The United States Senate, as you probably know, left Washington for a lengthy summer recess without passing an appropriation for research on the Zika virus. Though most senators agreed on the funding, Democrats disagreed with provisions unrelated to this issue, which had been included in the bill by Republicans.
Among those provisions were restrictions on funding for birth control services from Planned Parenthood, weakened clean water laws governing pesticides and (as reported by USA Today), as if the nation needs something else to motivate people to shoot each other, a provision that would have allowed the Confederate flag to be displayed at military cemeteries.
Let us not, for this moment, debate the Planned Parenthood issue, the pesticide issue or even the Confederate flag issue. Let’s talk about process.
This process, sometimes called logrolling, is what happens when legislation is written so that in order to vote for one thing that a legislator is in favor of, the legislator has to vote for something he or she opposes.
In this case, according to the news reports, United States senators on both sides are now waiting for a few American babies to be born with tragic deformities so they can point fingers at each other. At least New Mexico with its low humidity is not a heavy mosquito state.
I have written before about the “single subject” provision of our state constitution, which is shared by 41 other states (see triplespacedagain.com, October 2013). This provision says simply that a law must be about one subject and the subject must be stated clearly in the title of the bill. Given that New Mexico legislators have not been above pulling nasty tricks on each other, the imagination runs wild when I think of what this provision has saved us from. As I mentioned previously, the single subject rule was invented 2000 years ago in the Roman Senate.
I bring it up now because so many Americans, exasperated and fed up, are in a mood to demand serious reforms.
Forcing this restriction upon Congress would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That would be fine with me but unrealistic so I don’t advocate it. However, our members are now here at home on their long recess. This may be a perfect time to exhort them to stop pulling these tricks and clean up their legislation, one bill at a time.
If you agree with this, I invite you to put it on your wish list and share the thought with whichever member of Congress you see in your district.
From time to time we have movements to “throw the rascals out” or to enact term limits, to get rid of corruption. I don’t believe either of these approaches would make much difference, because the problem is in the system, not the individuals. Good people run for office, usually beginning at lower levels like the state legislature. They lose focus as they find themselves in a system that rewards them with fame and the illusion of power but forces them to play the game. The current game is party polarization, trying to make the other side look bad rather than reaching compromises that will get anything done.
If lawmakers think they can make more of a contribution by staying in office than by stepping aside for a newcomer, they are probably right, because seniority, experience and relationships all matter.
These days we are bursting at the seams with anger and frustration, and our politicians have been shocked into listening. So let’s ask them point blank to stop this particular kind of nonsense. For starters, let’s get a bill that funds research into a dangerous virus and does nothing else. And save the argument about Confederate flags for another day.
Triple Spaced Again, © New Mexico News Services 2016