Ah, that new age of transparency, right?
In their zeal to protect their members from politically hazardous votes on issues such as gay marriage and gun control, Democrats running the House of Representatives are taking extraordinary steps to muzzle Republicans in this summer’s debates on spending bills.
On Thursday, for example, Republicans had hoped to force debates on abortion, school vouchers and medical marijuana, as well as gay marriage and gun control, as part of House consideration of the federal government’s contribution to the District of Columbia’s city budget.
No way, Democrats said.
At issue are 12 bills totaling more than $1.2 trillion in annual appropriations bills for funding most government programs—usually low-profile legislation that typically dominates the work of the House in June and July. For decades, those bills have come to the floor under an open process that allows any member to try to amend them. Often those amendments are an effort to change government policy by adding or subtracting money for carrying it out.
…It was a right the Democrats zealously defended when they were the minority party from 1995 through 2006…
…Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., acknowledged in a brief interview that one reason for restricting amendments is to save members of his party from having to cast politically painful votes.
So instead of debating an attempt backed by House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio to allow more children living in Washington to receive school vouchers, the House will vote on a Quixotic attempt to eliminate the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
“What they want to do is they want to avoid tough votes on appropriations bills,” said Rep. David Dreier of California, senior Republican on the Rules Committee.
Even some Democrats are chaffing at the heavy-handed clampdown on debate. Abortion opponent Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., on Thursday lashed out at his party’s leaders for denying him and others a chance to vote on restoring a long-standing directive by Congress blocking taxpayer-funded abortions in Washington, D.C.
Is this what you liberal rank-and-filers signed on for? Limited debate in order to insulate the Democrat party from having to cast difficult votes? If you don’t denounce your party at this point then you, too, are just miserable, cowardly liberal fascists. All honor to those few Democrats like Stupak who are are least not taking this lying down…but if he really has the courage of his convictions, he’ll switch to GOP, or Independent, if the House leadership refuses to return the House to its democratic ways.
This is seriously the stuff of which revolutions are made – entrenched elites attempting to stifle debate and prevent the people from having a full airing of the issues. This is a rearguard action from an exhausted ruling class which is afraid of the people they claim to represent. What say you, liberals? Are you for liberty, or slavery?
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