Why Don't We Just Go A Step Further And Abolish The House?

If you ever wonder why the media does not pay a lot of attention to the House of Representatives, here is why.

Pelosi said there's "not much" chance the House will simply take up the Senate bill (a process known informally as "ping ponging") but that differences between the two packages will be resolved in a conference between the two chambers.

"We haven't seen their bill," she said. "We don't know what their amendment process will be. But we would like to see a full conference."

What the hell, Pelosi!?! there is “not much” chance and you would “like” to see a full conference. Your answer as head of what was meant to be the most important part of our government should have been, "Hell No." This is the single most consequential bill in decades. It was meant to address one of the longest-held goals of the Democratic party. Are you seriously thinking about maybe letting the Senate write the whole bill with zero input from the House?

If you let this happen, your next floor action should be a Constitutional Amendment to abolish the House of Representatives. If the Speaker of the House is not going to stand up for the institution's rights, it might as well be eliminated.

It is amazing how far our democracy is from what is outlined in the Constitution. Hugely important bills are now being completely written in the Senate with a new, completely unconstitutional, defacto super-majority rule, and sent straight to the House for only a rubber stamp. It is like watching the historic British march to true representative Democracy--in reverse.

Our House of Lords (the Senate) keeps getting more byzantine, presuming more rights, and grabbing more power, while our House of Commons (the House of Representatives) withers into a purely symbolic vestigial chamber with no real power.

This is even bigger than health care reform. This is about our future as a Democracy. If the members of the House will not go crazy about this huge power grab by the Senate, it is truly a dark day for American democracy. The fact that reporters need to even ask the question, “Will there be a conference committee?” is sickening to me as an American.