In praise of Congress
Congressmen need to spend more time with their families
Axios finally had some good news for a beleaguered nation.
The website reported, “The 118th Congress is on track to be one of the most unproductive in modern history, with just a couple dozen laws on the books at the close of 2023, according to data from data analytics firm Quorum.”
As the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would put it, hallelujah!
I praise the inactivity because I agree with Mark Twain’s observation that “Our lives, our liberty, and our property are never in greater danger than when Congress is in session.”
Axios reported, “Just 20 bills have been passed by both chambers and signed into law this year, with another four currently awaiting President Biden's signature, according to the Quorum data.”
Hallelujah!
Axios reported, “The vast majority were uncontroversial bills that passed either by unanimous consent or with minimal opposition, including multiple measures to rename Veterans Affairs clinics and another to mint a coin commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps.”
Hallelujah!
Axios reported, “Next year is unlikely to see an uptick in productivity, with the 2024 presidential election and looming legislative fights on spending likely to consume lawmakers' time and energy.”
Pinch me so I will know that I am not dreaming.
The inactivity scares the people who live and work in Washington because they fear Americans will enjoy and live their lives without interference from the federal government.
Steven Pearlstein, a former business and economics columnist at the Washington Post, wrote in Politico, “The Painful, Depressing Reality of Why Congress Is So Dysfunctional.”
I want a dysfunctional Congress. I want a Congress that is so partisan and divided that nothing ever gets done, because I have seen their work and I am not impressed; in fact, I am frightened.
Pearlstein wrote, “At the heart of today’s dysfunction in Congress — the serial ousting of speakers, the perpetual threat of government shutdowns, the inability to address pressing issues like immigration, runaway deficits or climate change — lie three political fantasies. These illusions warp the perceptions, cloud the judgment and misdirect the energies of House and Senate members of both parties. Letting go of them will be the necessary first step to restoring a functioning legislature to a country that desperately needs one.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The problem is not that Congress has not addressed the problems. The problem is Congress addressed the problems. Take illegal immigration. Congress compromised with Reagan and passed a law that never was enforced. That is the heart of the problem.
As for runaway deficits, they were created by Congress, which could solve the problem instantly by not borrowing another dime. Congress does not need a constitutional amendment. It needs willpower.
Pearlstein does not understand that Congress controls the purse strings and is solely responsible for the nearly $34 trillion national debt. Sure, presidents sign the budgets into law but they don’t spend a nickel without congressional approval. Each year, a president sends a budget to Congress. Each year, the leader of the opposition party says the budget is dead on arrival. Each year, the opposition leader is correct.
As for climate change, it is an imaginary problem that King Canute mocked nine hundred years ago when he sat on the beach and commanded the ocean not to rise. The powers of Congress are limited by God and the laws of physics, which He wrote.
The damage by Congress, however, appear to be unlimited.
Pearlstein wrote, “a small band of right-wing zealots forced Republican leader Kevin McCarthy through 15 rounds of voting, to give them a virtual veto over legislation before they would give him the votes to become speaker. Nine months later he was out, ousted by the same crew for the unforgiveable sin of striking a compromise with Democrats to avoid an economically disastrous debt default and a politically disastrous government shutdown.”
He left out the part where having cut a deal with McCarthy, every Democrat (except Pelosi who was in California attending Feinstein’s funeral) voted with 8 Republicans to oust McCarthy. So much for collegiality and compromise.
Congress is not supposed to fix the nation’s problems. That’s on we the people. No, the job of Congress is to defend the Constitution and protect our rights. Congress is terrible at its job.
National Review reported last week, “The House on Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense bill that will this year include an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702, the controversial law that permits warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals.
“The House voted 310-118 in favor of the bill just before congressmen left for Christmas recess. The annual national defense bill was passed by the Senate Wednesday, and is now headed to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. The final version of the NDAA authorizes $886 billion in national-defense spending, an increase of $28 billion over fiscal year 2023.
“The critical legislation provides a 5.2% raise for U.S. service members, the largest military salary increase in over 20 years. Both Republicans and Democrats were largely in agreement over the provision, which also includes housing and child-care benefits for service members.
“However, bipartisan debate arose concerning the reauthorization of Section 702. Although the statute is intended to obtain intelligence by surveilling the communications of foreigners based overseas, Republican critics point out that it has been used to spy on American citizens who are in contact with foreign nationals.”
Obama used that law to spy on Donald Trump by sending Russians to meet with him, triggering the spying.
Congress passing just 20 bills this year pleases me.
Now to get them to start repealing, oh, 1,000 laws a year for the next 10 years. That would leave us with 20,000 statutes that could land us in jail.
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In preparing today’s poll, I discovered The First Noël is a Cornish song, not French. Darn it.
NOTE: For some reason, today’s poll failed to work. Sorry.
My buddy Joe and I were the geekiest of geeky kids who ever grew up in the Head of the Holler. (That's a real place, as real as any place in my mind.) In grade school, at recess we would stand behind the White Building and talk instead of running and playing ball, and Joe usually brought the best ideas to the conversation.
One day, out of the blue, he turned to me and said, "You know, they are always making more laws but they never take any off the books. That means that in America, personal freedom becomes less and less every year." This was a GRADE SCHOOL kid.
I keep trying to get them to make me the king - not president, king - so if I say it, it happens. My first edict would be term limits for all elected officials in the land - and all civil servants, who would have to resign after four years and reapply for their jobs. My second would be a Constitutional amendment requiring all laws to sunset after ten years. Since the Federal Register (of federal laws) occupies 80 feet of shelf space, it would be impossible to keep up with those going out of effect until they dwindled to a manageable number. The third would be that the unconstitutional 3-letter bureaus could not pass their own rules which are, in effect, laws. All laws, like the Constitution says, would be passed by Congress. Do those three things and those bastards who get their mail in Washington, DC would be so busy keeping all the plates spinning that they could do very little mischief - forever.
It's good to dream, I suppose.
I'll make a suggestion here; Instead of repealing Section 702, make it mandatory that the Director of the FBI be hung from a lamppost on Pennsylvania ave when Section 702 is misused.