christinebarry.com

Way To Go, Debbie!

Awesome editorial here about Senator Stabenow stealing the thunder from the do-nothing-right GOP.  Some of my favorite excerpts:

And for U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, and other Michigan politicians, it means no more grandstanding on the issue.

When the out-of-state trash issue reached its ripest stench about three years ago, Rogers was all over it. First, he had a bill he was introducing in Congress that would solve the problem. The bill made news just about everywhere. Wow! A bill! In Congress, even!

And

Nothing happened. And then more nothing happened. And then, who came out of the blue to do something? Stabenow, the vulnerable first-term senator that the Republicans love to call “Do-Nothing Debbie.”

On Sept. 1, Stabenow stole the news headlines. From Monroe to Alpena, Stabenow and fellow Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, earned editorial-page praise while the long-jawed Republicans stumbled around trying to shoot holes in this Stabenow
trash deal.

The Republicans were too late. They had sat too smugly on the sidelines, thinking they were the only ones
who could do anything about out-of-state trash since they control Congress and the Michigan Legislature. They thought they could conveniently bring up a trash issue fix whenever they wanted. Instead, the Republicans were completely blindsided

Last week, Rogers got around to getting his Republican pals in the House to pass his beloved bill, but
his efforts were pushed off the front page. In the eyes of the press, Stabenow had solved the problem. Why did we need Rogers’ bill, which according to Washington observers, wasn’t going anywhere in the Senate, let alone with the president?

In an attempt to steal the headlines back from the true champions, Rogers quickly sent out an email:

My mom taught me a simple rule – actions speak louder than words. In Washington, few follow that rule because words are easy and action is hard. That’s why I am so proud that the U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 2491 which includes my legislation that will allow Michigan to ban Canadian trash. Today, after five and a half years of hard work, we are one big step closer to slamming our borders shut to trash from a foreign country.

The first step was keeping my promise to introduce the only bill in Congress to allow Michigan to prohibit Canadian trash. The next step was getting a hearing in Congress – the first hearing on trash in ten years. (editorial note by Christine: The Republicans have controlled Congress for 10 years) Then I fought for new customs agents to inspect Canadian trash, and I led a bipartisan group of representatives in supporting funding so that the Environmental Protection Agency could implement a U.S.-Canada agreement on the shipment of municipal solid waste.

Whatever, Mike. 

Just keep the seat warm for Jim, will ya?

Thanks to Matt’s news service for the article.

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[tags]Mike Rogers, Debbie Stabenow[/tags]