WASHINGTON, D.C. – If you look at what’s on the (potential) agenda for the House of Representatives this week, now that the body has finally anointed a new Speaker, you’ll notice it’s dominated by the ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Hamas and other issues related to that conflict, like House Resolution 599, which is “Urging the European Union to designate Hizballah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.”
Oh sure, there’s some of the usual performative nonsense, like a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (House Res. 807) filed by Marjorie Taylor-Greene and another (House Res. 10) calling for the censure of Taylor-Greene, herself, but for the most part, the People’s House has yet to get back to the business of governing the people.
And in some ways, that’s a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong; it’s not good that the brain trust in Congress is lollygagging when it comes to important things like funding various operations of the federal government, but from where I sit, the longer it takes the House to get back to the business of drafting ill-conceived and unworkable laws and public policy, the better.
Yes, the spectacle which led to “Speaker Mike Johnson” being a thing has been extremely dumb and embarrassing, but just think of all the other extremely dumb and embarrassing stuff the House didn’t get to do over the last four weeks!
After all, if it wasn’t for the pause in the normal course of House business presented by the toppling of Kevin McCarthy back in early October, the House might have taken the opportunity to debate, amend and/or pass any number of bills aimed at repealing or reforming Section 230, or the (possibly well-intentioned but not particularly smart) EARN IT Act, or weighed in on any number of technologies nobody in the House understands at all, like Artificial Intelligence.
Yes, it’s also true that while the House was out of commission, there were no post offices getting renamed, which clearly is unforgiveable – and not just because Vietnam-era helicopter pilot Patrick Palmer Calhoun has been waiting to be so honored with baited breath (presumably) since 1965. Still, I think waiting a few extra weeks to name the postal facility at 3901 MacArthur Blvd., in New Orleans, Louisiana, the “Dr. Rudy Lombard Post Office” is a small price to pay when it comes to keeping guys like Rep. Jim Jordan from launching yet another investigation into “the weaponization of government” that we all know will go nowhere, or furthering the vain GOP fantasy of impeaching President Joe Biden, when the Democrats control the Senate and are about as likely to vote to convict Biden as they were to acquit Donald Trump in either of his impeachments.
I suppose the bad news is that Congress is back at it now and – theoretically, at least – able to return to the business of writing terrible, counterproductive and unnecessary legislation. But I have a newfound faith in our Congress, strange as that might sound. I’m very confident that the House GOP proving itself able to settle on and elect a new Speaker does not mean we’ve seen the end of congressional chaos going forward.
After all, it was budgetary wrangling that brought down McCarthy, and all they managed to do at the time was kick the funding can further down the road, as it were. Does anyone really expect Speaker Johnson to have more luck marshaling the Republican Congressional Clown Car than his predecessor?
Maybe I’ll be disappointed. Maybe the House will get its own act together well enough that the body can pass the sort of inane, wrongheaded bullshit we’ve come to expect from Congress – and maybe that same bullshit will even meet with the approval of the Senate.
A man can dream, though! And as I sit here dreaming, I’m envisioning post offices peppered around the country, waiting until January or beyond to get their new names. It’s an alarming vision, I know, but I’m sure we’ll all soldier on, somehow.
Capitol building image by Kendall Hoopes from Pexels
