Is the 114th Congress Getting Things Done?

Yes, writes Marci Harris and her team at PopVox.

“The 114th Congress has passed a significant number of major policies into law: from ending a Medicare physician payment system that required a temporary “doc fix” every year for seventeen years, to repeal of No Child Left Behind; repeal of the NSA bulk data surveillance program with reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, the first long-term transportation bill in a decade, a new version of toxic chemicals bill, and an update to the Freedom of Information Act.”

Sadly, Harris notes in a separate piece, there are incentives that encourage media and politicos to hew to the “Congress gets nothing done and never compromises” and to little discuss the institution’s successes.

See:

Marci Harris and Team PopVox, “The 114th Congress by the Numbers (so far),” PopVox blog, July 27, 2016, at https://blog.popvox.com/2016/07/27/the-114th-congress-by-the-numbers-so-far/

Marci Harris, “Congress Is Working. You Just Haven’t Heard About It,” New America’s Edition 130 blog, July 28, 2016, at http://www.newamerica.org/weekly/edition-130/congress-working-you-just-havent-heard-about-it/