CALLING THEM A “DO-NOTHING US CONGRESS” DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH
…..The US Congress…..when its
actually working
The US Congress is lazier, more
incompetent and more obstructionist than ever
Remember, that
after the Senate changed over to being run by the Republicans, and the
Republican, Paul Ryan took over the House
leadership, this was supposed to be the year that the US Congress was
finally going to start acting like grown-ups.
Well, instead,
while the United States has been distracted by the current circus of the
presidential campaign, Congress has gone further into a hole. It is now lazier, more incompetent and more
obstructionist than even its fiercest critics could have ever imagined.
Not so long
ago, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan
(R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised that,
after years of dysfunction and infighting, 2016 would represent a new
beginning.
“We are turning the page,” Ryan said when
he accepted the speakership last fall. “We
are not going to have a House that looked like it looked the last few years.” I’m sure that the former House Speaker, John
Boehner is sitting back with a big grin and his glass of Pinot Noir and
shaking his head thinking “I don't think so…..”
If you recall,
both McConnell and Ryan pledged to finally reinstate “regular order” in the budget process.
What that is
supposed to mean, is that congressional committees would allocate taxpayer
money, branch by branch and agency by agency, in 12 separate “regular” appropriations bills. They
would all be voted on and signed into law well before the start of the next
fiscal year. Ain't going to happen!!!
This would
mean that the US Congress would not wait until the last minute and would not be cramming
everything into a giant, sloppy, everything-to-everyone bill in an attempt to
avoid a government shutdown. This had
become the “Business as Usual” in
recent years.
Now, Paul Ryan is a
self-identified budget wonk, and getting the nation’s fiscal house in order was
supposed to be his top priority.
Instead, both he and McConnell, and the rest of Congress have really
blown it.
The new fiscal
year starts Oct. 1, and not one of the 12, so called “regular” appropriations bills has made it to the president’s desk.
The House couldn’t even pass a budget
resolution setting out the broad outlines for what Congress plans to spend,
which is the normal first step in the budget process. This is only the second time since 1975 that
the House was unable to pass such a
basic plan.
In addition,
neither the House nor the Senate have held a hearing on the
president’s budget request. This is the
first time a president has been refused a hearing since 1975.
OK, so why is
this happening. As expected, it’s all
about politics.
Congress is
now trying to extend current funding levels for a few more months. This would
of course, allow legislators to return to their election campaigns and it
delays the hard decisions until after Election Day.
All those in
office want to know who’s going into the White
House before they commit to any long-term programs.
So what does
this mean for you and I ?
First, even
the second-rate plans have been stopped because the GOP legislators have repeatedly tried to tuck poison-pill
provisions into the must-pass bills.
That means
there’s a little more than a month before the election, and the Congress will
again be flirting with a government shutdown.
Not to
mention, the US Congress still hasn’t successfully appropriated a cent toward
the worldwide Zika epidemic crisis, nor has it passed any funding to help
families affected by the emergencies in Louisiana or the Flint, Michigan water
pipe-lead poisoning.
But, this
Congress doesn’t stop with messing with the US Budgets, nosirree. The do-nothing legislative branch has proven
itself unable to perform even its most basic duties.
The Republican
Senate is today headed to work the fewest number of days in a session in six
decades. It also took the longest summer recess in the modern era and it can’t
get anyone nominated for any position confirmed.
Everyone has
heard of Merrick Garland, President Obama’s US Supreme Court pick, who cannot
get a hearing. But he’s only one nominee
being snubbed.
The Republican
Senate has confirmed just 22 federal judges this Congress. This is the lowest number of confirmed judges
since the 1951-1952 Congress. That’s 65
years ago!
The US Senate
had confirmed more than three times as many judges by this point in the final
Congresses of three previous two-term presidents. That includes George W. Bush, Bill Clinton
and Ronald Reagan. In all these cases, the presidents had also faced Senates
controlled by the opposing party.
Speaker Ryan
was correct when he said, “We are not
going to have a House that looked like it looked the last few years.” No, it’s looking a whole lot worse.
Thanks to
these levels of Senate obstruction, the White
House also has many empty offices for unconfirmed positions. The Senate has confirmed the fewest civilian
nominees in modern history. As of mid-September,
just 248 nominees had been confirmed. That is half the average number of
confirmed civilians over comparable periods of other recent two-term
presidents.
Our US
legislators can’t pass budgets or hold hearings for nominees. But they do find time to go on political
witch hunts, or to hold grandstanding TV hearings where they publicly shame
greedy US executives. But they do this to these executives for doing things that these same legislators allow to
remain legal….?
They seem to
forget that unlike journalists and opinion writers, the legislators have the power to change
any political status-quo. But this group that is supposed to be doing the "people's business" are too lazy or they just don't care.
Copyright
G.Ater 2016
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