The Nation: Too Many Weeks?

When California Republican Don Edwards rose on the floor of the House of Representatives last week to introduce a resolution proclaiming National Family Week, he was exercising a hoary congressional reflex. No one ever objects to such innocuous legislation. But Representative Ken Hechler of West Virginia had had enough: “If my good friend from California can tell me what will come from the pending resolution, I will be glad to know.” When Edwards could not, and, undaunted, went on a minute later to ask the House to proclaim National High Blood Pressure Week, Hechler threw down the gauntlet. Vowing to continue his objections to such resolutions, he noted wryly that National Clean Water Week and National Next-Door Neighbor Day had not brought about any notable improvement in the nation’s waterways or in its interpersonal relations. Hechler maintains that declarations such as National Check Your Vehicle Emission Month are plainly absurd. As far as National Family Week is concerned, Hechler snorts: “If the American family depends on the thin thread of a congressional resolution to hold it together, the American family really is in trouble.”