[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 1, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   AMERICANS KNOW CONGRESS IS BROKEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, Americans know that Congress is broken, 
paralyzed by hyperpartisanship, fierce ideology, and unwillingness to 
respond to widely understood problems with broadly supported solutions.
  Why, at a time of growth and increasing diversity in America, does 
Congress not represent that change?
  Well, part of the answer is that's not how we're elected. 
Increasingly, we come from districts that are not just red or blue, but 
the colors are brighter, the divisions deeper. How can this be?
  The answer is to be found in hallways and back rooms of State 
capitals all all across America right now. After the census every 10 
years, the great re-balancing occurs, to adjust legislative districts 
to changes in populations. Some States will win or lose congressional 
seats. Every district in the 43 States that have multi-Member districts 
will see some adjustment to balance out changes in population growth.
  But not all voters are equal. Some are more, some are less inclined 
to support the party in power or to support a particular incumbent.
  One thing that politicians can all agree upon is that their district 
should be safer, their party should be favored. The process of 
redistricting has been refined to a high art with the computer, very 
sophisticated survey research, a treasure trove of data on voter 
behavior. In short, the politicians are hard at work picking their 
voters in a way that will make it harder for voters, over the next 10 
years, to pick their politicians.
  Now, Exhibit A is a grotesque district that has been created in the 
State of North Carolina, District Four, currently represented by our 
colleague, Congressman David Price, that looks like somebody had just 
taken an egg and thrown it at the blackboard. But this effort, where a 
50/50 State that went for Obama, that has a Democratic Senator, a 
Democratic Governor, and a 7-6 advantage for Democrats in Congress now, 
has been at work with the Republicans and their legislature to try to 
turn it into a 10-3 advantage for Republicans going forward after the 
next election.
  But I could have taken an example in Illinois, where there Democrats 
are sort of reverse engineering those districts to Democratic 
advantages.
  There is a bright spot for years, and that has been Iowa, where the 
process has been driven by an independent agency that draws districts 
without partisan logrolling, and simply is referred to the legislature 
for an up-or-down vote.
  This year, all four districts in Iowa are competitive. One even 
features two incumbent senior Members of Congress that are running 
against each other.

                              {time}  1010

  There are other bright spots in California and Arizona where voters 
have determined that there will be independent commissions. There is 
even some hope in Florida where there are more constraints on the 
politicians in the redistricting. But make no mistake, it is not just 
one party losing when another party takes unfair advantage. In truth, 
everybody loses.
  There is less representative behavior in Congress. We have districts 
drawn without integrity. It is hard to represent people. It is hard for 
people to understand who is representing them, and it shatters local 
interests.
  Most damaging, I think, is it just reveals a naked power grab that 
further undermines people's confidence in the political process. We 
shouldn't have to wait decades for reform at the State level. We saw in 
Arizona where Governor Brewer tried to fire the head of the independent 
redistricting commission because the commission produced some districts 
that were fair and competitive, not tilted partisan.
  These reforms can actually be sabotaged. I'm proposing H.R. 3846 to 
establish a national independent redistricting commission headed by 
Statespeople, if you will, people who are appointed by legislative 
leadership like retired judges or former Presidents. These people would 
oversee a professional agency like they have in Iowa to make sure that 
we have national uniform standards that are fair, maybe even some 
competitive districts, and stop the political log rolling, to prepare a 
national set of maps that would be subjected to an up-or-down vote by 
Congress.
  A lot of this seems beyond our control in the political process. This 
bill is something we could do to make the process better 10 years from 
now. I urge my colleagues to look at House bill 3846.

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