Hard to see how since Congress does the most damage when it is legislating.
B
This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when
the baby gets hold of a hammer.
The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected [to
Congress].
The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse
every time Congress meets.
"With Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law, and every time they
make a law it's a joke."
-Will Rogers
http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=46523
<http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=46523&printerfriendlyver
s=1> &printerfriendlyvers=1
Dysfunction on Hill may hurt national security
By Sara Sorcher <http://www.nationaljournal.com/> National Journal November
15, 2010
A dysfunctional Congress could potentially damage U.S. national security
interests, according to a new Council on Foreign Relations report released
Monday, the latest in a slew of reports over the years complaining of
legislative gridlock and its consequences.
"Congress's inability to tackle tough problems, both domestic and
international, has serious national security consequences, in part because
it leads the world to question U.S. global leadership," Kay King, the
council's vice president of Washington initiatives who wrote the report,
said in a statement accompanying its release. "When Congress fails to
perform, national security suffers thanks to ill-considered policies,
delayed or inadequate resources, and insufficient personnel," she said.
Referring to the current lame-duck session of Congress, the council's report
said, "It remains to be seen whether the congressional dysfunction has
spread to the defense [authorization] bill."
This year, partisan disagreements and conflict between the legislative and
executive branches "threaten to derail enactment of the annual defense
authorization bill" for the first time in more than 40 years, the report
said.
Disputes over the bill's provision repealing the 1993 "don't ask, don't
tell" policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military
and the Obama administration's decision to cancel the F-35 alternate engine
program have brought the fiscal 2011 authorization process to a halt, the
report said. Congress recessed before the November elections without a
clear plan to take up the bill in the lame-duck session, which potentially
foreshadows more extreme Capitol Hill dysfunction to come.
Intelligence sharing - or lack thereof - has become another flashpoint of
dysfunction as well, the report said. Intelligence committees have
"struggled to keep pace with the growing demands for intelligence" ever
since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it said.
While the agencies must also take steps to share more intelligence with
lawmakers, Congress for its part should consider steps to increase its own
expertise in the national security realm so that it can become a true
partner to the executive branch in advancing U.S. objectives around the
globe, the report said. "The proliferation and interconnection of global
issues and the demands of a 24/7, wired world require greater, more nuanced
expertise," the report said.
A reduction in numbers of committee and subcommittee assignments for House
and Senate members would free up time for lawmakers to "better focus their
attention and to develop greater depth of expertise on specific issues," the
report recommended.
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