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A Do-Nothing Congress? Well, Pretty Close




MAY 28, 2014



After a burst of legislative activity in the past decade, representatives in the House are now proposing fewer bills.

This House is on track to produce the lowest number of legislative proposals since the Clinton administration. Through mid-May, representatives introduced 18 percent fewer bills compared with the same point in the previous Congress. That’s the largest drop between Congresses in the period beginning in 1995, when Republicans overturned decades of Democratic rule in the House. The number of lawmakers who have introduced at least 25 proposals has fallen by nearly two-thirds compared with the previous Congress. The number who have produced five or fewer pieces of legislation has jumped 81 percent.

The representatives who have introduced little or no legislation come from both parties and are veterans and newcomers alike. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, has introduced two bills this Congress. In the previous six years he was responsible for 42. John Mica, a Florida Republican and a high-ranking member of committees with jurisdiction over transportation and government oversight, also has proposed two bills (and two amendments), none since last year. That’s down from 27 bills in the previous Congress.
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The House Considers Fewer Bills
Legislation introduced through May 13 of the second year of each Congress since 1998.
113th
112th
111th
110th
109th
108th
107th
106th
105th
5,454
6,622
7,040
7,670
6,683
5,532
5,621
5,366
4,688
Source: Library of Congress

Political scientists and legislators have several theories on the slowdown. Kristin Kanthak, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh, thinks it could be that politicians aren’t seeing any electoral benefit from introducing bills. “It might be that Congress is so unpopular that people are not even running on working in Congress as a reason to re-elect them,” she said. “They might be talking about how they cause problems for the Obama administration or for John Boehner,” the Republican speaker of the House.
Photo
Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has not introduced any legislation since the 113th Congress began in January 2013. Credit J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

“Partly what is going on here is the decline of the committees,” said Representative David Price, a North Carolina Democrat and a former political science professor. Mr. Price has introduced four bills this Congress, down from 15 in the previous one. “The place is much more centralized. There are less active, less autonomous committees.”

The legislative pullback has few starker examples than Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Financial Services committee — which oversees banking, the Federal Reserve and mortgage lending, among other areas — has held hearings and considered bills drafted by others. And Mr. Hensarling has been active in proposing bills that, in particular, address the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But he has not proposed any legislation of his own since the 113th Congress began in January 2013, whether related to the financial industry or his Dallas-area district (he has added his name as a co-sponsor of other legislation at least 105 times).

“As a new committee chairman, Representative Hensarling has focused his attention on the Financial Services Committee,” said Sarah Rozier, a spokeswoman for Mr. Hensarling. “As chairman, he has made a decision not to act as the original sponsor for bills under the committee’s jurisdiction and, instead, work his policy priorities with other members.”

In data from the past 20 years, there was no other House committee leader who did not introduce at least one bill in a two-year Congress. But others have also reduced their output. Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, has proposed only four pieces of legislation in the current Congress after sponsoring 25 and 21 in his first two terms.
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Michael Mahaffey, a spokesman for Mr. Rooney, explained that since he had joined the Appropriations Committee, responsible for setting spending plans, most of his legislative work took place in that committee. Other appropriators, even longtime committee members, have reduced the number of bills they have introduced this Congress.

Washington-watchers love to debate how productive Congress is — or isn’t. None of the measures for calculating productivity are perfect; the number of bills passed doesn’t address the quality of legislation, while days in session doesn’t account for the speed in which some consequential bills are passed or the negotiations that occur when Congress is technically not meeting. Most measures “are prejudiced against literal conservatives,” Ms. Kanthak said. “There are a number of Republicans that see their job as stopping Barack Obama,” rather than passing (or even proposing) laws.

The appropriations process — 13 spending bills that Congress must pass each year — is often the best opportunity for lawmakers to make a mark. Mr. Sherman, the California Democrat, said: “If you’re introducing a bill to pass it or to have it ready to go for something that’s actually going to pass, you’ve got a lot less reason, a lot fewer good shots. Now it’s: I’ve got an idea, how can that be an amendment on an appropriations bill.”

Although bill introductions are not a measurement of legislative productivity, they are necessary. Between 1995 and 2002, as many as 7,000 pieces of legislation were introduced, most of which were bills (there are several types of resolutions as well). Beginning with the 109th Congress in 2005, the final Congress before a new Democratic majority, new legislation topped 9,000, before drifting back down.

Bill introductions in the current Congress are on the level of what they were in 1998 or 2000, signaling that the legislative push that marked the late 2000s is over, at least for now.

“I miss this,” Mr. Price said. “I love that process of taking a bill and seeing it through. But there are other things you can do in this environment to compensate.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/upshot/a-do-nothing-congress-well-pretty-close.html?_r=0