Books Closed on the 111th Congress

I quote the following from Thomas Mann of Brookings:

The 111th Congress closed its books with a flurry of significant action during the post-election lame duck session, including a major food safety bill; huge tax cut and unemployment benefit extension; repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military; ratification of the new START treaty with Russia; and approval of medical benefits for 9/11 rescue workers. This close was consistent with a two-year legislative record whose productivity ranks with the Congresses empowered by the landslide elections of FDR and LBJ in the 1932 and 1964 respectively. The trio of mega bills enacted during 2009 and 2010—the initial economic stimulus, health reform, and financial regulation—have had or will have far-reaching effects on our economy and society. At least a dozen other significant pieces of legislation found their way into law. Among these notable accomplishments were bills on fair pay; student loans; new regulation of the credit card and tobacco industries; national service; stem cell research; land protection; and a major expansion of the FDA.

The 111th Congress and the first two years of the Obama administration, however, were beset by striking public skepticism of the value of these accomplishments, punctuated by the lowest rating of Congress by the public in polling history and the “shellacking” the president’s party took in the November midterm elections.

I suppose that the continuing high level of unemployment, the problems in housing (mortgages foreclosed or in danger of foreclosure, loss of value of housing), the reductions in the value of people's savings, the reduction in government services, and the continuing wars with no apparent reduction in the threat of terrorism it is not surprising that people are unhappy with government.

Blaming all these problems on the 111th Congress and the Obama administration makes about as much sense as blaming them for the cold weather we had before Christmas. The government, together with other governments, seems to have saved us from a global depression while making a lot of long-needed reforms. My guess is that the Tea Party folk will make things worse, and would make things much worse if they had more power in government. I surely hope the next election will be more supportive of Obama and the Democrats who have done so much good work over the past two years!