Not only was that WSJ article a flimsy bit of spin regurgitation (wrapped in a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham, as Woody Allen might say), its premise was easily challenged. Take, for instance, this article from Wednesday that shows that -- yes -- it's actually possible to objectively measure whether or not the Democrats have been able to both conduct oversight and advance a legislative agenda at the same time. (It's pronounced "COM-puh-tenz," and for those who've understandably forgotten what it looks and sounds like, you can actually find it in the dictionary -- it's right smack dab between "compassionate" and "conservative." )
And while it's true that all those votes by this Congress haven't necessarily translated into more laws, it's also worth pointing out why that is. What's holding up -- or, to use another term that was surprisingly more en vogue last year, "obstructing" -- much of the legislation from being enacted (besides the odd Presidential veto or two) is an increasingly petulant and unpopular Republican minority intent on stamping their little feet and gumming up the works anyway they can, with incessant "poison pill" amendments, cloture motions, parliamentary sandbag tactics, and onerous holds on already passed bills.
But hey, all these facts can't compete with the schoolyard logic of the "too much investigatin', not enough legislatin' " meme. After all, it even rhymes. Then again, maybe Messrs. Perez and McKinnon have read the handwriting on the wall and were just trying to demonstrate how well they would fit in with the WSJ's new overlords?
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http://mediamatters.org/altercation/indexAND....
Who Says the House Isn’t Doing Anything?
By Michael Teitelbaum | 6:30 AM; Jul. 11, 2007 | Email This Article
To most Americans, they don’t look very busy. In fact, recent polls put their job performance rating at close to an all-time low.
But the reality — at least in the House — is that federal lawmakers have held more votes on legislation and other matters in the first six months of this year than they did during the entire 2006 session of the Republican-controlled 109th Congress. That was when GOP leaders decided to defer action to the 110th Congress, now controlled by Democrats, on most of the 2006 spending measures.
The House has held 600 roll call votes and six quorum calls so far this year, which puts the chamber well on its way to surpassing the 867 votes and 18 quorum calls Republicans held in 1995 after they assumed control of the House for the first time in 40 years.
Drew Hammill, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the reason for the high vote totals is simple: Democrats “are delivering on our promises” to be in session more this year.
But there’s another reason: Republicans are trying to slow things down by offering more amendments that require votes.
The Senate, meanwhile, has held about 240 votes this year. That number, combined with the House figure, puts Congress on track to break the all-time record for combined voting — 1,480 — set in 1995 when Republicans controlled both chambers.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/07/who_says_the_house_isnt_doing.html