The Senate Scores A Hat Trick

In a mad rush to finish a legislative agenda before the holiday break, the Senate threw away their common sense and reason as they passed three terrible pieces of legislation yesterday. Senators got into the holiday spirit a bit early by delivering almost every item on the wish list of big business and the Bush Administration. The rest of us were left with a big old lump of coal in our stockings. Of course, we will have to exchange a clean environment for that lump of coal, but never too worry, the Senate already figured that out in their Energy Bill.

After months of grassroots activism to try to reform the Farm Bill, the Senate swept aside the progressive hopes for this legislation in just over two days. Demolicans and Republocrats reached a "compromise" earlier in the week to allow a total of 40 amendments to the Farm Bill, 20 from each side of the aisle. Yet, senators also agreed that amendments would have to receive a "supermajority" to pass. That meant that instead of a simple majority carrying the vote, 60 senators would have to vote "yea" for an amendment to be carried. When the ambitious Lugar-Lautenberg FRESH Act Amendment "failed" after receiving 58 "yea" votes, any chance for real reform was lost. Other progressive amendments, such as the Dorgan-Grassley Farm Program Reform Amendment and the Klobuchar Adjusted Gross Income Amendment, "failed" respectively on votes of 56 "yeas" to 43 "nays" and 48 "yeas" to 47 "nays."

So, a Farm Bill that is good for a wealthy few and largely bad for the majority of Americans and the environment passed the Senate late Friday on a vote of 79 to 14.

The Senate also ended an impasse on a much debated Energy Bill on Friday. The original legislation was quite ambitious with provisions to require utility companies to produce 15% of their power from renewable sources as well as cutting back tax breaks for oil companies and diverting the additional tax revenue to renewable energy projects. But, the oil and utilities lobby rallied their senators to defeat a vote to end debate. The 59 to 40 tally fell one vote short of achieving the 60 votes required to move forward on the legislation. After renewable energy requirements for utility companies and the cutting of tax breaks to oil companies were removed, the Energy Bill easily passed on a vote of 86 to 8.

In the end, the Energy Bill did include some important provisions for the environment, including an increase in fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and an increased investment in cellulosic rather than corn-based ethanol. However, the senators made a compromise on this legislation which essentially exchanged our health and the health of our environment for the profits of a handful of large corporations and the wealthy few who own them.

Not squandering an opportunity for the hat trick of bad legislation this week, the Senate also wrote Ol' GW a blank check to continue his war in Iraq. Well, it wasn't exactly a "blank" check. It was just a check for $189.4 billion with no strings attached. That's right. No requirements for changes in strategy. No timetables for troop withdrawal. No criticism whatsoever. In a 90 to 3 vote, the Senate just signed over almost $200 billion of your tax dollars with no provisions for accountability.

So, there it is. The Senate scores a hat trick!

And, it seems that they may be going for broke as Senator Reid has stated that he will bring forward Senator Rockefeller's FISA Bill on Monday. If you recall a previous post, Rockefeller's proposal includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications corporations who broke the law in participating in the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless wiretapping. It looks as if we are headed towards another "compromise" in which the American people are asked to give up fundamental rights to appease a handful of corporations and their wealthy owners.

The Senate shoots. The Senate scores. The People lose.

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