I remember back in the day. It was 1976. I was an Eagle Scout attending the Bicentennial Celebration of our dear nation in Washington DC. The day's activities began at the Capitol Building for a tour. When we arrived the line was long. As we stood in line a staff person came up to our leader and asked who we were and how many were in our group. After a brief conversation the staff person of the Capitol motioned to those at the entrance to let us proceed ahead of everyone else. Not only did he allow us in ahead of others, he told us that we didn't have to be escorted by staff people on a regular tour. He said as Boy Scouts you can go wherever you want on your own. I thought WOW....Did I just hear him right? I didn't hesitate. I was in DC to explore, and explore is what I did. I checked every door. If it wasn't locked I went in. I found more spiral stone staircases than I had ever imagined. For 3 hours I went everywhere. As an architect wannabe I was in my element within the confines of this timeless building.
I tell you that story to show you how things have changed. Today during the rally against the health care bill, the protesters were refused entry into congressional buildings. How sad is it that voters can't visit their elected representatives in the Nation's Capital and tell them what they think of a bill that is about to be voted on. Some of our worst fears are being seen now .......the PEOPLE are not allowed to speak. Doesn't sound like a democracy anymore does it. Dictator Obama has everything under a tight grip now in Washington. At least he thinks so.
Just today the Administration's Chief Actuary expressed concern about the new health care spending bill that is to be voted on within hours. They state ‘I regret that my staff and I will not be able to prepare our analysis within this very tight time frame, due to the complexity of the legislation.’ What? The Obama administration's chief actuary at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services notified Republican leaders Saturday that the "very tight time frame" and "complexity" of the Democrats' health spending bill would prevent them from fully analyzing the costs and efficacy of the bill before the House vote. So let me get this straight. Obama's own people have not and will not, analyze this health care bill before the vote. Yet he is backing it 100% as a move ahead for the people.
Republican leaders responded this way:
House Republican Leader John Boehner said: “The House of Representatives should not vote blindly on an issue that is so important to every American. We deserve to have all the facts about how much this bill raise health care costs before we vote. The decision to press ahead and jam this bill down the throats of the American people is just one more example of arrogance and irresponsibility from Washington Democrats.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said: “Americans deserve to have a full analysis of this bill, but won’t because of the mad dash forced by the Democrat leaders in the House. We now know that even the Obama administration’s chief actuary predicts more government spending, more price increases for consumers and less care for low-income patients. This debate was supposed about lowering costs for Americans not making things worse.”
The whole process that is laid out in our basic civics class is being ignored. They are not only ignoring common sense they are ignoring the Constitution. The problem lies in the fact that they are so set on passing government run health care that they are ignoring and criminally violating the rules of law as spelled out in the Constitution. The Senate has passed its own health care bill. The House could pass that one and then send it on to the President for him to sign and make it law. But......Here's the problem. The House doesn't like the Senate version so they are attempting to "amend" their bill and pass the amendment without actually passing the Senate version. That is why they are calling it "deem and pass". The House is allowed to amend bills that are law only AFTER they are law. Not BEFORE.
From my experience in local government, procedure and process is almost as important as the law itself. If it won't hold up in court the law is worthless. That has been mine and everyone else's concern for any local ordinances. If I didn't follow proper, legal procedures at my job on the local government level, I would have lawyers all over me like Al Gore on a lumberjack. Ordinances and laws are a worthless piece of paper if they are not legal. Hopefully this socialist health care bill will be so deemed a worthless piece of paper after this criminal Congress gets through with it.
