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Congress is a national shame - Independence, MO - The Examiner
Congress is a national shame

Congress is a national shame

In America's Corner

By Jerry Plantz
Posted Aug 07, 2012 @ 12:13 AM
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The current 535 members of the 112th Congress have the embarrassing distinction of placing first as the most inefficient, most effete Congress in the history of this nation.

Sadly, our two senators from Missouri and our six “Show Me State” representatives share this ignominious epithet. Candidates trying to displace incumbents are from the same mold – conservative favoring excessive cuts versus liberals favoring excessive spending.

And to add indifference to distain Congress has now gone on a five-week recess leaving many bills vital to the advancement of this country swept under the rug, such as failing to protect the Postal Service from going down on one knee by defaulting on a $5.5 billion payment to future retiree health benefits. Ben Franklin must be furious in his grave.

Some $110 billion in defense spending cuts are under that rug along with the Bush-Tax Cuts which will expire at the end of the year.

Most egregious is a failed farm bill with disaster assistance aid to drought-stricken farmers. Add to that a cybersecurity bill that would unite the government and businesses as one to protect the nation’s infrastructure from Internet cyber attacks.

Newsmax reports that; “just 151 laws have been enacted in 19 months; more than two dozen of them were to rename post offices and courthouses, or add individuals to the Smithsonian board. By comparison, the previous Congress enacted 383 laws with President Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling Capitol Hill.

Even in 2007-08, when Republican Bush was president and Democrats ran Congress, 460 laws were enacted.

Congress did pass something substantive; they worked out a temporary solution to avoid a government shutdown for six more months.

Is it any wonder that a recent CBS News and New York Times poll found Congress with only a 12 percent approval rating and 79 percent giving them a thumbs down? Moreover, none of these renouncing numbers seems to faze them.

Newsmax summed it up this way” “The standoff is what happens when a bitterly divided government mixes with election-year politics to throw sand in the gears of official Washington. The tea party-dominated House and a Senate controlled by Democrats struggling to keep their narrow majority in November view each other with a palpable disdain.”

Five weeks vacation. Must be nice – and with our tax dollars.

I give you President John Adams toast: Independence forever.

The current 535 members of the 112th Congress have the embarrassing distinction of placing first as the most inefficient, most effete Congress in the history of this nation.

Sadly, our two senators from Missouri and our six “Show Me State” representatives share this ignominious epithet. Candidates trying to displace incumbents are from the same mold – conservative favoring excessive cuts versus liberals favoring excessive spending.

And to add indifference to distain Congress has now gone on a five-week recess leaving many bills vital to the advancement of this country swept under the rug, such as failing to protect the Postal Service from going down on one knee by defaulting on a $5.5 billion payment to future retiree health benefits. Ben Franklin must be furious in his grave.

Some $110 billion in defense spending cuts are under that rug along with the Bush-Tax Cuts which will expire at the end of the year.

Most egregious is a failed farm bill with disaster assistance aid to drought-stricken farmers. Add to that a cybersecurity bill that would unite the government and businesses as one to protect the nation’s infrastructure from Internet cyber attacks.

Newsmax reports that; “just 151 laws have been enacted in 19 months; more than two dozen of them were to rename post offices and courthouses, or add individuals to the Smithsonian board. By comparison, the previous Congress enacted 383 laws with President Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats controlling Capitol Hill.

Even in 2007-08, when Republican Bush was president and Democrats ran Congress, 460 laws were enacted.

Congress did pass something substantive; they worked out a temporary solution to avoid a government shutdown for six more months.

Is it any wonder that a recent CBS News and New York Times poll found Congress with only a 12 percent approval rating and 79 percent giving them a thumbs down? Moreover, none of these renouncing numbers seems to faze them.

Newsmax summed it up this way” “The standoff is what happens when a bitterly divided government mixes with election-year politics to throw sand in the gears of official Washington. The tea party-dominated House and a Senate controlled by Democrats struggling to keep their narrow majority in November view each other with a palpable disdain.”

Five weeks vacation. Must be nice – and with our tax dollars.

I give you President John Adams toast: Independence forever.

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