Wait a minute...the Super Congress is UNELECTED???

[LaydeeBug]

WOW. just wow.

[Bluebear]

1. Change!

[hfojvt]

2. Is that what they said? Are they gonna put Jessica Simpson on it again?

Or Newt Gingrich? Rudy in disguise, with glasses?

[peace frog]

23. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie

or any of the skanks from the reality shows. Yeh buddy, let's get some T&A action on that panel!11! :crazy:

[elleng]

3. It is not a CONGRESS, it is a committee,

members elected to House and Senate and appointed to temporary committee by Leaders. Really nothing new here.

[The Magistrate]

4. Ma'am: This Is A Joint Committee

Like all Congressional committees. it is peopled with members of Congress selected by their caucus leadership.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Can you name any other such committees to have triggers and

a no debate up or down vote requirement? Particularly any which involved such incredibly important issues? Please elucidate.

[dsc]

9. closest was the base closing commission

though it required more than a majority to make its recommendations.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. BRAC

[Bluenorthwest]

16. That's the closest one I could think of.

It is rare and being framed as every day business.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. I can. That was the mandate of the Catfood Commission.

part of the mandate was to suggest legislation which then would have no debate and would have an up or down vote.
I remember particularly fuming about that part of it.

[Davis_X_Machina]

20. Every time the budget is passed by reconciliation...

...you have a process with no amendments allowed, strictly limited floor debate, and no chance of a filibuster.

Otherwise PPACA would never have passed.

[LaydeeBug]

10. since when do joint committees have this much power? This is bullshit!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Once again BRAC, it is the most recent one

I don't like it, but there is more than just PRECEDENT.

The Congress can make it's own rules... alas this is exactly that.

[The Magistrate]

19. Bullshit It May Be, Ma'am, But it Is Nothing Much Out of the Usual

The 'triggers' are things that have already been passed, to go into effect at a later date, but which may be superseded by the recommendations of this joint committee, presented by a certain date. The chambers can set their own rules for debate, and are well within their power to declare an exceptional procedure: if both party caucuses agree, it would be a pointless formality to go through the procedure of calling the roll; indeed, the margins of passage for this bill shows the requisite votes for such a rule change are in hand.

[eShirl]

5. I just lost a few IQ points reading this.

[SoCalDem]

7. Technically they "are" elected....to the senate

and then the "leaders" "appoint" them to the soooper-doooper-special committee where they will while away the hours arguing with intransigents and arriving at a perpetual tie..

a better solution might have been to send out random "invitations" like publisher's clearing house, or to randomly "tag" people leaving a mall..

I think better results could be achieved .

MOST people know that rich people are getting a free ride
We spend to much on wars
We waste too much on military junk that's not needed
Oil companies do not need subsidies
McDonalds does not need grants/subsidies
Corporate farms do not need subsidies

etc
etc
etc

[Samantha]

24. I thought they come equally between the House and the Senate

6 from each. Nancy Pelosi made a statement that her appointments (her words) would be Dems that would protect entitlements.

[SoCalDem]

28. well then., 3 + 3 + 3 +3..still elected to senate & house

I have pretty much tuned out of the nonsense lately.:)

[Samantha]

30. Lucky you, as hard as I tried, I could not (n/t)

[SoCalDem]

31. I would watch a while , get mad & then find something else to d

I made it to episode 4 of the Borgias & caught up on Weeds:)..and bought some stuff on ebay:)

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Hardly. And the term "Super Congress" is a cynical fiction.

[Davis_X_Machina]

21. Thank one PuffHo stringer...

....who earned his wings with that one. I'm sure if you listened carefully you could have heard a little bell.

[Cool Logic]

11. Really...? How the hell did that happen?

Did they repeal the 17th Amendment and forget that it pertained to the Senate and not the House?

The guys and gals in DC must have been distracted by the debt ceiling debate.

[lumpy]

12. Thank you guys for doing your part to educate people here

who could do with a little more education about the working of our government.

[joshcryer]

17. Nice.

:thumbsup:

Haven't had a laugh that hard in awhile. :)

[Nye Bevan]

18. Wait a minute...the Secretary of the Treasury is UNELECTED???

WOW.

And the Secretary of Defense is UNELECTED???

Double WOW.

[DevonRex]

22. ...

:rofl:

Unfuckingbelievable. You do know that members of the Senate and House are elected, right?

[bluestate10]

25. Every one of the people that will selected ARE elected. Please stop the distortions. nt

[Shandris]

26. I think there's a good chance that the Commission will be a foregone conclusion...

...PROVIDED Obama sticks to requiring revenue raises. If he doesn't, then it's anyone's ballgame. But one of the Rethug leaders, McConnell I think (sorry, I was half asleep at the time) specifically said they would send NO ONE who would back a revenue raise. PERIOD.

[scheming daemons]

27. Wow... did someone in DU give out FAIL pills today?

[blkmusclmachine]

29. Democracy: It's too damn much work anymore.

n/t