36 Senators Introduce Bill Prohibiting Virtually Any New Law Helping Workers
Source: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/02/240430
More than three-quarters of the Senate Republican caucus signed onto legislation introduced Wednesday by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rand Paul (R-KY) that could render it virtually impossible for Congress to enact any legislation intended to improve working conditions or otherwise regulate the workplace. Had their bill been in effect during the Twentieth Century, for example, there would likely be no nationwide minimum wage, no national ban on workplace discrimination, no national labor law and no overtime in most industries.
Like many Tea Party proposals to neuter the federal government, Coburn and Pauls bill is marketed as an effort to bring America back in line with a long-ago discarded vision of the Constitution. Its named the Enumerated Powers Act of 2013, a reference to the provisions of the Constitution outlining Congress specific powers, and it claims to require all federal legislation to contain a concise explanation of the specific authority in the Constitution that is the basis for its enactment.
The key provision in this bill, however, would revive a discredited interpretation of the Constitution that America abandoned nearly eight decades ago. Although the text of the bill is not yet available online, a press release from Coburns office explains that it [p]rohibits the use of the Commerce Clause, except for the regulation of the buying and selling of goods or services, or the transporting for those purposes, across boundaries with foreign nations, across State lines, or with Indian tribes.
To translate this language a bit, in the late 19th Century, the Supreme Court embraced an unusually narrow interpretation of the Constitutions provision enabling Congress to regulate commerce . . . among the several states. Under this narrow reading, which lasted less than half a century, the justices said that they would only permit federal laws that regulated the transport of goods for sale or a sale itself. Manufacturing, mining, production and agriculture were all held to be beyond federal regulation. This theory was the basis for several decisions striking down basic labor protections, including a 1918 decision declaring a child labor law unconstitutional.
Read more: Thinkprogress
proReality
(1,628 posts)pinto
(106,886 posts)recognize any and all judicial re-interpretations of its provisions. And kudos for the succinct comment in the piece - "Like many Tea Party proposals to neuter the federal government".
pangaia
(24,324 posts)living people as living human beings.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Clearly, the authors of the Bill of Rights interpreted "arms" as muzzle loading weapons. Conservatives are blind to hypocrisy and will bend to any degree to justify their viewpoints.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)voted these people into office and weren't tricked into doing so.
Heather MC
(8,084 posts)I talk to wing nuts all the, they love this kind of shit even though its fucking up their lives too. They have been trained to blame Obama.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)These idiots didn't just drop out of the sky. Now , where that leaves the people who voted against said idiots, I don't know.
think
(11,641 posts)is behind their rage.....
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)would believe that before I would believe anything else. Most tea party people are typical sheep, followers without a clue. I venture to say they don't want a clue, ever. Except what their brains can glean from hanitick, beckerhead, oxycontin king, o'really? and any other RW religious or political leader.
pscot
(21,024 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,605 posts)They have national policies. We don't and aren't allowed to make any by stupid deconstructionists like the guys who proposed this.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)The Supreme Court has held that a California medical marijuana patient can't grow her medicine in her own backyard because it could interfere with interstate commerce. It based that ruling on a 1943 case where the Supreme Court ruled a California farmer couldn't grow wheat for his own use because it could interfere with interstate commerce.
That has led to a huge expansion of federal power...for better and for worse.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)montanacowboy
(6,080 posts)REPUKES HAVE WHAT THEY WANT- BRING THE COUNTRY DOWN, NO GOVERNMENT AT ALL
HOW LONG BEFORE ALL THEIR RED STATE ALLIES REALIZE HOW MUCH THE GOVERNMENT DOES FOR THEM?
THESE PEOPLE REALLY NEED TO HAVE IT BROUGHT TO THEIR DOORSTEPS AND GREAT PAIN INFLICTED
I BELIEVE THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL WAKE UP THE IDIOTS IN THIS COUNTRY TO FORM A PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT. THEY NEED PAIN AND LOTS OF IT TO TURN ON THEIR REPUKIAN REPTILIAN OVERLORDS.
pnwmom
(108,960 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Never to once again be in the hands of the people and the safety net in those area will never, ever be restored. That is what they have done. And it is a bad idea to think that letting it all burn from frustration is going to make things go back the way they were, because it doesn't work that way. Peace Out.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Crossett, Ark: dumping pulp bleaching waste in streams, causing cancer. Detroit River: pet Koch dumping on the riverbank 4 stories high, 1 block long without a permit, to name just two.
And DOJ and EPA just sleeps.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Most of the country does not believe in regulation or maintaining those agencies. It's considered old stuff, and let the chips fall where they may.
We are in the minority in this country. I have had to deal with these folks in mining and other land use fights in states. The locals refuse to accept that the government has any right over private property. They are loud and aggressive and drown out all of us who bring facts and expert opinion and want to protect the environment for all, or do what is even fiscally responsible.
It takes big government to do this, but the people vote against it for all kinds of reasons, mostly media driven, and not about this concern. Has virtually any attention been given to this in media?
No, and they won't do that, but will continue to bash the Koch's enemy, government, taxes and regulation. This is their Libertarian paradise at work, but people didn't want to hear how bad it was going to be. And this is what they get.
Many progressive people quit going into office because they decided the public doesn't want it, as they don't show up. But the conservatives and the privatizers show up all year long along with the fundies. Many citizens see a golden opportunity for themselves and their family by selling off the Commons and taking what they can for themselves. They have no belief in public anything.
You can not win the battle by crapping on those who believe as you do; just as you can't help teachers by attacking them all the time and expecting them to do a good job. In the face of uncompromising and well funded opponents, and a lack of participation by those who consider their views liberal, they are forced to accept majority opinion.
The people have elected candidates to undo all regulations and agencies. It's whistling in the dark to ignore that. Shredding the last ones trying to save things doesn't help.
