La. GOP Votes to Override Jindal’s Stimulus Rejection

posted at 1:29 pm on May 19, 2009 by Laura
[ Republican Party ]    regular view

An epic fail, courtesy of the Louisiana GOP, and a helpful illustration of what’s wrong with the GOP at the national level as well.

Bobby Jindal – who, in spite of some serious flaws, is still the best governor we’ve had in my lifetime – refused part of the Federal “stimulus” package.  His reasons for doing so were well-publicized;  he didn’t want to commit Louisiana to an unemployment benefit extension that will obligate Louisiana taxpayers to pay up after Federal funding runs out.

Rather than debate this decision on the merits, Democratic Rep. Avon Honey sneaked a provision into an unrelated worker’s compensation bill at the last minute which overrides Jindal’s decision.  The House GOP voted for it unanimously.

Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Jefferson, said he would have spoken against the amendment if he had known what it did.

Republican House members are now indulging in outraged rhetoric, but haven’t offered any explanation why they voted for something they had not read.  Probably because they don’t want to admit that voting for bills they have not read and don’t understand is standard operating procedure at both the federal and local levels.

A lot of the outrage people I spoke to at the New Orleans tea party was over just this sort of game-playing, and while it was largely directed at Democrats, the GOP certainly wasn’t exempt.  The GOP could pick up a lot of votes just by enacting common sense, good government measures like requiring a bill only include provisions about what the bill claims to be about, and requiring that bills be read before they are passed.  Those are measures voters would enthusiastically support.  I can’t think of a simpler concept to market; the ads practically write themselves.  It’s painfully obvious that government of the people, by the people, for the people, should not be hidden from the people by obfuscation.  But instead of reforming the system, the GOP publicly whines about Democrats being sneaks and liars and privately reserves the right to slip things like the Merida initiative into a war funding bill.  A pox on both their houses.

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