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With all the real-world challenges policymakers can and should be addressing, it's always disappointing when they invest their energies on threats that don't actually exist.
Some Republican lawmakers support denying funds to ACORN, which permanently closed its doors years ago. Others want to stop the scourge of imposing "Sharia law" on Americans, a threat that exists only in right-wing imaginations. Some even want to stop the "NAFTA Super Highway" that remains purely mythical.
And to follow up on an item from yesterday, Congress is taking a firm stand in support of welfare work requirements that no one is trying to undermine.
The House voted Wednesday to block the Obama administration's attempt to waive a requirement that people must work or prepare for a job in order to receive federal welfare benefits. [...]
Democrats defended the Obama administration's policy by noting that HHS has said it would only let states waive the welfare-work rule if they can come up with a plan to boost the number of people moving from welfare to work by 20 percent.
"The President is not dropping welfare-work requirements, he's allowing the states to experiment, and you'd think our Republican friends would be entirely in favor of letting governors experiment in getting people back to work fairly quickly," Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said.
Yes, you might think that, but such an approach would be rational.
The final vote was 246 to 181 -- 246 federal lawmakers voted for a measure to prevent a policy that doesn't exist -- and it fell largely along party lines. Three Republicans broke ranks and sided against the proposal, while 18 Democrats, presumably worried about ridiculous attack ads in 2014, voted with the majority.
Let's not forget how we got to this point. A bipartisan group of governors asked the Obama administration for some flexibility on the existing welfare law, transitioning beneficiaries from welfare to work. The White House agreed to give the states some leeway, so long as the work requirement wasn't weakened. It inspired Mitt Romney and GOP leaders to make up a shameless lie, accusing President Obama of weakening welfare work requirements.
And now Republicans want to re-litigate that fight, for no particular reason, rather than doing real work on real issues.
There's a reason Congress is wildly unpopular.
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Well thank god we have an insightful , critical mass media to report on this foolishness and point out what a colossal waste of time it is.
*sigh*
I give up
I'm still wondering why no one has been sued yet for all of the flat out lies in the media about this administration and its policies.
What more will it take?
With "all of the real business" that Congress should be taking care of - the fact is they got paid for doing absolutely NOTHING yesterday.
Maybe it's time for US to demand a "basic CIVICS 101" test before politicians go into public office, cause I keep hearing how "smart" these people are, yet they are about as silly and confused and don't seem to have the "awareness" of 3 year olds!
And I apologize to real 3 year olds, cause y'all are cute.
Right, what we really should be concerned about is Obama trolling our skies with drones, ready to take out liberal coffee shops.
It's far easier to stamp out an imaginary threat than a real one, and in that respect Conservative legislators are doing a heckuva job.
Of far greater concern is the Illuminati, One World Government, and Agenda 21.
(Before replying, check the batteries in your SnarkOmeter.)
While our country tumbles into ruin, major fiscal battles need to be solved, and our economy is steadily on the brink of disaster, it's a good thing that the Republicans are there to protect us from such threats as ACORN and Sharia Law.
But come on guys, Bigfoot has been seen a few times, how about solving that threat? Or zombies, I hear we might have a zombie apocalypse some time in the future.
How about a further extension of daylight Savings Time to conserve more energy! Worked so well last time.
Actually the problem here is credibility. it has become literally safer to assume that Democrats are lying about whatever the issue might be. Especially when they initiate the issue.
That's just a few examples of why the administration isn't believable. It's become SOP that anything the administration wants to do is twisted or fabricated in some way, and some day that mistrust is going to really do harm.
Those are indeed perfect examples of something... although not exactly what you intended.
Nice to hear Glen Beck still has an audience, though.
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@ Shooter
You're losing.
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Shooter, you have got to be kidding:
Err...the Administration never said the effects would be felt by everyone immediately - just wait 6 months... As usual, you are trying to put "words" into the Administration's mouth that they didn't say.
Rand just pulled a publicity stunt - he'd been given his answer OVER AND OVER - someday you JUST HAVE to learn the difference between show and substance!
I looked this up - the only ones spouting this nonsense are Brietbart and his ilk - talk about a lack of credibility!!!
Outright fabrication!! Obama NEVER threatened seniors with no SS checks - in fact he made it clear OVER AND OVER that SS checks WOULD NOT be threatened by the Sequestration.
Got any more examples?
Shooter, you are just TOOOOO EASY!
Shooter that is the absolutely weakest argument I have ever heard from you...seriously.
You are grasping at straws here
Arizona is ahead of you on that. This past weekend, we set our clocks ahead 12 hours.
I thought they were permanently setback to 1860
sick, in the fall we turn them back by 36 hours.
I will give you folks an imaginery threat: this notion that Obama is in cahoots with Republicans to destroy Medicare/Social Security at these meetings he is having. So many of you folks think he is going to go outside his own caucus and push a deal that most Democrats don't like. I say no way at the start of his second term does he push something through that his people don't like. No way Obama is going to work with Boehner to secure votes, and vice versa. No way Republicans are going to allow anything without fighting to the death to deny Obama any accomplishments.
Placating the NASCAR crowd, one "issue" at a time.
As the Evil Midnight Bomber says: An object at rest cannot be stopped!!
We can pass legislation to make the zombie apocalypse illegal, and protect unicorn breeding grounds, but we can't have legislation to create jobs, or reign in Wall Street and the corrupt banking industry. This country isn't just dying, it is slitting its wrists, cutting its throat, sticking its head in a plastic bag and ramming its car into a wall at 100 mph, trying to actively kill itself in any and every way possible. The insane asylum know as the GOP, powered by the wealthy elite and enabled by ignorant, low-information voters, has taken over this country, hell-bent on turning into a wasteland of millions of slaves working for the pampered rich, toiling until they lose their usefulness, and then discarded like yesterday's trash. The greatness of this country and its ideals has been trampled by a greedy few. It's days like this that I feel like we are reliving the last days of the Roman republic.
So would it be wrong for me to call into the Alex Jones show and complain about the US subsidizing Chinese unicorn ranches at the expense of American family-owned unicorn ranches?
You can only do that if the unicorns complain about being denied their 2nd amendment rights.
while 18
Democratsworthless pieces of something I scrape off my shoe, presumably worried about ridiculous attack ads in 2014, voted with the majority.i thought you had to have a document in your hand in order to vote against it. while they're at it they should vote against the construction of a death star.
Congress: the opposite of progress.
In order for this kind of nonsense to stop, the people behind it have to realize that it is nonsense. The republican senators that met with Obama the other day didn't realize that he had offered to make cuts, including in SS, although everyone else in the world knew about it. The same thing may be working here. The people involved may not realize that Obama didn't cut work requirements or that ACORN no longer exists.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice. - Heinlein's Razor
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence" - Napoleon Bonaparte