Anyone that watches politics in this country (and probably all other countries for that matter) can’t help but notice that certain catch phrases are used a lot.
This morning while watching the Sunday political talk shows, I began to wonder which of the political clichés I was hearing on Chris Matthews and Meet the Press, was actually the most used.
I started googling things like “appealing to their base” (-6,010 hits), “facing a challenge from the right” (-4,080), “pass a litmus test” (-8,160)…
Disappointed at how low these numbers were, I decided to try more general political phrases, the only rule being that they had to have at least four words.
I began to hit pay dirt with things like “has abused his office” (-120,000), and “for illegal campaign contributions” (-201,000), but the real pay off in terms of search results came when I began to try platitudes: “No more politics as usual” had 360,000 hits and “if elected I will…” got 20,000 more than that.
I thought I’d done more or less as well as I could when I got an idea based this weeks blog on Anthony Weiner to try “I have introduced legislation.” Sure enough- the mother load… the exact phrase got 1.2 million results.
“I have introduced legislation” is the among the most common phrases in politics because that’s what legislators do to reach out to helpful constituencies in their district: they introduce legislation that will never have a chance of becoming law, but will allow them to claim they are making an effort on behalf of the important constituencies.
Anthony Weiner has introduced 177 bills during 6 terms in the House, bills with names like… “H.R. 2978: To prohibit United States assistance for the Palestinian Authority and for programs, projects, and activities in the West Bank and Gaza, unless certain conditions are met Act of 2007.”
Of the bills he has introduced, exactly one has been signed into law: “The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT) of 2009.”
The truth is that sponsoring even one bill that actually becomes law places Weiner in an elite club.
Of the 290 bills sponsored by New York City’s Congressional delegation during the current Congress, 14 have become Law. Of those 14 laws, ten were passed by Charles Rangel, who as former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee was among the most powerful members of the House. Even so eight of those ten bills were federal operational spending bills with few associated bragging rights.
The three other NYC house members who got bills passed are as follows:
Nydia Velasquez sponsored nine bills and got one passed that “Extends through July 31, 2009 the Small Business Act or the Small Business Investment Act of 1958”
Joseph Crowley, sponsored 19 bills and got one arcane corporate tax bill through that “increases the estimated tax payments of certain corporations in the third quarter of 2014 by .25%, and reduces the fourth quarter installment to reflect such increase and renews the President’s authority to ban the import of Burmese products.”
Jose Serrano, who sposored 23 bills, managed to pass one that “Makes available up to $40 million of funds appropriated for the business loan program of the Small Business Administration”
That’s why the phrase “I have passed legislation…” is a comparatively rare political saying.