My reading of the Budget Bill some quick comments

I have read/​skimmed the Bud­get deal as posted at legal Insur­rec­tion this morn­ing a few thoughts:

1. I like that it is only 74 pages, nobody in con­gress has an excuse to not read it

2. Any­thing that is dated after 2012 means very lit­tle, any new con­gress can change this.

3. There are items in this bill that seem to affect the stand­ing rules of the sen­ate, that is likely not constitutional.

4. There are a lot of amend­ments to exist­ing law, which means you have to read the exist­ing law to know what it is actu­ally doing.

5. The Bal­anced bud­get Amend­ment line here calls only for a vote, that doesn’t mean it is going to pass, nor that it will include the ²⁄₃ trig­ger nec­es­sary for such an amend­ment to be worthwhile.

6. It is inter­est­ing to note that the joint com­mit­tee has equal mem­ber­ship for minor­ity and the major­ity party in both cham­bers and that it goes away on Jan­u­ary 31 2012, just in time for the elec­tion season.

7. The crit­i­cal deci­sion here will be the makeup of the Joint Com­mit­tee, Those appoint­ments will be where the Rub­ber meets the road.

After read­ing the bill, if it was up to me, I’d be a yes vote, This bill is not an exam­ple of steam­ing in the right direc­tion, it is an exam­ple of com­plet­ing the turn of the ship so it is fac­ing in the right direc­tion but you have to turn the ship before you change direc­tions, this is the turn.

Update: Jim­mie Bise and the Lonely con­ser­v­a­tive are both iffy on the bill, but since the Joint com­mit­tee only goes to 2012 I think it’s not that big a risk.

Update 2: Down­load it here.

Update 3: Sissy Willis links

Update 4: Bad link fixed