Today the Department of Labor announced that the economy added 114,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September. Private businesses added 104,000 jobs last months – marking 31 consecutive months of private job growth.
Even though the unemployment rate is lower today than it was in January 2009 – there is still much work to be done to strengthen our economy for American workers, their families and small businesses.
Congress should be in session right now working to create jobs and grow our economy. Yet, rather than do the work of the American people, Republicans decided to head home early to campaign – without extending middle class tax cuts, without acting to prevent the fiscal cliff, and without passing a jobs agenda. This uncertainty undermines the middle class and our economy.
Today, Congresswoman Donna Edwards tried to get Do-Nothing Republicans to come back to the floor to work on the long list of unfinished business the GOP left behind when they rang the recess bell. The GOP gaveled her down and turned the lights off on the American people.
Unwilling to steer the country away from the fiscal cliff and unable to pass what has previously been routine legislation, members of the 112th Congress this week are doing what they do best — nothing…
…Has there ever been a time when so much important legislation was left behind as Congress left for recess prior to an election? Lawmakers even wrapped up their business early — the House’s Friday adjournment marking the earliest election-year recess since 1960. These must be the lazy, entitled victims on the government dole that Mitt Romney was talking about…
…Predictably enough, lawmakers left town amid the familiar partisan acrimony, driven more than anything by Republican obstruction, that has resulted in such an unproductive two years on Capitol Hill…
When President Barack Obama borrows Harry Truman’s famous line characterizing a “do-nothing Congress,” he isn’t engaging in purely political rhetoric. History is on his side. As the 112th Congress recesses this week, not to return until after the November elections, it has the dubious distinction of being the second least productive Congress since Washington began keeping such statistics in 1947…
… The 112th Congress has earned a reputation for monumental procrastination and toxic paralysis. Unyielding Republican obstructionism is the root of this dysfunction, and no amount of “extended district work” can change that fact…
“The House leadership chose to walk away from farmers rather than do their job and deal with the tough political questions and take the difficult votes…Our family farmers and our rural communities should not be used as pawns in this game.” [9/19]
“There’s a lot of uncertainty out here among farmers, especially in light of the drought which has driven volatility in prices and increased costs…We need Congress to act on a new farm bill and we need them to do that this year so that next spring when farmers head out to the fields all the decisions have been made based on certainty.” [9/19]
“Weaker safety nets and deeper cuts to important conservation programs will be the result if the House fails to act…After floods, droughts and challenging economic times, producing food and feeding people shouldn’t be political anymore.” [9/14]
The 2008 Farm Bill expires on Sept. 30. Congress is well aware of its expiration, and sadly leadership has succumbed to political pressure and will leave with unfinished business. Aside from politics, there is no reason that the House doesn’t bring the farm bill to a floor vote. Leadership has chosen to cancel all votes in October. The farm bill is a critical piece of legislation to all Americans. It affects 16 million jobs and is the single largest investment in rural America. It is disappointing that leadership has chosen to leave us hanging because of political games. [9/17]
Without a Farm Bill, farmers will face significant challenges securing financing for planting next year’s crop, vital safety-net programs for dairy producers will lapse, livestock producers in drought-stricken regions of the country will be left without important disaster assistance, and important export promotion programs will be frozen. The uncertainty facing our farmers, ranchers, and rural economies compels swift and decisive action by Congress to pass a five-year Farm Bill. We stand ready to work with you to ensure America’s agricultural economy remains strong. [9/18]
The inability of the House to act this summer will threaten even deeper cuts in a new farm bill during the lame duck session… Or it could result in a one-year extension of current law, which would kick the can into 2013, when a new Congress and potentially a new president would start the process all over again. This scenario, which many think likely, will not provide the long-term certainly which farmers and many others in rural America, who also depend on the farm bill, need from Washington. [9/20]
“Without a new farm bill agriculture is left in a clear limbo on such issues as crop insurance or disaster aid… This year disaster assistance is especially urgent for those who have been hit by the severe drought, the worst in 60 years. A new farm bill is especially important for livestock and specialty crop producers and dairy farmers.” [9/19]
“Several important mandatory research programs that are in the Farm Bill will receive no funds at all. Scientists working on subjects critical to the health of the nation and the rural economy, such as specialty crops and organic production would have their primary funding programs suspended. They may have to redirect their research efforts and we would lose essential talent.” [9/19]
“Never in the history of farm legislation have so many diverse farmer and rancher voices have joined together in such a common call to action…All of us share a resounding and common message: Congress, for our farm and ranch families, their communities, and for our nation, pass the farm bill now.” [9/14]
In a now infamous video released on Monday, Gov. Romney derided hardworking Americans, seniors and members of our Armed Services, by calling them “victims” and repeating a favorite misleading talking point of House GOPleaders.
