Bider: as in “to bide one’s time”.
I thought Pelosi and the Dems reached a whole new level of blocking the will of the people when she not only refused to allow a vote on energy legislation because she wanted to save the world (her words), but then closed up shop a bit early, ordered CSPAN cameras shut off, and turned out the lights on a protest by Republicans on the floor of the House, showing just how tolerant liberals are of free speech when they don’t like what is being said.
Does anyone else see the irony of Pelosi leading the House after the drama of a house falling on her sister? But I digress…
OK… so the House adjourned and the Senate adjourned and everyone went home for a much undeserved vacation (wish I had a job where we could all just leave for a month after having accomplished virtually none of our goals).
But wait, not so fast… did they adjourn?
Nooooo…. they are no longer actually conducting business, but that wasn’t enough for the Dem leadership in the Senate. It wasn’t near enough to just simply go on vacation with unfinished business. Not nearly enough to leave unfinished work on crucial spending bills.
No.. they needed to make sure they stopped as much of the business of the federal government as they could without actually having to expend any energy.
The Dem leadership in the Senate has kept the Senate in session, but not really, so that President Bush can not exercise his authority to make recess appointments of judges and other federal positions.
Folks, it doesn’t get much more political than this. In addition to a complete suspension of confirmation hearings, debates, votes, etc during this in-session quasi-recess, Harry Reid is making sure that the President can not make recess appointments while Reid and his cronies are sunning poolside.
From the AP-
What happens if the Senate is supposed to meet and there aren’t any senators around?
The show must go on, as the chamber demonstrated Friday morning, even if a staff aide has to wield the gavel.
Nancy Erickson, a Democratic aide who serves as secretary of the Senate, stood in Friday for a tardy Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.
<snip>
Friday’s Senate meeting was one of a spate of pro forma sessions designed to block President Bush from making so-called recess appointments of administration officials without requiring Senate confirmation.
<snip>
A strict reading of Senate rules suggests that Friday’s session might not have been entirely legitimate since the rules say the secretary can preside if a president pro tempore hasn’t yet been chosen. President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., was elected last January.
Setting aside the fact that a non-senator had to gavel the Senate into session because no senators were present; setting aside the fact that this may be a violation of Senate rules; the real story here is that the Senate is in session in name only and for the express purpose of blocking the President from making recess appointments, apparently the most important thing Harry Reid has on his plate at the moment.
Our US Senators have become so lazy that they don’t actually filibuster to filibuster, they just have to say they are filibustering; and they don’t actually need any senators to show up to have a session, they just have to say they are having a session.
I have an idea… maybe we don’t have to actually pay their salaries, we can just say that we did. Works for me…
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