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Subscribe to RSSAccording to a recent Gallup poll, only 18% of Americans say they approve of the work this Congress has done -- so it's more than likely it won’t go down as one of the more popular congressional bodies.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
Construction continues on the viewing stands for President Barack Obama's January's Inauguration Day ceremonies, early Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
But with only weeks to go before it concludes, the 112th Congress (2011-2012) is on track to make another type of history.
By passing just 196 bills into law so far, it is in the running to become the least productive Congress since the 1940s.
In fact, that amount is 710 fewer public laws than was produced by the 80th Congress (from 1947-48), which first earned the moniker "Do-Nothing" Congress.
The lack of legislation passed by Congress in recent years has become frustrating to many lawmakers. Outgoing Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) decided not to run for re-election because of the congressional gridlock, partisan politics, and lack of work being done on Capitol Hill.
Rep.-elect Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., and Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., talk about the possibility of a bipartisan deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.
“As I have long said, what motivates me is producing results for those who have entrusted me to be their voice and their champion, and I am filled with that same sense of responsibility today as I was on my first day in the Maine House of Representatives. I do find it frustrating, however, that an atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions,” Snowe said in a statement announcing her retirement last February.
The U.S. House Clerk’s office keeps official records of all congressional activity dating as far back as 1947. During those 65 years and 33 different Congresses, more than 20,000 public laws have been passed.
The 104th Congress (1995-1996) currently holds the record low for passing the fewest pieces of legislation since 1947 -- just 333 bills were passed into law during that two-year span.
A non-partisan group determined to fix the sky-rocketing national debt went to Capitol Hill Wednesday, meeting with both Republican and Democratic leaders. David Cote, chairman and CEO of Honeywell, was among the leaders and he recapped the meeting to NBC's Andrea Mitchell.
The 107th Congress (2001-2002) is next, passing only 377 new laws during its time in Washington.
To avoid earning the distinction as the least productive Congress since 1947, 138 bills must move through the House and Senate before the end of this Congress next month.
And with just 11 scheduled voting days left before the House’s target adjournment date for the year -- and with all eyes fixed on the looming fiscal cliff -- time is running out.
The number of bills passed into law by Congress since 1947:
80th: 906
81st: 921
82nd: 594
83rd: 781
84th: 1,028
85th: 936
86th: 800
87th: 885
88th: 666
89th: 810
90th: 640
91st: 695
92nd: 607
93rd: 649
94th: 588
95th: 634
96th: 613
97th: 473
98th: 623
99th: 664
100th: 713
101st: 650
102nd: 590
103rd: 465
104th: 333
105th: 394
106th: 580
107th: 377
108th: 498
109th: 482
110th: 460
111th: 383
112th: 196 (so far)
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Hey Everyone its Offically Piss Off the senate Republi-dumbs day!
Add your voice to Tell the Senate to Stop Repuli-Dumb Filibuster abuse and to Fix the Filibuster!!
Add your voice here: http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8090653&en=efKEKMNtFbLEJLNqF8IDIMPuHgJUIXNpE7ILI1NDIjJVJ6NMG
Ok, lets go back to the orginal filibuster. Where EVERYONE in the Senate has to stay in the chamber for the duration of the filibuster. Only potty breaks are allowed.
I suppose what do we expect....in 2010 we voted in a bunch of imbecilic nimrods whose sole purpose was to shut down government...and they did. Basically akin to a company hiring someone who said they were going to be the least productive worker in the company.
These tea partiers don't care about the country....and they are to blame if we go over the fiscal cliff. The general populus agrees with that sentiment, as well.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/poll-shows-gop-would-get-blame-if-fiscal-cliff-talks-fail/
The GOP needs some real grown ups.....especially in its leadership. It is somewhat ironic that the same group that provided the energy for their big 2010 win is the same group that caused their big losses in 2012 and could completely destroy the GOP brand for good.
The tea party got rid of the grown ups, Doc. The previous republicans weren't bat sh*t crazy enough for the tea party so they were shoved out in favor of the xenophobic, misogynistic, hateful bas*ards we have in there now. Truly says something about modern, American culture, though, doesn't it?
We cant lump them all into that category, but yes many of the moderate Republicans did lose in primaries to Tea Party backed people, and another reason why the R's lost seats this year in the House is partly for this reason.
