Congress Returns to Session Tomorrow

The second session of the 110th Congress gets properly underway tomorrow as Congressmen and Senators return from their Christmas and New Year vacations to get back to the task of governing. The results of the first session are a little bit mixed - there were several major policy accomplishments for the Democratic majority, however there also some very public failures that have caused the approval ratings for Congress and particularly the Democrats in the majority to continue to slip. It seems that nothing and noone will be able to reverse the downward trend of Congressional approval and make it an institution that isn't completely hated by the American people (it'd be nearly impossible to make it barely tolerated again.)

Unfortunately, though, a lot of the impetus for why Congress is held in such low self-esteem, at least coming out of the last session of the 110th Congress, is not actually the fault of the Democrats at all. It isn't that their policy choices have been objectionable and that they aren't trying to push through initiatives that the majority of Americans approve of, but rather that they haven't been very successful in doing it and that has caused great frustration amongst the American people, particularly when it comes to ending the War in Iraq, which a sizeable majority of Americans still disapprove of despite indications that the military situation is improving.

Congress can't get anything done because of the President and to a lesser extent the Senate. The President vetoes anything he finds objectionable, and has the votes in the Republican minority to have sustained all except one of those vetoes due to the slim Democratic majority. This President is not shy with the veto pen - he's wielded it and the threat of using it numerous times throughout the session. Changes in Iraq policy that managed to make it through the Senate and the conference process, S-CHIP and even the Defence Appropriations Bill have all been vetoed by the President for various reasons. Other Democtic priorities, such as their preferred fix to the AMT, FISA reauthorisation and the energy bill, have been considerably revised based upon the President's threat of a veto. Particularly in the appropriations battle that consumed much of the time after the summer has the President's influence sliced out a lot of the extra domestic spending the Democrats decided to add.

All the while they have continually been forced to sign supplemental appropriations legislation for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, running into the hundreds of billions of dollars, with very little more than a 'by your leave' attached to them in way of showing Congress's disapproval with appropriating that money without some kind of timetable for withdrawal of the troops. Unfortunately for the Democratic Congress the President still wields great power in the legislative process that they just do not have the muscle to overcome.

Particularly now that we're into an election year we shouldn't expect to see much legislating from Congress. The major pieces of legislation passed in 2007 will probably stand as the majority of major legislation for the 110th Congress, while Representatives and 33 Senators spend much of their time at home campaigning for votes to return and see the 111th Congress. Those Democrats who were elected and put the gavel in Speaker Pelosi's hands also have a lot to do to ensure that they do not just as quickly lose their seats they won in 2006, and so they'll be particularly busy securing a second term and setting up their long-term Congressional careers.

So perhas me saying that members of Congress are returning to 'govern' was a little over-stating the matter...