The Secret Government Within - Any U.S. Senator

Late last year we ran an article/tirade by Charlie Reese that talked about the 545 people that run the country (Congress and the President) and what a poor job they are doing. He lamented the fact that since these 545 ran everything, they were responsible for not eliminating the budget deficit, reducing taxes, running an inefficient and ineffective government, etc. He was so mad that just 545 people could dictate and ruin the lives of over 300 million Americans.

Turns out that Mr. Reese was wrong in one respect. It does not take 545 people in DC to not do anything effective or efficient, one U.S. Senator can stop any initiative they want. James Warren wrote an article in the May 3, 2010 issue of Business Week entitled: "Why The Senate Is Sitting on 309 Bills." According to Mr. Warren, the secret Senate "hold" function "allows any Senator to halt floor consideration of any matter." One Senator can hold up any bill and Mr. Warren believes that many of the 309 bills pending before the Senate are in a pending mode because of holds. In fact, a Senator does not even have to write anything up or provide justification, he or she can either call in a hold or have an aide call in a hold to the the Senator's political party's secretary. The horrible thing about this process, besides the fact that an unelected aide has this power, is that the identity of the Senator who instituted the hold is kept secret except to the party's leader. It is not made available to the public or the other political party.

In 2007 a law was passed to make sure that the identity of the person placing the hold was made public six days after the hold was put in place. However, this provides a loophole because on the fifth day, the Senator that put the original hold on a bill will release the hold but will have arranged for another Senator to place another hold. This process of switching back and forth can keep the hold in effect indefinitely without ever revealing any names. How sleazy and childish can you get? According to a quote in the article by a Rutgers University historian, Ross Baker: "The Senate is now one of the few places in the world where adults can have tantrums, where the power of the individual to cause mischief is pretty much unlimited." And these are our so-called leaders. They are nothing more than spoiled five year olds demanding attention and their way.

So what are some holds that are likely in place and what are they delaying? Consider the following bills that have been passed by the House already but are pending and churning in the Senate:

• The House voted 409 to 11 to provide more training for airline pilots and limit the number of flight hours allowed for pilots.
• The House voted 385 to 11 to provide some funding to the Coast Guard.
• The House voted 397 to 25 to provide funding for the Transportation Security Administration.
• The House 406 to 10 to provide funding to help generate jobs via small business.
• The House voted via voice vote to provide funding for homeless military veterans.

Whether or not you think these are good uses of the taxpayer dollars, it is apparent by these voting records that these bills all had bipartisan support, so at least in the House, this was not a Democrat vs. Republican thing. This process is an ego trip for 100 Senators.

Thus, our assertion up front that Mr. Reese was somewhat wrong, it is not 500 or so people that can screw up the country and government, it can be only one ego driven Senator that can derail potentially beneficial government actions. The obvious answer is to provide complete disclosure of who and why one person is holding up something that hundreds of others, in the House, have deemed appropriate to do. This secrecy is not conducive to open government and freedom in this country. Anything done in secret by any government agent threatens liberty everywhere. Do I think these egomaniacs will vote for full disclosure by themselves? No, that is why dumping all incumbents in November and replacing them with effective, humble public servants without huge egos is mandatory for change going forward. Stop the secrecy now.



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