The lame-duck Congress limped to an inauspicious close over the weekend, leaving a legacy of scandal, divisiveness and sloth.
Its slinking out of town leaves the new Congress with quite a mess to clean up.
In perhaps their most dubious act, Republican leaders of the 109th Congress abandoned the budget process weeks ago, advancing only two of 11 spending bills that required congressional approval. Members had to pass a stop-gap funding measure Friday to keep government functioning until a Democratic majority takes over in January.
This was one lazy Congress. The 109th spent the least time in session of any Congress in at least 50 years – a miserable record that is the final epitaph of the GOP’s failed leadership. Over its two-year span, the 109th met only 242 days.
In order to set itself apart from its predecessor, the new Congress will stretch its work week. Members must take up the languishing spending bills and revisit some of the worst legislation passed in 2005 and 2006. As the Nov. 7 elections loomed, the Bush administration stampeded Congress into passing the Military Commissions Act, a far-reaching measure that stripped Guantanamo Bay detainees of habeas corpus rights. A bill restoring those rights likely will be debated in the coming months.
By and large, members of Congress managed to sidestep most of the difficult issues. Remember when immigration reform seemed so urgent? Lawmakers failed to pass meaningful reform. Instead, their contribution was a $1.2 billion fence that would stretch 700 miles along the southern border. Then we watched legislators approve a loophole allowing the administration to spend the money on other border patrol projects such as roads and technology.
No sooner did Congress take last-minute action to prevent a 5 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors than it was criticized as a costly accounting trick. Failing to trim costs this year means the problem will be twice as expensive to fix next year.
It’s hard to believe Republican leaders had time to pass even ill-conceived measures given the time they spent bouncing from one ethical scandal to another. The revelations of prurient e-mails Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent to congressional pages and the travails of Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges, competed for attention with lobbying and bribery scandals.
The 109th has cleared out of the capital to general relief. The members of the 110th will have their hands full.
