Dem (Majority Whip Clyburn): Senate thinks it's 'House of Lords'

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

Dem: Senate thinks it's 'House of Lords'
By Jordan Fabian - 01/25/10 02:46 PM ET

The third-ranking House Democrat said Monday the Senate thinks of itself as a "House of Lords" that happens to be out of touch with voters.

Majority Whip James Clyburn's (D-S.C.) remarks are one of the most significant public shots taken at the Senate by a Democratic leader since healthcare negotiations between the two chambers stalled.

"Senators tend to see themselves as a House of Lords and they don't seem to understand that those of us that go out there every two years stay in touch with the American people," he said in an interview with Fox News Radio. "We tend to respond to them a little better."

Clyburn referenced the British upper chamber of Parliament, on which many member of the nobility sit.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/77851-clyburn-senate-sees-itself-as-a-house-of-lords

[apnu]

1. Nice one!

At least the House Dems still have a few vertebrae.

[livetohike]

2. Yay for Rep. Clyburn

:toast: I believe the Senate members do think they are better than the House members - arrogant.

[kenny blankenship]

3. And aren't they? So prove them wrong, commoner!

You know how the Lords got defanged, don't you?

[GinaMaria]

9. I'd like to hear it from your POV and writing style

if you don't mind taking a few minutes to type :-)

[Bette Noir]

4. Rep. Clyburn always strikes me as a man of great intelligence and dignity.

It's nice to learn that he can also handle a dagger when he needs to.

[alsame]

5. The Senate doesn't even pretend to represent the people anymore. nt

[Mari333]

6. sociopathic bastards.

guillotine.

[valerief]

22. +14 trillion

[DavidDvorkin]

7. The difference is that the House of Lords might yet be reformed

and made less aristocratic and removed from the populace.

[Spider Jerusalem]

26. Hereditary peers have been stripped of the right to sit in the Lords.

There are still hereditary peers in the Lords, but not anywhere near as many. The Lords is still appointed and not elected, but there are good arguments in favour of this rather than an elected upper house (for instance, there are many 'cross-benchers' in the Lords who are independent of the party in Government and the official opposition, being neither Labour nor Tory but having been appointed for their expertise in particular fields). The House of Lords operates as a revising body, making changes to bills from the Commons; however, following from the constitutional crisis over Lloyd George's 'People's Budget' in 1910-1911, the Lords no longer has the authority to stop bills from being passed out of the Commons. (Since the 1911 Reform Act, the Lords may delay but not stop legislation.) The US Senate model clearly isn't working out so well.

[DavidDvorkin]

30. Thanks

I vaguely remembered that there had already been some major reforms, but I couldn't remember what they were.

[mascarax]

8. Good for Rep. Clyburn!

It's gotta be really frustrating to try to deal with the Senate when you're in the House (and actually trying to *represent* people!).

[SlingBlade]

10. TRUE......... K & R

[GardenerMarie]

11. No wonder - they never leave

Well when they stay till they die; what do you expect? The average age is much much older than the populace, how can they possibly know what Americans want or need? No more 32 year year careers!

[No Elephants]

16. Kennedy died a Senator at age 77 after serving something like 44 years.

He stayed very much in touch.

Kennedy had a brain and a heart, not just a wallet.

[jaysunb]

18. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[No Elephants]

27. I think you meant to reply to #11?

[bemildred]

12. This is exciting.

The very thought of the House and the Senate getting in a pissing contest cheers me up.

[Faygo Kid]

13. Very highly placed political person I know would agree.

She noted that while there are champions in the House for the "little guy," the poor, the elderly, and other groups desperately in need of help, there really aren't any in the Senate; the Dems are all corporatists, too.

I suppose Bernie Sanders gets a pass, though.

[rateyes]

14. They think they are the House of Lords. In reality they are the House of

Loons.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Except that if they really were the House of Lords, they'd have far less power!

[No Elephants]

17. I don't trust The Hill. Just sayin'.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[Proletariatprincess]

20. Oh wow. Clyburn is so right on.

I have been saying for years that the Senate should be abolished altogether. It is indeed like the House of Lords but at least the Brits have a parliamentary system to keep them in line. The US Government is totally dysfunctional now and the Senate is the main obstacle to getting anything done for the good of the country.
Remember that the Senate was formed by the Founding Fathers as kind of an undemocratic bribe to keep the southern states in the Union. How do we think that worked out???

[scarabus]

21. Yeah. House of Lords=irrelevant

The senate has become totally obstructionist on the Republican side, and totally wussy on the Democratic side. In other words? Totally ineffectual. Let's alter the constitution to allow them to posture and preen and speechify and do talk shows -- but not to participate in any meaningful way in the legislative process.

Hey, I understand the theoretical value of separating a body that stands for election every two years, and one that stands only every six. But do senators really have freedom to do what's right rather than what's politically expedient in the short term? Yeah. Right. Every senator is preoccupied with raising corporate money and simultaneously currying support from the least common denominator among his or her constituents from day one of her or his tenure.

Regardless of all that, unless the senate revises its rules about threatened filibusters and secret "holds," then it will remain the proverbial "pimple on the ass of progress": part of every problem and of no solution.

[Odin2005]

23. YOU GO Congressman!

[moondust]

24. delete

[burning rain]

25. WIN!

The Senate is where good ideas go to die.

[Vidar]

28. He's got that right.

[Duke Newcombe]

29. Mr. Majority "Whipped" Clyburn...

he has no place throwing stones, with his pitiful performance...

[JBoy]

31. Pardon me Senator, do you have any Grey Poupon?