A Year of Broken Promises
Early this year a wave of new promises were spouted from behind lecterns at dozens of high-profile political events. It was the sound of a new majority in Congress, expressing its intention to run the most honest and ethical Congress in history. While their goals for transparency and openness sounded like music to the ears of a deserving public, evaluating the situation eleven months later, it seems like all America has been left with is the noise of clanging symbols and booming drums.
This is not to say the House of Representatives hasn't been busy. Indeed, we have cast more roll call votes in this Congress than any other Congress in history. But it's hardly been to pass monumental or even meaningful legislation. It has been a banner year for post-offices, courthouses and other federal buildings which have been renamed at a lighting-fast pace. A number of bills honoring individuals and organizations have also moved to the forefront, bypassing other matters like energy policy, tax reform and providing funds to fight terrorism.
On top of those examples, this Congress has changed how the House moves forward procedurally when considering legislation and it has ignored the courtesies that have historically been offered to the minority party. For example, House leaders have time and time again reneged on their own promise to allow 72 hours of viewing time on legislation before bringing it to the floor for a vote. This viewing time gives members of the House a chance to draft meaningful amendments and question any unnecessary spending found in a bill. Americans understand it is good common sense to do a little research before making a major purchase. And, they also believe that Congress ought to actually know what is in a bill before spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.
Really, being in the majority means accepting the responsibility to tackle the important issues that are truly affecting Americans. By choosing to spend precious time on the House floor on needlessly divisive, partisan tactics, this Congress has not acted as a good steward of taxpayer money. It is even more apparent now at the end of the year, as the new majority has to make difficult choices regarding the 2008 spending agenda. This Congress has consistently dragged its feet instead of working to pass funding bills in a timely, bipartisan manner. I am sad to say that fiscal irresponsibility and procrastination have been hallmarks of this year's entire budget and appropriations process. It is disappointing that this Congress cannot perform the basic functions of government and pass the legislation necessary to keep the federal government operating in a responsible and orderly manner.
Americans clearly asked for change in November 2006, but I don't think this is what they had in mind. Rather than the most ethical and transparent Congress in history, we have gotten divisiveness, secrecy and hyper-partisanship. It is my hope that 2008 will be a renewed opportunity for this Congress to move forward and push past any partisan divide. After all, Americans have made their intentions known loud and clear and it is high time that Washington listened. It's time for us to work together to move America forward.