Mike Lee: Everything About Fiscal Cliff Deal a Failure, Only Had Six Minutes to Read It Before Voting

Dysfunction junction

Fox News

Mike Lee, Utah's junior Republican senator, joined Fox News' Jenna Lee on Happening Now this morning to talk about his op-ed in the Washington Examiner about Washington's dithering along an unsustainable path of spending and debt. In the course of the discussion, Lee explained what he saw was wrong with this week's fiscal cliff deal. "Everything about this bill was a failure," the senator said, "what Congress did, how Congress did it and what Congress didn't do." What Congress didn't do includes reading the bill. Lee says Senators "were given a total of six minutes to read this bill before we had to vote on it," and said lawmakers had to insist on "the opportunity to read legislation before we cast a vote on it," something he promised in his insurgent 2010 campaign (Lee defeated long-time incumbent Republican Bill Bennett to win the Senate seat).

Video below:

h/t to Connor Boyack, who adds that the way the bill was rushed through was "just like with the so-called 'Patriot Act'."

UPDATE: I originally linked to a different, older, Mike Lee op-ed. The op-ed being discussed was in the Washington Examiner not the the Washington Times.

Comments

[Episiarch]

We are ruled by power-hungry clowns.

Frylock: Carl, let her go! You're highly infectious. Carl, I'm afraid you've been clowned.

Carl: Yeah, I thought my flipflops felt a little tight.

[Randian]

Screw this, this is lame. Hey! I saw you checking out my goods! You want a sample? A little try-before-you-buy, eh? Come here, bitch, stand and deliver!

[Episiarch]

"Yeah, I wrote that. It's called "I Wanna Rock Your Body", then in parantheses it says 'Til The Break O Dawn'. I wanna rock your body, baby!"

[Gojira]

Lets see where this six-pack takes us.

[Randian]

Jackpot! I knew there was something special about you and I'm not just saying that 'cause you're a whore, but you are a total whore.

[Episiarch]

Frylock: Carl, we need to get rid of that wig.

Carl: No! It gave me confidence and almost sex.

[Almanian.]

Mike Lee: Everything About Fiscal Cliff Deal a Failure, Only Had Six Minutes to Read It Before Voting

No wai! Iz a lye!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

He is being a little dramatic. I mean, they did "fix" AMT (permanently too). It may have taken 40 years to do so and a repeal would have been better, but, uh, just looking on the bright side.

[Hugh Akston]

Six minutes is plenty of time. I could read a bill twice in six minutes, and clean up between readings.

[Episiarch]

Calculon read a whole script in seconds. Why can't these guys read a bill just as fast?

Calculon: Let me see the script.

[after reading for a second]

Calculon: No, I don't like the font. Wait. "Harold Zoid". Was this written by the Harold Zoid?

Dr. Zoidberg: Written and Xeroxed.

[Hugh Akston]

Idiot. There's a much better dialogue you could have used.

Fry: Have you even read the Captain's Handbook?

Bender: I have now, and what's Peter Parrot's First Rule of Captaining?

Fry: Always respect the Chain 'o Command.

[Episiarch]

You're an idiot. Anything with Calculon is better than anything else.

Calculon: Everyone walked out. They hated it. I've seen plagues that had better opening nights than this. You said that Oscar was practically on my mantle!

Bender: Now you know why I used the qualifier "practically".

[Hugh Akston]

That was so bad I think you gave me cancer.

[Episiarch]

Hugh, I've seen better commenting from extras in Godzilla movies!

[Rich]

We've had this conversation before.

One reasonable solution is to have a disinterested person quiz a random yes-voter about the bill in a public forum. Any wrong answer -- your government career ends immediately.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I like this suggestion, but would also add that a number of yes voters equal to the margin of victory should be quizzed. If enough of them can't pass the quiz, the bill should automatically be repealed.

[Rich]

Beautiful.

[SweatingGin]

Obviously the video will be uploaded to YouTube.

