Congress must work together now

There are 55 billionaires on the continent of Africa. Madonna is 55 years old. Between 1974 and 1986, the National Maximum Speed Law set the national speed limit at 55 miles per hour. And, as of Tuesday, the U.S. Congress had passed 55 bills in its first legislative session of 2013. That is nine more than the number of times the House of Representatives has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

As the clock ticks down on the first legislative session of the 113th Congress, they are on track to become the most unproductive Congress in U.S. history — no other Congress has passed fewer public laws in a legislative session. But that’s not the problem. What is most concerning about the last 11 months of legislating is the dangerous style in which our nation has been governed. Next Tuesday, a 25-year-old prohibition on plastic firearms that don’t show up in metal detectors and X-ray machines is set to expire. Predictably, Congress is not set to renew the ban until the day before it expires. Such a style of  flying blind is emblematic of the trend of legislating at the 11th hour that has become the new norm in Washington.

With mere days left on the legislative calendar, Speaker of the House John Boehner proudly tweeted Monday about the scheduling of four more Congressional hearings on the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act website. The “hearings,” where the only allowed testimonies are those in line with the anti-Obamacare narrative, are a waste of time and money.

Voters stood by as the GOP convened “hearings” on the Internal Revenue Service and Benghazi affairs, but this time is different. This set of hearings threatens the well-being of millions, and both houses of Congress will only be in session together for five days to deal with more pressing issues than Obamacare.

Dec. 13 was agreed upon as the deadline to reach a budget agreement ahead of the new government shutdown date, Jan. 15. Failure to reach a deadline by then will give Congress eight days from its return on Jan. 7 to avert another government shutdown. Beyond the absurdity that has become scheduling shutdown dates on the U.S. calendar every few months, another government blackout would be embarrassing at best and cataclysmic in the at worst.

Fixing the budget doesn’t come close to getting Congress off the hook. The National Defense Authorization Act, which proscribes payment and policy for the armed forces, and the farm bill, which subsidizes and controls the massive U.S. agriculture industry, both need to be checked off before the new year. Failure to act on the farm bill would cause sharp rises in food prices, and bundled in the negotiations are cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program — more commonly known as food stamps. The proposed Senate version cuts $4 billion in 10 years, and needs to be reconciled with the House version, which cuts $40 billion in 10 years. It’s Congress’ way of wishing America’s poor a happy holiday.

Imagine for a moment if Congress lived their daily lives like they legislated. Would Nancy Pelosi buy groceries one day at a time, instead of buying enough to last a month? Would she blame crazy Uncle Bob for all of the family’s problems, simply because Bob always disagrees with her? Would Boehner refuse to pay the mortgage on his house unless his family canceled the vacation they had already purchased? Would Ted Cruz and Rand Paul stand on their beds and start reading the phonebook every time they fought with their wives?

The 113th Congress is already going to be remembered as one of the worst in history. Their days and approval ratings as lawmakers in 2013 are down to the single digits, and what they do with these final days could very well save a bit of face. They have just returned from the Thanksgiving holiday, where every Republican lawmaker was thankful for the catastrophic rollout of the Affordable Care Act, and every Democratic lawmaker was thankful that the Republicans shut down the government to prevent that rollout from ever happening.

The day after Thanksgiving, U.S. citizens of all political backgrounds unite in a common struggle through the doors of stores around the country to buy things they don’t need after giving thanks for all they have. In this legislative period following Thanksgiving, every item on Congress’ Black Friday shopping list is a necessity. They should be thankful for the political points they’ve scored in the last few months, and check them off like an angry mob seeking $50 televisions.

Why? A storm is coming. The sooner the Democratic Party realizes that filibuster reform and pointing fingers at the Tea Party are not ways to make government more productive, the better. The sooner the Republican Party realizes that small government does not mean a government that passes fewer laws, the better. The dark clouds of the 2014 midterm elections are on the horizon, and they will be harsh on those legislators in both parties who have put their foot in the way of progress. It would be a nice Christmas present to see them realize that before they get kicked out.

 

Nathaniel Haas is  a sophomore majoring in economics and political science. His column “A House Divided” ran Thursdays.

Follow us on Twitter @Haas4Prez2036