When Truth is More Poetic than Fiction

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by: Colorado Pols

The 112th Congress shut down on Thursday to make way for 113 in a sadly fitting fashion. From Roll Call:

There was no formal resolution to usher out the 112th Congress. It’ll just kind of end today, and the new Congress will start as the Constitution instructs it to at noon.

What a perfect coda for the most contentious, fired-up, hard-to-please Congress in recent memory. They couldn’t even formally agree on when to end things.

Perhaps the worst Congress in our nation’s history is now in the history books. Oddly befitting the 112, there will likely be far more written about their two years than the members wrote themselves in terms of legislation. As Bloomberg explains:

What’s the record of the 112th Congress? Well, it almost shut down the government and almost breached the debt ceiling. It almost went over the fiscal cliff (which it had designed in the first place). It cut a trillion dollars of discretionary spending in the Budget Control Act and scheduled another trillion in spending cuts through an automatic sequester, which everyone agrees is terrible policy. It achieved nothing of note on housing, energy, stimulus, immigration, guns, tax reform, infrastructure, climate change or, really, anything. It’s hard to identify a single significant problem that existed prior to the 112th Congress that was in any way improved by its two years of rule. [Pols emphasis]

The 112th, which was gaveled into being on Jan. 3, 2011, by newly elected House Speaker John Boehner, wasn’t just unproductive in comparison with the 111th. It was unproductive compared with any Congress since 1948, when scholars began keeping tabs on congressional productivity.

When it ends, the 112th Congress will have passed about 220 public laws — by far the least of any Congress on record. [Pols emphasis] Prior to the 112th, the least productive Congress was the 104th, from January 1995 to January 1997. Not coincidentally, that Congress also featured a new Republican House majority determined to ruin a Democratic president in advance of the next campaign. The 104th, however, passed 333 public laws — almost 50 percent more than the 112th. The 112th stands alone in its achievement of epic failure.

“Epic failure.” How’s that for a legacy, Mr. Speaker?

They can take away my money, my house, my cars…but they can never take…our Epic Failure!

A poll follows.

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14 thoughts on “When Truth is More Poetic than Fiction”

MADCO says:

January 4, 2013 at 6:29 pm

Less govt’ is better somehow.

So if 112 passed less legislation- that’s a good thing.

I assure you there are members of 113 that want to pass even less.

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  January 4, 2013 at 6:39 pm
  
  neuter it?
  
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  1. MADCO says:
    
    January 4, 2013 at 8:57 pm
    
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    1. BlueCat says:
      
      January 5, 2013 at 11:29 am
      
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Meiner49er says:

January 4, 2013 at 6:35 pm

EIGHTEEN 58, that is.

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1. Tom says:
  
  January 4, 2013 at 9:54 pm
  
  the 112th would still probably be behind the 35th congress since they tended to enact a bunch of separate laws that today would be bunched into omnibus bills.
  
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harrydoby says:

January 4, 2013 at 9:16 pm

He’ll find a way to out do even the miserable record of the 112th. He’s already got a leg up with what’s on his plate for the next two months.

All downhill from there…

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DavidThi808 says:

January 5, 2013 at 12:00 am

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1. allyncooper says:
  
  January 5, 2013 at 2:07 pm
  
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parsingreality says:

January 5, 2013 at 8:18 am

Um, uh, lesseeee….. Time’s up!

But I have to say that just totaling up the number of bills passed is a poor way of comparison. To say nothing of those who would say, fewer is better.

What amazes me is how the average voter keeps putting Republicans in charge of things and then when the ship rolls over, they scream about the ineffectiveness of Congress/government/Obama/Take Your Pick.

Voters here elected Prick Scott governor and have kept the thugs in both houses. Then homeowner’s insurance costs go through the (pun intended) roof, they drop coverages like pool cages and sink holes, they want private, underfunded little companies to take people out of the socialist Citizen’s company, and the voters can’t figure out what happened?

Apparently not. Although Prick Scott is polling at 36% approval, not even getting a majority with Rethuglicans, hit a high of 41% last year.

Almost wants you to think in terms of not-Universal suffrage. Do you suffer from major cognitive dissonance? Bzzzzzt…. No voter registration for you. In fact, you get on a list in case you try again.

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1. Gray in Mountains says:
  
  January 5, 2013 at 10:35 am
  
  I’d also like to read your perspective on why swamp buggies are no longer motor vehicles and the impact of that re fees, etc
  
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  1. parsingreality says:
    
    January 6, 2013 at 7:19 am
    
    …is the screened structure around a patio, pool or not. Living where you do, you probably only have mythological knowledge of blood sucking insects.
    
    No idea at all about anything swamp buggy.
    
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    1. Phoenix Rising says:
      
      January 7, 2013 at 1:06 am
      
      Black flies know no boundaries. I’m at 9500 and still get horseflies and mosquitos, too.
      
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caroman says:

January 5, 2013 at 11:34 am

This Congress just passed tax cuts for 99% of the American taxpayers. That is the very definition of political courage.

Wait a minute — oops. Passing tax cuts is the easiest thing for a politician to do.

Never mind.

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