Despair sells and leads to disengagement which is exactly what it is intended to do. There are states that do all they can to push out the federal government as opposition to anything the federal government would do to alleviate this is increasing geometrically.
So it gets down to us - I was with the generation that gave the EPA and DOJ props all the time - and that was up and through the Reagan era. We went to the legislatures to pass laws to protect the unions, public workers, and the progresive movements. It was shattering to see how easy the RWers could sway public opinion with social issues, attacking us and with media help.
Our work was undone by him and his followers who went about systematically dismantling the agencies you speak of and many more. This country is post Reagan but his movement never stopped. Some have forgotten how he and his followers defunded and demonized all federal functions, but if it wasn't then, they could ignore it.
Now some of them will suddenly wake up when STF and get mad. I'm not sure what the people of Michigan were thinking when they voted Snyder is but I'm sure as in other states, because I've seen in other states, these acts have the firm backing of those who make their living off privatizing and working for outfits like the Koches. I've talked with some who believe the Koches are actually saving America. Because they are getting their cut.
What we are dealing with in the USA and the world are two opposing systems of economics. Those who do benefit, and there are more than some might think, by the state of affairs in Michigan and the Koch regime, are in favor of this.
Those who are not in favor are living in a different economic system. That is the problem. These are not just opposing ideologies, but opposing ways of life and people won't budge. No, they don't give a damn about air or water quality in Detroit. They got their hook into this system and they are pleased. They will vote accordingly.
Will those who don't agree with that way of doing things, vote them out? I don't see that here.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)DreamSmoker
(841 posts)Austerity isn't just destroying the U.S. economy - it's literally killing people.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/02/2404301/36-senators-introduce-bill-prohibiting-virtually-any-new-federal-law-helping-workers/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017136189
krispos42
(49,445 posts)When the only thing that can take on organized capital is organized labor, OBVIOUSLY organized labor must be destroyed.
Yay freedom...
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)The title is misleading, making it look like some Democrats were involved with this crap!!!
srican69
(1,426 posts)and then a law should be passed, and retroactively applied, preventing any public employee from helping them
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Talk about irony.
TRoN33
(769 posts)I did googled this and found the link to that site. Yes, there are no Democrat sponsor so it can't get further anymore. Even Harry Reid vowed to make sure that there won't be any Democratic or Independent senators would ever sponsor it at all.
TRoN33
(769 posts)By the way... Its obviously Rand Paul are losing his dream of Presidency everyday even he thought he believe he is much more closer to it. Its sickening that Rand Paul and Republicans would just keep killing Americans' dream in order to preserve their own dreams. They believe they can keep going on and on because they knew that their own constituents who vowed to vote for Republicans only are too stupid and too gullible for being well aware what Republicans are doing to them.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,967 posts)Full quote of DU member JHB's signature tag that he created:
"If conservatives hate Communism so much, why are they trying to dismantle the economic system that defeated it and send us back to the economic system that spawned it?"
The conservative Senators are the ones most likely to have goofs for constituents who call Obama a "Marxist". So their solution is to return to robber-baron capitalism. Duh.
See JHB's posts for his signature line in use. Send JHB a DU message commending him on a brilliant statement of the issue.
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)They seriously know nothing about the dismal conditions that the working class of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries endured.
B Stieg
(2,410 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)...that has happened through the broad interpretation of the interstate commerce clause.
When it can be used to stop a California medical marijuana patient from growing her medicine in her own backyard, it's gone a bit too far. That's what happened in Gonzales v. Raich in 2005.
While I like protecting labor, I'm not so excited about the feds being able to tell me what I can grow in my own backyard for my own use.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Because, pot.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Which is exactly what the Drug War has done, ruin millions of lives.
It's interesting that such a really benign substance overall is and has been the focus of a campaign of negative government propaganda the like of which this country has seldom seen.
That didn't happen by accident, it's been done on purpose for reasons that have nothing to do with the dangers of smoking pot.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)state drug charges are similarly bad--NY had awful ones.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)But it's spectacularly horrible policy based on nothing other than sheer deluded fantasy at best and deliberate lies at worst and it's been going on for over seventy years at this juncture.
It's also instructive to note that this clearly bigoted and rampantly destructive policy has at the federal level been implemented under the interstate commerce clause.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)drugs means the power to ban their sale and distribution.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Why do you defend policy based on sheer woo in the same breath as policy based on science?
The people at the top who set policy regarding recreational drugs are lying, period, drug policy is not rocket surgery and they know better than the lies they are telling.
You really should be angry at them rather than trying to justify what they do by wrapping it in with the function of the FDA which at least in theory makes a good faith effort to base what they do in actual facts and rational analysis.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)business as unusual from the corporate cabal.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)I would take a Democrat over a Republican any day, but they are hardly busting their balls to help labor.
FBaggins
(26,721 posts)Pretty close to zero.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)FBaggins
(26,721 posts)Congress does have the power to do this (restrict the courts' ability to review certain topics)... so make sure there's a check on that power and not a rubber stamp.
safeinOhio
(32,641 posts)standing armies?
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)It wants its disastrous economic policies back.
Bette Noir
(3,581 posts)bearssoapbox
(1,408 posts)Every day there is something nuttier and stupider than the last thing that came out of a teabagger/rethug politician's mouth.
The winner gets to be the leader of Bizzaro World.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)This proposed legislation is not just an anti-labor , it's an anti-environmental protection and part of the latest repukelican-Koch land grab of federal lands.
If we can't regulate industry, the corporatists can do whatever they want. Witness the BP oil disaster and current pet Koch piles on the Detroit R., placed there with no permit, as well as the Koch dumping in Crossett, Ark. This is what our future looks like if these criminals get their way.