Washington
The Democratic Congress taking power on Thursday faces major tests, but maybe none as mighty as resisting self-indulgence.
Like their Republican predecessors, the Democrats know what Americans want them to do.
The new Congress has a mandate to clean up Capitol Hill, balance the books, win the war on terror and make average folk – not big shots – the masters of government.
The Democrats need to act like patriots (or at least like adults). But while the spirit indeed is willing, so the Gospels say, just as surely the flesh is weak.
After a decade or more in the minority, some Democrats will find it difficult to renounce the corrosive powers that come with being back in charge, such as the porky projects that win pats on the back from the chambers of commerce guys back home; the temptation to hold a vote open while the whips twist some arms; the quick gavel that shuts down debate; the clause inserted in a spending bill to help out a wealthy donor or lobbyist; and the silly bills to appease the party’s ideological base.
Will the Democrats really do anything different? Here is a scorecard, with a minimal list of benchmarks you can look at in the coming weeks.
The Calendar. The last Congress did less work, and less important work, than any in five decades. The Democrats have promised to change that, with 145 days of hearings and votes next year. Yet even that modest upgrade brought squeals of protest from some members. If the schedule begins to slip, and Monday and Friday votes start getting canceled, the Democrats will show they aren’t serious.
The House Floor. The Senate’s filibuster rule gives the minority ample voice and input, but House rules are different. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s party hasn’t lost a couple of close, tough votes by the August recess, we’ll know she didn’t mean it when she promised to be collegial and fair in her rulings, and to give Republicans a chance to help craft legislation.
Pay As You Go. Pelosi has promised to revive a House rule, abandoned by the Republicans, that all new spending must be paid for by fresh revenue or cuts in existing programs.
Americans need to hold her to it, and to insist that the Senate adopt Paygo rules as well.
The Budget. It is hard to believe, but there actually is a budget law directing the process by which Congress spends money. Back in the Reagan years, it was enforced. More recently, it’s been waived to spare members of Congress from casting difficult votes.
If the Democrats follow the Republican example, and cloak appropriations in “omnibus” legislation and “emergency supplemental” bills, they are looking out for themselves – not for you.
Earmarks. Remember the Bridge to Nowhere? Earmarks are those costly clauses, slipped into legislation, often in disguise, many times for lobbyists, frequently in the dead of night.
House and Senate Democrats have promised reform, but earmarks are as addictive as crack cocaine.
Before closing shop on the 109th Congress in early December, the Democrats joined their Republican counterparts to waive budget rules and pass a legislative package loaded with earmarks and other goodies. Then they joined Republicans in killing a measure that would have required public disclosure of earmarks in military spending bills.
So believe in earmark reform when you see it. Or when longtime watchdogs like GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, or Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, tell you it’s finally happening.
Oversight. This sounds easy. What Democratic Congress wouldn’t want to hold oversight hearings on the workings of a Republican administration? Especially since the GOP so neglected this particular duty when it was running the show.
The key question, however, is whether the Dems are constructive – or destructive – in their choice of topics and witnesses.
We won’t have long to wait to discover the Democrats’ intentions: They have scheduled a bunch of hearings on Iraq and Afghanistan in January.
Ask yourself as you watch: Are they out to help the country or just out to get the president?
Ethics. Each Congress starts by approving its rules, which include congressional ethics regulations.
The ethics process on Capitol Hill is currently a shambles. If the Democrats don’t crack down on lobbying, require more disclosure and re-arm the ethics cops next week, they’ll be breaking their campaign vows.
The rule to remember here is: The tougher the better.
A Big Bill or Two. Expect the Democrats to swiftly pass bills to expand embryonic stem cell research, increase the minimum wage, lower Medicare drug costs, repeal tax breaks for big oil companies, make college more affordable and advance other traditional Democratic causes.
But the true test for the 110th Congress will be its ability, in a fiercely partisan time, to reach agreement with President Bush and Republican lawmakers on one or more major issues like immigration, Social Security or Medicare reform, renewable energy, global warming or taxes.
The time is now. The Democrats won’t have long before the passions of the 2008 presidential season forestall bipartisan deals.
They will quickly display their true worth and character by seizing – or forsaking – the opportunity to join with their foes, take on the hard work, and do the right thing.
John Aloysius Farrell’s column appears each Sunday in Perspective. Read and comment on his columns at The Denver Post’s Washington Web log (denverpostbloghouse.com/ washington).