[James Anderson Merritt]

At what point do we treat shenanigans like this as malfeasance in office. which are sufficient to merit recall or impeachment? Kids in Student Senate at high school or community college can do better than this. This is not serious governance, we should not treat it seriously, and, in fact, we should probably prosecute and punish those involved.

[Episiarch]

This is government. It is what government inevitably leads to. If you don't like it, you probably should be against government in general.

[James Anderson Merritt]

No. Government inevitably leads to ruling heads rolling (literally). More and more, I find myself impatient to skip to that step.

I am against government in general. It is, at best, a necessary evil, to be minimized. The evil we suffer today, however, is UNnecessary.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Impeachment is only for executive and judiciary officials. A house could expel a member by a 2/3 vote, but we know how that would go.

[Francisco d Anconia]

18 States have recall provisions.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

For Congress? Isn't that a division of powers violation?

[Anonymous Coward]

says Senators "were given a total of six minutes to read this bill before we had to vote on it," and said lawmakers had to insist on "the opportunity to read legislation before we cast a vote on it," something he promised in his insurgent 2010 campaign (Lee defeated long-time incumbent Republican Bill Bennett to win the Senate seat).

But Professor Louis Michael Seidman says that we don't need a Constitution and should trust our institutions.

[Mad Scientist]

Since they can't find out what's in the bill until they pass it, why bother reading it first?

[Corning]

were given a total of six minutes to read this bill before we had to vote on it

And yet it passed.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Yeah. I mean, if the bill didn't pass, it's not like Boehner could say "I'm never letting you vote on this again!" Obviously they would try again. Which gives you more time to read it.

[Some call me Tim?]

Pretty sure Lee is a Senator and that Reid is the one with the effective power in that governing body, not John Boehner.

[wanderlustmisfit]

She really drove home the idea that voting can solve our problems. But, since we all watched the last presidential election, and the one before that and the one before that, it's pretty apparent that the corrupt shove the corrupt down our throats. Left or right? who cares? they're all corrupt! Oh, you would like to vote for a libertarian? sorry, errr, no! voting hasn't been working, peaceful demonstrations never worked... our options are slimming but there's still one big option left.

[Hugh Akston]

Take off and nuke the site from orbit?

[waaminn]

Sounds like some pretty narley stuff to me dude. Wow.

http://www.otAnon.tk

[Loki]

They had to pass it to find out what was in it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

This guy does not love America.

[Francisco d Anconia]

States Most Likely to Go Bankrupt

And what do they have in common?

Here is a hint.

[Mad Scientist]

They can't be out of money. They still have checks left!

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Ed Rendell hasn't been governor of PA for over two years. How old is that list?

[Sevo]

They're featuring the Governator for CA. They don't claim him to be Governor, but it sure looks like that and moonbeam would be very suprised.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Got me? Bitch wife sent me some dated shit. After I post, she tells me she got it of the Facethingy.

Sorry. You'd think I wouldn't have to check the wife's sources.

But I'll bet it hasn't changed much in 2 years.

[Francisco d Anconia]

off

[Paul.]

I skimmed the post. I presume Lee voted "no".

Because if I were a lawmaker, if I can't read a bill or don't know what's in it, my default vote is "no". If I read the bill and understand it, my probable vote will be "no".

[protefeed]

Googled it:

NAYs ---8

Bennet (D-CO)
Carper (D-DE)
Grassley (R-IA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Lee (R-UT)
Paul (R-KY)
Rubio (R-FL)
Shelby (R-AL)

Not Voting - 3

DeMint (R-SC)
Kirk (R-IL)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Every other piece of shit in the Senate voted yes.

[Raven Nation]

And don't forget, according to H&R yesterday, Harkin voted no b/c taxes on the rich didn't go up enough.

[Hyperion]

But have no fear. We have a new senator from TX on his way.

And his first order of business is to write a law to repeal Obamacare.

WTF? I mean, I dunno, but if he wants to help, he could work on something that isn't a complete fucking waste of time to the point that it's beyond a joke.

New Senator to save us by wasting everyones time

This takes token jestures to a whole new level.

