THE HILL SPECTATOR: Congressional Recess
Dealey, Sam
THE HILL SPECTA OR SAM DEALEY Congressional Recess nor, I imagine, a good many other taxpayers.) And Rep. Bob Ney (R- Ohio) came dangerously close to aiding and abetting the enemy by noting that...
...Lawmakers pondered all of this...
...And what a lot the House accomplished that next morning...
...As C-SPAN's viewers know well, renaming postal offices is a major function of Congress...
...At issue was a bill stipulating that, should more than 100 members get blown up—a situation euphemistically referred to as an "extraordinary circumstance"—states would be required to hold snap elections within 45 days to reconstitute the House...
...First it commiserated by a 404-to-0 vote with the citizens of San Luis Obispo County in California, who two-and-a-half months earlier suffered an earthquake...
...No votes on these latter topics were taken...
...And there was heated debate...
...Martin Frost (D -Texas), who, along with a number of Democrats, favored reconstituting the House through appointments rather than direct election...
...On March 29 Congress honored the citizens of Copiague, New York, with the Maxine S. Postal postal office...
...45 days without a full House would be "a vacancy, a void" the nation must do without...
...But, in perhaps the greatest expression of the superfluity of its work, on March 29 Congress honored the citizens of Copiague, New York, with the Maxine S. Postal postal office...
...Indeed, no votes were taken on anything for another five days...
...Q4 Sam Dealey is a writer in Washington, D.C...
...Nevertheless, Congress being Congress, all of this had to be weighed, and on April 22, lawmakers turned their attentions to the Continuity in Representation Act—which, given Washington's fondness for acronyms, must be noted is only a letter away from CRAP...
...A non-functioning Congress, perhaps even for months...
...Imagine that...
...With none opposing, lawmakers made "technical corrections relating to the amendments by the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act of 2002," and then expressed their sense that Kids Love a Mystery is "a program that promotes literacy and should be encouraged...
...In the 45 days prior to the House pondering its own usefulness, the chamber recorded seven such votes...
...Well, at least she's half-right...
...But the real sticking point was raised by Rep...
...Zoe Lofgren (D -Calif...
...Then, too, there is the wartime example of England...
...What if not just 101 members, but the entire federal government were wiped out...
...If a number of members were killed in a common disaster," he addressed the chamber, "the period of time that would pass before this House could be reconstituted under the bill that is being voted on today is unacceptable," said Frost...
...I worried on September 11 that if the terrorists really understood our system of government," she said, "they would know that the easiest way to turn the American democracy into a dictatorship would be to kill the Members of the House, because that is our weak link in terms of our American democracy...
...During that time, only one truly barn-burner vote came up: the austere federal budget drafted by Rep...
...This is especially true if those fat kids get fat-cat lawyers who get rulings that could diminish lawmakers' ability to regulate the industry...
...It profusely thanked C-SPAN on its silver anniversary for airing all of the chamber's important work (392 to 0), representative of which was honoring "the life and legacy" of the late Puerto Rican governor Luis A. Ferre (398 to 0), and renaming a postal office in Altamont, Kansas, after Myron V. George (394 to 39), a four-term Republican congressman who had died 32 years earlier...
...And congressional hortatory was at its best...
...Thankfully, for the sake of comity, the budget means absolutely squat to Congress...
...Well-pleased with itself, the House adjourned again...
...Already there are plenty of states that require special elections in under the proposed time frame when faced with a House vacancy...
...Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), passed by a margin of just three...
...As far as bills go, this seems fairly reasonable...
...It then turned to foreign policy, commending India on its celebration of Republic Day (418 to 0) and expressing its "condolences and deepest sympathies" for the demise of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash two weeks earlier (411 to 0...
...Could the nation survive...
...Jack Kingston (R- Ga...
...Next it congratulated the Detroit Shock for winning the Women's National Basketball Association championship (401 to 0), and then the San Jose Earthquakes, which won the 2003 Major League Soccer Cup (399 to 0...
...It is a scenario that, frankly, seems unthinkable...
...In the 45 days prior to the Guy Fawkes vote, lawmakers met on just 23 days...
...40 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR JUNE 2004 SAM DEAL debates"-12:30 in the afternoon being the morning hour for politicians...
...When Members of Parliament perished from the Luftwaffe, under-siege Brits successfully elected replacements within 42 days...
...Or 60, or 75...
...To Rep...
...Thanks to Republican gerrymandering, the 13-term Frost likely will be out on his ear come election day, which perhaps explains his preference...
...Adam Schiff (D -Wash...
...If the previous 45 days were any indication, it seems likely...
...By a 137-vote margin, the House agreed that whatever the courts might do, Congress's "legislative and regulatory" jurisdiction over the fast-food industry cannot be "usurped...
...After all, if loopy California, a state of 35 million, can successfully choose a governor in just 55 days from a slate of 125 candidates—including a porn star who promised to address the state naked—then why can't a congressional district of 640,000...
...This was the House at work—which wasn't always the case...
...We would find ourselves without a functioning Congress perhaps for months under this bill...
...By House standards, this represents a positive flurry of activity: Last year, lawmakers met on only 142 days...
...Kids love junk food, too, but encouraging fat kids to get fatter is not something politicians want to be on record supporting...
...Mark Foley (R-Fla...
...reported that America is tired of negative politics...
...HE NEXT DAY, the House excused greed for T prudery and significantly upped the fines for broadcast stations should Janet Jackson's right breast decide to make another appearance (391 to 22, with one lawmaker holding no opinion at all...
...Monday, March 8, was a busy day—so busy, in fact, that Congress couldn't be bothered with doing anything...
...Bipartisanship ruled on March 10, too...
...There were plenty of references to the Founding Fathers, the Federalist Papers, the Constitutional Convention, the Connecticut Compromise, the Magna Carta, and "that ancient text," known less delicately as The Bible...
...waxed that it was a "contingency that none of us would like to imagine...
...Five minutes after the chamber was gaveled open at noon, Congress adjourned until the following day at 12:30 for "morning hour 1 N LATE APRIL, the House of Representatives turned to its favorite topic, that of its own importance...
...Should elections be held within 21 days...
...Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, Richard G. Wilson, and Vaughn Gross were all among the honored...
...Bob Ney (R- Ohio) came dangerously close to aiding and abetting the enemy by noting that "such an attack could potentially annihilate substantial portions of our federal government and kill or maim hundreds of members of Congress...
...expressed his sense that political debates should be about values and ideals, not name-calling, and Rep...
...But on Tuesday, March 16, the House returned with vigor...
...JUNE 2004 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 41...
...Schiff evidently has not met my parents...
Vol. 37 • June 2004 • No. 5
