As America is engaged in a five-month military conflict with Iran and the economy has been suffering, Congress has responded with predictable inaction. It is little wonder that Americans give Congress a 10 percent approval rating, with 86 percent expressing disapproval.

As Carl Hulse, Chief Washington Correspondent for the New York Times, noted, “It’s a great American pastime to hate Congress.” However, this hatred is justified. The 119th Congress has barely done anything, enacting just 104 pieces of legislation, compared to 443 in the first two years of President Donald Trump's first term.  

In the 119th Congress, there was a 43-day full government shutdown, the longest in history, and a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the most protracted for any federal department.

In addition, there have been mysterious absences from Congress this year. A Republican congressman from New Jersey, Thomas Kean, was absent for four months battling depression. During this time, his constituents and colleagues were unaware of his condition. Currently, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been absent for over a month with a variety of medical issues and mounting questions about his condition.

Because Congress has been unable to act, President Trump has been forced to issue 268 Executive Orders, more than the total from his entire first term and nearly as many as President Barack Obama issued in his two terms in office.

Trump has filled the void left by the do-nothing Congress. As the national debt explodes to $39.5 trillion and Social Security faces a fiscal cliff in a few years, the U.S. House of Representatives prepares for another long vacation starting on Thursday. The House will return on August 31, then work for only a few days, leaving again on September 3........

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