Back-room dealing a Capitol trend

[MSgt213]

WASHINGTON -- Dismayed that the technology company Accenture had located its headquarters in Bermuda, thereby avoiding paying hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxes, the House Appropriations Committee voted 35-17 this summer to strip the firm of a $10 billion Homeland Security contract.

It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement and an important victory for those who decry corporate tax loopholes. But it didn't last long. The Rules Committee, the all-powerful gatekeeper of the Republican leadership, prevented the measure from reaching the House floor. In a further show of its power to pick and choose what the full House can vote on, the Rules Committee allowed the House to vote on a ban on future Homeland Security contracts to overseas companies -- but let the $10 billion flow to Accenture, which spent $2 million last year lobbying the government.

The Accenture episode is emblematic of the way business is conducted in the 108th Congress, where a Republican leadership has sidelined legislation unwanted by the Bush administration, even when a majority of the House seemed ready to approve it, according to lawmakers, lobbyists, and an analysis of House activities. With one party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, and having little fear of retaliation by the opposing party, the House leadership is changing the way laws are made in America, favoring secrecy and speed over open debate and negotiation. Longstanding rules and practices are ignored. Committees more often meet in secret. Members are less able to make changes to legislation on the House floor. Bills come up for votes so quickly that elected officials frequently don't know what's in them. And there is less time to discuss proposed laws before they come up for a vote.

"There is no legislative process anymore," said Fred Wertheimer, the legendary open-government activist who has been monitoring Congress since 1963. "Bills are decided in advance of going to the floor."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/03/back_room_dealing_a_capitol_trend?pg=full

[teryang]

1. The secret clause to open American tax records to members

...of Congress. How did that get in the intel bill? Gee, nobody knows. How'd that happen. It must have been a mistake.

Anyone see Kay Bailey Hutchinson lying about this on TV yesterday.

"Well, I have no idea. We've got to find out who did this!"

[No Mandate Here.]

2. Check out Talking Points Memo this morning...

Josh is beginning a good discussion about this.

<http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/>

"Congressional conference committees, charged with reconciling differences between House- and Senate-passed versions of the same legislation, have become dramatically more powerful in shaping bills. The panels, made up of a small group of lawmakers appointed by leaders in both parties, added a record 3,407 "pork barrel" projects to appropriations bills for this year's federal budget, items that were never debated or voted on beforehand by the House and Senate and whose congressional patrons are kept secret. This compares to just 47 projects added in conference committee in 1994, the last year of Democratic control.

...

Lawmakers say they are still finding items in the Medicare package that passed last winter that they find objectionable, such as the financial penalty on seniors who wait to sign up for the Medicare prescription drug plan.

"There was no way that every member of Congress could hold up their right hand and say, `I read every page of that bill before the vote,' " said Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, noting that members had just one day to examine the 400-plus-page bill before voting on a law that would change health-care allotments across the country."

He is citing the Boston Globe article.

Transparency in media helps transparency in government. This system is broken and must be fixed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. This is a failure of Due Process.

Isn't there a rule regarding due process that the Dems can exercise?

[Mari333]

3. All the power in the hands of a few , democracy is dead.

Welcome to Amerikkka. Totalitarian assholes.
(but gay people cant get married!)

[The Zanti Regent]

4. Wow, it's more like the Supreme Soviet every day!

and Norquist runs the Politburo....

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Not just in the 108th Congress.

It happens all over the place. This kind of crap is in my backyard and I live with it everyday. My neighbor, who has a job which easily gives him exposure to the top honchos in the Florida government tried to pull a fast one when it came to developing his property. I called him on it. Never mind how. But I looked up the political contributions in this city just to be sure and wouldn't you know it? He had contributed money to at least one of the elected officials. If I hadn't taken time to understand my rights, I would have been railroaded.

That's how the good white people operate on a NORMAL basis. If you think it qualifies as criminal behavior, then take the focus of our criminal justice system off urban areas, and direct it at the burbs where it belongs.

[Unstuck In Time]

7. As a temporary fix, at least, our Senators and Congress members...

... need to ABSTAIN from voting on measures they haven't had time to review.

There's no shame in that. Just say it out loud: "I'm not going to vote on a bill I -- and my staff -- haven't been given time to read."

I'm not brimming with optimism, though. Apparently there are plenty of would-be Democrats falling all over themselves to appear "bi-partisan," as if you can work cooperatively with someone who wants to destroy you.