Yes, yes, it is, and there is nothing to really think about at all.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Broken City Contradiction
Or is it an ex$eption?
"This Congress going down as least productive; Hyperpartisan climate gums up bulk of laws" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, December 04, 2013
WASHINGTON —The least productive crop of legislators in modern history.
The two chambers combined have spent about 36 hours per week in session, yet they have only passed one law on average each week — and many of those have been relatively inconsequential. Bridges have been named, veterans affairs hospitals dedicated, and old laws have been renewed. But little more....
Unlike the Globe, I view this as a good thing. Passing more laws only worsens the situation. I don't want them do anything the Globe is whining and crying about, sorry.
As for the nothing votes, why bother? Send 'em all home and shut down D.C, that is what I say. Why do we need a tax looting war machine of empire sucking our wealth away while we deal with the austerity of sequestration. We would save the politicians some expenses, too, by sending them all home. All of 'em.
The numbers prove what Americans instinctively know: Washington’s current level of dysfunction is historic, the result of an endless standoff between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-dominated Senate — and a White House at a loss for how to end the impasse.
Of course, all the $ame old intere$ts are $erviced in Washington. This is all such bull$hit, and I am so tired of wasting my time -- and yours, dear readers. Alas, this is the filth that is served up by the regional flagshit as news. I apologize, world. I'm sorry for no longer being into the Boston Globe. Sorry.
A look at the most significant legislative accomplishments of the year shows just how dire the situation in Washington has become. Matters that were routine in any other year are now the centerpieces: The Violence Against Women Act was renewed; legislation was passed to keep the government’s helium gas reserves open; and Congress came to an agreement to fund the government — more than two weeks after the October shutdown.
See: Sunday Globe Special: Party Pooper
More ambitious proposals stalled out. An immigration overhaul passed the Senate, but has languished in the House. New regulations to tighten gun laws — the government’s chief response to the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School — couldn’t get the votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, and were never even considered in the House.
Those are two victories, although the work visas are still going to pass. No $urpri$e there. Globe is still pushing the issue in one form or fashion.
Ceremonial action had continued, in many cases.
Fine, stick to that.
A subsection of the tax code was named after former senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican. A bridge across the Mississippi River was named after baseball legend Stan Musial. A veteran affairs medical center in Bay Pines, Fla., was named after former representative C.W. Bill Young, a Republican from Florida who died in October. An air traffic control center in Nashua was named after Patricia Clark, a longtime employee at the center.
How much are we paying them for this?
The House is meeting this week and next week, and is planning to adjourn for the year on Dec. 13. The Senate is meeting next week and the week after, before ending its session on Dec. 20. That leaves just five days where the two chambers will overlap and have a chance to come to any additional legislative agreements.
Given that short time frame, it is unlikely they will be able to pass enough laws to exceed the previous annual lows. In 1995, only 88 laws were passed; in 2011, 90 were approved. In 1948, the same year President Harry Truman labeled it the “Do Nothing Congress,” 511 laws were passed (which actually was a relative high point in the last half-century) — eight times more than Congress is on pace to pass this year.
So that myth surrounding the Truman time was another lie like all of our received history, 'eh?
Arrrrrrrrgggggghhhh!!!!!!
House and Senate lawmakers have been meeting to try to come to agreement on a farm bill, which in past years has been approved with little trouble. This year there have been deep divisions, particularly over cuts that House Republicans want to make to the food stamp program. If a deal is not reached, farm subsidies would be cut and milk prices would soar.
Actually, Obama and Democrats want to cut the food stamps as well, it's just a matter of how much. meanwhile, my state government just found $20 million for late night T service.
And underlaying it all is the booga-booga of rising milk prices.
Lawmakers still are wrangling over the annual defense spending bill, which has passed for 52 consecutive years.
I have a feeling that will $omehow get done.
Congress has yet to pass a so-called doc fix, raising reimbursement rates for medical providers who treat Medicare patients. Those rates would be cut sharply if nothing is done.
See: Sunday Globe Special: No Magic Moment For Obamacare Website
Anybody got a magic bullet (for the law, not him)?
Budget negotiators have been working on a deal to fix spending levels and tax law changes by Dec. 13. Their work can spill into next year, however, because the next real budget deadline is Jan. 15, when another government shutdown will occur if no deal is reached first.
Another FRAUDULENTLY-GENERATED CRISIS here then!
When asked on Tuesday about the dismal track record, House Speaker John Boehner put the blame squarely on the Senate.
