Symbols are easier.
The Confederate battle flag, brandished in photographs by the confessed killer of nine Charleston, S.C., churchgoers, appears to be not long for the South Carolina capitol grounds.
The state's leading politicians flocked to the idea of booting the flag. Many of their Southern counterparts in both parties joined the wave, including possible revision of Georgia's Confederate license plate.
Friday’s funeral for the shooting victims was packed with politicians from across the country, Democrat and Republican, caught on camera paying their respects.
Statues could be next, as Atlanta Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis has declared a desire to evict the marble version of Confederate vice president Alexander Hamilton Stephens, a son of Crawfordville, from the U.S. Capitol.
Policy is harder.
Since 1996, Congress has barred the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun violence, lest it conclude that firearms pose a public health hazard.
A week after the Charleston shooting, a U.S. House committee voted overwhelmingly to keep the ban, despite the insistence of New York Democrat Nita Lowey that studying gun violence does not equate to gun-grabbing.
It was a bipartisan win for the National Rifle Association. Rep. Sanford Bishop, an Albany Democrat who represents many South Georgia gun owners, joined Rep. Tom Graves, a Ranger Republican, and others from the GOP to block Lowey’s amendment.
“The CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect the public health,” House Speaker John Boehner said the next day. “I’m sorry, but a gun is not a disease. And guns don’t kill people; people do.”
Gun violence is a complex problem with interlocking threads of mental health, the availability of firearms, poverty and hate. And Congress does not have the best track record of solving complex problems, be it health care or highways.
Democrats tried to tie Charleston to the issue of voting rights this week, as they swung left on an aggressive bill, providing tacit acknowledgement that voting rights has about as much chance of passing as gun control.
The new proposal would restore federal pre-approval for new voting laws to 13 states across the nation, among other moves designed to fire up activist groups that were somewhat cool to last year's bipartisan effort.
Much of the GOP response was downright icy. Key Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere believe pre-clearance is overly intrusive, and the Voting Rights Act’s other tools suit just fine to attack discrimination. The original bill never got a hearing in the House.
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the Republican sponsor last year said “there is no chance of succeeding if we abandon our bipartisan approach.”
Lewis swears the bill’s backers have not given up, though he pointed to a symbolic mobilization date: “We’re trying to get as much support as possible with different groups and make it as broad as possible as we move toward the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6.”
As Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left the voting bill announcement, he was asked if Charleston provides a “pressure point” for lawmakers to move on it.
“Voting rights shouldn’t have to rely on terrorism,” Leahy said.
This time, terrorism will bring some flags down. Don’t count on it for much more.
Leadership-backed group boosts 2 Georgians
A U.S. House leadership-tied advocacy group is airing television ads thanking Georgia freshman Republicans Rick Allen and Buddy Carter for their recent votes to extend the highway trust fund, as a tougher transportation vote looms.
The American Action Network is spending $60,000 on broadcast and cable in Augusta for Allen, and $110,000 on broadcast and cable in Savannah for Carter. Because the markets are relatively cheap, AAN says the ads each will air more than 400 times.
AAN is trying to provide the freshmen cover on the right — touting the House’s earmark ban and calling extending the trust fund a “conservative” solution — as the transportation debate gets trickier. Carter and Allen voted to extend the trust fund for two months, on existing money, but that money runs out next month.
Congress will have to come up with a way to pay for road projects, possibly via a mechanism that could be construed as a tax increase.
AAN has been endorsed by House Speaker John Boehner and backs leadership’s goals.
Notably, fellow freshman Republicans Jody Hice, of Monroe, and Barry Loudermilk, of Cassville, voted the same way, but did not get a televised attaboy. Hice and Loudermilk also happen to be members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of arch-conservatives often at odds with leadership.
Vote of the week
On Wednesday the U.S. Senate passed, 60-38, "fast-track" authority for President Barack Obama to negotiate a massive Pacific rim trade deal.
Yes: U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.; and David Perdue, R-Ga.
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