Why Congress gets nothing done

Border security.

Social Security reform.

Budget deficits.

Those are just three of the more looming examples of things the Congress of the United States might be doing today if it had any interest in promoting the welfare of the country, and the people in it.

Instead, the Democrat-controlled Congress continues to be obsessed with micromanaging the Bush administration and looking for any and all opportunities to embarrass the president.

So much for campaign promises to change the climate of Washington! Maybe that is why the favorability ratings for Congress are even a few points further down than the dismal numbers of President Bush.

This week, we have been treated to committees and chairmen grandstanding on two issues of no great importance to the republic, but of paramount importance to anyone who is interested in further shredding the credibility of the president.

The first is President Bush's refusal to waive executive privilege in order to allow Congress to investigate why a handful of U.S. attorneys were fired by the Justice Department last year.

Politically, Democrats are welcome to complain about the firings all they want. They can argue that it was done for the wrong reasons, or that the president was ill-served by his attorney general. They probably should complain. That, after all, is their job as Democrats.

But their job as senators and members of the House is altogether more important. They should be looking for ways to improve our nation, not to get their faces on the nightly national news. Yet, self-aggrandizement is about the only rational explanation for why Congress is still harping on this matter after several months.

There is no reason to hold even one official hearing on the firings because even a first-year law student - heck even a first-year high school student - could rapidly ascertain by looking at the Constitution that the president has every right to fire U.S. attorneys.

There is also no reason why the president should not exercise his constitutional power to grant a pardon or to commute a sentence, as he did with the vice president's former aide Scooter Libby.

The Constitution is admirably and typically taciturn on this point: "[The president] shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

Nothing in there about "unless Congress doesn't approve" or "unless the Justice Department feels left out of the process." It's a moot point, and of absolutely no relevance to the Congress as a lawmaking body, only to Congress as a partisan political machine.

Unfortunately, when you look closely at Congress these days, it is hard to see much statesmanship but easy to see lots of partisanship.

We used to expect better from our elected representatives; maybe it is time we demand more.