Monday Action

by digby

I’ve been linking for the last couple of weeks to CAF’s campaign to force the Dems to expose the obstructionists, and I hope that many of you have signed up. Chris Bowers has compiled some examples of the legislation the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to block with their “intent to filibuster” obstructions. It’s time to make them stand up and do a real filibuster if they are going to block legislation like this:

1. January 17, Reid Amendment to Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007: a bill to provide greater transparency in the legislative process.
2. January 24, Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007: a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.
3. February 5, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq.
4. February 17, A bill to express the sense of Congress on Iraq: disapproving of the troop escalation in Iraq (again).
5. April 17, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007: an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 for the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Intelligence Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.
6. April 18, Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007: a bill to amend part D of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for fair prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
7. June 11, No confidence vote on Alberto Gonzales: a joint resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people.
8. June 21, Baucus Amendment to CLEAN Energy Act of 2007: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for energy advancement and investment, and for other purposes.
9. June 26, Employee Free Choice Act of 2007: A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
10. July 11, Webb Amendment to the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2008: to specify minimum periods between deployment of units and members of the Armed Forces for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

I doubt that the public has any idea that the GOP have blocked these bills. And they never will if the Democrats don’t force the Republicans to stand up and publicly defend their actions and put their mouths where their money is. I want to see Huckleberry Graham give his famous dramatic reading of Miss Mellie’s death scene in “Gone With The Wind” to obstruct passage of the Webb amendment, don’t you?

Update: CHS at FDL has more on this, here. And still more:

Please, call your own Senators and voice your support for the restoration of habeas rights and respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. And throw in an extra call or two for the Senators on the waffling list above. For why this is important — and why it needs our support now — read here. And here. As I said before:

We are better than this as a nation. We either stand up for those ideals that our forefathers risked their lives to obtain for all of us – the right of habeas corpus being so dear to them that they enshrined it in the text of the Constitution itself, rather than leaving it to the Bill of Rights. Or we stand for nothing at all but whatever is expedient in the moment according to the whim of the imperial presidency. Make no mistake, what the Bush Administration and its Attorney General are proposing under the fearful guise of a never-ending national security emergency is to collapse the three branches of government into one all-powerful executive during a time of self-declared, non-ending war of their own making. I choose liberty. What say you?

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