anonymous Senate holds
So apparently our Senate rules are so fucking stupid that a single Senator can anonymously table legislation to keep it off the agenda, effectively stalling the legislation indefinitely. A billion dollars in aid to Haiti has been held since soon after the devastating earthquake. The anonymous Senator responsible? Coburn. Senator Coburn has single-handedly prevented the US from fulfilling its pledge to Haiti.
Obviously Coburn is a total scumbag, but what kind of system allows this to happen? Why the bloody hell do our Senate rules allow it? Between Senate holds and a filibuster that is so ripe for abuse it has made 60 votes the de facto requirement to pass anything in the Senate, our system is badly broken. The Senate is a joke. It's the place where legislation goes to die.
Obviously Coburn is a total scumbag, but what kind of system allows this to happen? Why the bloody hell do our Senate rules allow it? Between Senate holds and a filibuster that is so ripe for abuse it has made 60 votes the de facto requirement to pass anything in the Senate, our system is badly broken. The Senate is a joke. It's the place where legislation goes to die.
posted by Patrick at
11:06 PM
1 Comments:
If you wanted to give aid to Haiti so bad, I hope that you sent some of your own money instead of advocate that the government steal it from everyone else for you first.
As such a big supporter of government, I wonder if the example that the government of Haiti has provided in getting the private aid to the people of Haiti pleases you?
And just in case you missed this story of the wonderful things government does:
WikiLeaks Haiti: The Post-Quake 'Gold Rush' for Reconstruction Contracts
http://www.thenation.com/article/161469/wikileaks-haiti-post-quake-gold-rush-reconstruction-contracts
Disaster capitalists were flocking to Haiti in a “gold rush” for contracts to rebuild the country after the January 12, 2010, earthquake, according to a secret cable from US Ambassador Kenneth Merten.
The February 1, 2010, cable was obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to the Haitian newspaper Haïti Liberté.
“THE GOLD RUSH IS ON!” Merten headlined a section of his 6 pm situation report—or SitRep—to Washington. “As Haiti digs out from the earthquake, different [US] companies are moving in to sell their concepts, products and services,” he wrote. “President Preval met with Gen Wesley Clark Saturday [January 29] and received a sales presentation on a hurricane/earthquake resistant foam core house designed for low income residents.”
“AshBritt [a Florida-based disaster recovery company] has been talking to various institutions about a national plan for rebuilding all government buildings,” Merten continued in his dispatch. “Other companies are proposing their housing solutions or their land use planning ideas, or other construction concepts. Each is vying for the ear of President in a veritable free-for-all.”
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