Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pete Olson: Getting Things Done In DC

Just when you think the voters in your district have sent another Do-Nothing Zero to congress, out comes the startling announcement that Pete Olson, my congressman, has actually done something this week in Washington DC.

To be specific, as mentioned in FortBendNow (because you can’t find a single mention of it at Olson’s congressional website), Pete Olson had an amendment included during a markup session meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with regard to H.R. 3619, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, authorizing $10 billion for the Coast Guard for fiscal year 2010, including $1.2 billion for acquisition of new vessels, aircraft and support systems under the Deepwater program.

What did Olson’s amendment do, you might ask? According to Olson, it increases the authority that the US Coast Guard has in dealing with boats that attempt to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States.

Said Olson:

“Each year, alien smugglers bring thousands of undocumented aliens to the U.S. flaunting our laws and jeopardizing our safety. The Coast Guard works tirelessly with border and customs officials to protect us. However, jurisdictional loopholes often leave smugglers free to violate our laws again. This amendment plugs that loophole and targets those with a reckless disregard for our laws and basic safety requirements.”

You could say that Olson’s amendment not only keeps our illegal aliens safe, but also out.

And it’s important to keep them safe because when they do get into the United States, and they will because employers snap them up quicker than ducks snarfle june bugs, they will be healthy and able to do a days’ work for sub-minimum wages.

This is quite an accomplishment, and local home builders like Bob Perry and his wife and children must be very happy these days with the money that they contributed to Olson’s campaign.

Note that this is an accomplishment that has far surpassed what was Pete Olson’s centerpiece legislation up to this time. His H.R. 1981, the Taxpayer Conscience Protection Act.

That’s our Pete Olson. Not only is he protecting the lives and health of our illegal aliens, he is protecting the American taxpayers’ collective conscience with regard to Medicaid payments to abortionists. Filed last April, Olson’s bill would require that states that make a Medicaid payment from federal funds “for any items or services furnished by an abortion provider” must provide a list of payments and their amounts, and post them on the internet.

In other words Olson’s bill is a modern form of putting abortion providers in public pillories.

Look at the language. “Any items or services” is just that. A healthcare provider who has in the past performed an abortion will have the Medicaid payment made to him posted on the Internet for, say, lancing a boil.

Oh yeah, this bill, Pete Olson’s centerpiece legislation, is due to go far and put Olson on the path to greatness.

So how is Olson’s centerpiece legislation faring at this point?

Well it was filed on April 20th, 2009 and was instantly referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the same day.

Where it has been languishing ever since.

No comments: