Earl Pomeroy Votes To Enable Lame Duck Session In The House
In a lame duck session Democrats, even after their majority may have to an end in the election, could still cram through policy with votes from politicians who would soon be out of a job. Already the Obama administration is saying that cap and trade is on the agenda for such a lame duck session. Other nasty policy changes, such as tax hikes, could also be on the agenda.
Earl Pomeroy voted to enable it.
House lawmakers today derailed a Republican bid to block Democrats from pushing through controversial climate legislation during a lame-duck session.
On a 236-163 procedural vote, the House quashed a resolution (pdf) from Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) pledging that Congress would not convene between November and January except in the case of a national emergency.
Price and other GOP lawmakers are looking to fend off Democrats’ efforts to pass major legislation including a sweeping climate and energy bill after the November election. Top White House officials and Democratic leaders have suggested that climate legislation that stalled in the Senate this year may have a better shot once political pressure on Capitol Hill has dissipated.
The roll call will be up here shortly.
As far as I’m concerned, there should be no lame-duck legislating in Congress regardless of who is in power. The people speak through elections. When an election changes the makeup of the House or the Senate, those legislators who were voted out have no business voting for any policy changes. Those who weren’t voted out have no business carrying forth with policy-making without including their new colleagues who were just voted into office.
And really, this indicates exactly why Earl Pomeroy is bad news for North Dakota in Washington. He may be against something like cap and trade, but he’s clearly not against enabling his fellow liberals to pass it.
Tags: cap and trade, Earl Pomeroy, lame duck session, North Dakota News
