pudge's Journal: Intel Bill

So many people have attacked Rep. Duncan Hunter over refusing to support the intelligence bill, because, in his opinion, it did not protect the access that battlefield commanders had to tactical information on the ground.

How is this worthy of being attacked? It's a perfectly valid concern, and obviously many other people shared it because they followed his lead. And now, as soon as that one issue is resolved, Hunter supported the bill, and the House passed it.

This is how legislation is supposed to work. Don't slam people for raising concerns and then voting accordingly.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner is another story. He is opposing the bill not because of what is in it, but because of what is not in it, and what is not in it is something that has nothing to do with the core purpose of the bill: reforming the intelligence community. He opposes it because the bill doesn't have provisions about immigration reform.

His immigration concerns are valid, but beside the point. There should be a separate bill about immigration reform, because it is a separate -- though related -- issue. Why refuse to pass a bill we have ready to go now to try to include something that will make the bill take much longer to pass?

The answer is clear: it will be harder to pass an immigration bill, and Sensenbrenner was trying to force people to agree to those controversial provisions by piggybacking on a bill they are ready to vote for.

Don't lump Hunter and Sensenbrenner together. One was blocking a bill that he believed would do harm. The other is blocking a bill because he was unable to attach controversial and off-topic provisions to it.

there is a word specific for this?

[JDizzy]

Not piggy back legislation, but a real word for when a small insertion of law goes with something else, normally something that is high chances of passing. PRetty sneak really, I dislike the practice.

Re:there is a word specific for this?

[robi2106]

partly called pork, but that is mostly for spending bills....

jason

Re:there is a word specific for this?

[Ra5pu7in]

Riders might be the word you're looking for. Very sneaky because some get added within days of the vote - making it hard for all the representatives to have time to reread and notice the addition.

Re:there is a word specific for this?

[PDA_Monkey]

Yeah, that sucks. It should be illegal.

grunble

[ces]

Isn't the reason that the Intelligence reform bill still hasn't passed due to some members wanting to lump a bunch of other stuff in with it like Rep. Sensenbrenner? I seem to recall there was some hang up a couple of months ago between the House and the Senate versions. IIRC the Senate version was pretty much what the President (and the 9/11 comission) had proposed while the house version was weaker in several key areas and also included some stuff from PATRIOT II.

What is it they say. If you like sausages

Re:grunble

[pudge]

Isn't the reason that the Intelligence reform bill still hasn't passed due to some members wanting to lump a bunch of other stuff in with it like Rep. Sensenbrenner?

No. After the House and Senate got together and worked out Rep. Hunter's problems earlier this week, it has no passed both houses, by wide margins, and will soon be on its way to the President.

Sensenbrenner still voted against it.

That's the point: there's a difference between reasonable objections, and unreasonable ones, and so many people

Re:grunble

[ces]

Ok, thanks ... I hadn't been tracking it that closely recently.

I just remember the problems that caused it to get pushed into the lame-duck session.

As you said Hunter's objections were reasonable and he would have been justified in voting against the bill had the issue not been resolved to his satisfaction. However I agree with you that Sensebrenner is being an idiot.

What were Rep. Duncan's problems with the bill? Did he want immigration reform like Sensenbrenner?

OFF-TOPIC

[nocomment]

Does any of you know where I can download the kerryoniraq video? The site just goes to the GOP site now.

Re:OFF-TOPIC

[pudge]

Poking around a bit, I found QuickTime [stream2you.com] and streaming Windows Media [stream2you.com] versions.

Immigration proposals not a rider

[jp77]

PUDGE: The answer is clear: it will be harder to pass an immigration bill, and Sensenbrenner was trying to force people to agree to those controversial provisions by piggybacking on a bill they are ready to vote for. What you fail to mention is that this bill (H.R.10 in the house) was intended to implement ALL of the 9/11 commission reccomendations including the immigration/amnesty/liscences problems. Rep. Sensenbrenner was not out of line for trying to do what the 9/11 commission felt was necessary. The

Re:Immigration proposals not a rider

[pudge]

What you fail to mention is that this bill (H.R.10 in the house) was intended to implement ALL of the 9/11 commission reccomendations including the immigration/amnesty/liscences problems

I also failed to mention that it was raining yesterday. I failed to mention a lot of things that were not especially relevant.

The point is that this bill is about intelligence reform. Sensenbrenner's proposed changes were about immigration, not intelligence. Sure, they are of a related topic, but they are separate thin