Obstruction
of Congress is one of the two Articles of Impeachment presented against
Trump. Obstruction of Justice was
considered as a third Article but was, in my personal opinion erroneously, not included.
Mirriam-Webster
tells us to obstruct “to hinder from passage, action, or operation: impede.” It also describes “Obstruction of Justice” as
“the crime or act of willfully interfering with the process of justice and
law especially by influencing, threatening, harming, or impeding a witness,
potential witness, juror, or judicial or legal officer or by furnishing false
information in or otherwise impeding an investigation or legal process.”
Obstruction
of Congress is hindering the operation of Congress or a committee of Congress.
There is
another ongoing form of obstruction in national politics today – Obstruction of
the Constitution. Trump is guilty, but there
is someone even more guilty. That person
is Addison Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell Jr, the current Senate Majority Leader.
Under the
US Constitution here is how a bill becomes law.
After being reviewed and discussed by a House or Senate committee the bill
goes to the House or Senate floor for further debate and amendment, if
necessary. It passes or fails by a simple majority vote: 218 of 435 in the
House or 51 of 100 in the Senate. Once passed, it repeats the process in the
other house. After a passing a vote,
conference committee members from the House and Senate work out any differences
between the two versions of the bill. The revised bill then goes to each house
for final approval. The final
legislation is sent to the President for signature.
Trump and
the Republican Party is constantly accusing House Democrats of “getting
nothing done in Congress,” and being consumed by impeachment. This is another of a long list of
Republican lies. The House of Representatives
has passed nearly 400 bills since January of 2019. Congress
has actually passed less than 80 bills into law this year. Recent previous Congresses have usually
passed from 300-500 bills passed in a 2-year period. Mitch McConnell refuses to allow the Senate
to hold a vote on any substantive legislation passed by the House.
By blocking
the Senate from voting on House bills McConnell is obstructing the Constitutional
process for passing legislation.
Granted, many House bills, having been introduced and passed along Party
lines, would be defeated in the Senate. But McConnell is not allowing the process to
proceed as was intended by the Constitution.
This
article – click here - from VOX provides a list of some of the major legislation
passed by the House in 2019.
The
Congress has been extremely partisan for over 20 years – and both Republicans
and Democrats are at fault. I have often
said that the Democratic Party could introduce legislation that would beyond
any doubt end all war forever and Republicans would vote against it only
because it was introduced by Democrats – and vice versa. While both sides are to blame, this obstruction
and incompetence began in the mid-90s under the leadership of Republican Speaker
of the House Newt Gingrich.
Mitch
McConnell is up for re-election in 2020.
While it is vital that Trump, if he survives impeachment, he be voted
out of office in 2020, it is equally vital that McConnell also be voted out
of office. McConnell has obstructed
the operation of Congress as outlined in the Constitution. He is guilty of Obstruction of Congress and
Obstruction of the Constitution.
Every
single Republican member of Congress who supports, defends and enables Trump
and the Trump Presidency must be voted out of office when they come up for
re-election. Not because Democratic policies are better than traditional Republican policies, or because liberal policies are better than true conservative policies - but because these Republicans in Congress have totally abandoned all integrity and credibility and clearly put personal and partisan interests above the interests and security of the country.
As a point
of information, my parents were registered Republicans, and my father was a
Republican Committeeman, in Hudson County NJ, home of the infamous Hudson
County Democratic Machine of Frank Hague and John V Kenny, poster child for
political corruption, where it was almost illegal not to vote Democratic. My parents worked on the polls as
Republicans, and in my 20s so did I. At
the time I would say I was paid to register Republican – I had to register as a
Republican to be able to earn my stipend for working on the polls. Over the years I have voted for Republican,
Democratic and third-party candidates at various levels of government, my vote
based on the individual candidate and the specific issues.
