Inside D.C.

It’s time for a congressional “time out”

Commentary.

There’s nothing that communicates to the world the dignity of the U.S. House of Representatives like a and one-party sit-in on the House floor, in violation of chamber rules, cat-calling the Speaker and broadcasting these playground antics from various and sundry member cellphones.

The scenario just described played out this week when House Speaker Paul Ryan (R, WI) refused to bring up for House floor votes two gun control bills rejected earlier in the week by the Senate. The Democrats, outraged at Ryan’s action, began chanting and picture/sign waving, demanding a vote on the two bills, introduced in the wake of the Orlando shootings last week.  The “demonstration” reached such a pitch that Ryan party-line voted several minor bills and recessed the chamber until after the July 4 recess.  Several Democrats refused to leave the floor, spending in total 26 hours protesting the Speaker’s disregard for their demands.

Make no mistake about it, both sides of the aisle are guilty of election-year political grandstanding, shamelessly exploiting a tragedy for political gain.  Democrats wanted to force votes on the emotional, devisive gun control issue knowing full well those votes would fail.  This would allow them to go home and campaign against GOP opponents using the anti-gun control vote as a hammer.   The Republicans, while justified in not allowing such school yard antics to rule the day and fully aware of the Democrat maneuver, could have insisted the Democrats use regular order to bring up the bills, but instead ignored them and reaped the whirlwind.

I don’t pretend to understand why Congress cannot get its collective head around common sense solutions to illegal gun use without jeopardizing Second Amendment rights and sending the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) into paroxysms of paranoia. I also cannot get my head around a Congress which continues to almost intentionally go out of its way to justify a less than 15% approval rating by the American public.

I don’t understand why pro-gun control advocates approach the issue as an all-or-nothing endeavor; likewise I don’t understand why those opposed to federal gun control preach “slippery slope” and always check the “nothing” box.

I agree with Speaker Ryan and his desire that his chamber – for the time being – play even these political games by the rules, not by mob rule. I also believe in the preservation of due process which some House members seem to have decided is an expendable commodity.

What I do not agree with is either party deciding to ignore the rules and pound their little fists until they get their way. Whether it’s arch-conservative GOP members and their spending tirades and threats of shutting the government down or ultra-liberals and their blissful ignorance of the price of debt in pursuit of a government-will-take-care-of-you philosophy, the middle ground is the turf we should seek to occupy.

This week’s episode in the House can only be described as embarrassing. Think November 8 and ballot boxes.  We don’t tolerate such behavior in our children, why do we tolerate it from members of Congress?

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