110th Congress Hits Record Setting 1,000th Roll Call Vote
Wow, I guess you can’t call them a do nothing Congress.
The 110th Congress under Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been called lots of things: Historic, do-nothing, ethical, overbearing and much more, based on one’s political views. But now Pelosi can add one more moniker to the list: record-setting.
On a bill dealing with reorganizing Hawaiian governments yesterday, the House conducted its 1,000th roll-call vote this year, something never before achieved in a single year in the history of recorded House votes.
Democratic leaders and aides, many of whom initially confessed to not even being aware of the achievement, spun the matter as if it were akin to the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing the 10,000 barrier. They claimed the 1,000th vote as a sign that the chamber is busy passing the agenda they vowed to pass a year ago when they won the majority for the first time in a dozen years.
Source: 110th Congress Eclipses Voting Pace – washingtonpost.com
October 25th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
As someone who believes that “the government that governs the least, governs the best”, I don’t see 1,000 roll call votes as a good thing.
(I’d always heard this quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but someone told me that was wrong. Not sure of the real source)
October 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
But how many of those votes were just things like renaming post offices? I look at it this way: at least we know they aren’t getting paid to do nothing.
October 26th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
We might be better off if they did nothing….
I say this half-tounge in cheek. You’re right, a lot of these “votes” were to rename post-offices, declare it national do-what-you-want-to-do day and the like.
But everytime I hear a politician talking about all the things he’s going to do, I cringe. At some point in time, I wish they wouldn’t…