New Bill To Strip Senate Of Its Oversight Function

This is horrifying. As HotAir points out,

More than 200 appointed positions would be excused from the advise-and-consent requirement by S. 679. Among them are the following:

The Agriculture Department’s Commodities Credit Board
Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Administrator
The Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Commerce Department’s Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
The Defense Department’s Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information Integration
The Assistant Secretaries of each of the armed services for financial management
The Education Department’s Assistant Secretary for Management
Education’s Commissioner of Education Statistics
All 7 of the Assistant Secretaries of Energy
The Department of Homeland Security’s Director of the Office of Domestic Preparedness
Homeland Security’s Assistant Administrator of FEMA for Grant Programs
The Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer
The Treasurer of the United States
Director of the US Mint
The Governors and Alternate Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (amending Section 3 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act)
Governor and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank (amending Section 3(a) of the Asian Development Bank Act)
Governor and Alternate Governor of the African Development Fund (amending Section 203(a) of the African Development Fund Act)
Managing Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Office of Management and Budget’s Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management
Director of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund

That’s just a sample – and it represents an awful lot of policy, money-handling, and benefit-management, with your tax dollars. The Senate proposes to let the president appoint people to these positions without explicit prior oversight. The sheer possibilities for graft and bribery here are colossal – and that’s before we even get to the possibilities for covert policy implementation.

Of course, it's supported by Republicans and Democrats. The list includes Sen. Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Reid (D-NV), Sen. McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Collins (R-ME), Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT), Sen. Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Reed (D-RI), Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Carper (D-DE), and Sen. Kyl (R-AZ).

That's sixteen Senators who've signed on to this bill who don't want to do their jobs. We need to repeal the 17th Amendment and get these lunatics out of the Senate before they destroy this country.

Sen. Schumer Can't Name 3 Branches Of Govt

He describes how a government shutdown would impact all three branches of government. But he seems a little confused about what constitutes a branch of government. This is serious Constitutional ignorance:



We all remember how bad the last government shutdown was. There was anarchy and rioting in the streets!

Oh, wait. No, there wasn't. In fact, things continued as before, just without a legislature daily passing new laws undermining freedom.

Hat tip: The Blaze

Senators Threaten Facebook

Four Senators took time out from their busy schedules to deal with a serious issue: Facebook

We hope that Facebook will stand by its goal of creating open and transparent communities by working to ensure that its policies protect the sensitive personal biographical data of its users and provide them with full control over their personal information. We look forward to the FTC examining this issue, but in the meantime we believe Facebook can take swift and productive steps to alleviate the concerns of its users. Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)

U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK)

U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN)

At times like this, it's easy to blame politicians for such ridiculous pandering, but the blame truly belongs with the voters for approving of stuff like this. Repealing the Seventeenth Amendment would remove this kind of idiocy because state legislatures would appoint Senators based on results, not demagoguery.

Senate To Vote On New Financial Regulations

Emboldened by public anger at Wall Street, Democrats set the first key vote for Monday on a bill to rein in the financial industry — even though Reid lacks a bipartisan deal or any guarantee that he’ll get the crucial 60th vote needed to break a filibuster.

And if no Republican cracks, and the bill goes down, Reid is calculating that would be politically devastating for the GOP, because the party would appear to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Wall Street bankers many Americans blame for the recession.

“We have the upper hand,” said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership.

The problem is that this bill does not "rein in" the financial industry. What does it do? Well...

At the top of the list is the $50 billion fund that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp could use to pay off creditors of firms identified as systemically risky -- i.e., "too big to fail."

"The Dodd bill," writes Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, "has unlimited executive bailout authority. That's something Wall Street desperately wants but doesn't dare ask for."

Politically connected creditors would have every reason to assume they'd get favorable treatment. The Dodd bill specifically authorizes the FDIC to treat "creditors similarly situated" differently.

Second, as former Bush administration economist Larry Lindsey points out, the Dodd bill gives the Treasury and the FDIC authority to grant an unlimited number of loan guarantees to "too big to fail" firms. CEOs might want to have receipts for their contributions to Sen. Charles Schumer and the Obama campaign in hand when they apply.

Lindsey ticks off other special favors. "Labor gets 'proxy access' to bring its agenda items before shareholders as well as annual 'say on pay' for executives. Consumer activists get a brand new agency funded directly out of the seniorage the Fed earns. No oversight by the Federal Reserve Board or by Congress on how the money is spent."

Then there are carve-out provisions provided for particular interests. "Obtaining a carve-out isn't rocket science," one Republican K Street lobbyist told the Huffington Post. "Just give Chairman Dodd and Chuck Schumer a s---load of money."

More bailouts for billionaires:

But, as critics led by Kentucky's Sen. Mitch McConnell, have pointed out, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, doesn't end "too big to fail" -- under any fair reading.

It says that failed financial firms must repay taxpayer money "unless the United States agrees or consents otherwise." It says, too, that Washington can bail out bondholders to financial firms as long as officialdom "determines that such payments or credits are necessary or appropriate to minimize losses."

This bill puts all taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars for politically-connected businesses. This is crony capitalism at its worst.

The only way to restore sanity to the federal government is to repeal the 17th Amendment.

Schumer's U-Turn On Wall Street

Sen. Schumer (D-NY) has long been willing to fight to get his Wall Street friends whatever they ask for. But now that some public attention is being given to these kinds of connections, he's discovered a new face.

Because of the 17th Amendment, politicians, especially in the Senate, can safely pretend to go along with whatever public opinion is at the moment, because they can vote for their special interests for five years, and then be a populist during election year.

One reason why representatives were scheduled for re-election every two years is to keep them close to the demands of the people. Senators, who originally were overseen by their state legislatures, didn't need short terms because the state legislature would review their entire record, and not just their campaign rhetoric.

The best way to get politics out of the Senate is to repeal the 17th Amendment.