This morning on the NBC Today Show, Leader Pelosi said Gov. Romney’s remarks show the contrast in ideology. While Democrats want to reignite the American Dream and build ladders of opportunity, Romney would rather take his ladder and walk away:
Effectively adjourning on September 21st, this is the earliest Congress has left to campaign since 1960. Instead of getting to work, the Do-Nothing Congress is about to go on vacation for TWO MONTHS leaving behind a long list of unfinished business for the American people and small businesses. What exactly is the GOP’s measure of a job well done?
Today, Republican Budget Committee Chairman Ryan makes his return back to Washington and Republicans are holding a welcome back party to celebrate this afternoon. Speaker Boehner was even so excited about his pending return the truth slipped out during an unscripted moment before House Republicans earlier this week. Speaker Boehner announced the GOP’s obstructionist, do nothing agenda was “validated” by the selection of Ryan by former governor Romney.
The House Democratic Leader’s press office released this YouTube video featuring Ryan’s greatest hits. It highlights the Ryan Republican Congress’s efforts to end Medicare as we know it, Ryan’s plan to give more tax breaks to millionaires, and the GOP’s efforts to walk away from their vote for the sequester. Watch it:
Indeed, this is the Paul Ryan Congress. Only 10 percent of Americans in August approve of the job the Ryan Congress is doing. Americans also overwhelmingly disapprove of the GOP plan for ending the Medicare guarantee:
To: Interested Parties
Fr: Democratic Leader’s Press Office
Dt: September 10, 2012
Re: GOP “Do Nothing” Congress Doing What They Do Best – Nothing
After a five week summer break, the GOP-led Congress finally is back in session… for just eight legislative days this month. That’s right – a week and a half to do, or not do as the case is with this Congress, the businesses of the American people.
While House Republicans have found the time to vote to end Medicare as we know it and increase costs for seniors while giving tax breaks to millionaires and companies that ship jobs overseas, they have failed to address the two things that matter most to the American families: creating jobs for workers here at home and tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses. This month, the GOP Do Nothing Congress is doing more of what they do best – nothing.
One of the most unpopular and unproductive Congresses in modern history returns on Monday from a five-week recess, facing a crush of big tasks, few of which will likely get done.
Lawmakers are expected to be in Washington for only about two weeks between now and the November 6 election, making their return to the capital little more than a pit stop…
Unfinished business on Capitol Hill includes bills to overhaul the massive farm law, improve cyber security for the nation’s critical infrastructure, downsize the ailing postal service, and normalize trade with Russia.
The most urgent item — making sure Congress does not trigger a recession early next year — is by all accounts on hold until after the election, when lawmakers will attempt to head off trouble of their own making: tax increases and automatic spending cuts that threaten to send the United States over what’s been called “a fiscal cliff.”
Corporate leaders say the uncertainty surrounding this single issue is already weighing on business decisions, particularly in the defense industry.
A preventable recession, induced by a forewarned Congress, would be a first… [9/9]
For all the hype surrounding the dreaded fiscal cliff on taxes and spending, an increasing number of lawmakers are starting to push for Congress to do what it does best when faced with a difficult decision: punt…
Congress doesn’t have plans to do much legislating in the highly political pre-election season before November other than keeping the government running past Sept. 30. And after September, lawmakers will mainly be campaigning rather than dealing with the major fiscal questions that must be resolved before Jan. 1… [9/10]
When lawmakers return to Washington on Monday, they face big issues, including taxes, spending cuts and the prospect of a debilitating “fiscal cliff” in January. Yet Congress is expected to do what it often does best: punt problems to the future.
With Election Day less than two months away, their focus seems to be on the bare minimum — preventing a government shutdown when the budget year ends Sept. 30…
What may be most noteworthy then about the abbreviated pre-election session is not what Congress is doing but the stack of must-do work that lawmakers are leaving unfinished until a postelection lame-duck session. [9/10]
Democrats have been united in fighting back against Republicans’ efforts to end the traditional Medicare guarantee. Watch:
Rep. Paul Ryan has led House Republicans in voting to end the Medicare guarantee, which increases costs on seniors in order to give tax breaks to millionaires, Big Oil, and corporations that ship jobs overseas.
