Editorial: Our ‘do-nothing Congress’

Sunday, March 26, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

This past week USA Today ran a revealing story about the Republican-controlled House of Representatives' work ethic: Quite simply, there isn't one to be found.

The newspaper reported that the House is on a pace to be in session for the fewest number of days since 1948. That just happens to be the same year that President Harry Truman won re-election as he denounced a "do-nothing Congress."

In 1948 the House was in session for just 108 days. If the House doesn't stray from its current schedule, members of the House will be in Washington only 97 days this year. Last year the House was in session for 141 days.

Normally in election years the House isn't in session as much as in odd-numbered years because they set aside time for incumbents to campaign. "This is an election year and people want to see more of their constituents," House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, says.

But 97 days of work? Come on. It's not as if there aren't pressing issues confronting Congress. Iraq, deficit reduction, immigration, the energy crisis, stem-cell research and a Medicare prescription drug plan that has proved to be incomprehensible for many seniors are some of the issues that deserve more attention than they're getting from Congress. And those are just some of the bigger problems - there are plenty more that need tending to.

The Republican leaders apparently do not grasp that rolling up their sleeves and getting to work in the Capitol would pay bigger dividends than their members appearing at photo ops in their home districts.