Congress Still Pathetic
The August congressional break is almost upon us. The political silly season has already begun (see: Trump, Donald). Congress is about to scarper off for their taxpayer-paid monthlong summer vacation, after proving once again how pathetic the institution has truly become. I say this in condemnation of both parties, really, although with Republicans running both houses, the blame certainly falls on them in much greater proportion this time around.
Congress is no longer competent at even the basics of doing The People's business. Case in point: highway funding. Highway bills used to be fairly nonpartisan in nature. Everybody used to love infrastructure funding, especially so when it could be larded up with bacon to bring back to your constituents (see: Stevens, Ted; "Bridge to nowhere"). Instead of political bones of contention, highway bills used to be seen as somewhat of a free-for-all in Congress. Those days are over, mostly because earmarks have been curtailed (no more pork barrels). Even so, the mere concept of fixing bridges before they fall down used not to be politically contentious. Perhaps the amounts spent were haggled over, but the bills would always pass and the construction would begin.
The current highway bill deadline is looming in front of us (this is the point when all funding will disappear). Congress should be passing a long-term bill which assures funding for huge projects that can be counted on and planned for, but that's not what is going to happen. Instead, what we're going to get is the 35th short-term extension of the program. Yep, an unbroken string of almost three dozen bills which merely kick the can down the road a few months or so. That's why I say Congress is so pathetic.
To its credit, the Senate did make a half-hearted stab at doing the right thing. They debated a six-year highway bill which would have provided at least a degree of stability about the funding. Only half-hearted, though, because the bill would have identified only the next three years of funding. The House, however, said that even if the Senate bill passed, they were not going to cut into their vacation time by a single day to debate the bill. They do have somewhat of a point -- the Senate was planning on passing their bill on the last scheduled day the House was in session. That's not exactly giving them time to deliberate, to put it mildly. But the blame rests on both houses equally, because neither side came up with any bill at all in a timely manner. This deadline has been on the calendar since the last short-term patch was passed. Everyone knew it was coming. It wasn't a secret or anything. And yet the bills did not pass, for many long months. In either house.
The House Republicans didn't even attempt to put forward a real long-term bill (even a half-hearted one). They instead were set to vote on a five-month extension, which would have put the deadline right before their Christmas break. This is where things get surreal, because the deal announced today between Mitch McConnell and John Boehner means both houses will quickly pass only a three-month extension. This will, according to them, really put the pressure on both houses, so that when they come back refreshed from their month-long vacation, they'll surely just get right on that highway bill problem. Just like they were supposed to do last time.
Or maybe not. Maybe they'll just make it a round three dozen short-term bills. Maybe they should make them all one-month extensions, so they can have the fun of having this fight every single month! Except, of course, for the months when they're on vacation.
To be blunt, Congress is falling down on some of the most basic job duties it has. The highway bill is merely the most egregious recent example. What have the Republicans actually achieved in the past six months, since their glorious takeover of the Senate? They've got both chambers firmly in their grip, and they have produced precious few bills affecting ordinary Americans' lives. They can't even get a highway bill passed that extends more than three months down the pothole-filled road.
The Republicans' big plan, upon taking both chambers, was to send President Obama a flood of bills that he'd have to either veto or just grit his teeth and sign. That hasn't noticeably happened, to put it mildly. The only "victory" the Republicans would have won even if they had managed to do this would have been scoring a political point by forcing a veto. That's it. The vetoes would have been upheld and not overturned, which would have left Congress right back at square one on whatever contentious issue it was. Republicans would have scored some meaningless "moral victory" and precisely nothing would change as a result.
They haven't even managed to do this, of course. The split between the Tea Party Republicans and the Establishment Republicans did not mend itself overnight, after all. Both House and Senate Republicans have been unable to even get their own caucus to agree on much of anything, when it comes to actually moving legislation.
The reason none of this bodes well is pretty obvious. This is just a highway bill, after all. It's supposed to be about as non-contentious as you can get. Which leaves all the other contentious issues in the budget still left to be fought over. Does anyone honestly think any of them are going to be easier than "let's fix some roads and bridges"? Does anyone honestly think Congress is going to get less pathetic after they spend a few weeks in the sun?
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Sadly, the GOP learned the Democrat's lessons very well...
When all else fails.. Do nothing.. :^(
Michale
Having said that, I have to admit that I am very disappointed in the Republicans performance in Congress...
I had hoped they would have been able to actually get things done, with the occasional STICK IT TO THE DEMS action on the side.. :(
But it seems that they were all talk in their opposition to Obama and the Democrat policies..
Hell, they even jumped into bed with Obama on that trade abortion...
VERY disappointing...
Michale
Is there any evidence, any whatsoever, that any deliberation happens in the formal sessions where the votes and procedural nonsense are done? As far as I've ever heard, bills are written in offices, almost entirely by staffers and lobbyists; as far as I've heard, votes are negotiated mostly between the staffs (with some involvement by the actual senators and representatives) at meetings in offices, or on the phone from one office to another.
