Biographical Directory of the US Congress - Book Report/Review Example

Book Summary – Congress From The Inside From the Campaign to the Committee The book is in truth a diary of the author of his tenure in the House of Representatives of the United States of America starting from the moment when he first entered the halls of the august body as a neophyte congressman from the State of Ohio for the 103rd Congress1. In giving an almost full account of the facts of life in the lower house of the US Congress, he conveys at the same time his sentiments and honest opinions on each set of events and circumstances traversing from when he was learning legislative chores to partisanship to visiting the offices of peers and to being in attendance in conferences and discussions in connection with the preparation of a bill up to the final crafting of this into law. Although the writer was already once a state legislator in his local territory, the new atmosphere in the national assembly of parliamentarians coming from all the states gave him the opportunity to see all the stark realities. There are all the apparent party wrangling, the indifferent attitudes of fellow members mostly due to affiliations and the many aspects of the lawmaking body especially the manifestations of how weak and how strong it is in this or in that facet of the political spectrum. The book also discusses the elections in the year 2000, the humongous disaster that was September 11, the concerns in Iraq, and the restructuring of congressional districts, at times to satisfy the pleasures of the key players of the initiating political party. Further taken up in the comprehensive and exhaustive digest are the healthcare imbroglio and how the big guys in the medicine industry encroach upon Congress, its affairs and its resolutions to deliver their own message and to attain their own wants. Within the purview of the morals of man, reflections are being revisited to examine the human side of the legislators who compose one of the branches of government where, on literally a daily basis, those with more in life are given some more and where those who are already with great privileges are further granted additional perks. On his part, the man behind the documentary echoes his religious orientation as it relates to his work which he acknowledges to have given him the opportunity to passionately advance the crusade for a just society and to assert his own personal convictions on spiritual values. In the given preface, the edition readily accepts that it is a collated study of political frameworks and idiosyncrasies, the business of government and governance, and the dominant stakeholders in the corridors of influence. The United States being dominated by the two-party system, the Democrats and the Republicans have their respective agenda and programs.2 The former did not gain good ground in the Congress of 1993-94 in that it was generally perceived to have performed poorly despite their party being where the sitting president belonged and controlling both the upper and the lower houses. This factor led to the Republicans expecting to change guards in the White House by 1996. However, the time came when the public was behind the Democrats on the issues of Medicare, education and environment. The aftermath redounded to the benefit of the party in power with the passage of a new legislation on minimum wage, together with stronger laws for the environment and the added appropriations in the education budget. The Republicans had to be cooperative as they faced the challenges of reelection. It was therefore a temporary alliance for the self-serving intentions and purposes of the individual politicians. And it passed. The aloofness was once again in the air. If several years before, the element of friendship on a personal level was part of the interrelation between congressmen and their families regardless of party affiliations, it had banished in a large measure as internal politics and the formulation of policies were imbued with conflict. The disassociation at present is also aggravated by the hectic schedules of the house members in carrying out their parliamentary responsibilities. The intimate rapport further deteriorated as trips overseas purportedly in aid of legislation were significantly reduced because of allegations in the media that the same were actually junket privileges availed of with abuse.3 Unfortunately, some were really necessary in the best interests of the nation.4 Owing to this whole framework, partisanship has become more fervent and the tendency toward social acquaintance between and among members of the chamber has appeared remote. The author claims that he started his stint in Congress on a day characterized by a remarkably vibrant mood. He was one of the one hundred and ten neophytes the writer believes were chosen by the electorate to change things and improve the legislature. Impliedly declaring himself as such, which he seems to be, the author posits that vigor is the foremost requirement of a statesman. Going back to the campaign for the house seat, the semi-biography narrates of the excitement of the victory in the election contest of 1992 after a redistricting in Ohio opened an opportunity for the run. The movement started, among others, with a bicycle journey of the covered communities that could be reached throughout the district. The peculiarities of each community had to be studied by the future congressman. The same resolve had to be true with the density of the voting populace and the tendency of the constituents in choosing the party or the individual contender. The trade unionists, the civic clubs, the agricultural groups and all the other sectors embraced within the jurisdiction of the district had to be convinced of whatever was being offered or promised under the programs of the candidate. Fortunately for the author, he gathered enough votes to win.5 After getting elected, the freshman member had to tackle the routines and the sidelines inherent in the job. After all the rituals and ceremonies in the oath-taking activities, the initial undertakings were focused on committee and sub-committee assignments. It was observed that members usually stick to two or three committees in order that they gain mastery of the workings therein. There are skills particularly peculiar to