Last week, in a fit of fury after they lost the ability to filibuster President Obama’s nominees, several Congressional Republicans threatened to retaliate by slowing things down on Capitol Hill. Democrats “will have trouble in a lot of areas because there’s going to be a lot of anger,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, specifically warning that a United Nations disability treaty was now in danger of being rejected for the second time.

It’s hard to see how Republicans could slow things down more than they already have for the last several years. Yes, they can prevent committees from meeting and add days of wasted time to every nomination and bill. Just after the filibuster vote, in fact, Senate Republicans refused a routine request for unanimous consent to approve several of the president’s uncontested nominees.

But the larger business of governing is already being cast aside. As Politico recently reported, the current Congress has only enacted 49 laws, the fewest since 1947. That’s a mark of pride to Tea Party nihilists, but, for the rest of the country, which expects action on fundamentals like jobs and immigration, it’s a mark of shame.

When lawmakers left town for the Thanksgiving vacation, they missed their deadline to complete a farm bill. House Republicans want to use the bill to cut food stamps by $40 billion over a decade, which would end benefits for at least three million people during each of those years. Democrats are refusing to let this happen (though, unfortunately, they have proposed their own $4 billion cut). The resulting stalemate could drive up the price of milk.