FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2012
Contact: Tom Guild, Democratic Nominee for Congress in Oklahoma’s Fifth District
Phone: 405-921-3811 or Email: TomGuild@sbcglobal.net
The Most Partisan and Worst Congress Ever!
Incumbent Fifth District Congressman James Lankford Should Be Defeated!
Tom Guild, the Democratic Nominee for Congress from Oklahoma’s Fifth Congressional District, feels that the current congress is the most partisan and worst congress ever, and that the incumbent, Fifth District Congressman James Lankford should be defeated.
An academic study has been done by well-respected nonpartisan scholars who said the following about the current 112th Congress, “We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional.”
When the 112th Congress was sworn in the unemployment rate was 9.1% and it is now 8.2%, despite the disastrous handling of the debt ceiling in May-August 2011 and its refusal to act to create jobs.
House Republicans nearly caused the American economy to go over the fiscal cliff in August 2011 by playing games in raising the debt ceiling, so that the United States could continue to pay the bills that Congress racked up. This led to the lowering of the U.S. credit rating for the first time in U.S. history. The credit agency said it lowered the country’s credit rating because, “the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges.”
To compound the country’s problems, the House Republicans (including Lankford) voted to create a congressional “super committee” that failed to come up with recommendations that could be agreed to by the “super committee”. This committee failure triggered automatic budget cuts or sequester of more than a trillion dollars to defense and domestic spending, that was required in the law passed setting up the “super” committee. This created another problem that congressmen who voted for the law are now bemoaning. They should have known better.
Instead of learning from the debt ceiling and “super” committee disaster, the House Republican Speaker (who Lankford voted to make speaker) says, “We shouldn’t dread the debt limit. We should welcome it.”
According to Congressional Quarterly this is the most polarized Congress ever. In 2011, the votes in which a majority of Democrats opposed a majority of Republicans set a new record in the U.S. House. 75.8% of roll call house votes pitted the Democrats against the Republicans. The average was boosted by some of the 33 show votes House Republicans have taken to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Some have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. All 33 votes effected zero change in the law.
It is no wonder that the two lowest scores in the history of the Gallup Poll for a Congress are held by the 112th, 10% in February 2012 and 11% in December 2011. This Congress has added to its “do nothing” reputation by passing fewer bills than any Congress since 1947. They are in last place by a wide margin.
“It is clear to me that this Congress and Congressman Lankford are the problem not the solution. They are doing nothing to help and taking numerous actions which are harming our country and our economy. They are extremely partisan, polarizing, and unpopular, and should be replaced in November for the good of the country and the fifth congressional district of Oklahoma,” stated Tom Guild, Democratic Nominee for Congress in Oklahoma’s Fifth District.
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