Priorities

Don Young says he has his priorities in order for the next term:

Young, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, ticked off appropriations for the U.S. Coast Guard and reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens Act on fisheries management as two priorities for next year. Otherwise, he said, it is hard to set a long-term agenda as a congressman who runs for office every other year.

Funny thing is, when I interviewed him when he was in Nome during Iditarod he mentioned those same two pieces of legislation as priorities for the upcoming months. I guess even when you're a senior member of the majority party it's still tough to get legislation passed, particularly when your party is using its majority to rally its base and not govern the country and has to call a lame-duck session just to pass necessary appropriation bills just to keep the country running.

The headline-grabbing part of the story is Young's prediction for the elections:

"I'm predicting we're not going to lose any seats," Young said. "My prediction is as good as anybody else's. The day after the election, we'll see who was right."

Actually, no, Don, you're prediction is not as good as anybody else's. I tend to listen to people who study the individual races, analyze television advertisements, track campaign spending, and then reach a reasoned conclusion. Spouting off the first thing that comes to mind is not a legitimate alternative.

If there was ever a more compelling reason for term limits...