'Worst Congress ever,' by the numbers

Google “worst Congress ever”, and you’ll get nearly 5.4 million results — many of them scathing takes on two years of dysfunction, partisan warfare and all-around mayhem on Capitol Hill.

And indeed, this Congress has been singularly unproductive, shutting down most government functions for two weeks last fall, passing the fewest bills in memory and lurching from crisis to crisis, to the great ire of most American voters.


So, how does it measure up? Behold, the 113th Congress, by the numbers:

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0: Combined number of Senate Republicans more liberal than a Senate Democrat and Senate Democrats more conservative than a Senate Republican in 2013, according to the National Journal annual rankings. In 1994, there were 34 senators who ranked between the most conservative Democrat and the most liberal Republican in terms of ideology.

1: The number of House majority leaders to have lost a primary election since the position was created in 1899. Rep. Eric Cantor made history in his GOP primary loss to Dave Brat, who ultimately won election to the House for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in November.

3: The number of World War II veterans in the 113th Congress — Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Ralph Hall (R-Texas). At the opening of the Congress, 20 percent of members had served in the military, compared with 73 percent in the 92nd Congress (1971-1972).

3: The number of senators at the beginning of the 113th Congress who did not complete their terms. John Kerry (D-Mass.) left the Senate after earning confirmation in January 2013 to become secretary of state. Lautenberg died in June 2013. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) retired from the Senate in February 2014.

12: The number of Republican House members who did not vote for John Boehner’s reelection as speaker in January 2013, the highest total in more than 20 years.

12.9: The time in hours (roughly) of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s March 2013 filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director. Paul began speaking at 11:47 a.m. on Wednesday, March 6, and ceded the floor around 12:39 a.m. on Thursday, March 7, in a filibuster aimed at the Obama administration’s drones policy.

14.5: Congress’s average approval rating in 2013-2014, according to Gallup. The average approval rating for Congress in 2013 was a record-low 14 percent, which increased 1 percentage point to 15 percent in 2014.

16: Days the government was shut down in October 2013.

40: Percentage of calendar days the House was in session over the course of the 113th Congress, less than 147 days per year, on average. The Senate was in session 141 days per year, on average, just under 39 percent of the time.

59: The number of years retiring Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan served in the House, making him the longest-serving member in congressional history. His wife, Debbie, won election to his Michigan 12th District seat in November.

62: The average age for senators at the beginning of the congressional term. The senators were, on average, 0.2 years younger than those in the 112th Congress and 1.1 years younger than those in the 111th Congress.

65: Percentage of Americans who think the 113th is the “worst Congress of their lifetime,” according to a CNN/ORC International poll released in September.

81: The number of freshman members in the House, the second-highest number in 20 years.

93: The number of senators who voted for legislation in June 2014 to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, a bill ultimately signed into law by President Barack Obama. The VA bill marked a rare bipartisan achievement for Congress.

103: Female members at the beginning of the 113th Congress, a record.

234: The number of bills passed by the 113th Congress, the lowest recorded total in congressional history. The number is down 18 percent from the 112th Congress and is only about a fourth of the 906 public bills legislation passed by the 80th in 1947-48, which President Harry Truman dubbed the “Do Nothing Congress.”

This article tagged under: 2014