Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Congress Has a Very Good Day

Friday, May 11, 2001

The New York Times' Adam Clymer and David Rosenbaum wrote, in Tuesday's editions, about the Democrats' unbroken string of losses on the floor of the U.S. House. They quoted Congressman Ed Markey (D-Mass) saying the Republicans "believe that the Democratic minority is a nuisance to be tolerated, rather than elected representatives." Clymer and Rosenbaum then wrote: "When Democrats ran the House until 1994, Republicans said much the same things about them."

Which was not exactly true. I suspect if Tip O'Neill were still alive he would admit that he considered the Republicans, in the thrall of Newt Gingrich, a nuisance NOT to be tolerated.

Undeterred, the House yesterday passed an amendment which authorizes this years' payment of $582 million in back U.N. dues, but ordered next years' payment of $244 million withheld until the US is put back on the U.N. Human Rights Commission to sit next to those stalwarts of human rights, China, Cuba, Lybia, France, and Syria among 48 others.

The vote was 252-165 with 62 Democrats voting for the amendment and 21 Republicans voting against. We assume at least some Republicans voted against it because they didn't even want to make THIS year's payment.

While that was going on in the House, the Senate was moving toward passing the Fiscal Year 2002 Budget which outlines the basic tax and spending levels for next year. There was little drama in the 53-47 vote. Only two Republicans voted against it, but five Democrats crossed over to support the measure.

This now provides the framework for tax and spending measures which will follow later this year.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who has all but lost control of his caucus, told the senior Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont) to, in effect, throw roadblocks in the way of getting the first of those tax measures to the President's desk by Memorial Day.

According to Curt Anderson's AP reporting, Daschle said, "I think it's the height of folly to rush through decisions of this magnitude." Which is Washington-speak for: "This bi-partisan stuff is killing the Democrats."

Chuck Babington, writing on the Washington Post's web page about the inability of the Left to stop the Bush economic effort, quotes Mullings back-door neighbor James Carville as saying, "We've allowed ourselves to be intimidated by this argument that pointing out the tilt toward the wealthy is somehow class warfare. And that's ridiculous.... If we can't fight this, we'll have to start asking, 'Why do we have a Democratic Party?'"

As difficult as this is to do, I have to agree with The James. Everyone should start asking the question, "Why DO we have a Democratic Party?"

Go to the Secret Decoder Ring page to see the entire Chuck Babington piece as well as what Amnesty International says about the French. Also, there is a link to the Human Rights Commission web page listing all the members.

This month's "Murder Your Parents and Beg Clemency Because You're an Orphan" award goes to � China! The Chinese government said yesterday it couldn't allow our surveillance plane to fly off Hainon island under its own power because, according to Mark Lander's NY Times piece, an official said, "such a move would arouse 'strong indignation and opposition in the Chinese population.'"

This new interest in domestic public opinion is something of a surprise to China watchers. Here's what Amnesty International's web site says about this stalwart member of the U.N. Human Rights Commission:

1999 saw the most serious and wide-ranging crack-down on peaceful dissent in China for a decade. Thousands of people were arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or religion. Some were sentenced to long prison terms under draconian national security legislation and after unfair trials; others were assigned without trial to up to three years' detention in "re-education through labour" camps. Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners were widespread. Thousands of people were sentenced to death and many executed. In the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xinjiang those suspected of nationalist activities or sympathies continued to be the targets of particularly harsh repression.

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