The 111th Congress “refuses to go quietly.” The past two years in Congress have been some of the most productive in decades. Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute said the 111th Congress is “at least on par with the 89th Congress” of 1965-1966. Burdett Loomis, a Congressional scholar at the University of Kansas, said this Congress has produced “a legislative output ‘in Great Society territory’ for its reach and importance.” And David Leonhardt of the New York Times remarked in May that “Congress and the White House have completed 16 months of activity that rival any other since the New Deal in scope or ambition.” Here is a look at the extraordinary accomplishments during the 111th Congress:
Health Care Reform
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Wall Street Reform
Jobs Package (HIRE Act)
Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Tax Relief Package
Small Business Lending Fund
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Children’s Health Insurance Program
Child Nutrition
Food Safety
First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit
Travel Promotion Act
Housing Loan Modification
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
Pigford/Cobell Settlement
Credit Card Company Regulations
Education Funding
Student Loan Reform
Confirmed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan To The Supreme Court
FMAP Funding
Tobacco Regulation
Public Land Management Act
National Service Programs
Weapons Acquisition Overhaul
Funding for Our Troops – Defense Appropriation and Supplemental
Emergency Border Security Supplemental
Hate Crimes Prevention
Veterans Caregiver Assistance
Iran Sanctions