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Lawmakers' Special Measures Can Be Especially Funny

Lawmakers passed resolutions for National Watermelon Month and Race Day, but rejected one honoring Brett Favre.

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By BILLY HOUSE

bhouse@tampatrib.com

Published: December 26, 2008

WASHINGTON - They've called for the creation of National Watermelon Month, marked the running of the Daytona 500 as Race Day in America, and recognized Everglades National Park's 60th birthday.

Squeezed between serious business such as the Wall Street bailout and funding wars, members of Congress from the Tampa Bay area and the rest of the nation have passed hundreds of ceremonial measures to ingratiate themselves with constituents, commemorating everything from zookeepers and sports teams to morticians and disease awareness.

Congress has considered more than 2,000 of these feel-good resolutions during the two-year session that wrapped up last month.

Such measures have allowed lawmakers to share in the glee of a local team winning a title - such as the Florida Gators' 2007 NCAA men's basketball championship.

The votes also enabled them to share in the sorrow in the death of celebrities, even some lesser-known ones such as Donald Jeffry Herbert, better known as TV's "Mr. Wizard."

"If people really want to understand why congressional incumbents are so difficult to beat," said Ross Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist and expert on Congress, "this is one of the reasons."

"This really serves as free advertising for the lawmaker," Baker said. "It makes people back home in their states and districts think the lawmaker is just a nice guy or nice gal for taking the time to say such nice things about them or their organization, or favorite team or cause."

Some Are Overly Eager

Remarks that lawmakers make on the House and Senate floors about their resolutions are printed in the Congressional Record.

At times, lawmakers can seem overly eager with these resolutions. In March, several Wisconsin lawmakers sponsored a resolution to honor quarterback Brett Favre when he announced his retirement from the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League.

But Favre decided instead to stick around and play for the New York Jets this year. The resolution did not pass.

Typically, the House and Senate approve such measures without debate.

Often they can seem outright odd, or obviously intended to appease a specific constituency.

But for the sponsoring senator or congressman, these resolutions are no joke.

Republican Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow was quick to defend his resolution, passed in April, "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that there should be established a National Watermelon Month."

"While I know the concept of National Watermelon Month may have some inherent humor to casual observers, there are a lot of watermelon growers who take their crop and business seriously, and a lot of consumers who enjoy watermelons and find eating watermelon emblematic of summer," said Putnam spokesman Keith Rupp.

Florida is one of the nation's top watermelon producers, along with California, Texas and Georgia. The National Watermelon Association is headquartered in Plant City.

Cost Is Hard To Estimate

The cost to taxpayers of preparing the ceremonial resolutions is hard to estimate, the Congressional Research Service said in a memo, "because it is so difficult to quantify staff time, utility costs, Capitol security costs, costs of printing floor discussions about the bill in the Congressional Record, and the costs of putting the individual piece of legislation on the Internet."

One CRS report estimated the cost of commemorative legislation as possibly $1 million a year in 1990.

In 1995, the House changed its rules to ban new commemorative proposals, but that ban has been widely ignored.

"Compared to the hundreds of billions of dollars in Wall Street bailout money, and the costs of two wars, these resolutions might not amount to any meaningful costs," said Josh Israel, an expert on money and politics with the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based good-government group.

Then again, they don't bring any real benefits to the country or its infrastructure, he said.

"There's certainly a small opportunity for abuse - particularly if you have resolutions that are building up or praising certain donors," Israel said. "But in the scheme of things, this is one of the smaller concerns in terms of integrity."

More than anything, said Israel, it's a way for lawmakers to appear to tend to the needs of their districts at a small cost and with little effort.

National Watermelon Month

• Resolution passed

Watermelon production constitutes an important sector of the agricultural industry of the United States and is celebrated in July.

Brett Favre Day

• Resolution Did not pass

In March, several Wisconsin lawmakers sponsored a resolution to honor quarterback Brett Favre when he announced his retirement from the Green Bay Packers and the National Football League.

But Favre decided instead to stick around and play for the New York Jets this year.

National Carriage Driving Month

• Resolution passed

Celebrate carriages and carriage driving during the month of May.

Race Day in America

• Resolution passed

Marked the running of the Daytona 500.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673.

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