Congress

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They agreed on something. The vote Tuesday night in the Senate Judiciary Committee to forward to the floor a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration system was, to be sure, a small step and doesn't guarantee success in the full Senate, much less the House of Representatives.

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and imaginary, swirling around the White House, a group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate managed the unexpected (and, these days, extraordinary): They agreed on something. The vote Tuesday night in the Senate Judiciary Committee to forward to the floor a massive overhaul of the nation's immigration system was, to be sure, a small step and doesn't guarantee success in the full Senate, much less the House of Representatives.

This month, disapproval of Congress hit an all-time high — The New York Times reports that 82 percent of Americans give Congress the thumbs-down. Both parties get low marks, so the general disgust can't be attributed only to ideology. What the poll should call attention to is something more fundamental, a basic competency we expect our leaders to possess when they go to Washington: the ability to negotiate. Many members of Congress used to work in the private sector, where business people negotiate successfully every day. Yet this summer, congressional leaders showed themselves to be clumsy deal-makers, leading the country closer to the brink of economic crisis with every contentious meeting and press conference they conducted.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama fired the head of the Internal Revenue Service, the first sacrificial lamb brought down after the alleged "targeting" of conservative political groups by the IRS. Mr. Obama declared, "Americans are right to be angry about it. " Call me out of step, but I am angrier that the president is joining the rush to judgment. All that is known for sure is that some IRS functionaries took a shorthand route to identify partisan political groups that might be pretending not to be political so that they could get the tax exempt status available to social welfare organizations.

If ever there were a compelling justification for term limits, the ongoing partisan stalemate in the current Congress is it. This privileged class would have us believe that only professional politicians with vast tenure can enact legislation that deals responsibly with complex national problems. Actually, most of the heavy lifting in the legislature is done by congressional staffers and special-interest group lobbyists. The guys (and gals) in Congress have only one driving interest - maintaining their own incumbency.

Recent articles and editorials have noted the ineffective role Congress is playing in guiding the nation's affairs and the abysmally low level of confidence the public has in the institution ("Keeping Congress clean," Nov. 28). These problems could be resolved if all members of Congress were willing to look out for the good of the country instead of looking out for themselves. If they would do what's right for America, most voters would back them. With a $14 trillion national debt, taxes must rise and federal spending programs must shrink.

With the recent revelations regarding insider trading by members of Congress, citizens expect an explanation and disclosure of lawmakers' financial records ("Keeping Congress clean," Nov. 28). I cannot find words to describe how despicable I find lawmakers' actions. If lawmakers would eliminate the fraud, misappropriation of funds and corruption that goes along with all the money they are spending and wasting, that would be a step in the right direction. Richard LaCourse, Forest Hill

I was sorry, but not surprised, to hear that the Republican/tea party is content to see the airline industry benefit from uncollected taxes while ignoring the needs of union members, construction and support workers and the flying public ("In other congressional idiocy…" Aug. 3). While these workers are on furlough due to the inaction of Congress, I hope they will make sure they are registered to vote so that they can help these members see what it is like to be laid off. Alma T., Baltimore

Why is the Baltimore Sun and all major newspapers and news networks ignoring the bipartisan bill H.R. 1212, the "Restoring Essential Constitutional Constraints for Libyan Action Involving the Military Act"? Thirteen members of the House have already added their names as co-sponsors of H.R. 1212 in order to improve its chances of getting out of committee and being debated and voted upon in the full House of Representatives. Is the White House pressuring media outlets to ignore this challenge to the president's war making freedom?

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  Thankfully, Congress yesterday ended its collective denial and admitted it is completely irrelevant.  Senate leaders on Tuesday abandoned plans to force a vote on authorizing the U.S. war in Libya. You know, the war that the White House creatively calls a “kinetic military action” to avoid calling it a war. The one that’s included nearly 5,000 raids in which NATO shot missiles or dropped bombs.  “If the resolution we’re debating is debated and passed, it would not affect one iota what we’re doing in Libya,” said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, according to AP. The sad part is: He’s right.

