What’s lower than President Obamas approval rate? That would be the Congress’s approval rating. In fact it is the lowest it has ever been in history. A New York Times/CBS News poll shows the Congressional approval rating to be just 12 percent. The Republicans approval rating is 19 percent compared to the Democrats 28 percent (New York Times). The current public discontent comes from Congress’s inability to put aside party differences and do what is best for the country. I understand that they have different opinions of what’s best, but their refusal to compromise has only hurt them as indicated by the poll. There have been several major instances that have made Americans lose their confidence in the legislative body, but the most public one was the debacle with the debt ceiling.
This summer I interned in Senator Mark Udall’s office, so I got to hear firsthand the opinion of everyday Americans about the debt ceiling. What were these average people saying? Some wanted to raise the debt ceiling, others didn’t. But what all of the callers would say was that they were tired of lawmakers putting their party beliefs before the welfare of their constituents. Many callers said, and I would have to agree, that these educated men and women were acting like kids at a playground. If you don’t remember, this is what happened with the debt ceiling. Our nation’s money was about to run out and we had bills we needed to pay. We had to raise the debt ceiling before August 2 in order to avoid the first American default in history. However, neither of the sides could agree about how to go about that. We heard about meetings and discussions in which key players would just walk out of the room. The Republicans wanted more cuts to programs and the Democrats wanted to close loopholes and increase taxes on the rich. Both of the sides said raising the debt ceiling is a must, but they would not do it in an irresponsible way. However there were some people, looking at you Tea Party members, who said we should not raise the debt ceiling and default on our debts. They said the warnings of what would happen if the country defaulted were just a scare tactic. Both sides present their own version of a debt ceiling bill, remember Cut, Cap, and Balance? The standoff finally came to an end when both sides agreed on a bill. In the end we got cuts to programs and not an increase on taxes for the rich or closing of loopholes for corporations. The bill established a super committee that would try to work together to resolve the long term debt issue. The bill was signed into law Tuesday August 2, the last day before default. It was very frustrating and scary to wait and see who would blink first. I can’t believe that people actually walked out of talks that affect every person in this nation. What happened to the times when representatives would sit down and talk through issues instead of walking out because they did not get their way? I think that lawmakers forget that they need to be working with the interest of their constituents back home in mind. It is us who elects them and us who can elect somebody else.Now we hear of another standoff this time concerning funding for FEMA. As the New York Times/CBS News poll shows only 6 percent of people believe that the reelected representatives are doing a good job, while 84 percent want to elect somebody different (New York Times). This refusal to compromise and stick to party lines is obviously not working, at least for those representatives that want to keep their seats in the next election. I believe that the confidence of people in their representatives has hit such a low that at the next elections we will see many new representatives elected in office.
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