Did you know that the US government is currently dealing with the worst hostage situation in history? The Senate, and thus the government as a whole, is being held hostage by the Republican party. There are approximately 290 bills currently sitting in the Senate, already having been passed by the House. Why is this? Are these bad bills? Have they not passed some sort of worthiness test? Surely this can't be a case of petty bickering.
I'm sure there are bills in this list that are worthless. Although, they did all pass through the House. But, as with anything, opinions abound. But there are also bills in here that seem to be fairly important. Let's take a quick look, shall we?
H.R. 22, U.S. Postal Service Financial Relief Act
H.R. 384, TARP Reform and Accountability Ac
H.R. 577, Vision Care for Kids Act
H.R. 749, Technical Amendment to Federal Election Campaign Ac
H.R. 915, FAA Reauthorization Act
H.R. 1029, Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act
H.R. 1253, Health Insurance Restrictions and Limitations Clarification Act
H.R. 2034, Rural Homeowners Protection Act
H.R. 2410, Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY 2010 and FY 2011
And the list goes on. Are these decent bills? Should they be passed? Honestly, I'm not sure as I haven't read them. Based on their names, they sound like semi-important pieces of legislation. How about that second one? TARP Reform. You'd think the Republicans would jump on that immediately, but they haven't.
The Republican party seems to be stuck in a loop. They fight to get things their way, but when they get them, they still vote no. They seem to have forgotten how bi-partisanship works. I've seen quite a bit of work done to accommodate them, yet they still want more. And if it continues this way, then nothing will ever get done.
I hope the American public sees what's happening here. I hope these guys can be replaced with someone better. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will happen. Just take a look at the current lineup in the Senate. There are only 35 senators currently serving that are in their first term. The rest of them have had 2 or more terms, with 16 of them having at least 4 terms in office! A senate term is 6 years. That means that 16 senators currently in office have been there for more than 24 years. Contrast that with the president who can serve a total of 8, two four-year terms, and various other government offices with varying term limits per state.
I think we need to break the cycle of professional politicians. If they truly want to be professionals, they should work through the ranks of local, state and finally federal office. But, they should be limited in the number of terms they can serve. We don't need to have senators who have served 50+ years in the senate. I believe those people have lost touch with the American public and don't understand the day to day life of a "normal" person.
The Senate is being held hostage. Both by unmoving Republicans who refuse to work with the current Administration, and by lifelong senators who have made a career out of politics. It's high time for a change.
