Congress under fire

By Tom Quiner

The American public is disgusted with America’s runaway debt and a Congress unable to do anything about it.

Yes, President Obama has contributed to the mess by promoting and signing bad legislation. And yes, he is a shameless class warfare demagogue, a man who promised to be a post-partisan president, but is in fact the most partisan president in modern history.

Despite Mr. Obama’s shortcomings, it is Congress who spends the money. They deserve the low marks they’re receiving from the American public.

The RealClear Politics poll reveals a staggering 81.7% of voters disapprove of Congress.

The newly released Gallup Poll show that a record 76% of registered voters said that Congressional members do not deserve to be re-elected.

Although President Obama’s approval ratings are an anemic 43.2%, they are still about double Congress, depending on the poll.

Look at the Gallup graph above. Approval of Congress began to rise in 1995 when Republicans retook the House and Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House.

Mr. Gingrich is getting bashed by the media right now, both from the Left and the Right. However, the poll above shows how the public reacts to results. Gingrich and Republicans delivered results in the 90s. It wasn’t always pretty. But they got the budget balanced.

Next year, the House and Senate races are just as vital as who sits in the White House. After all, it is Congress that controls the purse strings. Our disdain for Congress will continue until they solve the problem of unfunded mandates and runaway government spending.

 

1 Comment

  1. maxine Bechtel on December 10, 2011 at 7:13 am

    Part of the reason that this group of elected lawmakers has been labeled as a “do-nothing” Congress is that Harry Reid won’t bring to a vote at least 20 “jobs” Bills that the House has passed and sent to the Senate! Since the conservative Senators are in the minority, their hands appear to be tied! Couple that with a strictly biased media and a “Conservative-bashing” President, the general public have adopted the same critical opinion of Congress.