5 ms·

They’ve been doing nothing for decades.

ethbr1 1y ago
> They’ve been doing nothing for decades. Here's a list of the 250+ pieces of nothing that the 118th Congress passed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acts_of_the_118th_United_States_Congress https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acts_of_the_118th_Un... If you're going to reach for hyperbole, at least make it defensible.
- elevation 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - throwup238 1y ago
    > Instead, they consistently cede their legislative authority to bureaucrats by creating office after office of unelected regulators who generate reams of rules with the power of law but with no democratic oversight. The irony of saying that in a thread about the NSF getting gutted is palpable.
  - scheme271 1y ago
    That's clearly not accurate. Congress has passed continuing resolutions in some years but they've also passed budgets. E.g in 2024, they passed this: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4366 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4366 .
- zvorygin 1y ago
  The Wikipedia article you link states: > It has been called one of the least productive Congresses since 1951 Let’s not measure productivity in terms of count of bills passed like measuring output by lines of code. Healthcare reform, SS reform, fiscal sustainability, electoral reform, climate, immigration, information environment, cybersecurity, how many of these pressing issues have been tackled and solved by congress?
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    If "nothing for decades" isn't true, then parent can use different words. "Least productive" != "nothing" If language collapses into describing a different reality just because of the way someone feels, then communicating is going to be difficult.
    - ggandv 1y ago
      Exactly. They raise campaign funds and appear on tv and cross examine industry leaders like Altman and Zuckerberg. Clearly that is not “nothing”. But some worry that is not enough to keep pace with emerging threats and opportunities and that’s given justification for presidents to increasingly fill that gap, to disastrous effect. Some argue that a single strong leader calling the shots via EOs is better than having congress try to get up to speed on complex, emerging matters (ie AI export controls) but I’m unconvinced.
      - ethbr1 1y ago
        Something 'taking an Act of Congress' (to indicate that it's difficult and time-consuming) is in the lexicon for a reason. It's been true of the US legislative process for that long. But! That isn't to say that after the gears grind, Congress doesn't complete important and essential work, even in toxic times. The nihilism of a blatently false claim that Congress is doing nothing just feeds into 'so let someone else do it' fervor. Untrue memes can be dangerous.
  - watwut 1y ago
    Congress has two parties in ut and one of them is strictly opposed to all of these. The issue is not doing nothing, the issue is large parts of population and their political representation being actively against it. Talking about it in abstract, to make it sound like the congress ia a monolith where all are ambivalent ... is part of the problem.

> They’ve been doing nothing for decades. Here's a list of the 250+ pieces of nothing that the 118th Congress passed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acts_of_the_118th_United_States_Congress https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acts_of_the_118th_Un... If you're going to reach for hyperbole, at least make it defensible.

elevation 1y ago
[flagged]
- throwup238 1y ago
  > Instead, they consistently cede their legislative authority to bureaucrats by creating office after office of unelected regulators who generate reams of rules with the power of law but with no democratic oversight. The irony of saying that in a thread about the NSF getting gutted is palpable.
- scheme271 1y ago
  That's clearly not accurate. Congress has passed continuing resolutions in some years but they've also passed budgets. E.g in 2024, they passed this: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4366 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4366 .
zvorygin 1y ago
The Wikipedia article you link states: > It has been called one of the least productive Congresses since 1951 Let’s not measure productivity in terms of count of bills passed like measuring output by lines of code. Healthcare reform, SS reform, fiscal sustainability, electoral reform, climate, immigration, information environment, cybersecurity, how many of these pressing issues have been tackled and solved by congress?
- ethbr1 1y ago
  If "nothing for decades" isn't true, then parent can use different words. "Least productive" != "nothing" If language collapses into describing a different reality just because of the way someone feels, then communicating is going to be difficult.
  - ggandv 1y ago
    Exactly. They raise campaign funds and appear on tv and cross examine industry leaders like Altman and Zuckerberg. Clearly that is not “nothing”. But some worry that is not enough to keep pace with emerging threats and opportunities and that’s given justification for presidents to increasingly fill that gap, to disastrous effect. Some argue that a single strong leader calling the shots via EOs is better than having congress try to get up to speed on complex, emerging matters (ie AI export controls) but I’m unconvinced.
    - ethbr1 1y ago
      Something 'taking an Act of Congress' (to indicate that it's difficult and time-consuming) is in the lexicon for a reason. It's been true of the US legislative process for that long. But! That isn't to say that after the gears grind, Congress doesn't complete important and essential work, even in toxic times. The nihilism of a blatently false claim that Congress is doing nothing just feeds into 'so let someone else do it' fervor. Untrue memes can be dangerous.
- watwut 1y ago
  Congress has two parties in ut and one of them is strictly opposed to all of these. The issue is not doing nothing, the issue is large parts of population and their political representation being actively against it. Talking about it in abstract, to make it sound like the congress ia a monolith where all are ambivalent ... is part of the problem.