Sometimes, a piece of legislation makes so much sense, it's mind-boggling that any member of Congress would withhold support for it. But then, Congressman Mike Arcuri has a special knack for withholding support for worthy causes. This week, he's at it again.
Imagine there was a bill that would:
- reduce the federal budget deficit by 16 billion dollars per year
- totally eliminate federal income tax on the first $35,000 of income for all Americans (the first $70,000 for married couples)
- reduce wasteful government spending
Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, brace yourself: Such a piece of legislation, H.R. 5353, actually exists in the U.S. Congress. It was introduced recently by U.S. Representative Alan Grayson, who's a Democrat. The bill has the support of both Democrats and Republicans, however.
Michael Arcuri is not among those who who support H.R. 5353. Why the heck not? If we can't count on Congressman Arcuri to support even a bill like this one, what on earth can we count on him for?
Showing posts with label legislation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legislation. Show all posts
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Mike Arcuri Impotent At Passing Legislation
Open Congress, a legislative social networking site, presents a disturbing statistic about our U.S. Representative Mike Arcuri. Arcuri, it seems, is legislatively impotent.
Michael Arcuri can't seem to make allies in the House of Representatives very effectively. Perhaps his membership in the right wing Blue Dog Coalition is part of the problem, alienating Arcuri from his Democratic colleagues.
Whatever the cause, even though Congressman Arcuri's own political party is in the majority, Arcuri hasn't been able to get a single bill in the current session of Congress passed into actual law.
Sure, Arcuri has offered a few procedural motions and toothless resolutions, and those have gotten votes. These are nothing but pieces of paper, however - not laws that actually help people in our district or in the USA as a whole.
For example, Representative Arcuri introduced H.Res. 692, a resolution supporting the goals of Tay Sachs Month. That sounds great, until you look at what the resolution actually does: Nothing. It doesn't provide funding, or any other form of tangible government support, to deal with Tay Sachs disease. It's just a congressional press release. That's all.
Arcuri has spent his time offering a great number of procedural bills that do nothing more than "providing for the consideration of" legislation written by other, more competent, members of Congress. It's like Arcuri is serving as bat boy to U.S. Representatives who really know how to get things done.
My favorite "accomplishment" of Congressman Arcuri in this term of Congress is his H. Con. Res. 133. It's a motion providing for an adjournment of Congress. That pretty much sums up Mike Arcuri's congressional career.
In 2010, it's time that Arcuri adjourns his stand as New York's 24th district representative for good.
Michael Arcuri can't seem to make allies in the House of Representatives very effectively. Perhaps his membership in the right wing Blue Dog Coalition is part of the problem, alienating Arcuri from his Democratic colleagues.
Whatever the cause, even though Congressman Arcuri's own political party is in the majority, Arcuri hasn't been able to get a single bill in the current session of Congress passed into actual law.
Sure, Arcuri has offered a few procedural motions and toothless resolutions, and those have gotten votes. These are nothing but pieces of paper, however - not laws that actually help people in our district or in the USA as a whole.
For example, Representative Arcuri introduced H.Res. 692, a resolution supporting the goals of Tay Sachs Month. That sounds great, until you look at what the resolution actually does: Nothing. It doesn't provide funding, or any other form of tangible government support, to deal with Tay Sachs disease. It's just a congressional press release. That's all.
Arcuri has spent his time offering a great number of procedural bills that do nothing more than "providing for the consideration of" legislation written by other, more competent, members of Congress. It's like Arcuri is serving as bat boy to U.S. Representatives who really know how to get things done.
My favorite "accomplishment" of Congressman Arcuri in this term of Congress is his H. Con. Res. 133. It's a motion providing for an adjournment of Congress. That pretty much sums up Mike Arcuri's congressional career.
In 2010, it's time that Arcuri adjourns his stand as New York's 24th district representative for good.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Arcuri Opposes Solid Science For Mustang Management
I cannot for the life of me understand why Congressman Michael Arcuri has voted against H. R. 1018, the Restore Our American Mustangs Act.
It can't be for the sake of fiscal responsibility. The fiscally responsible way to manage government programs, after all, is to conduct rigorous scientific studies, so that government spending can be applied in the most efficient way possible.
That's just what the Restore Our American Mustangs Act will do when it becomes law. Yet, Mike Arcuri voted against it.
