Whose Fault Is it That We Have a Do Nothing Congress?

Many vital issues are facing our country today. Most Americans have major concerns about our economy, our national debt, and illegal immigration. At a time of crisis like this, one might think our leaders would be fast at work looking for solutions to our problems. Instead, Congress is now in recess and could possibly only have 12 total days of work ahead of them before the November midterm elections.

What have they done to earn this vacation? Very little, in fact Congress is on track to produce the fewest number of laws ever. Congress has passed just 77 public laws this year, for a total of 142 since the beginning of this session, which began in 2013. This virtually guarantees the current Congress will be the least productive in U.S. history, well behind the famed “do nothing” Congress of 1948, which in fact passed more than 900 bills.

Instead of fixing our broken nation, we see that Congress has devolved into bickering and infighting. This Congress has produced the first government shutdown in almost two decades. The following graphic from the Pew Research Center shows just how bad Congress has been. 

The first thing you may notice is that only 108 of the laws that have been passed were substantive bills, meaning that they actually had an effect and weren’t just ceremonial measures. Next you will notice that this has been plaguing us for quite some time, the 112th and 113th sessions were both incredibly ineffective as we continue to see fights over the debt ceiling and spending cuts, but no real bills produced.

Who is to blame? Both sides are in reality, as neither side has been willing to bend on their issues. Since both parties control one house we can see this clearly. The Senate has failed to vote on nearly 350 bills that were passed in the House. The House has far fewer that have been passed in the Senate. Under Harry Reid's watch the Senate has been the least effective in decades.

Let's Get to work on Immigration Reform

I am a conservative and I support immigration reform. In fact I also support a form of amnesty for a good number of illegal immigrants that our currently in our country. Our country has been facing a long standing question on immigration reform, which is: What should we do about the 11 million undocumented illegal immigrants who are living in our country? Should we deport them all to their country of origin, grant them amnesty and let them stay with a path to citizenship or just continue to ignore the problem and hope that it just gets taken care of on its own.

Now let me make this clear I do support all current laws on the books and I think that Obama's actions of giving amnesty without legal backing is unconstitutional. It is his duty to execute the law as dictated by congress; he does not have the authority to pick and choose which laws to execute.

Being a firm believer that presidential authority has surpassed constitutional limits through  decades of overreach, I  firmly believe that the president's authority should be scaled back significantly. The easier it is for the president to act without restraints and checks, the easier it will be for an evil man as president to bring upon mankind tyranny and injustice.

As a full supporter of the law, I support congressional authority on this issue, as it is a national issue, which affects the entire country in trade, security, education, and health care.

Considering the events of the last few weeks, securing our border has never been more important. Before addressing the topic of what is being considered I want to first discuss where I have come from so maybe you will see how I have come to my point of view on the issue.

There was a point several years ago where I was all for kicking out every illegal immigrant from our country. They broke our laws, came here illegally and had to be punished for that no matter what. This lasted for a quite a while.

One day I shared these opinions with my mom and she responded by asking me "what about your Aunt?" I have an Aunt who had recently married my Uncle, a paranoid schizophrenic. She came here legally but lost legal status and just stayed here and has since struggled to work toward legal status. I thought about this for a little while.

Before this point I hadn't known anyone who was in the U.S. illegally. I was still stuck in my thoughts and opinions, but it started me thinking. If she were to be deported, what would be the impact on my uncle? He would probably have another episode or possibly something worse.

 While in college I talked to several people including a friend who was working on his path to citizenship. He was born in Canada, but moved to the U.S. around age 3. It took him over 18 years to be able to get citizenship. Even for those who marry citizens the path is not always clear or easy. It can be a long, laborious process that takes many years.

There was a time that we welcomed everyone to come to America. I’m not suggesting that we encourage everyone to come here, but by far we seem to believe that only a few people should come - that they should be similar to who we already are and should speak English perfectly. We used to be a melting pot of countries, ideas and immigrants, but now we are becoming more intolerant and ignorant of other cultures and beliefs.

 In 2007 I was in Las Vegas, and I saw many people whom I was familiar with take to the streets to rally for immigration reform that had been supported by President George W. Bush. This attempt at reform was struck down by congressional Republicans. A few years passed, and our country dipped into what is now being referred to as the Great Recession. I talked with friends of mine from Vegas who mentioned that many illegal immigrants were returning back to their countries due to lack of work. I wondered if this would continue. If so we would not have a problem anymore. The issue with that idea is that many of these people grew up in the U.S, and to them this is their country and many of them don't even speak the home language of their country of birth.

