Do-nothing House can just stay home
With the University of Memphis’ efforts to hook up with the Big 12 athletic conference dominating sports-related talk around town lately, it might have been easy to overlook an event that for one weekend a year produces as much excitement as you can get from a college football game.
You can bet that 40,000 or so fans at the Southern Heritage Classic won’t take it for granted, though. The Classic is not just an annual gridiron matchup between Tennessee State and Jackson State. It’s also a coaches’ luncheon today with a celebrity speaker, a concert, a fashion show and brunch, a parade, a golf tournament, an extravagant tailgating experience, a bunch of reunions, a chance to see two of the most entertaining marching bands in the country and an exhibition of alumni pride — in both schools — that would be hard to match anywhere. It’s also a gift to the Memphis economy. A study conducted last year by the University of Memphis’ Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce estimated the direct local economic impact of the previous year’s Classic at $10.8 million and its total impact at $21.6 million.
The centerpiece, of course, is the football game, which pits TSU and JSU in a fierce rivalry game Saturday at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, where attendance passed the one-million mark a few years ago.
Most notable of all is the excellent organization and marketing skills exhibited by Classic founder Fred Jones, his staff and volunteers at Summit Management Corp. who have been putting on this show for 27 years now.
Each of these historically black schools will receive $325,000. Memphis will receive an exciting experience that began Thursday with an invitation-only VIP party and a concert at the Orpheum.
At 5 a.m. today, radio host Tom Joyner broadcasts live from Tiger Lane. At noon today, actor/playwright Tyler Perry speaks at the sold-out Nike Classic Coaches Luncheon.
Saturday’s golf tournament, fashion show, parade, battle of the bands and tailgating at the stadium — don’t bother to try to get a spot; they’re all sold out — are all part of a tradition that should be cherished.
The game itself, which will demonstrate that it’s not necessary to be big-time to be a lot of fun, will take place in one of the country’s best places to watch football because of its unobstructed sight lines, its oldschool charm and some $38 million in public-private investment since 2010, including 5,050 new premium blue seats with backs installed this summer at a cost of $4.8 million.
Welcome, out-of-town visitors, to one of the highlights of this city’s sporting and cultural calendar. You’ve come to the right place for a party.
After their seven-week recess, which was the longest break since at least 1960, the people’s representatives in the U.S. House are back for just four weeks before recessing again until the election, and there has been talk of cutting those four weeks of work to three or even two.
They might as well go home, because the House to-do list could end up looking something like this: Impeach the IRS commissioner. Punish the Democrats. Sue the Saudis.
This is how Donald Trump happened.
Americans are worried and angry about the big issues: stagnant wages, immigration, trade deals, health care, entitlement programs, the Zika virus. Yet the best Congress can do for the moment is to keep the government running on autopilot for a few more months, and even this isn’t guaranteed.
With three weeks to go in the fiscal year, Congress has enacted not one of the 12 annual appropriations bills (the House has passed six). While leaders struggle to pass a temporary “continuing resolution,” Republicans fight among themselves about how long it should last and hard-liners threaten to derail it by adding language banning Syrian refugees.
As Republicans sat down for their caucus meeting Wednesday morning, the conversation wandered — this member’s new grandchild, that member’s engagement, various anecdotes and talking points. GOP leaders held a news conference after the meeting, at which they voiced enthusiastic support for ... a new soapbox that had appeared over the recess to help shorter members of the caucus be seen behind the lectern.
“You could put three people on that thing,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said upon entering the room and spying the new piece of furniture.
“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, trying it out.
With so little happening, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to create the illusion of activity, asserting that in this Congress “a total of 219 bills have been enacted into law. That’s an increase over the 25-year average.”
Actually, the average number of bills enacted into law in previous Congresses going back to 1991 is 435 — double the current output. McCarthy’s spokesman said the claim was based on when Congress went on its long summer holiday. But as of now, McCarthy’s 219 bills are well below the 25-year average of 257 enacted at this point by previous Congresses. And most have been minor “suspension” bills, such as post-office namings.
“People want a positive vision and a clear direction for solving the country’s big problems,” Ryan declared at his news conference.
But instead, they’re getting:
An attempt to impeach the IRS commissioner. Some hard-liners, still angry about the IRS’ treatment of conservative groups, are trying to force leaders to hold a vote to impeach the current commissioner, John Koskinen, who took over after the alleged wrongdoing occurred.
A bid to punish two dozen House Democrats, led by civil rights icon John Lewis, who staged a sit-in on the House floor in June to protest Republicans’ refusal to bring up guncontrol legislation.
Legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in federal courts, a bill with no chance of getting enough votes.
Instead, House Republicans could spend their fleeting time at work resolving an impasse blocking funds to fight the Zika infection. The Senate reached a bipartisan deal in May to provide $1.1 billion for the effort, but the agreement fell apart when House Republicans added a provision restricting funds from going to Planned Parenthood.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Ryan was asked why he wouldn’t accept a “clean bill” without the poison pill.
“Look, give me a break,” Ryan said, blaming the Senate.
But even some of Ryan’s Republicans aren’t giving him a break. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-New York, told Bloomberg’s Billy House that “we become obstructionists” with the Planned Parenthood gambit.
And Rep. David Jolly, RFlorida, carried a jar full of Florida mosquitoes onto the House floor. “During the seven weeks ... we were gone, cases of Zika rose from 4,000 to by some estimates over 16,000 in the country,” he said. His constituents “are demanding action and they are seeing inaction, and in that inaction they are angry.”
Yes, but have they seen that new soapbox for members of Congress? Gee whiz!