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New department, but same old ways
© St. Petersburg Times WASHINGTON -- Ever since President Bush announced his proposal more than a week ago for a Homeland Security Department, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been playing a clever little cat-and-mouse game with it. Almost immediately, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., challenged the Republican House leadership to pass the reorganization bill before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In truth, Gephardt did not expect Republicans to meet that goal. He figured the challenge would be a good way to show the weakness of the GOP. Privately, Republican strategists thought it was one of the most clever political moves Gephardt has ever made. The point that Gephardt was trying to make was: Neither the House nor the Senate are organized in a way to expedite the legislation because an estimated 88 committees and subcommittees have jurisdiction over elements of the proposal. The proliferation of congressional committees with a piece of the action on this subject is yet another example of how time seems to be passing Congress by -- a subject I have raised before in this column. Sadly, Congress is an 18th century institution struggling with a 21st century burden. So while the American public is depending on our government to protect the nation against terrorism, congressional committee and subcommittee leaders are, instead, bickering over their parochial jurisdictional issues. But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., did not allow Gephardt to win this little game. Instead, he announced last week that he was creating a special select committee headed by Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, to expedite the president's homeland security proposal. He predicted Armey's committee would help them get the new department written into law by Sept. 11. The select committee will not solve the fundamental problem, however. Hastert will let other committees with jurisdiction review the legislation and make recommendations before Armey's panel convenes. Their recommendations are certain to conflict. Furthermore, because the Senate has not created a select committee, it will be following the old, complex and time-consuming procedures. Unless both the House and Senate decide to permanently reform their committee systems to meet the demands of a global terrorist threat, we are likely to see Congress humiliate itself over the next few months as it grapples with Bush's reform proposal. And even if the reorganization is enacted into law by Sept. 11, the old, cumbersome committee system will be doing the early oversight of the new department. Potentially, that means that Tom Ridge or whomever the president nominates to lead the new Homeland Security Department could spend more time testifying before congressional committees than running the program to combat terrorism. Members of Congress from both parties have praised Bush for his leadership in proposing the creation of a new department. Why, then, are they so reluctant to show a similar amount of leadership themselves? The time is ripe for Congress to transform itself into a more efficient body capable of handling 21st century problems. There are many reforms that ought to be adopted along with streamlining the committee system. Not since 1947 has the congressional committee system been dramatically revamped. And it goes without saying that the world has changed quite a bit since then. Both parties claim to be in favor of government modernization. In 1994, when Republicans took control of the House for the first time in four decades, they promised they were going to dramatically reform the committee system. Instead, they tinkered around the edges and changed a few committee names. The Democrats, meanwhile, have long given lip service to the idea of reinventing government. But their efforts to date have been pretty pitiful. Committee leaders have power and perks they believe they have earned. And they apparently cannot find a way to give that up, even if it means that the United States' preparedness for a terrorist attack might be jeopardized. They should heed the words of Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla.: "I don't think we can continue to operate under the business-as-usual format."
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