Richard Schwab Writes

My Guest Column, "Congress historically unproductive" appeared in today's

1/18/12 Tri-County Press.

Congress historically unproductive  As 2011 has ended,

the first session of the 112th U.S. Congress has stumbled to a bad-faith finish. This Congress has managed to create a disgraceful record of not dealing with the economic crisis facing this nation.

So far this past year, the 112th Congress has passed just 89 bills that President Obama has signed into law. Of those, three named appointees to the Smithsonian Institution, one created a military museum in Texas, and 21 named federal buildings and post offices.

It is a shabby and irresponsible record.

The 112th Congress has spent most of its time racing against the clock - passing short-term extensions to keep Washington open for business and fighting over matters that in the past have been routine.

Three countdowns to shutdown. The will-they-or-won't they over the payroll tax holiday and extension of unemployment benefits. The failed super committee. The debt-ceiling fight which ended in a downgrade. As a result of this brazen unaccountability, and Congressional gridlock caused by the GOP's anti-tax tirades and tantrums and willingness to blow by the debt-limit deadline, Standard and Poors downgraded the U.S. bond rating. A senior director at Standard and Poors remarked, "People in the political arena were talking about a potential default...That a country even has such rhetoric is notable...This kind of rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns."According to Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, "This year, blame for Congressional dysfunction isn't equally divided between the two parties. The Republican Party has become just adamant about taking hostages and making non negotiable demands."

The goal of the GOP lawmakers, stated bluntly by Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell is, "to deny President Obama a second term." Everything in the legislative process is part of a permanent campaign to defeat Barack Obama. As a result, we have a do nothing, obstruct everything Congress.

Is it any wonder Congress is down to a record low 9% approval rating? That's 7 percentage points lower than BP's approval rating at the height of the gulf oil spill.

The Republican members of Congress will do their best to sweep this mess under the rug and out of our memories.

Harry Truman ran against the "do nothing" 80th Congress of 1947-48 leading to his surprise victory and the Democratic Party regaining the majority in both houses in the 1948 election.

We may be heading back to the future in 2012.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head,

Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader,

Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)

Richard Schwab Writes

Recalcitrant Congress feigns phony session

On January 4, 2012, President Obama defied Republicans by appointing, former Ohio Attorney General, Richard Cordray as the first ever consumer advocate and watchdog for the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.) In addition, the President named three appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB.)

All four were recess appointments.

Why did Congress fail to approve any of these nominations? The simple answer is they don't want the CFPB or the NLRB to function.

The Republicans didn't like the legislation that passed into law the CFPB and the NLRB, so why would they approve individuals appointed to head these agencies?

Citibank and the Chamber of Commerce, etc. have had lobbyists at work reminding Republicans who finances their campaigns.

So taking their marching orders, the Republicans have chosen to obstruct.

The CFPB and NLRB are agencies created by law. The President is the chief executive charged by the Constitution with carrying out the laws of the land.

In an attempt to prevent the President from his Constitutional right to appoint people during a recess, Congress goes into a make-believe, pro forma session. All are out of town, everyone agrees for weeks on end, no work is going to get done. And, they are just going to have somebody gavel to order and then gavel closed a couple of minutes later. What a sham.

Presidents since George Washington have made recess appointments. President Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments, and President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments.

Recess appointments are authorized by Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.

On January 6, 2012, the Justice Department backed President Obama's recess appointments. Their opinion was that in the context of the convening of periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is to be conducted, "the President has discretion to conclude that the Senate is unavailable to perform its advise-and-consent function and to exercise his power to make recess appointments."

The President has come to the conclusion that he's not going to get anything out of this Congress.

Republicans pretend to want to help out and work in a bi partisan way. But, they really don't want to. Its just another masquerade.

Richard O. Schwab was formerly associate head of school, and middle school head, Cincinnati Country Day School. He is currently neighborhood team leader, Glendale Organizing For America Community Team (www.gofact.blogspot.com)