Is Congress Doing Their Job?

As the government prepares for what could be a partial shutdown of federal services, it is interesting to note how we got here in the first place. During the last election cycle, Republicans took control of the House, while Democrats lost six seats in the Senate, but still maintained control.

Despite these gains, one would think the approval ratings for Republican members of Congress would be at least neutral; 50% approve, 50% disapprove. Quite the contrary. According to an April 6 Gallup poll Republicans are only slightly more liked than their Democratic counterparts. 31% of those polled disapprove of Republican members of Congress, while 32% disapprove of Democratic members. In short, we as a people do not think very highly of our Congressional leaders.

Considering these numbers have not fluctuated much over the past ten years, maybe it is time we begin to look at the real problem with Congress. Despite the fact that we elect congressmen and women every two years, the polling numbers suggest we hold them in only slightly higher regard than drug dealers and serial killers. Yet, we the voters, continually send the majority of House and Senate officials back to Washington year after year.

The current budget debate crystallizes the systemic problem we have with our elected officials. While we see the budget deficit as a national crisis, which it is, we are not willing to put the blame on those we personally elect. To do so would cause us to admit we were wrong.

The mindset among most voters seems to be that the representatives we elect from our districts are not the problem; it's the other 534 worthless quarter-snatchers that are at the root of our economic problems. As pathetically sad as this scenario sounds, it appears to be true.

Consider that we elect our members of Congress and the Senate on a local level. Their job is to insure that the needs of their constituents are being served. They are not necessarily charged with worrying about the needs of Congressman X's constituents in another state. Their job is to bring home the bacon to their districts. In the meantime, there are 534 other Congressional delegates who are fighting for their constituents back home.  This is in essence, what each member of Congress is supposed to do.

To prove my point, let's take the eight congressional districts in my home state of Maryland. Of the eight, only two seats are held by Republicans. This is not unusual, since Maryland is so blue, that an outsider would think we spend most of our days walking on water. Our two U.S. Senators are also Democrats, and both are considered liberal.

Looking at the budget wrangling going on these days, we see that Republicans want to cut the fat off social programs, while some Democrats have resisted unless we delve into the military budget. Even though we are actively engaged in one war, cleaning up another, and denying that Libya is a legitimate country, consider this; the Army's share of the budget, currently sits at slightly less than $88.7 billion.

The Air Force, Navy, and Marines have their own budgets attached to this bill. While we did not take the time to go through them line-by-line, a quick scrolling through the numbers suggests you could multiply that $88.7 billion number by four, and get a reasonable accounting of the entire military budget. This number works out to $304.1 trillion; give or take a few billion.

This does not account for the Department of Defense's budget, nor does it consider the "Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund" to which $400 million has been allocated. Yet that pales in comparison to the "Afghanistan Security Forces Fund," which comes in at a whopping $11,619,283,000. You read that number correctly, more than $11 billion. Iraq's Security Forces are only receiving $1.5 billion out of this budget.

Despite this massive amount of money going to the military, defense, foreign rebuilding and foreign security training projects, you will not hear any of Maryland's delegation demanding cuts be made in these areas. Why? Many of the people who gave them their seats work in the defense industry. Both Senator Barbara Mikulski and Congressman John Sarbanes represent Anne Arundel County, which houses Fort Meade, NSA, and dozens of defense related contracting firms. Cuts to the military or defense budgets would greatly impact their constituents. In theory  therefore, they would not be doing the jobs they were elected to do.

Likewise, Senator Mikulski, also represents much of Baltimore City, where cutting social programs is considered blasphemy. Congressman Sarbanes finds himself in the same situation as Ms. Mikulski, as he also represents Baltimore City.

The solution to this problem will not be an easy one. It does not lie in the laps of those we elect to represent us. It is in our hands, but we first must change the way we as citizens think. When going to the polls next election cycle, ask yourself if you would rather have a representative who will tell you "what you need to hear," as opposed to "what you want to hear."

It is the inherent nature of politicians to make promises that help get elected and re-elected. Of course, they need to deliver on these promises. With so many people, organizations, and entities depending on the Federal Government for monetary assistance, how electable is a candidate that promises to curtail this monetary stream flowing into everyone's hands?

Do I really need to give you the answer? Truth is, the officials we elected are doing exactly what we charged them to do; protecting our interests. Can we really blame them, or do we need to look closer to home to find the real problem?