Wednesday, November 19, 2014

It’s Lame Duck Hunting Season

By:  Dale Weckbacher

John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 
NKJV

The thief that Jesus is speaking of in John 10:10 is the Devil or Satan.  The verse is a call for believers in Christ to be diligent and aware that there is a thief seeking to steal, kill, and destroy them and that abundant life comes from belief in Jesus Christ.  It is easy to be diligent when facing struggles but it is also important to remain diligent when experiencing good times. 

I am not a big fan of reality TV but the show Duck Dynasty is an exception.  The show has come under fire for its stand for God, mainly because they pray at the end of the show.  Love for the Lord is the number one passion in the lives of the Robertson family but duck hunting is their number two passion, after all, the family business is making duck calls.  I am not a duck hunter but after the recent electoral victory for Republicans, we must all be diligent in hunting down a very dangerous breed of duck, the lame duck. 

It would be ideal if after the election of a new congress, they were immediately sworn into office.  It would also be ideal if a sitting president that loses both houses of congress had to resign if he refused to work with the new legislature.  However, that is not how the founders set up our Constitution so we must to deal with the extremely dangerous breeds of a lame duck legislative session and the more dangerous breed of a lame duck President. 

Ideally, if legislators held themselves accountable to voters, the lame duck legislature would do little more than closing up shop during their lame duck session.  However, we do not live in an ideal world and the fact of a lame duck legislative session is a reality but that does not have to mean that we must allow the outgoing congress to sabotage their successors. 

Republicans have majority control of the lame duck House of Representatives.  The House is where all government spending legislation originates.  One of the pending issues the lame duck congress must deal with is a continuing resolution to keep government operating.  The current spending resolution expires on December 11, 2014.  (1)  Liberals would prefer to pass an omnibus spend bill funding the government through the end of the fiscal year or September 30, 2015.  (2) 

Passage of an omnibus spending bill will strap the incoming congress with the out of control spending of the outgoing congress.  Much of the reason people fired Democrats from control of the Senate and lessened their power in the House is because of their fiscal irresponsibility.  Voters have to live within their means and on a budget and expect their elected representatives to do the same.  However, the federal budget continues to increase and the national debt grows.  (3)  Obviously, government leaders like to live of their credit cards leaving future taxpayers with the bill.

Voters elected to change leadership in the legislature from Democrat to Republican control in this past election but for the outgoing congress to strap them with a debt-increasing deficit producing spending resolution until September 30 will only cause further fiscal damage to the U.S. Treasury.  It makes much more sense for the outgoing congress to pass a temporary spending bill keeping the government open until around the end of January or middle of February and allow the new Congress to pass a more fiscally responsible omnibus spending bill funding the government till September 30, 2015. 

As dangerous as the upcoming lame duck session of Congress is, the much more dangerous problem facing the United States is two more years of a lame duck President Obama.  Obama has already expressed his intention to go around the newly elected Congress and issue an unconstitutional executive amnesty order granting legal status to an estimated 4.5 million illegal immigrant adults with U.S.-born children.  (4) 

It would appear to be compassionate to keep families together by allowing parents of children born in the U.S. to have some form of legal status allowing them to remain in the country but since Congress passes immigration laws, any change in those laws must go through Congress first.  For the nation’s chief executive to bypass congress’ constitutional authority by issuing an executive order is a high crime against the Constitution of the United States which Obama has twice sworn to defend.  Such a high crime is an impeachable offense.  However, Speaker John Boehner has taken the option of impeachment off the table, plus, impeachment would leave us with two years of President Biden.  However, Congress still has the power of the purse. 

It will require money to enforce any Presidential executive order and Congress can block this funding.  However, if the President issues his executive amnesty order and the outgoing congress funds it through some omnibus spending bill, Obama will be able to implement his executive amnesty and the damage will have been done even if the new congress is able to defund it in the next fiscal year.  Once we grant amnesty in any form, it is irreversible.  (5)  Once again, this illustrates the need for the outgoing House to stand strong and only allow funding of the government for a short term, allowing the incoming congress to pass an omnibus spending bill that does not include funding for any executive orders, including executive amnesty. 

Unfortunately, the lame duck congress and presidency are a reality of our republic but it is possible to prevent these dangerous species of duck from doing any damage to our nation.  We therefore must light up the phones and email servers of congress and the White House during this lame duck season insuring they do not do any damage.  On the right portion of this webpage are links to finding and contacting the White House, your senators, and representative.  Express your concern that the outgoing congress not pass any omnibus spending bill strapping the incoming congress with more deficits and debt.  Also, demand that they refuse to fund any unconstitutional presidential executive order, especially an executive amnesty order that threatens the national and fiscal security of the nation. 

1. Association of Defense Communities. House Republicans Split over Way Forward on FY’15 Spending. www.defensecommunities.org. [Online] Assiciation of Defense Communities, November 13, 2014. [Cited: November 15, 2014.] http://www.defensecommunities.org/headlines/house-republicans-split-over-way-forward-on-fy15-spending/#.

2. United States Senate. Fiscal Year. https://www.senate.gov. [Online] [Cited: November 15, 2014.] https://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/fiscal_year.htm.

3. Treasury Direct. Historical Debt OUtstanding - Annual. www.treasurydirect.gov. [Online] [Cited: November 15, 2014.] http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm.

4. Tomlinson, Lucas. Source: Obama to announce 10-point immigration plan via exec action as early as next week. www.foxnews.com. [Online] Fox News, November 13, 2014. [Cited: November 15, 2014.] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/13/source-obama-to-announce-10-point-immigration-plan-via-exec-action-as-early-as/.


5. Limbaugh, Rush. Amnesty is Irreversible. www.rushlimbaugh.com. [Online] EIB Network, November 13, 2014. [Cited: November 15, 2014.] http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/11/13/amnesty_is_irreversible.

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