Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Congressional "productivity": A bug or a feature?
Congressional "productivity" is at a modern low point:
The 112th Congress is on pace to be one of the least productive in recent memory -- as measured by votes taken, bills made into laws, nominees approved. By most of those metrics, this crowd is underperforming even the "do-nothing Congress" of 1948, as President Harry Truman dubbed it. The hot-temper era of President Clinton's impeachment in the 1990s saw more bills become law.
There are many explanations offered in the linked article, but none of them are mine, which is that the two parties are measuring "productivity" differently. There is essentially no new work being done. Rather, the Republicans are trying to repeal programs and spending that the Democrats enacted when they had unassailable majorities in both houses of Congress, and the Democrats are trying to prevent that repeal. Unlike Truman or Clinton, President Obama is acting much more like a Congressional Democrat than a chief executive with an independent agenda, being himself quite content to see the Republicans fail.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Jul 06, 01:36:00 PM:
As far as I'm concerned this a feature not a bug.
JLW III
By , at
Wed Jul 06, 05:26:00 PM:
2012 will be a watershed election, because the argument regarding the nature of our federal government (limited, enumerated powers or unlimited and hopefully benevolent total control) needs to come to an end.
By , at
Thu Jul 07, 12:33:00 PM:
Well stated.
But we must never forget Clinton vetoed needed Welfare Reform 2 times - trying desperately to block all sound efforts. The Clinton Administration also pushed for massive deficit spending, which was stopped by the Republicans.
Often we forget, just how leftwing the Clintons actually were in reality. Hillary Clinton's disastrous efforts to Nationalize Health Care is a major example the promises of the "end of big government" were bold lies.
So much of the same disastrous Policy offerings provided by the Democratic Partisans today with Obama, Pelosi, Reid (since 2006 - 2008) were similar in the 1990's. They even match the same failed vision from the Carter Malaise. The fraud was better managed in the 90's, and it was long prior to sincere Media alternatives like the rise of the Internet, FOX News, greater Radio outreach, etc.
But the Democratic Party has not changed over decades of negligent failure. This is a Partisan addiction to a Machine, which continues to produce problems for all.
In fact, all of the Mortgage Redistribution efforts which eventually undermined Our Economy with toxic assets (blowing up finally in 2008) were born largely with the Clinton Experience beginning an absurd form of exploitation of Fannie/Freddie/HUD. This reality is still being ignored today, and ironically the Democrats have blocked sincere reform to address these problems. The Dodd/Frank Bill ironically focused only on Wall Street - more negligent nonsense.
The Clinton Administration's massive tax increase in the early 1990's helped create the Recession of 99-2000. Their mindless Fed Loan Guarantees for Enron (clear 'quid pro quo' corruption) was a symbol for the malfeasance on par with Whitewater.
The similarities with the Obama failure are enormous. Most of the Obama Officials are former Clintonites - including a disastrous Sec. of 'Smart Power'. Perhaps most significantly, the Clintons foolishly treated the threats of Terrorism as a mere law enforcement issue - even after the first bombing of the WTC in 1993. It is exactly the same misguided offering we see with Holder/Obama today. There terrible handling of the dangerous threats to the USA in the 1990's made all Americans far more vulnerable. It is a crime to see this return to this denial via the Obama Administration.
The weak policy embrace were so similar with the Clinton failure and the Obama Team today. The appeasement of North Korea, a killer named Arafat, etc., is just another example (reminds one of the Obama Team's misguided enabling of the worst, like China, Russia, Iran, Syria, etc., while they tend to treat healthy Allies rather poorly).
But Bill Clinton had some CEO experience as a Governor, who failed dramatically in ARK on his first term. He learned a little political sway ability to protect himself. Clinton was a far better liar with a more robust MEDIA monopoly to protect the enormous Clinton folly.
The problem remains, the Party which is so negligent. Right now, the Democrats have still not produced a budget - Obama's was laughed at by all sides.
We simply cannot allow this failure to continue. 2012 must bring some sanity, similar to what has recently taken place in WI, NJ, etc. One can only "hope" we have the strength to reject this folly.
