As Congress Names Post Offices, Hard Jobs Languish

More than 130,000 American troops are putting their lives on the line every day in Iraq. Despite the president’s “mission accomplished” declaration a full year ago, the war continues.

Our job in Congress is to see to it that this war is being run right -- that we’re fighting for a just cause, that we’ve identified realistic objectives and that we’re accomplishing them. We have an obligation to our constituents and our country to do so. So how are we doing at that task? First, here’s a look at how the war is going, pulled from headlines from the last five weeks:

“Insurgents Kill 12 Marines in Sunni Triangle as Shiite Revolt Continues”

“Marines Were Ambushed in Ramadi by Coordinated Attacks”

“Sanchez Declares Current Troop Strength Adequate as Casualties Mount”

“Pentagon Extends Tour of 20,000 Troops in Iraq Past Year Deadline”

“U.S. Troops in Iraq Say Pentagon Is Failing to Keep Them Equipped”

“Eleven U.S. Soldiers Killed in Four Separate Attacks by Insurgents”

“Five Soldiers Killed; April Worst Month for U.S. Casualties”

And what have we done? Since April 1, Congress has been in session 11 days. In those 11 days of legislative activity, we have:

* Named the Gen. John J. Pershing Post Office

* Named the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse

* Named the Dosan Ahn Chang Ho Post Office

* Named the Rhode Island Veterans Post Office

* Named the Paul Simon Federal Building

* Named the James V. Hansen Federal Building

* Named the Ronald Reagan Federal Building

* Urged the release of Wang Bingzhang

* Recognized the importance of music education

* Congratulated the University of Connecticut basketball teams

* Congratulated the Kennesaw State University men’s basketball team

* Authorized the use of the Capitol grounds for the Soap Box Derby

* Honored the Melvin Jones and Lions clubs

* Supported the goals of Financial Literacy Month

* Authorized the Congressional Medal for Math & Science Education

* Supported Taiwan’s entry into the World Health Organization

* Condemned Iran’s nuclear program

* Passed Increased Capital Access for Growing Business Act

* Congratulated charter schools

* Reauthorized the New York City Watershed Protection Program

Yes, the House voted to end the “marriage penalty” tax and the alternative minimum tax, but these are symbolic acts because the Senate will never pass them.

As worthy as many of the other acts are, it is patently obvious that we should be doing much, much more. We have an administration whose own deputy secretary of Defense doesn’t know how much the war costs or that more than 760 Americans have died. Now it’s come back to us for an additional $25 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can name post offices and we can take steps toward shaping policy on Iraq. This Congress can chew gum and walk at the same time. We have an obligation to our constituents and to our country to ask the “hows” and the “whys” about the entire conduct of the war in Iraq and to get the answers; Friday’s hearings on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal are only a start, and a belated one at that.

Our constituents demand our leadership; American soldiers in Iraq deserve our leadership.

We have spent $112 billion to date on the war and reconstruction of Iraq. I want our troops to have the funds they need. But we owe it to our constituents to finally pick up the mantle of congressional oversight, which to date has been so sorely lacking.

Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is a member of the House Budget and Financial Services committees and was a senior policy advisor to President Clinton.