Saturday, October 28, 2017

Congress Continues to Work in Secret

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Vampires and maggots do their best work in the dark, and apparently so do Republican legislators.  Neither the United States Senate nor the House of Representatives can seem to produce legislation in the bright light of day.  And while Congress might have been open to public input back in the time when Eisenhower was in the White House, nowadays senators and representatives waste no time on the concerns of the little guy.   The current process revolves around gathering money and advice from the army of lobbyists who run Capitol Hill, writing a bill in complete secrecy, and then trotting it out for a quick vote before public interest groups have time to digest the proposal and organize any effective opposition.

The recent Republican attempts to dismantle Obamacare illustrate the point and the process.  The amount of secrecy and subterfuge involved in that bit of criminal chicanery hadn't been seen around Washington, DC, in a  half century or more - at least since the Manhattan Project.   While the House fosters little humanity on the GOP side of the aisle, the Senate did stop the madness through the courage of a couple of GOP members with Christian tendencies and a wrathful John McCain.

Now Obamacare appears to be on the shelf, at least temporarily, while Congress shifts its focus to lowering taxes for the richest Americans and in the process cuts services - and benefits - to the poorest segments of the population.  And while this redistribution of wealth probably seems fair to rich freeloaders, the people who actually have to work to fund the government are not going to see it that way - especially if there is some debate and illumination on the subject.

So once again the GOP members of Congress are drafting a pivotal piece of legislation, one which will go a long way toward gutting of compassion and fairness in America,  and they are committing this crime against humanity in the darkest recesses of the Capitol.  Sometime next week Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, will let the members of that tax-writing body, see the product that he and his staff - and an army of self-serving lobbyists, have crafted in total secrecy.  It will be quickly applauded and passed on to the full House which will likely rubber stamp the effort - and then it will go on to the Senate.

America must hope that all of the Democratic senators stand firm against he lobbyist swarm that will be running amuck in the Capitol slinging cash like drug-addled ATMs - and that Collins, Murkowski, and maybe even Rand Paul put serving the public above service to the greed of the billionaire class and the nation's corporate overlords.

And America must also hope that John McCain is still pissed off.

Give 'em hell, Johnny Mac!

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