this or that committee or sub-committee which have to be developed in order that effectiveness and or efficiency might be achieved. Becoming vice-chairman of the Oversight and Investigations sub-committee under Energy and Commerce, the novice lower house member also opted for membership in the Health sub-committee which was one of the sub-committees to hear the Clinton health initiative. He was likewise a member of the sub-committee on Europe and the Middle East, as well as of the sub-committee on Asia and the Pacific. Both are under the Foreign Affairs Committee. In the latter assignment, the author takes pride in having met King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan, and Shimon Peres and Rupert Murdoch, and Michael and Raisa Gorvachev. His work in the Foreign Affairs Committee gave him the knowledge that the matter of foreign relations is very significant in that it is a concern both of the legislative and executive branches of government. The Central Intelligence Agency cooperates and coordinates a lot with the concerned members of the house. No question, there are pressures and stress between the White House and Congress over international relations. Nevertheless, whatever relevant issues concerning the subject must be addressed and resolved by both under mutual understanding in the interest of the nation. The Chamber Unlike what the audience sees on television when the sitting US president delivers his state of the union address, the chamber is chaotic in actuality. On a regular day, about forty or more of the members are near the door, one speaking, a handful listening while many chat with one another. Others may be in the cloakroom for some bites or watching television while several members may be in their offices or in the committees for hearings or certain legislative itineraries. With its size as big as half of a football field, the House of Representatives chamber is spacious enough. To the right of the Speaker are the Republicans while to the left are the Democrats as if to signify that the Republicans are the rightists or conservatives while the Democrats are the leftists or liberals. The book describes the adornments and portraits exhibited in the halls of the lower house showcasing pieces of the historical past of distinct significance. A framed picture of George Washington is hung somewhere and another of Marquis de Lafayette, the first foreign visitor to address the chamber. Prime Minister Rao of India and African leader Nelson Mandela were among the heads of state to have addressed the Senate and the House of Representatives in the chamber. The first president to deliver the State of the Union Address in the venue was Woodrow Wilson in 1913. In meticulous order, the author further related the physical and other features of the house edifice. Interestingly mentioned was the proposed introduction of an electrical count machine for the reckoning of votes. Presented by the young inventor Thomas Alva Edison, it was rejected by the committee having charge over the matter whose chairman could have been a member of the minority. Impliedly because slowing down the voting process was the only way not to speed up the rule of the majority, Edison’s invention was not acceptable. Stories of risks in security and dangers to the lives of the congressmen were given space. One account pertains to a shooting incident executed by four terrorists in 1954 who gained entry to the gallery by concealing their firearms in camera casings. While there was no reported death, five congressmen were injured and thereafter, no more cameras have been allowed and measures for security have been tighter. A bullet mark can still be seen in one of the committee tables. At another time, a certain Congressman William Taulbee was shot and killed by Charles Kincaid, a reporter from the Louisville Times after the former warned the latter of harm the day before. Hit near the eye, the lawmaker expired eleven days thence. Interestingly, the killer was acquitted. To this day, bloodstains still visibly show in some of the steps of the stairs where the assault took place. It was claimed by Taulbee’s family that the trial was a sham and the jury was bribed, adding that bloodstains left by a murdered person could not be removed. The cloakrooms in the chamber are not cloakrooms after all and are not depositories of hats and coats. Instead, the areas, one for the Democrats and another for the Republicans, serve as a lunch counter, telephone service center and resting place. For being labeled as the lower house, the terminology originated when the First Congress convened in New York in 1789 and the senators were assigned to the second floor of the Federal Hall. The representatives were given the ground or lower level. The Budget and NAFTA The incumbent president in 1993 was Bill Clinton. The budget that he was proposing at that time was so controversial it was dubbed to be the biggest tax increase in the history of the United States of America. In the case of congressmen under the Democratic Party, to vote for the approval of the appropriations was political death. Despite the strong criticisms from the Republicans and the media and the risk of not getting reelected, more than two hundred Democrats cast their votes in favor of the proposed budget bill because it seemed to be the best remedy to decisively cut the then prevailing humongous deficit. Furthermore, the increase in income tax as packaged in the budget proposal would literally affect no more than two per cent of all United States taxpayers. By tradition, the president calls on all of bureaucracy to submit what each agency or department needs and to accordingly draft a budget for that. The Chief Executive then sends the overall budget in the form of a proposal to Congress which writes the final budget. In the 1993 scenario for the 1994 appropriations, not only were the expenditures being considered. The then huge deficit had to be taken into account. President Bill Clinton wanted to impress political will to act on that. Resultant of that move was the vehement debate. In the end, the pertinent appropriations bill was approved solely on the strength of the majority controlled by the Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Another controversy that plagued the Clinton administration in 1993 was the North American