President knows what’s best re: economy, climate, health care. Don’t think, just act.

- “If we do not move swiftly to sign [the economic stimulus bill] into law, an economy … will be faced with catastrophe … This is the assessment of the best economists in the country.”

- “Few challenges facing America, and the world, are more urgent than combatting climate change. The science is beyond dispute …”

- “The need for [health care] reform is urgent, and it is indisputable.”

- President Barack Obama

Three of the most massive, expensive and complicated bills that have come before the United States Congess in years are so urgent and so compelling, that we need to pass them now (or already have). No cause for debate, as the concepts are clearly correct. No reason to slow down and make sure all sides have been examined, as the need for action is immediate and the consequences of inaction dire.

We say, with a slight alteration to this site’s name, “Oh no you can’t say that.”

A call for “urgent” action on a bill in Congress, along with huge pressure from the President, Speaker, Majority Leader, etc. can be described as “necessary for passage”. A more appropriate term is “railroading”, defined by Merriam-Webster Online as, “to push through hastily or without due consideration” – precisely what the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress want. We, the taxpayers and citizens of the United States, are to accept that bills that have not even been read in their entirety by members of Congress, should be passed and signed posthaste. The stimulus bill, formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, weighed in at about 1100 pages. The cap-and-trade package, officially named the American Clean Energy and Security Act, came in at about 1200 pages. Currently, there are three versions of health-care reinvention working their way through Congress – the latest bill by House Democrats numbering a staggering 1018 pages. And considering last-minute additions to bills can add hundreds more pages (300 pages added the day before cap-and-trade was voted on), the health-care bill will surely be a whopper. So the question is this: with these massive tomes, involving extremely complicated issues and costing hundreds of billions of dollars, why would any rational person want to rush the decision-making process or create artificial deadlines? Why would some suggest that failure to pass such measures – right away – might mean they will never get enacted – because they shouldn’t?

We have been told these bills are so urgent and “beyond dispute” that there is no need for the public, or for members of Congress for that matter, to actually understand everything in them. A possible conclusion is that what is called “delay”, which more appropriately should be called “deliberation”, will reveal fatal flaws in them. With all of the implications that the stimulus bill (already passed), the cap-and-trade bill (passed by the House), and the health care bill (in House committees) have for Americans, the only thing that is “indisputable” is the need to make sure we get them right (or, if necessary, don’t pass them at all).

Our intent here is not to argue the details of these massive bills, but to say, someone has to do it. They need to be debated thoroughly, over an appropriate timeline, and with true bipartisan consideration. We should not get caught up in feel-good demonstrations of support “because people in Washington played the politics of the moment instead of putting the interests of the American people first” (Pres. Barack Obama, 7/21/09). Well said, Mr. President.

Such measures may very well serve the interests of this country. However, the consequences of their passage – both intended and unintended – must weigh heavily on the minds of all our lawmakers. So we say to you, Mr. President, with respect and humility:

“Oh no you didn’t say that [we shouldn't have a robust debate]!”