Henry Waxman gets mad
I haven鈥檛 written much on the deliberations of the Congressional super-committee developed as part of the Budget Control Act鈥攜ou remember; 6 D鈥檚, 6 R鈥檚 tasked with coming up with another $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.
They鈥檙e predictably stuck on revenue issues鈥擠鈥檚 insist that revs be part of the package, as they must, R鈥檚 are resisting. This will bring you up to date, should you care to go there.
But aside from all the (very important) bean counting, here鈥檚 the thing that really caught me eye.
鈥�Rep. Henry Waxman [D-CA]鈥epresents those who are at wits鈥� end with the process.
The 36-year Washington veteran said he has 鈥渘o stake鈥� in the committee and called it an 鈥渙utrageous process鈥� that is 鈥渘ot open and transparent.鈥� He said the 鈥渢hings put forward by Democrats 鈥� I would never vote for.鈥�
鈥淚 find it an outrageous process, that 12 people could rewrite the laws of the United States and come up with ideas just sitting there and getting into some mood that might influence them at the moment,鈥� Waxman said in an interview.
Waxman added, 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 lay out proposals for examinations. They don鈥檛 get direct input on ideas. They get a whole bunch of things from other people officially, who knows who unofficially, then they鈥檙e talking to themselves about a grand deal we won鈥檛 have a choice to discuss or amend. We鈥檒l have to vote yes or no. That鈥檚 an offensive process.鈥濃��
It鈥檚 easy to get swept up into the process of spending cuts and revenue fights鈥攖hese are extremely important negotiations, and much depends on how the committee achieves the savings.
But it鈥檚 also easy to lose sight of the dysfunctionality underlying this process. Of course, Congress will vote on the committee鈥檚 recommendations, if they get that far, and the President can veto, etc. But Rep Waxman鈥檚 comments capture something fundamentally undemocratic about the process.
