'Chaos and incompetence': Columnist says 2023 was least effective Congress 'in nearly a century'

15 December 2023

With many lawmakers headed home for the Christmas holidays The 118th Congress — which is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States — is halfway over. And the Republican majority in the House of Representatives has very little to show after nearly one year in power.

In a recent column, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank — who assigned himself the task of covering the House of Representatives in 2023 — deemed the current session of the House "the most ineffective session of Congress in nearly a century — and quite possibly in all of American history."

"The year began with chaos and incompetence. It ended with chaos and incompetence. In between were self-created crises and shocking moments of fratricide — interspersed with more chaos and incompetence," Milbank wrote.

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Milbank laid out the minute accomplishments of the House Republican Conference's chaotic leadership, which included naming a VA clinic, a hunting bill to allow federal education funds to be used to buy firearms, and more recently a vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden "for imaginary crimes they could not identify." In the meantime, major legislation, like passing a foreign aid package to fund Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia, and funding for the US' Southern border. And when they gavel back in from the holidays, they will have just eight legislative days to avoid a costly government shutdown.

On the opposite side of the US Capitol, Milbank noted that the Democratic-run Senate has been rife with legislative action, and has pushed back its holiday recess in an effort to finalize a package on aid for Israel, Ukraine and the Southern border. But with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) sending lawmakers already sending lawmakers home, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said accomplishing the goal of having a final package ready for a vote before the end of the year was "practically impossible."

2024 doesn't look to be any different in the House, according to Milbank. The Post columnist wrote that the recent election of Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) to chair the far-right House Freedom Caucus — whom he called "one of the most doctrinaire members of the caucus" — was a harbinger of further dysfunction.

"The dysfunction shows every sign that it will continue in the new year," Milbank wrote. "[Ohio Republican Rep. Warren] Davidson, in a letter to colleagues intercepted by Axios’s Juliegrace Brufke, alluded to Good’s bomb-throwing tendencies and asked that the group 'prayerfully consider electing someone else.' They went with the legislative terrorist anyway."

Milbank's column comes on the heels of Rep. Joe Neguse's (D-Colorado) recent speech on the House floor, in which he called out his Republican colleagues for pursuing impeachment against Biden rather than conducting the business of governing. And Neguse isn't alone: In November, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) blasted his GOP colleagues for doing "nothing."

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