Wasting floor time

The House this week scheduled floor votes on legislation establishing a national watermelon month, expressing support for designating a “National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day,” and congratulating the University of Iowa’s wrestling team.

Reading this, it is perhaps not difficult to fathom at least one reason why congressional ratings are so low.

There has been plenty of discussion about whether earmarks should be banned. Yet there has been little to no debate on eradicating silly measures of the type cited above.

House leaders note that many pieces of policy-rich legislation are being ironed out at the committee level and will soon hit the floor. Fair enough.

But why even have floor votes on these trivial measures?

This is not a Democratic or Republican issue, though it is mostly confined to the House. The Senate moves slowly enough that it doesn’t schedule nearly as many votes on the superfluous measures.

House Republicans have lambasted Democrats for scheduling so many post office-naming bills in an effort to label the 110th Congress a “do-nothing” legislature.

Yet the sponsors of the watermelon and funeral director measures are Republicans. And GOP lawmakers have had plenty of post office bills get floor votes since Democrats assumed the majority.

All matters that hit the House floor need not be equally serious or weighty. This newspaper realizes that the House is a place for debate and an occasional light moment. But the resolutions on non-important matters need to be reduced, especially if at the same time people complain that there is too little time to get a lot of work done.

Some will argue that these measures work well back home in the districts of House members. That’s certainly true, but more importantly, these type of measures expose the House to justified criticism and can unjustly portray lawmakers as being out of touch with real problems.

With the economy on the ropes and the country at war, the House should make some changes.

Pass these watermelon and post office bills. Just don’t pass them on the House floor.

Do it at the committee level, and unless there is an objection, these measures would be passed and enacted. These resolutions should not require floor time. It would be better if the House floor is silent than debating the merits of watermelon month, especially when no one objects.