Do-Nothing Congress by Bruce Walker

Do-Nothing Congress

By Bruce Walker

June 11, 2007

With much fanfare, Democrats campaigned last November that they would change things in Washington. They had a plan for making America a better place. Well, Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress now for six months. What have they done? Nothing, really.

They have debated endlessly about timelines for withdrawing troops from Iraq, conveniently forgetting that it was a vote of Congress which authorized the troops to be their in the first place. Two Democrats running for president voted for that authorization of force, which is the prerogative of the national legislature, just as it is the prerogative of the chief executive to conduct the war. If there is ultimately a peace treaty, then the Senate (for those who still read the Constitution) will again have a role in approving any peace treaty proposed by the president. Congress has a place at the beginning and in the end of wars, but the president has the right and power to conduct the war. All the prancing of Democrats before doing what they must - fund the troops - is simply evidence of a Do-Nothing Congress.

Immigration, or rather the hordes of illegal immigrants in America and entering America every day, is a critical issue for our nation. Yet the Do-Nothing Congress has yet to even get a majority of the Senate to vote to end debate on the one thousand page and ridiculously complex "solution" to the problem of illegal immigrants. Senator Reid needed sixty senators to vote for cloture; he got, instead, forty-five for cloture and fifty against cloture, a breathtaking lack of legislative leadership.

The Do-Nothing Congress also promised to correct the very real problem of hidden legislative earmarks. But how was this done? By changing legislative procedure so that these earmarks do not even show up in subcommittee reports, but are rather hidden even more deeply in hidden conference committee reports of appropriation bills. That makes the problem of abuse by ear mark worse, not better. The Do-Nothing Congresses does nothing again. This is in stark contrast to the Republican majority in 1995 which adopted in a few days sweeping reforms which were not only supported by a majority of Republicans but also by an overwhelming majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Instead of doing the people's business, the Do-Nothing Congress has engaged in witch hunt after witch hunt against the Bush Administration, finding nothing new, uncovering no new "scandals," and wasting the time of busing people who, unlike the new bosses of Congress, are trying to fight our enemies.

Or leaders of the Do-Nothing Congress do things that they are not supposed to do at all, like pseudo-Secretary of State Nancy Pelosi traveling to one of the most brutal dictators in the world, Assad, and trying to open a "dialogue" with him, something which is the sole province of the executive branch of our government. Now we hear that all out war between Israel and Syria is possible this summer. Did Pelosi's humiliating wearing of a headscarf in difference to Islamic contempt for women help bring peace to the region? It may, in fact, have encouraged Damascus to again war on Israel. That would be the sole accomplishment, so far, of the Do-Nothing Congress: its leader single-handedly helped start a war while violating American laws regarding negotiating with other nations.

Has the Do-Nothing Congress done anything to raise the level of ethics in Washington? It tabled a motion to censure Abscam unindicted co-conspirator Murtha for his latest unethical bullying. It has yet to move for the expulsion of Congressman Jefferson, whose co-conspirators are already in prison and whose guilt is beyond question.

So if Democrats in Congress have done, literally, nothing, does that mean that there is nothing that needs to be done? If so, then they should proclaim that to the America people: We do not need energy independence; we are not hated and threatened by terrorists around the world; we have no problem with illegal immigrants; the system of entitlements is just fine and needs no changes; everyone in Congress is honest now.

In 1948, Harry Truman ran against the "Do-Nothing Congress" and reclaimed for his party both houses of Congress. The Republican nominee will likely be Giuliani, Thompson or Romney, all Washington outsiders. Their battle-cry, along with a clear agenda of reforms, should be to throw out the Do-Nothing Congress. 1948 was one of the greatest political upsets in American history. 2008 could be too, if Americans can be made to understand that they gave Democrats power just because Democrats wanted power, and that once in power, they had no intention of really doing anything.