Thursday, October 17, 2013
113th Congress
Based on the seven documents presented in class about Congress and our class activity and discussion, what do you think about our current 113th Congress? Do you believe they are doing their job well? Explain in 6-8 sentence response and cite the articles given to you in class. Post is due Wednesday, October 23 and reply to two other students by Friday, October 25.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Our 113th Congress can be viewed in many perspectives or opinions. Based on the article “Huffington post”, our congress is the least productive in modern history. The 113th congress has just signed 15 bills into laws this year. I agree that it is a low number of bills but I also am aware that it is a huge responsibility to make sure the bills will help the country. If you ask me, just because the 113th congress hasn’t passed many bills does not necessarily mean they are being unproductive. On the other hand, I don’t like the fact that congress shutdown the government because I believe that it wasn’t a good decision due to the fact that it badly affected many people. I currently am not content with Congress because they’re supposed to help and represent our people, yet they make some decisions that suggest otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI agree with my colleague's opinion, our congress really needs to step it up when it comes to efficiency and productivity. It is not correct for them to represent the "United" states when they are so divided in opinions and have their tantrums if one party doesn't have things go their way. These tantrums as I keep calling them, hurt not only the people of the U.S. but also our economy.
DeleteI agree with Sergio's opinion that our Congress has been unproductive. The 113th Congress has argued more about what is right and what is wrong which doesn't get anything done. If both parties argued less and contributed more, we would have a more productive congress that would work together for the sake of our country.
DeleteI like the word united in quotes. What do you propose we do to make Congress more efficient?
DeleteI Believe that our 113th Congress is very unproductive. According to articles from,"The Huffington Post" both recent and new, our current congress is not only the least productive in all time but, the Republican Party, sinks to new depths and is now trying to change the subject about their Government Shutdown. The Republican Party's fascination with defunding Obamacare is no longer their main topic. Now they are trying to change our sights to debt. Thankfully however; our government shutdown is no longer in place. Our congress has only signed 15 bills into laws during these past twelve months. This is ridiculously low, considering how many are submitted every day. In my opinion, this is too low. I understand their possible debate too though, because there is a lot of bad bills also. The real crisis would be how little they are doing and how many setbacks we've had because of them. With the Republican Party's little tantrum about Obamacare, many federal workers lost their jobs for a while and our economy doesnt need any more help getting worse. I honestly don't think they are really, "for the people".
ReplyDeleteThere are many positive and negative facts that are presented in the article about the 113th Congress on HuffingtonPost.com that can be argued. Both house and senate members seem to have the right idea of handling their business responsibility even if they’re to have opposing views on the same idea or event. "The first six months of this Congress have been among the least productive in American history.” I believe that they are doing their job correct but it can be done in a proper manner. Each senator and representative is supposed to represent their own constituents. If they work together they make a big confusing into decision making that may lead them to fail in the end; which can be a bad choice rather than good.
ReplyDelete“Only 13 bills have been passed into law in the first six months of this year.” Reading this was very disappointing. In the Huffington Post, it provides us the data in which lists the laws Congress has passed since 1973. Even though our 113th Congress hasn’t passed many laws, they have passed some important ones. I believe every Congress has been dysfunctional because everyone has different opinions; no one is going to agree easily with another party. In the article they blame the republicans for being the problem and I do agree with them. I do not think the republicans are doing their job well. Just because one person emailed everyone in his party and told them to vote no to whatever Obama was going to talk about was very childlike.(video) I do not think it is fair for the republicans to listen to one person just because he/she is not with it. They should all vote for what they think is right.
ReplyDeleteHi Jociee !
DeleteI totally agree with in the sense that although our congress hasn't passed may laws, they have indeed passed some important. I liked how you described that the republicans in our congress aren't doing a good job because I also share the same idea. Don't you think the Republicans complicate our Congress with their selfish actions? I do because from what I know, in some cases the Republicans think of what's better for them and not the people of this country.
