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A Further Perspective
Now For a Dozen
If you thought it was confusing in the past few weeks, hang on. Get ready for the super-commission.
Enough worrying about a couple hundred folks elected to Congress. Our next concern must be with an even dozen from that same number. As part of the debt reduction measure approved by the House and the Senate and signed into law on Tuesday by President Obama, a committee of twelve is to be selected to come up with some measures that will authenticate what the debt reduction bill is intended to do. And in signing the measure, the President made it clear he is expecting some higher taxes from corporations and individuals able to afford it. Revenue, we were told, was not to be a part of the deal. The twelve, to be evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats from each house, will have to come up with something to meet this requirement, now a part of Mr. Obama’s charge.
We don’t yet know who they are, or what their exact sentiments may be. But their deliberations and their conclusions stand to give us yet another series of causes for applause and/or doubt. Refine the consternation a couple hundred people afforded the American public during the Debt debate, put it up to twelve elected folk, and you have the material for some real confusion. In other words, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
How would you like to be one of the twelve? It isn’t as much an honor as a sentence. Yet we shall press on, and around Thanksgiving we shall see what the dirty dozen come up with. Are their deliberations to be public? Or should they convene privately on some peak in Antarctica?
If you thought it was confusing in the past few weeks, hang on.
About the Author
Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (48) | Leave a comment
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big bob| 8.3.11 @ 6:14AM
Why the surprise? This is just another form of the "death panels" we have learned to love and appreciate and worship in the medical treatment complex coming soon to a hospital near you. Now we have the congressional death panel that will tell us how to cut things out of a budget.
Another parallel to this is how the bankers sliced up the mortgages to defray or deflect the risk they knew existed in the securities they were placing out of FNMA and Freddie Mac. Legislators figure they can deflect the pain of making hard decisions by having representatives of representatives of a republic form a committee. Can we get any more un-represented than that??? I think this is dereliction of duty, pure and simple, just another opportunity to consolidate power without accountability. Who knew???
Siegfried X| 8.3.11 @ 6:53AM
The committee is for politics, not debt reduction. There is not a snowball's chance that their recommendations will be passed. Even if the recommendations passed, they don't take effect until after the next election, which means that the new congress (and president?) could ignore them.
Republicans won't agree to taxes and Democrats won't agree without taxes, which means nothing can pass. Probably the six Republicans will come up with their recommendation and the six Democrats come up with their own recommendation, each of which is just a political statement. So the purpose of the committee is political posturing.
TrueBlue| 8.3.11 @ 11:01AM
And it gives the Dems the ability to easily cause massive defense spending cuts by doing NOTHING.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 11:06AM
Siegfried X,
"Republicans won't agree to taxes [...]."
Yes, because Republicans never cave, right?
We'll see.
Topper| 8.4.11 @ 4:03AM
Gallup Poll:
22% of Tea Party members approve of the debt
ceiling "Deal"...
58% of Democrats approve...
Amount of debt ceiling increase to carry thru to the end of the fiscal year: $240 Billion...
Amount of campaign donation by Republicans
to Obama: $2 Trillion...
Boehner, McConnell, and all Republicans who voted for this atrocity are TRAITORS !
Melvin| 8.3.11 @ 7:15AM
My fellow Americans. For many years now, I guess you could say that I was a naive fool for believing in our system of government. I even joined the United States Marine in in hopes of protecting my belief and conviction in the system along with thousands of other Americans that believed as I did.
My wife of many years, who was born of a Country under martial law, and a dictator for most of her adult life. But millions of her Countrymen saw our representative form of government as a beacon of hope to end the dictatorial repression and corruption.
Once married to me, she furthered her studies and studied our for of government and our way of life and at the time she thought she at last had found the freedom that she sought.
Around the time of the first President Bush she noticed a change taking hold in our government. It was a minor change, but those who have lived under a repressive type of government in another country can easily spot a repressive government taking a more active role in our lives.
Since that time she said, "The repression has incrementally became worse no matter who has been President, since the elder Bush embarked upon what he called, "New World Order."
The other day recently over weekend coffee she let out a deep sigh after reading the newspaper and scanning the web, "We're no longer free." She eluded to the fact that what she is observing now in the United States is what she lived under in her birth Country.
