Jon Stewart on Omnibus bill: The Bill Cosby Of Legislation’
Jon Stewart called out the mockery Congress has made of legislating for the American people. He first shows snippets of news reports that highlight some irresponsible spending, $64 Billion on Mideast wars, $521 Million for the military. Fiscal irresponsibility? At least Vice-president Biden did not get a raise. They saved the taxpayer a few pennies.
Jon Stewart notes that the Omnibus spending bill cuts the budget of the EPA and the IRS. It removed the ban on the incandescent light bulb. Really? It almost seems like politicians are ensuring we remain energy dependent in order to ensure the viability of the entire fossil fuel energy industry.
Jon Stewart was most shocked by the item in the bill that stopped DC from implementing the law passed by most residents of Washington, DC to allow the use of marijuana. He came to the appropriate conclusion, these politicians were legislating from a spending bill.
John Stewart continued his rant. He played a news that snippet provided more information on the items within the bill, no more methane emission permits for farmers, white potatoes are now vegetables, longer hours for truckers, and much more.
Stewart wondered how these types of legislations make it into bills. He played a snippet with the answer. When ‘no one is looking’ politicians add items to bills that would never otherwise pass if they had to be voted on independently.
Jon Stewart left the best for the end. He played the snippet with a journalist stating the fact that the Omnibus Bill will allow bankers to once again put the country and taxpayers at risk. Worse, the provision was written by Citigroup. He revealed that additionally the bill contained a provision that allowed individuals to increase their political donations by more than 10 times to over $324 thousand dollars.
Jon Stewart sums it up well. He shows a snippet of Elizabeth Warren talking about fighting Wall Street. He then shows a snippet of Lindsey Graham admonishing Senator Elizabeth Warren. “To my good friend from Massachusetts” Lindsey Graham said. “If there is something in here you don’t like, welcome to democracy.”
Jon Stewart’s come back to Senator Graham was epic. “Lindsey Graham says ‘welcome to democracy’,” Jon Stewart said. “But here is the thing. That’s not democracy. Democracy is what happened when Congress passed Dodd-Frank following a big open debate and bipartisan compromise. What happened this week is someone anonymously repealing parts of that agreement by sneaking it into an unrelated must pass bill. It is democracy the same way Cheez Whiz is cheese. It looks kind of similar from a distance but it sure tastes like someone’s taint.”
Well said Mr. Stewart. You describe the pathetic nature of legislating in a manner that every American can understand. You would have done well doing Chuck Todd’s new gig. But now it is time for every citizens to do their job and force politicians to legislate the will of the citizenry.
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