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Let the Games Continue!
Author: Raine    Date: 01/03/2011 13:47:10

Happy New year to one and all. Today we begin the 112th congress -- with a very unhappy Tea Party. What is surprising is who they are unhappy with this time. From the NYT
As Tea Party politicians prepare to take their seats when the 112th Congress convenes this week, they are already taking issue with Republicans for failing to hold the line against the flurry of legislation enacted in the waning weeks of Democratic control of the House of Representatives and for not giving some candidates backed by Tea Party groups powerful leadership positions.

Just a month ago, Tea Party leaders were celebrating their movement’s victories in the midterm elections. But as Congress wrapped up an unusually productive lame-duck session last month, those same Tea Party leaders were lamenting that Washington behaved as if it barely noticed that American voters had repudiated the political establishment.
So, as the new years begins, we see the division continue with the tea party movement. It's not surprising, but it is going to be quite interesting to watch. John Boehner get to dance a very fine line during the next 2 years placating the corporate GOP establishment and the so-called tea Party activists. I predict it to be nearly impossible.

In the mean time, While the Tea Party claims they upset the power structure in Washington, many of their elected saviours have already gone on to ignore the very mandate they were asked to represent. They're hiring lobbyists as staff members:
Ron Johnson accused Democratic incumbent Russell Feingold (D) of being "on the side of special interests and lobbyists." [...]

But after defeating Feingold, Johnson himself has turned to K Street for help - hiring homeland security lobbyist Donald H. Kent Jr. as his chief of staff.

Johnson is not alone: Many incoming GOP lawmakers have hired registered lobbyists as senior aides. Several of the candidates won with strong support from the anti-establishment tea party movement. [...]

Sen.-elect Mike Lee (Utah) has announced that energy lobbyist Spencer Stokes will be his chief of staff. Tea party favorite Rand Paul (Ky.) has hired anti-union lobbyist Douglas Stafford as his top senatorial aide.

In the House, Rep.-elect Charlie Bass (N.H.) has named food industry lobbyist John W. Billings as his chief of staff. Billings was a senior aide to Bass during an earlier stint on Capitol Hill.

Rep.-elect Chip Cravaack (Minn.) has hired former U.S. senator and former lobbyist Rod Grams as his interim chief of staff, though aides have said the posting is probably not permanent. Grams's lobbying clients from 2002 to 2006 included 3M, Norfolk Southern and the Financial Services Roundtable, records show.

Other incoming GOP lawmakers who have recruited staff from K Street include Robert Dold (Ill.), Steve Pearce (N.M.) and Jeff Denham (Calif.). John Goodwin of the National Rifle Association, one of Washington's most powerful lobbying groups, has signed on as chief of staff for Rep.-elect Raul Labrador (Idaho).
So much for that change they demanded. Perhaps the Tea Party could actually think about demanding election reform, because in all reality, as we usher in a new congress, it appears that within the GOP any change we see with be political theatre, such as reading the Constitution:
When Republicans take over the House next week, they will do something that apparently has never been done before in the chamber's 221-year history:

They will read the Constitution aloud.

And then they will require that every new bill contain a statement by the lawmaker who wrote it citing the constitutional authority to enact the proposed legislation.
Even that seems to have made a few Tea Party folk unhappy, despite that this is what they wanted:
"I think it's entirely cosmetic," said Kevin Gutzman, a history professor at Western Connecticut State University who said he is a conservative libertarian and sympathizes with the tea party.

"This is the way the establishment handles grass-roots movements," he added. "They humor people who are not expert or not fully cognizant. And then once they've humored them and those people go away, it's right back to business as usual. It looks like this will be business as usual - except for the half-hour or however long it takes to read the Constitution out loud."
Not all rules changes are cosmetic. Among the new rules under a GOP house are:

Ethics:
The package also carries forth a rule that prohibits former members of Congress who are now registered lobbyists from using the member exercise facilities (the gym).

Budget reform:
While just a couple of weeks ago Republicans adopted a conference rules to place suspension bills under “cut-go” rules, the new House rules expand “cut-go” to all bills dealing with mandatory spending.

Highway funding, with some exceptions, will now be treated as other general spending and therefore be subject to any member attempt to reduce the spending.

Additional reforms:
The Committee on Education and Labor will again be referred to as the Committee on Education and the Workforce
The Committee on Standards and Official Conduct will simply be referred to as the Committee on Ethics
The Committee on Science and Technology will referred to as the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

I don't understand how most of these rules do anything more than to further obstruct the way they run government. With the impending debt ceiling debate coming I don't hold out much hope for things to get better with this crew. A wise person once said, "Watch what you ask for, you might get it" and I think that is exactly what is going to happen. Until we get true election reform, some things will always stay the same; that is something the Tea Party refuses to see through their misplaced anger.

We still have the Senate and a President with veto power. The Tea Party has a ceremonial bull horn. Establishment GOPs are owned by corporations. Let the games continue! Happy New Year!

and
Raine

 

30 comments (Latest Comment: 01/04/2011 00:23:24 by livingonli)
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