The Fired Congress

[Sandra]

The Fired Congress

URL Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/artic ... 8657/fired-congress-jim-demint
Published: Oct 5, 2010
Author: Jim DeMint , U.S. senator from South Car


In December, more than a dozen
senators will come back to Washington and decide how much more tax money
to take from Americans, without being accountable to any of them.

Some companies have a policy that once someone is fired, they aren’t
allowed back on the premises out of fear they might do further damage to
the company. It’s too bad Congress doesn’t have the same policy.
Because before they’re replaced in January, all of the Democrats who are
put out of a job in November will be able to come back and rob the
nation blind.

More than a dozen senators will come back to Washington and decide how much more tax money to take from Americans,
without being accountable to any of them. Higher taxes, cap-and-trade,
amnesty, and card check will be top-priority items for the Fired
Congress, otherwise known as the lame-duck Congress. They’re also likely
to roll unfinished appropriations bills into a massive, pork-stuffed
omnibus to snag every last possible earmark on their way out of
Washington.

This must not happen. The only acceptable outcome of the lame-duck session is a continuing resolution to keep government
operating at current levels of spending and taxation, as I pushed the
Senate to do in 2006 after Republicans lost the majority to the
Democrats. No last-minute earmarks, no add-ons, no tax increases, and no
big deficit spending.

By simply passing a continuing resolution that kept the government funded at current levels until February 2007,
Republicans stopped more than 10,000 earmarks from being enacted and
prevented big spenders in Congress from wasting billions of dollars on
pork-barrel projects. Then, 2007 became the year without earmarks,
because when that temporary continuing resolution expired in February,
Congress extended it for the rest of the year. We should adopt the same
approach during the 2010 lame-duck session.

To stop a wasteful omnibus and instead secure a continuing resolution, Republicans must
hold together. Fortunately, the GOP may have a few reinforcements on the
way. Three new senators will take office immediately following the
midterms — one each from Delaware, Illinois, and West Virginia, where
special elections are being held to replace temporarily appointed
senators. And the Republicans running in these races are eager to help.

Illinois Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk has promised that if he
wins, “I will become the 42nd Republican senator, with the opportunity
to put the brakes on any lame-duck overreach.”

Delaware Republican candidate Christine O’Donnell has made it part of her pitch,
too. “Who do you want serving in that lame-duck session?” she has said.
“Someone who’s going to promote that very liberal agenda that can’t even
get enough Democratic support, or someone who is going to push back
against the establishment?”

West Virginia’s Republican Senate candidate, John Raese, who is up in the polls, has stated unequivocally
that he would oppose the Democrats’ lame-duck agenda. He has said, “It
is completely inappropriate for House and Senate Democrats, who would be
in cahoots with President Obama, to take up any legislation that would
significantly affect the country after an election that will
considerably alter the political landscape of Congress. Any attempt to
do so would be a slap in the face to all Americans who voted for a
change from the liberal status quo.”

More candidates should go on the record with such statements. There’s a whole month of campaigning
left before the midterms, and voters can extract promises from their
elected officials not to let the Fired Congress pass major legislation.
This is a reasonable request that even the Democrats should be able to
support. Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck has called on
Democratic senator Michael Bennet to promise to oppose any tax hikes
Harry Reid may try to ram through during the lame-duck session. All
Senate Democrats up for election this year should be asked to do the
same.

Getting more elected officials to speak out against a spendthrift lame-duck session can help deter the Democratic leadership
from cramming it with votes. It’s been reported that Democrats are
considering as many as 20 pieces of legislation to bring up for a vote.
After failing to get the New START Treaty (an agreement that hurts
America’s missile-defense systems) ratified, to repeal “don’t ask, don’t
tell,” and to pass legislation to give amnesty to illegal aliens,
Democrats see opportunity after the elections, when a number of their
members won’t have anything to lose.

Democrats are also hoping that the pressure of a Christmas deadline will get some Republicans to
break their way. White House senior adviser David Axelrod recently said
he thinks Republicans will “blink” and help Democrats raise taxes as the
end-of-the year deadline approaches. Republicans must not cave.

Democrats are playing political games and Americans are going to fire
them for it in November. When the Democrats come back in December to box
up their personal belongings, Republicans must make sure that’s all
they take with them.