The Minimum Achievement Congress

Meeks Message from Capitol Hill
The Wave

My colleagues and I in the House and Senate have recessed for the month of August. Ordinarily, most of us spend part of the recess working in our respective districts or states, and part of it taking long-deserved vacations or getaways with our families who see far too little of us.

Ordinarily, Congress takes its August recess without much fanfare. Most Americans don't even know we are not in session. Given the sorry track of this Congress, many citizens who do know we are on our summer break are probably glad Congress won't be on Capitol Hill for a month. At least thats an explanation for why we havent enacted legislation that really and truly addresses the real and true problems facing the nation. After spending most of our time putting out fires on Capitol Hall, my Democrats colleagues and I feel like we should volunteer to fight forest fires out West.

Ordinarily, the attitude on Capitol Hill is that pending legislation will just have to wait until Congress reconvenes after Labor Day. But, these are not ordinary times. This is an election year and the Republican majority in the House and Senate which controls each bodys agenda and sets their respective rules are fearful that voters might take the unpopularity of the president out on Republican congressional candidates this fall.

And, why shouldnt voters? Despite controlling the House, Senate, and the White House, my Republican colleagues have accomplished very little. Over Democratic objections they have given Mr. Bush practically everything he has wanted from the Iraq war to tax cuts for the rich, from federal judges to budget cuts, from a flawed drug prescription program to underfunding the No Child Left Behind Act. The leadership of the majority has let the Administration run roughshod over our constitutional system of checks and balances. Small wonder that Congress has a lower rating in public opinion polls than the president. Polls also indicate that the margin by which voters prefer Democrats over Republican in the midterm congressional elections is widening. It's quite possible that the GOP could lose its majorities in both House and Senate. If that happens, no more free ride for the White House. A Democratic majority will mean a new direction in Congress and for the country.

This extraordinary situation explains why Republican leaders in Congress dropped their usual ordinary approach to this year's recess. At the last minute they pushed hard to enact a bunch of legislation. This way they could claim to have a record of accomplishment. But they couldnt do the heavy lifting in a couple of days that they should have been doing over the past couple of months, including negotiating bipartisan compromises. With the notable exception of reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, compromise isnt in their vocabulary. So, they called up bill after bill, vote after vote schedule, knowing or at least hoping that Democrats would vote against a given measure and that voters wouldn't know what was in any of them. That way, the leadership of the majority hoped to avoid the do-nothing charge while labeling Democrats as obstructionists.

The minimum wage is a case in point. Despite Democratic efforts, the $5.15 federal minimum wage hasnt been increased in nine years. Thats right, millions of Americans 7.7 million to be exact subsist on $5.15 an hour. In fact, 70 percent of minimum wage workers are adults. Forty two percent work full-time. More than 62 percent are white; nearly 16 percent are Black, and just over 17 percent are Hispanic.

But instead of doing the right thing and allowing an up or down vote on a stand alone bill raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 over a two year period to be put forward the House leadership chose instead to combine this proposal with one that exempt from taxation all estates valued at up to $5 million for individuals and $10 million for married couples. This measure would also apply only a 15 percent tax rate to inheritance above that threshold and up to $25 million. For estates worth more than $25 million the tax rate would be 30 percent.

The minimum wage bill affecting millions of Americans had the support of 64 Republicans in addition to all of the Democrats. Most Democrats and a handful of Republicans opposed the estate tax cut which would help people who dont need help about 8,000 of the wealthiest people in the country.

The whole thing was designed to enable vulnerable Republicans in tough re-election contests the opportunity to say they voted to raise the minimum wage even though House Republican leaders knew this bill would go nowhere in the Senate. And sure enough, the Senate rejected the measure.

Go through the list of urgent concerns and youll see that this Congress has done little or nothing: Immigration reform, lobbying reform, Social Security reform, military tribunals, port security, alternative energy policy, etc. It hasnt even adopted a budget for the next fiscal year. When we come back we are only scheduled to be in session another 15 days before we adjourn for the fall election. This means that the House of Representatives will have only worked a total of 84 days. Thats 26 days fewer than the do-nothing Congress President Truman railed against 48 years ago. Weve spent too much time on useless resolutions supporting the Presidents Iraq policy, debating flag burning amendments, and voting to ban gay marriage.

Now, I know all of this may sound partisan to you. Im a Democrat and Id love to see my party win control of the House and Senate, but not solely for partisan reasons. Its in the national interest to have a Congress that will get something done on behalf of the American people.