While interning in the Senate I had a long discussion once about my views on immigration with a fellow intern, during which we did some what-ifs. What if someone was brought here as a 2 year old and they are now 23, have never known the country they were born in, and only know this country as their home? How then do you justify punishing a 2 year old for the actions of their parents? I still remained pretty stiff in my response. I looked at what I felt is the burden of illegal immigration. If somehow we got rid of 11 million immigrants then maybe the 14 million people who are out of work would have enough jobs available for them. Maybe our school system would get better, maybe our country wouldn't have as much debt.

 I even thoroughly liked Mitt Romney's idea of self deportation by discouraging illegal immigrants through e-verify and similar methods. The change had started though, as I realized how my ancestors had come to this nation at a time when this land was a shining beacon to all who wanted a new life. We didn't tell others that they couldn't come to our nation because they were poor, or because they couldn't speak the language.

Instead we inscribed on the Statue of Liberty the phrase "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."  

Now that I've addressed some whys of immigration reform, let's think about the what. What is being considered? The current senate bill that was passed last year included a long list of ideas including securing the borders, a path to citizenship for illegal's and changing and modernizing the rules for legal immigration to prevent such a backlog and some of the other issues occurring due to the current system.

A simple breakdown of the bill can be found here. I will not go into detail as you can find all of that information for yourself about some of the benefits here, here and here. I would also suggest taking a look at both the Heritage Foundation's opinion and the Cato Institute's opinion on the issues.  I will say a few words however. The bill calls for significant increases to border security through drones and electronic surveillance equipment in addition to the security increase we have seen in the last decade. It would establish a board made up of state leaders to determine when securing the border is complete, which would be made in a final decision by the Director of Homeland Security. Also it calls for an effective plan to enforce employers using documented legal employees which would most likely be through the e-verify system.

This bill may not be perfect, but so far it is the best plan that I have seen. We need our legislators to get to work on this issue now, and stop kicking it down the road for the next Congress to deal with.

Part of the bill also lays out a plan for dealing with both legal and illegal immigrants, giving preferred green cards for those who obtain advanced degrees in areas such as science, math, and engineering. In dealing with the 11 million illegal immigrants the plan calls for increased background checks for immigrants and increased cooperation between government organizations in order to respond to issues that come up. It would create a tracking system to make sure that those who come legally continue to abide here legally.

Those who are currently here illegally could apply for legal status if they pay a fine, pay back taxes, and if they pass a background check. They would then be on probationary legal status. However, for full legal status and a green card they would still have to get to the back of the line and wait for all security measures to be put in place. The earliest that any of them could become citizens is in the late 2020's. They also would not get access to public benefits, such as welfare, until granted full citizenship.

So what has been the response to this plan? Some republicans continue to raise the issue that amnesty supports tearing down our current system of laws and encouraging people to break them in the future, although the party seems split on the issue. Earlier this week there was some suggestion that maybe we should rethink pushing immigration reform right now coming from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), but this was shot down by several republican members of congress including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Also, with this has come the issue of whether to pass a comprehensive bill or to go through the process of passing some of the bills piecemeal. Some members suggested that attaching amnesty would surely doom the bill.  The House is set to consider several portions of the bill in small pieces including security and legal immigration changes.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has lead the front to support the bill from the republican side. He recently went to the senate floor to support reform at this time saying, “Here’s my encouragement to my colleagues who don’t agree with the bill that we’ve crafted – change it. Let’s work on changing it. If you believe that what we have today is broken, if you believe that the status quo on immigration is chaos and a disaster...If you believe our laws are not being enforced and we need to pass laws that force the administration – this one and a future one – to enforce our laws, let’s change it. I’m all ears." Surely none of us is opposed to enforcing our proper laws and having a president that supports and upholds the laws of the land are we? However the current system does not do that: it encourages the president to act on his own and not have to take responsibility for his actions.

He continued by saying, "But let’s not leave it the way it is, because the way it is chaos. It’s bad for our country. What we have today is not good for the United States. And our job as policy-makers is not just to come here and criticize. Our job is to come here and to make a difference. .. And what we have now just doesn’t work, it’s not good for our country. We can’t leave it this way. And we have a chance now to, I think, truly improve it. This is not an effort to force anything down anyone’s throat. This bill that we’ve worked on is a starting point. It’s not a take it or leave it proposition. It never has been....Let’s work together. Let’s come up with a solution that modernizes our legal immigration system so it’s good for our economy, that once and for all forces the administration – this one and future ones – to enforce our immigration laws, and that once and for all deals with the 11 million people that are here illegally in a way that’s fair and compassionate. But also fair to the people that did it right, and also a way that ensures that this never ever happens again.”

