Tag: Legislation

Mississippi New Laws

It is Friday I am hot, it is 107 outside and I am lazy….so this is my lazy post.

My state of Mississippi has ended its latest legislative session….and these are our new laws…..

Mississippi Laws That Take Effect July 1

Absentee ballots — Senate Bill 2358 prohibits handling large numbers of absentee ballots. A lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Mississippi and other plaintiffs seeks to block the law, arguing that it could disenfranchise voters who have disabilities by preventing them from receiving help from people they trust.

Postpartum Medicaid — Senate Bill 2212 ensures an entire year of Medicaid coverage for women after they give birth. Mississippi usually allowed two months of postpartum Medicaid coverage. The state allowed a full year of coverage after the COVID-19 public health emergency started in 2020, although many patients said the state did little to let them know coverage continued after two months. The longer coverage was approved after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal protections for abortion in a ruling on a Mississippi case last year. Conservative lawmakers across the country have pivoted on Medicaid expansion as part of an anti-abortion agenda.

State fruit — House Bill 1027 designates the blueberry as Mississippi’s official state fruit. Fourth graders from Madison County lobbied for law.

School Guardians — Senate Bill 2079 authorizes school employees to carry concealed guns on campus if they have a concealed-carry license, complete firearms training from a law enforcement agency and are trained in CPR and first aid. Identities of so-called “school guardians” are exempt from public disclosure.

Online porn — Senate Bill 2346 requires people to verify they are at least 18 before using websites or apps where at least one-third of the content consists of pornography. An adult entertainment group is suing over a similar law in Louisiana. House Bill 1315 says vendors providing online resources or databases to K-12 schools must block access to pornography.

Fentanyl testing — House Bill 722 specifies that fentanyl testing materials are no longer considered illegal drug paraphernalia.

Adoption — Senate Bill 2696 creates an income tax credit of up to $10,000 for adopting a child who lives in Mississippi and $5,000 for a adopting a child from outside the state.

Foster families — House Bill 510 is designed to increase transparency for foster parents and make employees from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services more readily available to them.

Sexual assault evidence — House Bill 485 is intended to set faster timelines for law enforcement agencies to process evidence kits from sexual assault cases. One section of the bill becomes law July 1, and other sections become law Dec. 1.

Real estate — Senate Bill 2073 allows people to enter contracts to purchase real estate at age 18; the previous minimum age was 21, unless the minor was emancipated.

Pet insurance — Senate Bill 2228 authorizes the sale of pet insurance.

Pecan theft — Senate Bill 2523 increases the penalties for stealing pecans that are being grown as crops. Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson says thieves have taken loads of pecans from some farmers.

Laws That Took Effect Earlier

Gender-affirming care — House Bill 1125 bans gender-affirming health care for transgender people younger than 18. It became law when Reeves signed it Feb. 28.

Pregnancy centers — House Bill 1671 expands a tax credit from $3.5 million a year to $10 million a year statewide for people or businesses who donate to centers that provide diapers, clothing and other assistance for pregnant women. The law is retroactive to Jan. 1.

Baby drop-off — House Bill 1318 allows cities and counties to establish safe drop-off boxes for babies who are up to 45 days old. The bill became law when Reeves signed it April 19.

State gemstone — Senate Bill 2138 designates the Mississippi Opal as the state gemstone. It became law when Reeves signed it March 3.

Laws That Take Effect Jan. 1, 2024

Elections — House Bill 1310 authorizes the secretary of state to conduct audits of election results. It also speeds up the process for local election commissioners to remove the names of inactive voters from the voter rolls. Critics say the “use-it-or-lose-it” approach endangers the rights of people who want to vote in some but not all elections.

Campaign finance — House Bill 1306 bans candidates for running for office if they have failed to file all required campaign finance reports within the previous five years. It also says fraudulently requesting or submitting an application for an absentee ballot is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Read them and comment on the ones you think are odd or called for…..

Have a great weekend and holiday….be well and be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The ‘Parents Rights’ Bill

The GOP is trying an end run on society.

They have introduced a bill in the House to ‘protect’ parent’s rights….a cutesy name that smacks of total control over our educational standards.