The 113th Congress we have now has negativity and positivity. The negativity the 113th congress has is that they say they're for the people but don't want to pass bills stating some of the helpful stuff that can help the United States. To me they're being selfish and wants what's best for ONLY the government. Which is fine if they're we're trying to help the People and the government. It's good what congress goes through because without having to go through all of them they're would be chaos.
ReplyDeleteThe Congress productivity can be arguable, as to some of their current decisions have caused devastation around the country. Based on article number 4 "Congress Kicks the Can, Again" ,the 113th congress is illustrated as a unit that leaves a problem aside and dealt with the conflict later. This statement was verified when the government shutdown occurred over a law that was already passed by Congress (Obamacare). The shutdown lasted a total of 16 days that cost the United States economy at least $24 billion dollars that would never be recouped. This could of been money used wisely for hospitals or people in need, but it was all thrown away over a game played by the government to show their power over the decisions of Congress.To this article the Government plays the role of the looser in the political game they are hosting. Like Abraham Lincoln said "A house divided cannot stand" and until Congress decides to unite as a whole and accept responsibilities. As they please to "kick" problems out of their way, we "as the people" shall kick them out of their beloved political positions. The article also focuses over the prestige the US lost over this Shutdown in foreign countries.I guess the government should worry about the reputation they have acquire in their own country.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Arely, the shut down had an abundant of consequences. One of them being, that the United States lost approximately 24 billion dollars that are completely lost. I also agree with you that we should start kicking them out of their positions or at least enforce them to start representing the people instead of the typical decisions that reflect their personal interest.
DeleteMany people may suggest that the 113th Congress is unproductive due to the low legislations passed this year. On the other hand, other may consider the fact that passing laws is a difficult process and congress has to assure the laws benefit our country. Any small mistake and it could hurt us all as a whole. That's why I think that the 113th Congress is a well established congress and know exactly what they are doing. They may have only 15 legislations passed but those 15 were well developed and reviewed. The government is for the people, which indicates that's congress wouldn't make any decisions that could hurt our country.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you completely, our congress fails to represent our people. My point can be proven by the government shutdown since they did not care about the unemployment and how this immature action would affect our nation drastically. In addition, during the shutdown they still got paid which is really unjust.If our congress was well established then we wouldn't of had a shutdown.
DeleteHello Luis, I find your post very interesting. I can agree with you on somethings but not completely. They have passed some laws that are very good, like the gay marriage for example. Jackie, I don't necessary agree that our congress fails to represent the people.
DeleteThey republicans had very strong opinions about "Obama Care" and they did not want it to go into effect. They had their reasons why they didn't want it to go through. Even though I do not agree with the way they handled some things.
Hello Luis,
DeleteI liked how you said that the law making process is a difficult process. On the other hand, I don't agree with you when you defined Congress as "well established" because I believe Congress what you said. In order for Congress to be well established they would have to set their differences aside and concentrate on this countries conflicts.
hello children
ReplyDeleteAs an American citizen I do not feel that congress has been doing their jobs efficiently. They continue to put jobs on the back burner. Unemployment effects millions of Americans and families each day. Our government should be helping us but instead the shut down the government and thus leaving people without jobs for 18 days. It is hard for republicans to argue that the government is not the source of our nations economic problems. Over 12 million people are out of work and tens of millions of people have be unemployed for so long they have given us looking. Our congress men and women should be doing their best to help Americans not hurt them.
ReplyDeleteWilson, Frederica."the mantra of this congress should be: Jobs! jobs! Jobs!" Stream live now. October 16, 3013. Web. October 17, 2013. Http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-Frederica-Wilson/the-mantra-of-this-congre_b_41120..........
Hello Taylor, I do agree unemployment effects millions of Americans and their families. You are right, the republicans cannot argue that the government is not the source of our nations economic problems. During the shutdown, $24 billion were taken from the U.S. economy. That is a lot of money and it hurt many people. Our Congress people should be trying to help us, g
DeleteThe people, instead of doing all this nonsense.
