What They Did Before the Bailout (Nothing)
Friday, October 17, 2008
By: Tom Schatz

Government Waste Watch, Fall/Winter 2008

When Congress left for its traditional August recess, it had accomplished virtually nothing. Of the 106 bills enacted since January, 94, or 89 percent were to name government buildings or lands, extend or make technical corrections to existing laws, or passed either by unanimous consent or with less than 10 dissenting votes. The accomplishments included “Frank Sinatra Day,” National Plumbing Industry Week,” and “National Day of the Cowboy.”

There was even a floor debate in late June over the earliest reference to the word “baseball.” Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.) sponsored the commemorative bill, H. Res. 1050, “Recognizing Pittsfield, Massachusetts, as being home to the earliest known reference to the word ‘baseball’ in the United States as well as being the birthplace of college baseball.” He based his claim in part on a 1791 Pittsfield law, first discovered in 2004 in the town’s archives, that banned “Wicket, Cricket, Baseball, Football, Cat, Fives or any other game of games with balls,” due to concern that players might break windows in the town’s new meetinghouse.

While Congress fiddled around with meaningless resolutions, the projected deficit for fiscal 2009 hit a record $482 billion, and the deadline for passing the 12 annual appropriations bills was deliberately ignored. Only one of the bills, covering military construction and veterans affairs, has passed the House, and four others have been approved by the House Appropriations Committee. In the Senate, nine have been approved by the Appropriations Committee but none have reached the floor.

There are two reasons for this failure to act. First, the Speaker and Majority Leader appear to be waiting for the presidential election to decide what to do with these bills, hoping that the winner in November would favor higher spending and more earmarks.

Second, the moratorium on offshore drilling for oil and gas expires on September 30, and it is usually renewed through the appropriations process. When the recess began, both the Speaker and Majority Leader were not only opposed to drilling, they were adamantly refusing to even hold a vote on the subject matter. On August 1, they shut down Congress for the traditional August recess (where the do nothing except campaign for re-election). House Republicans took to the darkened House floor, demanding that Congress go back into session and hold an up-or-down vote to lift the drilling ban.

Speaker Pelosi took off on her taxpayerfinanced vacation, promoted her new book, and did her best to ignore the gathering drumbeat of support for drilling.  National polls showed that more than 70 percent of Americans wanted to open up the Outer Continental Shelf to exploration. Even in California, where residents have long resisted drilling, a majority thought is was a good idea. An August 10 San Diego Times Union editorial said, “When a majority of Californians signal to pollsters their support for offshore oil drilling, something dramatic is occurring. In this case, it is the price of gasoline lurching toward $5 a gallon. Suddenly, Americans have awakened with a hangover to their perilous reliance on foreign oil, which has escalated alarmingly since the oil shocks of three decades ago.”

The editors noted that they had long been opposed to drilling off of San Diego’s coast. But they noted changed circumstances, including increased dependence on foreign oil and improved technology to prevent oil spills. The even called for drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which they correctly called "a vast untapped petroleum supply that is far removed from human activity.”

The rallying cry for a vote on removing the moratorium on offshore drilling finally reached the ears of Democratic leaders. While Republicans (and many Democrats) want a straight up or down vote on lifting the entire moratorium, the Speaker remains opposed to such a vote. She will, however, consider a vote on lifting part of the moratorium, but only tied to a larger (and costly) energy package.

Majority Leader Reid’s initial response was to threaten to shut down the government by refusing to allow any appropriations bills to reach the Senate floor, including a continuing resolution that would allow agencies to operate at the fiscal year 2008 spending levels. He relented in his opposition after Speaker Pelosi, but agreed with her strategy of tying the offshore drilling to a more comprehensive energy bill.

The House has already voted once to lift the entire ban on offshore drilling. On June 30, 2006, the House voted 232-187 to lift a 25-year ban on offshore drilling along most of the U.S. coastline. That proposal was not approved in the Senate; instead, a more limited lifting of the ban, covering only 8.7 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, was approved by Congress.

The Democrats’ response to the “donothing” label has been to cite the passage of a higher minimum waste, expanded college aid, and extended unemployment benefits. Congress also passed the $300 billion housing bailout and the $168 billion economic-stimulus package.

Legislation that would reduce wasteful spending, cut taxes, or reform entitlements, instead of expanding the size, scope and intrusion of government, is a glaring omission from that list of “accomplishments.” When Congress returned in September following the party conventions, taxpayers got more of the same nothing…except for the $700 billion housing bailout.