Report: Current Congress Most Unproductive In History
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) – The next time your boss complains that employees are simply not getting the job done, remind them it could always be worse; they could be in charge of Congress.
According to the Huffington Post, the current 112th Congress will go down as the most unproductive session since the 1940's. Not only that, but the 112th Congress will capture the dubious distinction by a very wide margin.
The Huffington Post reported the 104th Congress (1995-1996) holds the record for fewest bills to become law over a two year period at 333. For comparison, with a week to go in the 112th Congress, just 219 bills have become law.
That means more than 100 would have to make it to the president's desk in less than a week to keep the current Congress from taking the title of "Do-Nothing Congress."
The problems in Congress are being vividly displayed during the fiscal cliff negotiations. House Republicans have vowed to fight any tax increase, regardless of the depth of spending cuts going along with them.
In addition, under Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), nearly every piece of legislation that makes it to the president's desk has to win a supermajority of 60 votes because nearly every bill is filibustered or simply has a hold put on it at some point in the Senate process.
Even something as simple as emergency aid for the victims of superstorm Sandy has seen delays due to partisanship fights. Senate Republicans have sought to decrease the amount of financial support saying the House won't agree to the Democratic proposals.
The partisanship in both the House of Representatives and the Senate has become so ridiculous that Senator McConnell was the first person in history to ever filibuster his own bill earlier in December because Democrats were going to support his plan to give the president more power over the debt ceiling.
The 113th Congress will begin meeting January 3, 2013 and be in power through January 2, 2015. The new makeup of Congress will give Democrats 55 votes in the Senate and roughly 200 in the House of Representatives.
Republicans will control 45 votes in the Senate and control the House majority with 233 votes. However, in the House, Republicans can lose just 16 votes on any bill to pass it if all Democrats vote in unison for or against a bill.
