64 Members? That’s Just Crazy.

I’m noting this story not because of the substance of the story. That’s the boring part, but I’ll clue you in so you don’t have to read it.

Lots of politicians are against the Dubai Ports World Deal. Very few of them know what the hell they’re talking about. Some, like Rep. Harold Ford, are running for higher office and are more than willing to flat-out lie about the deal to play on our fears.

So that’s that. This is the part of the article that really caught my attention.

Lawmakers took their first formal steps yesterday toward killing Dubai Ports World’s acquisition of management operations at six major U.S. ports when the House Appropriations Committee added a measure to a must-pass war-funding bill that would block the deal. The vote was 62 to 2, with only Reps. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) opposing it. A full House vote on the bill is expected to pass overwhelmingly next week. [Emphasis Added]

I bet that those of you who work in the corporate world are already thinking the same thing I thought: How in the name of all that’s holy does a Committee with 64 members get anything done?

That is an outrageous number and if you want a firm clue that Congress is very badly broken, there it is. The Committee that spends your money and mine (you know, that money you’re breaking your back to earn right now?) has 64 members…more members than the roster of an NFL football team.

That committee has more members than my state has State Senators and a little more than half of the delegates it takes to run my state.

And that’s just one of 22 Committees run our of the House, which doesn’t include one Permanent Committee and four joint Committees.

Doesn’t that seem beyond ridiculous to you? Does it make more sense to you how our money can be so blatantly wasted? How many billions of dollars are just thrown away every year in “compromises” and outright budgetary bribes simply to get half plus one of those 64 people moving mostly in the same direction?

I suspect that if you wanted to cut waste, you could start by cutting the House Appropriations Committee by about 87 percent. I’d say that 8 members should suffice, and I’d be willing to make that a major issue in my voting consideration if an enterprising candidate wanted to take up that banner.

Why eight? Well, how big a budget do you think we’d have if only 8 people worked on it? I doubt seriously they’d have the time to print a thousand-page budget, especially when they have to get the budget done on a pretty sharp deadline. I don’t think they’d be able to pass nearly as much pork. They wouldn’t have the time or personnel to run the seven or eight subcommittees that they do now.

That’s a good thing for all of us. You want to bust pork? Trim the Appropriations Committee today.