Representative Arcuri voted against a scientific analysis to determine the most efficient method for managing America's wild horse populations. Instead, Arcuri voted to preserve the current system: Round up a bunch of mustangs, keep them in corrals for a while, and then shoot them in the head.
It can't be for the sake of fiscal responsibility. The fiscally responsible way to manage government programs, after all, is to conduct rigorous scientific studies, so that government spending can be applied in the most efficient way possible.
That's just what the Restore Our American Mustangs Act will do when it becomes law. Yet, Mike Arcuri voted against it.
Representative Arcuri voted against a scientific analysis to determine the most efficient method for managing America's wild horse populations. Instead, Arcuri voted to preserve the current system: Round up a bunch of mustangs, keep them in corrals for a while, and then shoot them in the head.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Mike Arcuri Has A Short Term Mind
On yet another issue, U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri has demonstrated an antiprogressive agenda this week. This time, the issue is climate change.
In 2008, people elected Democrats to Congress and the White House in large part because the Democrat promised a green energy revolution. They seemed so earnest, so honest. Yet, in 2009, we've learned that if you really want green energy, you're going to have to vote Green Party - at least in New York State's 24th district.
Yesterday Michael Arcuri voted to kill legislation promoting a green energy in order to fight global climate change, including global warming. Once again, Arcuri joined with the Republicans to support the kind of politics of pollution we saw under George W. Bush.
Why did Arcuri do it? Why did he vote with Big Oil, against the environment? Here's his excuse for opposing the legislation:
"In the short term it will have a negative effect on my district because of the high power costs."
This comment reveals why Mike Arcuri has come to be regarded as among the mental lightweights of the House of Representatives. In the short term, the bill will create higher power costs, but in the long term, it will actually lower costs. Trust Arcuri to ignore long term benefits in favor of short term thinking.
Besides that, what's the cost that this bill will actually create? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the cost for the average American will be 48 cents per day. Low income Americans will actually gain economically from the legislation. These calculations don't even take into account the economic benefit from avoiding damage related to climate change, which is estimated in the billions per year already.
It seems that Arcuri is willing to let Planet Earth go to pot for the sake of 48 cents in short term savings. In 2010, let's make Michael Arcuri a short term member of Congress.
In 2008, people elected Democrats to Congress and the White House in large part because the Democrat promised a green energy revolution. They seemed so earnest, so honest. Yet, in 2009, we've learned that if you really want green energy, you're going to have to vote Green Party - at least in New York State's 24th district.
Yesterday Michael Arcuri voted to kill legislation promoting a green energy in order to fight global climate change, including global warming. Once again, Arcuri joined with the Republicans to support the kind of politics of pollution we saw under George W. Bush.
Why did Arcuri do it? Why did he vote with Big Oil, against the environment? Here's his excuse for opposing the legislation:
"In the short term it will have a negative effect on my district because of the high power costs."
This comment reveals why Mike Arcuri has come to be regarded as among the mental lightweights of the House of Representatives. In the short term, the bill will create higher power costs, but in the long term, it will actually lower costs. Trust Arcuri to ignore long term benefits in favor of short term thinking.
Besides that, what's the cost that this bill will actually create? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the cost for the average American will be 48 cents per day. Low income Americans will actually gain economically from the legislation. These calculations don't even take into account the economic benefit from avoiding damage related to climate change, which is estimated in the billions per year already.
It seems that Arcuri is willing to let Planet Earth go to pot for the sake of 48 cents in short term savings. In 2010, let's make Michael Arcuri a short term member of Congress.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Mike Arcuri Only 21 Percent Progressive
24th district residents who have hoped that voting for Mike Arcuri would help bring about progressive change have been sadly disappointed. In the 111th Congress, Representative Arcuri has earned a progressive legislative score of only 21 out of 100 in the current session of Congress.
A 21 percent progressive? Is that what 24th congressional district voters thought they were voting for?
Representative Michael Arcuri has made himself part of the problem, not part of the solution.
A 21 percent progressive? Is that what 24th congressional district voters thought they were voting for?
Representative Michael Arcuri has made himself part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Mike Arcuri Joining Bush Republicans For Unlimited Spying
What a disappointment. Congressman Michael Arcuri has done it again. He's wimped out, gone soft as a noodle, and given in to Republican demands.
