Opinion: Congress Goes Postal

(Aug. 24) -- Pop quiz: Based on Congress' legislative output over the past year and a half, what do you think is the most pressing issue facing the country?

The crummy economy? Terrorist threats? Health care costs? The sorry state of education? National defense? Global warming? Immigration?

Answer: None of the above.

Nope, the biggest problem facing America today is ... the desperate lack of appropriately named post offices.

At least, that's the conclusion you'd draw by looking at bills that made it through Congress to President Barack Obama's signature pen.

In the last year and half, Congress has passed and President Obama has signed 237 pieces of legislation. Sure there were a few spending bills in there, and some extensions of unemployment, a big stimulus package, health care reform and lots of other miscellaneous laws.

But single biggest category by far was naming post offices and other government buildings -- accounting for more than a quarter of the legislation signed into law over the past 18 months (27 percent be exact). Add in commemorations and other such frivolous bills, and that figure reaches 33 percent. (See chart above.)

Yes, thanks to the keen attentiveness of lawmakers to the important work of government, there's now a Geraldine Ferraro Post Office Building in Long Island City, New York.

And a John "Bud" Hawk Post Office in Rollingbay, Wash.

Freedom, Pa., now has a Scott Challis Jr. Post Office, and Pompano Beach, Fla., can proudly boast of the newly christened Elijah Pat Larkins Post Office.

There's a Jack Kemp Post Office in Orchard Park, N.Y. (Never mind that as a champion of limited government and privatization, Kemp probably would have preferred that the postal monopoly get dismantled.)

And, at long last, President Reagan has been fittingly honored with a Ronald W. Reagan Post Office in Dixon, Ill.

You'd think that with the U.S. Postal Service in such a sorry state these days, lawmakers would've run out of post offices to name by now.

They may very well have, since they had to redesignate a San Diego post office building in order to duly honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez.

On top of that, there are the many vital commemorations and laws creating commemorative coins -- Star Spangled Banner, Girl Scouts and Medal of Honor winners all got one -- that sucked up more of the legislative agenda.

This isn't a new development. In the last Congress, 29 percent of all bills signed by President George W. Bush were ones that named buildings.

And sure, at least some of these people deserve recognition. Larkins was Pompano Beach's first African-American mayor, for example, and Bud Hawk was a Medal of Honor recipient. (Although more than a few designations look like vanity payoffs to ex-lawmakers.)

But there's a problem here. The Postal Service is hemorrhaging money and needs Congress' permission to close thousands of post offices to help make ends meet. Naming these buildings after decorated war veterans and past presidents will only make granting it that much harder.

Beyond that narrow issue, there's this: Everything in life takes time. And presumably spending hours drafting and voting on the endless river of designations, commemorations and other feel-good laws steals moments that could be better spent figuring out how to solve the nation's immigration problem, better educate the kids or boost job growth.

And on that last score, creating full employment for Postal Service sign makers just doesn't cut it.