...Democrats, she [Speaker Pelosi] explained, had to show a sense of urgency about the carbon emissions that threaten the planet, and so she was creating a select committee on energy independence and climate change to communicate that urgency. The new committee, she said, would help the caucus speak with one voice -- even if it trampled the turf of existing committees...
...Pelosi's power play demonstrated her seriousness about climate, a complex issue that may be as legislatively difficult and politically treacherous as health care was in the 1990s. But it also reflected her seriousness about imposing discipline on her caucus and preventing a return to the days when long-serving Democratic chairmen ran their committees as independent fiefdoms...
...Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Dingell (Mich.) -- the longest-serving House member and a legendary defender of his committee's prerogatives as well as the carbon- emitting auto industry of his home state -- had made it clear that he expected to lead the party's global-warming debate in a rather leisurely fashion. Pelosi was end-running him.
Is this what we need? I have no problem with substantive debate about an issue, but struggles for power will ultimately kill good legislation, hurting the country. We (and by “we” I mean those elected to Congress—myself not included) were elected to make a difference, and while I don't mean to stifle the democratic process, these things need to be worked out in a way that won't harm our Party's power. Perhaps the problem won't come on this bill or this issue, but ten issues down the line, when each successive issue has split the party more and more, the new majority will come apart. If that happens then issues get ignored, and because legislators know this will eventually happen, there is also a fight about who's issue comes first, meaning greater division and less productivity.
...We've got Medicaid, Medicare, health insurance, prescription drugs," Dingell said.
"We've got leaky underground storage tanks."
Leaky underground storage tanks? When Glacier National Park is melting?
"Superfund isn't being properly administered," he continued. "We have safe drinking
water . . . what else?" His chief of staff, former auto lobbyist Dennis Fitzgibbons, mentions telecommunications, and Dingell is back to his list: Net neutrality. Universal service. "We have to address high-definition television, and a similar issue with regard to radio . . . "
Pelosi and her allies may think CO2 is more important than HDTV, but Dingell will
not be rushed...
Maybe my old fashioned TV is distorting the picture, but I thought my party had finally risen above petty bickering. All of the issues Dingell mentioned are important (yes, even HDTV), so rather than arguing about which one will come first maybe the Speaker and Rep. Dingell need to sit down and come up with a plan that will get all of them done. If they can't do that then they at least need to decide which issues they are going to allow to get stuck in gridlock, and come up with a strategy for explaining to their constituents why they let their egos get in the way of peoples lives. Madam Speaker, you have been given the opportunity to do an extraordinary amount of good, and I beg you not to waste it. Get this party together. Get an agenda that can be agreed upon, and get things done.
No comments:
Post a Comment