Photoshop art: G. Mann; H. Howell © 3-15-10

Health Care Reform Bill

© 3-11-10

They say to lead with humor, as humor is usually the most disarming means of appealing to an audience.  It is also said that in all good humor there is an element of truth.  So in the spirit of Gary Larson’s slightly twisted humor, I hope you will find the graphic above both humorous and truthful.  Now on to more serious matters as the Health Care Reform Bill looms large.  This is a compellation of five segments airing on a local radio station.

This is the CONSTITUTIONAL CORNER by Bostonian Tea Party.com, sponsored by GMS Mann & Co.  We bring you information about our nations founding documents and quotes from our founders and elder statesmen. 

Let’s focus on Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution, the passage of Bills, with special attention given to the roll of Parliamentary Procedural Rules.  Please understand that no such rule can circumvent Constitutional authority, thus all rules must adhere to and comply with Constitutional principles.  Further, all Congressmen and Senators have pledged to uphold the Constitution as the Preeminent Law of the Land.  So, in the case of the Health Care Reform Bill, two disparate House and Senate versions of the Bill now exist, each passed by its originating body.  A Congressional Conference Committee is charged with resolving their differences, but full passage requires affirmative votes of both houses.

The challenge for the Congressional Conference Committee seeking to resolve the House and Senate versions of the Health Care Reform Bill was to craft a version palatable for passage in both bodies.  This appears to be impossible.  So instead of following the Constitution, Article 1, Section 7, the leadership of the House and Senate are proposing to use a hastily made up procedural rule to claim, without further votes, passage of the Senate version in the House, and use of a Reconciliation Procedure for accounting figures in Budget Bills, to blend together desired language between the two Bills thus trying to avoid a mandatory revote on the Senate Floor for fear of Filibuster …very crafty, but definitely un-Constitutional.

What does Article 1, Section 7, of the Constitution say about Bills?  “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it…to that House in which it shall have originated…in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against The Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.”  Is this not clear?  A single Bill must pass votes in both Houses before the Presidents can sign it.

So if Congress uses procedural rules to circumvent Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution and presents to the President a crime against our Constitution veiled as a Bill, would it not be a further criminal act for him to sign such a Bill?  “Before it becomes a Law” a Bill must pass “votes of both Houses,” then be “presented to the President” for his approval and signature.  If he knowingly signs a Bill that has not passed Constitutionally defined votes in both Houses, would his action not rise to the level of an impeachable offence and remonstrate, based upon Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution, “Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors?”

Finally, if a Bill should be enacted by an un-Constitutionally rogue Congress and Executive, and under Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution cannot be deemed to have passed both Houses of Congress Constitutionally to become “Law”, should the propriety of such spurious Law in the minds of the People be held in contempt and thus ignored? Under such circumstances hope would be that the Supreme Court would quickly rule on the un-Constitutional nature of such Law and vacate the Legislative ruling.  But the People must decide for themselves how to view the contempt our current Congress and Executive have for the People and the Constitution and what “We the People” should do about it.

The time is drawing near when Congress proposes cramming this legislation down the American gullet.  Please forward this along to as many friends as you can, as quickly as you can, in hopes that it may inspire others to push back against this legislative monstrosity.  Thank you and God Bless.