deficit reduction act

Michele Bachmann is telling people to break the law and calling for civil disobedience:

At a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, Bachmann declared illegitimate the potential route that House Democrats could take to pass the health care bill. She was specifically railing against a parliamentary tactic by which the House could skip voting on the Senate bill by declaring it passed as part of the reconciliation bill. Bachmann pronounced this to be taxation without representation. "They have just started a revolution -- and they did it," said Bachmann.

"But mark my words, the American people aren't gonna take this lying down," Bachmann later said. "We aren't gonna play their game, we're not gonna pay their taxes. They want us to pay for this? Because we don't have to. We don't have to. We don't have to follow a bill that isn't law. That's not the American way, and that's not what we're going to do."

Not the American way? Where were her complaints when the Republicans did the exact same thing?

– The 2001 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 1836, 3/26/01]
– The 2003 Bush Tax Cuts [HR 2, 3/23/03]
– Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 [HR 4297,5/11/06]
– The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 [H. Con Res. 95, 12/21/05]

(By tlw3 via Alan.com)

Bachmann never once called those pieces of legislation illegal or un-American, despite the very same rule being used to pass them. As matter of fact those are the very issues that Republicans, like Bachmann, love campaigning on. They consider it huge victories for their party.

Here's a nice little exchange of written words between Dennis Hastert and
Nancy Pelosi in regards to the budget cut bills.

It started last night when Hastert sent the following
letter to
Pelosi to try and speed up the legislation on the budget cuts that were passed
in Senate yesterday with Cheney's tie breaking vote:

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Democratic Leader

U.S. House of Representatives

H-204, The Capitol

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Ms. Pelosi,

I am writing to ask you for unanimous consent to approve the conference
report on H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. As you know, the
House approved this measure on December 19, 2005 in a 212-206 vote.
Unfortunately, the Senate has now made minor changes, such as simple
reporting requirements, that send the legislation back before the House. Our
members have already returned home to spend the holidays with their
families. By passing these changes through unanimous consent, we can avoid
unnecessary disruption in the enactment of important program additions and
reforms contained in this legislation.