Is Congress overworked? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    It is not clear just how it is that our Representatives and Senators manage to come up with all the ideas they seem to come up with for all new laws they seem to think of.. They propose all manner of legislation. They make speech after speech on the floor of the Senate or House Chamber depending on the chamber to which they have been elected in support of their (or other folks') proposals. It is an even greater mystery how they manage to find time to write 1000 page (or more) pieces of legislation in between being "romanced" at lunch or dinner by the "K St." denizens (i.e. the entrenched Washington Lobbyist Corps) and also find time to "take care" of constituents by answering their letters and e-mails or even meeting with them - especially when they are accompanied by a "local or State politician" of the same political persuasion. All that stuff takes time and there are only 24 hours in each day. Do you suppose they are overworked??

    Aha!! They have a staff to do the "dull stuff" - like handling so called "constituent services". They read the letters you write to your Representative or Senator, pick our a "key"word or two and decide which of their pre-written letters they will send you in response. Surely that is what accounts for the non-response responses folks usually get from their Congressional representatives. The staff frequently meets with representative groups of constituents who have made the trek to Washington (D.C. that is). They write speeches for their boss to give from a lectern at the front of the House or Senate Chamber. As an aside, have you ever wondered why the camera doesn't seem to ever pan around the Chamber to record other members' reactions to the speech?? Short answer; they don't do it because the place is usually empty. There is no one there listening to the speech. When a speech is read, two things happen. First, the speech will become part of the Congressional Record where it is preserved for posterity and second, selected segments will be replayed as sound bites on a local TV station in the member's home town as proof to the "locals" that he (or she) is looking out for them. Your tax dollars at work... If you have been paying attention, you will know that these speeches are not "given", they are "read". Frequently they are "sight read" and usually not so well at that. Harry Reid would seem to be the leading contender for being the poorest reader.

    I won't say anything about how well (or is it "poorly") Nancy Pelosi reads hers. As I think about that, it occurs to me that perhaps her staff does not write a lot of her "talking points". Surely, if they did, there would at least seem to be some coherence to be found in what she says (unless she can't read at all). It would likely be very interesting to hear her making campaign speeches in and around San Francisco and Marin County. Surely she must say something understandable from time to time or surely she wouldn't keep getting reelected - but you couldn't tell it from the sound bites you hear her make in Washington. But then we are talking about SF and environs... Hmmm...

    The unelected staff people who do most of the thinking and virtually all the work for our elected representatives seem to go on forever. Well, at least until they get an even more cushy job - like "opening doors" for the K Street crowd. If their Democrat boss gets ousted, they will either change hats and hire on with the "new" person or keep the same hat on and go looking for a Dem who might have replaced a Rep. It works exactly the other way around when a Dem replaces a Rep. in the Congress. Staff longevity is a bipartisan endeavor.

    According to Open Congress web site each Representative is allotted $831,252 to hire up to 18 staff and four additional temporary, part time, of shared staff. That is in addition to office expenses and an allowance for franked mail. Senators get a little more...

    To see the details, click here.

    With a staff (i.e. cheering section) that large it's no wonder most of them keep getting reelected.

    That raises a point that must be addressed if we ever get to term limits for our Congressional people. The term limits must also apply to the congressional staff people. When their boss gets thrown out, they must go with him or her and not be eligible to be retained or rehired into a like job (preferably ever - but at least not for several years). Of course we will be told that if these folks go, they will take a lot of institutional memory with them. The short response to that argument is: "So??"

    In response to the question posed at the beginning of this article...There is at least one person in the world who believes the answer is NO!!

    Yes, I am sure that a lot of the folks representing us in Congress work hard (i,e, put in a lot of time). What is not clear is that very many of them make any effort to distinguish between the efficiency and effectiveness of their efforts. Effectiveness: Are we doing the right things. Efficiency: Are we doings things right??

    Actually, it's not clear that very many of them worry about either efficiency or effectiveness.

    D'ya think??