“We’ve done our work,” he said. “When you look at the number of bills passed by the House and the paltry number of bills passed by the Senate you can see where the problem is.”
The House had passed 308 measures by the end of October, compared with 289 passed by the Senate, according to the congressional record.
Republicans said they were only doing what their constituents wanted: for them to slow government down.
How dare they!?
Laws should not be measured by quantity, they argue.
“Just because you pass a whole bunch of bills doesn’t mean that that’s all good,” said Representative Bob Gibbs, a Republican from Ohio. “I came here in 2010. There were quite a few things passed before I got here that I think were a disaster. One of those is Obamacare.”
Right.
Representative Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, said that not only should fewer laws be passed.
“One of the best things we could do is a major repeal,” she said. “There are so many bad laws that need to be repealed off the books.”
You may not like her, but she is right about that. Happens all the time.
Related: Patrick signs ‘tech tax’ repeal
Yeah, but that i$ different, right?
To be sure, members of Congress have other duties besides passing laws.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Congre$$ Calling
They help constituents navigate the federal bureaucracy, assist with visas, passports, or getting tours of the Capitol. They hold hearings, act as a watchdog over the executive branch, and sometimes expose wrongdoing.
That counts to their credit, particularly since the cost-benefit as measured by lawmaking is weak.
All of a sudden the Globe likes scandals and investigations. Ha-ha-ha-pfffft! Trying to help rehabilitate the $tatu$ quo rot are they?
Senators and members of the House earn combined annual paychecks of $75.7 million, meaning the public paid $1.4 million for each of the laws enacted. Broken down a different way, each member of Congress is paid about $174,000, so each earned $3,164 per law.
Yeah, they are really earning it!
Congress is still in session as much — if not more — than it has been in previous years. The House has been in session for 149 days so far this year. But few of the days this year proved very meaningful. In some cases, votes were taken even though, as all lawmakers knew, the bills were destined for failure.
All political s*** show fooleys.
More than 40 times, for instance, the House has voted to repeal President Obama’s health care law, a move that stands no chance in the Senate.
If at first you don't succeed.... get a Republican Senate and President in 2016!
Agreement, when it has come, had been on a decidedly smaller scale. Legislators passed a law providing incentives to states that boost supplies of epinephrine at schools. They transferred land in Powell, Wyo., for a shooting range, and they passed a law allowing the US Mint to create a commemorative, curved-shape coin celebrating the 75th anniversary of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
The 113th Congress still has one more year where members could make up for lost time — and Congresses tend to do more in their second years. But there are few signs of change in the current hyperpartisan climate.
There is biparti$an$hip in certain in$tances.
Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California and one of the longest-serving members in the House, stood off from the House floor on Monday night and declared this Congress the worst he’s ever seen.
“This Congress,” he said, “has been a real waste of time.”
Honestly, so is reading the Boston Globe.
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Something they can all agree on:
"House OK’s renewing plastic gun ban; Senate could vote next week, when law expires" by Alicia A.Caldwell | Associated Press, December 04, 2013
WASHINGTON — With 3-D printers increasingly able to produce plastic weapons, the House voted Tuesday to renew a 25-year-old prohibition against firearms that can evade metal detectors and X-ray machines.
On a voice vote, the House passed a bill to renew the Undetectable Firearms Act for another decade.
The Senate could vote on the bill next Monday when it returns from a two-week Thanksgiving recess. The law is due to expire the following day.
Some Senate Democrats have mounted an attempt to amend the law to require plastic guns to have at least one metal piece for making it fire. But with the National Rifle Association opposed to the measure, the House bill is likely to pass the Senate unchanged, particularly going into an election year when many lawmakers would prefer to avoid a new fight over gun legislation....
In other words, both are to blame for doing nothing!
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Back to the fooleys:
"Senators can still block nominations without filibuster; Republicans can stall picks from home state" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, November 29, 2013
WASHINGTON — Now that Democrats have removed the threat of Republican filibusters to block nominees, attention in the Senate is turning to another procedural fuel for gridlock over judicial appointments: blue slips of paper.
They are love letters in a sense.
No, it is not a fight over mundane office supplies. Blue slips are at the core of senators’ individual power to shape the makeup of the federal bench in their home states.
By withholding a written opinion on a district or appellate court nominee’s fitness from the Senate Judiciary Committee — an opinion that is traditionally submitted on a blue slip — Republican senators can freeze action on many of President Obama’s judicial nominees.
It is a strategy already employed in a handful of cases....
