Congress goes on a long field trip

Editorialized USA Today article

When most American schools are returning from a 3-month recess, Congress is skipping town for the entire month of August. Even Pres. Bush, notorious for taking long vacations, is only resting for 10 days. Why does Congress need a whole month in a year of unresolved issues facing this nation?

According to the USA Today "the House of Representatives is on track to be in session this year for the fewest days since 1948". Alarming? It seems that loss of productivity is not just an economic issue.

Republican majority leaders have wasted away scarce time on frivolous issues like repealing the estate tax (beneficial for the rich), constitutional amendments on gay marriage and flag burning? Have we created a monster in that Congress cannot find a way to endorse the issues that affect MOST Americans? We should have all grown accustomed to this dubious Republican political strategem, in fact in a year of fierce Congressional elections, we have all earned master's degrees when it comes to recognizing this heavy, polluted political machinery boasted by Republicans.

Seriously, voters that are comforted by the idea of giving medals to their incumbents this year, should consider the following unresolved and pressing issues:

Immigration: Even when a bipartisan majority supports border security and humane treatment for the 12 million immigrants illegally in this country, House Republicans are fixed in blocking any compromise with the Senate. Shame on you!

Iraq: For the 130,000 + US troops currently in Iraq, shifting military policy operations can be dangerous, as the new priority for US ground troops will be avoiding an all-out civil war by securing Badgad instead of focusing completely on insurgent violance. Nonetheless, this policy shift, though immiment and necessary, has not been updated and authorized by our "busy" Congress.

Terror detainees: Even tough Bush's plans to create tribunals for detainees were slapped down by the highest court on the land; Congress, responsible for setting up a lawful process for trying these detainees, has not even visited the issue, upsetting the already delicate situation for more than 400 detainees held without trials in Guantanamo and contributing to the deplorable condition of our human rights record.

Minimum wage: It's been long overdue and yet Republicans have been holding down the debate of increasing the already depreciated minimum wage, even when accounting for inflation it's equivalent to the minimum wage after the World War II. Not surprisingly they are 'reconsidering' their positions only if Democrats agreed to pass legislation that would eliminate the estate tax. Like the USA Today stated: "When Congress returns, it should give America's poorest workers a raise and forget about giving its wealthiest heirs a fat tax break". Dream on.

Budget 2007: One thing Congress must do each year is pass the annual spending bills that fund everything from the space program to Medicaid, yet the Senate has only produced one of the 11 appropriation bills due at the end of September. Our fiscal year starts October 1. Can Congress pull this one off when we already have a $300 + billion dollars deficit? If not, it will be the first time Congress fails to measure up.

The Elephant may be snoozing but it is also alert

Why am I not surprised, with Congressional elections looming, to see republicans starting to sift through their agenda by playing the background music to their conservative base with issues such as gay-marriage and abortion right bans, security over privacy, tax exemptions, and so on. Just recently a Senate panel advanced a constitutional ban on same sex marriage and Congress managed to extent another tax exemption for the wealthy. Haven't we figured out their formula yet? This is a repetitive pattern that seems to go well with the Elephant in the room: legislative proposals that come to pass whenever the base is stimulated in the right places. Republicans have shown to be great strategists, there is no denying that, but are they great administrators? There is a reason why campaign strategists and analysts are dismantled once the elections are over, at the least in a transparent democracy they should be, there is little place for them in governance, otherwise the entire tenure will resemble an Elephant snoozing in the room while the rest are too fearful to move.

Democrats should be paying attention

As I was driving home today and listening to NPR's All things considered, I could not help but think how easily the Democrats can win Congress this November. The interview with Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) could not have been more forthcoming in that aspect. His fumbling and incoherent explanation regarding the recent USA TODAY story on secret gathering of phone calls from Americans has put things into perspective for me. At the beginning, I thought the NSA spy program was not that bad of an idea, even with the illegalities in question, my first reaction was to actually give the President the benefit of the doubt. However, this interview has cleared my thinking on how ill-prepared these investigations are, especially because they do not actually explain how they are aiding the fight against terrorism. And that is exactly the problem with this Administration and congressmen like Sen. Roberts, who do not have a clear and coherent argument on how circumventing the laws is necessary and ultimately beneficial for us.