ACRU’s Carleson Joins In CAP’s Warning Congress against Lame-Duck Session

AUTHOR

ACRU Staff

DATE

April 15, 2016

In a letter from the Conservative Action Project (CAP), prominent conservatives urge Congress to complete its work and resist having a lame-duck session, where typically all sorts of mischief has been done.

The letter reads in part, “At a time when the American people’s trust in their government is near an all-time low, the Republican-led Congress should demonstrate exemplary behavior by completing its work before the November elections so that voters can judge all the legislators on the basis of the votes they have cast.… legislators who have been defeated in an election or are retiring are no longer accountable to the voters….

“The Republican-led Congress must not provide President Obama with an additional opportunity to enact his agenda of progressive social engineering programs and job-killing economic policies before he leaves office.”

April 14, 2016

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Majority Leader of the Senate

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Paul Ryan

Speaker of the House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Leader and Mr. Speaker:

As the 114th Congress approaches the midpoint of its second session, we the undersigned urge you to not hold a so-called “lame duck” session at the end of this year.

Historically, lame duck sessions have been used by both parties to enact backroom deals that are neither beneficial to the American people nor representative of their will as expressed in the elections of only a few days or weeks before. Past lame duck sessions have produced, among other actions, massive tax and spending increases, increases in the gasoline tax, pay raises for members of Congress, and ratifications of treaties that threaten U.S. sovereignty.

At a time when the American people’s trust in their government is near an all-time low, the Republican-led Congress should demonstrate exemplary behavior by completing its work before the November elections so that voters can judge all the legislators on the basis of the votes they have cast. Because legislators who have been defeated in an election or are retiring are no longer accountable to the voters for their votes, any actions taken which required their votes are essentially undemocratic.

The Republican-led Congress must not provide President Obama with an additional opportunity to enact his agenda of progressive social engineering programs and job-killing economic policies before he leaves office. A lame duck session would be his swan song: he can be expected to leave no arm untwisted, no threat unmade, no quid un-quod, to get his dream-policies enacted, his liberal judges confirmed, and his international agreements approved. And all of it could be done without any concern for what the voters actually want because neither he nor the departing legislators will ever face the voters again. We think that’s a bad way to run a democracy

After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia a few weeks ago, Leader McConnell stated that “the American people, rather than a lame duck president whose priorities and policies they just rejected in the most-recent national election, [should] be afforded the opportunity” to fill the resulting vacancy on the Supreme Court We respectfully suggest that the American people deserve that same opportunity with regard to confirming other federal judges, as well as to passing legislation and making international agreements. It will be necessary, however, for Congress to hold pro forma sessions on a regular basis (as distinguished from regular legislating sessions) in order to prevent the President from making a recess appointment to the Supreme Court.

By promising now that there will be no lame duck session of Congress (except, of course, in the case of an unforeseen sudden emergency requiring immediate federal action) the Republican-led Congress can take an important first step in restoring the American people’s trust in their government. By making it absolutely clear that there will not be a lame duck session, the Republican leaders in Congress will encourage all members of Congress to complete the people’s work in an orderly manner before the elections, putting an end to the unfortunate practice of recent years of governing by manufactured “cliffs and crises” at the end of the year.

The American people want, and should have, good representation by their elected officials. The way to get good representation is by having the opportunity to hold those officials accountable. True accountability means finishing Congress’ work for the year before the November elections and not holding a lame duck session.

Respectfully,

The Honorable Edwin Meese III

Former Attorney General

President Ronald Reagan

____________________________________

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop

Chairman, Conservative Action Project

Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan

__________________________________________

The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.

Former Domestic Advisor

President Ronald Reagan

David Bozell

President

ForAmerica

Alfred S. Regnery

Chairman

Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell

Chairman

Constitutional Congress, Inc.