Free Trade Agreement which would allow the free flow of goods and services between and among the United States, Mexico and Canada. It allegedly caused jobs loss in the nation because of very low wages in Mexico. At a certain point, the trade agreement fueled prosperity in Mexico, an important achievement in the efforts of developing that country and neighbor into a stable democracy. However, after accusations of graft and corruption in the government of then President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, NAFTA hurt Mexican labor as wages were kept low to entice more investors. At the same time, it made luxury goods cheap for the members of the Mexican elite. The end result was that the agreement only benefited the wealthy investors and the multinational companies which used Mexico as a shield to avoid high tariff rates and to save on salaries by paying cheap Mexican labor at the expense of the working classes in the borders. In the later part of 1997, President Clinton was swiftly and overwhelmingly denied any further authority to extend negotiations within the ambit of NAFTA to the other countries in Latin America. In a nutshell, NAFTA was a failure. The Health Care Issue and the Crime Bill The health care issue once again demonstrated how factionalized the Democrats are. For several years, discipline in the party has always been almost nothing compared to what is happening in the Republican Party. Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter were not able to fully have a hold on party members in the south in spite of the fact that they were all Southerners. Bill Clinton was likewise not able to do so. The division was at its extreme during the argumentations and debates over the health care issue during the 103rd Congress. The pledge and promises appurtenant to a comprehensive improvement in federal health care policies were in the core of the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton and most of the Democrats in both houses. Joining the bandwagon, each Democratic candidate had to follow suit in the public announcement for a platform that clearly included a universal health care program. Evidently, there was a strong mandate to reform health care coverage. The overwhelming reaction of the people was sparked by the victory of Democrat Senator Harris Wofford from Pennsylvania who rallied with the war cry that if an accused was entitled to a counsel, every worker in America should have a fundamental right to a doctor.6 As a matter of fact, it was ventured by pundits that President George H. W. Bush lost his reelection bid because of the health care drawback, among others. To win the sympathy of voters, Democratic candidates reiterated Wofford’s statement to the crowds during campaign sorties. As early yet as that, the supposed details of the intended scheme as a whole could not be outlined. The abstract proposition was pleasant to the ears of the electorate. How the same could be effectively implemented was another question. As suggested by Mario Cuomo, a top Democrat, a candidate may be poetic in the campaign but must do actual governance with prose. Stated otherwise, one can use nice words to win the votes. Once in office, the holder should know the mechanics in order to keep those promises. That explains why those who took office at the beginning of 1993 had to list the subject of health care among their top priorities and this was particularly so in the case of the incoming lawmakers in the lower chamber. Incidentally, universal health care was easier said than being done. At that time, that is, in the early 1990’s, health care would cost nine hundred billion dollars every year while its increase was double the rate of inflation. In 1970, it was seven per cent of the gross national product and was twelve percent twenty years thereafter. It was four per cent of the total federal budget in 1965. It incremented to twenty per cent in the year 1993 or five times the figure barely three decades ago. After taking over the White House, President Bill Clinton established the President’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform in which he designated First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to be at the helm. The new Chief Executive made a commitment for a deadline by which the preliminary findings of the task force and the recommendations to be addressed to Congress would be finished by May 1, 1993. The whole packaged proposal would be guided by three objectives which were (a) the coverage would be universal, (b) cost control measures would be installed, and (c) the quality of service must be acceptable and must be maintained. When the supposed date for submission was nearing, it was apparent that no preliminary findings or recommendations would be out by then. This led to a negative public perception which was aggravated when it was learned that people from the academe and government men comprised the task force. The schedules and venues of the meetings were not disclosed, and so were the names of those who participated in the process. This spurred public skepticism. The perceived clandestine proceedings and the failure to deliver on time hurt not only the health care approach of President Clinton. It also did damage to his other official endeavors. The implications further transformed to more enemies of the total health care plan. Nonetheless, the Health Security Act of 1993 got out for introduction in Congress. In one of the hearings, First Lady Hillary Clinton was superbly impressive with her declarations, her comprehensive knowledge of the pertinent subjects, her memory and even her style of delivery. All sides, the Republicans and the Democrats and the media, were one in lauding and praising the First Lady. However, whatever gain she mustered went to naught in the succeeding deliberations when the others involved could not give figures and other data and information expected of them by the legislators. In short, no specifics were made available to the satisfaction of the hearing officers. As a result, opposition to the bill again mounted. The health insurance industry was in the forefront of the opposition apparently in order to protect vested interests. The bill, crashing down as a disaster, died a natural death.7 The author also took to task discussing the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1994 