Congress Ends 'Horrible Year' With Divisions as Bitter as Ever
WASHINGTON — A congressional year that began with an assault on the seat of democracy ended at 4 a.m. Saturday with the failure of a narrow Democratic majority to deliver on its most cherished promises, leaving lawmakers in both parties wondering if the legislative branch can be rehabilitated without major changes to its rules of operations.
“It has been a horrible year, hasn’t it?” asked Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as she looked back on failed efforts to convict a former president and to create a bipartisan commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as numerous legislative endeavors that could not find bipartisan majorities.
The Senate limped out of town in predawn darkness after slogging through nominations one by one but leaving dozens of President Joe Biden’s nominees still awaiting confirmation to fill key positions at home and abroad — because a handful of Republican senators erected a blockade.
Biden and Democrats can point to some major successes in 2021, including a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid plan that included a $300-per-child income support that slashed poverty rates; a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law that had eluded the two previous presidents; the confirmation of 40 judges in Biden’s first year, the most of any president since Ronald Reagan; and a House inquiry that has begun to reveal more about the roots of the Jan. 6 riot.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/congress-ends-horrible-divisions-bitter-161604057.html