113th Congress

The 111th Congress (2009-2010) Vs. The 115th Congress (2017-2018)

The first Congress under Barack Obama–the 111th Congress of 2009-2010–was the most productive Congress since the 89th Congress of 1965-1966 under Lyndon B. Johnson.

Despite all of the attacks on Nancy Pelosi, she can be regarded as a great Speaker of the House from 2007-2010, and once a Democratic President was in office, that 111th Congress reached its peak.

Ever since 2011, when the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, and since 2015, when they took over the US Senate, nothing much has been accomplished, and the number of days per year that either or both houses have been in session, has rapidly declined.

John Boehner and Paul Ryan in the House of Representatives, and Mitch McConnell in the US Senate have performed in a horrible fashion, and have worked at obstructionism during the Obama years, and in a vicious, vengeful way this year under President Donald Trump.

Each Congress since the 111th has been worse than the one before, so the 112th Congress (2011-2012); the 113th Congress (2013-2014); the 114th Congress (2015-2016); and the present 115th Congress (2017-2018) will, as a group, go down as the most disgraceful period of years of Congress in the past hundred years!

Reince Preibus Has It Right: The Republicans Are “Cooked” If They Do Not Win The White House In 2016!

The Republican National Chairman, Reince Preibus, said yesterday that the Republicans are “cooked”, if they do not win the White House in 2016, and for once, he is absolutely right!

The Presidency is the prize for a political party, and even with control of one or both houses of Congress, the party is stymied if it has an “unfriendly” Chief Executive.

The Republican Party is self destructing by allowing its extremist right wing Tea Party element to dictate its actions and principles, and they are proving how incompetent and useless they are with the worst record in American history of production during the 112th Congress (2011-2012), the 113th Congress (2013-2014),  and now the 114th Congress (2015-2016).

And its Presidential candidates are pitiful, and the party is allowing three people with ZERO government experience to be the front runners for the Presidency, all of whom would be absolutely horrible Chief Executives, and with Donald Trump and Dr. Benjamin Carson, in particular, a very scary scenario, as both seem to be mentally unbalanced with their behavior and utterances.

But the remaining office holder Republicans running for President, in most cases, are no better, stating ridiculous and outrageous ideas and beliefs, including such candidates as Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, and Bobby Jindal.

The clear cut reality is that the Republicans will NEVER win the White House again if they persist in their misogyny, racism, nativism, Islamophobia, and homophobia, along with consistent attacks on labor and the environment.  And if they lose the White House, they lose the ability to affect the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and this means progressive appointments to the courts for the long term, transforming American history, and weakening conservatism for the long haul.

So Preibus is correct, the GOP is “cooked” if they lose the 2016 Presidential election, and most assuredly, they are on the road to such disaster!

Republican Insanity In The House Of Representatives As Speaker John Boehner Is Challenged By Louie Gohmert And Ted Yoho!

The 114th Congress is due to open on Tuesday, and this first all Republican Congress since the end of 2006 should be one for the books, in a negative way!

Having come off two successive Congresses (112th and 113th), which set records for the most incompetent, unaccomplished Congresses in modern American history, with both having a divided Congress, rare in American history, we can now expect total breakdown, craziness, and outrage to become the norm ever more.

It all begins with a last minute challenge within the GOP to the leadership of Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, who has been seen as the worst modern Speaker in many decades!

Boehner has had trouble controlling his own caucus members in the past four years as Speaker, and had a challenge to his second two year Speakership two years ago, but now he faces another threat to be dumped by his caucus when it meets on Tuesday.

The largest Republican caucus since 1929, but with fewer Tea Party members as a percentage of the total, Boehner should have no problem disposing of his opponents, but the whole idea that two lunatic members of the right wing fringe Tea Party are challenging him, is in itself memorable as to just how much insanity there is the Republican Party of 2015!

Who would think that two of the most looney members of the Republican Party–Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida—would believe they are qualified to lead the House, and be two heartbeats away from the Presidency as a result?

Gohmert, in the House since 2005, joined the loonies of the loonies—Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Steve King of Iowa—in being part of the “Three Stooges”—the most embarrassing trio in Congress, bare none, and now Ted Yoho, a newcomer as of two years ago, has been competing to join this trio, which now lacks Michele Bachmann, who retired at the end of the last Congress, under investigation for corruption in her 2012 Presidential campaign, which marked the looniest campaign for the White House in memory. Yoho, with a name like that, desperately wants to be noticed, and is unwilling to allow Gohmert to get all the attention, so is making it a two pronged attack on the Speaker.

