AUGUSTA, Maine — Congress recessed a week earlier than planned for the election campaign break, but members of Maine’s congressional delegation say they should still be in Washington dealing with hundreds of unresolved issues.
“We should still be in session, no question,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the longest serving member of the delegation. “We have not passed a single appropriations bill, not a single one. There is no wonder why the Congress is held in such low esteem.”
Congress passed a continuing resolution that funds the federal government through the end of November. The new federal budget year started Oct. 1 and Congress does not return until Nov. 15.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., serves on the Appropriations Committee and said the panel had been working on the various appropriations measures.
“We had disagreements on spending levels but we had legislation ready for the floor, but the Democratic leader never brought a single spending bill to the floor for consideration,” she said. “It is just inexcusable.”
Both senators voted against the adjournment order saying there are a lot of issues that could have been worked on if not resolved before the scheduled recess this week. But Maine’s two representatives split over whether to stay in session. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, voted for adjournment because she saw no reason to stay in session with House GOP members blocking votes on procedural matters.
“The cynical side of me says that the other side of the aisle feels like why should we do anything to improve the economy right now or help people get jobs because the worse things look, the better off we will be in the election,” she said. “And we have been facing this for the last few months, and part of me feels why continue to have debate that’s not going anywhere.”
Pingree said Congress should have stayed in session if anything could have been accomplished, but she doubts any substantive matter could have been passed in the “highly partisan” atmosphere in the House.
Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, agreed that the partisanship in the House was slowing the process, but he voted against adjournment. He said he told House leadership he would oppose adjournment without consideration of several key measures, but of the measures he wanted considered, only the currency manipulation bill was debated and passed.
“That was an important bill that we did pass, but the Senate adjourned and they have not yet considered that bill,” he said. The legislation would allow the U.S. to seek trade sanctions against China and other nations for manipulating their currency to gain trade advantages.
The House adjournment motion nearly failed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., cast the tie-breaking vote after 39 Democrats joined with Republicans in voting no on adjournment.
Michaud said the number of bills stacked up for consideration in the House goes well beyond the budget bills. For example, he said, the Veterans Administration has interpreted a law on paying nursing homes so that in some cases benefits are reduced.
“That was never the intention of Congress,” he said. “We need to fix that.”
Snowe said there is a number of huge tax questions left unresolved. At the end of the year the tax reductions passed under President George Bush expire and if Congress does not act, every taxpayer will see a significant increase in their federal income tax.
“I think they all should be extended for at least a year so we can look at comprehensive tax reform,” Snowe said.
President Barack Obama wants to continue the lower tax rates for those families making less than $250,000 a year but allow the increases to take effect for higher income taxpayers. Both House members support that move, but the two GOP senators oppose it.
“Now, in a recession, is not the time to raise any tax,” Collins said.
Also expiring is the adjournment to the Alternative Minimum Tax that has been subject to temporary “fixes” for several years. The tax was originally passed to make sure the very wealthy still paid federal income taxes. But if the AMT is not again adjusted, it reverts to levels where families making $30,000 a year could be subject to its provisions.
“We have fixed it once and paid for it, but the Senate did not agree with that legislation,” Pingree said. “It has to be fixed; I think everyone agrees on that.”
There are scores of other bills that should be acted on members say, from the Transportation Authorization bill to the Intelligence Authorization bill, the first since 2004. Snowe said authorization bills are crucial because they establish the laws that administer the funds made in the appropriations acts.
“We will have to deal with these issues, and they should not be done in a lame duck session,” she said.
Snowe said she has hopes with election pressure off, lawmakers can get work done. But she also said she expects the session will continue into Christmas week again.