I spent most of yesterday on the road, driving a rented U Haul the 500 plus miles from Cincinnati to Washington. Today, a little after noon, I’ll join the other 434 people from all over the United States who were elected last November to the U.S. House of Representatives, and be sworn in. We’ll all swear to, among other things, uphold the Constitution, and I hope we’ll all be taking that part of the oath seriously. Because, I would argue that Congress, in many instances, has gone far beyond what our Founders had in mind, when it comes to passing legislation and growing government. Passage of the so-called health care reform bill is probably the most egregious example; and states across the land are challenging the constitutional validity of that legislation.
Speaker John Boehner has decided that tomorrow Congress will actually read the entire Constitution on the floor of the House. The purpose is to remind Congress, no, insist that this Congress actually govern within the bounds of that sacred document. Having been the Chairman of the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution for six years, I think it’s a great idea.
I also hope and pray that this Congress will give more than lip service to finally getting the out-of-control spending in Washington under control. Neither party has a particularly stellar record on this, but the last Congress was so bad that it added more debt than the first 100 Congresses altogether. It’s got to stop.
And finally, as I’ve said many times, it’s critical that Congress focus like a laser beam on getting the economy moving again, and getting people back to work.
I’ll let you know in next week’s blog how the first week of the new Congress went.