House Republicans on Friday narrowly passed legislation that would fulfill a campaign promise to give parents a role in what’s taught in public schools. It has little chance in the Democrat-run Senate, and critics say it will propel a far-right movement that has led to book bans, restrictions aimed at transgender students, and raucous school board meetings across the country, per the AP. GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who made the Parents Bill of Rights Act a priority during the early weeks of his tenure, said Republicans were “keeping our promise, our commitment to America, that parents will have a say in their kids’ education.” “At the end of the day, these are our children, not the government’s,” Republican Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana, who wrote the bill, said Thursday, per the Washington Post.

The bill would require schools to publish course studies and a list of books kept in libraries, as well as affirm parents’ ability to meet with educators, speak at school board meetings, and examine school budgets. It would also mandate that administrators at elementary and middle schools get an OK from parents before addressing a child by a different name, pronouns, or gender designation. The bill passed 213-208, with five Republicans—mostly members of the House Freedom Caucus—voting against it. The Hill names those five as Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Ken Buck, Matt Rosendale, and Mike Lawler. The first four objected on the basis of wanting the federal government to stay out of local schools’ business. Lawler, meanwhile, thought an amendment added by Rep. Lauren Boebert on transgender bathroom usage “went too far” and “unnecessarily targeted certain children.”

Advocates say the bill poses a threat to LGBTQ+ students by potentially forcing them to come out to their families, which can sometimes lead to abuse or abandonment, per the AP. “It’s part of a pattern of attempts we’re seeing where the right wing of the Republican Party is really trying to marginalize LGBTQ people,” says David Stacy, the government affairs director for Human Rights Campaign. Democrats are also opposed to the bill, noting that although they favor nurturing parents’ involvement in their children’s education, this bill has been designed to kowtow to a minority of parents who want to control and politicize classrooms, including via book bans in school libraries. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that the bill would face a “dead end,” and that it was proof the House GOP has been taken over by “hard-right MAGA ideologues.”

The only good spot in this attempt to control everything is that he will probably stall and possibly die in the US Senate.

This is what we get when idiots vote.

On a side note….an Utah parent is fighting back in the book banning craze…..

Frustrated that titles like The Bluest Eye from Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison have been removed from schools as a result of Utah’s new book-banning law, one parent is pushing to have the Bible banned. “You’ll no doubt find that the Bible … has ‘no serious values for minors’ because it’s pornographic by our new definition,” the parent wrote in a request to the Davis County School District, which was obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune with names redacted. It cites Utah’s book-banning law, passed last year with backing from conservative parents groups, which blocks books containing “explicit sexual arousal, stimulation, masturbation, intercourse, sodomy or fondling” from classrooms and school libraries.

Among the books targeted by the groups is The Bluest Eye, in which a young girl suffers sexual abuse by her father. But “Utah Parents United left off one of the most sex-ridden books around: the Bible,” reads the request, per Fox News. It lists the book’s topics of concern as “incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide.” It also includes several Bible quotes, including one from Genesis 19:8 in which a father asks that men do “as you wish” to his virgin daughters. The request was submitted Dec. 11. A review process usually takes 60 days. However, a district rep tells the Tribune that the case has been delayed due to a backlog.

A school policy states religious books can’t be banned but may be subject to restrictions, per Fox. However, there’s debate about how this would mesh with the law. “If the books that have been banned so far are any indication for way lesser offenses, this should be a slam dunk,” according to the request, which questions the targeting of texts by and about LGBTQ people and those of color in a school district that’s been “under investigation for being racist.” A 2021 Justice Department report found Davis had intentionally ignored “serious and widespread” racial harassment, per the Tribune. The district also settled a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union in 2012 after removing a book about a child with same-sex parents, KUTV reports.

This is a bit extreme but I also understand why they are doing it.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Civil Rights In The Middle

It is black history month and the perfect time for a little history lesson on the now famous Civil Rights Act….

There was more going on with this act than we are taught in our primary schools.

On August 7, 1957, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson voted yea on the first civil rights bill passed by Congress in 82 years. He was joined by 71 of his Senate colleagues, including 43 Republicans and 28 Democrats, 4 of them liberals from the South like Johnson himself. One month later, on September 9, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law.

As majority leader, Johnson arguably did more than anyone else to ensure the passage of a civil rights act in 1957. He cajoled skittish progressives, most of them Northerners, into compromising with the Democratic Party’s powerful Southern voting bloc. Then, over bourbon and cigars, he convinced the Old Guard Democratic Southerners that they ought to give a bit on civil rights while one of their own was in charge, as legislative action on race relations could not be postponed indefinitely.

