When Congress Runs Smoothly

One in, one out. Loretta Lynch, the incoming,
and Eric Holder, the outgoing, Attorneys General

This morning, in his Weekly Address, the President complained that congress is not running smoothly.
Loretta Lynch, his nominee to be the next Attorney General,  the president says, should be allowed a confirmation vote by the Republican controlled Senate. Lynch would replace Eric Holder, the scandal ridden Attorney General, who has resigned effective upon the office being filled by a new appointee. Holder has been held in contempt of congress for previous mistakes.

Mrs. Lynch would be the first black woman to be made Attorney General of the United States, and has a long and distinguished history as a prosecutor. So it could be understandable why some would think that she should not, as is now the case, have been waiting for confirmation to her position longer than the last five appointees combined.

Democrats are outraged, or at least say they are, by this turn of events. With Senator Dick Durbin Illinois saying that Republicans are asking Lynch to go to the back of the bus, as if she were Rosa Parks. The President says this is all the Republicans fault, and that they are not making congress run smoothly.

And the President is right, if by running smoothly he means congress rubber stamps everything he wants done. But he is wrong if by running smoothly congress is supposed to stand by its campaign promises, represent the American people and protect them.

Dick Durbin, the Democratic Senator who has done a lot of important work in
the past, but is embarrassing himself over race comments; former presidential
candidate and current Senator John McCain has asked him to apologize

And one of the groups of people that congress is supposed to protect, one of the groups that this Republican Congress won the senate on last year with their platform being prolife, is the unborn.

Mitch McConnell, the head of Republican Senators, has promised Lynch will get her vote, and that he will even vote for her and have his senators vote for her, but first, the Democrats have to do their bit. And that bit is to pass a little 68 page bill that would come down even harder on human traffickers then we already do. The Democrats support the bill, except for something in it which will not allow money collected under it to fund most abortions. So they won’t pass it.

Perhaps Lynch will make a good Attorney General, certainly her record is very good. But in congress, there are thing we call deals, things we call bargaining, in other words, what serious senators call governing, that thing they were sent to Washington by the people to do.

Somehow though, Dick Durbin and others don’t get that. This is a deal that is not too hard to make, it’s not complicated, especially for all these well educated people. Democrats don’t filibuster a bill hurting human traffickers, maybe even vote for it, although they don’t even need to be that radical, although they probably should, and the Republicans will not only not block Loretta Lynch’s nomination, they will even vote for her!

The way government is supposed to run is on a checks and balance system, with congress not having too much power, and the president not having too much power. So congress is running smoothly, at least the Republicans are making it run as smoothly as they can with Lynch, with their proposed deal.

The Republicans are not making Loretta Lynch go to the back of the bus. This has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with protecting the lives of the unborn. It is the Democrats in the senate who are, at the moment, fouling things up, just like they did with the DHS shutdown a few weeks ago. Instead of complaining, and playing the blame game, they should get on the ball, and stop blocking the bill. Then congress would run smoothly again.

Andrew C. Abbott