by Seton Motley On Monday, I wrote here of how President Barack Obama would pretend to work in bipartisan cooperation with the new Congress in deference to the shellacking he received in the November election – while behind the scenes dictatorially ramming through as many rules and regulations, directives and orders as he possibly can – and with which he can get away:
(Obama) will do his best to put on a public show, but his Big-Government-At-All-Costs agenda will continue unabated. It will just be done behind the scenes via rampant, abusive expansion of the vast regulatory authority at his disposal.
Every Commission, every Agency, every Board in the federal pantheon will ratchet up their orders, rules and directives. To impose via executive branch regulatory fiat what President Obama can no longer get done in Congress. In other words, bypass the obviously expressed will of the American people for smaller, more accountable government – so as to continue jamming through his on-all-fronts Titanic Government plan. And do so without the People’s representatives at all involved in the process.
… The federal Cap & Tax on – I mean Trade – energy bill didn’t pass? No problem, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will enforce large swaths of it just as if it did. The union vote secret-ballot-abolishing Card Check didn’t pass? No sweat, the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will just pretend it did and move forward implementing it.
As if on cue, we have Monday night’s announcement by the Administration’s Dr. Donald M. Berwick – administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In fact, the Christian Science Monitor article cited is entitled:
‘
Death panels’ controversy: Is Obama avoiding Congress?
Berwick’s only in his post as a result of – President Obama avoiding Congress. Berwick was never confirmed – President Obama chose to bypass the Senate and instead recess appoint him.
And there’s a reason President Obama did that – Berwick is a ghoulish dude who advocates health care rationing and is “romantic” about the death panel-enforcing British National Health Service.
Heaven forefend he would have to answer some advise-and-consent questions from the People’s representatives – better to just jam him through too.
And now the jammed-through Berwick is jamming through his dreamed-of doctor death discussions – which are almost inarguably the first step towards death panels of our very own:
In a move that could resuscitate the partisan battle over what Sarah Palin dubbed “death panels,” the Obama administration is set to implement a controversial federal health-care provision by executive authority.
The new rule would pay doctors to consult with Medicare patients who want voluntary counseling about health-care options in the case of terminal illness.
This policy was once proposed as a part of the overwhelmingly unpopular ObamaCare bill – but was stripped out as it was even more disliked than the bill itself.
In other words, the American people didn’t want it – but the Obama Administration’s now going to jam it through anyway. An authoritarian action we will see repeated OFTEN during the next two years.
Berwick’s move follows on the heels of the three Democrat Commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – knowingly without the Congressional authority to do so – voting themselves Internet Overlords on December 21st.
Less than two months after the November election, the Obama Administration has already begun repeatedly bypassing the American people – who voted overwhelmingly against this President and his Big Government agenda. They are usurping Congress’s law-writing power – by writing law themselves.
We need Congress to do their job – and engage in the serious Oversight required to check this endless onslaught of unconstitutional Obama power grabs. That means repeatedly effecting the Congressional Review Act, and holding hearings aplenty to get answers to questions President Obama and his Administration officials don’t want asked.
Only proper Congressional oversight can restore Constitutional order. Ladies of Gentlemen of the People’s Congress – let’s get busy. The Administration already has.