So far, Democrats have not moved to change the rules on blue slips. But Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, did issue a veiled threat: If it becomes apparent the GOP is abusing the process, this tradition, too, could fade....
Just in time for Democrats to lose the Senate, and then oh boy! Sharp turn to the right!
The tradition dates to at least 1917, when it emerged as a way to ensure the president was properly consulting with the legislative branch on nominees. It has its roots in the very first Senate session, when George Washington was rebuffed when he tried to nominate a naval officer over the objection of the home-state senators.
But over the years, the tradition has evolved: If a senator does not return the blue slip, all committee action on a nominee comes to a halt. There are no hearings, no votes, until both senators submit their blue slips. It effectively gives home-state senators a veto....
An opportunity to work together then, right?
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Related: Slow Saturday Special: Campaign Trail I$ Healthy For Obama
I hope you understand why I am so sour on the $hit fooleys of the monied pre$$.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Obama calls for action on economic inequalities" by Jim Kuhnhenn | Associated Press, December 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama prodded Congress to raise wages and secure the social safety net as he issued an overarching appeal Wednesday to correct inequalities that he said make it harder for a child to escape poverty. ‘‘That should offend all of us,’’ he declared. ‘‘We are a better country than this.’’
He's now waving poor children he helped create at us? C'mon! You aren't better than that, sir? The cratering poll numbers after a failed five-year presidency that bad?
Focusing on the pocketbook issues that Americans consistently rank as a top concern, Obama argued that the dream of upward economic mobility is breaking down and that the growing income gap is a ‘‘defining challenge of our time.’’
Notice he always finds that i$$ue when he's in deep political trouble?
‘‘The basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed,’’ the president said in remarks at a nonprofit community center a short drive from the White House in one of Washington’s most impoverished neighborhoods.
I wasn't aware of any bargain except business and profit.
Though he offered no new initiatives, Obama blended a call for Congress to act on pending short-term economic measures with a long vision aimed at correcting a growing level of income inequality in the United States.
In other words, this is ALL HOT POLITICAL AIR like it has been since the introduction of the issue during the 2012 presidential campaign. He's HAD A YEAR to address such things and done nothing!
The speech came amid public doubts over Obama’s stewardship of the economy, as his overall approval ratings sink and as he seeks to move past the health care troubles that have consumed his presidency in recent months.
Oh, that's right! This is ALL ABOUT his SAGGING POLL NUMBERS that reflect a FAILED PRESIDENCY!
Sorry, sir, but after FIVE YEARS all the promise has wa$hed away and this administration is revealed as another in a long line of $tatu$ quo $erving pieces of $hit.
He acknowledged his administration’s ‘‘poor execution’’ in rolling out the flawed website that was supposed to be an easy portal for purchasing insurance, while blaming Republicans for a ‘‘reckless’’ shutdown of the government.
Yup, NOTHING NEW THERE! $hit-fooley specials!
‘‘Nobody has acquitted themselves very well these past few months,’’ Obama said. ‘‘So it’s not surprising that the American people’s frustrations with Washington are at an all-time high.’’ Worse for Americans, he added, are their growing difficulties in trying to make ends meet no matter how hard they work.
All of a sudden the conversation has been diverted from the theme of inequality.
The speech coincided with growing national and international attention to economic disparities — from the writings of Pope Francis to the protests of fast-food workers in the United States.
Related: Globe Pi$$es on Pope
Corporations Sitting on $1.8 Trillion in Cold Hard Cash
Fast Food Workers Co$ting Taxpayers
And now the ungrateful bastards are planning another strike.
The president cited the pope’s question of how it is not news when an elderly homeless person dies from exposure, but news when the stock market loses two points.
He better be careful, although I suspect his money ma$ters know this is all bull$hit for public consumption.
I can also explain the disparities in coverage:
No surprise it serves as a banker's mouthpiece, apologist, and defender, as well as a vehicle for elitist insult and Jewish supremacism. That's why we changed the name to propaganda pre$$.
And he noted that in the United States, a child born into the bottom 20 percent of income levels has less than a 5 percent chance of making it to the top income levels and is 10 times likelier to stay where he is — worse than other industrial countries such as Canada, Germany, and France.
House Speaker John A. Boehner blamed Senate Democrats and Obama for the lack of action on jobs-related legislation. He said bills passed by the Republican-controlled House that would help the economy and create jobs have been blocked in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
I wrote "whatever" at the end of the paragraph of my printed paper.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Broken City Contradiction
Doesn't look like it is broken for certain $elect intere$ts and groups, but whatever.
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Yeah, whatever.