In 2010, the theme of the day that carried the Republicans was that Obamacare was forced on the American People. That is now old news. At the time it was a very fresh wound and people were really ticked off about it, but two years later, the wound has closed and is not as sore, so people stopped caring.
Interesting point.....Obamacare takes full effect in 2014 (the year of the next mid-term elections), so it could turn out to be another rallying point if Obama care does the opposite of what it is supposed to do.
The only thing the party of NO does consistently well is cash their payroll. At least Nancy could whip the troops into line and she knew how to count.
Are you praising Nancy Pelosi (who BTW has the all-time worst approval rating of any Speaker of the House in recent history), who has the lowest approval rating of any Congressman in Washington?
Let's not forget that a good deal of effort and time was spent on Obamacare. And after the 111th Congress, Americans changed the make up of Congress. So the checks and balances of our Republic have worked to prevent absolute power; however, compromise seems to be an endangered specie.
philly
If jobs were Obama's primary concern (which they should have been when he first took office), why wasnt his first item on his agenda creating more jobs?
Remember. The Democrats had control of the House and Senate from 2006 until the end of 2010, and Obama took office in 2009, so he had two years where his party was in control, yet they accomplished....... Obamacare (ramrodded down Americas throat without any real and substansive debate on the issue)......... and.... (silence)
It was, the Stimulus that created and/or prevent the loss of 3,000,000 jobs and prevented a depression. So there!
Good deal? how about a majority of the effort and time was spent pushing Obamacare through the House and Senate without and substantiative debate on it.
Nancy Pelosi "We need to pas the bill so that you can find out what is in it". That quote sums up the entire process on that one. Even she didnt know what was in it and blindly voted to pass it into law, or knew what it contained and knew if she explained it, people would support it even less (maybe)????
Markin
How many net jobs have been created in the 4 years since Obama took office, then compare that to the participation level of the workforce. You still want to use the Obamastats?
Lets see if you know the answer to my two questions above
I blame both Parties for the problems that our Congress has.No one wants to budge on anything.On November 7th we woke up form an election and nothing changed in our government.
Groundhog Day. "Phil" saw that the sun was blocked out by the mountain of debt and predicted 6 more quarters of recession.
It is the fault of both parties. Neither side wants to work with the other.
I guess thats why Congress has an 18% approval rating, but what does it say about we the people when we keep sending the same people back to both the House and Senate expecting different results?
The problem is effective leadership that did not exist the last four years and does not look like it will exist for the at least the next two years. Obama and current leaders of the senate and house have all failed in that capacity. Appears to me that most voters have been fooled a second time so what will the results be? There is some hope that there will be a break in the bickering and get something, probably minor, done on the tax situation. Hopefully, something will be done to improve the economy also.
Way too go Republicans!!!
You win Today's GOLD Star for stupidity!!!!
President Obama tells business leaders that both sides need to bring compromises to the table. We already know that Republicans are willing to move on revenue; even if it is not tax reform. What are the Democrats moving on?
So far President Obama has offered to be flexilbe and open on everything except taxes on the wealthy, $85B/yr, and Social Security. Where will compromise go from there?
The fiscal cliff IS President Obama's plan. The expiration of Obama tax cuts will bring in much more revenue to balance the annual budget by mid-terms.
First of all, we have enough laws. Every new law begets more regulation and oversight which leads to more bureaucracy and expense.
Secondly, I lay the 'blame' on all of our so called law-makers, not one party or another. We would be best served if all members of congress and their staff 'fall on the sword' and resign. We could survive a year or longer without them while we devise better methods of running our fine country. Congress has run us into the ground.
Actually I'd call that the right reason, if a Congress considers it a benchmark of success to pass more laws that any other congress that is a problem. We already have far too many laws in this country, think about it and look at those numbers, some laws are needed I agree but various estimates put the number of new laws passed in this country from the local to the federal level at between 10-40 thousand per year. That folks is out of hand. I have never been a prognosticator but I do believe one thing deep down, of all the things that could bring this great nation down I am convinced we will be brought low by the weight of our own bureaucracy, anyone having to deal with the famed red tape of almost any aspect of our government should see where I am coming from.
I leave you with a quote often attributed to Mark Twain, "Those that respect the law and love sausage should watch neither being made."
