Gridlocked Congress – ADA Reform and Budget

by Jack Lee

As most of us know, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a lawyer’s tool for legal extortion. They cash in on the reward money that comes from violators, and brother business has been good!

The examples of lawyers using the ADA racket are almost endless. For over 30 years th is little burger joint called the Squeeze Inn was known for the best burgers in Sacramento. Then one day an ADA attorney filed a complaint because they didn’t have the room for wheel chairs. And the next thing they’re either going out of business or being forced to move from their landmark location.

It’s called the Squeeze Inn for a reason. That was part of the charm. It was a tiny place with just big enough for a couple of customers to place their orders. Trying to be good owners and to help their wheel chair bound customers they installed an outside order phone. Not good enough! Eventually they had to shut down and move away.

The ADA lawyer collected his extortion money from them too…they were really hurt. This happens all the time and little businesses get severely damaged or they just fold up – its wrong!

Recognizing this widespread abuse of this well-intended law, a few members of Congress drafted the most benign, most modest, reform you could ever imagine and a couple of days ago. . . that reform died in committee. Yep, another casualty of political partisanship that can be tied right back to the gridlock that has both sides at odds over the budget.

One of my sources tells me the problem goes back even farther than the budget debate and that [old] problem has hamstrung a lot of good reforms for decades.

Back in the old days Congress was controlled by a handful of powerful committee chairmen. They owed their power to seniority. The committees did their work in secret. Bills that were written in committee almost never saw an amendment once they left the committee, they were that powerful. To be blunt, this was a dictatorial system. It was also authoritarian. It was hierarchical and it was sure not transparent, but needed reform bills did get passed.

By the mid-70’s Congress underwent a reformation and those old power brokers ceased to exist. The new game was “subcommittees” and they rapidly increased in number. The subcommittees always met in public, they were well mannered under the watchful eye of the press. As a result civility ruled the day, but oddly they ceased to pass much reform in subcommittees, more often it just died there…just like the important ADA reform bill and that’s a real shame.

The new, more open, Congress had an unexpected consequence! It intimidated the members from making deals. They became afraid to deviate from the partisan politic of the day. Compromise was out – gridlock was in and partisanship was definitely in!

What’s the answer then, how can we motivate needed reforms and compromises? Do we simple elect a more courageous and more egalitarian people? Oh fat chance of that happening with our big-money-buys-elections-system, coupled to the naivety of your average uninformed voter. Do we go back to the old system? Realistically that will never happen, that door is closed.

About the only way out of this gridlock is to have one party or the other control Congress for 2 years at a time. If they do a bad job, a referendum to disband would keep them honest. We wouldn’t be the first republic to do this and it does work; it’s a thought but it’s probably never going to happen either. So far the Tea Party movement has had the most positive effect on Congress of all the big lobbying groups, but we need more of them to get Congress moving.

Your thoughts?