Congress Has Significant Accomplishments Despite Democrats' Narrow Majority

Help for veterans, diabetics; big investments in infrastructure; cleaner energy; microchips and supply chain issues; cheaper health insurance; gun safety; higher taxes on wealthiest to reduce deficit

Aug 8

Zealots like to portray Congress and Washington as "the swamp," mired in gridlock, controlled by special interests, that rarely accomplishes much of significance for the American people. But closer examination indicates that Congress has accomplished a great deal of "the people's business." If we believe in democracy, we have to believe that a democratically-designed Congress, "the people's branch of government" is not hopelessly dysfunctional, and can actually reach consensus on important national and international issues.

Over the next three months, Democrats and Republicans will wage a public relations battle over whether the record of this, the 117th Congress (2021-2023), is one of progress and bipartisan accomplishment or whether, cynically, Congress remains unrepresentative, and totally dysfunctional, meaning that people will soon lose faith in messy democracy and instead choose autocracy.

The Lincoln Project has already produced this ad:

For more than a decade, Republicans railed against Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, promising to repeal and replace it with something far better. Utterly failing to repeal or replace it, the ACA is now SETTLED LAW, and has reduced the number of uninsured Americans to an all-time low of 8 percent, compared to 17 percent of the population in 1990.

E.J. Dionne in The Washington Post offered a litany of recent congressional accomplishments, including “ a big infrastructure bill; a substantial measure to strengthen the country’s technological competitiveness; the first new gun-safety law in decades, modest though it was; a major expansion of help to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances; and now the climate and prescription drug proposal,"

"On a straight partisan vote, Democrats approved the largest investment in history to fight climate change married to first steps toward controlling prescription drug costs and helping Americans buy health insurance. The bill also raised corporate taxes and increased tax enforcement to begin what should be a sustained effort to reform the tax code by way of bringing revenue closer to long-term alignment with spending."

The bill caps the cost of insulin at $35 a month for Medicare patients. Republicans voted to eliminate the cap on insulin for people with private insurance. The cost can run into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month, depending on the health plan.

If this bill had not passed, "the United States would have squandered any claim of global leadership on one of the central challenges of our time. It also would have been a signal that our political system is so dysfunctional that it could not even enact comparatively painless, positive incentives for moving toward cleaner energy," Dionne wrote.

Yes, the Democrats' legislative agenda falls significantly short of what they have promised. But with only a 50-50 non-majority (with ties broken by Vice President Kamala Harris), arcane Senate rules that require a 60-vote majority to pass anything unrelated to budget matters, and a narrow six-vote majority in the House, they've gotten quite a lot done.

Drill Deeper:

Boston College Historian Heather Cox Richardson explained what a big deal this Congress's actions are.

Congress Strikes A Blow Against Cynicism, by EJ Dionne in The Washington Post.

This is what happens when the party in charge cares about governing, by Paul Waldman in The Washington Post.

Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Is Signed Into Law.

Biden Is Accomplishing More Than I Expected.

Biden has “arguably passed more important bills than any president since Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society,” wrote Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post, leaving Republicans with unpopular, nutty positions outside the mainstream. Click.

In a Virginia swing district, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat, feels the wind finally at her back. Click.