Out of frustration she told me, "Dear, I love you and we raised a beautiful family, but I didn't come here to live under the same corrupt repressive shit, that I live under before I met you. That damn monster is now here, and there is no place left in the world to run. "
Now our lives are going to be dramatically effected by some, "Super Congress," that we don't even know if it is Constitutionally authorized. But I guess that doesn't matter anymore.
People, the bottom line is we are going to have to draw a line. You and me, we haven't' got nothing left for them to take away from us. Sooner or later we are going to have to come out fighting. Not a fight to overthrow the government mind you but a fight to knock those bastards out, and while they're laying on the ground with a damn knot on they're heads, we're going to tell them, "We're not living under your repressive shit!"
Hell, I know I'm rambling, but it is the only thing we still have left and they're even plotting to take that away from us.
Ryan| 8.3.11 @ 8:22AM
I believe that you are overstating something. The "super Congress" really isn't much more than a committee that presents recommendations, and has no real authority.
Bruce| 8.3.11 @ 8:54AM
Ryan;
Go look at the bill. If the committee FAILS to do anything, we get across-the-board cuts. Those cuts will be to "security" and "non-security" spending. If they present a recommendation, nobody in either house of congress can try to amend it. It has to be put to an up or down vote. If the measure doesn't pass, the same cuts are implemented.
Siegfried X| 8.3.11 @ 9:28AM
And those across-the-board cuts were approved by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President, exactly as the constitution specifies. So why is there a problem with that?
The constitution also says that each house of congress can make it's own rules. The includes restricting the right to make amendments. So the committee is totally constitutional too.
Melvin| 8.3.11 @ 9:36AM
So what you are saying is, that the entire scope of this super committee is Constitutionally legal?
Siegfried X| 8.3.11 @ 12:14PM
It seems that way to me. The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax and spend, and that's what this is about.
TrueBlue| 8.3.11 @ 11:06AM
This is why I hate having so many lawyers in Congress. They find and abuse all of the loopholes just like people exploiting a bug in a program to get what they want.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 11:13AM
Siegfried X,
"So the committee is totally constitutional too."
Straw man. Who is claiming that the committee is un-Constitutional?
The Select Committee is just a stupid idea. That's all. And, what about the rule Boehner made that promised we would have 3 days to read bills before a vote? Where's the outrage over this betrayal?
Keep taking big bites out of this "Crappy Meal," as Michele Malkin calls it.
Siegfried X| 8.3.11 @ 12:03PM
"Now our lives are going to be dramatically effected by some, "Super Congress," that we don't even know if it is Constitutionally authorized"
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 12:17PM
Siegfried X,
On my browser it shows that you were replying to Bruce, not Melvin. If this was not the case, then I see the point of your comment and question.
I know that sometimes replies don't line up with the comment to whom they were addressed. If people would state who they are addressing, these kind of misunderstandings wouldn't happen.
Ohiolad| 8.3.11 @ 1:45PM
I, too, fear that this council of 12 ‘Super Congress’ will not be as benign as it is being currently portrayed. It has already been revealed that no Tea Party conservatives will be appointed to this ‘committee’ in order to lessen the number of dissenting voices. Depending on how much power this ‘committee’ assumes, it may mark the end of our current form of government toward some form of more concentrated power, i.e., an oligarchy. Clearly this is unconstitutional, but what weight does that carry anymore? It is astonishing that this could have been slipped in while everyone was distracted with the debt ceiling issue without any debate or anyone raising any concerns. Interestingly, the old Soviet Politburo, which was where the real power lay, had a similar number of people. The Central Committee, similar to our Congress, became just a rubber-stamp. This is yet more evidence to bolster my contention that either the Tea Party movement saves what is left of our Republic, or it will not be saved. And your wife is right - there will be few other places left to take refuge.
martin j smith| 8.3.11 @ 7:33AM
Here is my theory ( for now) of this whole so called debt ceiling crisis: Oh they met alright, but very quickly the agreed that they are so far apart, no agreement is possible. So they hatched a plan to pretend to work hard and meanwhile probably some OMB types cooked up the semblance of a meaningless "agreement" while the primary particpants played bridge, majong or shuffle board.
