Not the greatest possible report card from Brookings' Thomas Mann and researcher Molly Reynolds.
For example:
...Deep partisan differences, narrow majorities and a Republican in the White House have frustrated Democratic ambitions and fueled a toxic atmosphere in both chambers of Congress. The public’s low approval ratings reflect broad discontent with the direction of the country but also displeasure with Congress for failing to reverse course on Iraq and for continuing the bitter partisan warfare.
...Democratic promises to restore civility and regular parliamentary procedure by allowing the minority party a larger role in deliberations have foundered. The number of restrictive rules for debate has increased, and the conference process has been short-circuited on various occasions.
This crop of Republicans has been shamelessly obstructive in the Senate.
...In the Senate, Republicans have made the filibuster, or the threat of filibuster, routine, setting a 60-vote hurdle for all contested legislative matters. This has led Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, to file many more petitions for cloture than Bob Dole, his counterpart in 1995, did.
Some pluses:
...The Democratic Congress’s legislative harvest this year has been bountiful compared with that of its Republican counterpart in 1995. Back then, the Republicans’ Contract With America was stymied by opposition from the Senate and the president. The new Congress has enacted a far-reaching lobbying and ethics reform bill, an increase in the minimum wage, recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, foreign investment rules and a competitiveness package, and has embedded a number of major initiatives and new priorities in continuing and supplemental spending bills. Democrats also made headway on energy, children’s health insurance, college student loans, Head Start, drug safety and a farm bill — though much of this awaits action in the Senate or in conference and faces a possible veto.
And the Democrats can be credited with some badly needed oversight, "following years of inattention and deference by its Republican predecessor," Mann writes.