still under President Bill Clinton. The most important segment of the law was the ban on the use of assault rifles. Another curious part was that which suspended a student found carrying a gun in school. Both sections were criticized but went through anyway. The death penalty was expanded which also drew intense opposition. The Republicans opposed the bill as being associated with social spending. They collaborated with the National Rifle Association, a known proponent of assault weapon ownership.8 Miscellany Being congressman may be prestigious, glamorous and, well, may be lucrative. But one has to have patience. The constituents are not many. They are splendidly numerous. They can be overly countless at times. There are a lot of letters and phone calls from the constituency. They bother but they also help. Whatever sentiments the electors in the district have over the vote of their representative in Congress, are so expressed by some of them. In the case of Congressman Sherrod Brown, the people in his district would send him a mail or give him a ring during times when there were issues of concerns that would affect them. When the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was being put to legislative action and there were many who believed that the matter should first be carefully studied, one proponent of that move for deferment sent him a pillow on which inscribed the idea that he better slept on it and wait for the following year. Some would telephone him urging the lawmaker to vote in a manner the callers would want him to. When a beer tax increase was imminent at one time, beer companies sent away tees with the printed dictum purportedly coming from the common American beer drinker not to tax his beverage. Whatever the cost he paid, that was worth the reckoning. The author won his first bid for reelection in 1994. Partisan Strategies Using methodologies allegedly akin to espionage, surveillance and intelligence networking, the Republicans were determined to regain control of the United States House of Representatives after a hiatus of forty years. Packaged in what was called the Contract with America under some form of a manifesto, the struggle firmly sets forth its visions and missions.9 It delineated party cohesiveness, discipline and organization. Borrowing ideas which came mostly from the thoughts of President Ronald Reagan, it adopted the precepts and mechanisms of the army tactic called Training and Doctrine Command. The whole caboodle was mission oriented and focused on results. Strongly headed by Newt Gingrich after a possibly long research of military intelligence techniques and surveillance operations, the campaign encouraged the use of negative propaganda against the Democrats. The aggressiveness to destroy enemy territories included using such harsh words and adjectives with which to identify congress members belonging to the Democratic Party. With the house Democrats being called as enemies of the American people or incompetent or self-serving or abusers of power and other similar characterizations, the Contract with America blueprint and its complementary designs proved effective. The Republicans became the majority after the 1994 elections. The general bias against the Democrats was very evident. Committees and sub-committees were re-organized to the prejudice and at the expense of the Democratic congressmen causing them to get dispirited, discouraged and demoralized. Preparing party exercises for the 1996 presidential election, Republican leaders continued to bring the Contract with America message to the people in the belief that the masses would remain on their side for long. Newt Gingrich, the new speaker, became the instant celebrity politician and the overnight media favorite. At its incipience, 1995 appeared to be a bad year for the Democrat president, Bill Clinton. He himself seemed disconnected and disoriented. However, in May, 1995, the Gingrich-controlled House started preparing for certain amendments to the Clean Water Act of 1972. Clinton decisively opposed the move to the extent of calling it the Dirty Water Act and accusing the Republicans of surrendering environmental regulations in favor of chemical corporations, real estate developers and agribusiness companies. His new enthusiasm instilled fresh energy to his party colleagues in the lower chamber. As a matter of fact, it did to most of the Democrats. After that, the next issue was the purportedly balanced budget then being offered by the Republicans. It fired back. The Democrats were given the opportunity to tell the people of America that the new appropriations would mean downsizing allotments for Medicare and student loans. At the other end, it provided for gigantic tax cuts which would benefit only the wealthy few. It became somewhat a case between the rich who could be counted and the poor who were so many. The retaliatory attacks of the Democrats went on until the statistics started to pour in their favor. The rest is history as the resurrection culminated in 1996 upon the re-election of Bill Clinton, the comeback kid.10 Works Cited A Clinton Timeline. Highlights and Lowlights. CBS News.com. January 12, 2001. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: BROWN, Sherrod. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Congressional Career. Sherrod Brown.SourceWatch. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Klein, Ezra. Hillary Rejoins the Health Care Debate. September 18, 2007. THE AMERICAN PROSPECT. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at National Rifle Assn. Heavy Hitters. OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Selfa, Lance. The Democrats' Medicare disaster. December 5, 2003. SOCIALISTWORKER.org. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Sepp, Peter J. Congressional Perks: How the Trappings of Office Trap Taxpayers. November 1, 2000. National Taxpayers Union. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Two-party system dominating U.S. politics since the 1860s. Political Parties in the United States. 10 January 2007. America.gov. Engaging the world. Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Wanko, Brian. Congressional Trips Overseas Are Necessary for U.S. Policy. July 23, 2009. AMERICAS/SOCIETY. [internet] Accessed January 20, 2010. Available at: Read More