By: Maureen Dowd
On October 23, 2023 I attended the Budget Committee meeting with Chairman Perry leading. When I first arrived there I was a bit confused on whether I had arrived earlier than expected because many members were missing. The seats I counted that were missing were Rep Waters, Rep Jayapal, Rep Crenshaw, and Rep Johnson. Representative Johnson seemed to have been attending another meeting at the time so her absence in the first half of the committee meeting is excused. However Rep. Waters never showed up for the meeting. This seems to have become a pattern with her because she was also not present in the last floor session Congress had. Do the American people really expect to be represented well with a representative who doesn’t even bother to show up? Representative Jayapal and Representative Crenshaw both walked into the meeting late with no satisfactory excuses. Representative Crenshaw had to personally call Chairman Perry himself to even figure out where the meeting room was being held! How is it possible that I, a journalist who is not a member of the committee, know where the meeting is being held, but not an actual congress member?
Things were already starting badly. The first bill that was presented to the committee was Rep. Michelle Steele’s “Immigration Protection Act of 2023”. This bill would create more protection on the southern border and supposedly have a total cost of resolution $2 billion. Steele argues that this bill would encourage legal immigration and provide clarification of how the money is spent. Rep. Porter seemed to really dislike this bill and constantly badgered Rep. Steele and his witness, Marcos Sanchez. There was even bickering between Rep Jayapal and Chairman Perry. Rep Jayapal would be talking without being recognized and soon start an argument with the Chairman. Chairman Perry became so exasperated that he yelled at all members about only speaking when recognized and muttered,”Carajo!”.
Representative Crenshaw introduced a markup and it was the most disastrous markup process I have had the displeasure of seeing. I should probably introduce what the markup is, but in all honesty I have no clue what it is. I have listened to the recording multiple times and read the bill and I’m still so confused. Luckily it seems like I wasn’t the only one because Chairman Perry seemed equally as confused and asked for constant clarification. Even Rep. Crenshaw seemed confused about what he was proposing. For some bizarre reason this markup passed for Rep Steele’s bill and passed to the Rules Committee.
After this Representative Perry’s bill was to be discussed and he gave his role of Chairman to Representative Crenshaw! I was even more confused when such an important position was given to him. Not only was he late and unaware of where the meeting was being held, he seems to be incredibly confused when introducing markups to a bill. Something that is vital when you’re in a committee meeting!
Representative Perry introduces his bill,”Protecting American Energy Act”. This bill would supposedly fund new energy and limit greenhouse gasses. When questioned on his bill Rep. Perry seemed to be getting his answers from his witness. You would think that the person who wrote the bill would be able to know what presides in it. Oh well. With the limited amount of time Rep Porter asks to table the bill for a future meeting. Rep Perry calls for a vote and is surprised when two of his members vote against him. Rep. McCarthy and Rep. Johnson agrees with the democrats on tabling the bill and wishes to markup the bill. Rep Perry seems displeased by this new plan, but ultimately agrees to table the bill until next Monday.
We come to a close on this week’s budget committee meeting. There were a lot of head scratching moments, but overall I can honestly say: It beats the Foreign Affairs Committee in efficiency by a mile.
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