A Splendid Saturday Summit
December 5, 2011
I don’t think there is a bigger reason or better symbol of Congress’s sub-basement level reputation these days than its continuing irresolution regarding the federal budget (pun intended). Delays, gimmicks, special favors, and changes at the margin where changes at the core are needed seem endemic to how Congress deals with one of its most important purposes.
Against this dismal backdrop, a Saturday morning wonkfest in the City View Room on the top floor of the Elliott School provided a glimmer of hope. The December 3 meeting came together thanks to the efforts of the GSPM Marketing Department, the Concord Coalition, and the United States Association of Former Members of Congress (USAFMC). For a couple of heady hours, a few dozen GSPM students and GWU political science majors (thank you, Susan Wiley) huddled at tables with veterans of the House Budget, Ways and Means, and Appropriations Committees to work through a set of fiscal choices constructed as an exercise by the Concord Coalition.
I visited seven tables during the simulation, and came away impressed by both the students’ level of knowledge and the FMCs’ talents for teaching. Granted, the sorts of individuals likely to show up on a Saturday morning to consider government funding and disbursement options will tend to be the ones with a facility, if not a passion, for that sort of thing. The pleasant surprise lay in the dynamics of the encounters: watching a sophomore pause --but not for long-- before breaking a tie on a trillion-dollar decision; listening to a Republican in his sixties dress down a bunch of 20-something “idealists” for inadequately recognizing the moral costs on a global scale incurred by sustaining U.S. farm subsidies; and, in my case, being schooled, amiably, on the downside of what I have long regarded as a great potential reform, namely, switching Congress to a biennial budget calendar. I believed, and still do, that a two-year cycle would buy Congress and the citizenry more time for program deliberation and oversight. But Bob Carr, who served in the House on behalf of Michigan constituents for nearly two decades, gently yet firmly told me that such a reform would mark yet another power concession from the legislative to the executive branch. Hadn’t thought about that.
I hope the GSPM does more of this, in political management and legislative affairs courses as well as special events. In a way, it is part of our mission to help Congress revive its reputation among citizens and close observers. Having those who have been there and done that interact with those who are on their way to being there and doing that seems like an activity worth repeating.
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