Energy and Commerce worked until midnight last night, and will reconvene at 10am this morning. They are expected to finish their health care markup sometime this afternoon.
Last night’s most heated debates in E&C revolved around publicly-funded abortions. Lois Capps was able to pass an amendment permitting the Democrats’ government plan to cover elective abortions. Reps. Pitts and Stupak followed that up with an amendment of their own, prohibiting abortions from being covered under the government plan. That amendment passed. Finally, Chairman Waxman reconsidered the vote–switched Bart Gordon’s vote–and defeated the amendment. The result of all of this dizzying maneuvering? Taxpayer-funded abortions are indeed covered by the Democrats’ bill.
President Obama’s czars leave more questions than answers
In its day, czarist Russia had just 18 czars in 300 years. In just seven months, President Obama has nearly doubled that number. At this rate, we’ll have 272 czars by 2012.
Who are these people and why are they necessary? Why do we need an Energy Czar and a Secretary of Energy? Why do we need a TARP Czar and a Secretary of Treasury? Why was a 31 year old with no background in the auto industry and who drives a foreign car appointed as the Auto Recovery Czar? What qualifies a college professor to set executive salaries?
We don’t know the answers to these questions because unlike cabinet secretaries, judges, and hundreds of other presidential appointments, these czars have bypassed Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution which mandates the advice and consent of the Senate when the President appoints principle officers.
Apparently President Obama apparently doesn’t remember this. He thought planning a government healthcare takeover would be easier, but it’s not going as smoothly as he would hope.
The President claimed that “special interests” were stalling on healthcare reform. This isn’t true. Now, he’s blaming Republicans. The Hill reports:
“President Obama sharply criticized Republicans on Tuesday for following a ‘familiar script’ to ‘block healthcare reform.’” (The Hill, 7/21/09)
Democrats have a 77 seat majority in the House of Representatives and hold a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. So how can he blame Republicans for stalling when his party controls Congress and the Senate?
Even House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) knows why healthcare has stalled.
“I want to make it very clear that there’s progressives, Blue Dogs and everybody in between who have expressed concerns, and we’re working on that.” (ABC News, 7/21/09)
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) makes it clear that if Americans don’t like a government-takeover of health care, it has only Democrat fingerprints on it – as Republicans weren’t allowed to have any input in the bill.
“In the House of Representatives, meanwhile, we are explicitly told not to work with Republicans.” (Huffington Post, 6/18/09)
Blaming Republicans won’t work. The truth is, the President’s plans for healthcare have stalled because of opposition from Democrats.
President Obama changes course on the stimulus. Where are the jobs? House Republicans offer a real plan to create jobs and get our economy moving again. To view the Obama vs Obama video click here.
In case you missed it, Jack appeared on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss his ongoing efforts to increase transparency and accountability for President Obama’s many czars. To learn more about Jack’s efforts, visit http://kingston.house.gov/czar
In case you missed it, the Savannah Morning News this morning weighed in on Jack’s CZAR Act which would withhold funding from any of President Obama’s czars until they are Senate-confirmed.
If President Obama wants advisers, he should use the ones he has - his cabinet of constitutionally empowered secretaries and department heads, in whom is entrusted the day-to-day responsibility of governance.
He shouldn’t stick taxpayers with the bill for new ones.
The argument in favor of policy czars at the White House is that, by such an appointment, a president may set one person over an important issue and hold them accountable. The problem is, that accountability is largely cosmetic. There’s no set method to hold czars accountable, and no metric to measure their success.
What’s more, while other presidents have chosen a policy issue or two over which to set czars, Mr. Obama’s 34 czars amount to a shadow cabinet whose responsibilities overlap existing federal departments.
In case you missed it, Jack appeared on FOX News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto talking about the introduction of The CZAR Act which would withhold funding from any czar unless they are confirmed by the Senate in accordance with Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
Congressman introduces legislation to require Senate confirmation of czars
WASHINGTON, DC - Since being sworn in, President Obama has appointed as many as 34 czars to oversee and implement a wide array of his agenda ranging from the automobile industry to global warming to the Great Lakes. With a salary of up to $172,000 in addition to staff, office and travel budgets, Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) sees the appointments as a growing problem costing taxpayers millions.
To make matters worse, Kingston says, only a very few of these czars have been confirmed by the United States Senate despite the Constitution’s requirements for Senate confirmation. To address the matter, the Congressman has introduced legislation which would withhold funding from any czar not confirmed by the Senate.
“While the Constitution may be inconvenient to the Administration, Article II, Section 2 clearly requires the ‘advice and consent of the Senate,’” Congressman Kingston said. “Why won’t the President use transparency and have these people come before the Senate and undergo the constitutionally-mandated process? In 300 years, czarist Russia had just 18 czars. It’s taken just seven months for President Obama to nearly double that number.”
We’ve been telling you about Obama’s use of czars to bypass Congress (which even the highest ranks of Democrats oppose). Now, he’s breaking promises on signing statements. From today’s Wall Street Journal:
The House last week reinstated the restrictions on the IMF that were undone by the president’s June signing statement, by a vote of 429-2, in a foreign-operations appropriations bill. In a letter slated for delivery on Wednesday, Mr. Frank, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D., Wis.), and New York Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey and Gregory Meeks will inform the president that if he issues another signing statement on IMF and World Bank funding, Congress will cut off the funds he wants. Mr. Obama needs good relations with congressional Democrats to help pass his agenda on health care, energy and financial-markets regulation. (Full article)
Jack spoke again today on the House floor about the Obama Administration’s use of czars and the lack of transparency or accountability in their actions.
Jack speaks on the House floor about the outrageous spending in Washington and the ever-growing power of czars who influence broad policies without going through the confirmation process outlined in Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.
When President Obama and Speaker Pelosi conducted their sales job on the “stimulus” package, they promised “shovel-ready” projects focusing on transportation and infrastructure.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, as of July 3rd, only 1% ($523 million) of the $48 billion for transportation projects has been spent
The top five states with the worst unemployment rates in the country have recieved only $47 million in transportation stimulus funds (TSF):
Michigan: 14%unemployment - $6.1 million TSF
Oregon: 12.4% unemployment - $3.3 million TSF
South Carolina: 12.1% unemployment - $407,563 TSF
Rhode Island: 12.1% unemployment - $1.9 million TSF
California: 11.5% unemployment - $35.9 million TSF
NOTE: The Obama Administration has spent 3 times more on a website than they have on transportation and infrastructure funding in the state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Michigan.
Less than half (43%) of the $48 billion in transportation funding has been obligated
In case you missed it, Jack appeared on Your World with Neil Cavuto this afternoon to discuss his ongoing efforts to increase transparency in the Obama Administration’s use of czars to implement policies and to bypass the U.S. Congress.
The General Services Administration announced yesterday that the White House’s recovery.gov will get an $18 million face lift. From ABC News’ The Note:
For those concerned about stimulus spending, the General Services Administration sends word tonight that $18 million in additional funds are being spent to redesign the Recovery.gov Web site. (Full Article)
