November
22, 2005
Bring
the Democracy Experts Home
By E.
J. Dionne Jr.
WASHINGTON
-- Perhaps we should redeploy the democracy experts we have sent
to the Middle East and ask them to work on our Congress. The last
few days have confirmed that our national government is dysfunctional.
It wasn't
just the nasty Friday evening ``debate'' over Iraq policy in the
House, set up by Republican leaders to score political points
after Rep. John Murtha's call for immediate withdrawal received
so much attention. And it wasn't just Rep. Jean Schmidt, an Ohio
Republican, deciding to send a constituent's ``message'' to Murtha
-- a Marine combat veteran with 37 years of active and reserve
service -- to the effect that ``cowards cut and run, Marines never
do.''
What happened
hours earlier, at 1:45 a.m., symbolized all that is wrong with
Washington. After immense pressure from Republican leaders, the
House passed $50 billion in budget cuts -- including reductions
in Medicaid, food stamps and child support enforcement -- on a
217-215 vote. Republicans who pride themselves in being moderate
had their arms twisted into backing the bill, partly on the basis
of promises that many of the cuts it contained wouldn't survive
in House-Senate negotiations.
Not a single
Democrat was willing to vote for the budget because there are
far better ways to cut the deficit. Rep. Jim Ramstad, a Minnesota
Republican who dissented from his party, made the case against
the budget as well as anyone. ``We should cut the pork,'' he told
the Washington Times, ``not the poor.''
The current
leadership in Congress simply refuses to revisit any of the tax
cuts it has passed since President Bush took office. On the contrary,
the leaders plan to push through $70 billion in tax cuts after
Thanksgiving, including dividend and capital gains reductions
that go overwhelmingly to the very wealthiest of Americans.
Some of
the most powerful words on the budget cuts came from one of the
most conservative Democrats in Congress. Rep. Gene Taylor, whose
district was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, couldn't believe that
cuts in programs for the poor were being justified as necessary
to cover the costs of relief for hurricane victims. Taylor's syntax
only underscored the emotion he brought to the floor:
``Mr. Speaker,
in south Mississippi tonight, the people who have electricity,
who might be at a VFW hall or a parish church hall, who are living
in two- and three-man igloo tents waiting for Congress to do something,
have absolutely got to think this place has lost their minds.
The same Congress that voted to give the wealthiest 1 percent
of Americans tax breaks every time ... suddenly after taking care
of those who had the most, we have got to hurt the least. ...
Folks, this is insane. ... This is the cruelest lie of all, that
the only way you can help the people who have lost everything
is by hurting somebody else.''
It is, indeed,
insane that a clear majority in the House was unable to work its
will and come up with a more reasonable approach. In addition
to the 14 House Republicans who voted against the cuts, another
dozen who voted for them under pressure expressed grave doubts
about the effect of some of the reductions.
If our democracy
were functional, the House majority that wants a balanced approach
to cutting the deficit -- Democrats and middle-of-the-road Republicans
-- could hash out the trade-offs between tax cuts and spending
cuts. Everything would be on the table.
But the
Republican leadership does not want to revisit the tax cuts. It
wants to keep control over the budget within the Republican Party,
which is dominated by its right wing. Eventually, enough moderate
Republicans cave in. The game continues. The system guarantees
that moderation, so often praised by academics, editorial writers
and columnists, is the one approach that's impossible.
And so it
was not surprising that hours after the budget vote, the House
blew up over Iraq. If the House leadership had wanted a real debate
on Iraq policy, it wouldn't have sprung a synthetic, one-sentence
``resolution'' crafted to embarrass Democrats at the last minute.
It would have permitted amendments and alternatives, and allotted
serious time to a serious subject.
Which brings
us back to those democracy experts we are sending around the world.
Let's bring just a few home and ask them to advise our leaders
on how to bring democracy to Congress. If we want to sell reason
and moderation to our Iraqi allies, we'd be more persuasive if
we could have reasonable debates ourselves about how to fund our
government and how to conduct our policy in their country.
©
2005, Washington Post Writers Group
