News Journal:The downward spiral of dysfunction in Congress

In my first column after the November 2014 election, I quoted a Tea Party leader, Freedom Works Vice President Adam Brandon. Relishing the new Senate Republican majority and a House of Representatives even more sympathetic to his views than the previous one, he said, “There’s going to be an opportunity to put some real kick-ass policies on the floor of the Senate.”

I went on to say I thought Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would try to persuade their caucuses to find some compromises with the Democratic minority, but if they failed, and the House did send “kick-ass” bills to the Senate, every one of those bills would die there.

That, unfortunately, is exactly how it has played out. This is a Congress that just can’t get its act together.

Perhaps the saddest proof of this is the highway bill. There’s not much disagreement, from the far left to the far right, that we need a long-term solution to fixing our decaying infrastructure, and especially our highway system. But as we have seen so often in the past few years, agreement on the goal doesn’t mean Congress will find a way to achieve it.

Since 2009, Congress has failed to agree on a long-term solution to fund the Highway Trust Fund and passed short-term fixes 34 times. This time, as The Hill reported, “After the House rejected Senate changes, senators held their noses and voted 81-13 for a $10.9 billion bill to fund highway projects through May 2016.”

Everyone knows that makes no sense. You can’t plan on any major fixes to the system if funding may not be there in 10 months. So we’ll waste a few billion more filling potholes instead of rebuilding outdated roads and crumbling bridges.

I also predicted in that post-election column that one of the major obstacles to anything happening in this Congress would be the difficulty McConnell would have with attention-seeking senators in his caucus who are running for president. Ted Cruz has gone well beyond what even I expected. He has called McConnell a liar on the floor of the Senate and has promised to shut down the government if Congress does not agree to shut down Planned Parenthood.

McConnell says he won’t let that happen. But I fear we are in for another cliffhanger this fall, one that is likely to be even more costly and damaging that the 13-day shutdown in October, 2013.

Boehner has his own problems in a House that simply won’t follow him on major issues. In a move, according to Fox News, “unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives, a Republican lawmaker filed a motion…to remove House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, from his post, in another sign of dissatisfaction with Boehner’s leadership by a number of House conservatives.”

Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) called for Boehner’s removal because he believes Boehner has “endeavored to consolidate power and centralize decision-making, bypassing the majority” and has “caused the power of Congress to atrophy.” Meadows says he will spend the summer collecting signatures for a discharge petition to bring to the floor. He won’t succeed, but he’ll certainly provide another unneeded distraction for Boehner.

Speaking of distractions, Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew says the government will run out of money around the end of October. This will require Congress to pass another extension of the debt limit. As difficult as that has been in the past, with this Congress it will be even dicier.

Throw in the upcoming vote on the Iran Nuclear Weapons Treaty, a vote by the House to confirm the Senate’s extension of the Export-Import Bank, and the annual end-of-the-year donnybrooks over expiring tax provisions. Yes, “fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

To make matters worse, until the end of this year our two legislative bodies are scheduled to be in session at the same time a grand total of 10 days. One of them, Sept. 24, will be devoted to a joint session to listen to an address by Pope Francis. That’s about the only day I think we can safely predict this House and this Senate will actually come together.

Beyond that, it looks like the downward spiral of dysfunction in Congress is going to reach some new lows.

Ted Kaufman is a former U.S. Senator from Delaware.