Then at the "right moment" they announced at last they had an "imperfect agreement" that the OMB types wrote up. This is what 6this is all about. Oh yes they agreed to see what the 2012 elections bring. That will decide our fate. Or, seal it.
martin j smith| 8.3.11 @ 7:35AM
The 2012 election--which we can already see will be our worst and if Repubs win and win big there will violence on the street brought to us by the Socialists--you can bet on that.
canuckistani| 8.3.11 @ 5:08PM
Doubt it.
There will violence in the street by real Americans watching their country being stolen from them by corporatist thugs.
George S| 8.3.11 @ 7:36AM
If we are going to have a "debt commission", may I humbly ask that the Senators be comprised among those who are up for reelection in 2012?
canuckistani| 8.3.11 @ 5:10PM
How about only RINOs scared sh!tless into jumping on the bagger bandwagon?
Should make for great theater.
Mimi| 8.3.11 @ 8:01AM
I think the House and the Senate realize we are living in a NEW_WORLD of the Tea party!
In this country the Government will serve the people as decided by the founders in their GIFT to us.
Both leaders of both houses of Congress stated this yesterday. Now we have to consider ourselves citizens in the new climate, for it will not work , unless we stay vigilant and virtuous.
Much to ponder here. A flicker of light...the NEW MEMBERS voted in Nov.2010 are doing a good job. Many more to come in 2012!
W| 8.3.11 @ 8:15AM
There should be no Lindsay Graham and John McCain.
Marco Rubio, Pat Toomay, Jim Demint should be the Senators. Paul Ryan, Steve King, and Peter Gomert the reps.
Doesn't matter who the Dems put on, there is no diversity of opinion among them. They should appoint just one Dem, and he can speak for all.
Bruce| 8.3.11 @ 8:58AM
I will be surprised if more than ONE "tea party" person is in the group of twelve. I haven't seen how these people are to be appointed - by each separate party or by general consensus of the House or Senate.
RCV| 8.3.11 @ 1:29PM
The whole purpose of Boehner and McConnell agreeing to the committee proposal was so that they could avoid dealing with the DeMints, Toomeys and Steve Kings. Ryan may well be appointed because he displayed his willingness to work with the Republican leadership.
W| 8.3.11 @ 2:48PM
Reid will appoint McCain.
Louis Jenkins| 8.3.11 @ 8:50AM
Another Committee? None of the Congress can see the light so why should we think this committee will. Personally I agree with Melvin's spouse on this issue. We are no longer free!! If we ever were. What happens to the Committee if the Democrats regain the House? Not likely but it could happen.
Obama wants tax increases on everyone. So get ready people. He may just ignore any recommendations put out or voted on. He's already agreed to the La Raza gathering that he can do it. What will be the next major crisis? The UN gun ban treaty is mighty tempting, but more importantly, once that goes the entire Constitution is dead meat.
Melvin| 8.3.11 @ 10:05AM
Louis, the reason Marines are so successful at what we do is train, train, and train, we sleep training, we eat training, and we crap training.
Reason being that when we do go to combat we basically have seen a particular scenario before and therefore trained for it, so we don't have a come to Jesus moment at the most inopportune time.
This is what my wife was eluding to. She didn't make the comment that she did as a just a off the cuff opinion, she has seen this type of incremental tyranny before, and she spotted it right off. Not with the Super Committee, but the direction that this Country is taking with power and corruption. And that is what this all boils down to. Power and Corruption no matter what country a person lives in, its all the same, maybe spoken in a different language and culture, but still the same.
The Bishop| 8.3.11 @ 8:50AM
This is one of the most laughable solutions yet to the calamity enveloping the nation. What has ever been accomplished by a Congressional committee/commission? This will result in nothing. It's hard to express it any other way: Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, McConnell are all turds in the body politic.
Dai Alanye | 8.3.11 @ 9:40AM
There's certainly a lot of sunlight shining on today's commenters… not!
Fear not, folks. An election will be held in fifteen months, and if the people do their job this whole problem will be much closer to solution, with Obama and a few more Dems unemployed, and Republican spines further stiffened by another win.
We must only hope the Tea Party has more influence than the news media.
