Kudos to Rep. Van Hollen

Emily Yoffe, who writes the pretty forgettable Human Guinea Pig column for Slate, tries her hand at lobbying Congress in her latest tepid adventure. Yoffe forms a "group" that lobbies for federal legislation mandating that all pets be spayed or neutered (which she actually seems to favor). And, of course, her special interests get some play on The Hill.

Here's Yoffe describing what would become a pretty typical positive response, this one from a member of Sen. Barbara Mikulski's staff:

When I started on my spiel she intently took notes. Even more amazingly, she told me this sounded like an excellent cause that would be hard to oppose and that Sen. Mikulski, who started as a grassroots lobbyist herself, loves grassroots causes.

There's more like that -- including from a staffer for Rep. Tom "I Hate Bi-Peds" Lantos.

It's not all bad, though. A staffer for Sen. John Ensign wonders, "Could your bill result in the extinction of dogs and cats?" (Good question. Seriously. It's consequences like this one that liberal do-gooders like Yoffe -- I'm making an assumption; shoot me -- never consider when they're out spending my money to tell me what to do.)

But it's a response by a staffer for her own congressman -- Rep. Chris Van Hollen -- that deserves to be commended for nipping this feel-good crap in the bud:

I barely got [through the spiel] when he interrupted to tell me there was a serious problem with my organization's goal: It was unconstitutional.

"I don't think there's a national legislative fix for this," he said. He said laws to spay and neuter animals were a matter for the states. For one thing, I had no enforcement mechanism for states that refused to comply. "A lot of people want the congressman to introduce things," he said. "A lot of [those] things are not federal issues."

Bravo! I don't know a thing about Van Hollen. He may suck badly 99% of the time. I really have no idea. I can't even say that I care. But for a congressman's staff -- and that of a Democrat, no less -- to properly cite constitutional limitations on federal power in dealing with a lobbyist who also happens to be a constituent is just damn heartening.