Congratulations 113th Congress - You've made the Guiness Book of World Records as "The Least Productive Congress in U.S. History"

Congratulations Indeed - Obstructing Legislation, Spending Over $60M in Taxpayer Money Voting to Repeal  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare,) and Not Passing a Farm Bill, Unemployment Extension, Immigration, Minimum Wage and So Much More

Chart by www.msnbc.com

A Budget Bill was Passed, But Not Much More

Thanks to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwomen Patty Murray (D-WA) a budget bill was passed so we won't have another government shutdown for two years. It was encouraging to see House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) stand up to outside groups like Heritage Action, Club for Growth, and Freedom Works See December 13, 2013 Get Involved for a Better America Post but, he's back, saying he won't put up any bill to raise the Minimum Wage, even a dime.

The House TeaPublicans spent over $60M on 46 votes to repeal "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" aka "Obamacare." Some say the definition of "insane" is to repeatedly do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome, well the TeaPublicans definitely fit that definition in this instant.

Meme by thejennerjahnreport.blogspot.com

 In a Think Progress article from May 15, 2013 when they were about to take the 43rd vote Think Progress said:

 To put that in perspective, they have held votes on only 281 days since taking power in January 2011. (The House and Senate have pretty light legislative loads these days, typically voting only three or four days a week.)

 That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way. [...] Michael Steel, [Speaker John Boehner's spokesman], said that spending 15 percent of their time on the issue was hardly a waste for Republicans. “Given that the bill amounts to a takeover of roughly 15 percent of the American economy,” he said, “that sounds about right.”

 By some earlier estimations, Republicans in the 112th Congress wasted about 90 hours and $50 million dollars on their multiple failed efforts to get rid of the health reform law. This new Congress is shaping up to be no different. Even though Republicans have admitted they have lost on Obamacare, and are even acknowledging that their future repeal efforts will fail, they have continued to block legislative efforts to amend the health reform law in favor of stubbornly opposing it altogether.

 Now that the 113th Congress has completed 46 votes it is estimated to be over $60M of taxpayer money doing something over and over again expecting a different outcome.

Picture by www.newsofinterest.tv

Some Things That Didn't Get Done

 Annual appropriations bills are normally passed with little discussion, but not in the "least productive Congress in history." In defending his Congress House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said "more than half of the annual appropriations bills and the Senate hasn't passed any of them." First of all, "passing" only little more than half of the annual appropriations bills is not acceptable. Secondly, when you write absurd things into bills, no matter how much the bill might have started out sensible, it won't be passed because of what had been attached to it.

 Appropriations bills always originate in the House and they require both chambers to work on them to get them signed into law. Beyond that, the House won't take up several major bills that have cleared the Senate, including immigration reform and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

 The handful of key bills that have passed the House, such as re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act and disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy victims, were accompanied by intense partisanship.

Photo by www.capitalisminstitute.org

The Farm Bill and Food Stamps

 The House also didn't give itself much time to work this month, despite not having passed a Farm Bill, an Immigration Reform Bill, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, a Jobs Bill, an extension to Unemployment, and much, much more As of Tuesday, the House is scheduled to work only seven days between now and Jan. 7, when members return for the second session of the 113th Congress. The Senate is currently scheduled to be in for most of the month. In recent months August, and December, Congress will work 9 days each month and get paid $29,000, that's more than $3,000/day, not bad, especially when they want to cut another $39B out of Food Stamps. A family eligible for food stamps, including those working full-time at places like McDonald's and Wal*Mart, were getting $1.50 per meal per person. The cut that recently took effect cut about $5B out of food stamps, that's $36 less for a family of 4 receiving $600/mo. Remembering that the $600 works out to $1.50 a meal for each person, on top of the money already taken out of food stamps the TeaPublican Congress wants to take another $39B from the program. That would be another $216 taken from that family if 4. That's the main reason a Farm Bill wasn't passed as food stamps are administered through the Dept. of Agriculture, and therefore part of the Farm Bill.