George W. Bush is a lame duck, the least popular President in American history. If ever there was a time when Mike Arcuri would be able to stand up Bush and the Republicans, now would be it.
Sadly, Representative Arcuri fails.
Michael Arcuri intends to vote in favor of expanding George W. Bush's powers yet again. Just as Arcuri supported the Military Commissions Act, which was just ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court this month, Arcuri is now supporting the FISA Amendments Act, H.R. 6304.
The FISA Amendments Act allows the White House to listen to our telephone calls, read your emails, and even track people's physical movements through GPS. Additionally, physical searches of Americans' homes and businesses is allowed at the whim of the Attorney General. Electronic surveillance is allowed without a search warrant, and without any real judicial review. The Attorney General sets the spying operations in motion, and then is the only one with the power to certify that they meet the requirements of the law and the Constitution. No congressional oversight.
Then there's the issue of retroactive immunity for telecommunications corporations that broke the law by helping President Bush spy on Americans without going to the FISA courts. The D.C. office of Congressman Michael Arcuri is shamelessly claiming that H.R. 6304 is a "compromise" that does not provide retroactive immunity.
If you have actually read the bill, you can see that Arcuri's office is not being honest in this regard. The legislation clearly gives retroactive immunity to telecommunications corporations, with nothing more required than the President's approval.
Attorney Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains, "Whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity is anything but: the current proposal is the exact same blanket immunity that the Senate passed in February and that the House rejected in March, only with a few new bells and whistles."
The provisions of H.R. 6304 are unconstitutional violations of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights clearly states that any searches by government officials must be upheld by a search warrant backed by proof of valid suspicion of criminal activity. H.R. 6304 purposefully evades these requirements, and makes the Bill of Rights meaningless.
It seems that whenever there is an election coming up, Michael Arcuri will happily abandon his Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution. First, Arcuri helped to toss habeas corpus and fair trials out the window. Now, Arcuri joins George W. Bush again to help him spy against American citizens without restraint.
What a disappointment Arcuri has been. What a wasted opportunity. What a sorry excuse for a Democrat.
George W. Bush is a lame duck, the least popular President in American history. If ever there was a time when Mike Arcuri would be able to stand up Bush and the Republicans, now would be it.
Sadly, Representative Arcuri fails.
Michael Arcuri intends to vote in favor of expanding George W. Bush's powers yet again. Just as Arcuri supported the Military Commissions Act, which was just ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court this month, Arcuri is now supporting the FISA Amendments Act, H.R. 6304.
The FISA Amendments Act allows the White House to listen to our telephone calls, read your emails, and even track people's physical movements through GPS. Additionally, physical searches of Americans' homes and businesses is allowed at the whim of the Attorney General. Electronic surveillance is allowed without a search warrant, and without any real judicial review. The Attorney General sets the spying operations in motion, and then is the only one with the power to certify that they meet the requirements of the law and the Constitution. No congressional oversight.
Then there's the issue of retroactive immunity for telecommunications corporations that broke the law by helping President Bush spy on Americans without going to the FISA courts. The D.C. office of Congressman Michael Arcuri is shamelessly claiming that H.R. 6304 is a "compromise" that does not provide retroactive immunity.
If you have actually read the bill, you can see that Arcuri's office is not being honest in this regard. The legislation clearly gives retroactive immunity to telecommunications corporations, with nothing more required than the President's approval.
Attorney Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains, "Whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity is anything but: the current proposal is the exact same blanket immunity that the Senate passed in February and that the House rejected in March, only with a few new bells and whistles."
The provisions of H.R. 6304 are unconstitutional violations of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights clearly states that any searches by government officials must be upheld by a search warrant backed by proof of valid suspicion of criminal activity. H.R. 6304 purposefully evades these requirements, and makes the Bill of Rights meaningless.
It seems that whenever there is an election coming up, Michael Arcuri will happily abandon his Oath of Office to uphold the Constitution. First, Arcuri helped to toss habeas corpus and fair trials out the window. Now, Arcuri joins George W. Bush again to help him spy against American citizens without restraint.
What a disappointment Arcuri has been. What a wasted opportunity. What a sorry excuse for a Democrat.
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