US Politics Mega-thread - Page 308

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz praised the relief efforts of Glenn Beck and Mercury One in the border town of McAllen, Texas on Saturday, where the charity Beck founded worked to provide food, clothing, water and toys to the illegal immigrant children who have been streaming into the U.S.

But Cruz also stressed the importance of sending those kids back home.

“Let me say thank you to Mercury One, thank you to Glenn, for leading on this issue, for raising over two million dollars to provide food, to provide medicine, to provide toys to these kids,” Cruz said. “These children, while they’re here, we need to care for them well, we need to demonstrate American values.”

Cruz said it was appropriate for private charities, such as Mercury One, to show “Christian love” to the illegal immigrant children, but he stressed the need to return the children to their home countries as quickly as possible.

“It’s critical, as well, that we need to uphold the rule of law,” Cruz said. “The reason these children are coming is they believe they’ll get amnesty. As long as that promise of amnesty is there, more and more children will come, and more and more children will be brutalized, physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, by violent drug cartels, the coyotes who are bringing them in.”

Cruz cited legislation he has filed to combat President Barack Obama’s policy of deferred deportation for younger immigrants.

On June 19 2018 12:59 JimmiC wrote:


First, Damn this is hard thread to keep up with. If in this post or future posts I discuss something that was already discussed I apologize I'm used to threads where 10 posts a day is huge let alone 1 per minute at some points!

I have always found US bill writing both interesting and crazy. It is like there is always (hyperbole probably I admit I don't know it is always) completely unrelated shit on them I'm guessing to secure the votes of different members of congress?

And it appears at other times just to use to be like "can you believe this guy voted against Puppies?" when really he voted against some point at the bottom in small print where it said that "republicans will no longer be able to speak to the media". More obvious exaggeration on my part but it does make for some interesting attack ads we get to see around election time on your TV stations. It also makes the voting so much more complicated and hard to understand for non insiders.

On June 19 2018 21:52 JimmiC wrote:


Do you know when that started, has it always been or did one start this?

On June 19 2018 22:04 Plansix wrote:

It has always been like this in some form. Unlike many of the EU governments, we have two separate chambers of congress that both need to agree on the substance of a bill. To do that, sometimes things need to be added to the bill to obtain reluctant votes.

And it is worth remember that the Federal government is the largest part of the US government, but we also have 50 smaller state governments that all govern themselves. So a bill passing through the federal government is like having the majority of 50 tiny nations all agree on a course of action. It is a hard needle to thread.

On June 19 2018 22:13 mahrgell wrote:


Which are those "many"?

At least the major European nations all have dual chamber representation.

On June 19 2018 22:17 Plansix wrote:

Admittedly my understanding of EU governments is a bit limited, but I was under the impression that both chambers did not need to approve every law that is put on the books. I am open to being corrected.