Are these guys even doing their jobs?
What's this?
WASHINGTON — Forty-four House Republicans have threatened to torpedo President Bush's coveted Medicare prescription drug plan if it does not include free-market reforms.Okay, well this is good news... The folks on the Hill are starting to wonder if maybe this bill will cost a lot more than it was advertised for, and realizing that it might be too expensive as it is written. Okay, good. this is the kind of debate we need before a bill passes.
They say the drug benefits will cost too much and drive Medicare ever closer to insolvency. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill will cost $400 billion over 10 years.
Except this bill already passed. Huh. So I suppose these same 44 House Republicans, who are courageously threatening to block this bill's passage (presumably when it comes back from conference) are the same 44 brave souls who stood firmly against it when it passed the House last week.
Well, no, that isn't quite right. See, 'cause only 14 Republicans voted against it.
Pardon my confusion, but if only 14 voted against the bill last week, and now 44 are threatening to kill it when it comes back around for its second vote, doesn't that mean that at least 30 of these guys changed their minds after having cast a yea-vote? What -- it's suddenly too expensive now? The bill is now something totally different from the one they voted for?
I may just be a layman from a midde-to-large-sized city from the little old state of Texas, so I might not "get it" when it comes to the nuanced and complicated goings-on of the national legislature. But are these guys even reading the bills that they vote for? Are they even considering what the heck it is that they're doing when they click the little button that says "Yea" at their desk on the House floor? What exactly is it that they're doing with their time up there, that we're paying them $141,300 plus benefits to do?
Seriously. Congressmen: DO YOUR DAMNED JOBS and research the freaking bills you're voting on before you cast your vote. These are our lives you're playing with here. We have to accept the consequences of your decisions, and this country-club "just pass any old bill, we've got an election coming up you know, let them eat cake" mentality is precisely the kind of nonsense that causes alienation and apathy among the people you're supposed to be working for.
Take your responsibilities seriously already. Now.
Posted by Matt at July 3, 2003 2:59 AM
