Someone get John Boehner a tissue! The 112th Congress has been called the least effective and most hated group of slimy politicians … well … ever.
“The failure to negotiate a successful conclusion to the fiscal cliff was a truly fitting end to the 112th Congress, which was the least effective and most disliked legislative body in years,” opines Walter Hickey at the Business Insider .
Indeed, this Congress has seen some of the lowest approval ratings in years, passed a record low number of bills compared to the 11th and 110th, and even under-performed the infamous “Do-Nothing” Congress of President Truman days.
“I think you’d have to go back to the 1850s to find a period of congressional dysfunction like the one we’re in today,” US history professor Daniel Feller told NPR .
It does seem somewhat strange that the 112th creates a no-win economic scenario (the fiscal cliff) that really just punishes us more than it does them in an effort to encourage bipartisan solutions to our deep ideological woes. Instead of working together, posturing on the left and meaningless symbolic initiatives on the right defined the 112th, and the worst part?
Now we’re going to suffer the consequences. It is 5:15pm central time as of this posting, New Year’s Eve 2012. The fiscal cliff swings into effect tomorrow, and the 112th isn’t going to vote on it today. Sure, they’ll pull some rabbit out of their hat and everyone will high-five and congratulate each other on averting a financial disaster of their own design. Daily Kos pointed out that Mitch McConnell played an interesting hand this afternoon, which only left me wondering where this GOP strategy has been all along.
But the 112th will still be the least effective and most hated Congressional body in US history.
Good job, 112th Congress. You’re awful.
