“If the President is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it, it will become law, I’ll put it on the floor.”
Mitch McConnell – Majority Leader of US Senate
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
U.S. Constitution – Article 1 Section 1
“Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law.”
U.S. Constitution – Article 1 Section 7
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken the position that he will not “waste” the Senate’s time voting on bills that the President has indicated he will not sign. (See the above quotation from a September 3 interview.) I kind of understand the reasoning behind the statement. If the President is going to veto a bill why burn up the time on the Senate floor considering it. But Senator McConnell, listen to what you just said!!! The Lord knows I am not a constitutional scholar and clearly, I do not understand the arcane rules of the Senate that allows this SINGLE person to have this much control of the legislative process. BUT in my opinion, this is WRONG. More than wrong, I think it is unconstitutional and not in keeping with the principal of the balance of powers which is woven throughout the Constitution. That document CLEARLY empowers the Congress to make laws. Those laws are automatically in place unless the President elects to not sign the bill and sends it back with his objections outlined. At that point the Congress can STILL pass the legislation by overriding the veto.
By refusing to even consider a bill that has already been passed by the House, the Majority Leader presumes to KNOW without error exactly how every member of the Senate would vote on a veto override. How presumptuous! And what a sad commentary on the state of politics in our Capital – one person who I did NOT elect, in effect controls the opportunity for MY SENATOR to cast their vote. The Senate is disempowering itself and OVER-empowering the chief executive. Or stated another way – they are being derelict in their duties and allowing our President to have much more power than the Constitution ever envisioned the office to hold. The founding fathers greatly feared this and crafted the constitution to avoid it. Stand up and do your duty for crying out loud! If you think a bill should be a law PASS IT!! We didn’t send you down there to be rubber stamps for the President. At LEAST have enough gumption to send a bill to the White House. If the President sees that you have at least this much initiative he may actually believe that you are an equal partner in this process in stead of being his sycophant.