You may remember Henry Waxman’s thoughts upon retiring from an immensely productive legislative career — if you haven’t read it, you should. Markey is the other Waxman — don’t take my word for it, ask longtime Congressional observer Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute (of all places).
Constant letter-writing can come across as empty grandstanding, especially at a time when Congress shows little inclination to actually rein in the tech industry’s data practices. In fact, Markey is one of the lone voices on Capitol Hill when it comes to such issues. But he has a method to the madness — keeping a spotlight on privacy as he plays the long game in Washington.
Markey, in an interview, was frank about his strategy.
“It always begins with this: You highlight the issue, you draw more attention to it so that reporters understand that there’s an issue, and then people get assigned to the story and then they write about it,” the senator said. “And the more they write about it, the more the industry or the law enforcement entities start to say, ‘My goodness, now people are paying attention to what we’re doing.’”
“Empty grandstanding” is, in fact, part of the job description. And it’s only “empty” until the window of opportunity opens and you get something done. Maybe that happens in two years, maybe in 20. And then legislation happens. If you don’t recognize that, you don’t know anything about politics.
Now Ed has gotten the assignment which defines him: on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
“That means I will be able to push action on climate change, whether it is domestic or international,” Markey said. “It gives me a position where I can become a prime advocate.”
Climate change is our “existential threat”, orders of magnitude more destructive than anything Al Qaeda could dream of. The Senate Climate Action Task Force is emboldened — 26 members of the Senate now are pushing Harry Reid for stronger action. (Where are the rest??)
And that is why you elect Ed Markey. That’s why you gotta do it again.
David says
I totally agree with this. Case in point: Elizabeth Warren’s bill to cut the interest rate on student loans to the same near-zero rate that the Fed offers to banks. Was it ever going to pass? No. Was it worth proposing in order to change the conversation? You bet.
abs0628 says
Totally agree with both of you, and all the examples you cite, including Senator Warren and student loans. I’m so glad Senator Markey will be on the committee where he can really tackle the climate crisis.
Only thing I would add is sometimes “grandstanding” is also about changing the accepted parameters of a debate, and that can be equally powerful.
To me, the prime example of this was Senator Warren coming out in favor of expanding Social Security and in opposition to any/all rollbacks of any type. Many other advocates had laid the groundwork over many years, and several other members of Congress had done the same. But given her influence with the Democratic Party base and the media, and her fundraising prowess, her speech on Social Security was a game changer on that issue. It used to be a crazy liberal pipe dream to propose raising the income cap, lowering the retirement age, expanding SS benefits, etc. Now none of those things are seen as crazy or extreme. And cutting SS is seen as a non-starter. That’s huge.
My hope is Senator Markey can do the same for the climate crisis.
This is exactly why we elected both Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. I’ll say it again: Best Senate delegation in the country!