So what are my views on this issue? Greatly changed: partly due to an increased compassion for other people who I have met and who I have not; partly due to politics and seeing that real change could be made here and now and that we need more compromise; and partly because I understand that there are millions of people that are affected by living here illegally that could be productive members of our society if we allow them.

This plan is fair and fairly straightforward. It does bring about a consequence for those who have committed the crime of coming here illegally through fines, back taxes, a waiting period, and through back of the line status. It also upholds our laws by helping us to have 11 million immigrants become legal. I wonder sometimes how many crimes are not reported because someone is afraid to call the police out of fear that they or their parents might get deported over it. It would lay out a pretty clear plan that would have to be followed with the opportunities for our border to be secured and for people to be able to come to the U.S. legally in the future.

It also allows for the great American Dream to spread further to these people who have come here for a new life, one which they hoped would be better than the one that they left. There was a time when America was a shining beacon to the world of freedom for the oppressed peoples of the world. We even inscribed on the Statue of Liberty the phrase "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Those who would benefit from this bill are for the most part looking for hope and freedom, much like most of our ancestors when they came here. This plan gives them that hope. This hope and freedom was what we were founded upon. Let us not fail again to be the hope of a brighter day to the world by oppressing those within our country who wish to partake of the American dream.

Political Dummies: Debunking the Myth of Congressional Pensions

Welcome to Political Dummies, a new series where we break down political misconceptions, answer simple questions, and even fact-check viral claims. Today, we’re tackling a classic myth that just won’t die—one that’s been circulating online for decades.

The Claim: Do Members of Congress Get Full Pay for Life After One Term?

You’ve probably seen this claim floating around on social media: Members of Congress receive their full salary—$174,000 per year—for life, even if they only serve one term. Sounds outrageous, right? But here’s the truth: it’s completely false.

Where Did This Myth Come From?

This urban legend has been making the rounds since at least 2000, often resurfacing in chain emails, social media posts, and political discussions. The idea that all members of Congress, regardless of how long they serve, get full pay for life is misleading at best and flat-out wrong at worst.

The Truth About Congressional Pensions

Congress does have a pension system, but it operates under the same rules as other federal employees—meaning no one is getting a lifetime salary for just a couple of years in office. Here’s how it actually works:

• Minimum Service Requirement: To be eligible for a pension at all, a member of Congress must serve at least five years. That means a one-term House Representative (who serves just two years) doesn’t qualify. Only Senators, who serve six-year terms, would meet this requirement.
• Retirement Age Rules: Even after serving long enough to qualify, members can’t just cash in right away. They must:
  • Be 62 years old with at least five years of service.
  • Be 50 years old with at least 20 years of service.
  • Have 25 years of service, regardless of age.
• Pension Amounts Are Based on a Formula: The pension isn’t just a continuation of their salary—it’s calculated based on their highest three years of salary, years of service, and a multiplier (1.7% for the first 20 years and 1.0% for additional years).

Breaking It Down with Numbers

Let’s look at an example:

• A 25-year veteran of Congress retiring today would get about $67,250 per year in pension—far from their full salary.
• A three-term House Representative (six years of service) retiring at retirement age would receive about $17,588 per year. Generous? Sure. Full salary for life? Not even close.
• By law, the maximum pension a member can receive is 80% of their final salary—but that would require 67 years of service, which is practically impossible.

Bottom Line: The Meme Is False

The idea that members of Congress get "full pay retirement after serving one term" is a complete myth. While congressional pensions exist, they follow strict rules and are far from the golden parachutes that viral memes make them out to be.

Next time you see this claim pop up in your feed, you’ll know the truth—and now you can help shut down the misinformation!

Got another political question you want answered? Drop it in the comments, and we’ll tackle it in a future Political Dummies post!

Racism in America.... Double Standards.

image credit: google search

We live in a world where you have to literally watch every word you say, every action you take, every association you make for the fear that it might be considered racist or intolerant.  Recently we have seen a bombardment of front page articles, news stories, and talking points surrounding Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty and his comments about homosexuality and the Black community.  

