As I write this, national congressional representatives are at an impasse on a new relief bill to address the needs of U.S. citizens and economy. That really doesn’t need to be the case, if proper and normal procedure would have been followed — bills passed by one body are sent to the other where they are put on the floor for debate and amendments.

The problem is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to let the bill passed by the House in May be considered in the Senate.

Sen. McConnell has changed and abused the rules of the Senate to vastly increase his influence on all matters. He wants all legislation to originate in the Senate to increase his control over it.

If he had to follow proper procedure and had the House bill debated in the Senate, it could have had unlimited amendments. The dollar amount and unwanted items could have been eliminated. The Senate and House versions would be put before a joint House and Senate committee to work out a compromise. By using that procedure, much better legislation would have been completed by now.

What is going now is crisis management, which doesn’t usually obtain the best results.

Timothy Carter, Bethel

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