Americans should demand redress for climate legislation passed without being read
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 01:05PM “Don’t you think the American people expect us to understand what’s in this bill before we vote on it?”
House Republican leader John Boehner (R-Oh.) addressed that question to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) after Waxman tried to squelch Boehner’s reading select passages from the “Cap and Tax” bill as the GOP accurately calls HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act/2009 [also Waxman-Markey or Climate Change]. Waxman obviously doesn’t favor transparency for legislation sponsored by his party. [Story continues below video.]
First Waxman asked, “Is there any outside limit to the amount of time a leader might take?” Then, more to the point, Waxman asked, “Is this an attempt to get some people to leave before a close vote?”
Boehner pointed out, “The chairman has the audacity to drop a 300+ page amendment in the hopper at 3:09 a.m. this morning.” Boehner called the bill “the most profound piece of legislation to come to the floor in a hundred years.” Boehner pointed out the approximately 5 hours given to debating the bill.
It’d be pretty hard to debate something you haven’t read.
It’s time for American voters to remove legislators from office if they vote for a bill they haven’t read. The text of the legislation is mind-boggling. If you’re for the bill, I suggest you read it.
Fox News’ Congress blog reported: “Is there anything we aren’t regulating in this bill?” Boehner asked, leafing through the pages. He wondered if the community group ACORN qualified for certain grants. He asked why an energy and climate bill was “trying to solve the problems with Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac).”
Like I said, read the bill.
Boehner called it what it is when he talked to The Hill. He said, “Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t."
Americans who care about freedom should vote people like Henry Waxman out of office. We should demand a bill that requires every legislator to read legislation he or she supports. We should demand a full, accurate, concise accounting, posted publicly, of every single passage in legislation.
We should ask if it is even legal to pass a landmark work of legislation few have read.
For a glimpse into Waxman’s bureaucratic soul, read our previous column about the civics lesson former speaker Newt Gingrich gave the long-time California legislator.
The Democratic Party once again has put government cronyism and United Nations policy above the interests of the American people.
A full list of representatives voting for this bill is posted in our previous column. If your rep’s name is on that list, do yourself a favor and be smart. There are two actions you can take:
•Send a letter of protest or phone your representative’s office.
•Don’t vote for that representative next time he or she is up for re-election.
Also, share the list of those who voted for the bill with other voters.
Congress and the president just delivered the wellbeing of the American people into the hands of international interests.We will pay dearly. Remember that in 2010 when you go to the polls. By then you should see your electricity rates begin to skyrocket, just as President Barack Obama promised.
Kay B. Day
June 28, 2009
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Reader Comments (2)
Obama claimed that the average American would not bear the brunt of this historic tax-increase: he stated that instead ““It is paid for by the polluters who currently emit dangerous carbon emissions.”
Just compare this outrageous falsehood to Ronald Reagans’ famous quote:
“The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us.
Business doesn’t pay taxes, and who better than business to make this message known? Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business.”
And after the way the rammed this through the House with little debate, without legislators even reading it… and while quarantining the GOP from any meaningful input whatsoever, any foolhardy individuals who still believe Obama’s threadbare “bipartisanship” spiel ought to have their head examined.
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
Absolutely. If you wade through this bill, you'll see it isn't all about climate change, as Boehner said. And one thing's for sure: electricity rates will necessarily skyrocket. Americans are clueless.