There's a Very Good Reason Paul Ryan Wants Congress Doing Business in Secret

[CousinIT]

Remember when Speaker Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver from the state of Wisconsin, couldn't summon the guts to put a gun safety bill up for a vote, even though the bill was unlikely to pass anyway, and then the Democratic members of the House staged a sit-in right there in the chamber, and somebody brought in doughnuts, and everybody had a great time taking selfies and helping Paul Ryan look like an abject poltroon? Remember that? We should do that again some time.

...

As part of a House rules package members will vote to approve in early January, House GOP leaders want to empower the sergeant-at-arms to fine lawmakers up to $2,500 for shooting video or taking photos on the chamber floor.
Thin-skinned pettiness is general these days, all over Washington. Of course, several flies were placed strategically in this ointment back in 1789.

"The Constitution gives the House the authority to discipline members; I have never heard of anything where an officer of the House was given that authority," said Mike Stern, a former lawyer for the nonpartisan House counsel's office and the Senate Homeland Security Committee's GOP staff. Stern, who called the proposed rule a "plausible Constitutional issue to raise," said Democrats could take the matter to court. "Their strongest argument would be: The House doesn't have the authority to give these officers the power to punish us; only the power of the House can do that, and [Republicans] have short-circuited our rights by the way they've done it.'"

It's just pure whining, as even TBOTP noticed, and which, of course, only makes the whiners look even more ridiculous.

Republicans were incensed by the entire spectacle. For months GOP leaders met privately to craft a plan to either punish lawmakers who led the charge or write new rules to deter a similar future hijacking of legislative business. That led to Ryan's current proposal. As Democrats blasted the new rule Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and lawyers representing the Democratic minority began examining its legality. "We are reviewing this language as it appears to raise constitutional concerns," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill told POLITICO in an email Tuesday. Some Democrats are itching for a fight over the rule. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), one of the leaders of last summer's protest, tweeted at Republicans to "bring it on" and dared them to "fine me & @HouseDemocrats all the way into bankruptcy for #gunviolence sit-in, but we will always speak for victims." "If they cut the camera feed again, I'm going to turn on my phone again," Swalwell vowed during a brief interview Tuesday.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a51900/paul-ryan-transparency-obamacare/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Secrecy is their weapon, and we need to deny them its use. n/t

[Maraya1969]

2. I'm starting to love my Democrats in congress again. Maybe they have awakened a sleeping giant

A sleeping giant is now wide awake all across this country that is for sure!

[zentrum]

3. K&R

[PoliticAverse]

4. Does Pelosi support visitors in the gallery livestreaming the House? n/t

[Daxter]

5. Republicans Lie To Get Their Way

They also change the rules and lie to avoid losing to the democrats in elections. This is just the latest crap they are trying to pull in order to get laws passed that the American public would hate.