New Congress is Least Productive in Years

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Reporting from Washington— Freshman Republican Sen. strong>Kelly Ayotte< is often asked what surprises her most about serving in the esteemed upper chamber of Congress. The earnest, 43-year-old conservative from strong>New Hampshire< has come up with an uncomplicated reply:

"I thought that we would vote on a lot more bills."

She most recently offered this answer from her Senate office at 3:45 on a Thursday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader strong>Harry Reid< (D-Nev.) had just announced that the Senate was done voting for the week. Senators wouldn't be needed until the following Tuesday.

In the lobby outside Ayotte's office, a television tuned to strong>C-SPAN< was showing an empty Senate chamber. In offices up and down the hallway, aides were booking flights home.

So it goes these days on Capitol Hill, a place of many headlines and much drama but not a whole lot of legislating.

The 112th Congress is on pace to be one of the least productive in recent memory — as measured by votes taken, bills made into laws, nominees approved. By most of those metrics, this crowd is underperforming even the "do-nothing Congress" of 1948, as Harry Truman dubbed it. The hot-temper era of Clinton impeachment in the 1990s saw more bills become law.

There is no shortage of explanations for the apparent lack of legislative success. Political observers see hyperpartisanship and perpetual campaigning that makes once-routine steps politically perilous.

Experts cite the rise of a brand of conservatism that aims for a government that governs least. Historians note that it's not unusual for Congress to take a breather after a period of hyperactivity like the one strong>Washington< completed last year.

Lawmakers have a long list of politically tinged reasons: strong>Republicans< who control the House blame Democratic leaders in the Senate for refusing to hold votes that might prove problematic for members up for election next year; Democratic leaders in the Senate blame Republicans in both chambers for not working with them on legislation that has a shot of winning a presidential signature.