COOLING OFF THE GLOBAL WARMING FRENZY
"Texas Senator John Cornyn delights in using Senate procedure to make his displeasure known, whether the subject is pork or climate change. But his insistence this week that all 492 pages of the Warner-Lieberman-Boxer 'Climate Security' bill be read on the Senate floor may have been salutary for another reason. Bills are supposed to be read aloud by the clerk of the Senate, but this formality is usually dispensed with by unanimous consent. On Wednesday, Senator Cornyn refused to grant his assent, drawing cries of obstruction from the bill's backers.
"...Give Mr. Cornyn credit here. He wouldn't let his Senate colleagues cast a lame symbolic vote without rubbing their faces in the full measure of the bill's gigantic attempt to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Since some kind of climate bill is likely to come back with serious chances of passage under the next administration, voters have reason to thank Mr. Cornyn for inhibiting a careless precedent."
- Brian Carney, Political Diary, 6/6/08
~~~~~~~~
Apparently the idea is that the reading of the presented bill is unneccessary because the Senators have all done their homework and know what the bill says. Uh-huh, sure, and I have a bridge for sale.
Senator Cornyn was right to refuse to agree to dispsening with the reading of the bill. I don't know whether it was because he knew that the Senate, in general, wasn't familiar with the bill or not. I choose to believe he KNEW they knew diddly about it and was, in effect, calling them on it. The Senate, knowing they knew diddly about it, was ready to vote to show their constituents that they, the Senate, had their, the constituents, best interests at heart. The truth, as I believe, is that the Senate, in general, had little or no idea what the bill was about, except that it concerned "climate security" and everyone wants a clean environment/climate to live in and breathe, no?
Before my senate representatives vote on a bill, I expect, no, I demand that they not only read the bill, but know what its intentions are and what pork has been tacked on. This concerns not only this "climate security" bill, but every bill that comes to the floor. Too much to ask? Maybe it's too much to ask me to vote for them next time around. They are my representative in the Senate and I don't want them to vote blindly for any bill, no matter what they are told about it by their legislative aides.
Apparently my representatives in the Senate don't subscribe to my requirements of them because I believe them to be morons pandering to special interest groups. Certainly neither have proven themselves to be worth my vote in their next election. Since that describes most of the senate, they won't recognize themselves. And that's sad.
Senator Cornyn was right to refuse to agree to dispsening with the reading of the bill. I don't know whether it was because he knew that the Senate, in general, wasn't familiar with the bill or not. I choose to believe he KNEW they knew diddly about it and was, in effect, calling them on it. The Senate, knowing they knew diddly about it, was ready to vote to show their constituents that they, the Senate, had their, the constituents, best interests at heart. The truth, as I believe, is that the Senate, in general, had little or no idea what the bill was about, except that it concerned "climate security" and everyone wants a clean environment/climate to live in and breathe, no?
Before my senate representatives vote on a bill, I expect, no, I demand that they not only read the bill, but know what its intentions are and what pork has been tacked on. This concerns not only this "climate security" bill, but every bill that comes to the floor. Too much to ask? Maybe it's too much to ask me to vote for them next time around. They are my representative in the Senate and I don't want them to vote blindly for any bill, no matter what they are told about it by their legislative aides.
Apparently my representatives in the Senate don't subscribe to my requirements of them because I believe them to be morons pandering to special interest groups. Certainly neither have proven themselves to be worth my vote in their next election. Since that describes most of the senate, they won't recognize themselves. And that's sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment