1 - Howthe 113th Do-Nothing Congress Lived Up to Its Name
The 113th Congress last year was arguably one of the least productive bodies in history. Lawmakers passed just 55 substantive bills that were signed into law, according to the Pew Research Center, while being bogged down in a partisan morass over scores of other important matters.
Moreover, the House was in session a total of 942 hours in 2013 (not counting brief pro-forma sessions), The New York Times calculated — “the fewest hours in a nonelection year since 2005, when detailed information about legislative activity became available.”
Like a dysfunctional family writ large, the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-dominated Senate talked past each other on critical issues that included immigration reform, gun violence, food stamps and farm legislation, job training, trade and energy production.
2 - GetReady for the ‘Do-Next-to-Nothing’ Congress
If the 113th Congress broke all records last year for being the biggest do-nothing legislative body in modern times, this year it may set the record for doing “next to nothing.”
Big-ticket measures such as comprehensive immigration reform, an overhaul of the tax code, an increase in the minimum wage, an extension of long-term unemployment insurance, improvements to the Affordable Care Act, major infrastructure projects for creating new jobs, expedited trade legislation and more appear well out of reach, according to some political experts.
With a new two-year budget and spending package in place and a year-long extension of the Treasury’s borrowing authority agreed to, Republicans have signaled an unwillingness to take up any politically-charged measure this year that might detract from their efforts this fall to expand their majority in the House and possibly take back control of the Senate.
he 113th
Congress last year was arguably one of the least productive bodies in
history. Lawmakers passed just 55 substantive bills that were signed
into law, according to the Pew Research Center, while being bogged down in a partisan morass over scores of other important matters.
Moreover, the House was in session a total of 942 hours in 2013 (not counting brief pro-forma sessions), The New York Times calculated — “the fewest hours in a nonelection year since 2005, when detailed information about legislative activity became available.”
- See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/17/How-113th-Do-Nothing-Congress-Lived-Its-Name#sthash.j82tWVtB.dpuf
Moreover, the House was in session a total of 942 hours in 2013 (not counting brief pro-forma sessions), The New York Times calculated — “the fewest hours in a nonelection year since 2005, when detailed information about legislative activity became available.”
- See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/17/How-113th-Do-Nothing-Congress-Lived-Its-Name#sthash.j82tWVtB.dpuf
How
the 113th Do-Nothing Congress Lived Up to Its Name - See more at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/17/How-113th-Do-Nothing-Congress-Lived-Its-Name#sthash.j82tWVtB.dpuf
How
the 113th Do-Nothing Congress Lived Up to Its Name - See more at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/17/How-113th-Do-Nothing-Congress-Lived-Its-Name#sthash.j82tWVtB.dpuf
How
the 113th Do-Nothing Congress Lived Up to Its Name - See more at:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/02/17/How-113th-Do-Nothing-Congress-Lived-Its-Name#sthash.j82tWVtB.dpu
