Why don't Democrats ever think of this stuff?
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The GOPs “Pledge To America” is about what we all expected:
The document speaks constantly and eloquently of the dangers of debt -- but offers a raft of proposals that would sharply increase it. It says, in one paragraph, that the Republican Party will commit itself to "greater liberty" and then, in the next, that it will protect "traditional marriage." It says that "small business must have certainty that the rules won't change every few months" and then promises to change all the rules that the Obama administration has passed in recent months. It is a document with a clear theory of what has gone wrong -- debt, policy uncertainty, and too much government -- and a solid promise to make most of it worse.
Ezra has more details on the specifics.
My favorite part is here:
We will permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and codify the Hyde Amendment.
Hey great, you guys already have a head start since there is no taxpayer funded abortion! Apparently they are aware of this because they reference the Hyde Amendment, which prevents Medicaid funds from paying for abortion. The Republican Party promises to “codify” something which has been attached to every Health & Human Services appropriations bill since 1976. Hey, way to go out on a limb there, guys. That’s some bold leadership! Just one question: how come you didn’t do that four years ago when you were in charge of Congress and the White House? I guess you “forgot.”
Ooops.
The pledge also includes this:
We will require that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority. We will give all Representatives and citizens at least three days to read the bill before a vote.
A “citation of Constitutional authority”? What the hell is that? Is that like the Good Housekeeping Seal Of Approval? Actually it's some meaningless Tentherism nonsense that John Shaddegg of Arizona cooked up. Question: does it say anwhere in the Constitution that legislation has to cite constitutional authority?
Ditto that three days to read the bill stuff. Is that in the Constitution? Or is it more useless claptrap designed to slow down the legislative process; I’m trying to decide how this will work, since it seems to me that most bills we’ve been discussing have been in the hopper for weeks if not months so the whole “three days” stuff is really puzzling. Does that mean three days after every little tweak and change to a piece of legislation? Looks to me like the Republicans are pledging gridlock to be the new normal. I’m just surprised they didn’t put a page limit on legislation, since they seemed really really upset at the length of some of these bills this year. Poor dears. Congressin’ is really hard work!
Looks to me like the Republicans are pledging to make your government even more stupid.