Limited in its scope and effectiveness, particularly when compared with legislation passed in the 1960s, the 1957 bill walked a treacherous tightrope that “was going to disappoint both the opponents of civil rights and the proponents of civil rights,” says Bruce Schulman, a historian at Boston University. The future president’s efforts were “totally based in the calculation of what was achievable” rather than ideal.

When defending his choice to support the bill on the Senate floor, Johnson admitted that it did “not pretend to solve all the problems of human relations.” Still, he said, “I cannot follow the logic of those who say that because we cannot solve all the problems, we should not try to solve any of them.” Instead, the majority leader stalwartly held the middle, resolute in his conviction that a symbolic victory, however weak, was superior to a total ideological defeat.

This political pragmatism defined Johnson’s lengthy career. As a sectional politician with national ambitions, he was a virtuoso of the art of the possible. Johnson considered the preservation of his political future the best opportunity to help the greatest number of people. By doing only what was feasible and, above all else, looking out for himself, he would make a better future for his “fellow Americans.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-fight-for-civil-rights-lyndon-b-johnson-settled-for-the-middle-ground-180981482/

I am not so sure that the middle was the best place to fight for real civil rights.

Why?

I believe that it made it too easy to lessen the impact over time….and so it has.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Legislation Without Representation

Is our beloved ‘democracy’ just a big lie?

I ask that question because of the idea that DC needs representation in our Congress.

The Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday approved two measures that would overturn a pair of bills passed by the D.C. Council, one that allows non-citizens to vote in local elections starting in 2024 and another that revises and modernizes the city’s century-old criminal code.

The votes on the disapproval resolutions — the first time since 2015 the House has advanced such measures, and only the second time in three decades — came largely along party lines, though dozens of Democrats broke ranks and voted in favor. On the resolution targeting the non-citizen voting bill, the vote was 260-162, with more than 40 Democrats joining Republicans. On the resolution aimed at the revised criminal code, the vote was 250-173, with 31 Democrats joining the Republican majority.

No one representing D.C.’s 700,000 residents voted on either resolution, as the city only has a single non-voting delegate to Congress.

The disapproval resolutions, which would have to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Joe Biden to take effect, mark an early start to what many D.C. officials and advocates worry will be aggressive efforts by House Republicans to interfere in local affairs. And they stand in stark contrast to how D.C. was treated during Democratic control of the chamber, when on two occasions lawmakers passed bills granting the city statehood.

During debate that started Wednesday night and stretched into Thursday morning, Republicans argued that they were merely acting to tamp down on “radical” actions by the “out-of-control” D.C. Council.

Republican-Led House, In Which D.C. Has No Vote, Passes Measures Repealing Two D.C. Bills

Personally I think it is a slap in the face of democracy to allow these people without representation….

Back to the question….is democracy a big lie?

Just a few thoughts on that question….

Is Democracy The Big Lie?

It is a lie at least for the residents of DC.

How can any American citizen be without proper representation in our Congress?

Would you stand by and let your voice go unheard?

Anyone else have a thought or two on the democracy thing?

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Dems Did Something Right

In a vote down party lines (go figure) the Dems have passed a sweeping economic package (I am not sure how damn sweeping it is….but at least they did something)

Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less sweeping than President Biden’s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs, and taxing immense corporations. The estimated $740 billion package heads next to the House, where lawmakers are positioned to deliver on Biden’s priorities, a stunning turnaround of what had seemed a lost and doomed effort that suddenly roared back to political life. Democrats held united, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, the AP reports.

“The Senate is making history,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer ahead of the final votes. “I am confident the Inflation Reduction Act will endure as one of the defining legislative measures of the 21st century.” Senators engaged in a round-the-clock marathon of voting that began Saturday and stretched into late Sunday afternoon. Democrats swatted down some three dozen Republican amendments designed to torpedo the legislation. Confronting unanimous GOP opposition, Democratic unity in the 50-50 chamber held, keeping the party on track for a morale-boosting victory three months before elections in which congressional control is at stake. The House seemed likely to provide final congressional approval when it returns briefly from summer recess on Friday.

