Do-something Congress

Despite an approval rating in the teens, this Congress has accomplished quite a bit according to Mark Murray's account on NBC's First Read blog.

But lost in the poll numbers and the voters' message in November is this one unmistakable fact: This Congress, which likely will come to a close this week, accomplished more, legislatively, than any other Congress since the 1960s (the Great Society) or the 1930s (the New Deal).

"I would probably rank the New Deal [Congress] first," congressional scholar Norm Ornstein (of the conservative American Enterprise Institute) told First Read. "I think this one edges the Great Society. It is at least on par with the Great Society. For all the dysfunction, it was just astonishing what they were able to get done," Ornstein added.

Accomplishments include:
--health care reform
--financial reform
--billions in infrastructure improvements
--repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
--tax cuts across the board
--credit card reform
--Lilly Ledbetter anti-pay discrimination

Add the START treaty on nuclear disarmament with Russia that appears likely to pass. This legislative record adds evidence to the statement from conservative blogger David Frum that Republicans are interested in politics while Democrats are interested in governing.

--Ballard Burgher