Is Congress Serious?
LOL nope.
Of course not.
But let’s take a quick look at one key issue - a deeply emotional one! - where I still think most of Congress is just not serious at all. I’m talking about immigration.
You would think Republicans were serious about the issue, given how much Donald Trump talked about building a wall along the border with Mexico. And now many within the GOP have taken up the issue at the border, claiming that the Biden administration’s lax immigration policies have precipitated a border crisis.
But the border is a symptom, not a cause.
As Linda Chavez noted yesterday in a column for the Bulwark, our immigration system is broken. Until it is repaired, we’re going to keep seeing these problems at the border. And who can fix these problems? That would be Congress, of course.
But I’m not sure Congress is interested in fixing the problem. See, that requires working with the other side. It requires trade-offs. It requires compromising. It means accepting that you won’t get everything you want - you might have to give up 25% in order to get 60%. It also means you have to spend actual legislating, and not going on cable news or posting silly videos from your office on the Hill.
But Alabama’s newest Congressmen - Representatives Jerry Carl and Barry Moore and Senator Tommy Tuberville - would rather do the latter. And since we’re no longer a serious people who have given up on electing serious people, this is what we get.
Most of what is politically wrong in this country can be corrected at the Congressional level. We just need to find Senators and Representatives willing to do the hard work.
That’s all for today - let’s look for a flurry of links tomorrow. Enjoy this glorious day of basketball as March Madness is now truly underway.