The bill ran into trouble midday over objections to the new 15% corporate minimum tax that private equity firms and other industries disliked, forcing last-minute changes. Still, the approval gives Democrats a campaign-season showcase for action on coveted goals. It includes the largest-ever federal effort on climate change—close to $400 billion—while capping out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 a year and extending expiring subsidies that help 13 million people afford health insurance. By raising corporate taxes, the whole package is paid for, with some $300 billion extra revenue for deficit reduction. Nonpartisan analysts have said the package would have a minor effect on surging consumer prices. Schumer told the Washington Post that the legislation provides “things that Americans have longed for, and couldn’t get done.”

This ought to improve the Dems chances in November……it may even boost Biden to low approval ratings from very poor approval.

More needed doing but I guess we should be thankful that these people did something positive.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Time For Men To Pay A Price

Roe v Wade decision has made our women second class citizens yet again….their personal choices out of their hands and put it into the hands of the old farts that run state governments.

Some have said that there should be some price for men to pay as well…..most of the concern is that of the popularity of Viagra….but I read about one idea that I could get behind and maybe you should as well if you are at all concerned about the loss of the right of choice.

An Oklahoma Democrat has proposed that young men in his state be forced to have vasectomies in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning the Roe Vs Wade ruling.

Last month, Mickey Dollens invited his fellow lawmakers to co-author a bill which would give a mandatory vasectomy to every young man in Oklahoma.

The vasectomy would only be reversed once each man could prove they were financially and emotionally stable, and not a moment before.

If any of this is sounding insane, that’s because Dollens is only raising the bill to make a point that the state having such invasive control over a person’s body is, indeed, insane.

This invasive control is exactly what will happen to many US women after the Supreme Court made the decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade last week, effectively ruling that the constitution doesn’t safeguard a woman’s right to an abortion.

The only exceptions to Oklahoma’s new abortion laws are in the case of rape or incest, and even then only if they have been reported to the authorities.

Saying he was thinking about introducing the legislation on forcing men to have vasectomies next year, Dollens suggested to Republicans who thought he was being ‘crazy’ that now ‘maybe you understand how 50 percent of Oklahomans feel’.

Republicans have argued that there is ‘nothing higher or more critical than the defence of innocent, unborn life’.

https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/lawmaker-mandatory-vasectomy-roe-wade-decision-20220627

It may sound a bit extreme but no more so than taking a woman’s right of choice.

I agree with this idea…..let men pay for a price as well as the women.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Joke That Is The Gun Legislation

Once again an attempt is being made to try and head off the rise in gun violence….and as usual it is basically a fart in the wind…..serves absolutely NO purpose other than to make the worthless Congress look as if they are in control.

It begins in the House…..

The House passed a wide-ranging gun control bill Wednesday in response to recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle and prohibit the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds. The legislation passed by a mostly party-line vote of 223-204. It has almost no chance of becoming law, as the Senate pursues negotiations focused on improving mental health programs, bolstering school security, and enhancing background checks. But the House bill does allow Democratic lawmakers a chance to frame for voters in November where they stand on policies that polls show are widely supported, the AP reports.

“America we hear you and today in the House we are taking the action you are demanding,” said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas. “Take note of who is with you and who is not.” The push comes after a House committee heard wrenching testimony from recent shooting victims and family members, including from 11-year-old girl Miah Cerrillo, who covered herself with a dead classmate’s blood to avoid being shot at the Uvalde elementary school. The seemingly never-ending cycle of mass shootings in the US has rarely stirred Congress to act. But the shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde has revived efforts in a way that has lawmakers from both parties talking about the need to respond.

“It’s sickening, it’s sickening that our children are forced to live in this constant fear,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic leader said the vote would “make history by making progress.” But it’s unclear where the measure will go now, given that Republicans were adamant in their opposition. “The answer is not to destroy the Second Amendment, but that is exactly where the Democrats want to go,” said Republican Rep. Jim Jordan. Any gun bill in the Senate would need support from 10 Republicans to pass. Nearly a dozen Democratic and Republican senators met privately for an hour Wednesday in hopes of reaching a framework for legislation by week’s end. Participants said more conversations were needed about a plan that is expected to propose modest steps.

Of course the Senate has tried to look concerned and worked for a ‘modest’ deal……

A cross-party group of US senators was set to renew talks Thursday on a narrow package of firearms controls, as lawmakers face calls to tackle soaring gun violence including recent massacres in Texas and New York State.

