Congress has multiple responsibilities but they call fall
under two categories: law making and representation, these are the two
Congress. These two elements of
Congress are ultimately compatible but it is a balancing act to keep them
equal; many times they are now. Congress was created to be the legislative body,
but its members cannot do that without representing their constituents.
Ideally, representation should translate into legislation. People vote a member
into Congress to enact laws they want created. But it is hard to represent the
interest of all the people in your constituency. While law making may be the
primary function of Congress as an institution, it is not the first goal of its
members. Arguably, getting elected and staying in office is the ultimate goal
of each member and because of that, representation gets more attention than the
legislative function of Congress.
As
part of this blog each of us had to follow the activities of one member of
Congress. I have been following Representative John Dingell of Michigan and he
is a bit of an interesting case. Dingell is the longest serving congressman and
has never lost in his district in 57 years. Part of what made him interesting
to follow is that he doesn’t need to worry about being reelected and because of
that I am not always sure what Dingell’s goals are.
Dingell
is someone who doesn’t hesitate to voice his opinion and that has gotten him
attention. During my time following Representative Dingell he never sponsored
new legislation but there was no end of commentary on the wrongdoings in
Congress. In early September the House voted to repeal Obamacare making this
the 41st attempt to do so. Dingell made a speech on the floor
calling this vote a waste of time. When Dingell gives his opinion he does not
do it in a gentleman-like-way. He uses a blunt, sarcastic style to get his
point across. “Here
we go again, time in the House is being wasted…and the Republicans have more
nonsense to put on the floor.”[1]
Because of his senior status, Dingell likes to act as a father scolding his
children when things in the House are not going has he likes it. On the second
day of the shutdown Dingell made a three-minute speech on the floor expressing
his anger over the shutdown. “I’ve only been here 57 years and I’ve never have. I’ve never
seen such small minded, miserable behavior in the House of Representatives.”[2] I felt
like a lot of this scolding was not contributing to Dingell’s law making
duties. You can argue that his speeches were part of the debating process that
happens on the House floor, but his speeches were scolding and snarky. He
always pointed out what the other representatives, especially the Republicans
were doing wrong but not making any suggestions to fix the problem.
So
was Dingell doing this for publicity? Was he doing it for his constituents? Because
of C-SPAN, when many congressmen make a speech they are talking to their
constituents, not the other members of Congress. But Dingell is the super
incumbent, does he really need to do that? Making speeches on the House floor
is not the only activities of Dingell’s that I blogged about. Twice I mentioned
what he was doing to try and get natural gas pipeline safety regulations up to
date. The Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 was passed but the Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration have not enforced the safety regulations.
Dingell played whistleblower and wrote a letter to the Administration in
October pointing out their failure to enforce the regulations in a timely
manner. I suppose you can say that falls under the legislative function of the
two Congresses. It was important to Dingell that the bill not only get enacted
but enforced.
Dingell’s
activities that could fall under both sides of Congress. Dingell is a congressman
in a very privilege position because his seat cannot get more secure than it
already is. He is representative that is not afraid to voice his opinion and
his position gives him the liberty to do so. When researching him, he
continually takes interest in the same issues, healthcare and the environment.
But did he advance either of those issues during the time I was blogging about
them? Through blogging about him there is evidence that he legislate and
represent, but I don’t know how effectively he is at it. It brings the larger
question of how any member of Congress can juggle the demands of both
Congresses. Representation and legislation are compatible because they are part
of the job of a congressman. A member of Congress cannot do one or the other,
so it is a constant balancing act, but one each member has to do.
Sources:
Dingell Compares GOP Bill to Lunch Meat. http://2congressesatwork.blogspot.com/2013/09/dingell-compares-gop-bill-to-lunch-meat_15.html.
Dingell is Scolding Again. http://2congressesatwork.blogspot.com/2013/10/dingell-is-scolding-again.html.
Dingell and the Pipelines. http://2congressesatwork.blogspot.com/2013/11/dingell-and-pipelines.html.
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