Congressional update

Hello out there in deep space. C-Span is live streaming the senate debates. I'm learning a bit, which may be handy in some fantasy life as a high powered lawyer or superhero, bringing crooked corporate slimeballs to justice, bwaaaahahahaha....  

HR 4853 and hr3082 are house resolutions, meaning they are CRs - Continuing Resolutions. All this debate and pushing through a fast vote is JUST to allocate funds through the end of the year so that the lame duck congress can vote in the things they want quickly, leaving little if any time for public input.
So much for transparent government that listens to the will of the people.

I understand all the arguments President Obama makes on why we need this, and parts of it are necessary - for the middle class. But he scolds us for being angry about it, saying WE need to compromise. The billionaire tax breaks are a betrayal to the American people, who won't forget, come 2012. While big bank profits doubled from the wall street bailout, people out of work and kicked out of their homes on fraudulent foreclosures are put out on the streets by the same booming banks. That is beyond corrupt.



 C-span just announced that despite bad weather and a lot of absent senators, the Senate took a test vote and had well over 60 votes, and so will pass.  While waiting for weather-delayed senators to show up, they hold the vote "open" in case the absentees show up, and continue the half-hearted debate for the "alloted time," in some formality pretext I suppose.

Excuse my cynicism. I stayed home from work for THIS?! President Obama came on briefly to tell Congress to hurry the bill through the house. Some insider from the House said the house would follow the senate's lead and vote for the bill, even though the original House bill had NONE of the tax breaks for the richest 1%, the further lowering of the estate tax from $5 million to 3 million, the payroll tax vacation, or s.510 disguised somewhere in there under hr 3082. I hope the House puts up a fight, for entertainment value if nothing else. But since they've already made up their minds, why bother? So we can all continue to believe in a two party system that is now one corporate party, and keep infighting and hating for all the wrong reasons, missing the real issues entirely?

Humppph and humbug! Although the president and congress keep touting "job creation" as the #1 priority, there are NO funds allocated for rebuilding or repairing our crumbling infrastructure or educational system? Jobs continue to be outsourced and Obama is making some nafta-type deal with Korea.Scary.

I have a compromise. Raise the tax extension ceiling to anyone making under a million $ per year.  Anyone making above that, the Bush tax breaks end right now. Bush already lowered their taxes from 38% to 17% anyway. Someone making $40,000 a yr. pays a higher percentage than a billionaire, with a lot less loopholes. It seems a reasonable starting compromise, along with NO lowering or abolishing the estate tax or dipping into the social security surplus. Better yet, let all the bush tax breaks expire and spend that 800 billion on rebuilding America. That would create the jobs they keep talking about.

The capitol building switchboard toll free number still works. I encourage you to use it and make your views known to the House and Senate.
1- 866-291-9824.