Paul Ryan's House gets off to crazy start

[JollyRoger]

Two of House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) newly empowered committee chairmen took immediate advantage Thursday of the freshly elected leader's pledge to give power back to committees -- and may have handed him a 9/11-related publicity disaster.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the head of the Energy and Commerce Committee, both announced measures to temporarily extend the expiring 9/11 health and compensation programs.

In the process, they appear to have ignored permanent 9/11 legislation that was already proposed and sponsored by a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and a majority of more than 240 members in the House.

That bill is universally backed by 9/11 responders and advocates, and they were furious the two chairmen decided to ignore a measure that already has enough support to pass. They wanted to make sure Ryan heard that they were not pleased with the first major legislation to be rolled out on the new speaker's watch.

Ryan declared Thursday that he wanted the House to return to so-called regular order, where committees work on legislation before it goes to the House floor. If Goodlatte and Upton take up their only measures, the popular one backed by 9/11 advocates will never reach the floor.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-ryan-committee-chairmen-9-11-responders_56334e28e4b0c66bae5bf417?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

I'm sure the committees are only holding up the bill so they can grill Hillary Clinton for 11 hours over her lack of response to the 2001 attacks.

 

[abradley]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paul-ryan-committee-chairmen-9-11-responders_56334e28e4b0c66bae5bf417?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

I'm sure the committees are only holding up the bill so they can grill Hillary Clinton for 11 hours over her lack of response to the 2001 attacks.

You'd never hear of this with the Dems, they march in lock step to whatever they're told.


Link to video.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

So, is this supposed to be a surprise?

 

[jackelgull]

You'd never hear of this with the Dems, they march in lock step to whatever they're told.

So a party that contains people willing to be a holes to those who suffered during 9/11 are somehow better than one that doesn't contain such people?

 

[FriendlyFire]

No government shutdown for 2 years
Thanks Obama

I was looking forward to at least 5 government shutdowns, but then Boehner had to go and ruin it by passing funding for 2 years.

 

[abradley]

So a party that contains people willing to be a holes to those who suffered during 9/11 are somehow better than one that doesn't contain such people?

Why did they vote no?

Maybe they were right, check it out.

 

[Cutlass]

Why did they vote no?

Maybe they were right, check it out.

They're screwing people who were harmed by 9/11 for no other reason than that screwing victims is in their DNA. They weren't right.

 

[Kennigit]

When does the extension expire?

9/11 is a thing that'd get expedited through whatever process.

Incompetency of course is embarassing but they may not be actively trying to screw the pooch

 

[Kaitzilla]

You'd never hear of this with the Dems, they march in lock step to whatever they're told.

This statement is absolutely TRUE for the senate
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/113/senate/members/

In the 113th Senate, 50 of the top 53 party-line voters are democrat. (click sort by Party above the % list)
One is republican who votes with their party 94% of the time.
The other two are Independents. (This makes not much sense. , how can independents vote with or against their party wishes?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party-line_vote

In the United States Congress it is the function of the party whip of each party in each house to ensure that members adhere to party policies and in particular that members vote for or against bills, amendments, and (in the case of the United States Senate) for or against treaties and Administration appointments as determined by senior party leadership. The leverage available to the party whip may be in rewards (such as the negotiation of side deals for pork barrel spending), or in punishments (such as withholding appointments to powerful committees). The ultimate threat is to support another candidate in the primary election with endorsements and party funds. The party whip will operate under the direction of the particular party's leader (called respectively the majority leader or the minority leader).

The 113th House was much more mixed.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/113/house/members/

The republicans were more likely to vote along party lines than the democrats.
The standout was democrat Jim Matheson of Utah who voted with his party 59% of the time.

 

[Antilogic]

This statement is absolutely TRUE
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/113/senate/members/

In the 113th Senate, 50 of the top 53 party-line voters are democrat.
One is republican who votes with their party 94% of the time.
The other two are Independents. (This makes not much sense. , how can independents vote with or against their party wishes?)

The reason why you generally see more party unity nowadays is that the leadership only brings up bills where they can whip enough votes to pass (and even then most of the stuff is filibustered), which usually means their own party is unified behind it because the bipartisan functioning liberal and conservative majorities common in the 60s to 80s have given way to actual Democratic and Republican majorities now.

As for the independents, they are included in whatever caucus they have joined for committee assignments. Currently, both Senate independents caucus with the Democrats.



In any case, for people just starting to pay attention to this, the 9/11 health bill is for first responders and relief workers who are suffering from health issues related to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 (i.e. breathing in asbestos from the building debris or something like that). It's typical GOP to use an incident for war but not want to help the survivors or even the people lauded as heroes on that day.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It suddenly dawns on me that Paul Ryan's House may be a good concept for a sit-com series.

 

[EnglishEdward]

You'd never hear of this with the Dems, they march in lock step to whatever they're told.


Link to video.

A truly brilliant satire!

Orcs = Republicans

Humans = Democrats

Hobbits = the 2 Independents

 

[Vectors]

Saving Paul Ryan