STACKING VICTORIES LIKE CORDWOOD :

After Many Lean Years, Americans Get a 'Do-Something' Congress (Ross K. Baker, August 5 2002, LA Times)

Everyone's heard of the "do-nothing" Congress. Well, call this the "do-something" Congress.

Before this current two-year session is over in January, the 107th Congress will be able to boast of the most impressive list of accomplishments of any Congress since the days of the Johnson administration in the 1960s.

Whether or not you agree with everything it has done, there is no way one could characterize this Congress as unresponsive or lazy.

It is true that the homeland security bill will be put over until after the August recess; this legislation represents the most extensive consolidation of federal government agencies since the 1948 reorganization that combined the departments of War and Navy and created an independent Air Force under the new Department of Defense. And it is true that there is still a major difference between the White House and the Senate's Democratic majority over the degree of Civil Service protection for the 170,000 employees in the proposed agency. But the differences have been so narrowed that ultimate passage should not be a problem.

Clearly, the bankruptcy reform bill too will pass. And the list of other major legislative actions also is impressive.

You may wish they'd done less but the record is inarguable and it does include the tax cut and Fast Track Trade Authority. Imagine if the GOP could win back the Senate? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 5, 2002 2:11 PM