Ted Rall - Monday October 14, 2013 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

How a bill becomes a law-updated. A congressman or senator gets elected by promising to fix a problem. (Man: I will!!) Once elected, he comes up with a watered-down half-measure. Corporate lobbyists write up a bill. (Man: Everyone is at the negotiating table: Big business, me, and big business lawyers.) Even with 100% support, it doesn't get voted on unless Boehner says so. It must clear the hurdle of the invisible filibuster. When the minority opposes it by expressing the willingness to talk it to death, it dies- although they don't actually have to talk. No one actually reaps it. Yay! It passed! But it becomes neutered if the president issues a "Signing statement" that says he's signing the bill into law, but won't enforce it. If it's a law, it doesn't do anything unless Congress votes to appropriate funding for it. And if it's in the budget, it doesn't matter if Congress doesn't vote to raise the debt limit. (Man: Best system ever!

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