BoxOffice® Pro - January 2014

EXECUTIVE
SUITE
A “Do-Nothing Congress”:
GOOD FOR EXHIBITION
NOW—BUT A DANGER IN
THE LONG TERM
by John Fithian,
President and CEO, NATO
n On January 3, 1975, I stood with my father
on the floor of the United States House of Representatives
as he was sworn in to office for the
first time. A former university history professor,
he taught me to respect our nation’s Congress
as a great legislative body and a pillar of a free
democracy. He also insisted that we respect the
president and the office he held. Despite their
affiliation with different political parties, my
Democratic father and a Republican president,
Gerald R. Ford, became friends and worked
together on several important policy initiatives.
It was a difficult period in our nation’s history.
The Watergate scandal and the resignation
of President Nixon in August 1974 further
soured the mood of a country already torn by
the debate over Vietnam. Some politicians took
advantage of that mood to emphasize partisan
goals and divisions. Most, however, got to work
doing the nation’s business. Despite the fact
that one party held the presidency and the other
party controlled Congress, 205 public bills were
enacted into law in 1975, and another 383 bills
became law in 1976.
In one manner or another, I have been a student
of our government ever since that day in
1975. In high school I spent many hours sitting
in the family gallery of the House of Representatives,
fascinated by the debate. I majored
in government in college, studied legislative
process in law school, and went on to work at
the most influential lobbying firm in Washington,
D.C. C-SPAN is as important to me as are
CNN and ESPN.
I do not come lightly, therefore, to a somber
assessment of our current government in
Washington. But it depresses me to note that
the Congress of 2013–2014 so far has been,
and will likely continue to be, the most partisan
and least productive of my lifetime. And this
113th Congress comes on the heels of the 112th
Congress (2011–2012), which had already set
the lowest bar for legislative productivity since
World War II.
Consider the legislative record of the past
three years. In 2011, 90 bills became law. The
first year of any two-year Congress typically produces
fewer final measures than the second (or
even) year does. Legislation often takes many
months to wind through the process of introduction,
hearing discussion, committee debate
and vote, floor consideration, reconciliation of
the two bodies, and signature by the president.
Nonetheless, 90 laws is a dismal record. The
average number of bills passed during odd years
from 1947 through 2011 was 242 bills per year,
and in only one year other than 2011 was the
number of bills passed less than 100. In the
odd year of 2013, the first year of the 113th
Congress, the number of enacted bills stands
at 56, with but two weeks to go in the session
at the time this column was written. In other
words, 2013 looks to be the least productive
first session of Congress in modern history.
Nor is it likely that 2014 will make up for
2013, if the previous Congress is any indication.
In 2012, the second session of the 112th Congress,
193 bills became law. That number seems
impressive compared to 2011 or 2013, but not
when compared with other second sessions in
other even years. In every even year since 1948
other than 2012, more than 200 bills have
passed, and the average over that span is 397. In
other words, the 112th Congress was the least
productive since the Second World War, and the
113th Congress looks like it will be even worse.
What has the current Congress accomplished?
Well, the Violence Against Women Act
was renewed after some lengthy debate, but that
legislation has been very bipartisan and an easy
sell in previous years. Legislation was passed to
keep the government’s helium reserves open.
And legislators did finally come to an agreement
on how to fund the government, but only after
more than two weeks of embarrassing shutdown
during the month of October. Among the
actions taken in one chamber but not the other,
the House of Representatives has voted more
than 40 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act,
even though that repeal effort stands absolutely
no chance of passing the Senate.
What has the current Congress failed to do?
Just about everything else. Important immigration
reform remains stalled, despite bipartisan
support from left-leaning human rights groups
and right-leaning big businesses. Minor gun
proposals went nowhere even after several
high-profile acts of gun violence ripped through
the country’s psyche and despite the fact that
the leading proposal (expanded background
checks) had the support of 85 percent of the
nation. A time-sensitive farm bill, which typically
finds support from both parties, seems stuck
in the partisan morass over a debate about food
stamps. And bigger, more important initiatives,
such as long-overdue reforms of the tax code
and the nation’s entitlement programs, stand a
10 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies JANUARY 2014