Bush slipped a secret 'Sunset Commission' into the budget bill

[quaoar]

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7265052?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1114114700265&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1059

Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet

With a vote of hand-picked lobbyists, the president could terminate any federal agency he dislikes

By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON

If you've got something to hide in Washington, the best place to bury it is in the federal budget. The spending plan that President Bush submitted to Congress this year contains 2,000 pages that outline funding to safeguard the environment, protect workers from injury and death, crack down on securities fraud and ensure the safety of prescription drugs. But almost unnoticed in the budget, tucked away in a single paragraph, is a provision that could make every one of those protections a thing of the past.

The proposal, spelled out in three short sentences, would give the president the power to appoint an eight-member panel called the "Sunset Commission," which would systematically review federal programs every ten years and decide whether they should be eliminated. Any programs that are not "producing results," in the eyes of the commission, would "automatically terminate unless the Congress took action to continue them."

The administration portrays the commission as a well-intentioned effort to make sure that federal agencies are actually doing their job. "We just think it makes sense," says Clay Johnson, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, which crafted the provision. "The goal isn't to get rid of a program -- it's to make it work better."

In practice, however, the commission would enable the Bush administration to achieve what Ronald Reagan only dreamed of: the end of government regulation as we know it. With a simple vote of five commissioners -- many of them likely to be lobbyists and executives from major corporations currently subject to federal oversight -- the president could terminate any program or agency he dislikes. No more Environmental Protection Agency. No more Food and Drug Administration. No more Securities and Exchange Commission.

[kentuck]

1. Congress should pass a law prohibiting secret laws from being passed....

Without due discussion. If there is a secret law passed, it should be declared unconstitutional if it put into a bill on purpose. It seems to me it should be illegal. If it's controversial, it should be debated. No one should be able to hide such crap in spending bills.

[tritsofme]

4. A big problem here is that our congresscritters

didn't have their staff wading through the bill looking for sneaky shit like this.

They should know that BushCo will pull garbage like this.

[jbond56]

8. Senators should object

to waving the reading of a bill. That would slow down the process and provide some accountability. The bill would be read in public and we have a chance to learn how bad we are getting screwed before it is to late.

[ltfranklin]

10. They already did...

...but it's a secret!

But seriously, folks, it's easy to do this when one party writes, reviews and submits the bills, then push to get them passed with little or no debate, and no time for anybody to actually READ the bills.

There ought to be an automatic 5 day delay on all non-emergency bills from the time they're submitted to when they are voted on, so the congressmen have the time to do their job and either read the bill themselves or have staff do it. This kind of scam has gone on long enough. If they can't do it in a rule, then the Democrats ought to use whatever delaying tactics on all bills until they can be reviewed. No exceptions.

[quaoar]

11. At least if we have the nuclear option

Democrats will bring the Senate to a crawl and maybe some of this shit will float to the top.

Otherwise, we're going to have a corporate government in this country. A sunset commission of lobbyists will be dispatching regulatory agencies left and right.

Bye bye EPA and FDA and SEC.

[paineinthearse]

19. Congress should pass a law prohibiting legislation written by lobbyists,

You probably saw Rep. McDermott comment in 9/11 that they do not get to read all legislation, and Pelosi recently commented that they routinely receive legislation hours before floor action. Hell, the rethugs recently REWROTE Democratic-drafted legislation

The Founders designed a process of committee hearings and due process.

These abuses of power gives me more strength to work harder to take back the Congress in 2006.

[Erika]

2. Corporate global fascism

I hope our good moderate friends in the GOP open their eyes.

[quaoar]

3. This commission would allow Bush to eliminate the EPA

or the FDA -- at a whim.

Absolutely stunning.

[Tux]

5. Hey, conservatives

Your party was hijacked,ruined the name of conservatism, and will now hand power over to Christian corporations.

Good going last Nov.

[barbaraann]

6. They want to destroy every single liberal in this country.

They will not stop until they have destroyed every union, every job, and every human who is not a slave to the BFEE.

[Erika]

7. They want to destroy every Christian minded person in this

country. It is sad that so many are fooled by the fanatics.

[barbaraann]

9. Yes.

It's just stunning.

[Gemini Cat]

12. This is scarey stuff!

No protection, no nothing! bush will get everything he wants to get rid of, gotten rid of.
This is an outrage. Doesn't anyone in DC know how to read?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[earth mom]

14. Whats being done about this?

Something I hope! :scared:

[quaoar]

16. I doubt anything is being done

Have you even seen it in the MSM?

[GetTheRightVote]

15. The dems need to stop this hyjacking of American now !!!

:kick:

[Q]

17. More bullshit from a congress that says it doesn't have 'time' to...

...read Bills. This is what they're getting PAID for. The ONLY reason they don't want to do it is because it would take time away from their perpetual campaigning.

But then again...this is a country that doesn't even seem to care that Congress has advocated their responsibility to declare war and given it to one man...Bush.

[rodeodance]

18. I just sent the article to my Senator-Russ Fiengold and Herb Kohl