Inside D.C.

Hey, who’s minding the store?

Where is it written that legislative and executive branch responsibility is sacrificed on the altar of politics and party dominance?  Given the circus-like atmosphere of this year’s ostrich race among presidential wannabes and the attendant media feeding frenzy, I guess it should be no surprise that governing has given way to the battle over who sits in the White House for the next four years – and the current resident’s “legacy” – and which party controls Congress.

For those who believe the last seven-plus years of the Obama Administration have steered the nation into choppy uncharted seas, the presidential election holds out hope for redemption and a righting of the ship of state.  For those who believe the Obama Administration has set the country on a path toward a better future, complete with a strong economy and responsible social programs, the election translates to a battle to preserve that progress and an opportunity to achieve more.  I get that.

However, a glance at the congressional “work” schedule for the remainder of 2016 reveals concrete evidence of a Congress without a sense of priority and balance between issues which must be addressed and electoral politics.  The common wisdom in Washington, DC, is that if legislation is not addressed by the July recess, it likely has little chance of completion.  Why, because Congress leaves town July 16, and does not return until after Labor Day.  When it returns, it will work 17 days in September, disappearing until November 14, when the lame duck session will likely commence.

Among issues pending while members of Congress are out campaigning for themselves and others are the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a $1-trillion-plus hot in the arm for the agriculture economy and an issue currently being treated as yet another political football.  There’s FY2017 spending and a need to return to “regular order” in passing individual appropriations bills that are about spending and not about personal, parochial policy issues.  Even committee staff openly talk about moving bills out of committee, but never taking them to the floor, relying instead on yet another omnibus spending package chock full of legislative language that has no business as part of a spending bill.  Who says earmarks are dead?

The country needs comprehensive tax reform but that’s not going to happen because too many legislators have an all-or-nothing philosophy.  Immigration reform is another ticking time bomb that will not be dealt with because election-year politics trump common sense and responsible legislating.  A thoughtful solution to the challenge of whether foods containing genetically engineered ingredients is in limbo, though everyone agrees a federal solution is needed to avoid a patchwork quilt of state laws.

This all means issues which require full deliberation and debate may be acted on during the two-week lame duck that rolls around at the end of November.  This translates to a full year of work cut and pasted together in two weeks.   That is no way to run a railroad.

President Obama can be faulted for trying to govern by fiat, the issuing of executive orders to deal with issues his way, but his excuse that he’s compelled by a do-nothing Congress no longer rings as hollow as it used to.  The death of a Supreme Court Justice last week set off a game of which politician could sound more obstructionist than the other, even as critical issues likely to come before the high court – WOTUS, the president’s Clean Climate Plan, and immigration reform – are wending their way through the courts.

The President doesn’t get a pass on his involvement in the process.  Instead of being in Washington, DC, negotiating with congressional leadership, he now relies on governance by oration and press conference.  Soon he embarks on a global victory lap as his last year in office draws closer to its end. He’s off to Cuba and Argentina in early March, then Asia, then Africa and back to South America, then Europe and points north, south, east and west.

Maybe a federal law that sets a work schedule to which Congress must adhere is the answer. Part of that law would mean if Congress is in town the president has to be in town as well.  It would never fly. Congress would have to enact the law and the president would have to sign it.  Ain’t going to happen.