Rep. Barry Moore: March Madness is extra mad in Washington

March Madness is in full swing in Washington with power-mad Democrats oblivious to the multiple crises plaguing Americans on their watch.

How oblivious? This week, while Rome burns, fiddle virtuoso Nancy Pelosi is bringing to the House floor the CROWN Act – a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of hair texture or hair style – and legislation written by this guy to limit arbitration rights.

It’s difficult to imagine a Speaker more out of touch and unresponsive to the threats facing American families, but that’s what Americans have come to expect from this Go Woke and Go Broke Democratic Congress.

Congress did manage to fund the government last week after almost a six-month delay (we passed three short-term spending bills since funding expired last September just to keep the government’s doors open), but it did so through a massive, dangerous $1.5 trillion bill – yes, trillion with a “t” – that only gets us to Sep. 30. We’re only $30 trillion in debt, so I guess what’s another $1.5 trillion? It is highly unlikely this Congress passes appropriations bills on time during an election year, so yet another short-term continuing resolution to get us through the election is heading our way.

Not that Pelosi wants us in Washington doing our job. After this week’s session concludes, the House is scheduled to convene a mere 56 days before the November elections. With 31 Democrats already announcing retirements and dozens more seats up for grabs, Pelosi wants her folks back home campaigning (as if that’s what we are paid to do).

So what will Congress do the rest of the year? Well, let’s kick off our Beltway bracketology with what we won’t do.

For starters, don’t expect Democrats to call a play to meaningfully address the inflation crisis. Despite unchecked government spending fueling our economic and inflationary woes, President Joe Biden and his cellar dweller economists won’t give up on his multi-billion dollar Build Back Better agenda, laughably trying to resurrect it as a tool to fight inflation. Inflation surged a whopping 10% last month compared to a year prior – and that does not even include gas!

Speaking of gas, don’t expect any proposals to solve our energy crisis. When asked what they’ll do about skyrocketing gas prices, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said “that issue hasn’t come up.” I can promise the daily record-high gas prices have come up around kitchen tables like yours and mine, so Democrats’ Sgt. Schulz defense is a little puzzling to me.

When addressing the issue at all, Democrats simply blame it all on Vladimir Putin, desperately hoping Americans will forget the continual climb of prices since Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and ordered drilling moratoriums on American energy the day he took office.

What about the border crisis? Forget about it, despite the historic chaos under the Biden administration. Last year, deportation of illegal immigrants dropped to the lowest level in 26 years despite record high border crossings. Last fiscal year, Biden deported just 59,011, compared to 185,884 the previous fiscal year.

You don’t have to be a basketball fan to know that giving up more points while also scoring less will get you run out of the gym.

But the Democrats won’t try to secure the border because the anarchy is all by design. According to the liberal Washington Post, this drop in deportations directly corresponds to instruction by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, saying “Mayorkas has also met personally with teams of ICE officers to urge them to use more discretion before making an arrest.”

So, what can we expect this year from Congress?

If you’re keeping score at home, don’t expect anything meaningful to become law. There is only one thing that will dominate the House calendar: the November elections. Almost everything Pelosi brings to the House floor for the next eight months will be repackaged, duplicative, or strictly for messaging purposes.

The truth is that every single crisis we see is either the intentional result of Democratic policies or something they’ve no answer for.

If things keep up, Democrats will watch from the sidelines this November as Republicans run up the score.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore is a Republican from Enterprise representing Alabama’s second congressional district