Compromise and change right? Read about this latest display of arrogance: (h/t Jonah Goldberg)
This weekend, I spoke on free trade at the Club for Growth’s annual meeting in Palm Beach this weekend. At dinner last night, I heard an amazing story from Steve King, a Republican congressman from Iowa. I was amazed at two levels: (1) the story itself and (2) the fact that he was not amazed.
King is a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Recently, the Committee has been meeting about the “cram down” bill, a proposed law that would give the power to judges in bankruptcy meetings to alter the terms of people’s mortgages. King, realizing that the bill is likely to pass, was trying to minimize the harm it would do. So he offered an amendment that would prevent anyone from taking advantage of this special deal if he/she had engaged in any material misrepresentation during the original mortgage process. His amendment passed by a vote of 21-3.
But later the staff of the Committee, who report to Chairman John Conyers, altered the amendment, after it had been voted on, to state that no one could take advantage of the special deal if he/she had been convicted of fraud. Of course, there’s a huge difference. What they voted for is very different from the language that the staffers substituted without the permission of those who voted.
I was shocked. I asked King if there was anything he could do about this dishonest behavior on the part of Conyers’s staffers. He said that there wasn’t.
A reader to the above blog questioned how this could be possible, everything on the thomas.loc.gov site shows the exact markups King described, no other changes.
Congressman King responded:
Your research is correct as is David’s characterization from our dinner conversation. The Judiciary Committee staff changed the language and coupled the “Cram Down” legislation, which passed the Judiciary Committee, with two of Barney Frank’s bills.
The bill then got a new number. That’s why you can’t track it on Thomas. Technically, they can bring a bill directly to the floor without committee action. This was an arrogant contemptuous action that disenfranchised 21 Members of the Judiciary Committee and every, bill paying, law abiding American.
In response, I challenged Chariman Conyers before the full committee, brought my amendment back to the Rules Committee twice, and went to the floor to speak several times. Mostly there is just no response from them. They know they’re wrong. They have the votes to beat us fair and square every day. They cheat because it’s easier.
King’s amendment makes complete sense. If your gonna give a judge the power to rewrite mortgages during a bankruptcy then at least ensure that the initial loan application was true and correct and there was no misrepresentation. Instead the Democrats, who understand they have the majority and have no desire for compromise, trashed the amendment. They understand they need those liars votes also.
Those liar loans isn’t the whole story either. This amendment was altered AFTER 21 committee members voted for it and forwarded it to the house by Conyers which gives the false view that those 21 members actually voted for Conyers version, not Kings.
This is the new age of Obama apparently.
See author page
As posted on another thread…
OBAMA IS EVIL
…for those out there who still havent’ figured that out yet.
This is despicable and it is sad that the Congressmen who voted for the original amendment now look like they voted for it. I guess they learned their lesson and not to trust them at all.
These corrupt, dishonorable tyrants need to voted out of office. This is a disgrace.
http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/
What I don’t understand is why the 21 members who voted for the amendment in it’s original wording are just sitting there accepting this crap. Sure, there may not be procedural methods of resisting such dishonest machinations, but I am pretty sure that Fox News (at the least) would love to give them a nice, highly publicized press conference. I am confident that although their fellow scumbags….errr Congressmen might frown upon them for “snitching”, the American People are starving for members of our government to step up and speak out honestly about corruption such as this.
This is what we expected from the dems, is it not?
They have no qualms about using and abusing their power.
I’ll never forget the Conservative IRS agent who pulled Secret Service
duty telling me how he overheard two dem senators talking.
They were laughing about how stupid the American voter was and how the
Reps insisted on following the rules.
How about he just beats the shit out of CONyers.
“How about he just beats the shit out of CONyers.”
An idea I can really get behind!
Tom
He’s a dem. He would probably like the beating.
I expect nothing more from democrates or from some republicans. Obama on the other hand has told so many lies , I can no longer keep up with them—the man is a true snake-oil salesman and the sad thing is that so many hang on his every word.
Ron Russell,
“. . . the man is a true snake-oil salesman and the sad thing is that so many hang on his every word.”
A prophecy? Or history repeating itself: “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” And being the communist dictator wannabe that this Precedent is, him wanting so many to hang on his word is not farfetched.