We have been told by the media that Phil is a terrible person because he spoke his mind and what he believed in.  He did not shame anyone, he did not mock anyone, he did not damn anyone to their death, or call for people to treat anyone any differently.  He said what he believed in and said what every liberal in this country dreads…. He said he leaves the judgment to God and he loves all his brothers and sisters.  A&E suspends him for his intolerant beliefs and the GLAAD community wants him fired.  Phil lives in America where we have the freedom of speech and the freedom to believe what we want. He is entitled to his opinions and if we are going to get up in a huff about what Mr. Robertson said, then I believe that we need to call a spade a spade and be just as upset about what happened to the Romney Family on Melissa Harris-Perry's MSNBC panel.

Ms. Harris-Perry had a panel discussion about the most memorable photos of the year and the one of the Romney's and all their grandchildren was the topic.

 Well, not so much a discussion of  the photograph itself, more like the fact that Mitt and Ann's son Ben Romney and his wife adopted a baby boy named Kieran.  Kieran also happens to be black. 

image credit: facebook

There has been no outcry from the media or the general public for an apology, for Melissa Harris-Perry to be suspended, or for MSNBC to fire her for her actions.  In fact, the people on her panel laughed and made jokes at the expense of an innocent little boy, who was brought into a family that loves him unconditionally, and does not look at the color of his skin.  

Ms. Harris-Perry's next segment was "Is it Racist?"  Clearly, she missed that lesson in school.

Looking forward to 2014 Politics in the U.S.

Christmas is over and gone, most of us are looking at making resolutions and a new year. As we look forward to a new year, 2014 has many issues on the horizon. As we mentioned before, Congress last year was one of the least effective in decades, it has many policy questions lying in front of it. Additionally we have midterm elections.
So here are some of the thing to look at come next year:

1. Austerity, deficit spending and the debt ceiling. We saw a government shutdown last year what will happen when the debt ceiling needs to be raised again come mid February. Our debt has already passed 17 trillion dollars, what is the plan moving forward?

2. Midterm elections, many think it's a given that the house will remain in Republican hands, but how many seats will change hands? The Senate is more of a toss-up and recent polling shows Democrats and republicans in a dead heat in polling.

3. Will immigration reform or gun control be addressed? These two hot button issues affect a large population of the United States, and most people think some form of reform is needed. What will happen though, especially as both sides remain sharply divided.

4. Will the economy have a better recovery next year and will it be substantial? Unemployment continues to lag, what will be done to turn things around? What will our leaders do to improve things?

5. The vast majority of Americans support minimum wage increases, but with the current gridlock in washington, what will become of it? Should it be raised and what will the effect be?

6. Foreign policy in Iran, North Korea and Cuba what will happen here? Will Iran and North Korea be forced to abandon their Nuclear policies, will Cuba and the U.S. warm in relations?

One thing is for sure, next year won't be a boring one in the political field. Be sure to follow these issues and more next year on the Political Discussions blog.

From all of us at Political Discussions we want to wish you a  Happy New Year!

The Jobless Recovery: What the Media Isn't Telling You

As I said before, often the mainstream media doesn't report the whole truth of what is going on in our country. While they may be aware that we are still coming out of a recession, the media reports that unemployment is around 7 percent nationwide. The truth is that our unemployment is closer to 23 percent according to government shadow statistics.

The 7 percent number makes things not sound as bad right? Well that's because it doesn't include people who have been out of work for more than a year, those in part-time positions who’d prefer full-time jobs and people who are so discouraged that they’ve stopped looking for work. This is the lie that the media is telling you.

What you haven’t heard is jobless claims unexpectedly went up 40,000 more than expected last week. Initial claims were at a seasonally adjusted 379,000 according to the Labor Department. That is the highest level since march and it was the second straight week that claims have risen.

Additionally, More than 4.4 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ended Nov. 30, the latest data available. That was 600,000 more than the previous week. The majority of recent college graduates cannot find work in their field, and many who are often are underemployed.

For those who are job hunting, many are ending up at temp agencies, hoping somehow to get enough money to pay next month's rent. But that'll be one more job added to payrolls next month, when that college grad starts temping for 9 dollars an hour.

To top it off, congress was the least productive it has been in decades, and is considered to be the worst ever according to a recent CNN poll. Between government shutdowns and debt ceiling debates it's clear that our leaders aren't focused on helping us.