Nine senators have been meeting this week to discuss a response to the mass shootings that have appalled the nation, projecting optimism over the prospects for modest reforms.

The group has focused on school security, bolstering mental health services and incentives for states to grant to courts “red flag” authority to temporarily remove guns from owners considered a threat.

Moderate Republican Susan Collins said the group was making “rapid progress” while Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said he had “never seen more Republicans at the table willing to talk.” 

https://nordot.app/905127031605739520

Look at the proposal…..same lame attempts that will eventually fail….over and over…..

Dems did what they do best…give up…..

While warning that lawmakers’ continued inaction on gun control legislation will have “significant consequences” for democracy in the U.S., Sen. Chris Murphy on Sunday also tempered expectations regarding the ongoing bipartisan negotiations that began in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas late last month.

The Connecticut Democrat, a longtime advocate for gun control reform, told Jake Tapper on CNN‘s “State of the Union” that lawmakers have been discussing laws that were passed in Florida in 2018 following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, after which young survivors of the attack mobilized to demand action from policymakers.

https://www.salon.com/2022/06/06/we-cant-even-get-background-democrats-already-caved-in-bill-negotiations-with_partner/

This is how the GOP plans to blow off Uvalde….

“Stay cool. Run out the clock. Scare some gun nuts while you can. But don’t worry: this moment will be over soon,” is how the magazine summarized the guidance.

A memo for a top GOP Senate candidate urged them to “ignore guns, talk inflation.”

“Other documents predictably decried liberal desires for ‘gun-grabbing’ and ‘gun confiscation,’ and made whataboutism-type references to gun violence in Chicago,” the magazine reported.

The Republican National Committee has also been taking a backseat in messaging guidance sent three days after the Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

“The email began with some pro-forma thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, then went on to “thank…the members of law enforcement who responded to the scene and killed the shooter.” (That’s despite the fact that 19 such cops inside the school waited and waited while students begged for help — and the gunman continued to fire.) But the bulk of the memo, part of the series of RNC “Pundit Prep” that typically lists the party’s weekly political priorities, had a conspicuous omission. It did not include any actual talking points about the latest school massacre in the U.S. — a mass shooting that dominated American media and political conversation, only to be bookended by news of other mass murders carried out with firearms,” the magazine reported.

https://www.rawstory.com/republicans-uvalde-mass-shooting/

How long will we allow this silly game played by those that represent us to continue?

The Congress on solving social problems like gun violence are as USELESS as tits on a flashlight.

These 535 people are nothing more than jokes that are easily bribed.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Voting Acts

It is MLK, Jr Day and what better time to look at the voting bills that are being considered in DC…..(by the time this is published I look fore the bills to be squashed)…..

The battle is on for voting rights…..but how many know what the two bills are all about or just what is included in the text?

This is just a little help….before you dismiss these attempts read the info and tell me where the problem is….if there is a problem.

How the For the People Act and Freedom to Vote Act differ

Provisions in the For the People Act and what the Freedom to Vote Act does with them
Keeps a provision
✏️ Amends a provision
➕ Adds a provision
Cuts a provision

For the People Act   Freedom to Vote Act
Prohibit states from requiring an excuse to vote absentee.   Keep
Require states to allow voters to apply for an absentee ballot online.   Keep
Prohibit states from requiring absentee ballots to be notarized or have witness signatures.   Keep
Require states to allow people to register to vote on Election Day.   Keep
Require states to allow people to register to vote online.   Keep
How the For the People Act and Freedom to Vote Act differ

Provisions in the For the People Act and what the Freedom to Vote Act does with them
Keeps a provision
✏️ Amends a provision
➕ Adds a provision
Cuts a provision

