Progressive Oasis

OMAHA, NE – The 112th Congress, the worse in history finally comes to an end.  Could the 113th Congress get any worse?  Don’t hold your  breath.  The 112th Congress has a reputation for being a do nothing Congress, but I think you already knew that.   They only passed 220 bills, many of them very minor or ceremonial bills.  Now, with the 113th Congress convening,  the Democrats gained seats to now having a total of 200, the GOP has 233, considerably more than the 218 needed for a majority. Don’t bet anything is going to get done.  Congress the 113th!

The 113th Congress is already starting out shady, with 67 Republicans, dubbed The Sandy 67, voting against the first round of Federal money to pay for flood insurance claims for Hurricane Sandy. Many of these GOP members are from states in the Deep South, states hit hard by hurricanes in the past, they came to DC demanding money for the disasters in their states.  Now they want to deny the disaster dollars for another region that needs them for the same reasons the GOP disaster states received theirs. Here is a list of the 67 Republicans who voted NO.

Republicans and Democrats are already gearing up for a fight over the debt ceiling.  So exciting, right? Debt Ceiling Rerun, Part Deux.  The TeaBaggers will demand we shut down the government and not pay for what we owe.  What many people who spew TeaBaggery do not understand is that under the law, the debt ceiling limits the U.S. Treasury’s authority to borrow money to pay for decisions already enacted by Congress and the president.  The government needs Congress’s approval to raise the debt ceiling to raise money to pay its bills. If you think the 112th Congress did nothing, (because they did nothing) just wait until the 113th Congress dances around the debt ceiling in a few months.