Congressman Jim Moran

The second session of the 108th Congress came to a close last week with passage of the sweeping Intelligence reform bill. This was one of the few accomplishments that can be pointed to when highlighting Congress' activity in the past year. Overall, the House of Representatives was in session only 110 days, the least amount of time since 1948. The Senate schedule for action kept pace with that of recent election years, but the number of recorded votes was down dramatically. The 216 votes taken were the least recorded since 1961. Given that 2004 was an election year, it is understandable that the number of recorded votes and days in session would be less than in off-election years. However, the historically low number of days in session in the House and recorded votes taken by the Senate have left a lot of unfinished business for the 109th Congress to tackle.

Of the work completed in 2004, funding to carry out the war in Iraq is near the top of the list of Congress' actions. An additional $25 billion was approved for the war effort, bringing the total spent to a little over $150 billion. Plans are already underway for another supplemental spending bill to be brought for a vote in early 2005. That request from the White House is expected to be around $60 billion. Given the concern of troops in the field over a lack of armor being provided for personnel vehicles, this dollar amount may rise substantially.

While the White House issued 2 million Christmas cards to their friends and supporters, Congress sent a seasons greeting to every man, woman and child in the U.S. through an $800 billion increase in the statutory debt limit. This brought the total national debt to $8.18 trillion and made each citizen's share of the debt equal roughly $26,000. Congress also passed a tax bill to revise a trade issue that was prompting the European Union to retaliate against U.S. exports. Originally costing $12 billion, the legislation turned into a $160 billion Christmas tree bill loaded with ornamental tax breaks for corporations and including a $10 billion buyout for tobacco growers. Not to be outdone by this bloated, fiscally irresponsible legislation, social conservatives were active in pressing for and succeeding in allowing public hospitals to refuse to provide information to women about their reproductive health options. This was a big step in their march towards overturning Roe v. Wade.

After pointing out the “successes” enacted during the second session of the 108th Congress, it is important to highlight some of the critical inactions of the past year. For the third time since 1974, Congress failed to enact a budget. Congress also failed to enact any of the nine domestic appropriations bills before the new fiscal year, making it incredibly tough for government agencies and non-profits to budget properly. When the bills were finally passed in the form of a 3,000 page omnibus bill, lawmakers were given barely 24 hours to review the legislation which after passage was found to contain a number of controversial provisions.

Congress also failed to pass a Transportation authorization bill that will fund the building and maintenance of roads, bridges and highways for the next six years. This bill has been stalled for two years because of a disagreement between Congress and the White House over the bill's price tag. The Energy bill that maps the country's energy plan for the coming decade was also left in limbo. This legislation is critical in determining how heavily our country will continue to rely on foreign oil versus the amount we should spend on researching and developing alternative resources. The latest drafts of the Energy bill move our country in the wrong direction. Given the lack of stability in the Middle East, we need an energy plan that advocates other sources of energy that are cheaper and more environmentally friendly. On the crime control front, law enforcement and the safety of all Americans suffered a serious blow as Congress refused to renew the successful ban on assault weapons that has helped reduce crime since its enactment in 1994. Despite President Bush's campaign promise in 2000 to support the reauthorization, he did little or nothing to fight for the AWB during his first four years. Semi-automatic AK-47's and Uzi's can now be legally purchased across the country.

This is just a small list of issues Congress either punted for the next year or let die a quiet death. From a failure to reauthorize Head Start for low income children to allowing the Administration to strip overtime pay from an estimated 6 million workers, the 108th Congress deserves a grade somewhere between a D- and an F.