Now In Charge Of Congress, GOP Plans To Give Up Its Own Constitutional Powers To The Obama Administration
from the say-what-now? dept
As you've probably heard, the Republicans decisively took control over Congress in the election on Tuesday, and are now strategizing on exactly what plan they'll choose to try not to mess things up too badly by the time the 2016 elections come around. The Washington Post has a short segment on the "quick votes" the GOP is planning for January to show that rather than blocking everything, it can actually pass some stuff -- including "fast track" legislation on trade agreements:With the 2016 presidential campaign already looming large, McConnell (Ky.) and Boehner (Ohio) are both eager to shed the party’s image as an unruly collection of obstructionists and far-right ideologues.We've talked about this "Fast Track" authority for years (it's also referred to as "Trade Promotion Authority"). The issue is that, under the Constitution, Congress and not the executive branch, has the sole power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations." The executive branch has always been able to negotiate agreements, but it's Congress that has the power to regulate. "Fast Track" authority or Trade Promotion Authority is effectively Congress handing that right over to the executive branch, by saying that the only thing it can do when brought a trade agreement is vote up or down on the whole thing, rather than actually look at the details of the agreement and send the USTR back to fix the problematic parts.
The remedy, they have decided: Act quickly to send President Obama bills with bipartisan support to fast-track international trade agreements, repeal an unpopular tax on medical devices and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
You can understand why the USTR and the administration want the fast track to go, because it means they can actually promise things during negotiations that are more difficult to promise without that power. But it does seem very, very odd that a Republican Congress that seems to constantly complain about too much power in the executive branch, seems to have no problem whatsoever abdicating its Constitutional powers to that very same executive branch on major trade agreements that could reshape regulations worldwide.
Part of the problem, of course, is that people have been told that this is about "free trade" agreements -- and Republicans claim to be in support of free trade. But that's wrong. The big agreements, like the TPP and TTIP/TAFTA are not about "free trade" for the most part. Most tariff barriers have been chipped away for years. These agreements are about regulations and locking in certain regulations to limit the sovereignty of various nations to pass their own regulations. It's just protectionism in a different colored coat, dressed up to look like free trade -- complete with a dollop of extra sovereignty for corporations. Thus, it seems very odd that a Republican controlled Congress -- one that insists it's all about the Constitution -- has decided that it's first order of business is to give up one of Congress' main constitutional powers to an administration controlled by the opposing party.
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Filed Under: congress, fast track, fast track authority, gop, republicans, tafta, tpp, trade agreements, trade promotion authority, ttip
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Not so odd after all
'by the time the 2016 elections come around'
Give the WH the ultimate authority, and you also give them the ultimate blame should things go wrong(which should happen, oh, at about the same time the public sees what their government just agreed to in their names).
'Hey, don't look at us, we didn't have a choice, we had to accept the entire deal, we didn't have a choice to get rid of that particular part you're objecting to! If you want to blame someone, blame Obama and the democrats!'
Alternatively, or should I say in addition to the above, while 'deals' like these may be terrible for the citizens of the countries, they are great for the large businesses in them, and the republicans are all about big business(in the same way the democrats are about big government).
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Re: Not so odd after all
These politicians like to pretend they give a shit about their constituents, but they don't.
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Re: Not so odd after all
I've long said that this country is gridlocked by partisanship and greed. It got that way via a vast majority of fools who buy into the religious and party rhetoric to decide which way to cast their vote.
I've finally decided that there's only one way it will change. We need one party in total control. It doesn't matter which one, either will royally fuck the country and it's people over. What will matter is that if one party is in total control then they can't lay the blame elsewhere. The old guard in that party will be voted out as will the party's control.
The other party will then jump in and screw everyone over just as bad, but in a different way, and the same will happen to them.
