By Fred Kelly Grant | December 21, 2010

As a result of Senator Harry Reids back-alley tactics, both the Food Safety Bill and the Omnibus Public land and water bills are headed for passage by the entire Congress.  The Food Safety Bill was passed by unanimous consent as a substitute for an already passed House bill.  The Omnibus Public Lands and Water bill is headed for passage as “America’s Great Outdoors Act” also as a substitute.

The public lands bill was furtively put into action on the floor of the Senate by Reid late Sunday evening near the end of an unusual Sunday session designed for debate on the Arms treaty. The Bill which pundits said could not and would not be considered in the lame duck session could be voted on this week, or even the week after Christmas.  Reid has threatened that the Senate will stay in session until January 5, 2011 if necessary to get this package and others passed.

The stealth with which Reid worked the back-hall ways of the Senate on this bill would defy the imagination of the average American citizen.  His dark, guarded methods will make it difficult for real change to be made in the 112th Congress that convenes in January, 2011.  His tactics, even though performed in plain sight, defy openness to the point at which citizens have no adequate notice and time to state their positions to their Senators.

His very best misdirection is evidenced by introduction on Sunday evening of the Lands Bill.  It is a 1003 page bill including everything from imposing beach control to locking up hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands into wilderness.  Representative Doc Hastings of Washington State says the cost to the taxpayers will be $18 BILLION DOLLARS.

If a citizen attempts to find the “Omnibus Public Lands Bill” by internet, the effort will no doubt fail.  At the end of an unusual Sunday work session yesterday, Reid high jacked a completely unrelated bill by amending it to become the omnibus Bill called “America’s Great Outdoors Bill of 2010.”

Here is how it happened:  Last Thursday Senator Reid announced that he thought the idea of an omnibus bill was dead for this session of Congress.  He said “I’m not sure we can get that done now.  I sure would like to get it done, but I’m not sure we can.”

Immediately the word went out over the internet that “the Omnibus Lands Bill is dead for this session.”  Those of us who have followed Reid over the years knew better and warned that citizens must keep their eyes and ears open.

By Friday evening at the close of business and after the main stream press had its news, he changed his tune: “these are bipartisan bills.  There is nothing divisive about protecting historic battlefields, improving our most critical water sources or making sure that our best wildlife habitat remains wild and healthy.”  But, he made no move to introduce the bill.

After a full day of treaty debate on Saturday and six more hours on Sunday, he announced to an empty chamber that he was offering an amendment to Senate Bill 303.  That bill was the “Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 2009,” introduced in early 2009.  It had already passed the Senate, gone to the House where it was amended and passed, and as amended was back in the Senate for passage.

Now it was to become Reid’s avenue to pass the omnibus package containing over 100 different bills.  The Congressional Record reveals that “Mr. Reid submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S.303, to reauthorize and improve the ‘Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 2009,’ which was ordered to lay on the table.”

The “amendment” changed the title and all the content of S 303, from the Financial Assistance bill to “America’s Great Outdoors Act of 2010.” 

The following 1,003 pages of legislation contain 13 Sections:  National Park Service, National Wilderness Preservation System, Forest Service, Department of Interior, National Heritage Sites, BLM, rivers and trails; Water and Hydropower, Insular Areas, wildlife conservation and water quality protection and restoration, Oceans and Fisheries, Indian Homelands and Trust Land, and Miscellaneous.  

Particularly vile are the provisions that will give EPA control over ocean beaches to set regulations that would adversely affect all farms and ranches.

So, the prior Financial Assistance Management Improvement bill, which has passed the House is now “America’s Great Outdoors Bill.”   It is now ready to be called up at the will of Mr. Reid for debate and vote either during the last few days of this week, or in a threatened post-Christmas session.

His tactics as to this bill mirror the manner in which he resurrected the Food Safety Bill and secured passage by unanimous consent in the Senate.  Again, he misdirected attention so that most Americans thought the heavily bureaucratic bill was dead.  The word went out over the internet congratulating the grassroots for putting on enough pressure to defeat the bill.

At the end of Sunday’s session, Mr. Reid pointed out to a Senate chamber empty but for the presiding President and staff: “. . . for the benefit of all Senators, we just sent to the House, again, the food safety legislation---extremely important legislation.  I just got something on my desk today about a woman who is going to be---well, she was in the hospital a year and a half and is expected to be there for 2 more years as a result of eating some contaminated food.  So, it is important.  I am deeply appreciative of the cooperation from everyone, including my friend, the Republican leader [Mitch McConnell] to help us get this done.. . .I spoke to the Speaker tonight, and this will now pass the House when they come back Monday night or Tuesday.  So that is extremely important.”

While Senator McConnell was making public statements that his party was going to block last minute expensive pieces of Democrat sponsored legislation, he let the $11 billion dollar so-called Food Safety Bill get passed without objection!!

