First, the good news: The less-than-loved 112th Congress is still on recess. The gridlock gang departed without agreements on spending, taxes, defense, farms and the like. It passed a near record-low 90 bills. But mercifully, it’s now dispersed across the country–ceding headlines to the presidential candidates and the dynamics of debating. Happy Halloween. See you in mid-November.
The bad news: The latest Gallup poll had Congress’ approval rating stuck at a withering 13 percent, which is barely above that of jobs outsourcers. Harry Truman’s “Do-nothing Congress” never looked so fraternally diligent.
Well, I caught up with 1/535 of that beleaguered body, Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, at an Indigo Coffee shop the other day. She’s running for a fourth term and Don and Betty’s kid is now 46, if you can believe it, and one of her daughters is now in high school. The years, if not all political partisans, have been kind.
“It’s intransigent,” she said of Congress. “I agree with the polls. People are discerning.”
Republicans, Castor acknowledged, are as they appear. They are, indeed, “more extreme” now. “There’s much less common ground.”
Among the House common groundhogs she has gotten to interact with has been Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan. The Wisconsin Congressman chairs the budget committee she’s been part of. She’s found him more intractable than disagreeable “Approachable and friendly,” she noted, “but an ideologue.”
Congressional Change
She recalls the atmosphere when she came in. Six years have never seemed so seminal.
Yes, there was Iraq and those “false pretenses” for war. And there was Tom DeLay, the poster lad for ethics reform. Talk was of corporate jets–not drone hit squads. It was still pre-Great Recession and Tea Party brigades. Filibuster frenzies weren’t routine. No one was sensing “fiscal-cliff ” scenarios.
She remembers wistfully the “sea of people” on the National Mall for Barack Obama’s inauguration–and all the hope and precedent it embodied. Nobody called them 47 percenters.
Now Castor’s opponent, EJ Otero, is running, in part, against a Congress he has labeled a “cesspool.”
But she’s not about to pile on her own workplace beyond agreeing with those “discerning” polls. She still focuses on priorities that range from job fairs, tech schools and Pell Grants to health care, Gulf of Mexico protection and a more pragmatic relationship with Cuba. Her mantra still includes pushing investments in small business, infrastructure and education. And there still remain major opportunities to transcend ideology for the greater good–for example, joining with key players on behalf of the I-4 Connector.
She also has worked with, among others, Republican Congressman C.W. “Bill” Young–“a gentleman”–to pitch MacDill AFB for the next generation of refueling tankers. And she was on the same side as Gov. Rick Scott in applying to FEMA for Tropical Storm Debby relief. And, by the way, while Florida’s request was ultimately denied–officially it didn’t meet FEMA’s threshold–Castor did not see it as payback from an Administration at considerable odds with Scott.
Derailing Still Hurts
Castor readily concedes, however, that she remains at odds with the Tea Party-Koch Brothers-Cato Institute-backed governor on a number of issues as well as his accessibility. “He’s not communicative,” she said. “We could call (former Gov. Charlie) Crist’s staff anytime.”
Nothing underscores the frustration and Washingtonesque ideological divide more than Scott’s refusal of more than $2 billion in federal, high-speed rail funding that would have connected and synergized the Orlando-Tampa megalopolis. She talked of immediate jobs lost–from “construction to engineers”–to implications for Pinellas’ tourist beaches. And she lamented what a rail-transit hub would have done for downtown and Tampa Heights.
“I am still shell-shocked,” she admitted. “What an advantage it would have been.”
As for her own re-election in what many regard as a “safe” congressional district (14th), she said that although she has never dipped below 60 percent in her three wins, “you never take anything for granted. I have great respect for Mr. Otero and his service (retired Air Force colonel) to the country.” It also goes without belaboring that such respect doesn’t include Otero’s Norquistian pledge to not raise taxes.
“We need a balanced approach to our fiscal problems,” stressed Castor. “You need to put everything on the table.”
And as for the candidate at the top of the Nov. 6 ballot, Castor remains cautiously optimistic about the president’s prospects in the Sunshine State. Obama won Florida in 2008 by 236,000 votes–out of nearly 9 million cast.
“Florida will be very close,” she assessed. “Maybe dead even.” The key variable in addition to turnout: “Medicare.” It’s a “game-changer,” she opined. She said voters are increasingly aware that Medicare is part of “economic security for all generations.”
Castor Outtakes
* The possibility that defense cuts could render (in the words of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC) MacDill AFB “toast”: “Not going to happen.”
* Debt reduction sequestration: “Irrational. But debt reduction is necessary.”
* The merits of 2-year House terms: “It was the intent of the Founding Fathers for the House of Representatives to be the People’s House. It’s necessary to explain to people what you do. I enjoy being out in the community.”