My Constitutional Law class
didn't cover this:
Lone Senator can block government action
Open letter sent to the President, my senators and congressperson objecting to:
a. Senator Bunning's stunt, and
b. the failure to stop it.
Send your own letter to your government representatives:
____
Dear
I am disappointed that Senator Bunning took steps to block the extension of unemployment benefits. I am profoundly disappointed that the rest of Congress and the White House failed to override this lone senator.
My class in Constitutional Law in law school did not cover the provision in the Constitution that allows Senator Bunning or any other lone senator to singlehandedly stop the rest of our government from acting. I can only imagine the howl from the talk show hosts if a Democrat ever tried the stunt Bunning just pulled off.
My father, a civil rights activist, risked his life getting arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964. He worked tirelessly to extend voting rights to all Americans. He was a lifelong Democrat who cared about the working class. He told us that the Democratic Party stood for the working class, for human rights, for the downtrodden. He would tell us stories about how Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and FDR would overcome obstructionists in Congress.
My father might wonder what good the right to vote is when one lone senator can singlehandedly block action by the rest of Congress and the White House that is essential to the working class putting food on the table. Congress cannot afford for today's children to learn that one lone senator can get away with this.
This recent tactic by Senator Bunning ranks as one of the most idiotic things I have seen any senator do in my life. It exposes the Party of No for what it is. The political benefits of taking him to task for his outrageous stand will be enormous, if you can find the will to do so.
Remind us what it means to care about the working class. I ask that you consider what Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman or FDR would have done had one lone senator singlehandedly blocked unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed Americans.
Call Congress back into session immediately. Vote for unemployment benefits.
The right of working families to eat is more important than anything else you had planned. Show us that you still understand that.
Lee Tilson
www.rethinkingpatientsafety.com
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Wealthy retired baseball pitcher
Kentucky Senator James Bunning
singlehandedly blocks benefits for unemployed
__
Right wing: Senator Bunning’s Unappreciated Gifts [Alan Reynolds]
Michigan Democrat blasts GOP leaders
for Bunning's objection on benefits
From The Hill, - posted 02/27/10 10:54 AM ET"Durbin said Friday that it was "because of the objection of one Senator who says we have to learn our lesson about deficits.” And Reid said on Thursday that "When 99 senators want something done, it is not right for one Senator to hold it up. My friend has that right. But it is a real problem for so many different people." '
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/84039-dem-rips-gop-leaders-for-bunnings-objection-
