Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Minority Senate leader Mitch McConnel have introduced legislation to create a "Super Congress'. The idea is that a "super committee" will be formed to iron out legislation. The 12 member panel would consist of 6 lawmakers from the Senate and House and from each party. Then once it was passed by the super committee, it would be fast tracked through both the House and Senate without a chance to amend the legislation with the only option of a thumbs up or down vote.
I heard about it Sunday. The representatives need representatives. It's like they're admitting that they are incompetent to do the job they were elected to do.
Realistically, they're trying to weasel out of their radical demands while saving face.
A silly idea. What the US needs is to abolish the supermajority requirement in the Senate and move towards full proportional representation in the House.
The article is two weeks old and its provisions were rendered moot by the debt ceiling compromise. Moreover, it applies ONLY to that issue and isn't a "Super Congress" for everything as whodey ignorantly implies.
Originally posted by no1marauder The article is two weeks old and its provisions were rendered moot by the debt ceiling compromise. Moreover, it applies ONLY to that issue and isn't a "Super Congress" for everything as whodey ignorantly implies.
I heard about it last Sunday. So it didn't happen. Good.
Originally posted by AThousandYoung I heard about it last Sunday. So it didn't happen. Good.
Actually it did kinda happen. And it's a decent idea under these circumstances:
Under the deal President Obama signed on Tuesday, the top four Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress will each appoint three members to a special committee that must recommend by November 23 at least $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction through 2021. If a majority of committee members endorse a proposal, that plan is guaranteed a floor vote in both chambers by December 23 without amendment or Senate filibuster.
Those rules provide this group with vastly more leverage to stabilize the nation’s finances than any previous commission has possessed. The procedures effectively preempt a minority veto—either through the Senate filibuster or the informal House rule that legislation reaches the floor only if a “majority of the majority” party supports it. Because a majority proposal from the committee could be passed with any combination of Republican and Democratic votes, it provides a unique opportunity for the center of both parties to impose a balanced solution on the ideological vanguard of left and right.
Originally posted by no1marauder Actually it did kinda happen. And it's a decent idea under these circumstances:
Under the deal President Obama signed on Tuesday, the top four Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress will each appoint three members to a special committee that must recommend by November 23 at least $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction thro ...[text shortened]... s/political-connections/bold-is-beautiful-the-super-committee-offers-a-glimmer-of-hope-20110804
Threatenging the purse strings of the statist this go round was perhaps one of the most frightening events they had encountered for some time. Naturally, they propose new legislation to bypass this threat. With Rhino's like Boehner and McConnel at the helm, the country is almost gauranteed to never vote for a balanced budget.
Originally posted by whodey http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/23/super-congress-debt-ceiling_n_907887.html
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Minority Senate leader Mitch McConnel have introduced legislation to create a "Super Congress'. The idea is that a "super committee" will be formed to iron out legislation. The 12 member panel would consist of 6 lawmakers from the Sena ...[text shortened]... ance to amend the legislation with the only option of a thumbs up or down vote.
Discuss!!
It sounds like another effort to bypass the requirements of the Constitution, as well as the responsibility and oath of office they swore to.
Originally posted by KazetNagorra A silly idea. What the US needs is to abolish the supermajority requirement in the Senate and move towards full proportional representation in the House.
I'm glad James Madison, wrote much of the Constitution, not you. The provisions you don't like serve well for a variety of reasons. Democracy is as dangerous as tyranical dictatorship.
Originally posted by no1marauder The article is two weeks old and its provisions were rendered moot by the debt ceiling compromise. Moreover, it applies ONLY to that issue and isn't a "Super Congress" for everything as whodey ignorantly implies.
It applies to the cutting provisions in the agreement, most of which will never happen.
Originally posted by normbenign It sounds like another effort to bypass the requirements of the Constitution, as well as the responsibility and oath of office they swore to.
Kind of like "Reconciliation" to pass Obamacare. It was the ONLY way.
Originally posted by AThousandYoung It's like they're admitting that they are incompetent to do the job they were elected to do.
That's exactly why the committee was created. And frankly I'm glad Congress has the guts to admit as much, if only implicitly.
Watching Meet the Press this morning, I heard a couple of interesting observations (and speculations) about the super-committee. First was Alan Greenspan's lamentation that the great irony of this situation is that this super-committee will most likely propose something along the lines of the recommendations the Bowles-Simpson committee made last year. The second was Rachel Maddow's comment (I haven't heard this from any other sources, yet) that the Republican leadership has apparently already commanded any potential appointments to the committee that they are under no circumstances whatsoever to consider any sort of tax revenue increases in the final deal. Granted, I wouldn't be surprised if the Democratic leadership is pressuring its potential nominees to take similar hardline stances on entitlement spending, but considering that Obama has encouraged consideration of entitlement reform in recent weeks, I anticipate that once again, Democrats will compromise more to the right than will Republicans to the left.
As far as I understand the guidelines, the committee's proposals are recommended with a simple majority; I personally wonder whether the compromise bill should have specified a supermajority threshhold to increase the chances of passage through all branches and subbranches of government.
Super Congress?
07 Aug '11 20:30
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