My town, Annapolis, is a special kind of college town. The students at the Naval Academy are distinctive not for their backpacks, ear buds and school T-shirts, but for their crisp summer whites and their somber dress blues. The midshipmen take off their hats - their covers - when they enter a building, and they say "sir" and "ma'am" when you greet them. At this college, you don't pay anything unless you quit or get kicked out. About 1,400 arrive every July, but only about 800 will graduate four years later.

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been elected to the House (or at least that's where we hear he's going). Welcome to your trends report for Monday, May 8, 2013. Sanford will head to Capitol Hill after facing off against Elizabeth Colbert Busch, sister of the late-night satirist Stephen Colbert. Republicans will hold 233 of the House's 435 seats when Sanford is sworn in, probably this week. Another trip to the House comes today, when former diplomat Gregory Hicks is scheduled to testify about the Benghazi attacks last year.

State health officials don't know how often Marylanders use medications mixed in facilities lacking safety oversight, like a Massachusetts facility linked to three deaths here, but a newly passed law could tell them — and help demonstrate a gap in federal regulation. Batches of sterile drugs from so-called compounding pharmacies will be subject to state review under the measure Gov. Martin O'Malley signed this month. And pharmacists and doctors who perform compounding, in which drugs are somehow altered from their Food and Drug Administration-approved form, will face an extra layer of permits and inspections for drugs used in Maryland.

Why is anyone surprised that Congress acted so quickly to rescind the air traffic controllers' furloughs? Business travelers and the 1 percent are where the airlines make their money - and also where politicians get their campaign donations. Hank Bullwinkel, Upper Falls Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Enrollment in a controversial program that provides free cell phone service to low-income families has increased faster in Maryland than any other state in the nation, jumping nearly 90-fold since 2008 — renewing scrutiny on Capitol Hill over its management. The Lifeline program, created in 1984 to soften the impact of telephone deregulation on low-income families, had nearly 509,000 subscribers in the state last year, up from 5,821 in 2008. Growth in Maryland was nearly 40 times greater than the national average.

In President Barack Obama's running argument with the Republicans in Congress over who's responsible for the legislative stalemate on Capitol Hill, he suffers self-inflicted wounds by continuing to run up the same white flag that undermined his own efforts in his first term. He did it again in his embarrassing cave-in to Congress' makeshift response to the air traffic controllers' furloughs that briefly stalled travel, acquiescing in shifting $253 million in Federal Aviation Administration funds to keep them on the job. In so doing, he invited allegations of crumbling to legislators more concerned about getting to and from their districts than solving the fiscal sequester nightmare paralyzing the government.

I read with great interest The Sun's coverage of Maryland obtaining a waiver from the No Child Left Behind federal law ("Leaving NCLB behind," May 31). In fact, it seems 36 states are going this route. This is a big reprieve to Maryland after spending millions of tax dollars on administrative programs with minimal results, not to mention a huge increase in administrative personnel to implement these new programs. This law is flawed, as are the people who instituted it. If you read the name No Child Left Behind it says that this program is not going to allow one child to fail.

Michael DeCicco refers to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "arrogant," "power hungry," and incompetent ("Democrats are to blame for the nation's unrest," March 30). I disagree, but then Republicans know a good bit about arrogance and power hunger, and even more about incompetence. But it is apparent that Mr De Cicco needs to send his "truthometer" in for its overdue 10,000 mile checkup. In truth, the "despicable behavior" of which Mr. DeCicco speaks occurred not in Congress but in the ranks of the tea party mob. In truth, the "acts of vandalism" to which he refers are crimes.

There are millions of immigrants in our country who aspire to become citizens, but under our broken immigration laws, they have no way to earn citizenship. I personally know some of these hard-working immigrants, and I think it's hurting our country to keep them living in the shadows. That's why I'm calling on Congress to protect the path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States and vote in favor of reform this year. We need real solutions, and rounding up 11 million people or asking them to self-deport is not only inhumane but completely unrealistic.

I'm glad that the Baltimore Sun is speaking up about what readers have known for too long: Even though our economy is improving, this prosperity isn't reaching working families ("Labor reawakens," April 26). President Barack Obama is doing the right thing by trying to move Congress to increase the federal minimum wage. It would help millions of American families that are struggling to make ends meet. But we can't wait for Congress to get this done - it's too important. Right now, families in my community and across Maryland are struggling on minimum wage, making impossible choices like deciding between paying bills or getting medication.