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A stand-alone bill to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has been introduced in the House of Representatives. It's sponsored by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and co-sponsored by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD). The bill number is H.R. 6520.
The text of the bill is identical to the bill that Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-D-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced on Dec. 10 in the Senate.
Right now, there's not a timeframe for bringing the actual legislation to the House floor for debate.
This stand-alone strategy comes after Senate Republicans blocked a defense authorization bill containing a measure that repealed DADT.
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The Bush/Obama/Clinton tax rate extensions, DADT, the Dream Act, Start treaty, Rangel, the list goes on and on. All of this could have, should have, been taken care of before the election. Doing all of them in a lame-duck session, one where many of the people legislating and voting on them won't be around, or won't be in leadership positions in a couple of weeks, is just another example of how badly Congress is being run. The basic elements of any Congress is to protect the country, define a tax policy, and budget to the tax revenue generated to that tax policy. The current Congress has failed on each and everyone of those elements.
Once again Congress, in case you still haven't gotten the message. Do the things that will improve the economy. All the rest of what you are doing is inconsequential.
Is this a deliberate attempt at misleading or just plain lack of facts? Clinton tax rate was the one we had in the 90s during which 23million jobs were created compared with -3million since the Bush tax rate. The Republicans solidarity and lack of independent action by their caucus on this is forcing the extension of Bush rates that ended up with crash and bailouts aided by a mere handful of Democrats. And it wasn't as if the last Congress was sitting still all of last year if you check the records that shows relative productivity compared with prior ones (if honesty is on interest that is).
Just days ago, Clinton pushed Obama away from his own Presidental podium and endorsed the Bush tax rate plan. How could you have missed it? It was in all the papers. This is now just as much Obama and Clintons' plan as it was Bushs'.
Forcing? Nobody is forcing anyone to do anything. The Democrats have had 2 years where they could have set tax policy to anything they wanted. They didn't. Instead they complained loudly about the Bush tax cuts causing every ill of economy, stated boldly that they would never ever allow the any extensions for the "rich", and wasted their time on other matters. And now the issue becomes the latest do-it-quick-emergency-legislation of the Obama/Pelosi/Reid crowd. Think anyone will bother to read this bill?
Productivity? Well, lets take a look at what they "produced". 10% unemployment. 25% under-employment. Nearly $3 trillion dollars of additional debt. A health care bill on very shaky legal ground. And an economic stimulus bill that stimulated nothing. Some productivity.
J Richter:
Where are those 23 million jobs today?????? There is no DOT.COM and no social security excess to use in balancing the BUDGET. We were still in a defecit all through the Clinton era too. The surplus was PROJECTED...you do know what PROJECTED means right. It is the same as CBO numbers when they say something will cost .....in ten years. It is basically OPINION an only if we live in a pefect world.
JS1 has shown her dishonest framing of any aspect of any debate that she engages in with the first sentence of her reply. Former President Clinton did not ". . . push[ed] Obama away from his own Presidential podium and endorse[d] the Bush tax rate plan." President Obama introduced former President Clinton and then had to leave to a prior engagement. Former President Clinton then endorsed the compromise agreement and also decried the inclusion of the top 2% in continuing the tax rates Bush enacted.
Seriously ITM? Where are those 23 million jobs? It's called population and workforce growth.
But intellectual dishonesty from JS1 and ITM is not unexpected.
They need to get rid of the lame duck session. It should be the day after election and you lost the election, you should be gone. They lost for a reason, and to allow them to do as much damage as they can is reckless.
Ditto to that . I have never liked this break in Congress. Once you lose, poof, be gone.
For the presidency, there needs to be a transition period, one where the outgoing President/administration has time to get the new President/administration up to speed. The new President has a lot of work to do to get his/her administration running, and it does take a couple of months.
For Congress though, I agree, elections are on a Tuesday, the incumbent losers/retirees need to be out of office by the following Tuesday.
Where were you when the Democrats took over from the Republicans? If you were not advocating that then, doing so now just shows that you are poor sports. Let's see if you are crying the same tune when the House is returned to the Democrats and they increase their numbers in the Senate in 2012. This House will screw things up so bad that it will be many generations before the far right gets another chance at governing. Just look at the new finance committee chairman is saying, the regulators are there to work for the banks.
I like the idea of stand alone legislation, No ulterior motives (hopefully). Although in this case, joanna is right to maintain focus on the economy first. Probably wouldn't hurt congress to work to the end of the year, especially since Christmas falls on saturday.
you clearly have only two brain cells JoannaSmith.
You sound jealous.
Obviously you have none. that was an A&B conversation.
After the November 2nd elections I honestly felt the consistent mind numbing back and forth banter would subside and people would be more civil.
Now when i browse First Read Blog comments I think... bah... work (network admin) and ebay (Xmas shopping) takes priority whereas before Nov 2nd, i felt spending 2 hours per day at work on First Read was more important (debunking false anti-Obama claims/rumours).
Analyze my priority shift as you wish if you wish to at all. Merry Christmas and/or Buddha-mas to everyone! Consumer Confidence Index go UP UP!
It's obvious they've never met one another...
Those two synapses are firing but what chance could there be that they connect with each other. Oh, I guess that's what we've been reading.