It was the worst “do-nothing” Congress since 1995, with just 66 legislative items enacted. Some 1 percenters would argue that less is better here.
The dysfunctional federal government finally agreed to extend a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits after President Obama stared down a divided Republican party by threatening to stay in town while the Congress ‘vacationed,’ which I’ll bet most voters would have a hard time discerning anyway, given the gridlock in Washington.
Gallup has Congressional Approval rating at 11% an all time low, which makes Obama’s also low 42% rating looking like a strong case for a Democratic landslide in the elections next year. All 229 House members who voted to cut off unemployment benefits were Republicans. Nearly 2 million people would have lost unemployment benefits in January alone when Congress reconvenes.
If only all such political bickering and talk around employment benefits were producing actual jobs, then all Americans would be working, building the economy and supporting government by paying taxes. As it is, the rich are getting richer and the middle class is shrinking. If you are keeping score more than eight million jobs were lost under the policies of President Bush. President Obama spent almost a $1 trillion to restore 2.5 million jobs.
And the Washington post Via The Atlantic notes that it was the worst “do-nothing” Congress since 1995, with just 66 legislative items enacted, according to GovTrack. Some taxpayers could argue that this is a good thing. More bickering over doing nothing resumes in January. When Congress changes location back to DC.
A slow and fragile U.S. auto sales recovery continues amid questions if it can be maintained in 2012. See December New Vehicle Sales to End 2011 above 1 million