So why on earth would we care whether they're on "vacation" from the formal sessions? Why would we think that the status of an ongoing non-event in the chambers could possibly have anything to do with the reasons why the actual events of drafting and negotiation of bills in offices are yielding nothing?
The votes aren't there, for anything worthwhile. If members of Congress were reciting canned speeches for CSPAN instead of talking to lobbyists, staffers, and each other, the votes still wouldn't be there. On the other hand, if the electorate were inclined to show up each November and vot out incumbents when nothing gets done, that would make some bills get passed.
On the other hand, if the electorate were inclined to show up each November and vot out incumbents when nothing gets done, that would make some bills get passed.
in other words...
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
~Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
On the other hand, if the electorate were inclined to show up each November and vot out incumbents when nothing gets done, that would make some bills get passed.
We did that in 2008 and in 2014....
What changed???
Michale
I submit a former colleague has the right of it she avows the GOP (Grope Our Panties) has but one goal, viz., to prove that government doesn't work.
I submit a former colleague has the right of it she avows the GOP (Grope Our Panties) has but one goal, viz., to prove that government doesn't work.
Yea, cuz DEMOCRATS are all about productivity in service to the American people, right?? :^/
Michale
We did that in 2008 and in 2014....
Reelection rates:
House 2008 94%
House 2014 95%
Senate 2008 83%
Senate 2014 82%
https://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php
You were saying?
I was saying that took complete control in 2008 and Republicans took complete control in 2114.
I don't know WHAT you are saying...
Michale
I'm saying that nearly all members of Congress get re-elected after Congress fails to provide its Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. Party "control" switches occasionally, sure. So what? Individual members need not fear the wrath of their constituents, for creating partisan gridlock. If anything, the decisive voters in gerrymandered districts (and non-swing states, in the case of the Senate) tend to want their representatives to show even less good faith in working with what they seem to perceive as the enemy party: members have more to fear from a primary challenge than from a candidate of the other party seizing the ideological center. That's how the system works.
Democrats did nominally have the requisite 60 members in their Senate caucus, from July 7 (Franken's legal challenge finally resolved) to August 25, 2009 (Ted Kennedy's death). That was the period of "complete control", actually requiring absolute unanimity within the caucus and the attendance of two members who were on the brink of death. Senate procedure allows substantial opportunity for the minority party to slow things down, even when they can't actually block it.
There basically was no "complete control". Neither party has had it since FDR.
Oops, didn't finish the sentence I was adding in the middle:
That's how the system works -- for both parties.
The Democrats have plenty of economic conservatives, but virtually no social-conservative wing. The Republicans have essentially no liberal wing, on either economic or cultural issues. That's because the votes that decide elections are cast in primaries, where only a tiny percentage of the electorate turns out to vote. And it's a tiny percentage that values ideological purity.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/2013-vote-ratings/the-chasm-in-the-center-of-congress-20140206
Yay, the link posted.
Anyway, voters are not demanding that members of Congress work together across the aisle. They may say it in polls, if the question is phrased right, but they're not demanding it at the ballot box. That's what I'm saying.
Michale [2] -
I salute you for being honest. I mean, can you name one positive thing (by whatever definition you use) that Congress has done since the 2014 midterm election?
One? Again -- even by your definition?
dsws -
I hear your point, but my point is that when they're on vacation, it's 100% guaranteed nothing will get done. When they're there, there is a more-than-zero chance. Not much better, but there it is.
Nowadays, Congress only really gets things done right before (or sometimes right after) deadlines. That's why they keep setting up artificial ones -- like the 3-month highway deadline they just voted in.
nypoet22 [4] -
Nice quote. Very apt.
Michale [5] -
Um, don't you mean 2010 and 2014? I personally would pick different years...
Heh.
Teacher1941 [6] -
"Government doesn't work -- elect us and we'll PROVE it!"
Heh.
dsws [8] -
Excellent point.
Michale [9] -
Oh, OK. Although Dems started their takeover in 2006, and I always wondered what Congress would look like 2 years after Rush's 2112...
"We have assumed control.
We have assumed control.
We have assumed control."
:-)
dsws [10] -
Again, I largely agree. But didn't LBJ have like 67 Dems? Of course, there were massive intraparty divisions back then, but I thought he had an enormous majority, at least in the Senate.
-CW
Anyway, voters are not demanding that members of Congress work together across the aisle. They may say it in polls, if the question is phrased right, but they're not demanding it at the ballot box. That's what I'm saying.
Ahhhh Now I see what you are saying..
Yes, I agree... This country has become infinitely more divided and infinitely more mean-spirited in the last decade...
Michale
when they're on vacation, it's 100% guaranteed nothing will get done.
When they're on "vacation", nothing that gets done will get its procedural formalities taken care of. That's not the same thing.
But didn't LBJ have like 67 Dems?
You're right, of course. I googled "filibuster proof majority" to try to see when the last one was, but I didn't look at enough of the results. You're also right about the intra-party division, though, so whatever source I paraphrased wasn't completely off base. Still embarrassing.
CW -
Congress Still Pathetic
That is a PERFECT Onion headline! The Onion is getting a lot politics right these days. A link maybe?