Mixed Feelings From the House

I never thought I'd say this, but reading the daily proceedings from the House floor has actually made me more optimistic about government (though I wasn't very optimistic in the first place).

Consider their activities on the first of February, 2006. The House debated for forty minutes on H. Res. 648. An intense debate it must have been because HR 648 "eliminate floor privileges and access to Member exercise facilities for registered lobbyists who are former Members or officers of the House." (They passed it, by the way.)

At the same time, I get more concerned. They spent the same amount of time debating H.R.4659, which extends the Patriot Act (it also passed by the way and was signed by the President four days ago).

And then I get confused. For example, at 5:07 the "House agreed to Senate amendment to House amendment pursuant to H. Res. 653." which relates "to consideration of the bill (S. 1932) to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202(a) of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2006 (H. Con. Res. 95)."

But the most damning thing of all is they took a week off, due to reconvene today at 2 PM. God only knows what they did in the meantime.