A do-little Congress

A do-little Congr
Published October 3, 2006


Like every marriage, each session of Congress begins with firm vows and high expectations. But not all of the vows are kept, and great hopes often end in disappointment. That's certainly been the case with this Congress. And, like many couples in bad marriages, members in the end focused mainly on getting out quickly.

Congress didn't get a lot done this year. But it did manage to adjourn before the end of September--the earliest election-year escape in recent history. If lawmakers don't have time for legislating, it's because they have decided that campaigning is really more important.

Republicans, who control both houses, reject the Democratic charge that this is a "do-nothing Congress," noting accurately that it has legislated on several noteworthy issues. Last week, the legislative branch sent President Bush a bill on the trial and interrogation of enemy combatants in the war on terror. Early in the year, it renewed the Patriot Act. It approved a $70 billion tax cut, rewrote the federal bankruptcy law and voted to build a 700-mile fence to keep Mexicans from sneaking across the southern border.

But none of this is enough to conceal all that lawmakers failed to do, either because they lacked the enthusiasm, couldn't agree among themselves, or preferred to bury problems. Voters have been told that warrantless electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency is urgent for national security--yet Congress hasn't acted on a bill to govern that program. Though immigration has been hotly debated both on Capitol Hill and across the country, the big decisions have been put off until later. The fate of the estate tax remains uncertain. For the most part, appropriations to fund the federal government are awaiting action.

The most inexcusable failure came in an area where Congress needed, and promised, to do the most--congressional integrity, cast into grave doubt by the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Last January, after the lobbyist pleaded guilty to various criminal charges, including conspiracy to bribe public officials, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert strained to show their determination to clean up lobbying rules to restore public confidence. But Congress failed to enact either a new ethics bill or a measure to attach the sponsors' names to the pork projects known as earmarks. The clean-government group Common Cause called it "a very pathetic showing."

More could have been done if Congress had stayed in session until these matters were resolved. But members prefer to conserve their energy for wooing voters. So if you see your representative or senator out on the campaign trail, you might ask: If you want to keep your job, shouldn't you be in Washington doing it?





Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune