Senate Committee Structure

[Filuwaúrdjan]

One thing the Senate is supposed to do (but has never done) is do the Budget etc... the one attempt to do this (Omnibus Appropriations Bill) was written by a single Senator, was fairly extreme and got voted down on the Senate floor.

At the same time the Senate needs to be a more effective check on the Executive, no matter who is in power.

I think a simple (and more or less informal) committee structure (let's say three members on each) would enable the Senate to execute it's constitutionally mandated roles better than it has been doing recently.

We need a Taxation committee, an Appropriations committee (these two have to be kept seperate) and a committee dealing with foriegn/defense stuff. The PPT/Speaker/Whatever shouldn't be a member of a committee.
If for any reason we need to set up a new committee, we can do it.

I volunteer to be on Appropriations.

[Bono]

One thing the Senate is supposed to do (but has never done) is do the Budget etc... the one attempt to do this (Omnibus Appropriations Bill) was written by a single Senator, was fairly extreme and got voted down on the Senate floor.

At the same time the Senate needs to be a more effective check on the Executive, no matter who is in power.

I think a simple (and more or less informal) committee structure (let's say three members on each) would enable the Senate to execute it's constitutionally mandated roles better than it has been doing recently.

We need a Taxation committee, an Appropriations committee (these two have to be kept seperate) and a committee dealing with foriegn/defense stuff. The PPT/Speaker/Whatever shouldn't be a member of a committee.
If for any reason we need to set up a new committee, we can do it.

I volunteer to be on Appropriations.

Agreed. I had been thinking of this too. I volunteer to appropriations, in order to keep a check on you.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I would have though taxation would be more you're thing

[Bono]

I would have though taxation would be more you're thing

I was having trouble deciding, but I just relized I can't let the neo-cons and the liberals decide on their own the spenditures.

[Colin]

I would have though taxation would be more you're thing

I was having trouble deciding, but I just relized I can't let the neo-cons and the liberals decide on their own the spenditures.

Bono I can count on one hand how many Neo-Cons we have in Atlasia. They aren't that big of a force here.

[Bono]

I would have though taxation would be more you're thing

I was having trouble deciding, but I just relized I can't let the neo-cons and the liberals decide on their own the spenditures.

Bono I can count on one hand how many Neo-Cons we have in Atlasia. They aren't that big of a force here.

In the senate they are, both the ones who hide behind blue avatars and the ones who still have their natural red avatars.

[Colin]

I would have though taxation would be more you're thing

I was having trouble deciding, but I just relized I can't let the neo-cons and the liberals decide on their own the spenditures.

Bono I can count on one hand how many Neo-Cons we have in Atlasia. They aren't that big of a force here.

In the senate they are, both the ones who hide behind blue avatars and the ones who still have their natural red avatars.

Like who?

[Defarge]

I volunteer to be a member of the Foreign Relations Commitee.

[JohnFKennedy]

I volunteer to be a member of the Foreign Relations Commitee.

^^ That is if I am not re-elected to the President Pro Temporeship. Assumedly if I am not either Defarge or Supersoulty will be elected so  this won't have too much effect, heh.

[12th Doctor]

May I be on the Education, Health and Welfare Committee?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

May I be on the Education, Health and Welfare Committee?

That's a good committee idea as well... basically if we can all keep the whole committee structure fairly informal it should work.

[MAS117]

This is another reason why we could have a Majority/Miniority coatlitions within the Senate. So we can have Chairman nad Ranking Memebers. If not that you might as well just choose between everyone on the committee.

[Gabu]

I volunteer to be a member of the Foreign Relations Commitee.

I volunteer to be a third member on this committee.

[??????????]

As senior senator I would like to be on the defense committee.

[JohnFKennedy]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Two of whom are running for PPT which means the odds are they won't both be able to be on the committee so this *should* work itself out.

[Gabu]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Are the defense and foreign relations committees the same thing?  It seems to me that they'd have different purposes.

[JohnFKennedy]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Are the defense and foreign relations committees the same thing?  It seems to me that they'd have different purposes.

Al's suggestion makes them so.

[Gabu]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Are the defense and foreign relations committees the same thing?  It seems to me that they'd have different purposes.

Al's suggestion makes them so.

I suppose, but it seems to me that they should be separate.  I don't think that Al's suggestion was set in stone.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Nothing is set in stone: if we have a fairly informal committee structure it won't scare people away from becoming Senators and we'd also be doing what the Constitution says we should be doing (ie: the Budget).

[Akno21]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Are the defense and foreign relations committees the same thing?  It seems to me that they'd have different purposes.

Al's suggestion makes them so.

I suppose, but it seems to me that they should be separate.  I don't think that Al's suggestion was set in stone.

You really can't have any more than 3 committees, and Defense and Foriegn Policy seem to go together better than most other things do.

[??????????]

I would like to be on the tax committee.

[PBrunsel]

As President can I appoint people to a Buget Committee?

If I can than I think it should be limited to 3 Senators.

[Jake]

I'm not a senator, but why not let people choose their committee based on seniority.  That solves the problem of too many people wanting the same spot.

[Gabu]

We have four volunteers for defense/foreign relations committee.

Are the defense and foreign relations committees the same thing?  It seems to me that they'd have different purposes.

Al's suggestion makes them so.

I suppose, but it seems to me that they should be separate.  I don't think that Al's suggestion was set in stone.

You really can't have any more than 3 committees, and Defense and Foriegn Policy seem to go together better than most other things do.

Yes, you have a point.

[Colin]

This is how the committees should be divided:

Senate Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee
Senate Appropriations and Taxation Commitee
Senate Education, Health & Welfare Commitee