Our Dysfunctional Congress

A place for intelligent and well-thought-out discussion involving politics and associated topics. No nonsense will be tolerated at all.
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telcoman
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Unable to govern

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html


Allowing finance companies to stick it to our military

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/busin ... f=politics

“When Matthew Wolf, a captain in the Army Reserve, was deployed to Afghanistan a year into a 39-month car lease, he turned in the car, an Infiniti, to the dealership and asked for a refund of $400 he had put down toward future monthly payments — his right under the S.C.R.A.
Nissan, which is the parent company of Infiniti, balked at Captain Wolf’s request, refusing to give him back the money. Captain Wolf and his lawyer, Thomas Booth Jr., sued Nissan on behalf of service members facing similar predicaments. But because of an arbitration clause in his lease, the lawsuit was dismissed and his dispute was sent to arbitration.
In arbitration, he was told that the fees for the case could total $8,200 — or nearly 21 times what he said he was owed.”
“Over the years, Congress has given service members a number of protections — some dating to the Civil War — from repossessions and foreclosures.
Efforts to maintain that special status for service members has run into resistance from the financial industry, including many of the same banks that promote the work they do for veterans. While using mandatory arbitration, some companies repeatedly violate the federal protections, leaving troops and their families vulnerable to predatory lending, the military lawyers and government officials say.”

Sad state of affairs.

Telcoman


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Rogue One
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Republicans Learn to Play Hardball
http://www.wsj.com/articles/kim-strasse ... 1426805918
Mitch McConnell draws the line when Senate Democrats filibuster a human-trafficking law.

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telcoman
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/us/po ... itics&_r=0

"Yet for Mr. McConnell, some errors seem unforced. Republicans added an abortion restriction to an otherwise bipartisan sex-trafficking bill, making it untenable for Democrats. Although there is controversy over whether Democrats knew about the language all along, Republicans would not take it out."
“It’s a bad idea to put poison pills in your own bills,” said Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri. “I think it’s more stumbling on their side than strategy on ours.”
"On Ms. Lynch, Mr. McConnell finds himself constrained — most Republicans have said they would not vote to confirm her no matter when her nomination comes to the floor, making it likely that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will have to cast a tiebreaking vote. That is not precisely the image of a new and functioning Congress."

Confirming what most Americans already know

The Republican majority in congress is unable and unfit to govern.

Telcoman

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Rogue One
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:facepalm: If you're going to disparage an article, try reading it first. :slap:
Yes, it is language that has been in law for 37 years and yes, it was in the bill all along, and yes, Democrats had voted for it unanimously in committee, and yes they had voted for it unanimously last year in an appropriations bill. But Minority Leader Harry Reid needed a reason to balk, and the abortion language had the side benefit of allowing Democrats to revive the Republican “war on women.” They filibustered.


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