By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Conservative lawmakers are beginning to sound a warning about the powerful new “Super Congress” that was created in the debt ceiling agreement, saying it will be used to fast-track tax increases and give the Washington elite more power over the nation’s purse strings.
According to a variety of news sources, the new “Super Congress,” created by the Budget Control Act, is the equivalent of a new level of government that will strip elected representatives of the right to amend or filibuster legislation, even in reagard to laws that do not concern the debt situation.
Composed of members of both chambers and both parties, this 12-member panel will contain six lawmakers from each party and will be given “extraordinary new powers” that are not in the Constitution. These powers will enable them to force legislation through both Houses of Congress, such as gun control, entitlement cuts and tax hikes, allowing no debate and demanding only an up or down vote.
In a statement issued yesterday, Congressman Ron Paul warned about the establishment of this “disturbing” new committee.
“The legislation produced by this commission will be fast-tracked, and Members will not have the opportunity to offer amendments,” said Paul. “Approval of the recommendations of the ‘Super Congress’ is tied to yet another debt ceiling increase. This guarantees that Members will face tremendous pressure to vote for whatever comes out of this commission– even if it includes tax increases. This provision is an excellent way to keep spending decisions out of the reach of members who are not on board with the leadership’s agenda.”
He went on to say that the committee represents “Nothing more than a way to disenfranchise the majority of Congress by denying them the chance for meaningful participation in the crucial areas of entitlement and tax reform. It cedes power to draft legislation to a special commission, hand-picked by the House and Senate leadership.”
Part of the deal is that the Super Congress must complete its work on new spending cuts by Thanksgiving and Congress must hold an up or down vote on their recommendations by December 23. This gives them the power to overhaul the tax code and reform entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security without giving Congress the ability to modify any of their recommendations. By stripping Congress of these powers, they are effectively gutting the Congressional powers that are enshrined in the Constitution.
Fox News senior judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, says the Constitution gives members of the House and Senate the authority to debate and modify items that are sent to them. To force them to vote yes or no, which would be to break the rules of Congress, “is such a substantial removal of the authority of the Constitution that this legislation is treading in waters that may not be Constitutional,” he said.
And it doesn’t matter that members of Congress are on the committee because the Constitution specifically says that “ALL legislative power here invested shall be in the Congress.”
Judge Napolitano said there are many lawmakers who, on the morning after the vote are questioning what kind of monster they have created, and legal challenges may be on the horizon.
In the meantime, the public needs to be alerted to this problem. “The fact that the establishment of a body which threatens to completely re-write over 200 years worth of constitutionally-based legislative practice has sailed through with barely a whimper of debate from politicians or the mainstream media is a damning indictment of how the Obama administration’s penchant for executive autonomy has aggressively seized control of the political process,” writes Paul Joseph Watson at PrisonPlanet.com.
“Once again, it is up to the grass roots to raise the alarm on this shocking development in the hope that it can later be shot down by a federal judge still familiar with the basic tenets of the constitution.”
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