1 - Rongone
- Sentient Being
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Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
Can you believe this crap? Today I received Scott Perry's e-mail about this where he spouted the same partisan talking points, blaming everyone else, and taking no personal responsibility.
Boehner ready to let funding lapse for Homeland Security agency
By Will Dunham and Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Boehner, the Republican House of Representatives speaker, said he is willing to let funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapse as part of a Republican push to roll back President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration.
With a Feb. 27 deadline looming for funding the department, Senate Democrats three times this month blocked consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which has already been approved by the House.
"Senate Democrats are the ones standing in the way. They’re the ones jeopardizing funding," Boehner told Fox News on Sunday. Asked if he was prepared to let financing for the department lapse, he said: "Certainly. The House has acted. We’ve done our job."
Arizona Senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on national security matters, told NBC's "Meet the Press" of his alarm at the situation.
"The American people did not give us majority to have a fight between House and Senate Republicans," McCain said, referring to Republicans taking control of both the House and Senate after November's congressional elections. "They want things done. You cannot cut funding from the Department of Homeland Security. We need to sit down and work this thing out."
Democrats want to fund the department but oppose House amendments stripping funding from Obama's 2012 and 2014 executive orders lifting a deportation threat for millions of illegal immigrants.
TOUGH POSITION
The Republican legislation passed by the House put Senate Republicans in a tough position because not only do they lack the votes to prevent Obama's fellow Democrats from using procedural hurdles to block the bill but also some Republican senators have expressed misgivings about tying homeland security funding to the immigration issue.
"The House has acted to de-fund the department and to stop the president’s overreach when it comes to immigration and his executive orders," Boehner said. "... And the Congress just can’t sit by and let the president defy the Constitution and defy his own his oath of office."
The House's top Democrat was quick to fire back.
"With only four legislative days left until the Republican Homeland Security Shutdown, Speaker Boehner made it clear that he has no plan to avoid a government shutdown that would threaten the safety of the American people," Drew Hammill, spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, said in an email.
"The speaker’s reliance on talking points and finger-pointing was a sad reflection of the fact that (the) Tea Party continues to hold the gavel as they insist on their futile anti-immigrant grandstanding."
Obama has threatened to veto the House-passed measure. Democrats insist on a "clean" funding bill with no immigration restrictions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said last week that the Senate was "stuck" and the next move was up to the House.
"Unfortunately, I don't see exactly how Congress is going to resolve this," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told CBS's "Face the Nation".
These bickering children we elected to our federal legislature are determined to make this congress even less productive than the last one. All at our and the country's expense. It's time they took responsibility for their action and inaction and learn to cooperate, collaborate, and compromise for the benefit of their constituents. Write your reps and tell them to get busy and do their jobs.
- Just Fred
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
Democrats want to fund the department but oppose House amendments stripping funding from Obama's 2012 and 2014 executive orders lifting a deportation threat for millions of illegal immigrants.
Duh, well why not propose two separate bills? Remove the amendments from the homeland Security funding bill and propose a second piece of legislation to strip the funding for the executive order. This ain't rocket science, it's simply politics.
Last edited by Just Fred (2/16/2015 7:55 am)
- tennyson
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
We should be surprised by all of this ? 
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- Rongone
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
tennyson wrote:
We should be surprised by all of this ?
No, but we also should not be complacent nor apathetic about it.
You probably wouldn't let your children get away with this kind of nonsense, so why should we let our elected officials get away with it?
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Thread Starter- TheLagerLad
- Exchange Beer Snob
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
Quick thought:
Do we really need DHS? We already have the....
Dept of Defense
FBI
CIA
NSA
50 State Police Forces
50 National Guards
Countless numbers of police forces.
Doesn't DHS just add an additional layer of redundancy.
FWIW, I wouldn't be upset if the department just went away.
I think you're going to see a lot of different United States of America over the next three, four, or eight years. - President Donald J. Trump
- Rongone
- Sentient Being
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
Quick thought:
Do we really need DHS? We already have the....
Dept of Defense
FBI
CIA
NSA
50 State Police Forces
50 National Guards
Countless numbers of police forces.
Doesn't DHS just add an additional layer of redundancy.
FWIW, I wouldn't be upset if the department just went away.
Post 9/11, wasn't the thinking that the DHS would coordinate activity among all those intelligence and law enforcement groups . . . Sharing and disseminating information, prevention efforts, and coordinating enforcement operations?
Condensing assigned duties, reducing redundancy, and eliminating departmental overlap doesn't seem to be the forte of any part of the federal government.
But you gotta love the Orwellian name they gave the department.
Anyhow, compacting and redirecting the activities of all the departments you mentioned should be a viable option for our legislature (who voted in favor of creating the department) to discuss . . . If someone could get the different factions to talk. That's where the voting public has to step in and tell their reps to do their jobs.
I also agree with Fred . . . Why not put the two distinctly different issues in different bills for discussion and vote. That sounds relatively elementary, right?
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Thread Starter- IntroVertigo
- General Rif Raff
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire
Last edited by IntroVertigo (2/19/2015 7:50 am)
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too. ~Voltaire
- tennyson
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
We should be surprised by all of this ?
No, but we also should not be complacent nor apathetic about it.
You probably wouldn't let your children get away with this kind of nonsense, so why should we let our elected officials get away with it?
I totally agree, but by the same token when you see and read (ie the former Exchange was a good example) of the polarized country that we have become, it is then not surprising that our elected representives would be equally polarized as well. It is truly sad that cooperation appears to be a thing of the past. Till the polarization changes in the electorate, expect more of the same !
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- Conspiracy Theory
- Dark Overlord
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
We should be surprised by all of this ?
No, but we also should not be complacent nor apathetic about it.
You probably wouldn't let your children get away with this kind of nonsense, so why should we let our elected officials get away with it?I totally agree, but by the same token when you see and read (ie the former Exchange was a good example) of the polarized country that we have become, it is then not surprising that our elected representives would be equally polarized as well. It is truly sad that cooperation appears to be a thing of the past. Till the polarization changes in the electorate, expect more of the same !
Polarization is one aspect I find very disturbing.
What is more disturbing is that political campaigns and elected officals will play on this polarization, even seek to increase it, just for politicial gain.
No one is thinking about the long-term effects.
I'm worried that this constant abuse of side against side will end up becoming violent on a large scale.
If you make yourself miserable trying to make others happy that means everyone is miserable.
-Me again
---------------------------------------------
- Rongone
- Sentient Being
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Re: Congressional gridlock Deja Vu
No, but we also should not be complacent nor apathetic about it.
You probably wouldn't let your children get away with this kind of nonsense, so why should we let our elected officials get away with it?I totally agree, but by the same token when you see and read (ie the former Exchange was a good example) of the polarized country that we have become, it is then not surprising that our elected representives would be equally polarized as well. It is truly sad that cooperation appears to be a thing of the past. Till the polarization changes in the electorate, expect more of the same !
Polarization is one aspect I find very disturbing.
What is more disturbing is that political campaigns and elected officals will play on this polarization, even seek to increase it, just for politicial gain.
No one is thinking about the long-term effects.
I'm worried that this constant abuse of side against side will end up becoming violent on a large scale.
Agreed. Polarization as it is developing in the U.S. With the deepening gaps continuing to widen will eventually lead to the demise of our representative republic.
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Thread Starter