Sounds like everyone is unhappy with congress but the reason is that liberals want the House to knuckle under and conservatives want the Senate to knuckle under. I don't see this situation where the two sides will not compromise improving without a lot of regulation on campaign finance, lobbying and the filibuster.
this is what you get when you put rethugs in charge. between these idiots and the abuse of the filibuster the GOP has done so much damage to this country that its going to take years to fix, once we get them out
With ONLY 196 bills passed. The real question is WHAT SORT OF BILLS WERE PASSED and HOW MANY are REALLY for the CITIZENS of this NATION or HOW MANY are for PROTECTING SPECIAL INTEREST and the LOBBYIST and or BUSINESSES and CORPORATIONS, all of which have nothing to do with TAKING CARE OF THE WELFARE OF THE CITIZENS that voted ALL these SCUMS in OFFICE.
OH and HOW MUCH ARE THEY PAID on the TAXPAYERS BACK for HOW MANY BILLS to the CITIZENS PROTECTION????????
Does any JOURNALIST or WRITER know the answers??? I would like to hear who Knows what OUT THERE about our GOVERNMENT and who they ACTUALLY REPRESENT ???????
For the past many years, our elected officials have stopped representing the people that vote them into office, and have instead been representing the lobbyists and major donors that support them.
The Reality of our GOVERNMENT is DO WE want them to be DEMOCRATIC and when the POPULAR CITIZENS VOTE is tallied that as a NATION we follow the MAJORITY or WHAT is the real purpose of the VOTE. Who wins we go with or why bother voting at ALL and have CHAOS !!!
You can sum that up with 'teabag'. Failed ideology by the reich wing.
First off it is "hill-ary-azz" to me that liberals pick up MSN spin on this, and RUN with it.
They do a STUPID poll and you libbies start pointing at your screens, and yell ......MANDATE.
Well Democrats I got your MANDATE right here...a little dose of REALITY.
Words little known to.......(liberal la-la landers),......... it is called World of UNDENIABLE reality, OKAY?
Besides voters voting to keep Obama-Claus signing their taxpayer "give aways"(entitlements), voters voted to keep everything as it was.
Demi in the WH, Demi's in control of the Senate...............and..............wait for it.........REPUBLICAN controlled Congress.
Seems like voters were not comfortable to give control of all 3 Houses to the liberal, "tax and spend us into oblivion" Democrats.
Though "fiscal responsibility" is not totally understood by the average voter(I cannot find a job so I need that Government check from Obama-Claus),
a little voice in the back of their heads told them, ADULTS(republicans) need to keep SOME control of the purse strings.
So call Republicans what you will...........but they VOTED to keep the majority in Congress........Republican.
And lets not forget what Harry Reids VERSION of COMPROMISE is, when late in the election it APPEARED that Romney might win........Reid said, and I quote, "the Senate WILL NOT work with a Republican President"........unquote.
Easy answer.....blow up the republican party and we'll be in great shape. They are a bunch mindless twits who's thinking isn't 21st century but rather early 20th. They're idiots.
Members of Congress should not be allowed to hold consecutive terms of office. That way, they would not spend their time trying to get reelected rather than working at the jobs they were hired to do. They should not get paid for days that they don't work. If they miss more than 5 consecutive days of work, they should be required to produce a doctor's note! Businesses that stop working for months at a time generally don't continue to pay their employees full salaries and benefits during the shut down.
I disagree.
I think there should be term limits, but I also think that the term for a Congressman needs to be increased to 4 yeasr. As it stands now, out of the 24 months that the average congressman serves during their term, they spend roughly 8 months supposedly doing the peoples work, and 16 months fundraising and campaigning for re-election.
A Congressman should be allowed to serve no more than 3 terms, and a Senator 2. We need fresh blood in Washington. Part of the problem is that so many of our elected officials have been there so long, they feel entitled and forgot who it was that put them there, and what it was they were originally elected to do.
They're all political whores - all of them
Special interests and $$$$$ is what it's all really about.
One promise to Congress....in 2014 and 2016......WE THE PEOPLE......will create history, again.....
........Democratic President.......Democratic Senate..........Democratic House......
