Reading the Bills

I would love to see the Democrats investigate the crap about everything the regime has been doing the last six years, and I think that they can do that while at the same time trying to work collaboratively with Bush and GOP congresscritters to solve problems and address issues. Let them extend all kinds of symbolic olive branches and communicate openly in a bipartisan way, all the while hitting the GOP with nonstop hearings and aggressive oversight. I especially want the Democrats to look hard at waste, fraud and abuse in government and by contractors. It goes without saying that lying the US into war and then bungling it have got to be scrutinized closely. I would love impeachment hearings, but the fact is that there are not enough votes in the Senate to convict, and GOP Senators are not going to vote to convict even if they find out that Bush and Cheney killed and ate orphans and wiped their rears with the Constitution. THere needs to be a huge public outcry such that GOP Senators see throwing Bush and Cheney under the bus as necessary to protect their own political hides. Of course, at some point point less than a possibility of conviction, the Democrats may see some political advantage to impeachment proceedings.

What I don't want the Democrats to do is to subvert the Congress the way Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay did. Those wankers manipulated and abused the rules of the House in a way that concentrated power in their own hands and cut Democrats and fellow Republicans who did not toe the line out of meaningful deliberations. They completely cut Democrats out of the conference committees set up to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of bills and redrafted legislation which they would deem "emergency" measures. This meant that they were voted on almost immediately with almost no chance to review the final version. In some cases, members had 30 minutes to vote on bills that were thousands of pages long.

If I were a congresscritter, I would have voted nay on any bill I didn't get enough time to review. Of course, then my opponent would point out that I voted against The Ponies for Crippled Children Act or the Throw Money Indiscriminately at the Military Act or the National Day of Gratitude to Mothers, and my constituents would think I was monster and throw me out of office next time around. I don't know if Senators can filibuster a bill after it comes out of conference, but if they can and if I were a Senator, I'd stand up and read the whole bill aloud before I would yield.

I am hopeful that Democrats won't practice Gingrich/DeLay wanksterism and that bills will have time for review. But just in case wankers take over Congress again, we should probably consider structural changes to prevent abuse of House rules.