The attendance at the hearing by Members was amusing. I'm not sure which of the Member present were actually on the subcommittee and which were just there, but at one point during the opening statements, there were 12 Members present. As far as I could tell, there was one Republican, who was also the Ranking Member of the Committee and the only white guy at the hearing. I guess Republicans and white people are generally uninterested in counting minorities. The other Members all belonged to one of the groups that form the Tri-Caucus, which represents minorities, particularly African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans.
The hearing began with Members being recognized by the Chairman, Congressman William Lacy Clay, for opening statements. This was, perhaps, the biggest waste of time ever. The statements were supposed to be limited to five minutes each for the Chair and Ranking Member and three minutes each for any other Member wishing to make a statement, but these limits were not enforced. After the Chairman gave his statement, no one else said anything new, and yet every Member present gave an opening statement. This took about 45 minutes. The committee then recessed, because Members had to vote on the House floor. That took an hour. So for the first 105 minutes I spent at this hearing, nothing happened. When the committee returned, there were only five Members present, one of whom had not been around before and proceeded to give an opening statement.
After the hearing had been sufficiently opened, they finally got to the first two witnesses, each of whom had five minute to summarize his testimony, which had already been printed and distributed, for the record. Each member then received five minutes to question the witnesses. Again, this limit was not enforced. By the time they had finished with the first two witnesses, it was five o'clock. I had come to the hearing at two o'clock, so I left along with several other people while the new witnesses took their seats.
While the hearing was a bit drawn out, it was really interesting to see Members of Congress actually doing their jobs, especially when they finally got to questioning the witnesses. One of the witnesses was the Director of the Census Bureau, and the members of the subcommittee were not shy about telling him how to do his job. It also seemed funny to me that they felt the need to emphasize counting everyone to the man whose job is entirely about counting everyone. I'm pretty sure he gets it.
Before finishing out my day by attending this hearing, I responded to some letters. In particular, I responded to letters from people who were concerned enough about the harvesting of bears for their viscera to write letters to their Representative. (Speaking of bears, I walked past Rep. Don Young' office today, and he has a giant bear pelt hanging right inside the front door. Just thought I'd throw that out there.) I also responded to people concerned about the effects drilling for oil might have on polar bears. It was a very bear-y morning.
I also attended a briefing (and free lunch - third free meal this week) about the benefits of wellness and preventive healthcare. The gist of the briefing was that if all Americans ate right, exercise, didn't smoke, and had healthy responses to stress, we would save a ton of money on healthcare costs. Therefore, we should provide tax incentives for preventive care and developing good wellness habits. The impetus for the briefing was H.R. 853, the Wellness and Prevention Act of 2007, sponsored by Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-MI). Tax cuts seem to be the Republican prescription for everything. This time, though, it might not be a bad idea.
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