At that point the country will be so fucked that the people will not only be up in arms, but they will have learned their lesson, and we'll see a revolt. It will be scary, nasty, and possibly bloody, but we may come out of it with a direction and purpose and a chance to see out country become great again, instead of a corporate landfill.
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Re: Re: Not so odd after all
Meanwhile, we've got people decrying democracy as mob rule and government as unwarranted interference in all the things when we actually need enough to get things done without getting in the way.
If, as I suspect, the Reps screw the country over by implementing the Ryan Plan (either before or after 2016) and turning us into a theocratic oligarchy, the people will indeed revolt. I'm just hoping they'll do it at the ballot box by voting 3rd party en masse. The only reason we generally vote for the two parties is that we're afraid the other party will get in. When we stop caring about that, we'll be able to vote 3rd party with confidence knowing that, if enough other people vote for them, they'll get in.
There are many third parties to vote for; educate yourself and spread the word. Let's give both of the big parties a smack in 2016 by voting someone else into office. It's better than getting into a bloody mess and an even more paranoid police state.
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Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
Give us credit. We tried a black donkey this time round.
Next up: a pink elephant.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
The white elephant allowed 9/11 and a recession to happen.
The black donkey's had to spend his entire tenure cleaning up elephant poop.
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Re: Re: Not so odd after all
Wrong. It matters, a lot.
Even the hardcore GOP is having a tough time dealing with tea party american taliban types. Putting these ideologues in positions of power is suicidal.
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Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
Democrats and their unicorns. Washington was a taliban type.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
1) "I'm not a scientist but ...."
2) “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,”. Certainly you have read about these folks who try and some success in attaining office - right?
3) "One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.... Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."
4) ... many more ...
And Washington did not want to proclaim a national religion, nor did he want to fight an endless war everywhere while denying citizens access to a livable wage and medical care. You are right in at least one instance as he did accept slavery.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
Republicans restrict womens' rights.
There are numerous other examples, boy.
George Washington didn't threaten those who didn't think like him with death, boy.
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Re: Re: Not so odd after all
we *do* have one party, its called the Korporate Money Party, and the dem'rats and rethugs are just two faces of the same party...
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Re: Re: Not so odd after all
We need to change the way we vote. Our first-past-the-post system is the absolute worst way to elect a government and pretty much guarantees a two-party system, especially when you have a powerful directly-elected executive like we do. (If you really want a strong third party, vote them into Congress and your state legislatures, and lower levels of government too.)
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Re: Re: Re: Not so odd after all
I don't think it's timidity, actually. I think it's the result of one of the very real cultural differences between the two parties. Republicans tend to operate in lockstep, and value toeing the party line above all else -- even by party members who may disagree with a particular stance. Democrats are not like this so much, which is why it's so often said that getting agreement within the Democratic party is like herding cats.
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Re:
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Finding common ground
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And this is why I don't vote
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Re: And this is why I don't vote
"But my vote doesn't count then" is often the rejoinder, to which I say, so what? You need to *start* somewhere. Maybe your candidate only gets a handful of votes this election. Then you need to *keep trying*, hoping that more and more people will jump on board *next* election. Saying "He'll never get elected anyway" is a self fulfilling prophecy.
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Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Counting less than a vote that is not cast at all? Hardly.
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Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Enough said!
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Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
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Re: Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Look at our recent history. Remember Bush Sr.? "Read my lips, no new taxes." And then he broke that promise, and the voters threw him out and replaced him with a guy who was just the opposite: a (relatively) young, hip, saxophone-playing cool dude who oh-by-the-way turned out to be a sexual predator.
So 8 years of one-scandal-after-another later, the American people were sick of Bill Clinton, so we went and elected a guy who was just the opposite. With the way he ended up getting caricatured later on in his presidency, it's easy to forget that Dubya originally ran on very explicitly being the anti-Clinton and "restoring dignity to the White House." Yeah.
