At Recess, a Little One-Sided Dodgeball

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McCain Calls on Congress to Return

John McCain called on Congress Monday to return from their August recess to vote on a new energy package. McCain said he would leave the campaign trial to return to Washington, and challenged Barack Obama to do the same.

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"It's time for Congress to go to work!" demanded Rep. Price -- the same Tom Price who, when Congress was busily working this spring, offered one of the many motions to adjourn.

The Republican beef: that Congress left town without authorizing offshore oil drilling. Problem is, while Congress did nothing about fuel prices, the average price of a gallon of gas fell 23 cents over the past month -- evidence, critics might say, that Congress should do nothing more often.

There were only 23 tourists in the gallery, along with a cop talking about his jogging routine, when Republicans began their session yesterday with a news conference underneath the watchful eye of the statue of Rogers.

"Call the House of Representatives back in session," Price demanded.

"Bring this Congress back to Washington," seconded Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).

"Congress needs to come back in," echoed Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). For emphasis, Blackburn carried a red plastic gas can. To burn down the Capitol? "Empty," she assured.

The rump legislators lacked the services of the House chaplain, so Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) delivered the opening prayer, which competed with the sound of a police radio. Then they pledged allegiance to the dimly lighted flag over the empty speaker's chair. "We hope this will be an enlightening activity and also a rally . . . for an up-or-down vote," Price announced.

The result was more rally than enlightenment. Pence, taking his turn at the lectern, adjusted the non-functioning microphone out of habit. "This is the people's house, and the people's voice will still be heard this day." Some people's voices more than others: Within an hour, Pence had already returned to give a second speech.

With no clerk to keep time or opposition to object, the rump lawmakers were generous in assigning themselves floor time. Before a long speech, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) told the crowd that Republicans had accepted Pelosi's flippant recommendation that they "use their imagination" to get a vote on oil drilling. "We're using our imagination," he said.

Some imaginations got carried away. Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) compared himself and his colleagues to Sir Thomas More and John Quincy Adams. "The very foundation of our government is at stake," he said.

Other imaginations turned inward. Barrett, the stand-in House chaplain, apologized for all the times he refused to come to the House floor to make a speech. "I'm sorry, because all of a sudden when I want to show up, somebody says 'you can't.' "

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), a gynecologist by training, paced the floor in his seersucker suit and urged the tourists in the gallery to "come down here and get a little closer and get a feel for what it's like." Among those who accepted the invitation were a boy asleep on his mother's shoulder and a girl bouncing in her seat and playing with her headband. In the front row, Blackburn turned to the tourist next to her and gave a cheerful "Where ya from?"

The tourists, in turn, became participants. When Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) spoke, somebody in the gallery hollered "Louder!" When John Kline (R-Minn.) tried to convince the tourists that they were "part of an historic moment on an historic day at a historic time," a skeptic in the gallery called out, "Sure."

Clearly, the tourists required a higher grade of entertainment, and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) provided it. He brought a giant photograph of a grinning Nancy Pelosi onto the floor -- a crucial prop for what King called "this historic debate."

That might be a stretch. But Will Rogers would have liked it.