Our obstructionist Republicans have outdone themselves this year. The 113th Congress is now the least productive Congress ever. Can we get an amen for legislative exceptionalism, GOP style? The goal is to do NOTHING until Obama is out of office, and they are diligent obstructionists.
The New York Times reported today:
The 113th Congress has passed all of 55 laws so far this year, seven fewer at this point than the 112th Congress — the least productive Congress ever. House and Senate negotiators will meet on Wednesday to try to come to terms on a farm bill, but they remain far apart, especially on food-stamp cuts that the House is demanding. The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees will also meet this week, and they appear to be closing in on a modest deal that would set spending levels for the next two years while relieving some of the pain from the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration.
Speaker John Boehner called this history making laziness “work” in his presser today. Boehner said, “The House has continued to listen to the American people and to focus on their concerns. Whether it’s the economy, whether it’s jobs, whether it’s protecting the American people from Obamacare, we’ve done our work.”
According to Thomas.Gov, the number of laws passed is now 56, while Congress Summary has the number at 49. No matter, this is a historic fail either way.
We saw this one coming. In June, I reported that this Congress was making history by only passing 15 legislative items in 6 months.
They’ve managed to beef up their record with very important legislation like aa Jobs bill for civilians the “Helium Stewardship Act of 2013″ and ” To name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Bay Pines, Florida, as the ‘C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center'”.
The way our government works, Republicans are able to obstruct legislation by refusing to bring anything up for a vote in the House that doesn’t have the support of the GOP majority. Given the GOP’s inner war and their united opposition to things like jobs for Americans, this means that the House is their speed bump to slow down or kill all legislative effort.
The blame falls largely on the GOP led house because of Boehner’s power grab via the fictional Hastert Rule.
For a moment, I thought I was reading a story from last year, because last year, I distinctly remember reporting how lame the 112th Congress had been.
The 112th Congress made history as the most unproductive session since the 1940s (records only go back to 1947). For perspective, President Harry Truman labeled his Congress the “Do-Nothing Congress” for passing just 906 laws. The 113th Congress is the Do-Nothing Congress on steroids.
Republicans don’t want to take time out to do their jobs because they are getting good “traction” with their ObamaScare hearings, they told the New York Times. Wait until next year, and the only thing Republicans have to run on is kicking millions off of affordable healthcare.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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