This should insure that Boehner keeps the position, even though, by all same judgments, he should be kicked out as someone who has disgraced the office, and desperately needs Alcoholics Anonymous, as everyone knows, but few speak out, that he has a major drinking problem that needs attention!

What a statement that the best that the GOP can conjure up for the Speakership of the “People’s Branch”, is Boehner, Gohmert, and Yoho!

Three Outstanding U.S. Senators Retiring: A Loss To The Institution

As the 113th Congress nears its end, setting a record as the worst, most unproductive Congress in modern history, it is time to reflect on the loss of three outstanding US Senators who are retiring, after decades of exceptional service.

Those three Senators are:

Tom Harkin of Iowa
Carl Levin of Michigan
Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia

Harkin and Rockefeller served 30 years in the Senate, while Levin served 36 years.

All were principled men who stood up for the middle class and promoted progressive values and principles in their years in the Senate.

All three were men of conscience who worked against right wing attacks on the Democratic Party and its constituents, and added dignity to the Senate.

All three will be greatly missed, but will go down in the annals of Senate history, as having been among the greats in its history.

The 113th Congress, Worst In Modern History, Refuses To Take Responsibility, And Enact A Resolution Backing War Against ISIL (ISIS)!

The 113th Congress is a disgrace, having passed fewer bills than ever in modern history; refusing to cooperate on anything with President Barack Obama, and now unwilling to take action to back the President with a formal war resolution against ISIL (ISIS) in the period leading up to the Midterm Elections, and even in the lame duck period after the election and until the 114th Congress convenes in January!

This is a disgrace, as it is the job of Congress to work with the President on war issues, and all they care about is campaigning, and keeping their jobs, with the great salary and benefits!

Since the Speaker of the House, John Boehner,  controls the calendar, the Republicans are to blame for ignoring the responsibilities of Congress to the American people!

If the people had sense, they would kick the GOP out of House control and insure the return of a Democratic majority in the US Senate!

The Do Nothing 113th Congress Worse Than 112th Congress, And Far Worse Than Truman’s 80th Congress In 1947-1948!

History tells us that President Harry Truman ran against the Republican controlled 80th Congress in his election campaign of 1948, calling it a “Do Nothing” Congress.

What he meant was that they were passing laws that he considered counterproductive, including the anti labor Taft Hartley Act, which he vetoed, but passed over his veto by a two thirds vote in both houses of Congress.

But in actuality, that 80th Congress passed over 900 laws, and cooperated with Truman on funding for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, and also agreed to creation of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council and the Defense Department.

By comparison, the 112th Congress of 2011-2012 became the least productive Congress in history, passing fewer than 300 laws, but now the 113th Congress has passed fewer than 150 laws, making them half as accomplished as the previous Congress.

There is a total refusal of Republicans to cooperate at all with Barack Obama, and they have had the shortest work calendar of any Congress, including the previous one!

Now they are taking a five week break, despite so many crucial issues to deal with, and their public opinion rating is the lowest it has ever been!

But will the American people, with the reality of gerrymandering ruling the House of Representatives, be able to unite and give the Democrats back control of the House? Not likely, and the US Senate is also dangerously in play!

So two more years of stalemate and gridlock are likely!

Congressional Republican “Vacation” An Absolute Outrage With So Many Problems And Issues That Need To Be Dealt With!

There is criticism of President Barack Obama taking a vacation with his family, with so many foreign policy crises emerging. But it must also be said that the Republican House of Representatives, led by Speaker of the House John Boehner, which sets up the Congressional calendar for both the House and Senate, is absolutely outrageous in its short calendar of work dates, and planning more time off to campaign, while there are so many problems and issues to deal with!

What is the Congress unwilling to deal with, which should be priorities?

The Border Crisis of Central American refugees, many of them children.

The funding of veterans benefits and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Highway Trust Fund, which will run out of money for infrastructure spending, and which will lead to layoffs of workers, adding to the unemployment rate.

The increase in the minimum wage, which has not gone up since 2009, while the cost of living has increased, as it would over any five year period.

