No Laurels for the 103rd Congress : Political obstructionism was the banner raised over the session, and voters don’t like that

American voters are anxious about their futures and angry at politicians. Among the deserving targets are those congressional obstructionists who were concerned less about the merits of legislation than the opportunity to score political points. Thus the increasingly acrimonious 103rd Congress adjourned last week after deciding on less than a mountain of important business.

Included on the political casualty list were some worthwhile bills that could have reduced welfare dependency, increased international trade, cleaned up toxic waste dumps, protected drinking water, updated ridiculously low mining fees set in 1872 and raised grazing fees on public land.

At the same time it must be emphatically said that inaction is not always bad. Some bills, such as the 1,400-page-plus health reform legislation, require delay for more reflection; a sweeping bill that proposed major changes to one-seventh of the economy clearly needed more careful consideration than it was getting.

In the Senate, the Republican minority led an unprecedented number of filibusters, stalling and finally killing bills in a display of pre-election political hardball. A once rare exception to senatorial courtesy became offensively routine.

Cloture, the motion to limit the hot air to no more than 30 additional hours, requires 60 votes. That was difficult to achieve among 100 senators, even though 56 of them were Democrats. Mindful of the cloture rule, Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell followed through on his assurances to keep the Senate in session into the weekend to bring about a final vote of approval on the California desert protection bill. Mitchell’s perseverance permitted Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s two years of tenacious advocacy to end in an eleventh-hour victory.

Republicans weren’t the only obstructionists. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) stood in the way of a vote on GATT, the international trade agreement, in order to protect South Carolina’s textile trade. His stubbornness will force a rare lame-duck session after the November elections.

Sometimes House Democratic leaders, too, abused their clout. They sat on the important crime bill conference report until less than two hours before a vote. That absurd procrastination allowed little time for examination of nearly 500 pages of legislation. What a difference a year makes in Washington. Last year, President Clinton and Congress managed to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement, an ambitious deficit-reduction package, a family medical leave act and an increase in the earned income tax credit to alleviate poverty. This year, partisan bickering seemed to take precedence. No wonder more and more ordinary Americans are so cynical.