Pathetic

4 October 2006



Congress Rushes Through 165 Bills in a Week

The 109th Congress hasn’t done much of anything, spending more time on vacation than any other Congress in recent history. Social Security reform, nine out of eleven spending bills, immigration legislation and tax simplification remain undone. However, in just one week, legislators who are up for re-election in a month have rammed 165 pieces of legislation through the sausage grinder that is Capitol Hill. And this is a system the administration wants to spread around the world.

The reason for the rush is blatantly political, and it would be stupid to expect politicians to act in an apolitical way. That said, had the legislators been doing their jobs for the past two years, this mad dash to impress the folks back home would be unnecessary. However, the first branch of government has been off-duty for almost 6 years now. Thus, like a sophomore student who hasn't been turning up to class, it was time to cram.

What they did pass was an exciting collection that all come under the heading of “Endangered Politician Preservation Act.” Extremely threatened Congressman John N. Hostettler (R-IN) got the Public Expression of Religion Act passed, which would deny legal fees to anyone winning a lawsuit against the display of religious symbols in public. Chris Chocola (R-IN) won money for his district to fix leaking underground storage tanks. Mark Green (R-WI) is campaigning for governor and can point out that he got national forest land transferred to the towns of Laona and Wabeno in his state.

What is particularly worrisome is the complete acceptance that this is, somehow, good public policy. Jim Gerlach (R-PA) got the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act passed, and he told the Washington Post, “I asked for help and I got it. It was legislation my district wants. It was something my legislative district has a need for.” Yet, in all of that, what of the interests of the rest of the country?

In a Periclean Athens, every bill would be considered on its merits and voted up or down based on the interests of the entire nation. That, of course, isn’t how Washington works. Congressmen, and a third of the senate, are up for re-election now, and all the work undone suddenly allows them all to trade votes to help each other out, to “bring home the bacon,” without due deliberation. This is how bridges to nowhere get built, and why the First Infantry Division doesn’t have adequate body armor. It’s worth remembering when one votes in November.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


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