I believe the 113th Congress is not as productive as the previous Congress. First of all, the government shutdown is a perfect example of Congress not being productive. The fact that the Congress can't pull together and make a compromise, is ridiculous. They need to stop being unreasonable and find an agreement, they need to do their job. While they're being immature, the economy is slipping because of this shutdown. Basically the Congress needs to do what they're supposed to do, which is to keep building the government, and making it better.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. This comment proves the points and evidence that Congress is going down hill. Providing that they had a shutdown does prove that Congress is acting childish. They can't agree with anything and if they don't want anything other than what they want. They are unreasonable as the comment above is an excellent way to describe the situation. I agree.
DeleteThe 113th congress has positives and negatives. The promise to help out their people. But the won't pass bills that will help the United States. That shows that they aren't their to help the people but the government.If they were to help out their people too while helping the government as well .
ReplyDeleteHello Adan, I agree that the 113th Congress has a positive and negative effect on our country. But on the other hand, I disagree when u say that they haven't passed any bills to help the United States. Every bill passed by our Congress is intended to help the United States in any way possible. Meaning that they are there to help change our country for the best.
DeleteI agree and then disagree with this comment. I agree because it's true the government is willing to help but when it comes down to it they don't do nothing so far. But the response above I don't agree with though. Not all bills passed isn't right for everyone. Remember that the Congress changes the bills many times. So with that Congress doesn't always do for the people.
Delete
ReplyDeleteBased on the article, "Congress kick the can, Again" the government shutdown took at least 24 billion dollars out of the United States economy. This action declares the immaturity and the major differences between the two parties affect the nation. Abraham Lincoln stated "A house divided cannot stand" which his theory is proven by the shutdown, in which affected the United States internally and externally. In my opinion, the congress should put their stubbornness and differences aside and be more open-minded and instead of the typical disagreements they should start agreeing by uniting or simply compromising. Congress should represent the people but they seem to only represent themselves. In the article "Huffington Post" it states that the 113th congress has just signed 15 bills into laws this year. Our congress has been the least productive in modern history and shockingly it has never been so dysfunctional. For instance, in the article "Health Care Hypocrisy" Lee Terry said "I've got a nice house and a kid in college" and "Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it ? That's just not going to fly". Jim Hightower responded and wrote "And that's your congress at work. Laugh 'til it hurts." this shows how they only think about themselves and even though an abundant of people were unemployed during the shutdown they still got their paycheck, now that's our congress.
There are many positive and negative facts that are presented in the article about the 113th Congress.it provides us the data in which lists the laws Congress has passed since 1973. Even though our 113th Congress hasn’t passed many laws, they have passed some important ones.The negativity the 113th congress has is that they say they're for the people but don't want to pass bills stating some of the helpful stuff that can help the United States, this statement was verified when the government shutdown occurred over a law that was already passed by Congress (Obamacare). The shutdown lasted a total of 16 days that cost the United States economy at least $24 billion dollars that would never be recouped. The article also focuses over the prestige the US lost over this Shutdown in foreign countries.I guess the government should worry about the reputation they have acquire in their own country.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know the 113th congress hasn't been the best, actually they are said to be the worst because they have only passed 15 bills to become laws. The thing is, they might be right not only have they passed so little bills they allowed the government to shut down. The government shut down cause so many people to lose their jobs, so many people unemployed, all because congress makes some bad calls? They are suppose to be helping the people of America not making it worse. So overall they can be doing a much better job to help out the people, they just have to get their mind into the right decisions.
ReplyDeleteI believe that our congress isn't doing the best job. the reason for this statement is because it states in the article that this Congress has the one of the lowest bills signed throughout history. If the Congress is trying to make a change why aren't they signing bills that we can possibly need. We as people do make some of the bills and yet the House and Senate do change what they do believe is important to do so. The 113th Congress has being doing a horrible job to provide to the States as they were elected to do so. That would close my opinion.
ReplyDelete