Summer's winding up and Congress is in recess. As a result I've been lazy in posting anything new and no one's in town to aggravate me enough to write.
On the flip side, my son told me something that made me proud: he said he's been thinking a lot about his first job. He's eleven. So not only does he have a work ethic, he has a long view. Nice combo.
By contrast Congress is flirting (again) with a government shutdown this Fall. And, Lord knows with an election next year, weighty decisions will be deferred: Social Security solvency, mounting U.S. Post Office losses, individual and corporate tax reform, sensible revisions to the Affordable Care and Dodd-Frank acts, intelligent energy and transportation policies that address carbon emissions and infrastructure, elimination of all subsidies that distort consumer prices and all favoritism that raises barriers to entry for new businesses and workers. The list goes on and on because Congress focuses most of its time on getting reelected and shrieking about the outrage du jour.
Now in his fourth term, our man in Congress has the opportunity to address and act on substantive issues by breaking with party orthodoxy; he did so on the President's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in a out-front and vocal way for which I heartily applaud him.
Yet he continues to take significant campaign contributions from postal service interests and the Big Sugar lobby, the latter flying in the face of his strong TPA support. (BTW – you can find out who funds Congressional campaigns by visiting the Federal Election Commission's Candidate and Committee Viewer website. Once you search on our representative's name click on the "Other Committees Contributions" link to find out what groups and companies are backing him.)
So as the start of school approaches and Congress returns from recess, I'm looking forward to seeing my son realize his ambitions and Congress make progress. I'm certain of the first. As for the latter ... not so much.
