The Senate Proposes a Fire Sale on Congress’s Rights
Marshall Efron once said that, “just when you think you’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel, you can always scrape a little more.” Welcome to 2013.
Two stories broke on Wednesday which illustrate Mr. Efron’s words. The first declared that Senate Republicans were considering canceling the $85 billion sequestration spending cuts and, seemingly, ceding fiscal responsibility to the president entirely. Under the questionable guidance of Senator Mitch McConnell, some Senate Republicans are doing more than “considering” such a move. They’ve issued a five page document endorsing such a course of action. Hardly seems worth it for a sound bite …especially a sound bite that is biting them back.
Even if such a maneuver doesn’t actually surrender tattered, Congressional, Constitutional fiscal powers to the president, it certainly comes off that way. The proposed action would only apply for the seven-month remainder of the fiscal year. To paraphrase Mr. Rogers “Can you say ‘precedent’?”
Instead of forthright confrontation, this stupidity is a gambit intended to make the president take ownership of sequestration. It is a poorly thought-out ploy and is being resisted by many in Congress.
Even Harry Reid, whose grasping knows no bounds, scoffs at the idea. Undoubtedly so that he can keep slinging blame for sequestration at the other side, unimpeded. Chances are favorable that such a plan would never survive a vote. But that isn’t the point. Why have beltway Republicans proposed the idea in the first place?
Republicans continue to act as if sequestration was their idea. It was never the Republicans’ plan. It is exclusively the brainchild of the Lyin’ King. Yet the president labels his own plan iniquitous, lying about sequestration’s origin and possible effects at the top of his lungs, every chance he gets. And Republicans act like whipped curs, bellies exposed to slavering Democrats’ jaws.
Beltway Republicans are frightened and are showing it. They fear being tarred with whatever falsehood the left chooses to soil them with. They are permitting Democrat lies to rule their actions. And that’s not the way to combat false doctrine. One would think these cravens never raised children. With such behavior on display one must ask; who is attacking the Constitution now?
The second item was another speech made by our Dear Leader Wednesday morning. After four years in office he said he is “more humble.” It gets better. He also said, “You realize all the mistakes (he) made.” Wait. There’s still more: “But you also realize you can’t do things by yourself. That’s not how our system works.” Really? Since when, during his presidency? And last but not least: “ You’ve got to have the help and the goodwill of Congress, and what that means is you’ve got to make sure that constituents of members of Congress are putting some pressure on them, making sure they’re doing the right thing.” Nice, Spike Lee-esque phrasing. Also an interesting interpretation of what it means to have the “help and goodwill” of Congress. Especially because The Lyin King has yet to take his own advice. Nevertheless, some Senate Republicans seem to agree with him.
These two stories are cut from the same cloth. The Imperial President’s lofty vision of himself and his power-grabbing remains limitless. It appears that some elected Republicans are buying into that vision in increasing numbers. The Republican ruling class won’t grasp that the left will continue to lie about them until stopped, head-on.
One can only hope that the bottom of Mr. Efron’s euphemistic barrel is nearly worn out.
Image: Sylvain Pedneault; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license