As Democrats have noted, the Ryan budget would increase costs by about $6,400 for a typical Medicare beneficiary in a decade.
House Republicans rang the recess bell earlier this month and left behind a long list of unfinished business including a jobs agenda, middle class tax cuts, and the farm bill. Their unwillingness to work with President Obama and their failure to get things done for the American people is par for the course for the deeply unpopular, do-nothing GOP-led 112th Congress.
On the other hand, House Democrats during the 110th Congress worked in bipartisan way with President Bush and passed major bipartisan legislation on innovation, jobs, energy, education and other critical issues for the American people.
There is just no comparison.
USA Today: This Congress could be least productive since 1947
Congress is on pace to make history with the least productive legislative year in the post World War II era.
Just 61 bills have become law to date in 2012 out of 3,914 bills that have been introduced by lawmakers, or less than 2% of all proposed laws, according to a USA TODAY analysis of records since 1947 kept by the U.S. House Clerk’s office.
In 2011, after Republicans took control of the U.S. House, Congress passed just 90 bills into law. The only other year in which Congress failed to pass at least 125 laws was 1995.
These statistics make the 112th Congress, covering 2011-12, the least productive two-year gathering on Capitol Hill since the end of World War II. Not even the 80th Congress, which President Truman called the “do-nothing Congress” in 1948, passed as few laws as the current one, records show. [8/15]
The Fiscal Times: Do Nothing Congress Did Something: Named Buildings
… Of the 65 bills that cleared both chambers this year, 19 – or about 30 percent – attached someone’s name to a government office building. Over the course of the 112th Congress that started last year, that would be slightly more than one out of every five bills that Obama signed.
“They [the bills] stand out this year because little else got done,” said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the new book, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. “And that, in turn, is a result of divided party government at a time of deeply polarized parties engaged in a permanent war. Only the public can change the situation.” [8/15]
And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this headline:
CNN: Congress: Same hours, half the work
Washington Post’s WonkBlog: 14 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever Billings Gazette: What’s worse than the Do Nothing Congress?
Tampa Bay Times: Congress takes a vacation from nation’s problems
CBS News: Schieffer: Do-nothing Congress begins five-week vacation with not much done
AP: Congress Takes 5 Weeks Off With Much Still Left To Do
How many headlines will it take before House Republicans change their ways and stop failing at their jobs?
77 years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. As a result, seniors were rescued from poverty and the middle class was strengthened.
Congressman Xavier Becerra’s office put together this helpful timeline to remind us of Social Security’s achievements:
As Leader Pelosi said today, “Democrats reaffirm our commitment to Social Security and the promise to strengthen it for future generations.” Meanwhile, Republicans like Congressman Paul Ryan have advocated for privatizing the program and jeopardizing the security of our seniors.
Congressional Republicans have been making the rounds in their districts, but there is one topic that they can’t run away from: theirvote for the Ryanbudget to end Medicare as we know it while shifting costs to seniors.
While the GOP tries to distract from the facts about the Ryan budget, the American people have plenty of other trustworthy sources when it comes to Medicare:
AARP: “By creating a ‘premium support’ system for future Medicare beneficiaries, the proposal is likely to simply increase costs for beneficiaries while removing Medicare’s promise of secure health coverage — a guarantee that future seniors have contributed to through a lifetime of hard work.”
The Hill: “CBO: Policies Would Cut Medicare Benefits”
Republicans don’t want the American people to know they are working to end Medicare’s guarantee to reward millionaires, Big Oil, and companies that ship jobs overseas with more tax breaks:
Tax Policy Center: Chairman Ryan’s budget gives those making over $1 million per year an average tax cut of $394,000.
Joint Economic Committee: “…the Ryan plan gives the largest tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and will pay for those tax cuts by raising the tax burden on middle-class workers.”
Instead of being honest with their constituents, House Republicans are trying to distract them by telling tall tales about the Affordable Care Act and pointing fingers at Democrats who are fighting to protect Medicare. The Affordable Care Act:
Reduces prescription drug costs for seniors – and more than 5.2 million seniors in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap have already saved $3.9 billion on prescription drugs, with an average savings of $600 per senior, because of it.
Strengthens Medicare and extends the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by 8 years – from 2016 to 2024 – by squeezing waste out of the system and it does so without reducing benefits.
Provides a free Annual Wellness Visit under Medicare and free Medicare coverage of key preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies.
House Republicans can run, but they can’t hide from the truth.
