Dems rip proposed rule giving new power to GOP Budget chairman

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: The Hill

A proposed House rule granting new powers to the GOP chairman of the Budget Committee has sparked outrage from Democrats.

The proposed rule would allow the Budget Committee chairman to set spending ceilings for 2011 without a vote by the full House. By approving the rules package, the House would give authority to the new Budget panel chairman to set budget ceilings at a later time and his decision would not be subject to an up-or-down vote on the floor.

In practice, this would give power to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the panel, to impose deep spending cuts since spending bills cannot exceed the budget ceiling for the 2011 fiscal year.

The House is set to vote on the rule soon after it convenes on Jan. 5.

Democrats argue the provision would give unilateral power to Ryan and flies in the face of GOP promises of transparency.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/135451-budget-skirmish-starts-over-ryan-rule?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d1d2c411d9552a5,0

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Ah the power tripping starts folks... and yes Ryan is all hot for defunding many a federal program...

It will get ugly, but we knew that.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Shine the sun on this ugly proposal...

And then everyone will see what the Republicans are trying to do.

They will be stopped!

Recommended...

[Tx4obama]

2. K & R n/t

[dpbrown]

3. But the Democrats in power can't play hardball?

Why did we get stuck with the spineless ones?

[savalez]

4. huh?

[eleny]

5. Once again the Repukes gain power and shoot for the moon immediately

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Same as 2001 - they play hardball, we play fair.

We get creamed.

[bluestate10]

9. They also play the sound bite game better.

Democrats are going to have to fight back many loony proposals. If they fail to capitalize on the sound bite opportunities, shame on them and shame on us for electing them to represent us. Wacko republican rule in the House could be the straw that broke the backs of republicans and eliminates that party if democrats play the game tough and smart.

[toddwv]

7. What the hell...

"Republicans argue allowing the Budget chairman to set spending ceilings is necessary because of the failure of the last Congress to approve a budget last year. "

So the Republican do everything they can to block and hold up the budget just so that they can play shady games like this...

I don't see how anyone with 1/2 a brain would see this as a good idea or even consider it remotely Constitutional. Oh wait, I just answered my own question.

[neverforget]

8. Republicans sure love concentrated power....as long as they have the power

[bluestate10]

11. That is EXACTLY why democrats must make the proposal as public as possible.

Put it in stark contrast to what republicans were saying when they were in the minority. Republicans want to effectively render elections mute by putting all decision power into the hands on one republican elected from a safe seat, that is a dictatorial urge.

[Fearless]

10. Shouldn't we be "compromising" yet?

:banghead:

[freshwest]

12. Great, they give more power to a Randian:

From The Washington Monthly:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead." ...

At the Rand celebration he spoke at in 2005, Ryan invoked the central theme of Rand's writings when he told his audience that, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ...is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism."

The core of the Randian worldview, as absorbed by the modern GOP, is a belief that the natural market distribution of income is inherently moral, and the central struggle of politics is to free the successful from having the fruits of their superiority redistributed by looters and moochers...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/027294.php

My suggestion was that we send the Washington Monthly and the other these articles and books to Democratic lawmakers and see if they will oppose this philosophy:

Ayn Rand, Hugely Popular Author and Inspiration to Right-Wing Leaders, Was a Big Admirer of Serial Killer:

http://www.alternet.org/books/145819/ayn_rand,_hugely_p...

'Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work' -- Thom Hartmann's Independent Thinker Review:

http://blog.buzzflash.com/hartmann/039

If they have any doubt in their minds what the Tea Party is up to and how hard they have to fight, they need to know it now. We need to support those who oppose this view of humanity.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Of course, but those views are mainstream now in the GOP.

This is not your grand father's GOP.

[freshwest]

15. Most definitely not my grandfather or my father's anything.

[TexasObserver]

14. recommend

[eomer]

16. Could Democrats counter this in the Senate?

I don't know how this works. Could the Senate pass some rule that collides with this House rule and force Republicans to back off? Or could they pass a Senate rule that is just as egregious, allow both the House rule and Senate rule to go into effect and have a similar lever in the Senate?

For example, could Democrats in the Senate change the rules to require 67 votes to pass any bill that comes through the new House process?

BTW, I used "could" instead of "can" because of course Democrats would never actually do such a thing. Just like they didn't use the budget reconciliation process during the 2009/2010 Congress nearly as much as they could have. So my interest is just academic I guess, or perhaps just so I know the details of how the Democrats play their part in the Kabuki theater that they want us to believe is democracy.

[Name removed]

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