It’s neither a good nor a bad thing, in itself, if bills aren’t being passed left and right in Congress.
If you’re pro-limited government, you probably like the sound of fewer bills. If you’re a fan of increased federal involvement, you probably feel the exact opposite.
But the number of bills that fail or pass is a poor measure of whether lawmakers are doing their job well. What matters is that good laws are written and that bad laws are rejected.
It’s the quality, not the quantity, of legislation that matters.
What’s curious is that there is a persistent belief in newsrooms to portray it as a failure of government and leadership if lawmakers aren’t passing bills constantly. That a certain law didn’t make it past the finish line is almost always portrayed as a failure, rather than a success, of Congress, regardless of what the bill’s contents are.
Take, for example, Politico’s coverage this week of Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s, R-Va., management of the House Judiciary Committee.
As the committee’s chair, the Virginia lawmaker has some sway in what bills make it forward, and what bills languish in perpetuity.
The way Politico tells it, his committee is the “place bills go to die.’”
“Goodlatte has long posed a large hurdle even for House Republican leaders who should, in theory, be able to pull rank on him. They’ve spent more than five years trying to cajole the 65-year-old Virginia Republican to take up consequential legislation. Instead, Goodlatte has moved slowly or not at all, his GOP colleagues say, often stalling until lawmakers move on,” the report claims.
Politico adds, “At times, his tactics have created tension and ill will with leadership and Republican members of his own committee. In the process, they say, Goodlatte has squandered the power of the Judiciary Committee, which has among the most expansive jurisdictions of any committee in Congress.”
The story includes juicy quotes from GOPers who are frustrated that, er, Goodlatte doesn’t take up every single bill and and hearing suggestion that comes his way. There’s also a part in this report where former congressman Jason Chaffetz criticizes Goodlatte for not pushing through his online sales tax bill.
“He was trying to avoid it, and he was trying to be nice and polite about it, but it was frustrating,” Chaffetz told Politico. “It is a difficult, thorny and complicated issue. But Congress is supposed to deal with those things.”
Here’s a little secret, though: Chaffetz’s bill was a bad bill. Maybe that had something to do with it.
“I can personally attest to the chairman and his staff having spent countless hours working on internet sales tax issues,” the National Taxpayers Union’s Andrew Moylan said in response to the Politico article. “Not passing Chaffetz’s dumb bill is not a negation of that work.”
Phil Kerpen, who heads conservative activist group American Commitment, responded in a similar manner, tweeting, “Bob Goodlatte has been a great chairman. Stopping bad bills is one of the most important parts of the job.”
Indeed. It’s not the quantity. It’s the quality. And Chaffetz’s online sales tax bill was decidedly low-quality.
