A Term of Disillusionment

Working with a thin Republican majority, just five votes, the 106th Congress has ended its first term without distinction and is not likely to improve on that record in the coming election year. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) declared that Congress “made great progress in preparing America for the next century.” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) had a different view, saying “somehow, we muddled through.” The public has sided with Specter, giving Congress a 53% disapproval rating.

The impeachment proceedings against President Clinton set a highly confrontational tone for the session from the outset. Partisan hostility led to a stalemate on practically every key measure. Not surprisingly, unfinished business dominates the congressional scorecard.

The legislature’s chief preoccupation before the summer months was a $792-billion tax cut, an exercise based on bad economics and poor political reckoning. The Republicans defied threats of a presidential veto in the hope that a tax cut would score big with the public. But when the veto came it failed to ignite the anticipated voter backlash. A smaller version of the tax cut, which the White House supports, may well succeed next year, when both parties will be seeking to please the electorate.

Though devising stratagems to balance the fiscal 2000 budget took up much of the fall, Congress did manage to squeeze in several notable failures. It could not agree on tougher gun controls despite the public outcry that followed the massacre at Columbine High at Littleton, Colo., putting off action until next year. The legislators also left unfinished bills to raise the minimum wage and improve patients’ rights under health maintenance organizations. Efforts to reform Social Security and Medicare, both critical issues that need immediate attention, succumbed to partisan bickering long before the session ended, as did legislation to reform campaign finances.

Ill-tempered partisanship also was largely responsible for the Senate’s rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and its refusal to confirm dozens of Clinton appointees to federal courts and senior government positions.

On the plus side, the Congress, after a decade of trying, finally passed legislation to overhaul the nation’s financial industry and remove restrictions dating back to the 1930s. The budget process also marked a reversal of the decades-long practice of raiding Social Security funds to bankroll general spending.

A Times poll published Monday clearly reflects the voters’ sense of frustration with Washington. In addition to the 53% who disapproved of Congress, 56% blamed the Republicans and Clinton for the legislative gridlock. If disillusionment drives voting next year, look for upheaval in Congress and plenty of split tickets.