The 112th Congress set a record. It is not a record worthy of the Guinness Book, but it is a record that some members of Congress bragged about to their constituents. From 2010 to 2012, the "House and Senate enacted the fewest laws, considered the
fewest bills and held the lowest number of formal negotiations between them."
What can one expect when the Senate minority leader declared that his number one priority was to make President Obama a one-term president. Instead of attempting to pass legislation, by compromising on on a number of crucial issues, the Republican senator made it clear that he favored ideological purity more than efficiency.
Despite making history as the least productive Congress ever in United States history, it did have the gusto to pass the Budget Control Act of 2011. The bill, also called the "Sequestration," would frame the topic of conversation months after its creation. It also gave the public a new term to refer to a manufactured political crisis, because we all know that we needed another one.
The Sequestration was an idea passed by Congress and signed by the President to enable a fiscal deal between the Democrats and Republicans. The whole point of the deal was to force mandatory spending cuts across the board, including defense, unless $1.5 trillion of agreed upon savings was realized. Economists agree that the arbitrary cuts would severely damage the economy and possibly cause another recession.
No one in Congress or the White House was supposed to want the sequester to occur. That was the plan. The effects of the sequester would damage both parties to such an extent that it would be irrational not to make a fiscal deal. It was a bad assumption that Congress would act rationally.
Like clockwork, the Republicans started their rhetoric and attacks on President Obama - the go-to liberal boogeyman, in an attempt to gain an advantage in the politics of sequestration talks. Congressman Paul Ryan stated that the sequester was "designed" by the President and that Obama showed an unwillingness to work with the Republican House to find a solution. He said this after having voted for and praising the Budget Control Act.
Speaker John Boehner also contributed to the web rhetoric by coining the Twitter hash-tag, "#Obamaquester." He must have thought the term "Obamacare" went well during the healthcare discussions.
Every single preventable political crisis that occurs has an effect on the entire economy, on ordinary Americans. Individuals from finance, business, and journalism agree that it will reduce the GDP; impede the stock markets; and cause uncertainty. If the sequester were to become a reality - money would be cut for the FBI, border patrol, hurricane relief, public parks, meat and poultry inspectors, and Head Start students. CBS's Bob Schieffer correctly pointed out that the only obstacle for a resolution is "Washington's ineptitude."
Now is the time for the public and average Americans to expect more out of their elected officials. The 113th Congress must do more than their "do-nothing" predecessors. We used to value records that meant something, records that set out individuals on a quest for greatness, not a quest for political upmanship.
