Legislation by Accident

Knee-jerk. Congress.

In the midst of trying to deal with some of the biggest issues facing America, your representatives find time to slap together some legislation to punish a collection of community organizers who failed to throw a self-proclaimed pimp and prostitute out of their offices.

A.C.O.R.N. Oh, they fired the “advisors” who sat down with the pair. And they point out that none of the applications for assistance the phony duo completed were actually filed.

An investigation to find out what really happened (not just relying on the edited video produced by the pimp) is underway. But there is no political advantage too small to gain for Republicans. And Democrats jump at the first sight of a loose mouse.

So a bill was presented that would stop all federal funds from going to any group, organization, institution, or corporation that is indicted for fraud or caught in the act of doing illegal things with the money they get from the US Treasury. Repubs and Dems alike climbed on.

But, as our blog name points out, there are sometimes unforeseen consequences to politics.

As it turns out, the language of the hastily drafted bill would mean lots of companies would be in trouble – FedEx and Halliburton for example. Any recipients of federal contracts who have been found guilty of misuse of the money would be banned from ever getting another contract. An oversight board would check up on these ne’er-do-wells.

And of course, Congress is back peddling. We, on the other hand, submit that this could be one of the best things Congress ever accidentally did. We’ll keep an eye on this.

Rep. Alan Grayson is in the news again. This Democratic first-time Congressman from Florida is independently wealthy, so he doesn’t need to worry about pissing off his benefactors and special interests. His Pay for Performance bill, about compensation for CEO’s of financial institutions that got bail out money, is still in progress. He sued over Halliburton and KBR for fraud with contracts in Iraq.

And most recently, he called the current health care crisis a “holocaust”. He characterized the Republican Health Care Plan as 1) don’t get sick 2) and if you do 3) die quickly.

Repub. Leader John Boehner wants House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to rein in the guy. Pelosi says this is just an example of giving what you’ve been getting. And Grayson hits national TV and says the Repubs are foot dragging, knuckle dragging Neanderthals.

We say, bravo Mr. Grayson! Finally a Democrat with a spine.

Repubs would have us believe they really really really do want to fix health care, but the proposed plans are just too radical! They’ll force taxpayers to pay for abortions. They’ll use tax dollars to pay for health care of illegals! And when those outright lies start losing traction, they take refuge in the basic nay-sayer position: the government can’t run anything.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) warned us about the inevitable government takeover of 1/6th of our economy – the current mantra of health care reform foes. They keep trying to sell that BS. Two things to remember:

One: Even the most complete plans proposed don’t lead to takeover of every facet of our health care. Not even marginally close. The “public option” – the scariest part for Republicans - is simply competition for health insurance, not actual health care. It would let the government act as an insurance company for the people (like us!) that insurance companies won’t serve at an affordable price.

Two: Is it really OK that 1/6th of our economy goes to health care? No other developed democracy in the world comes even close to that number, and no other developed democracy in the world has as lousy a health status as US – 37th! (Apologies to Sen. Ennis, even after we remove the traffic accident deaths and gun-related killings, we still rank 17th – not first, as the Republicans would like us to believe.)

And in case the lies and scare tactics aren’t enough, Hutchison et al switch to crying poor: America must fix the economy before taking on health care.

We again offer two thoughts:

One: if the Senate Finance Committee shows as much regard for the American people when drafting new financial regulations as they have shown on health care, we’re in for a very bumpy ride.

Two: if we don’t fix the economic sector that’s currently costing 1/6th of our GDP, and is projected to climb higher with every passing day, what will happen to our economy?

Maybe some knees will start jerking again, and someone will accidentally fix both our health care and our economy! God help us.

JM