Our leaders have done it! The Senate has approved a package of tax hikes, in order to keep our country from tumbling over the “fiscal cliff.” The vote to approve the bill was 89-8. Let’s all bask in that warm bipartisan glow!
The deal was brokered by negotiations between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans. We should all take comfort that such intellectual titans were doing the heavy lifting on this crucial matter! Aren’t you relieved that brainy, detail-oriented statesmen like Biden and Senate leaders scrupulously evaluated the wording of the new taxes and their potential economic impact and the loopholes that inevitably must have been part of the deal? There is every reason to be confident that this carefully considered legislation will not produce any unintended consequences. After all, the Senate proudly calls itself “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.” I bet they deliberated on this bill for a few minutes, and maybe even longer! Oh, and Harry Reid is in favor of it. What more do we need to know?
There’s lots of new taxes in this proposal: increased estate taxes, increased capital gains taxes, and increased income taxes for those people who, purely through dumb luck and undeserved good fortune, make more than $400,000 a year. What’s important, though, is that the draconian spending cuts that everyone wanted to avoid would be delayed for two months under this proposal. Thank God! That will allow the President, the Senate, and the House even more time to really roll up their sleeves and come up with meaningful spending cuts that wouldn’t be ruinous. Once the tax increases take effect, of course, our leaders will be eager to make tough spending decisions that will incur the ire of government workers and the special interest groups that are invested in the continuation of every federal program, no matter how ill-conceived, bloated, or unsuccessful that program might be. Maybe, after two months of thoughtful analysis, our leaders also might decide that what they should really do is impose more taxes on us, and further shore up the revenue side of the budget. And we can be sure, too, that our leaders won’t wait until the last minute to take action. Long before the two-month extension period expires, our leaders will have agreed upon well-reasoned spending reductions and program cuts and “revenue enhancements” that will delight every American.
Of course, this well-crafted Senate proposal still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives. With this kind of quality legislation pending, though, why would any member of the House of Representatives vote “no”?
I say a pox on all their houses. By that I mean the White House and both Houses of Congress; I mean the President and Congress, Republican and Democrat, “progressives,” liberals, conservatives, and “tea partiers.” Congratulations to you all! You’ve maneuvered us into a situation where tax increases and spending limits that were consciously designed to be so foolish and draconian that they would force a compromise look like they might actually take effect unless a lame duck Congress and a disengaged President strike some poorly thought out, last-minute deal that the American public has no opportunity to consider or voice an opinion on — just like the deal that got us into this stupid “fiscal cliff” predicament in the first place. Your little plan about a “supercommittee” to reach a grand compromise failed, you frittered away the intervening months raising money from your pet interest groups and electioneering without doing anything to make meaningful progress on the tax policy changes and spending reductions that every conscious American knows must occur to avoid enormous impending debt problems, and now you are frantically trying to avoid the imminent, painful consequences of your years of stupid politicking, indolence, and irresponsibility.
What’s sad about this is that the President and the Republican and Democratic leadership probably all think they’ve got the other guys just where they want them; they likely think the opposing side is bound to knuckle under today and give them a huge, last-minute victory. Here’s some news for you all: we shouldn’t be governing through a process that sees us lurching endlessly from crisis to crisis. Your failures to do things like propose, debate, and pass meaningful budgets, hold hearings on spending, tax and budget proposals that allow citizens to comment and thoughtful changes to be evaluated, and engage in the standard activities of government as our Constitution contemplates reflects badly on you all. Even if an eleventh-hour deal is reached and everyone declares they won, you’ve achieved no victory. The American people have come to realize that, unfortunately, we have no real political leaders — just political hacks, buck-passers, and pipsqueaks who don’t have the sense or courage to put the interests of the country ahead of their personal political interests and the narrow perspectives of the pressure groups that contribute to their campaigns.
Democrats kept control of the U.S. Senate, while Republicans kept control of the House of Representatives. In short, the United States is in for more divided government. After two consecutive “wave” elections, the message of this election seems to be to maintain the status quo.
The latest evidence of this phenomenon comes from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, which 
I don’t think you can assess the performance of a Congress by simply counting how many new laws were enacted. Quality, not quantity, should be the measuring rod. Yet even by that measure, our Congress has been a colossal failure. Last year saw the United States lose its AAA credit rating and rack up enormous deficits that are adding to our already staggering national debt. How did our legislative leaders respond? They created an ad hoc “supercommittee” that allowed them to punt on the issue, the “supercommittee” couldn’t reach agreement, and as a result another year slid by without anything meaningful being done to address our headlong rush to fiscal ruin.
The House page program began in the 1820s. In the decades since, thousands of young people have served as pages. In recent years, however, technology has rendered the pages obsolete. With the introduction of email, the internet, and smart phones, pages are no longer needed to deliver messages or documents to House members. Eliminating the program is expected to save more than $5 million a year.
Meanwhile, what’s happening in the Senate? Nothing
The wealth in Congress knows no party-line boundaries; Republicans and Democrats alike are doing well. According to the reports, the 
So, was the House vote a waste of time? I don’t think so. By voting to repeal the “health care reform” legislation, the Republican majority was fulfilling a campaign promise. We should applaud politicians who do so, not condemn them. The general public would have a more favorable view of politicians generally if more politicians actually tried to keep their promises. By acting so promptly, the Republicans are demonstrating that elections have consequences. And, of course, you never know whether political pressure will build on the Senate to consider some form of repeal legislation. If Democrats in the Senate consider the legislation to be such a great success, why should they duck a vote on its proposed repeal?
You wouldn’t think that the reading of our country’s foundational document — the one that establishes the structure of our government, identifies its three branches and defines their powers and responsibilities, and articulates the rights of American citizens — would provoke such a firestorm. Why shouldn’t members of Congress and CSPAN viewers be reminded of what the Constitution actually says? And to those who say the House of Representatives was just wasting time, I would respond that the floors of the House and the Senate have often been commandeered by members to address minutiae, in the form of turgid speeches about arcane issues like National Olive Month or the accomplishments of a local high school marching band. The simple, precise language of the Constitution is vastly superior to 99.9% of the commentary ever heard in the House or Senate.
Rangel, predictably, reacted emotionally to the Committee’s recommendation. The 80-year-old Congressman, who has served for 40 years, apologized, said he didn’t know how much longer he had to live, and added he hoped that the committee would indicate that his actions were not taken “with the intention of bringing any disgrace on the House or enriching myself personally.” He also made the Nixonian statement that he is not a crooked politician.
We should be able to compare how each party runs their House during the same political environment. Which issues will get the most attention in the House, and which in the Senate? Will there be significant differences in their focus? Will they respond to the inevitable crises in different ways? How will they conduct their affairs and discharge their duties? Will robust debate and floor amendments be permitted by the rules in one House, but not in the other? Will congressional hearings and fact-finding really address the nuts and bolts of issues, or will it be used for grandstanding? Will members of the minority party be treated with decency and respect and be given a chance to meaningfully participate? Will the legislators roll up their sleeves and discharge their constitutional obligation to do things like establish budgets and pass appropriations bills?
If I recall my high school Civics class correctly, the House was supposed to reflect the passions of the American people, but the Senate was supposed to be largely immune from those passions. In this election, it looks like the House results are reflecting the passions, as the Framers intended. In many states, the House Democrats who voted in favor of broad expansions of federal governmental power and significant deficit spending are being wiped out. The message in favor of a smaller, less intrusive, less costly federal government seems clear.