[Hyperion]

Reading the bill is not a concern, because a large majority of our Congress critters do not give a damn about what is in the bill, except for all of the pork that has been shoved into it. And all of that has been worked out ahead of time. The other stuff just fucks over all of their consituents and they stopped caring about that the day they took office.

We really do need an amendment on this crap. I know I am going way out in fantasy land here, but here is what I would like to see.

Any bill cannot, ever, contain anything at all that is unrelated to the bill itself. No pork, no subsidies, no special tax breaks, no piggybacking of other bills, no anything else, period, except the bill itself.

All bills are to be posted online for 90 days prior to a vote on it, and anyone reading it can submit comments. After that, the congress critters have 30 days to read said comments. Then and only then, a vote.

Yes, of course this means they will never get anyting done, that's the best part.

[dunlap]

"Yes, of course this means they will never get anything done, that's the best part."

I like it.

What confuses me is why do horrible bills get passed more quickly than the length of time it takes to get ANYTHING ELSE done with government?

You can't get a library card in 6 minutes.

[protefeed]

It took more than 6 minutes to WRITE the damn thing. Harry Reid just didn't want anyone finding out what was in it, and asking impertinent questions.

Seems like they should have voted "no" en masse to protest not getting to read it.

[Hyperion]

Again, protefeed, they don't fucking CARE what is in it, it's just a trojan horse, if you will, to give shit away to their cronies and campaign donors and have tax payers to pay for it.

Fiscal cliff my fucking ass. Everyone of them need to be tried for treason and hanged.

[T o n y]

Congress doing nothing in this case would have meant tax hikes for everyone. That preferable to you? Or maybe you require Congress "doing stuff" to get your preferred policy outcomes just like everyone else.

[Generic Stranger]

It's kind of funny. The liberals have spent the last 10 years telling us that Bush's tax hikes were responsible for our debt, and then when it comes time to expire they act like the world is going to end if we don't re-extend it.

I don't like taxes, at all, but maybe if people actually had to pay for the level of government spending they ask for they'd decide they don't really need that much.

[Generic Stranger]

*Bush tax cuts*

[Redmanfms]

That preferable to you?

Yes.

Or maybe you require Congress "doing stuff" to get your preferred policy outcomes just like everyone else.

You really don't understand us at all Spaces.

[T o n y]

I think I understand that you want way more social engineering than liberals and you think that by slapping a bumper sticker on it that reads "liberty" you get moral bonus points in your own head.

[Redmanfms]

You really think decreasing government power/intervention = social engineering?

[T o n y]

Uh, yes.

[Adam330]

They likely wouldn't have passed the stupid legislation that led to that possibility if these procedures had been in place.

[wanderlustmisfit]

Please read and share:

Events have brought to clear and obvious recognition the fact that the U.S. Federal Government, including but not withstanding to, the Executive and Legislative branches, no longer acts in the interests of the American People, nor acts within its responsibilities to the American People. Thus are relinquished the obligations of the American People to act with interest or responsibility to the U.S. Federal Government.

Until such a time as the American People can successfully purge from the United States of America the forces of corruption and incompetence responsible for the systemic putrefaction of the U.S. Federal Government, I hereby declare my noncompliance with: the Federal tax code; all Federal laws, regulations, mandates, decrees, dictations, etc; as well as Federal drafts, or any attempt at detainment. Furthermore, I shall no longer recognize any Federal agency, administration, commission, bureau, department or service, as having authority or power over myself and my family.

I hereby declare complete independence from, and complete noncompliance with, the U.S. Federal Government.

These declarations, to be recognized and considered as promises, or vows, will be held in unfailing obedience until such a time as those responsible for the subversion of the American Constitution and the Liberties of the American People are dealt with in the according manners of justice reserved especially for traitors.

[Paul.]

I hereby declare my noncompliance with: the Federal tax code; all Federal laws, regulations, mandates, decrees, dictations, etc; as well as Federal drafts, or any attempt at detainment.