Photo of Infrastructure by wfrc.org

 Infrastructure

Our infrastructure is deteriorating at an alarming rate, bridges that we drive over everyday have already failed multiple inspections. According to Global Research www.globalresearch.ca "America's Failing Infrastructure" as of 2010 America is not even in the Top 10 in infrastructure competitiveness. Even with higher household earnings we spend more on transportation than other developing nations. Americans spend 17.6% of their household earnings, that's $8,810 per family, with an average income of $50,054/yr, with 4.8 billions hours wasted in traffic jams in 2008 to the tune of 3.9 billion gallon s of gas. 210 daily trips are taken across deficient bridges in our 102 largest cities. 1/4 of U.S. Bridges are "Functionally Obsolete" or "Structurally Deficient." including 77% of the bridges in Washington, D.C. The U.S. has fallen to 22nd for quality of port infrastructure.

Photo by www.newsofinterest.tv

Immigration

 In an article from The Hill on December 19, 2013, Time is Now for Immigration Reform it is reported that:

"Wide acknowledgement from Republican House leadership — and support among Republican constituents — shows that immigration reform is definitely not a “dead” issue, but one with great opportunity in 2014.

 Every member of the House leadership team has expressed commitment to move reform forward in 2014, and each week the number of rank and file Republicans in favor of reform grows.

 In 2013 we made great strides toward a successful 2014 for immigration. Considering that just over a year ago this issue was on the sidelines, the fact that the home stretch is in sight is no small accomplishment.
2014 stands to be that blockbuster year that finally takes reform across the finish line."

 The Latino Post asks Will Congress Pass a Reform Bill During the 2014 Election Year?  At a recent immigration reform debate held at Rio Salado College in Temple, Ariz., nationally known immigration experts and advocates weighed in on the issue. 

"I would be a crazy person to bet my house that it was gonna happen - I'm not foolish, but I also would not bet my house that it won't happen," said Tamar Jacoby, the CEO of Immigration Works USA, a federation of business groups that support reform, to the Fronteras Desk.

He continued, saying that House Republicans may be more willing to vote for immigration legislation once they know whether or not they will be challenged by another Republican in a primary during mid-term elections next year.
 

Meme by blog.atrinternational.com

Optimism for 2014

 This writer  likes to be optimistic, I'd like to think that Since John Boehner finally stood up to the extreme right-wing groups once, that he'll do it again. I'd like to think that the Tea Party is on it's way out, in part thanks to their stupidity of shutting down the government over repealing Obamacare, especially since they had already voted over 40 times to repeal it to n o avail. I'd like to think that the brainwashed, low-information voters will see the light and vote out the politicians (who themselves have golden healthcare plans through their employer, the government, the taxpayers,) that are telling them that their not going to extend Medicaid, at no cost to the state for three years, so they can receive healthcare. I'd like to see them approve work on our infrastructure, creating jobs. I'd like to see the war on women come to an end. I'd like to see all the Republican Governors stop passing laws to disenfranchise voters. I'd like to see all the gerrymandering stop, so that Democrats don't have to win an election in a given state by a margin of 7-1 to be victorious like in Pennsylvania. I'd like to see a comprehensive jobs bill passed. In the immediate future I'd like to see unemployment benefits extended, and minimum wage raised. I'd like to see the trend of income inequality start to turn around.

Chart by currydemocrats.org

The 2014 calendar for the House shows members will work 113 days, down from 126 days in 2013. In 2012, 107 days were scheduled. I hope that things start to turn around in 2014. There are some things that we can do. We can contact our Congressmen/women https://www.govtrack.us/, U.S. Senators through http://www.senate.gov/, and our State Senators and Assemblymen/women at http://votesmart.org/login?next=/user#.UrN4zSccNht. 

The biggest problem in our government right now is that our elections and our politicians are corrupt. This corruption was cemented into place when on January 21, 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United in Citizens United v FEC. This landmark case removed limits on how much corporations could contribute to campaigns. The amount of money spent by the ultra-rich, corporations, and Super PACS skyrocketed. An example would be that top donors from the fossil fuel industry donated over $11M in the 2012 election cycle. On October 8, 2013 the Supreme Court heard another case, yet to be decided, but will probably go the same way, 5-4, because the same people are in the Supreme Court, McCutcheon v FEC. If this case is decided for the Alabama businessman, individual aggregate limits will be removed for individuals. That means that those same top donors from the fossil fuel industry that donated $11M will be able to donate 27x that, or $312M. There is a nationwide effort for states to produce resolutions to get the U.S. Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United, go to United 4 The People to find what local organization you can work with toward this effort.