A dysfunctional Congress continues to baffle

Our representatives in Washington D.C. continue to bring four words (not letters) to my lips: “What are you doing?!” When there is a problem to be solved, we in the real world bring it to those of us involved and vote or by consensus decide yes or no regarding possible solutions. We do not take several issues and lump them together and work to decide yes or no on the package.

Whatever your party or non-party affiliation, might we suggest to our representatives that they vote only on “clean” bills. As an example, a senator recently suggested providing a “clean” DACA bill for consideration. But, no, that is deemed unacceptable. The vote has to include “chain migration,” “border security/wall funding” and DACA. How about voting on each of them separately (clean)?

This may be why we have the current legislative meltdown. Voting only on “clean” legislation should expedite the stagnant work of our dysfunctional Congress. It should also eliminate “earmarks,” but that discourse is for a another day.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 3:47 PM with the headline "A dysfunctional Congress continues to baffle."