I was pleased with the results of the recent elections, although I believe that this was more a vote against Southern Republicans than a vote for Democrats. In a two-party system, when you vote against one party by definition you wind up voting for the other, even if you don’t vote at all. At the very least, I am hoping for a rational check-and-balance between the Congress and the Executive Branch. However, I must say that a few things appearing in the press have alarmed me. Here we go.
** Five Day Washington Work Week **
The Democrats have proposed that all members of Congress spend all five days of the work week in Washington [Keralanext]. One news source reports that:
According to an announcement made by the next Democratic majority leader, Steny Hoyer, representatives will have to be present to vote Monday through Friday.
What’s more, instead of waiting for the traditional State of the Union address by the president at the end of January to begin legislative work, the House of Representatives and the Senate will put themselves to work as early as Jan 4.
There are a few reasons why this appears to make sense. First, as the above notes, a Member of Congress must be present in the Captitol to cast a vote. You mightargue that this is archaic in today’s technological age, but that’s reality. Therefore, if Members were there all five days then more voting could occur.
For the Senate, this makes sense. Senators represent their entire states but are also representatives of the nation as a whole. That’s, in part, why there are only 2 per state. Members of the House, however, represent districts in each state and have substantial local considerations, as well as national ones. It is critical that they spend at least a few days in their district, available for meetings with their constituents. Why should consitituents have to travel all the way to DC just to meet with their representative? For that matter, this wouldn’t represent a five day work week. For Members who want to have district days with their constituents, this would mean a six or seven day work week.
** Flat Budgets from 2006 through 2007 **
Another proposal by the Democrats has been to run the government on a continuing resolution until FY08, keeping spending flat for the next year. The last Congress was unable to pass a budget, the bare minimum required of a Congress in a given fiscal year. The result would be a failed 109th Congress followed by a 100th trying to hold spending and pretending that’s a good thing.
When you fix spending and ignore the process, two things happen. First, pork projects from last year get funded for a second year. Second, new initiatives won’t happen. In science, this is a killer. People who are expecting to do R&D for a project 10 years off will be put off, and that means a greater chance of the necessary lead time getting shortened and causing the project to fail. This would mean that the American Competativeness Initiative, set to double the basic research budget, would fail to be implemented as scheduled. At the least that would mean an ACI that didn’t start until FY08 . . . if ever. This would spell disaster for basic science in the U.S., a field that the Democrat pretended to support when they were powerless. What the hell?
This only affirms m basic premise in politics: all politicians are cheats and fools, and without us they wouldn’t know left from right.
.. [Keralanext] “http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=924017”:http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=924017
