Hillary the preemptive Dem favorite for the White House in 2012. Obama should have a blood bath and kill off all his rivals now it would show strength on his part and be the smartest thing he's done since being elected.
Pelosi has passed over 400 bills. That's why the GOP hates her!
source: Capitol News Connect
420 Bills Passed by House Got No Senate Attention
WASHINGTON -- To date during the 111th Congress, House members have expended enormous amounts of manpower and resources to craft, debate and pass 420 bills that the Senate has essentially ignored, according to a list released by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
One of those is the ‘Paycheck Fairness Act’ (H.R. 12) that was one of the first pieces of legislation approved in the House when the new Congress convened in 2009. It won by a vote of 256 to 163. According to sponsor Rep. Rose DeLauro, D-Conn., it will help promote pay equity for women.
“In this economy, families are struggling to make ends meet. Not one of them deserves to be shortchanged, but because women still earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn, many unfortunately are,” said DeLauro.
Languishing bills
Other languishing bills include the Postal Service Financial Relief Act, the Elder Abuse Victims Act and the National Bombing Prevention Act.
To put the issue into perspective, some of the 420 stalled bills include routine measures like naming a post office or making sure caller ID information is not fake. Others include more noteworthy items like the stalled ‘cap and trade’ legislation and some economic recovery bills.
A bill can take countless worker hours to shepherd from introduction to House passage. Many involve numerous hearings and lobbying on both sides.
'House doesn't like the Senate very much'
“Let me say that the House doesn’t really like the Senate very much right now because they have worked so hard from subcommittee, full committee, to the floor to get these things done, and then they die in the Senate,” said professor James Thurber, Director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Democrats talk-up all the bills passed in the House and stalled in the Senate as evidence of Republican obstruction.
“Unlike the house, we don't have a Rules Committee that we can use to ram legislation over the objection of Republicans. Everything we do needs consensus,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Temper public whims
The Founding Fathers created the Senate in part as a means to temper public whims as represented by the House. They wanted to promote thorough deliberation of policies. The institution’s rules and traditions have evolved in such a way that the minority party can significantly slow down the legislative process.
“You need 60 votes to govern,” Thurber said. “It’s a unique institution in the world, in the sense that you need a supermajority to get anything done in a normal way.”
Some political observers wonder why Speaker Pelosi and other leaders in that chamber have brought so many bills to the floor for a vote when they know those measures are likely to die almost immediately upon arrival in the Senate at the other end of the Capitol.
Bargain for what you really want
According to Thurber, “When you bargain, you have to give something to get something, it’s best if you are bargaining, as the House of Representatives, to go forward with exactly what you want, what you can get, and then bargain with the Senate at that point.”
But with the post-election lame duck session packed with priorities, like debating the so-called Bush tax cuts, many of the bills passed in the House will simply disappear into the history books. They don’t carry over from one Congress to another and sponsors of these hundreds of measures must introduce them once again.
source: Capitol News Connect
420 Bills Passed by House Got No Senate Attention
WASHINGTON -- To date during the 111th Congress, House members have expended enormous amounts of manpower and resources to craft, debate and pass 420 bills that the Senate has essentially ignored, according to a list released by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
One of those is the ‘Paycheck Fairness Act’ (H.R. 12) that was one of the first pieces of legislation approved in the House when the new Congress convened in 2009. It won by a vote of 256 to 163. According to sponsor Rep. Rose DeLauro, D-Conn., it will help promote pay equity for women.
“In this economy, families are struggling to make ends meet. Not one of them deserves to be shortchanged, but because women still earn 78 cents for every dollar men earn, many unfortunately are,” said DeLauro.
Languishing bills
Other languishing bills include the Postal Service Financial Relief Act, the Elder Abuse Victims Act and the National Bombing Prevention Act.
To put the issue into perspective, some of the 420 stalled bills include routine measures like naming a post office or making sure caller ID information is not fake. Others include more noteworthy items like the stalled ‘cap and trade’ legislation and some economic recovery bills.
A bill can take countless worker hours to shepherd from introduction to House passage. Many involve numerous hearings and lobbying on both sides.
'House doesn't like the Senate very much'
“Let me say that the House doesn’t really like the Senate very much right now because they have worked so hard from subcommittee, full committee, to the floor to get these things done, and then they die in the Senate,” said professor James Thurber, Director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Democrats talk-up all the bills passed in the House and stalled in the Senate as evidence of Republican obstruction.
“Unlike the house, we don't have a Rules Committee that we can use to ram legislation over the objection of Republicans. Everything we do needs consensus,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Temper public whims
The Founding Fathers created the Senate in part as a means to temper public whims as represented by the House. They wanted to promote thorough deliberation of policies. The institution’s rules and traditions have evolved in such a way that the minority party can significantly slow down the legislative process.
“You need 60 votes to govern,” Thurber said. “It’s a unique institution in the world, in the sense that you need a supermajority to get anything done in a normal way.”
Some political observers wonder why Speaker Pelosi and other leaders in that chamber have brought so many bills to the floor for a vote when they know those measures are likely to die almost immediately upon arrival in the Senate at the other end of the Capitol.
Bargain for what you really want
According to Thurber, “When you bargain, you have to give something to get something, it’s best if you are bargaining, as the House of Representatives, to go forward with exactly what you want, what you can get, and then bargain with the Senate at that point.”
But with the post-election lame duck session packed with priorities, like debating the so-called Bush tax cuts, many of the bills passed in the House will simply disappear into the history books. They don’t carry over from one Congress to another and sponsors of these hundreds of measures must introduce them once again.