The Honorable Colin A. Hanna

President

Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

L. Brent Bozell, III

Founder and President

Media Research Center

David Williams

President

Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Kevin Kookogey

President and Founder

The Advancing Church

Allen J. Hebert

Director, American Chinese Fellowship

VP, Stallion Oilfield Services

Seton Motley

President

Less Government

Belden Bell

Goldens’ Pond

Rae Bell

Co-Chair, Heritage Legacy Docirty

Quin Hillyer

Veteran Conservative Columnist

Rick Manning

President

Americans for Limited Government

Adam Brandon

President & CEO

FreedomWorks

Ron Robinson

President

Young America’s Foundation

Art Ally

President

Timothy Plan Mutual Fund Family

Andrea Lafferty

President

Traditional Values Coalition

Michael A. Needham

Chief Executive Officer

Heritage Action for America

C. Preston Noell III

President

Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Susan Carleson

Chairman/CEO

ACRU

Willes K. Lee

President

National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Tricia Erickson

President

Angel Pictures & Publicity

Tom McClusky

Vice President of Government Affairs

March For Life Action

David W. Preston

Executive Director

Oklahoma Wesleyan University Foundation

Penny Pullen

President

Life Advocacy Resource Project

Mike Spence

President

Conservative Republican of California

William H. Shaker

President

American Council for Health Care Reform

Jim Martin

Founder/Chairman

60 Plus Association

George Landrith

President

Frontiers of Freedom

Bob Adams

President

Revive America PAC

Rebecca Hagelin

President and CEO, Rebecca Hagelin

Communications and Marketing, LLC

Kathleen A. Patten

President and Chief Executive Officer

American Target Advertising

Ela
ine Donnelly

Founder and President

Center for Military Readiness

Robert K. Fischer

Meeting Coordinator

Conservatives of Faith

Dr. Bob Reccord

Former Executive Director

Council for National Policy

Judson Phillips

Founder

Tea Party Nation

Ralph T. Hudgens

Commissioner of Insurance

State of Georgia

Floyd Brown

President

Western Center for Journalism

David N. Bossie

President

Citizens United

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

President

Center for Security Policy

Andrew C.McCarthy

Former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney

Southern District of New York

Ronald D. Rotunda

Chapman University

The Dale E. Fowler School of Law

James C. Miller III

Former Director of OMB

President Ronald Reagan

Rod D. Martin

Founder and CEO

The Martin Organization

Sherri R. Martin

The Martin Foundation

Shawn A. Mitchell

Chaplain, National Federation of

Republican Assemblies

Nicholas Stehle

Campaign for the American Future

Monty Warner

Plains States Legal Foundation

Steve Thrasher

Special Counsel

National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Hon. Jerry Melvin

Former Dean, Florida House of Representatives

President, Florida Republican Assembly

Lee A. Beaman

Chief Executive Officer

Beaman Automotive

Peter J. Thomas

Chairman

Americans for Constitutional Liberty

Joel Anand Samy

Co-Founder and President

International Leaders Summit

Mike Hill

District 2

Florida State Representative

Herb London

President

London Center for Policy Research

Dr. Barry Creamer

President

Criswell College

Gary L. Bauer

President

American Values

Richard Falknor

Publishers

Blue Ridge Forum

Susan Falknor

Publishers

Blue Ridge Forum

Joe R. Calvert

Rabon-Calvert Interests

Kenneth Boehm

Chairman

National Legal and Policy Center

Norman Singleton

President

Campaign for Liberty

Melissa Ortiz

Founder & Principal

Able Americans

Kevin D. Freeman

NSIC Institute

Jenny Beth Martin

Co-Founder

Tea Party Patriots

Todd W. Herrick

COB

Herrick Foundation

Andresen Blom

Executive Director

Grassroot Hawaii Action, Inc.

The Honorable Steve Stockman

Former Congressman from Texas

Sandy Rios

Director of Governmental Affairs

AFA

Dr. James C. Dobson

Founder & President

Dr. James Dobson’s FamilyTalk

Tony Saliba

CEO

Saliba Venture Management

Morton Blackwell

Chairman

The Weyrich Lunch

The Honorable Bob McEwen

U.S. House of Representatives

Former Member, Ohio

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