"WASHINGTON – Debt ceiling negotiators think they’ve hit on a solution to address the debt ceiling impasse and the public’s unwillingness to let go of benefits such as Medicare and Social Security that have been earned over a lifetime of work: Create a new Congress.
This “Super Congress,” composed of members of both chambers and both parties, isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but would be granted extraordinary new powers. Under a plan put forth by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation to lift the debt ceiling would be accompanied by the creation of a 12-member panel made up of 12 lawmakers – six from each chamber and six from each party.
Legislation approved by the Super Congress – which some on Capitol Hill are calling the “super committee” – would then be fast-tracked through both chambers, where it couldn’t be amended by simple, regular lawmakers, who’d have the ability only to cast an up or down vote. With the weight of both leaderships behind it, a product originated by the Super Congress would have a strong chance of moving through the little Congress and quickly becoming law. A Super Congress would be less accountable than the system that exists today, and would find it easier to strip the public of popular benefits. Negotiators are currently considering cutting the mortgage deduction and tax credits for retirement savings, for instance, extremely popular policies that would be difficult to slice up using the traditional legislative process. …"
Mother Fucker! Is there anyone in the country who thinks we need more government, anyone? This shit is getting out of hand. Trample the fuck out of the Constitution. I wish they would just wipe their asses with the freaking thing on tv and quit acting like they really swear to uphold it. We create a commission to watch a commission, watch a commission.
Edit: This goes for the whole lot of them. Dem, Rep, doesn’t matter. Con Game.
This is definitely not good. It’s kind of like a POTUS declaring himself king and just issuing executive orders for any and every damn thing and ignoring the rest of gov’t completely.
I don’t share in the (ever more popular) belief that government should be cut down to its bare skeleton, but I have to agree that this is far too much. Why not just call it a thirteen-man oligarchy.
Fuck all of them. Words fail me. I just spent about 5 minutes staring at the screen chanting obscenities in random order and I STILL can’t come up with anything that approximates my disgust.
Why don’t we just fucking go communist already. Having a 12 member “Super Congress” fast-tracking legislation that can’t be modified by anyone else in Congress is way too fucking close to having a “Politburo” for my taste. I don’t care if we’re conservative or socialist in policy texture, that shit doesn’t fly with me.
The biggest advantage of the form of government we have currently is making it HARDER to do things and making lawmakers MORE accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.
On a side note, I would expect this kind of complete horseshit from Reid, but Mcconnell? I had hoped for better sense from a supposed conservative constitutional supporter. I hope he loses the bid for super congress and gets his ass booted out next election cycle. I’d wish the same for Reid, but he’s like Ted Kennedy–he’ll be here sucking air in Congress til the day he dies.
Why do Congressmen spend so much time and money getting re-elected when it seems their primary focus is abdicating their authority and responsibility?[/quote]
They like the perks and the freebies. And the attention. Same as any fucking high school jock. Fuck, if I could vote myself pay-raises and sit on my ass earning over 100K while attending dinner parties and cruises and missing votes you bet your ass I’d sign up for that shit! This is why I have so much respect for Ron Paul–no matter how unelectable he is, no matter how much I disagree with him on an issue, I know where he stands and i know he is dedicated to principle.
I’m surprised this is the first post about the debt ceiling on PWI. (Perhaps I missed it?)
Anyway, my fear about this is the same as others have said: that it would be used well beyond it’s current capacities. That said, this current “debate” about the debt ceiling … ahh well, I couldn’t think of a way to say this without swearing.