111th Congress' Accomplishments

With a flurry of activity in its closing days, the Democratically-controlled 111^th Congress closed its session with a record of accomplishment unmatched since the 1960’s. After the concession on high-end tax cuts and the 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, several pieces of long-delayed legislation made their way through the Senate: ratification of the New START treaty, repeal of DADT, and funding for the First Responders Act.
Earlier in its two-year term and often in the face of obstructionist tactics by Republicans, the 111^th Congress had already succeeded in pushing through:

$814 billion stimulus for the economy
Rescue of the American auto industry
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform& Protection Act
Health-care reform
Extension of insurance for a million children under SCHIP
Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention ActBloomberg News in an December 22^nd article noted: “The 111th Congress made more law affecting more Americans since the “Great Society” legislation of the 1960s.” The article summarizes the session’s accomplishments and points out the impact of the legislation - for example, 3.3 million jobs created or saved by the stimulus. Democrats realize that it will take years for the public to recognize the accomplishments. Perhaps Representative Louise Slaughters’ statement (quoted in the Bloomberg article), best sums up what happened in the November elections. “What we did was work, and our reward was, ‘Get out of here,’” said Representative Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat and outgoing chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. While Slaughter won re-election, five of her New York colleagues were among Democrats defeated.

With the Republicans now controlling the House and having a larger minority in the Senate, it’s hard to see the 112^th accomplishing much. I guess the good news is that Democrats still control the Senate and can block the more misguided of the Republican legislation coming to the floor. And, as a last resort, Obama can veto it. Hopefully there will be some bipartisanship over the next two year but the early signs aren’t encouraging.