Bipartisan Report: Congress Derelict in Basic Duties

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s latest quarterly report confirms what many citizens have long sensed: Congress isn’t doing its job.

The in-depth report’s summary reads as follows:

• • Neither the House of Representatives nor Senate worked a sufficient number of days in Washington. Both were well short of BPC’s recommended target of 330 days for a complete, two-year Congress.
  • The Senate considered fewer amendments than in the previous Congress, and the second fewest amendments among the years covered by the index.
  • The House floor was the most closed to amendments. Amendments could not be offered on more than half of bills.
  • Congress failed to fund all areas of the government on time, which led to several lapses in funding and multiple full or partial shutdowns. Early progress on appropriations for FY2019 limited the impact of shutdown that began on December 22, 2018.

The 115th Congress functioned poorly overall. In several key areas, it underperformed its predecessors and its own expectations set by leaders at the outset. Most significantly, Congress did not meet its most basic duty to fully fund the government, which resulted in several shutdowns of the government over the two-year period. In late 2018, for the first time ever, a shutdown from one Congress carried over into the next. Signs of regular order in the legislative process also did not materialize. Neither chamber allowed members ample opportunity to offer amendments to bills, which allow members to present different options on legislation. Conference committees were used sparingly to resolve differences on bills between the House and Senate. Congress was also hamstrung by a light work schedule over the two-year period. While both chambers worked more days in Washington than the previous Congress, neither came close to meeting the standard of a five-day workweek.

Is partisanship (well documented by organizations like Pew Research and others) a cause or an effect of the dysfunction in Congress?  Either way, there’s a positive role to play for citizens.