Melvin| 8.3.11 @ 10:12AM
No Dai, the screenplay to this movie has already been written, and it is merely being played out by the cast of characters.
The elections are merely for our benefit to give us the illusion that we matter. I feel as many of us feel but can't put our finger on it. There is something that is very ugly coming our way, but hasn't reared it's head yet. I lived through Jimmy Carter and he was bad, but I didn't have the same fear that I have now, on something that is going to be like a bat out of hell.
There is bad juju coming our way, I just don't know what it is yet.
scotchieguy| 8.3.11 @ 11:04AM
Melvin is right. Read Bill Stalin's take yesterday on the "entrenched" agencies, esp. the EPA. In law school I learned that most power resides in those invisible agencies who employ thousands and thousands of pointy-headed bureaucrats. You can get rid of Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and all the rest, but answer this--when was the last time a gov't program was ever cut, curtailed, or had its budget cut? Even under Reagan, gov't grew and grew. It is like an insidious disease, like a cancer, like a nasty weed that just won't go away, and in fact exists to grow. That is the federal gov't today. One cannot stop it, one can only slow its rate of growth, and that is when all the stars are properly aligned, which is about every 30 years or so.
Kudos to the fine work by the Tea Party. I am trying to be optimistic, but it seems more like Picketts' charge at Gettysburg from the view of the South.
scotchieguy| 8.3.11 @ 11:09AM
One other thing. I agree w/ Melvin that something ugly is coming. It is evident by the childish response to this agreement by those adult-children on the left. "extremists," "terrorists," "satan sandwich," etc. The left has really ratcheted up the hate recently. If you want a good read on the left, check out Ann Coulter's "Demonic." She nails the sickness that is the left--naive, childish, petulant, dishonest and increasingly violent.
TrueBlue| 8.3.11 @ 11:17AM
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." Thomas Jefferson, 1787
That said I'm still trying to figure out how the majority of those agencies are Constitutional in the slightest. They make rules and regulations enforceable by law, but not voted upon by our elected representatives. The problem is they are just "accepted" now because they've been around for so long.
martin j smith| 8.3.11 @ 10:16AM
I e-mailed Boehner and McConnell letting them know I vote NO CONFIDENCE" AND TO "PLEASE RESIGN. THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY TO BOTH OF THEM
hardcard| 8.3.11 @ 10:32AM
bullsh*t!!!!! remember simpson / boles ?????
Doctor Right| 8.3.11 @ 10:33AM
Seems to me that with the introduction of this "committee", Congress has just granted itself and the President vast, unaccountable powers that betray the intent of the Constitution.
This Law MUST be repealed.
This country's future as a functioning Republic is in serious doubt...and like sheep, we're sitting idly by as witnesses to our own slaughter.
Petronius| 8.3.11 @ 10:34AM
This whole deal is a just a farce before the storm. The entire country will, soon face economic ruin due to Congressional profligacy. And when the welfare checks bounce and the dependent locusts pour into the streets, Marshall Law will be declared and dictatorship will follow. There will not be an election next year or any year after. The know-nothings will finally get what they believe they want: a government economy based on the sandbox principle, "enough is what others believe you should have." Anthills are constructed with the husks of the dead.
TrueBlue| 8.3.11 @ 11:19AM
I expect an election, I just don't expect anyone that wins to actually get to take office. If Obama loses there will be riots, started by various plants in crowds of protesters, that will "force" martial law.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 11:52AM
John Boehner is a liar and broke his word. He promised in the 2010 Pledge to America (remember that GOP?) to give Americans THREE DAYS to read legislation before a vote.
"Americans should have three days to read all bills before Congress votes on them."
- John Boehner, Oct. 30, 2010
He's only been Speaker of the House for seven months, and he is already breaking his word. How is this any different than when SanFran Nan Pelosi did the same thing?
It's not like Boehner is incapable of keeping his word. That is, for democrats. Remember H.R. 1, earlier this year? He let democrats offer hundreds of amendments to keep "the Pledge’s commitment to an 'open process that makes it easier – not harder' to cut spending [...]."
I guess we conservatives can just go pound sand, huh?
