The Circumvention of the Constitution

Mini-lesson on the malleability of the Constitution (you know, that pesky old document our elected officials are sworn to uphold).

Article I. Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Because the House voted down the bailout last Monday, the Senate had no choice but to scavenge a technically live, but substantially defeated House Resolution, gut its insides, replace its language with something more suitable to the immediate purposes of the Senate, leaving behind only the number (in this case H.R. 1424) and originator’s name and then it can effectively originate a resolution in which Revenue is raised.


The fact that this Frankensteinian practice is widely accepted as a “congressional vehicle” disgusts me and just adds insult to the injury caused by our elected officials.

I suppose I should be running out of shock and awe, but this little tidbit of information came as quite an unwelcome surprise to me as I read it (via HBL) yesterday morning.

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