Editorial: So long to the do-nothings

Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006 | 7:44 a.m.

The 109th Congress failed to fix Social Security. It failed to make progress on issues such as immigration, health care and lobbying reform. It was virtually absent as President Bush assumed more power and grossly mismanaged the Iraq war. But it did distinguish itself in one respect. It worked even fewer days than in 1948, when President Harry S Truman coined the phrase "Do-nothing Congress."

With the arrival of new leadership by the Democrats, however, the Tuesday-through-Thursday workweeks and the gobs of extra time off at national holidays are over for members of Congress.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid even put reporters on notice. The Las Vegas Sun's Washington reporter, Lisa Mascaro, said Reid told them, "You folks should get ready for longer days around here. And you should get ready for longer weeks."

And Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who will become House majority leader in January, had the same message. The Washington Post said he told reporters, "Those trips you had planned in January, forget them."

Democrats plan to end the neglect of important issues by working five-day weeks and shortening congressional recesses. Issues such as exercising proper checks and balances over presidential power, implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, raising the minimum wage, passing ethics reforms and lowering the cost of federally subsidized prescription drugs are among their top priorities.

We can't wait for January.