For the People Act   Freedom to Vote Act
Prohibit states from requiring an excuse to vote absentee.   Keep
Require states to allow voters to apply for an absentee ballot online.   Keep
Prohibit states from requiring absentee ballots to be notarized or have witness signatures.   Keep
Require states to allow people to register to vote on Election Day.   Keep
Require states to allow people to register to vote online.   Keep
Require states to offer 15 consecutive days of early voting … ✏️ … with some exceptions for smaller or mail-voting jurisdictions.
Require polling places to keep waits under 30 minutes … ✏️ … and prohibit banning giving food and water to voters waiting in line.
Require states that mandate voter IDs to also accept sworn statements signed by the voter. ✏️ Require states that mandate voter IDs to accept a broad and uniform range of both photo and non-photo IDs.
Require states to offer automatic voter registration at the department of motor vehicles and other government agencies. ✏️ Require states to offer automatic voter registration at the department of motor vehicles.
Tightly restrict states’ ability to purge voters from the rolls. ✏️ Modestly restrict states’ ability to purge voters from the rolls.
Implement public funding for congressional campaigns by matching every dollar a candidate raises from small donors with $6 from the government. ✏️ Allow states to choose whether to implement public funding for House campaigns by matching every dollar a candidate raises from small donors with $6 from the government.
Establish specific redistricting criteria for fair maps and require nonpartisan redistricting commissions in every state. ✏️ Establish specific redistricting criteria for fair maps.
New provisions: ➕ Allow election officials to sue if they are undeservedly removed from office.
  ➕ Increase protections against intimidating election workers.
  ➕ Increase the penalties for tampering with voting records.
  ➕ Require more records to be preserved after the election.
  ➕ Allow voters to sue if their vote is not counted.
Count prisoners at their last address instead of where they’re incarcerated for the purposes of redistricting.   Cut
Require presidential candidates to release their tax returns.   Cut
Bar members of Congress from sitting on corporate boards.   Cut
Bar members of Congress from using public money to settle sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuits.   Cut
Establish a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.
Shrink the Federal Election Commission from six members to five in order to avoid tie votes.   Cut
Require states to mail absentee-ballot applications to all voters.   Cut

Sources: Brennan Center for Justice, Congress.gov, Sludge, Washington Post

There is so much more on these two bills….read the article it will help explain what this is all about.

What Might Democrats’ Voting Rights Bill Entail?

Nothing is more important that a citizen’s right to voice their opinion through their vote.

Any assault on these rights is an assault on the very foundation of our republic.

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All In The Name Of The “Deal”

This year has been a bust for the Dems in Congress….they failed on police reform and voting rights (2 bills) and as the midterms are quickly becoming a thing and the Dems need something to run on the president is willng to gut his famous infrastructure bill to try and help Dem candidates win their re-election.

The answer is as it always is to gut the great legislation to grab that elusive deal between the parties and to pass a bill.

Same as it ever was.

This time around the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill is being gutted to the tune of 50%……

President Biden declared Thursday he has reached a “historic economic framework” with Democrats in Congress on his sweeping domestic policy package, a dramatically scaled-back deal announced hours before he departs for overseas summits, per the AP. Biden’s remarks at the White House came after he traveled to Capitol Hill to make the case to House Democrats for the still robust domestic package—$1.75 trillion of social services and climate change programs the White House believes can pass the 50-50 Senate. “It will fundamentally change the lives of millions of people for the better,” Biden said at the White House.

Together with a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill heading for final votes as soon as Thursday, Biden told lawmakers it would be a domestic achievement greater than those from Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson. “I need your votes,” Biden told the lawmakers earlier, according to a person who requested anonymity to discuss the private remarks. Biden was eager to have a deal in hand before departing later in the day for global summits. But the revised package has lost some of the Democrats’ top priorities as the president’s ambitions make way for the political realities of the narrowly divided Congress.

  • Out: Paid family leave and efforts to lower prescription drug pricing are now gone entirely from the package, according to senior administration officials.
  • Still in the mix: Free prekindergarten for all youngsters, expanded health care programs—including the launch of a $35 billion new hearing aid benefit for people with Medicare—and $555 billion to tackle climate change. There’s also a one-year extension of a child care tax credit that was put in place during the COVID-19 rescue and new child care subsidies. An additional $100 billion to bolster the immigration and border processing system could boost the overall package to $1.85 trillion if it clears Senate rules.
  • The Hill has a comprehensive look at what’s in and what’s out.

This is not a done deal but it is close….but it ain’t over til the fat white guys vote.

I guess the old political saying still rings true….”something is better than nothing”…..unfortunately I do not think this will be the vote getter that the Dems think it will….2022 will be a bad year for Dems.

I am not disappointed for this is typical legislative drama that is in there for the optics these days.

And you wonder why the country has not moved forward….look no further than the legislative process and the unwillingness of the players to ‘stick tom their guns’.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Biden Unimpressive?

This depends on whom you ask.

