When he revised the classic The Elements of Style in 1959, E.B. White cited a metaphor often used in class by the book's original author, Professor William Strunk: The reader is mired in a swamp of words. The writer's job is to drain the swamp.
The health care debate suggests that Congress is mired in procedural morasses. Setting aside content criticisms, it's taken far too long to get done. Indeed the procedural morasses may have weakened the content. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi need to drain some swamps.
And speaking of morasses, it rained in South Blogistan last night, so the Janitor Professor of Astrology got his feet wet when he went out to look at the stars for your weekend Kossascopes. At least he has a new excuse this week.
More below the fold....
Morasses in Congress (Plus Kossascopes)
Last Saturday, Morning Feature offered some strengths and weaknesses of President Obama and the Democratic Party generally, in light of the health care debate. Today and tomorrow, we'll look at Congress in particular.
While we progressives widely believe that Congress is at least somewhat dysfunctional - and I agree - the data on health care reform votes suggest that dysfunctionality is not what many commonly believe: that Congress is "bought and paid for" by lobbyists. As we'll see tomorrow, the data suggest representative government is not as defunct as is widely feared. Yet polls show most Americans are dissatisfied with Congress (the link is to R2K/DKos polls) and that data matters too, especially with midterm elections this year. The process encourages grandstanding and demagoguery at the expense of progress. The process has also gone on so long that many have tuned out of the health care debate, or have turned the debate on each other. Finally, there are too many critical issues on the national agenda for Congress to devote nine months, as they will have here, on every major bill. Progress bogged down in a procedural morass, and we need to drain the swamp.
Morasses: Sometimes puns aren't jokes.
Today's title is a pun, but it's not a joke. From the Senate Finance Committee's Gang of Six to Republican Deathers and Tenthers to the Stupak-Pitts amendment to "hostage-taking" by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and others, too many seemed to see the health care reform debate as a chance to grab prime time face time. While some of those expressed sincere ideological or pragmatic disputes, others were plainly grandstanding and demagoguery.
But with a big, spotlit stage set up for months on end, is it reasonable to expect otherwise? Many elected officials are drawn to spotlights like moths to flame, and at times the health care debate seemed more like Open Mike Night at the Congressional Improv than a serious discussion of one of our nation's most shameful failures.
Debating the issues, and then each other.
The seemingly endless debate also exhausted our patience. By the end of August, both Congress and the American people had hashed out the salient issues time and time again. Ideological and partisan positions hardened to the point that it was all but impossible to change minds. More and more, I heard people say they were sick of hearing about health care.
The result was as predictable as it was sad. Having exhausted the issues and seeing little movement toward a decision, we too often turned on each other, and I don't mean only our arguments here on DailyKos or elsewhere in the progressive blogosphere. I witnessed similar flare-ups in face to face conversations, including some here at Casa Crissie. Fortunately the latter tamped down as we realized we really did agree on the main points, and what's more we didn't want to completely ruin the holidays. In other face to face discussions, we could usually agree to disagree and change the subject to something less contentious. But not always. The Democratic Party is never a unified coalition, but I've rarely seen us as fractious as we've become lately.
"Glaciers move faster than this..."
"... and at this pace they'll be gone by the time we get around to climate change," a friend quipped in a supermarket checkout line. It was hyperbole, but she had a point.
If this were the only significant issue on the agenda, and given our history in attempts to reform our health care system, nine months might not seem like too much time committed to a single issue. But health care is not our only significant issue. Unemployment. Foreclosure. Banking and finance reform. Education. Two wars. LGBT rights. And those glaciers. The list goes on....
Ordinary Americans don't have time for Congress to spend nine months hashing and rehashing every major legislative issue. They want government to enact policies that help them solve problems, or better survive those problems, and if Democrats don't provide results we won't be the majority party for long.
Draining the swamp.
Many have suggested we need to end the filibuster in order to get Congress moving again. I agree, as I wrote in December. But having researched the the history of filibuster reform attempts, I also recognize that's unlikely to happen easily or soon. Contrary to a widely-reported impression, it's not as simple as a 51-vote majority in January of 2011. The House reapproves their rules at the start of each session by a majority vote, but the Senate does not.
Still, there is one step that Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi could agree to immediately, on their own authority. While Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution requires that both houses must pass legislation, it does not require that they do so before they meet to resolve differences in their bills. As almost every bill goes to some form of Joint Conference Committee before final passage regardless, Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi could move directly from Senate and House committees reporting out bills ...
... to a joint conference committee to reconcile those committee bills into a joint resolution for each house to pass. Were I setting up that joint conference committee, I'd include the Speaker and Majority Leader, the Minority Leaders, the House and Senate committee chairs, and a small delegation from each party including sub-caucus representatives. Each house's total delegation should mirror its partisan balance, and the committee should include a White House representative who can speak for the president during the deliberations. Perhaps 24 or 25, total.
Staffers could identify common elements in all of the committee bills, and those would go into the joint resolution from the start. Then work out the points of disagreement, with Senate and House members not on the committee raising objections and amendments through their delegates on the committee.
Oh, and these deliberations should be broadcast live, on C-SPAN, so we can all see who's offering (or threatening) what, and let them explain why, in public. Once the committee hammers out a joint resolution, each house can then vote on it. But by then we'll all probably know how the votes will fall.
This isn't a panacea. It would not eliminate the morasses. But it might encourage fewer to make asses of themselves.
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After sloshing around with Woofie the Younger, the Janitor Professor of Astrology divined some stellar insights for your weekend. Or not....
Capricorn - This is your last weekend in the spotlight. Don't make a congresscritter of yourself.
Aquarius - After much deliberation, you should amend last week's deliberations.
Pisces - Think of your weekend as a pregnancy: increasing bloat, then wailing, then dirty diapers.
Aries - This would be a good weekend to avoid Pisces. Unless you like that.
Taurus - No "Open Mike Night" is not a surgical procedure involving Michael Night.
Gemini - And the insurance company probably wouldn't cover it if it were.
Cancer - We suggest forming a committee to discuss your weekend plans. Next week.
Leo - Yes, the bowels of government need an enema. You get the credit for that idea.
Virgo - Which means you won't get blamed for the silly idea. This week.
Libra - After all is said and done, your weekend will feature more said than done. Like Congress.
Scorpio - Your brisk efficiency would make you an ideal mate for an Aquarius. Or a Pisces.
Sagittarius - Yes, it seems like forever until your next birthday. Or like a congressional debate.
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Happy Friday!