The way Senator Reid runs the Senate of the United States is in defiance of the message the voters delivered last November.  His back-door dealings are so convoluted that not even the Congress knows what he is doing in time to effectively stop him.

If Congress cannot stop him when the members are right there on top of the action, there is no way that the average American citizen can know what is going on in advance.  So many of his bills have been stalled by grassroots uprisings that he now moves with stealth through the corridors of the Senate, striking at the end of long sessions, when he is the only Senator on the floor.

If the situation weren’t so critical to our Republic, it would be funny to see the Senator on C-Span when he asks for unanimous consent and the President of the Senate says “without objection, granted.”  There is no objection because there is no one on the floor to object.

Watching the manner in which he got his omnibus public lands bill into action is a good example of his methods.  For some time now Senator Barbara Boxer has argued that the omnibus bill just had to be put together and passed during this Congress.  Several Republican Senators have said that they would stop the bill.  Until this special Sunday session, Reid had not taken the chance of introducing the bill.

As said earlier, Reid’s tactics on the “Great Outdoors Act” just mirrored the skilful way he gained passage of the so-called Food Safety Bill that endangers small farms and ranches even with the amendment that supposedly exempts those with an annual revenue under $500,000.

While the nation's attention was on the tax reduction extensions, and on the Arms Treaty that kept the Senate and House in Saturday and Sunday sessions, Reid found a simple ploy to accomplish the trick.  He secured agreement to move HR 2751 the "Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act" back to the House by unanimous consent to be enrolled as passed.

Then, on the floor of the Senate in the late afternoon, early evening of Sunday, December 19, Senator Reid called the Recycling bill for a vote and there was no objection from the two other Senators who were on the floor.  So by unanimous consent HR 2751 was passed.  Then Senator Reid moved for reconsideration with the vote to be tabled.   This was granted by the same unanimous consent because there was no other Senator on the floor.  Then Senator Reid offered without objection amendment number 4890 which substituted S. 510 the Food Safety Bill for the Recycling Bill.  Without objection, then the amendment was passed and the Food Safety Bill had been substituted for the Recycling Bill.  Reid moved that the bill be read for the third time and asked for the question.  Without objection, the bill passed, and the Food Safety Bill was on the way back to the House.

Hard to believe?  Here is the actual transcript from the congressional record:

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 74, H.R. 2751.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 2751) to accelerate motor fuel savings nationwide and provide incentives to registered owners of high polluting automobiles to replace such automobiles with new fuel efficient and less polluting automobiles.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the text of S. 510, as passed the Senate and modified with the changes at the desk, be inserted in lieu thereof and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered

The amendment (No. 4890), in the nature of a substitute, as modified, was agreed to.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of Amendments.'')
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the bill to be read a third time.
The bill was read the third time.

Mr. REID. Is there a question on passage of the bill?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill, having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?

The bill, (H.R. 2751), as amended, was passed.

 Mr. REID. I move to reconsider and table the vote.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the title amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the Record.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 4891) was agreed to, as follows:
Amend the title as to read:  A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of the food supply. 

The deed was done.  Silently, but in plain sight of an empty Senate chamber.  Did the Senators who had pledged to stop the bill cave in to get something they wanted?  Did they cave in to pressure from Monsanto and the other giants who have plenty of money to spend on campaigns?  Or did they get deceived handsomely by the skilful Mr. Reid?  I guess we will never know. 

Regardless, they failed in a mission to protect the small farmers and ranchers in the nation, and they failed to protect what they say is a republican principle and objective: "cut spending."  They allowed an $11 BILLION DOLLAR BUREAUCRATIC MONSTROSITY PASS, ALLOWING HOMELAND SECURITY TO AGGRESSIVELY OVERSEE OPERATIONS OF SMALL FARMS AND RANCHES.

His skill resulted in a legislative move that avoids any conference on differences between the House bill and the Senate.  The House passed HR 2751 as the Recycling Bill; HR 2751 came back to them as the Food Safety Bill.  Since it had already passed the Food Safety Bill once, it was hardly likely that it would amend the bill as it came back to them.  So, in the blink of an eye, Reid evaded all the public pressure and secured passage of a bill that seemed doomed just a week prior.

It is convenient, and a little comforting, to think of what will happen in 2011 as the new majority of the House of Representatives takes a shot at change.  After all 62 members of that new majority are new Congressmen.  We should expect positive change, shouldn’t we?

Realistically, there will be no change unless the new members of the United States Senate gather support from incumbent Republicans to stop the back-hallway, Senate chamber ante-room tactics of Senator Harry Reid.  The majority leader will still be there in the same position.  He knows every trick in the book for evading the opinion of citizens; he knows every trick in the legislative process for out-maneuvering the opposition.

Not only does he know all the tricks, he knows how to use them.  And, even though the opposition gets burned over and over and over again, no one has the courage or imagination necessary to put a stop to this one-man rule of the Senate.

It will take real courage for the newcomers to take on the leader.  Unless someone steps forward with that courage, we cannot count on change in Washington.