Congress—lame duck session’s power grabs continue
I received the following earlier today—the e-mail was sent at 3: 33 am. It became today’s post!
From: http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/12/15/the_dems_lame-duck_land_grab/page/full/
“Michelle Malkin
The Dems’ Lame-Duck Land Grab
Environmentalists hate sprawl—except when it comes to the size of their expansive pet legislation on Capitol Hill.
In a last-ditch lame duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas. Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5.
Yes, the hurdles are high. But with Reid and company now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.
The Democrats’ brazen serial abuse of the lame-duck session is as damning as the green job-killing agenda enshrined in the overstuffed public lands package. Earlier this month, Reid assigned worker bees on three Senate committees—Energy and Natural Resources, Commerce, and Environment and Public Works—to draw up their public lands wish list.
All behind closed doors, of course. House Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., rightly dubbed it a ‘Frankenstein omnibus of bills’ and pointed out that the legislation ‘includes dozens of bills that have never passed a single committee, either chamber of Congress, or even been the subject of a hearing.’ (Why would this bother some of these Democrats? They want control, control, control!—my addition)
The sweeping bill bundles up scores of controversial proposals, including:
—A stalled land transfer and gravel mining ban in Reid’s home state of Nevada.
—The designation of the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in Oregon as a federally protected wilderness where logging and road development would be prohibited.
—Multiple watershed and scenic river designations that limit economic activity and threaten private property rights.
—The creation of massive new national monument boundaries and wilderness areas along the southern border opposed by ranchers, farmers, local officials and citizens. (But favored by illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, and terrorists because it will make it even easier to cross the borders illegally and migrate into the interior of the nation. The federal government will NOT enforce or protect our borders and the States lose the power to do so when large expanses of lands are nationalized!—my addition)
One New Mexico activist, Marita Noon, said the federal plans to usurp nearly a half-million acres in her state would result in an ‘illegal immigrant superhighway’ off-limits to border security enforcement. Security analyst Dana Joel Gattuso pointed to a recent General Accounting Office report on how environmental permitting rules and land-use regulations have hampered policing efforts at all but three stations along the border.
This jumbo green goodie bag would be a threat to financial security for untold numbers of workers in the demonized mining, logging and construction industries already reeling from economic hardship. Vigilant GOP Sen. James Inhofe has also called attention to how the Democrats’ ambitious water protection schemes would enhance the ‘broad, and unprecedented, scope of authority it grants EPA over state permitting programs.’ In addition, restrictions on public access to newly expanded wilderness areas would hit hunters, fishermen and others in the recreation and tourism businesses.
The eco-job-killers’ timing couldn’t be worse. The Obama administration’s de facto and de jure drilling moratoria have left Gulf Coast workers in crisis. Mom-and-pop fishing operations in New England are reeling from increased regulatory burdens. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and energy czar Carol Browner’s War on the West has resulted in precipitous declines in new oil and natural gas leases on public lands. And Salazar’s recent expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System and Community Partnerships in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—by administrative fiat—will severely curtail energy development and tourism across more than 27 million acres of federally designated wilderness, conservation areas, rivers and monuments managed and protected by the BLM.
The extreme preservationists have run amok. It’s time to fence them in.” (It’s past time to fence them in!—my addition)
When I lived in Tucson, environmental extremists stopped all building northwest of Tucson including expansion of the major road leading to a newly built high school because there were a few pygmy owls spotted in the area. Their natural environment “had to be” protected. After a federal study (whose conclusions were already known) it turned out that the owls had migrated from Mexico (sound familiar) their real natural habitat and NO protection was warranted!
We can win all these power grabs going on in this lame duck session. Keep working! Keep reminding these statists and RINO Republicans that we WILL hold them ACCOUNTABLE in their next election for every vote they initiate against we the people. We are the majority if we remain ACTIVE and INVOLVED!!!
Remember: “Reid and company (are) now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.”
Contact information for ALL 23 Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2012 is on my post of December 14th!
I received the following earlier today—the e-mail was sent at 3: 33 am. It became today’s post!
