Congress

            “The pork barrel spending corruptness that exists in Washington is running rampant and must be stopped,” is a common emotion when one brings up congress in conversation. Congress’ name has become somewhat synonymous with that of being slow and unproductive, and many truly believe that Congress is nothing but a bunch of elites coming together to talk about how to screw the taxpayer over yet again. One can be sure that this is not the case. Though Congress is the most powerful branch of government by measure of constitutional powers, it was intentionally set up to be the floor for debate and tribulation when lawmaking is taking place. There are legitimate concerns with Congress; however, the notion that Congress is a stand-still body of legislature bent on advancing themselves as politicians is simply incorrect.

            Believe it or not, the two bodies of congress actually do have their constituents in mind when voting on legislation. Whether it be their own attitudinal or organizational view cast in place of the people’s choice for their own good, or the representational view, they really are required by the transparency of Congressional happenings to do what they think is best for the country, So long as the people pay attention and vote come election day, Michele Bachmann had better continue to do what’s best for the country/her constituents before herself, or she can probably kiss her spot as the representative of the 7^th district of Minnesota goodbye.

            Congress also performs numerous other duties, in addition to creating laws: they hold the powers of impeachment of those in office that are not ably fulfilling their duties, approval of treaties, and the confirmation of presidential appointments. These jobs, though they do not completely hinder congress from time spent resolving differences in policy, take time to go through the processes, and contribute to the sense that they do things slowly. When president Obama appointed judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the time spent on that confirmation, though not long enough to matter in the long run, probably did slow down any of the other processes that congress was taking on at the time. With vast power come vast responsibilities.

            Not only do these formal responsibilities exist, but there are even more informal responsibilities of which Congress must take care. The Elastic Clause gives Congress the hugely vague power of everything “necessary and proper” to guide the free world into the great unknown: the future. This is not to be taken lightly; Congress can and must take over everywhere that the rest of our government cannot set foot, like the economy and the stimulus package. Whether one likes it or not, the jobs which it saved cannot be ignored, and similarly, the bailouts were very necessary to our country’s survival. Another informal responsibility is the constant “game” that Congress people play with their constituents. With representatives, it’s every 2 years, and with senators, it’s every 6 years, but this game can interfere majorly with policy making habits. If one needs to have results before one’s next election and a short term solution will show results before then, then one will probably choose the short term fix over a long term solution, as exemplified by the war on drugs: one can dust the crops and for a time, create less supply, but that will just raise the demand and subsequently, the price, thus probably convincing more farmers to begin growing the drug for its profitability. A vicious cycle that cannot be defeated by short term fixes, and a major reason why Congress is seen as a dysfunctional body of government.

            On that note, there are legitimate concerns about congress, once one gets past their intended slowness and responsibility load: the overuse of franking privileges, riders, and other such “easy way out” tools (logrolling too, perhaps?), the polarization surrounding the lawmaking process, and the failure to think long-term, however these do not necessarily paint the picture illustrated in most every aware American’s head and they have been skewed and bloated to generate the <30% approval rating of congress.

            Lastly there are many tools from within the system that have been purposefully set up to create slow movement. The filibuster allows the minority to have a voice in the senate and possibly delay legislation for days on end, and the different committees (select, joint, conference) give a voice to the majority in the House, where one can actively choose to send a revenue bills to be delayed or even die amongst several slow-moving committees.

            In conclusion, I’m setting a term limit* on this paper, and closing with the wisdom that was left to us by the Framers of the constitution: that our nation was founded on a separation of powers, of the people, by the people, for the people, and that so long as congress exists, it cannot be anything but a body which desires the best for this great nation, regardless of its speed.

*term limit: A limit on the number of terms any one person can serve in any one seat over his/her lifetime. There are no limits on the House Seats or the Senate seats, however the president has a 2 four year term limit, though some people would like to set limits on the amount of terms that one person can serve in a seat, it would require those in office to sacrifice their careers, and thus doesn’t look like it will happen any time soon.