Schumer and McConnell urge senators to pass $106B border bill without reading it? Absolutely not
Breaking News: The Firm™️ to Release $106 Billion Aid Package
Yesterday, a reporter standing outside the Senate chamber told me that after four months of secrecy, The Firm™️ plans to release the text of the $106 billion supplemental aid/border-security package — possibly as soon as today.
Wasting no time, she then asked, “If you get the bill by tomorrow, will you be ready to vote on it by Tuesday?”
The words “hell no” escaped my mouth before I could stop them. Those are strong words where I come from. (Sorry, Mom.)
The reporter immediately understood that my frustration was not directed at her. Rather, it was directed at the Law Firm of Schumer & McConnell (The Firm™️), which is perpetually trying to normalize a corrupt approach to legislating, in which The Firm™️:
The Corrupt Approach of The Firm™️
- Spends months drafting legislation in complete secrecy
- Aggressively markets that legislation based not on its details and practical implications (good and bad), but only on its broadest, least-controversial objectives
- Lets members see bill text for the first time only a few days (sometimes a few hours) before an arbitrary deadline imposed by The Firm™️ itself, always with a contrived sense of urgency
- Forces a vote on the legislation on or before that deadline, denying senators any real opportunity to read, digest, and debate the measure on its merits, much less introduce, consider, and vote on amendments to fix any perceived problems with the bill or otherwise improve it.
Whenever The Firm™️ engages in this practice, it largely excludes nearly every senator from the constitutionally prescribed process in which all senators are supposed to participate. By so doing, The Firm™️ effectively disenfranchises hundreds of millions of Americans — at least for purposes relevant to the legislation at hand — and that’s tragic. It’s also un-American, uncivil, uncollegial, and really uncool.
So why does The Firm™️ do it?
Every time The Firm™️ utilizes this approach and the bill passes — and it nearly always does — The Firm™️ becomes more powerful.
The high success rate is largely attributable to the fact that The Firm™️ has become very adept at (a) enlisting the help of the (freakishly cooperative) corporate media, (b) exerting peer pressure in a way that makes what you experienced in middle school look mild by comparison, and (c) rewarding those who consistently vote with The Firm™️ with various privileges that The Firm™️ is uniquely capable of offering, such as committee assignments, help with campaign fundraising, and a whole host of other widely coveted things that The Firm™️ is free to distribute in any manner it pleases.
It’s through this process that The Firm™️ passes most major spending legislation. And it’s through this process that The Firm™️ likely intends to pass the still-secret, $106 billion supplemental aid/border-security package, which The Firm™️ has spent four months negotiating with the luxury of obsessing over every sentence, word, period, and comma.
I still don’t know exactly what’s in this bill, although I have serious concerns with it based on the few details The Firm™️ has been willing to share. But under no circumstances should this bill — which would fund military operations in three distant parts of the world and make massive, permanent changes to immigration law — be passed next week.
Nor should it be passed until we have had adequate time to read the bill, discuss it with constituents, debate it, offer amendments, and vote on those amendments.
There’s no universe in which those things will happen by next week.
Depending on how long it is and the complexity of its provisions, the minimum period of time we should devote to this bill after it’s released should be measured in weeks or months, not days or hours.
What role does mainstream media play in promoting The Firm™️’s agenda?
Ve) mainstream media in promoting its agenda, and (b) finding ways to convince enough senators, through pressure, persuasion, or promises of pet projects, to back the legislation. In other words, The Firm™️ has mastered the art of manipulating the system to achieve its desired outcomes, regardless of the merits of the legislation itself.
And what happens when The Firm™️ gets its way? The American people lose. We lose because we are denied a transparent and accountable legislative process. We lose because we don’t have the opportunity to fully understand the impact of the legislation on our lives and make informed decisions. We lose because our representatives are not able to fully vet and improve the bills that are put before them. And ultimately, we lose because our democracy becomes weaker and less responsive to the needs and concerns of the people it is supposed to serve.
It’s time for a change. It’s time to demand a better and more open legislative process. It’s time to reject the corrupt approach of The Firm™️ and hold our lawmakers accountable for their actions. We cannot let them continue to pass major legislation without proper scrutiny and debate. We must insist on transparency, accountability, and the opportunity for all senators to fulfill their constitutional duty to represent the interests of their constituents.
So, as The Firm™️ prepares to release its $106 billion aid package, let’s not be fooled by the flashy headlines and promises of good intentions. Let’s demand the full text of the bill well in advance, so that we can assess its contents and implications. Let’s demand sufficient time for thorough examination and discussion. And let’s demand that our senators vote based on what is best for the American people, not what is best for The Firm™️ and its quest for power.
The future of our democracy depends on it.
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