Ragin' Against The Rules

Prepare to be blown away!

What, you ask, could make me be blown away? Well, you, let me tell... you.

Check out this video.



What you just watched was an exchange that took place on the House floor on 30 March 2011. It was between Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Representative Charlie Bass (R-NH) who was acting as Speaker of the House.

As to the facts of what Congressman Weiner was saying:

The bill Congressman Weiner is talking about was H.R. 471 or the "Scholarships for Opportunity Results (SOAR) Act" which was introduced by what was most likely a tearful Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on the 26th of January. It is the only bill he will introduce this year. The bill is basically a school voucher program for the District of Columbia. It is supposed to provide vouchers to underprivileged children so they can attend private schools. It should be understood that school vouchers have been a pet project of the Republican Party for years. The program is not a classic school voucher program though. Whereas school vouchers are generally accepted as you get a check for the amount of money the government pays for your education, and you are free to take that check to whatever institution you choose, this program gives federal money that would not otherwise come to the student and allows that student to attend a private institution with federal dollars. It's essentially a "stimulus" school voucher as it injects money into the local educational system only when someone uses the program.

The CBO estimates that the cost of the bill would be $300 million from 2012-2016, a very small sum of money when compared to the deficit as a whole. Keep in mind that the bill has been in place since Fiscal Year 2004, and this is essentially a re-authorization of funding, so it does not fall under the federally mandated "Pay-as-you-go" law that requires all new expenditures be funded.

However, according to the new rules of the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives made their pay-as-you-go restrictions even stricter so that any new spending had to be taken from something else as new revenues were not to be considered. The House rule reads:

"10. (a)(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c), it shall not be in order to consider a bill or joint resolution, or an amendment thereto or a conference report thereon, if the provisions of such measure have the net effect of increasing mandatory spending for the period of either---
(A) the current year, the budget year, and the four fiscal years following that budget year"

I tried to prove Congressman Weiner wrong, because he's smug, and I don't like that level of smug being allowed to roam free. The exceptions to this rule deal with emergency spending resolutions, clearly not within the realm of a school funding bill. Since this would increase funding for the current year (as the fiscal year begins in October) and the 4 years after this, the bill clearly violates CUTGO.

Essentially what you just saw was a group of people (Republicans) who were brought to power because they told you their opponents (Democrats) were not following the rules. As a result they made all kinds of rules to make sure that the rules were followed.

I'll be honest with you, I wondered how anyone could govern with all those rules being passed. As someone who minored in Political Science that has maintained a lifelong interest in politics at the practical level I understand that almost nothing is black or white, and compromise and pork makes the wheels turn.

All that being said, if you're going to pass the rules, you need to follow the rules. Now, the real question is "When are all those guys shouting Nazi at Barney Frank going to turn that on John Shimkus?" The answer is, they won't, and that's why I rage.