“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”

The title of this blog post is a quote from Will Rodgers, the famous American humorist, that was referenced in a recent article in the Washington Post.  The article, written by Dana Milbank and published in the Post on 8/5/08, described some apparently silly hijinks that took place on the floor of the U.S. House a couple of weeks ago.

First, some background.  In July, the Democratic leadership refused to schedule a roll call vote on a Republican proposal to allow offshore drilling for oil.  In response, after the House adjourned for the annual August recess, eighteen Republicans entered the darkened House chamber one day and tried to conduct their own “informal” session.  These members really “put the rump into rump session,” Milbanks quipped.  I guess their aim was to dramatize the majority Democrats’ inaction on their oil-drilling proposal.  At one point, Milbank reported, the Republicans even invited around 23 tourists who happened to be sitting in the gallery to join them on the floor.  “Bring this Congress back to Washington,” one of the GOP members demanded.  As a prop, they brought to the chamber a large portrait of a smiling Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  The real Nancy Pelosi was probably in California laughing at them.

Milbank’s article makes these members – and by association the entire U.S. Congress – appear completely ridiculous.  A closer look at the underlying politics of the energy bill and recent procedural developments in the House, however, paints a somewhat different picture.  The momentum for offshore drilling derives in part from the high price of gas during summer 2008.  Consumers are really hurting.  But as my colleagues in the W&M economics department regularly teach their introductory students, these prices are largely the result of an increased worldwide demand for oil.  Moreover, if we care about global warming and climate change, people need to use less gasoline and perhaps the best way to convince people to conserve is via the price mechanism.

Introductory political science can also help us understand why the Republicans felt the need to “put the rump back in rump session.”  The somewhat wacky tactics that they used are actually a byproduct of important changes in House procedures over the past three decades.  Beginning in the early 1980s, it became standard practice for the majority leadership in the chamber to sharply restrict the number of amendments that can be offered to legislation on the floor.  These restrictive rules are a primary way by which the majority party advances its agenda through the chamber, but one consequence is a lot of frustration on the minority side of the partisan aisle, which in turn can lead to histrionics and silliness like the escapades that Milbanks described in the Washington Post.

Still, a basic understanding of microeconomics and the procedural history of the House can help us understand the Republicans’ recent ploy in the empty, darkened chamber.  At W&M, one goal of our courses in the social sciences is to enable students to look beyond the often-facile coverage of public affairs that appears in even the best media outlets.  It is always tempting and often easy to laugh at politicians, but with all due respect for Will Rogers, the stakes associated with their work often are very high.