Sun Journal Letter to the Editor: Insanity in Washington

Wouldn’t you think after the sweeping election, our elected officials would use restraint and common sense? The lame duck Congress moved against the wishes of the people — yet again. The Framers of the Constitution intended for there to be a continuity of government after an election as newly elected congressmen travelled. They are not traveling to Washington via horseback or train anymore — they can fly! New congressmen need to take office as soon as possible after the election and those seats lost should be vacated immediately to avoid an abuse of power. Just look at what they have done this week.

In the Senate, special interest money bought the votes for the passage of S 510, The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010. This bill vastly expands federal power over agriculture, potentially choking off small local growers and hobby farmers and will make it illegal to grow, share, trade, transport or sell homegrown food. It is the most offensive control against the cultivation, trade, and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. The bill is blatantly unconstitutional and contrary to natural law. At least with Kay Hagan, we knew she would vote for the bill even though she said she didn’t like it. Richard Burr, once again proved he is a RINO, but do you know why they voted for the bill? Hagan received $36,250 and Burr $328,086 in campaign bribe money to vote for the bill and they both received bribe money to oppose the bill, too. Hagan received $3,500 and Burr $32,292, but the opposition didn’t pay enough and the American people are stuck again with another insane law.

In fact, the restaurants and drinking establishments, catering services and consumer groups spent a total of $12,003,121 to buy this vote while the farm, livestock, milk, and dairy producers only had $3,697,970 to fight it. Special interest groups win again. Can you see now why the 17th Amendment to the Constitution should be repealed? The Framers of the Constitution never intended for senators to be elected; rather they should be appointed by the states to prevent such unsavory actions.

The House approved HR 4783, Claims Resolution Act of 2010. This legislation now provides funds to settle the Pigford and Cobell discrimination lawsuits brought on by African American farmers and water rights claims by Native American tribes. It is not that settling these lawsuits was bad. The problem is deceit and fraud. There’s no common sense here folks. The bill was originally passed by the House in March and was aimed at addressing income tax benefits to charitable contributions for the relief of victims of disasters in Haiti and Chile, but when the bill emerged out of the Senate it looked totally different. The Senate secretly rewrote the bill behind closed doors (again) creating over 270 pages of settlements. The $5.78 billion omnibus package is wrought with fraud and not a single House member – Republican or Democrat had the opportunity to offer an amendment to improve it as Pelosi rammed it through. This bill was approved by the congressmen we voted out of office.

Are you ready for more government power over our lives? Senate bill S 3307, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, will increase federal spending by $4.65 billion on school meal programs, expand the size of government (again) by creating or expanding 17 programs, place onerous unfunded mandates on local school districts and state governments, increase prices for paying families, and allow federal bureaucrats to determine what foods children can and cannot be served at school. We currently spend in excess of $20 billion annually in child nutrition assistance and the money needed to fund this will have to be borrowed from the student supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) in the stimulus to pay for the program even as they try to find a way to restore these SNAP cuts down the road. Are you sitting down? The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “estimates that implementing this bill would have discretionary costs of $35.9 billion over the 2011-1015 period. …” Say goodbye to school bake sales, cafeteria, pizza, burgers, and dogs. The Agriculture Department will even determine how often a PTO can hold bakes sales.

The Bush tax cuts are due to expire and the Democrats are trying to snowball the country with their “we’ll agree to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone who makes under $250,000.” The inescapable reality is that the Democrats by their actions voted to raise taxes. God bless the Republicans and some Democrats for holding firm to extend all the Bush tax cuts so business owners can make plans to hire and expand their companies.

The Senate also voted to reject a Republican attempt to ban earmarks. In a procedural motion (that’s a quarterback sneak) the vote occurred as part of the debate on the Food Safety Modernization Act. Hagan voted against the moratorium and Burr voted in favor. This battle is far from over.

We cleaned house in the House, but we didn’t sweep out the fraud in the Senate.

Cheryl Lee Switzer, CCTA Member
New Bern

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