“Super Congress” is Most Disturbing Component of the Debt Deal

As The Daily Reckoning’s Addison Wiggin pointed out in Monday’s DR, the debt deal has no teeth. “The $2.5 trillion in spending cuts are, in the immutable logic of Washington, not cutbacks at all… but limits to the planned rate of spending increases,” and worse, “…they don’t kick in until 2013. At that time, a new Congress will be in place, unbound by the promises of the current one.”

With the understanding that few cuts were made despite all the political grandstanding, we instead turn our attention to what Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) refers to as “perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this deal,” the “Super Congress” provision.

This is how he describes it:

“It cedes power to draft legislation to a special commission, hand-picked by the House and Senate leadership. The legislation produced by this commission will be fast-tracked, and Members will not have the opportunity to offer amendments.

“Approval of the recommendations of the “Super Congress” is tied to yet another debt ceiling increase. This guarantees that Members will face tremendous pressure to vote for whatever comes out of this commission– even if it includes tax increases.”

The possibility of un-debated — and potentially unconstitutional — tax increases could be only the beginning of the powers exercised by the 12-member special congressional committee.

Addison also notes its recommendations are due to be announced the day before Thanksgiving — to provide for the suitable cover of smoke — with the up or down vote to follow the Friday before Christmas… to, of course, also introduce a healthy dose mirrors into the mix.

In this process the “Super Congress” could potentially circumvent any number of congressional procedures under the guise of its $1.5 trillion budget-cutting mandate. While there’s no reason to necessarily leap to the conclusion that the “Super Congress” is a government attempt to crack down on the right to keep and bear arms, for example, it does smell more than a bit fishy.

The video clip below covers its unconstitutional elements, which came to our attention via an Economic Policy Journal post on how the ‘Super Congress’ could fast track tax increases.

Best,

Rocky Vega,

The Daily Reckoning