In my opinion is very unimpressive.

During the campaign of 2020 we were promised so much and the Dems have delivered so little…..of course it is not all their fault.

Oh they have had some marvelous ideas but that is as far as it goes for the Senate is a wall for any progress.

The Biden promises are shrinking in action….

Joe Biden’s poll numbers are going south. An average of polls at FiveThirtyEight shows that more people disapprove (49%) of him than approve (45%), a sharp reversal from the start of his presidency, when 53% approved and 36% disapproved. The decline has largely occurred over the last two months, notes the Pew Research Center, thanks to big factors such as the chaotic Afghanistan pullout, rising COVID cases, and trouble with his domestic agenda in Congress. Related coverage:

  • The problem: At the Cook Political Report, Amy Walter writes that the issue is a serious one for Biden and Democrats because “these early mistakes go directly to the very rationale of his presidency; that it would be low drama and high competence.” She adds that it’s not unusual for a first-term president to go through a rough patch, and the big question is whether Biden can pull out of it. However, the longer he’s in the White House, the more expectations will rise, and it won’t be enough for Democrats to rely on the he’s-not-Trump argument.
  • In context: Biden’s critics on the right already are pronouncing him a failure, and Susan B. Glasser at the New Yorker finds this just as ridiculous as when progressives anointed him the second coming of FDR in the spring. “It was too soon then to nominate him to a place on Mount Rushmore; it is too soon now to consign him to the ash heap of history,” she writes. “What we might be seeing, instead, is a bit of a return to normalcy in American politics—the kind of normalcy in which a President’s job-approval rating goes up or down depending on how people think he is actually doing.”
  • From the right: At the National Review, Jim Geraghty ticks off Biden’s troubles, including those mentioned above, plus border issues and friction with France and China. “Biden, Antony Blinken, and the rest of the president’s team spent a lot of time patting themselves on the back and declaring that ‘America is back!’ after taking office,” he writes. “But as autumn arrives, they look naïve, unprepared, slow-footed, and in over their heads. A flailing president is a failing president.”
  • From the right, II: Matt Lewis is even more scathing in the Daily Beast. “It’s starting to feel like the wheels are coming off for Joe Biden at the job he’s been dreaming of since he first arrived in the Senate in 1973,” he writes. This applies to the both the domestic and global fronts. Lewis notes that he has previously criticized former President Trump’s “childish approach to governing … but it turns out that dunking on him and signifying responsibility without actually achieving better results isn’t nearly enough.”
  • Unwanted comparison: Meanwhile, two separate pieces in the New York Times this week make a similar point that Democrats won’t like—that in regard to Afghanistan and the border, Biden appears to be borrowing from the Trump playbook. One is a news analysis by Michael D. Shear, Natalie Kitroeff, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, and Eileen Sullivan, and the second is a column by Frank Bruni. “Biden is a far cry from Trump,” writes Bruni. “Hallelujah. But that doesn’t mean that he’s untouched by Trump.”

The big ideas of police reform (dead), voting rights (pending but doomed), infrastructure (pending but not looking good), immigration (dead), ending the filibuster (a joke without a laugh line) and so many more and the Congress is waffling (as usual)……

With time left the Dems have an impressive yet chaotic time before the end of session…

Democrats will start one of the most chaotic legislative sprints in recent memory. With a potential government shutdown looming, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Saturday that three key bills, including President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, “must pass” in the coming week.

That timeline means the next week could be make or break for Biden’s legislative agenda, but all three bills face a complicated road ahead in Congress.

“The next few days will be a time of intensity,” Pelosi said in a letter to her caucus on Saturday. “We sent a CR to the Senate and are awaiting their action to avoid a shutdown. We must pass the BIF to avoid the expiration of the surface transportation funding on September 30. And we must stay on schedule to pass the reconciliation bill so that we can Build Back Better.”

https://www.vox.com/2021/9/26/22694549/congress-reconciliation-infrastructure-debt-ceiling-explained

With 90 days left in the session of Congress it looks dismal for any progress….and 2022 an election year will be a do nothing session for the House will be at home with their knee pads on begging for money and lying to the voter to gain their place in Congress once again.

Biden has not been a disappointment for me for I did not think he would be that effective because he is a centrist that will do little to move this country forward….all in the name of bi-partisanship (a word that means little to this country).

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”