From: http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/12/15/the_dems_lame-duck_land_grab/page/full/
“Michelle Malkin
The Dems’ Lame-Duck Land Grab
Environmentalists hate sprawl—except when it comes to the size of their expansive pet legislation on Capitol Hill.
In a last-ditch lame duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas. Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5.
Yes, the hurdles are high. But with Reid and company now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.
The Democrats’ brazen serial abuse of the lame-duck session is as damning as the green job-killing agenda enshrined in the overstuffed public lands package. Earlier this month, Reid assigned worker bees on three Senate committees—Energy and Natural Resources, Commerce, and Environment and Public Works—to draw up their public lands wish list.
All behind closed doors, of course. House Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., rightly dubbed it a ‘Frankenstein omnibus of bills’ and pointed out that the legislation ‘includes dozens of bills that have never passed a single committee, either chamber of Congress, or even been the subject of a hearing.’ (Why would this bother some of these Democrats? They want control, control, control!—my addition)
The sweeping bill bundles up scores of controversial proposals, including:
—A stalled land transfer and gravel mining ban in Reid’s home state of Nevada.
—The designation of the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in Oregon as a federally protected wilderness where logging and road development would be prohibited.
—Multiple watershed and scenic river designations that limit economic activity and threaten private property rights.
—The creation of massive new national monument boundaries and wilderness areas along the southern border opposed by ranchers, farmers, local officials and citizens. (But favored by illegal immigrants, drug smugglers, and terrorists because it will make it even easier to cross the borders illegally and migrate into the interior of the nation. The federal government will NOT enforce or protect our borders and the States lose the power to do so when large expanses of lands are nationalized!—my addition)
One New Mexico activist, Marita Noon, said the federal plans to usurp nearly a half-million acres in her state would result in an ‘illegal immigrant superhighway’ off-limits to border security enforcement. Security analyst Dana Joel Gattuso pointed to a recent General Accounting Office report on how environmental permitting rules and land-use regulations have hampered policing efforts at all but three stations along the border.
This jumbo green goodie bag would be a threat to financial security for untold numbers of workers in the demonized mining, logging and construction industries already reeling from economic hardship. Vigilant GOP Sen. James Inhofe has also called attention to how the Democrats’ ambitious water protection schemes would enhance the ‘broad, and unprecedented, scope of authority it grants EPA over state permitting programs.’ In addition, restrictions on public access to newly expanded wilderness areas would hit hunters, fishermen and others in the recreation and tourism businesses.
The eco-job-killers’ timing couldn’t be worse. The Obama administration’s de facto and de jure drilling moratoria have left Gulf Coast workers in crisis. Mom-and-pop fishing operations in New England are reeling from increased regulatory burdens. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and energy czar Carol Browner’s War on the West has resulted in precipitous declines in new oil and natural gas leases on public lands. And Salazar’s recent expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System and Community Partnerships in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—by administrative fiat—will severely curtail energy development and tourism across more than 27 million acres of federally designated wilderness, conservation areas, rivers and monuments managed and protected by the BLM.
The extreme preservationists have run amok. It’s time to fence them in.” (It’s past time to fence them in!—my addition)
When I lived in Tucson, environmental extremists stopped all building northwest of Tucson including expansion of the major road leading to a newly built high school because there were a few pygmy owls spotted in the area. Their natural environment “had to be” protected. After a federal study (whose conclusions were already known) it turned out that the owls had migrated from Mexico (sound familiar) their real natural habitat and NO protection was warranted!
We can win all these power grabs going on in this lame duck session. Keep working! Keep reminding these statists and RINO Republicans that we WILL hold them ACCOUNTABLE in their next election for every vote they initiate against we the people. We are the majority if we remain ACTIVE and INVOLVED!!!
Remember: “Reid and company (are) now vowing to work straight through Christmas into the new year (when politicians know Americans are preoccupied with the holidays), anything is possible. The Constitution is no obstacle to these power grabbers. Neither is a ticking clock.”
Contact information for ALL 23 Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2012 is on my post of December 14th!
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 5:35 AM
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