RSS Feed MenuThe behavior of the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats defies all logic – except the most cynical political explanations. All one hears about is the great rush to pass their agenda. Why?
Let’s look at the record. By now, everyone is familiar with the track record on the stimulus legislation. It was done fast, and poorly. Global warming legislation was on a similar track, having been rammed through the House even though Republicans were not granted the ability to even see a complete copy of the final bill before the floor vote. Fortunately, the Senate has laid down the law and there will be no forced march before August.
On health care reform, the House Committee on Ways and Means markup went until the wee hours of the morning. The House Education and Labor markup went until dawn last Friday. In the aftermath, the Congressional Budget Office rushed out their estimate of the bill on Friday night about 9 pm. The only catch was that the CBO had to use health insurance provisions that were based on staff descriptions of the bill and not the actual legislative text. So, the Committees marked up the bill without knowing what it actually costs and we still don’t know what it costs.
The cost matters because the budget outlook is disastrous. (As an aside, the only event not being rushed is the Mid-Session Review of the Budget. It was officially due on a July 15th deadline, but the administration evidently has no desire to display the looming disaster. While every administration has missed the deadline at some point, the contrast to the remainder of the Obama agenda is striking.) Which brings us to the administration’s proposed bill on PAYGO.
PAYGO is a budgetary process that Democrats have advocated for years and some Republicans support. The administration’s bill is far from perfect (see my testimony on the bill here), but that could easily be fixed during the deliberations of the Budget committees in the House and Senate. Why, then, did the Democrats bypass the committee process entirely and take the bill straight to the floor?
It cannot be in the interest of good governance. As Ranking Member Paul Ryan said in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
….distribution of authority among Congress’ committees is one of the vital safeguards against the concentration of power that is always hazardous, regardless of political philosophy. The House has seen an increasing and disturbing trend of rushing legislation straight to the floor, increasingly under limited rules for amendments. Serious deliberation in a transparent manner is the lifeblood of our legislative process; denying it diminishes a great strength of our democratic form of government. We are lawmakers and this trend diminishes our ability to fashion laws.” (see the complete letter here.)
So what is going on that includes even something so esoteric as the details of PAYGO legislation?
Clearly the Obama Administration wants to ram its agenda through and ignore the due diligence, deliberative traditions, and process that only the inside the beltway crowd knows. They are counting on being able to say “we passed ____ (fill in the blank) legislation and addressed the pressing problems of America” even if the latter part does not pass any sort of substantive scrutiny. And, they think they can get away with it.
Every administration begins with this sort of arrogance – the Obama example is unique only in its degree. But in the process, the administration usually offends those that it ultimately needs to govern effectively and learns its lesson. When will this one?
ottovbvs // Jul 21, 2009 at 4:10 pm
……The stimulus bill was done fast and poorly……so why is the economy on the mend……why are all the indicators showing improvement……..and all this is from a guy who was a leading economic advisor to an administration that ran the economy over a cliff……….. and that passed the Terri Schiavo bill in 48 hours…….now that was unique in its degree!
sinz54 // Jul 21, 2009 at 8:05 pm
ottovbvs: The economy began to mend once it became clear that the credit markets were not going to seize up, and that the financial sector had bottomed.
And that was due to TARP and the various actions of the Fed.
Logically, the “stimulus” bill could NOT have had anything to do with reviving a $10 trillion economy, because only one-tenth of the “stimulus” money was spent this fiscal year.
The fact that the vast bulk of the stimulus bill is intended to be spent in future years, tells you how much of a scam it truly was. It wasn’t stimulus. It was pork to reward various Democratic constituencies, and the usual gang of well-connected Washington parasites.
sinz54 // Jul 21, 2009 at 8:07 pm
The launch window for health care is closing.
The latest polls released today show that support for Obama on health care has reached yet another low.
Obama is trying hard to pass the bill before he and the Dems have to do any more defending of the bill before an increasingly skeptical public.
Conversely, it’s in the GOP’s interest to drag the debate out as long as possible. Drag it out till the fall, and all those Blue Dog Dems will start getting nervous about having to defend a doctrinaire liberal bill before their center-right constituencies.
barker13 // Jul 21, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Re: Sinz54 // Jul 21, 2009 at 8:05 pm –
“The economy began to mend…”
When…?!!? Where…?!?! How…?!?!
Sinz… what are you TALKING about…???
BILL
ottovbvs // Jul 22, 2009 at 8:20 am
sinz54 // Jul 21, 2009 at 8:05 pm
ottovbvs: The economy began to mend once it became clear that the credit markets were not going to seize up, and that the financial sector had bottomed.
And that was due to TARP and the various actions of the Fed.
………………Of course stabilizing the financial sector is a major part of repairing the economic damage because it affects confidence and credit (again I’ve heard you and other conservatives here constantly criticisng TARP) ……but there’s also the real economy where it was necessary to prop up demand which is what Bush did, ineffectually, with his tax rebates in the summer of 08 and the stimulus has done this year and next……..do you seriously believe these are all discrete blocks that have no relationship to each other?……….Once again to try and correct your ignorance I’ll explain what the stimulus bill consists of and why it’s working…….In round terms it’s about 800 billion divided up into three broad areas: immediate tax cuts and rebates worth roughly $270 billion to prop up consumer spending which accounts for 70% of GDP(they’ve essentially worked as three months of rising retail numbes show); aid to the states worth $160 billion to try and restrict layoffs (it’s substantially reduced state layoffs); the balance of roughly 350 to fund major and minor public programs of everything from home insulation to highway construction which will unfold over the second half of this year and next to assist in creating job growth( no doubt in the next breath you’ll be screaming about this). 75% of the entire stimulus money will be spent by the end of next year!! It a slow release program a bit like that pre-emergent chemical they put on lawns to prevent grabgrass……Why don’t you familiarise yourself with the facts instead of parroting crabgrass like opinions
ottovbvs // Jul 22, 2009 at 8:25 am
sinz54 // Jul 21, 2009 at 8:07 pm
“The launch window for health care is closing.”
………If wishes were horses, beggars would ride……..
‘all those Blue Dog Dems will start getting nervous about having to defend a doctrinaire liberal bill before their center-right constituencies.”
……….And if Obama’s reputation goes in the tank it’s going to help all these guys get re-elected is it…..Much more than the bulk of the Democratic party their electoral prospects depend on the president’s perceived success or failure