Wishfull thinking, but not very likely. History is against you. If Democrats were going to take over the House, this was the year to do it. Most experts predict House will remain GOP controlled for the next four years and we will have a Republican POTUS in 2016.
Wont happen GBA.
With redistricting lines after the recent Census, there are so many seats on both sides of the House that run opposed and pretty much guarantee that the shifts will not be as great as we have seen as recently as 2010.
With regards to President, that depends on the condition of the economy. If we are in the same condition we are today, Bill Clinton could run again, and he would get crushed. If the economy is somehow booming, and we have a balanced budget, then Ronald Reagan could come back and run for the Republicans and he would get crushed.
Then we will have a Socialist Country. No personal wealth, everyone gets the same thing, eat's the same thing, drives the same thing, lives in the same kind of home (gov provided of course). Not exactly a good future.
Finally someone who looks at the facts and not the rhetoric!!!
Obama/McConnell/Reid/Pelosi/Boehner and all of the lieutenants should be fired! The party designation doesn't matter. They all SUCK!
You said it.
Time for new blood all around.
Anyone who thinks their congressmen are doing the jobs they were elected for are on drugs...!! They are in it for the power, the money and the women... And they don't give a damn about us until election time..
People are such idiots especially the voters. It is not dems or repubs it is politicians in general. They have only three goals in mind and that is to get richer off of the taxpayer dollars, and to get more powerful in congress and to get re-elected and they sell out to the highest bidder. This BS in DC is a game to them. They don't care about the United States or it's citizens. We have known about their uselessness since obama took office and what did the voters do??????????? Put them all right back in charge. They will never help the working man because they can't relate to the working man. They are all a bunch of rich arrogant pricks who don't give a damn. And you idiots who are spouting all dems in DC do you really understand what a terrible catastrophe that would be???? You would have a group of egotistical idiots who wish to do nothing but spend others money to make some people happy enough to vote for them to be re-elected????? I don't like to be totally on one side vs the other but you people really can't be that stupid to think that any good could come out of this if obama had complete control of everything do you????
The GOP has some rising latino stars in the Congress that will only help the Republicans in the midterms as well as the next Presidential election. Most of the polls show that the vast majority of Americans feel we have a spending problem so measuring Congress on the number of Bills passed is absurd.
To Chris Rhodes Scholar (yeah, right): Latino stars? BS! Talk about a bunch of self-serving, sel-interest groups they repesent! And, in general, groups far less educated and capable of identifying quality people to represent them!
OneDube
Another fact supported and informative post moving the debate forward...
Thanks......for nothing
I sense a lot of anger (much deserved) but it's not the individual congressman/congresswoman that's at the core of the problem, it's the overwhelming concentration of power within our political parties. And, unfortunately, the power within each Party now presides with a few PARTY pundits (with only 4 or 5 in each Party) who totally control how individual congressmen/women are coerced to vote. The pundits essentially say "do what your are told or lose your job". I know that sounds bad but it's a fact of life. If you lose your job then you don't have a prayer of accomplishing anything. (How discouraging is that?) The good news is, things are getting so bad that individual congressmen are beginning to revolt against their Party pundits. We should encourage (email) our congressmen/woman to quit being puppets, do what is right for our country and not vote just to keep their jobs. John McCain said that he "dedicated his life to the Republican Party". What he should have said was that he dedicated his life to the American People. The tool that created this self-serving mess is "soft money". Huge donations in the form of fund raising dinners and Political Action Committees (PACs) have created an American Oligarchy and unfortunately we have two of them in a destructive power struggle. With so much money being pumped into the Party coffers the pundits of power are focused on keeping their power rather than solving (by compromise) critical issues. The solution is in the hands of the American people by contracting their Congressman/woman and holding them accountable. It's easy to send an email and let your opinion be heard (it's heard even if it isn't read). A million or two one sentence emails work. If they don't listen then don't vote for them in the next election. Cheers to all.
Exactly Chris...........it is the MANDATE from this election that liberals are in DENIAL of.......Republicans kept control of Congress.
Seems even fans of Obama-Claus thought it was a good idea to keep ADULTS in control of the purse strings, just in case the reality of.........
never ending entitlement spending.........actually takes us of the "fiscal cliff".
Adults.....(republicans)..... will be needed to figure out how to FIX the damage done,..... by Democrat (unsustainable) spending..