The Constitution Geek

communism-kills:

In the real world, people get fired for this.

“WASHINGTON — He’s been in Congress for nearly 13 years, but Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has only seen two of his bills pass into law during that time.

Ryan, who Mitt Romney has tapped as his running mate, passed a bill into law in July 2000 that renames a post office in his district. Thanks to Ryan, the post office on 1818 Milton Ave. in Janesville, Wis., is now known as ‘Les Aspin Post Office Building.’

The other time Ryan saw one of his bills become law was in December 2008, with legislation to change the way arrows (as in bows and arrows) are hit with an excise tax. Specifically, his bill amended the Internal Revenue Code to impose a 39-cent tax per arrow shaft, instead of a 12.4 percent tax on the sales price. The bill also ‘includes points suitable for use with arrows in the 11 percent excise tax on arrow parts and accessories.’”

I’d just like to point out that getting a bill passed in Congress is near impossible, and that politicians shouldn’t be judged on how many they can push through, but rather the content of what they do sponsor and vote for. Here is the process to get a bill passed into law:

• A Representative or Senator introduces the bill. (for sake of example, let’s say it was introduced in the House).
• The Speaker of the House puts the bill into committee. Sometimes different parts of a bill are referred to different committees.
• The committee chair referrers the bill into subcommittee, where they debate, amend, and basically tear it to shreds.
• IF it passes out of the subcommittee, it comes to the committee floor.
• The committee debates, amends, and tears the bill to shreds.
• IF it passes out of committee, it goes to the Rules Committee, where they debate on how long to have actual debate and whether amendments are going to be allowed on the floor.
• IF it passes out of  the Rules Committee, it comes to the House floor. Keep in mind that the Speaker of the House can prevent the bill from ever coming to the floor is he/she dislikes it.
• IF it comes to the House floor, debate is held and sometimes the bill is amended.
• IF it passes, the bill is reported back to the House (where we already are, durr durr) and then a vote is held.
• IF it passes, it goes to the Senate.
• In the Senate, a senator must gain recognition from the President Pro Tempore to present the bill. If any senator objects, the bill is postponed until the next day. (So if any one senator or the President Pro Tem dislikes the bill, it will never move past this step.)
• IF it gains recognition, it is referred to a Senate committee and the whole debate, amend, and tear to shreds thing is done again. All. Fucking. Over. Again.
• IF it passes out of Senate committee and onto the floor, there is more fucking debate. And in the senate, the time for debate is unlimited, so a senator can filibuster, which means they stand up and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk so that the bill can’t ever be voted on.
• IF it isn’t filibustered to death, the senate will vote on the bill.
• IF it passes in the Senate, but the House passed a version that was different (e.g. amendments were made in the Senate that weren’t made in the House), the bill has to go to a conference committee where they debate it more and try to reach a compromise. (compromise in government, nay, say it ain’t so!)
• IF it passes out of the conference committee, it has to be re-passed by the House and Senate.
• IF both the House and the Senate pass it again, it goes to the President.
• IF the President chooses to sign it, it becomes a law. If.

So now you try and fucking tell me that passing only two bills in his congressional career makes Paul Ryan a bad politician. Fucking try. Say that you could push some big, important bill through that entire fucking process.

Hate Paul Ryan for his views, for what he has voted for and against in the past, for what he promises to do in the future. Hate him for all of that. That’s fine. Just don’t hate him for only passing two bills through that fucked-up procedure. Be amazed that he got two of them through. There are politicians that never get any.

(via itscauseyoureafuckinelf)