My favorite Christmas movie of all time, including Die Hard 1 and 2, is still White Christmas. I’ll admit it, I’m a sap. The classic checks every major box for me during the holidays. In fact I struggle to really reach peak Christmas spirit until I’ve had a chance to watch it every year.
There are scenes that everyone recognizes: Bing and Danny Kaye performing “Sisters”; the General coming down the stairs in his uniform to the adoration of his granddaughter (that’s the scene that hits me every year); and the finale performance of the titular song complete with Santa garb and a real slam bang finish (I hope you got that reference).
But often times, people skip right past Danny Kaye’s performance of “Choreography” in which the writers bemoan the devolution of the performing arts in the beatnik era. A bit tongue in cheek, but I like it nonetheless.
When I woke up this morning, I was immediately reminded of Kaye’s opening line in the piece: “The theater, the theater, what’s happened to the theater?”
Kaye was singing about the performing arts. Today, I’m bemoaning the devolution of the political performing arts.
You probably woke up this morning to the news of a late night vote by the US Congress to approved roughly 2.3 TRILLION dollars in spending – a deal that provided $900 billion in stimulus program funding as well as $1.4 trillion in an omnibus spending package. The amounts are staggering, and so was the 5,000+ page bill to appropriate all those funds.
This morning, social media is rampant with complaints from across the political spectrum, to the point where the far right and far left BOTH are seemingly sharing talking points. All factions seem to be crying foul that they faced a massive spending bill at the last minute with mere hours to consume the final agreement. But if you ask me, this particular brand of political theater has just grown stale.
Congress is committee driven. Committees of both houses have spent months digesting different aspects of these two separate proposals. Committee and member staffs have been able to condense the material into one or two-page briefing memos by section, bringing the material into neat talking points for all. Conveniently, those briefing memos were already in hand when the bill was introduced yesterday. And they were able to do so because an omnibus bill like this is standard procedure.
Aside from the sticker shock, this omnibus bill is really just business as usual; providing funding for federal projects through to next September in a staggering victory for those of us who actually like seeing budgets passed.
Omnibus deals like this one contain countless separate measures that congressional committees and their staff have been considering throughout the year. Yes, there are probably portions of the bill I won’t like and that many advocates will have to work to repeal or overturn. But, on the whole, Congress functioned just about how we can expect a massive deliberative body to function when faced with a federal budget dealing in a nearly unfathomable amount of national pecuniary resources.
And this morning, we are left with the attempts of individual members to capture attention by decrying the final package as being written behind closed doors. Well, frankly, we’re not buying the frustration.
It’s been nearly 50 years since Congress started divesting its power through actions like the Administrative Procedures Act of 1974 that granted much broader authority to federal agencies. When the Congress of yesteryear accepted that premise, it began its long slide toward establishing a new culture. Being “hands-off” on today’s spending measures is just the next order of consequence. We’re also not buying it because the measure passed overwhelmingly (92-6 in the Senate, and 359-53 in the House).
The omnibus bill, and how it came to be, is not the problem. The size and scope of federal activities is.. Until we’re ready to tackle that preeminent issue, we’ll simply have to sit back and enjoy the theater – predictable and less entertaining as it may be.
Part of the Possible 