Displaying items by tag: US Congress

Impeachment of a president can be a horrible thing to waste.

That is, if you are a politician or political party.

House Democrats in congress can now vote and participate in committee hearings remotely.  It was a good move that should have been adopted years ago. Is it necessary for members of Congress to spend most of their time in Washington?   In 2020, why can’t lawmakers use the new technology of telecommunications to create a “virtual Congress?”

A report last year delivered sobering news: “Louisiana has the worst health care system in the country,” according to Jill Gonzalez of WalletHub. Given that analysis, it is tempting to assume that any action Washington takes is bound to help our state. After all, there is no other state to pass on the way down.

But that assumption contains a crucial misdiagnosis. The goal is not to “do something,” it is to “accomplish something” and make the health care situation -- here and throughout the country -- better. Unfortunately, the approach that Beltway lawmakers are considering would make it worse. 

As almost the entire Congress left Washington D.C. for the Memorial Day holiday, a pork barrel package of “disaster relief” was getting ready to be approved. The price tag for the bill reached $19.1 billion and it included aid for hurricane ravaged areas in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Puerto Rico, as well as flooding relief for states such as Iowa and Nebraska. In an almost empty House chamber, one member, appropriately from the “Lone Star” state of Texas, U.S. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) objected to the unanimous consent that was necessary.

Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise says he is still struggling over whether to forgive the man wo shot him two years ago.  “I’ve never, internally, formally forgiven the shooter from the baseball shooting,” he said. “It’s something I’ve struggled with as a Catholic.”

It would be hard for many, including me, to forgive such a transgression. I’m still personally quite bitter over wrongs that happened to me some years back. So I understand the reluctance to forgive.

America, as I know it, died yesterday right in front of our eyes when Attorney General Bill Barr displayed his fealty to the man who put him back into the national spotlight.

Also falling before our eyes were the lessons of Watergate.

What has kept this country above all other nations has been our judicial system integrity and our governmental checks and balances.

Barr mutilated those and his fellow pro-Donald Trump loyalists applauded at the bloody sight.

Today, President Trump is in Hanoi, Vietnam negotiating with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. This is their second summit, which gives the world a historic chance for the removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula. It signifies the tremendous progress that has been achieved in a very short period of time. Until recently, this dictator was testing nuclear weapons and building nuclear facilities. He was also holding Americans hostage. Today, the hostages have been released, the nuclear testing and expansion has stopped and remains of American soldiers killed in the Korean War have been returned to the United States.

Yesterday, our federal debt reached $22 trillion, a new record for our country. Since President Trump took office in January of 2017, our debt has increased over $2 trillion. During the administration of President Obama, the debt increased from $10.6 trillion to $19.9 trillion. Thus, the national debt has more than doubled in 10 years as it is increasing more than $1 trillion per year.

Over the next several weeks, Americans will be going to the polls in the most eagerly anticipated and consequential mid-term election in our nation’s history. Voters will decide whether to continue the President’s agenda which includes cutting regulations and taxes, boosting our military, renegotiating our trade deals, and focusing on border security.