And after 8 years of doing his best to destroy what little dignity remained to the office of President after Clinton, the American people were sick of him and we went and elected someone who essentially ran on exactly the same platform as Dubya did: Hope And Change. Obama positioned himself as the guy who was just the opposite, and it worked... and look what it got us.
Every president has been worse than the one before him for, at the very least, 4 presidencies now. But if this continues, and we elect our next president because of who he's not again, instead of who he is, then things will just continue to get worse. Remember the definition of insanity popularly attributed to Albert Einstein: continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results.
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Re: And this is why I don't vote
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Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
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Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Have you seen their manifesto?
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Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Exhibit #1: Clinton deregulated Wall Street, and ten years later the whole thing practically collapses.
Corruption and back-dealing exist in real life, and you can't create an economic model based purely on competition without factoring in those who manipulate the market.
Exhibit #2: If you want to see an almost entirely "free" market, check out Eve Online, which has a fairly representative free market economy. It's also full of huge corporations that manipulate the market and completely steamroll smaller corporations economically. The economy works (especially since resources are essentially unlimited as they refresh themselves) but there is virtually no advantage to the "small business".
What we actually need is business regulation by people without an investment or other incentive to help certain businesses. Unfortunately this doesn't exist, hence we get the widespread corruption with regulation because those regulations are ineffective.
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Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
This.
Adam "Invisible Hand" Smith, one of the primary luminaries behind the concept of the free market and someone who is held in high esteem by free market proponents, even argues this outright in his work "The Wealth of Nations".
He observes that in the absence of regulation, the free market will inevitably devolve into monopoly or oligopoly since success in the market is self-amplifying. As you get bigger and more powerful, they will use that power to exclude smaller players, reducing the amount of competition until only a small number remain.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: And this is why I don't vote
Sounds like any old book religion.
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This is all about 2016
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Re: This is all about 2016
You mean the label they have been wearing for the past six years? They even publicly stated in 2008 that they would be obstructionist to the point of shutting down the government in order to get their wish list. Nothing has changed.
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Re: This is all about 2016
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Re: Re: This is all about 2016
You mean the way they disown their own ideas when he makes them work, boy?
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Re:
Don't you think they deserve harvesting the reward for being willing to sacrifice their reputation? As congress members, their trustworthiness is currently ranked at the bottom of the scale, below used car salesmen.
Shouldn't they be able to offer their spouses and children some recompensation for the shame they must be feeling?
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I'm pretty sure the core requirement for any public office is a complete and utter inability to feel shame. Fake it, yes, but not feel it.
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Although I don't think she's so hated that if she were the nominee it would guarantee a Republican win, either. The people who really despise her tend to be Republicans in the first place.
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That's a lot better than some of my excuses. But you're wrong. I was saying she appeared to be the de facto shoe-in nominee, so you were right the first time.
On second thought, maybe she's just hoping to keep her hat in the ring so she can end up with yet another secretary of something-or-other when she loses. Attorney General, Ambassador to Russia, head of the UN?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Heh. Yes, I do sometimes trip over my own feet! I was actually addressing a slightly different thing, though (apparently equally incorrect): I'm not talking about whether or not she'd be a shoo-in to become the nominee -- although I'm not at all sure that she is -- but about whether or not she'd be a shoo-in to win the presidency if she ran.
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Re: Re:
They didn't take it away. You lost it. Your interpretation is specifically denied by the 4th Amendment. You failed to defend it. Take your lumps, serf.
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Gerrymandering is put to a vote state wide? When did this occur?
Disenfranchisement is something we all voted on? Not.
In rich GOP districts voting is a breeze. In poor and middle class districts things are quite different. There is a reason for this and it is intentional.
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Why does it seem odd? The R's are business friendly to a fault. They only insist it's "all about the Constitution" when gun control comes up. The rest of the time... not so much.
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Re: Who doesn't?
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Re: Re: Who doesn't?
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Re: Religious leaders?
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Re: Re: Religious leaders?
