If you’re a parent, you’ve come to know the duplicitous nature of silence. At one and the same time, silence is a blessed reprieve and an ominous cloud on the horizon. But in those waking hours, silence leaves us asking “what could those little disaster factories be getting themselves into now?”
Except when we can account for them being safely snuggled in their beds at night, parents won’t find peace in silence. We’ll search frantically in those rare moments of daytime silence, equal parts fear for their safety and dread for what damage could be occurring to our home.
It seems to me that a lot of folks are having a similar reaction to the relative quiet coming from Washington, DC right now.
Democrats and Republicans alike find themselves playing the waiting game to see what policies the new administration, now well into its first 100 days, will prioritize. Trying to read the tea leaves of senior appointments and not-so-public negotiations on stimulus spending, lobbyists and government affairs types find themselves speculating on next moves. But worse, John Q. Public finds himself concerned at an apparent lack of activity right now.
I hear it in my daily calls. Everyone is asking roughly the same question: when will we see something happening on policy X? Unfortunately the answer is quite mixed.
For instance, many folks are wondering about implementation of spending set aside in December as part of the final Trump-era coronavirus relief bill. Some aspects of that relief bill have been paused for agency regulatory review. And because the average Joe or Jane doesn’t concern themselves with knowledge of administrative processes, it’s easy to assume the worst – that relief has been maliciously canceled. That’s simply not true. Neither would it be fair to say that bureaucrats have simply fallen asleep at the wheel.
Rather, we are simply in the second half of transition.
When we think about Presidential transitions, we almost exclusively focus on what happens before Inauguration Day. We seem to expect that Day 1 means activity can resume and that the gears of government will begin turning. Unfortunately we forget that those gears still move at the speed of government.
Traditionally, what we are seeing in DC right now is nothing new. The Biden administration is plugging its way through a backlog of proposed regulations. Coupled with the theatrics of the recent impeachment proceedings, that would be enough to grant us an uneasy silence. But we are also experiencing a significant congressional transition, and the rise of new committee chairs and caucus leadership.
You see, it’s not that our “kids” are necessarily on the verge of a dangerous stunt. They may not be finding their way to mischief. Right now, they’re more likely to be over stimulated, stressed from a frenetic pace and lack of routine.
But don’t fret! We’re starting to see those early signs of life and movement again. Regulatory proposals are starting to come forward. By the end of this month they’ll be getting back into stride. As advocates, we’ll be in the thick of appropriations season in just a moment’s notice. Before you know it we’ll be back to the bombast and back room dealing we embrace as a source of national entertainment and angst.
For what it’s worth, I recommend taking a moment to enjoy the relative calm. Call me an idealist, but maybe, for just a couple more days we can try to find a bit of peace in this ominous silence. Let’s hold onto it for a bit longer please.
Part of the Possible 