So what has the media been focused on? Well let's see, Mega Millions, Duck Dynasty, Miley Cyrus, not to mention the whole Black/White  Santa scandal, all of which the CNN, MSNBC and FOX News have spent countless hours debating, discussing and picking apart every detail.

We need to wake up to what is going on in America, unemployment and underemployment are much higher than we are being told, and there must be further discussion on what can be done to solve these problems by the media and our leaders.

FEC Vastly Underfunded, Allowing Corporate Interests to Rule

It is no surprise to anyone that money is flooding into federal elections in the post-Citizens United era.  The surprise is how little of it is being regulated. The agency tasked with monitoring and regulating all elections is severely limited due to staff cuts and partisan bickering.

The commission over the past year has reached an all-time low in its ability to reach consensus, stalling action on dozens of rulemaking decisions, as well as audit and enforcement matters, some of which are years old.

Additionally, partisan bickering among the appointed commissioners has led to a drop in agency fines for political committees that break election rules. In 2006 the FEC assessed a total of more than $6.7 million in fines. By 2012, however due to the inefficiency of the agency, it collected less than $1 million in fines.

Despite dramatic increases in election spending sped up by key Supreme Court decisions, the agency’s funding has remained flat for five years and staffing levels have fallen to a 15-year low overall.

Analysts who are charged with scouring disclosure reports to ensure candidates and political action committees are complying with laws have a nearly quarter-million-page backlog. One of the aims of the agency was to have all non-presidential committee audits finished 10 months after the election. At 10 months only 27% had been completed.

The agency is also seriously out of date when it comes to online donations, where few regulations have been put into place. The FEC does not require donations under $200 to be reported.

This means that $1.8 million of the donations received by Obama in September of 2012 required no associated names or addresses because they were under the $200 limit. This lack of regulation could easily allow corporations and foreign donors to make donations illegally, threatening the credibility of our election system.

In election after election, record amounts of money continue to be spent on campaigns. Last year topped 6 billion dollars, more than half of which was spent on the presidential campaign.

With more money flowing into politics, issues such as partisan divides and low staffing affecting the FEC one thing is for sure: this is a recipe for disaster.

So why does this matter so much? In 2010 only 9 House challengers who spent under $1 million won their seats. Similarly, in most presidential elections the winner is the one who raises the most.

This type of system, an increasingly plutocratic one, leads to corruption, where our leaders do the bidding of those who fund their campaigns. While our nation was designed to be secured with a system of checks and balances, we are now being ruled by whoever writes the biggest check and has the biggest balance, and that is not what our founding fathers wanted. 

As we continue to allow special interests to rule through powerful lobbying our nation's foundation crumbles beneath our feet. We need to wake up and get involved in our government especially in our communities.

Congress the Least Productive in Decades

While the Senate is expected to end session today, the house has already adjourned for the holiday season. Election after election it seems we hear of members of Congress running on jobs and the economy and after the election is over, they go back to partisan infighting while our economy and infrastructure disintegrate. It is becoming apparent that Congress has forgotten about the biggest concern facing most americans—jobs and the economy. While most Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Congress continues to sit back and do nothing.

We continue to see debate over debate on the same old issues of raising the debt ceiling and funding the government and we are left to wonder, where are the bills to restore American jobs? These issues of debt and spending will be solved by fixing the economy. If we fix our economy and restore the middle class the tax base will increase, fewer Americans will be dependent on welfare and our debts will decrease. But Congress is not acting on these issues, even though most Americans would prefer they focus on restoring the middle class, lowering the unemployment rate, strengthening our infrastructure and improving our economy.

According to the Senate calendar, from when the government reopened on October 16th until the beginning of December , there were only been three bills (S. 815, H.R. 3204, S. 1197) considered on the floor. Two of these are appropriations bills, and the third adds protections for minorities in the workplace. None of them will provoke any significant change to improve the economy.

That is an entire month and a half where they only considered three bills. As citizens of the U.S. we should expect more than this from our representatives.  There have been only 58 bills signed into law so far this year, one of the lowest totals in recent history. This is not an insignificant feat. After all, the 112th Congress (2011-2013) was the most unproductive since the 1940s and even they had passed 62 bills by this point in 2011. That is simply unacceptable.

While Congress waits, our economy continues to sputter and our unemployment rate remains high. From infrastructure to trade, there are many issues Congress needs to act on now, not postpone further. We continue to see unfulfilled campaign promises and we need Congress to get to work now to help the economy and rebuild our infrastructure.