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Give up their constitutional assigned powers
The moment they do so they are TRAITORS to the USA. If we allow that to happen, we deserve the democide that will be used on us as it has been in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russian, Mao's China, etc.
That is not only against our supreme law, it is TREASON, and it would be Terrorism against the USA and Americans. (28 C.F.R. Section 0.85 Terrorism is defined as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives”.)
Isn't anyone bothering to educate themselves anymore here in the USA? And I do not mean in a narrow sense.
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Re: Give up their constitutional assigned powers
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Re: Give up their constitutional assigned powers
Your rights are being ignored, people are being murdered by those that are supposed to be protecting them. Your land is being stolen by your overlords. Wake up.
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Hmm. I know I've read about a country like this in my history books at some point... perhaps someone could refresh my memory?
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I'll believe it when I see it
So instead of being the obstructionist party, they'll be the "agree to everything" party. But again, I'll believe it when I see it- it just seems like too many Republicans have it out for Obama that they would never compromise.
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Bias much?
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Re: Bias much?
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Re: Re: Bias much?
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Re: Re: Bias much?
I don't have any grand illusions of hope and change, I just can't stand the rationalizing by the left. What happened? Oops. We fucked up. No, it was the smart planning by republicans? No! It was anything besides Obama.
It was Obama and his administration that gave it away. Blame him for once.
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Re: Bias much?
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so....
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You've got to be kidding me...
If they go through w/ this, it will backfire on them. Badly.
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i will be honest boys and girls
kinda horrible thing to say *if you still think these guys have some worth in them* but thats just how i see it.
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Re: i will be honest boys and girls
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Re: Re: i will be honest boys and girls
GOD I WISH THEY WOULD.
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Re:
It is spelled "feces".
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Re:
over and over and over and over-damn it! just blow a hole through it and wipe out the survivors!
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Bu-bye America the Brave. Hello Amerika the Broke.
No more pussyfooting around the constitution now.
This should be fascinating to watch.
In the next six months, the Republicans (AKA Neo-Fascists) will now be able to set America back 20 more years - and end any possibility of recovery, while installing every bad law and every bad "trade-free agreement" that has been considered over the last decade by the billionaires running the country - without even the semblance of opposition.
And, let the show begin.
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Seems appropriate
[Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2]
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along
Come inside, the show's about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
Greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo
You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll, oh
Right before your eyes we pull laughter from the skies
And he laughs until he cries, then he dies, then he dies
Come inside, the show's about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo
You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll, oh
Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of vaseline
Will perform on guillotine, what a scene, what a scene
Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
To Alexander's Ragtime Band, Dixieland, Dixieland
Roll up, roll up, roll up
See the show
Performing on a stool we've a sight to make you drool
Seven virgins and a mule, keep it cool, keep it cool
We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown
Were exclusively our own, all our own, all our own
Come and see the show, come and see the show
Come and see the show
See the show
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Re: Seems appropriate
The only real "benefit" now, is that the press will no longer be telling the public anything important, or anything real.
So, at least the American Public will now sleep better, even if things are actually getting much, much worse.
Ignorance is Bliss, even if bliss is a useless defense in war.
So break out the bread, usher in the clowns and let the show begin.
We have lost the war because we are too cowardly to admit to ourselves who the enemy is, but we can still go down smiling, if not actually happy.
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Re: Re: Seems appropriate
hint: the press is not just MSM
Yeah, the public is asleep - not.
Lost what war ?
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Re: Re: Re: Seems appropriate
Because they won't have time to report anything important between all the PR BS the new Repubbie Feds need publically disseminated. Fascists believe that the public should only be informed enough to keep them happily consuming. But you already knew that anyways didn't you.
"hint: the press is not just MSM"
What is MSM?
"Yeah, the public is asleep - not."
Sorry. Did not mean to wake you. Just roll over and go back to pretending everything is just fine. Sleep well now.
"Lost what war ?"
I rest my case. :)
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