The lifeline of the unemployment compensation, which has left many millions without any sustenance, and increased homelessness across the nation.

And these are just the biggest priorities, but this Congress, the 113th, is the absolute worst in modern history, if not at any time, surpassing the previous 112th Congress in negativism!

50 Years Ago Today, “Great Society” Speech Of Lyndon B. Johnson!

A half century ago, on this date, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave a commencement address at the University of Michigan, on the six month anniversary of his becoming President, due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Instead of just stating that he would finish the work of John F. Kennedy that had been left undone, LBJ enunciated the greatest series of domestic reform goals ever formulated, more than the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt thirty years earlier, particularly in the “Second New Deal” legislation of 1935-1936.

What followed in 1965-1966 was the most productive Congress in American history, the 89th Congress, with the FDR 74th Congress the second most productive ever in American history.

We saw the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, the War on Poverty, education legislation, consumer legislation, environmental legislation, immigration reform, and so much else that advanced the American domestic agenda!

While we celebrate that 50th anniversary, one must realize that we have taken many steps backward, and no worse than the present 113th Congress, the absolute worst ever in American history in taking care of the nation’s domestic agenda.

And this comes just four years after the end of the 111th Congress under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the most productive since the 89th Congress, during the first two years in office of Barack Obama.

The nation has been poorly served, and we have backtracked on so much that had been done under FDR and LBJ!

This is a tragedy, the extent of which we will not fully realize for many years, and it is a moment to commiserate and to mourn what mean spirit and lack of compassion can do to undermine the “American Dream.” Government activism has been rejected for a harsh, individualistic, libertarian mentality that favors leaving those less fortunate to the “wolves”.

The Crucial Importance Of A Democratic Senate And President For The Future

The battle for Democratic control of the House of Representatives, the need to gain 17 seats, is a bitter one, with right wing groups spending millions to make sure that the Republicans keep control, and prevent any furthering of the Barack Obama agenda.

Due to the reality of gerrymandered districts, created by Republican legislatures and governors, as a result of the 2010 midterm elections, the concept of majority rule has been distorted, with Democrats winning more total votes nationally in Congressional races, but Republicans able to win a majority of seats, and oppose everything Obama wants, and cause a shutdown of the government in October.

Due to the extremism of the Republican House as a result of the “hostage” situation created by the Tea Party Movement, the 2013 session of the Congress has been the worst since records were kept in 1947, but now the “establishment” Republicans are declaring war on the Tea Party right wingers, and trying to insure that the mainstream conservatives, led by Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, will be able to control the future.

At the same time, right wing pressure groups are trying to defeat a group of conservatives in House and Senate primaries, so the civil war may give Democrats the opportunity to gain enough seats to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker again in the 114th Congress of 2015-2016. That would allow the budgetary power of the House Ways and Means Committee to be back in Democratic hands, giving them the opportunity to reverse regressive policies perpetrated by Republicans since 2011.

But even more important is the keeping of a Democratic Senate majority, with the ability to get appointments of the President confirmed by a majority, rather than needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. This is particularly important for federal district and circuit court nominees, and for the eventual approval of Supreme Court nominees on the aging Court.

Part of this is also the need to have a Democratic President after 2016, as that reality, plus a Democratic Senate, would guarantee that social conservatism would lose out on such issues, as abortion, gay marriage, civil liberties, civil rights, and so many other issues that are crucial to the long range future of making America a nation of fairness, justice, equality, and tolerance!

Congressional Session The Worst Since Records Kept In 1947!

The 113th Congress, First Session, is now over, and it is the WORST year of Congressional action since records were kept beginning in 1947!

This year’s session was truly the DO NOTHING Congress, as only 58 bills were passed, and if this was private enterprise, with the lack of action and accomplishment, the members of Congress would face being fired for incompetence,

But while there can be criticism of the Democratic controlled Senate, the House of Representatives, supposedly the “voice of the people”, since it is based on approximately equal population in each Congressional district, particularly right after the once a decade reapportionment of seats, is much more the villain, as the Tea Party Movement membership of about 50-70 members has been focused on total stalemate and gridlock, and made life hellish for traditional conservative Republicans, led by Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The budget deal in December overcame the Tea Party element, and hopefully, that is a sign of possible accomplishments in 2014, with the midterm elections coming up, but public confidence in Congress is at an all time low, and they richly deserve that condemnation!