Do-Nothing Congress

A sure danger sign in a democracy is the inability of its legislature to legislate. This has been a problem in the U.S. for years, with the nation wearily viewing the discouraging spectacle of two Houses of 500 willful politicians bartering to arrive at laws that are supposed to be best for the country. It seems to take a national emergency to goad Congress into sustained action; the last legislatures to produce anything like a spate of successful laws were the first New Deal Congress (1933) and the post-J.F.K. (1964-65) Congress.

Thus far the functioning of the 92nd Congress seems even more lugubrious than most. The second session, now five months old, has managed to pass only two important pieces of domestic legislation: the Federal Election Campaign Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. The highly controversial revenue-sharing bill is caught in a legislative logjam on the House floor. In the Senate, debate on antiwar legislation seems destined to drag on long after the last American soldier leaves Viet Nam.

While Congress fiddles, badly needed measures are blocked: welfare reform, national health insurance, omnibus housing and community-development programs, no-fault insurance, railroad strike procedures and gun control. The national conventions loom, and so does the political fact that all House members and one-third of the Senators must stand for re-election in November. It is thus questionable that any of these bills will be resolved, a situation sure to renew calls for further Congressional reform.

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