By the way, this grand deal has cut $4.5 billion from national security spending for Fiscal Year 2012. These are real cuts, $4.5 billion less spending than FY 2011, not the phony C.B.O cuts from baseline budgeting, which only reduce the growth of spending.
Thanks to this cry-baby Oompa-Loompa, we no longer have a veto over that incompetent boob in the White House. Thank you, sir, may I have another!
ncatty| 8.3.11 @ 3:25PM
Let the committee report that they cannot agree and let the automatic cuts kick in. Yes, defense will take a hit. It is time to to get out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya anyway.
Butch | 8.3.11 @ 5:06PM
Melvin, I'm guessing the source of that discomfort you're feeling is knowing that you have an anti-American ideologue occupying the Presidency. I also shudder when I see him use the awesome power of that office to harm this nation and its citizens. He has more than a year to continue to do it.
Scotchieguy, you are right about the bureaucracy. Let's say the optimists are right and we win the Senate and Presidency in 2012. This time, it has to be different: laws establishing regulatory bureaus--such as the Environmental Protection Act--must be repealed, and all their edicts voided. The employees must all be terminated, and the budgets zeroed and applied to the debt.
This time we must dismantle, not just cut. No clear constitutional mandate for any agency or department, no department. The regulatory state must be dismantled.
Rosemary| 8.3.11 @ 5:50PM
Butch @5:06 P.M. - The current President is only one indication of the direction this country is going. Every part of our existence has been affected by government regulation and intrusion. There are at least two generations of "citizens" who have no idea what this country is all about, and who really don't care, as long as THEIR choices are not impacted by government. Most of them don't believe there is ANYTHING worth dying for. The poison drug fed to them (and disguised as education) has them unaware of history and the basic tenets of our Constitution. I will be very surprised if I do not live to see the sun going down below the horizon of the once great United States of America.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 7:55PM
"'The American people are in charge of this country, and they deserve a Congress that acts like it,' said Boehner. 'Americans should have three days to read all bills before Congress votes on them--something they didn't get when the "stimulus" was rushed into law. We should put an end to so-called 'comprehensive' bills that make it easy to hide wasteful spending projects and job-killing policies. Bills should be written by legislators in committee in plain public view--not written in the Speaker's office, behind closed doors.'" (All emphasis minne.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting John Boehner
"'Americans have lost trust with their government, which has too often ignored the will of the people in favor of party loyalty and a desire to pass partisan bills at any cost,' said the introduction to that part of the Pledge to America. 'Backroom deals, phantom amendments, and bills that go unread before being forced through Congress have become business as usual. Never before has the need for a new approach to governing been more apparent than under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership [ARRRRRRRGH!]. Americans are demanding change in the way Congress works, and we are fighting to bring much-needed sunlight to the process and give the American people a greater voice in their Congress.'" (All emphasis mine.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting the GOP's Pledge to America
$*@!#%*#! HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!!
Am I the only one who is outraged by this betrayal?
WalkingHorse| 8.3.11 @ 10:06PM
So now we have a Dododecumvirate .. just another step along the way to a dictatorship. This isn't even a good imitation of the last days of the Roman republic.
POST American| 8.3.11 @ 11:01PM
--------------HAD ENOUGH?
HUAC meets NUREMBERG, the second chapters.
Spread the word ---------worldwide.
Glein| 8.3.11 @ 11:26PM
Why don't we all just give everything to the Democrats and Republicans instead of having to listen to all the garbage and lies that are spewed from the mouths of the likes of Boehner and McConnell. If they say we won the debate again I will get sick and then scream into my pillow. What cowards!
chester arthur| 8.4.11 @ 10:53AM
Here's one to watch for.If Mark(tax)Warner of Virginia is one of the gang of twelve,tax hikes are not only going to be the primary task of the committee of the proletariate,they will be coming from every direction,and deception will be the method of proving their necessity.This guy,with the slavish approval of a compliant Virginia press,shut down public services,while suffering no cuts to his staff of devoted young men(very,very devoted).He also refused to cut spending on travel and the toys of power,like a certain resident of the maison blanc.Warner then claimed we had to enact the largest tax increases in Virginia history or unspecified disaster would ensue.Funny how that works.This self-serving socialist will be one of the indicators of where the committee is heading from the beginning.