Good luck with that. I'll bake you a cake with a file in it.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Ewwww, that's a nail file

[Hyperion]

Well said, and I can guarantee you that there is probably no one here that does not agree with you, completely.

That being said, the reality is this:

A majority of voters have now discovered that, they can vote themselves free shit. As long as free shit continues, you only have a minority of us on your side.

We have to be smart. My current belief is that we have to get the support of some states whose citizens are pissed off, in sufficient numbers, to rebel against the feds, states fully behind the effort, and maybe secede, if necessary.

Without that, they will just put a few of us in prison for tax evasion, and that will be the end of the revolution.

[CarolAgain]

"A majority of voters have now discovered that, they can vote themselves free shit. As long as free shit continues, you only have a minority of us on your side."

It's all fun and games until the free shit hits the fan.

[Hyperion]

The most amusing part of it to me, is that when the money for free shit finally dries up, and the freepers turn on the goodie givers and decide to hang them from lamp posts, and they turn to the rest of us for help, I don't think they are going to get much sympathy.

[T o n y]

Shorter wanderlutmisfit: "waaah! waaah! People richer than I will ever be have to pay Clinton-era tax rates! waaah!"

[Redmanfms]

Shorter wanderlutmisfit: "waaah! waaah! People richer than I will ever be have to pay Clinton-era tax rates! waaah!"

Shorter (HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!) Spaces, I'm driven by envy and class hatred, therefore, so must everyone else.

[T o n y]

And you suppose that diagnosis is more grave than whatever motivates the hysteria in the post I was responding to?

[T o n y]

I don't know about success, but it was extraordinarily funny seeing Obama get Republicans to vote for a tax increase on the wealthy for the first time in generations.

[Mr. FIFY]

Fat lot of fucking good it did. The tax hike is like taking a tablespoon to your local municipal swimming pool, dipping it in once, then pouring it out on the concrete and declaring that the pool is now empty.

But it riles up the masses, which likely tickles your latent class-hatred tendencies.

[Mr. FIFY]

Or, take a bucket and stick it under Niagara Falls, then say "look, I stopped the water flow. King me, bitches."

But, then again, it was always all about whipping up the peasants... actually fixing our financial straits was never intended by Team Blue. Not even turning every "wealthy" motherfucker (which, depending on the level of wealth envy, could mean "people who make more than ten bucks an hour") over, hanging them by their ankles, and shaking every penny from their pockets, could hope to fix.

Gloat away, asshole. It's all for naught.

[Cavpitalist]

They agreed to continue hosing gasoline on the house fire, on the theoretical premise that they can continually receive some extra money to cover replacing their bed spread (and possibly their Eagles cassettes, too), and the non-credible promise that someone is going to throw some cups of water on it at some point in the future.

[T o n y]

Who was asking for more revenue? Not the self-proclaimed deficit hawks in the GOP. It's their demands that made the deficit reduction in the deal so minimal. It's not irony, it's just hypocrisy and lying. They don't really care about the deficit. And neither do you. You care about remaking society in the image you want and using scare tactics about the deficit as the excuse.

[Redmanfms]

They don't really care about the deficit. And neither do you. You care about remaking society in the image you want and using scare tactics about the deficit as the excuse.

What the fuck are you on Spaces?

[Some call me Tim?]

But will be truly hilarious is watching that tax increase fail to make a dent in the deficit, or even come close to delaying the inevitable collapse of the welfare state.

If you think the GOP has a demographic problem you're going to be amazed at the one facing our entitlements.

[Adam330]

Will it also be funny when they piss away all of the new "revenue" in a single bill for Sandy "relief"?

[Romulus Augustus]

In the business world, we'd get draft after draft of important documents. Changes in each draft would be red-lined so one could review only the changes. By the time it was ready for signature,
the final version could be reviewed in a minute or two. Surely our Top.Men. in Congress use a similar approach so they don't see a 150+ document for the first time just minutes before they have to vote on it?

[Ryan60657]

"who adds that the way the bill was rushed through was "just like with the so-called 'Patriot Act'.""

and the so-called Affordable Care Act.