The Surreal World Of The United States Congress

The results of the latest public opinion polls (October 2007) do not really concern the career politician of either political party in Washington D.C. The approval rating for all members of Congress sits at a dismal 22 percent, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. About 75 percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. The new survey represents a drop of 3% since July 2007 and 6% since October 2006.

Of course the reason that the public is fed up with 110th Congress is that it does not get anything of real substance done. Most members of Congress are only concerned with the power of their individual political parties and serving the beltway's vested interests. Partisan bickering is the order of the day. The people's business never really gets accomplished by either party in power.

The list of unresolved political issues is becoming long indeed. Social Security is not reformed. Iraq remains a quagmire. There has been no real energy policy in this country for years. No real debate on the environmental issues of the day. Healthcare and education policy are always a work in progress. The tax code is a mess and the problem of the alternative minimum tax looms for the middle class. Spending is unrestrained and the budget deficit is out of sight. Immigration policy in the country is incoherent.

However, there is time for this Congress to urgently consider a non-binding resolution that would declare that a massacre that happened 90 years ago against Armenians by Turkey is genocide. This was followed by votes to censure Moveon.org for a paid newspaper piece on General Petraeus indicating that "he betrayed us" and a censure of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for, of all things, not supporting American troops. As can be seen in these examples, not much is getting done by Congress in late 2007. Next year is an election year and our career congressional politicians will be happy to wait and see how much power their party can gain within the beltway after November 2008.

Democrats took control of Congress last year with the promise to put Congress back to work. They took over from a corrupt, lazy, Republican Congress and promised America that they would put an "end to the two day work week". Ten months later, the Democrats plan on a light schedule when the 110th Congress begins its second year in mid January.

House majority leader, Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, (except in June for work on appropriations bills). Mr. Hoyer said, “I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families.”

It should be great that members spend more time with their families and in addition they can be paid even more as well. As you may be aware, the Congress of the United States has authorized automatic annual pay increases for all its members. The next automatic increase is scheduled for January 2008 raising the pay scale from $165,200 to $170,000 for the "rank-and-file" members. It could only happen in the surreal world of Congress that despite overwhelming disapproval of your performance by your employer (American public), that you can get paid more and work less.

Free travel and vacations are another favorite of our career politicians. Members of the House of Representatives have gotten used to being wined, dined, and flown to beautiful and expensive places by lobbyists. Democrats promised to reform the system to eliminate lobbyists' interests. They insisted that they would "drain the swamp" when they came back to power. Ethics Reform was passed that was easily circumvented by the members and lobbyists. The Democrats "reform" resulted in lawmakers accepting free trips worth nearly $1.9 million during the first eight months of 2007. This free trip bonanza represents more in total dollars than lobbyists spent on members in all of 2006. Most of the trips were taken by Democrats. Instead of "draining the swamp", Democrats like the feel of the same polluted lobbyist swamp water that the previous Republican majority enjoyed. These free vacations take up time that should be spent on the job that members of Congress were elected to do.

President Bush recently slammed the Democratic-controlled Congress for failing in its basic business of approving annual budget bills. He said: "They have not been able to send a single annual appropriations bill to my desk, and that's the worst record for a Congress in 20 years. This is not what Congressional leaders promised when they took control of Congress earlier this year. Congress needs to keep their promise, to stop wasting time, and get essential work done on behalf of the American people.”

This is the surreal world of the United States Congress: It involves political party loyalty, spending more time at home, automatic annual pay increases, getting reelected by bringing "home the bacon" to the constituents and special interests, and free vacations with the lobbyists. Its not about achievement, performance, or accomplishment. In this political environment, the American public needs to lead by voting for candidates who represent real change in November 2008. Maybe if the voting public leads, our leaders will follow.

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