I thought President Obama was supposed to bring about a new era of bipartisianship and harmony in Washington, DC. Instead, we are seeing some of the greatest abuses in Congressional history.
It is kind of difficult to keep track of how Congress is ignoring the legislative process to get a wildly unpopular health care bill enacted.
Here are the latest tactics:
Since the House Democrats can’t garner enough support from their own party to pass the Senate health care bill, they will play a game by having House members vote on a bill amending the Senate bill but not the actual underlying Senate bill. Through a legislative rule though, they will deem support for the amendments bill to be support for the Senate bill.
Got that?
This attempt to get a bill out of Congress without both the House and Senate voting on the same exact bill could pose serious constitutional problems. Generally, Congress has almost unlimited power when it comes to how they want to set up their rules. However, this may cross the line because Article 1, Section 7 of the United States Constitution says that a bill has to pass both chambers.
There’s a term used in political science called “legitimacy.” Why is it that Americans citizens generally respect the law and even though we may not be happy about election results, the country makes smooth transitions when there is a change of power? Because the people accept that the government is conducting its affairs in a constitutional and democratic manner. When there is legitimacy, the citizens accept the government and its actions because the “rules of the game” are fair.
However, when the government ignores the constitution, fundamental democratic principles, and individual rights, it greatly undermines the legitimacy of the government, especially when the government is taking action that most people believe will cause great harm to their lives (i.e. the health care bill). Many people will just not recognize the actions of government when it comes to health care, as John Hood says he won’t do in his column “I Will Not Comply.”
Here are a couple of additional resources on these House games:
Wall Street Journal op-ed
Heritage Foundation discussion on the issue