Deliberation vs. Hotlining

Politics

Got the Downsizer Dispatch in the mail today. In it there was a link to Paul Jacob’s piece over at Townhall.com concerning hotlining. I didn’t think I could get angrier about the state of politics in the US today; apparently I was wrong. This practice has to end.

Here’s what happens: The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders agree to pass a bill without a vote. They call all senators on special hotlines installed in each office, giving a specified amount of time to object — sometimes as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill passes.

Welcome to Washington, D.C., folks, where quantity of legislation is more important than quality.

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So, they pass legislation now without even voting on it? Without even knowing the legislation exists? How is this in our best interest, at all? How does this even vaguely constitute serving the taxpayer?

No wonder government grows so quickly. A Senator may have a headache and call it a night, and when he returns to his office the next day he finds out he “consented” to several bills he knew nothing about. Calling the Senate a “rubber stamp” is an insult to rubber stamps.

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So much for “the world’s greatest deliberative body”. Some other body (probably a Toastmasters group in Milwaukee) needs to receive that distinction now.

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